On Wed, Jul 21, 2010 at 3:42 PM, Joe Coughlin <[email protected]>wrote:
> The main point of Sherlock Holmes stories isn't really the time setting. > It's the mystery. That can be done no matter when you are. I think it's an > interesting idea and I've like the works of both Gatiss and Moffat. I'm > willing to check it out. > > On Wed, Jul 21, 2010 at 3:37 PM, Dave Sikula <[email protected]> wrote: > >> To say this looks miserable and misguided is a gross understatement. >> > I only know what I read in the linked piece. It says:* "Sherlock* deposits the titular master sleuth and his trusted companion Dr. John Watson to contemporary London, where they will use their deductive skills to solve all manner of bizarre, surprising, and just plain weird cases." Does this mean that 19th century Holmes and Watson are somehow time transported to the 21st century, or that the show is about a Holmes and Watson who are native to the 21st century? I guess I am hoping its the second. Following what Joe posts above, Moffat is quoted in the article as saying: "Conan Doyle's stories were never about frock coats and gas light...They're about brilliant detection, dreadful villains and blood-curdling crimes... and, frankly, to hell with the crinoline. Other detectives have cases, Sherlock Holmes has adventures, and that's what matters." I disagree with both Joe and Moffat here. Holmes is a consulting detective of course, and those can and do exist in modern times, but the Holmes we know from Doyle is a creature of Victorian England and enlightenment thinking. To the extent that "frock coats and gas light" symbolize this unique period in western cultural and intellectual period, then Doyle's stories have everything to do with them. He is an individualist who uses reason to defeat chaos on the one hand and mindless tradition on the other. A Holmes who consults a Scotland Yard, or FBI, or Interpol data base instead of his own private and unsurpassed collection of tobacco, or matchsticks, or whatever is a decidedly different creature. That is not to say that the new show has to be horrible - it might be quite good. It could even capture much of the original spirit, but I don't see much hope for that if the producers see the essence of Holmes simply in his late night adventures. It would take some deep and creative thinking to transpose Holmes and his relation to social conventions and police practice and the lower classes and the criminal element into a contemporary key. OTOH, a show about an smart eccentric detective can be (and often has been in the past) interesting and entertaining and I might even like it a lot - but it doesn't look like it will really be Sherlock Holmes. -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
