Sherlock

[fpb]

I could become a fan of the new BBC Sherlock Holmes serial. And mind you, I am a lifelong Holmes fan who has demanding tastes in adaptations (I hate Jeremy Brett, for instance).

Comments

[elegant-bonfire.livejournal.com]

Interesting to see how they'll update it to modern times. Sherlock Holmes, CSI?
Just curious, why didn't you like Jeremy Brett?

[fpb.livejournal.com]

Hysterical. Scenery-chewer. Holmes should be nervy, but controlled.

[elegant-bonfire.livejournal.com]

One review I read said Brett was putting a little bit too much emphasis on the drug-addict aspect of Holmes, heh. I think he started out better in the first years, before they ran out of the original Holmes stories. (Which were adapted pretty well, IMO.)

[fpb.livejournal.com]

Oh, one thing by which you can tell it's Moffat, there's any amount of gay jokes. We shall hope he does not actually take Holmes and Watson (who are both quite young) to bed.

[elegant-bonfire.livejournal.com]

I've read some Holmes stories where the underlying joke was that everyone thought they were gay, even though they really weren't, which was kind of funny if it was played very subtly. Holmes/Watson slash, though=not a fan.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's what I hope he'll do. That's what he'll do if he has any sense - everyone thinks they are gay where in fact they are both straight and even a bit in the market. The canon Dr.Watson is pretty bloody obviously straight - married twice, and very sentimental indeed. And there is evidence that Holmes fell in love once or twice, but never admitted it.

[mentalguy.livejournal.com]

I'd say that so far things look encouraging. Certainly Moffet's Dr. Watson seems v. interested in the ladies.

[dustthouart.livejournal.com]

Have you ever read Rex Stout's Watson Was a Woman speech?

It was clearly meant tongue in cheek, but I think the deal is that there are, in any close platonic relationship, elements that could be emphasized or reinterpreted to indicate attraction. Especially, if it's an old friendship, it will resemble in some ways an old happily married couple, because I can't think of any longterm happily married couple that are not also good friends. I think that drives most shipping fic, heterosexual or homosexual. If a character cares for a sick character, it doesn't matter what the author's intention was... there will be things there that someone, somewhere, will seize upon and start shipping the characters.

Although fandom is crazy. Characters don't have to interact in canon at all to paired in fanfic!

[fpb.livejournal.com]

Stout had to fight off similar slurs about Nero Wolfe's all-male household.

[mentalguy.livejournal.com]

That was one thing about series five of Doctor Who that surprised me -- the gay jokes were almost nowhere to be found.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

As for CSI, there is very little of the detailed and nasty forensics work of a lot of modern series - at least so far. It is pretty close to the original, only a bit faster-paced, and with very creative use of things like portable phones.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

And if you are curious, go on the BBC home site and see if you can watch it online. I don't know whether areas outside Britain are protected, but that is how I am watching the first episode, which I missed last Saturday.

[elegant-bonfire.livejournal.com]

Our local PBS(non-profit) station runs a lot of BBC stuff--they showed the Brett series, as well as some Dr. Who. I'll have to check them out, they're one of the channels that comes in really well with my digital TV antenna.