Classics Without All the Class discussion

OMG I love this show. Discuss. :) I'd warn people who haven't watched of spoilers if you intend to discuss specific plot lines.

It's a lot of fun.

Whew! I'm ready to just prattle on about how much I love Martin Freeman and Benedict Cumberbatch! I am eagerly awaiting season three. In fact, I've watched the first two seasons twice already because I enjoy them so much! I think they make a great pair.

And Andrew Scott as Professor Moriarty!!!

I am in the middle of my third run-through of the series. OMG I love this show. I think making it an hour and a half is the secret also.

And yes, Heather, LOVE Andrew Scott as Moriarty.

Mrs. Hudson too. And...Oh let's just say the whole cast is freaking stellar.

I can't wait for series 3! I just heard today that there was going to be a fall 2013 world premiere date, but now I'm not able to find an actual source. I hope it's true!

Just finished reading "A Study in Scarlet" and was quite surprised by how closely the BBC show (despite being modern) followed the original book. Will have to watch it again now.

I have only seen the first episode of Sherlock so far and loved it! Though I am wondering if I should read all of the books before watching the rest of the series. Does anyone know if the rest of the episodes so closely follow the plots from the original stories?

I love this series!
I am seriously Sherlock Holmes obsessed, and this is amazing. I particularly love the way that Benedict Cumberbatch plays Sherlock, just how I personally believe that a modern interpretation of the written Sherlock would be translated.
I also like the format/timing. As Martin Freeman said in an interview on Graham Norton, I think, it is more like getting a series of small movies instead of a television show.

E, I've watched the entire series including all of the commentary. I'd say the other one which most closely resembles the stories is season 2's first episode, "A Scandal in Bohemia." The others, as I've observed and as the writers mentioned in the commentary tend to borrow from several stories and don't closely follow single stories.

Thanks Rosella! I will make sure to read A Scandal in Bohemia first.

Another fan here! I'm in the mood to rewatch them all what with reading the stories and finishing up one of these little crocheted guys for a fangirl friend of mine. http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs70/f/201... I can't wait to compare the stories with the show.

I am on my third re-watching of the show. I find things I missed though and who can resist Benedict Cumberbatch really?

I watched only the first season, but I like this transposition of Doyle's characters in modern day.
I read all Sherlock Holmes adventures, so I can evaluate the differences with books. I Also think that that Benedict Cumberbatch is perfect in the role of Holmes, snob and genial as the original

Karena wrote: "I am on my third re-watching of the show. I find things I missed though and who can resist Benedict Cumberbatch really?"

But, are you watching all seasons for the third time?
I agree with you that one or more revisions are ideal for discover all particulars.

Andrew wrote: "Karena wrote: "I am on my third re-watching of the show. I find things I missed though and who can resist Benedict Cumberbatch really?"

But, are you watching all seasons for the third time?
I agre..."

Yeah, both seasons for the 3rd time. =) The 2nd time I watched it trying to get my mother in law into it and the 3rd time I just watched it to get my parents into it. Both times they were hooked. I'm a Sherlock pusher. I should be ashamed, but really, I'm not. Haha.

Danaë wrote: "Another fan here! I'm in the mood to rewatch them all what with reading the stories and finishing up one of these little crocheted guys for a fangirl friend of mine. http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs..."

OMG, Danaë. Those are adorable!

I totally love Sherlock Holmes and totally (sorry) dislike the actor who portrays him on this TV adaptation. However, I think I will look into "A Scandal in Bohemia".

Karena wrote: "OMG, Danaë. Those are adorable!"

Aren't they? I fell in love with the pattern as soon as I saw it. :)

I love the show. It is actually reason why I started to read Sherlock. I kind of liked films (new with Robert as Sherlock) too but they didn't get me hooked like the show. The cast are amazing, even bad guys are fine (I usually hate them). Just watched two episodes with my sister yesterday to make her fan too. I guess she is now, even she might prefer Robert as Sherlock. I actually checked the show because of Martin Freeman, love him, but Benedict is brilliant also. I guess I like this more than books, I read collection of his best works at first, which was fine, but now I'm reading huge books which have all cases (expect books) and it is kind of.. not so tempting. Can't wait to third season, when I was watching Hobbit, all I could think was, please Bilbo, find that stupid dragon and go play with Sherlock.

Reija wrote: "I love the show. It is actually reason why I started to read Sherlock. I kind of liked films (new with Robert as Sherlock) too but they didn't get me hooked like the show. The cast are amazing, eve..."

You know that Benedict Cumberbatch is supposed to be the voice for the dragon in the next Hobbit movies? As well as the Necromancer? I was disappointed when neither character talked in the first one. :) But I am going to go see the Star Trek movie because I think B.C. will be a fantabulous bad guy.

My husband and I found SHerlock because of Martin Freeman too. I'd heard about the show, Jeane, our other booktator even suggested it to me, but it wasn't until I saw MF on the Colbert Report during his Hobbit week that we decided to check it out. I think we watched all 6 shows in 2 days.

RDJ doesn't do a bad Sherlock, but he does a better Tony Stark. ;)

I watched the first series and mostly enjoyed it. Though the second episode has a lot unpalatable 'Yellow Peril' racism. And while I though the build up to Moriarty was done very well (especially as there is NO build up in the books, he's just a villain ex machina) I wasn't particularly fond of the actor when he finally made an appearance.

Watched the first two episodes of the second series with high expectations though and then just couldn't summon up the effort to care about watching the final one. Stephen Moffat can't write decent female characters at the best of times (It's why I had to drop Dr. Who as well) but his treatment of Irene Adler left a particularly unpleasant aftertaste. 'Lets take one of the few people who ever beat Holmes in the original stories and turn it into an episode where she's just a chesspiece for the male villain and gets beaten by Sherlock because he's so awesome her silly woman hormones can't help but make her fall in love with him.' The whole episode was just terrible.

I' ve just finished to watch "A Scandal in Belgravia". In this first episode of the second season, there are more jokes between the two main actors, and funny situation that in previous season. I been striked by the character of "the woman", Irene Adler, that is of greater effect than book, more extreme, perhaps also to attract the attention of the public. I agree with Louise that the charcater of Irene was mismanaged: she was introduced as the "principal opponent" of Holmes, a straordinary woman, an opponent to his height. Insted, without make spoiler, going on in the episode she loses this role to became another defeated opponent.

Louise wrote: "I watched the first series and mostly enjoyed it. Though the second episode has a lot unpalatable 'Yellow Peril' racism. And while I though the build up to Moriarty was done very well (especially a..."

However, one must admit that, compared to the novel, Irene Adler in TV and cinema has been transformed, as appropriate, to spy, double agent, high-class prostitute and so on.

They just announced that season 3 is getting ready to start shooting on March 18 and season 4 has been confirmed! Yay!

Karena wrote: "They just announced that season 3 is getting ready to start shooting on March 18 and season 4 has been confirmed! Yay!"

Oh, so I must wait next year to see it in Italy.

Andrew wrote: "Karena wrote: "They just announced that season 3 is getting ready to start shooting on March 18 and season 4 has been confirmed! Yay!"

Oh, so I must wait next year to see it in Italy."

I think we'll all be waiting awhile for it. =(

Love, love, love the show. It got me really interested in reading the original works.

The show cast brilliant actors as well.

Andrew wrote: "However, one must admit that, compared to the novel, Irene Adler in TV and cinema has been transformed, as appropriate, to spy, double agent, high-class prostitute and so on. "

Yes, but that other adaptations have used her in different ways (I don't really like her treatment in the RDJ films either) doesn't really change the fact that Sherlock twisted her story and character in a way I found both problematic and sadly typical of the way Moffat always tends to portray women.

I just found it disapointing because so much about this series is really really great, and when it's good I love it. But then it either goes too far over the top (Moriarty, the ridiculousness of the Hound of the Baskervilles episode) or gets problematic (racism, the treatment of female characters) and I increasingly found that the good stuff just wasn't worth it for me.

Where was the racism?

Second episode of the first series switched American villains (in the original story 'The Dancing Men') to Chinese ones and filled it with trappings of old school 'yellow peril' and fetishy orentialism.

To be honest I probably didn't even pick up on some of it, but that episode left me feeling pretty yuck about how the Chinese characters were portrayed as the sinister 'other'. And when I started looking up reviews I was a bit relieved to see that it wasn't just me either.

There's nothing wrong with liking problematic things, of course, you can love something and still find elements problematic but I just kept finding more and more in Sherlock that made me feel icky and less and less that I genuinely enjoyed. Which is a shame because it's a series that I could otherwise have really loved.

Louise wrote: "Second episode of the first series switched American villains (in the original story 'The Dancing Men') to Chinese ones and filled it with trappings of old school 'yellow peril' and fetishy orentia..."

I stand corrected. I hadn't considered the portrayal of Chinese Londoners and Asian culture. I guess it is an example of my own narrow mindedness that when I read racism, I thought black people.

I've just re-read "A Scandal in Bohemia" and re-watched "A Scandal in Belgravia" and I've concluded that the Irene Adler in the TV show is a more formidable opponent than the original Doyle character. Doyle actually gave her very few lines. In her only recorded interactions with Sherlock she asks him to serve as a witness at her hasty wedding and nurses his fake wounds without giving any indication that she saw beyond the façade of the clergy man disguise or the wound. If we can believe her own word, she didn't recognize Sherlock until after she gave away the whereabouts of the photograph and then only because someone else had warned her to look out for him. On the other hand, the Adler in the series, actively seeks Sherlock out, engages him in his own game, seriously unnerves him and nearly beats him to a pulp. The fact that she contracted with Moriaty hardly makes her less capable within the world of the show. Several villains -- male and female -- "consult" with the "world's first consulting criminal." The fact that her "payment" is playing with the "famous Holmes brothers" only proves that, like Moraiaty, she possesses a mind which is a criminal version of Holmes' own. I can see why her occupation in the show may appear problematic to some feminists. However, as the writers point out in the commentary high class prostitution could be one possible interpretation of the very Victorian job description of "adventuress." Furthermore, while I realize this interpretation will reflect sadly on society's association of sexuality with empowerment, I find the idea of a dominatrix who holds on to comprising pictures for use in a power struggle more empowered than a love struck woman who threatens to embarrass her old lover until a new man comes to sweep her off her feet.

This tv show is exactly what I would see Holmes and Watson to be like If they lived in modern day times, slightly out of step with the rest of society but funny and smart.

I have to say that I really enjoyed watching Watson in the series. I felt the series really revealed a greater and deeper relationship between Sherlock and John than in the books.