Author Topic: PBS "Sherlock Holmes" Updated for the 21st century  (Read 256904 times)

Offline Jeff Wrangler

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Re: PBS "Sherlock Holmes" Updated for the 21st century
« Reply #290 on: January 22, 2014, 07:31:40 pm »
So have any of you fans seen Emily Nussbaum's review in the Jan. 27 New Yorker?
"It is required of every man that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow-men, and travel far and wide."--Charles Dickens.

Offline delalluvia

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Re: PBS "Sherlock Holmes" Updated for the 21st century
« Reply #291 on: January 22, 2014, 08:09:05 pm »
So have any of you fans seen Emily Nussbaum's review in the Jan. 27 New Yorker?

Thanks.  I'll read it after the season is over.  I don't want to be spoiled.   :)

Offline Front-Ranger

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Re: PBS "Sherlock Holmes" Updated for the 21st century
« Reply #292 on: January 22, 2014, 08:23:23 pm »
I haven't cracked open that issue yet.

A question about the season opener: we see Sherlock at one point (I'm being deliberately vague here) from behind with his shirt off. Anybody know or can guess whether that's actually Benedict or a stunt double? I know in earlier seasons that he did most of his stunts.
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Offline delalluvia

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Re: PBS "Sherlock Holmes" Updated for the 21st century
« Reply #293 on: January 22, 2014, 08:47:22 pm »
I haven't cracked open that issue yet.

A question about the season opener: we see Sherlock at one point (I'm being deliberately vague here) from behind with his shirt off. Anybody know or can guess whether that's actually Benedict or a stunt double? I know in earlier seasons that he did most of his stunts.

Good question.  It might be him.  You see his face at the very end.  He did get all muscle-y for Star Trek Into Darkness and then stayed in great shape for his short movie "Small Favours", then, reportedly, he  couldn't get as small as he used to be when filming for the 3rd season started.  He stated he was 3 sizes larger than he used to be. 

Offline Front-Ranger

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Re: PBS "Sherlock Holmes" Updated for the 21st century
« Reply #294 on: January 23, 2014, 03:14:27 pm »
So have any of you fans seen Emily Nussbaum's review in the Jan. 27 New Yorker?

I read the first half which covered the first episode. It was pretty good, especially the part about "by the end of the episode, the story coheres, and the series is rebooted with a ping."

I haven't participated in all the fanfiction shenanigans, so all that is lost on me. I saw the segues to the various scenarios as distractions to the main story, whereas Emily and others apparently saw the main story as "goofy". Also, I thought they overdid the use of hashtags.

Interesting to find that Mary is Martin Freeman's partner in real life!!

The part that blew my mind was when she said that Sherlock was not just a buddy story or a romance but the story of a "god and a mortal." Wow.
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Offline Jeff Wrangler

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Re: PBS "Sherlock Holmes" Updated for the 21st century
« Reply #295 on: January 23, 2014, 04:12:54 pm »
Nussbaum's article actually made me glad I have never watched this series. Never mind the (frequent?) gay innuendo, the thought balloons--or whatever it was that Nussbaum calls them--would have really put me off.
"It is required of every man that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow-men, and travel far and wide."--Charles Dickens.

Offline delalluvia

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Re: PBS "Sherlock Holmes" Updated for the 21st century
« Reply #296 on: January 23, 2014, 04:24:40 pm »
Nussbaum's article actually made me glad I have never watched this series. Never mind the (frequent?) gay innuendo, the thought balloons--or whatever it was that Nussbaum calls them--would have really put me off.

It really isn't off putting though, Jeff.  And it's a shame because it's one of the best series out on TV these days.

Remember, this is the 21st century.

Sherlock makes a lot of rapid deductions about people and places in his head and he is up on the latest gadgets.  The "thought balloons" - and they are actually just floating words or statements - are showing the audience what he deduces about people and events without him actually SAYING it and they spell out what the phone displays are showing without the camera having to cut to the display of a monitor or phone.  You follow his thought processes without all the verbal exposition, so the pace of the episode keeps at a high level and it's really quite interesting.

The gay innuendo is not frequent.  But it's mentioned at least once every other episode.  

Remember, 21st century?

Two single men, living together, who spend all their time together, one of which never had any friends until he met the other and now wants him around all the time and defends him with his life, the other writes about his flatmate in his blog with great admiration, defends him publicly and with his life and one doesn't date at all and the other dates only sporadically.

What would a 21st century populace, that doesn't know them, make of their intimate closeness and utter devotion?  Their relationship IS unusual.

To infer a more intimate relationship between the two men is a reasonable assumption in this day and age as it wasn't in the Victorian era.  The creators are just going along with canon and what would modern audiences would think of them.

They also have implied from time to time that Sherlock is autistic in some way.  Again, what wasn't questioned in Victorian era, is a logical thing for a modern audience to infer.
« Last Edit: January 23, 2014, 09:05:58 pm by delalluvia »

Offline Shakesthecoffecan

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Re: PBS "Sherlock Holmes" Updated for the 21st century
« Reply #297 on: January 23, 2014, 05:36:04 pm »
Life is a whole lot easier if you don't think about it too much.  :P
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Offline delalluvia

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Re: PBS "Sherlock Holmes" Updated for the 21st century
« Reply #298 on: January 23, 2014, 09:03:37 pm »
Jeff,

Here are examples of the 'floating text'.

Deductions



Text displays



The font used is the same used in the London Underground system.  8)

Offline Jeff Wrangler

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Re: PBS "Sherlock Holmes" Updated for the 21st century
« Reply #299 on: January 23, 2014, 09:22:29 pm »
It really isn't off putting though, Jeff.

Of course it isn't, to you. You like the show.

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And it's a shame because it's one of the best series out on TV these days.

We can all say that about our favorite shows. One could say that about Spong Bob Squarepants if one liked the show sufficiently.

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Remember, this is the 21st century.

Thanks for reminding me. I need to reset my water clock. ...

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Sherlock makes a lot of rapid deductions about people and places in his head and he is up on the latest gadgets.  The "thought balloons" - and they are actually just floating words or statements - are showing the audience what he deduces about people and events without him actually SAYING it and they spell out what the phone displays are showing without the camera having to cut to the display of a monitor or phone.  You follow his thought processes without all the verbal exposition, so the pace of the episode keeps at a high level and it's really quite interesting.

I understood from Nussbaum that they're showing things to the audience. Sorry, but that all still sounds rather too cartoonish for my taste.

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The gay innuendo is not frequent.  But it's mentioned at least once every other episode.

Interesting. Everything I've read about the show dwells on that aspect so much that I would have thought it happened more frequently than that.  

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Remember, 21st century?

You've said that already. ...

Quote
Two single men, living together, who spend all their time together, one of which never had any friends until he met the other and now wants him around all the time and defends him with his life, the other writes about his flatmate in his blog with great admiration, defends him publicly and with his life and one doesn't date at all and the other dates only sporadically.

All that "defending with his life" seems an addition. I don't recall Dr. Watson ever getting in that much trouble.

Quote
What would a 21st century populace, that doesn't know them, make of their intimate closeness and utter devotion?  Their relationship IS unusual.

To infer a more intimate relationship between the two men is a reasonable assumption in this day and age as it wasn't in the Victorian era.  The creators are just going along with canon and what would modern audiences would think of them.

You're starting to sound like you're protesting too much.

Quote
They also have implied from time to time that Sherlock is autistic in some way.

High-functioning Asperger's would be my guess.

Quote
Again, what wasn't questioned in Victorian era, is a logical thing for a modern audience to infer.

Is the lesson over? Can I go now?
"It is required of every man that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow-men, and travel far and wide."--Charles Dickens.