From Pete's World: "Sherlock Holmes" and "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows"

Even though I saw the fantastic Robert Downey Jr. in Sherlock Holmes (which was when it came out) before I saw him in Iron Man (which was less than a month ago), to a certain extent I can't help but see the RDJ Sherlock movies as Tony Stark a having created time travel. But then again, there's a lot I chalk up to time travel these days.

The RDJ Sherlock movies are possibly better than both Elementary and Sherlock and it must be said that it did come out before either of those series started, having been released Christmas day in 2009 (Yes, the day we began to loose David...) They are set in the Victorian era, as per the original novels/short stories. The costuming is superb, as is the set design. Musically, the score is very similar to Sherlock, which I like.

The dynamic between Holmes and Watson (Jude Law) is the main development point in the first film, although the plot is captivating as well. Also introduced in the first move are Irene Adler (Rachel McAdams), Mary Morston/Watson (Kelly Reilley), DI Lestrade (Eddie Marsan), and at they very end, Moriarty (Jared Harris).

Moriarty is the main focus of A Game of Shadows, and the ending is the same as "The Reichenbach Fall," down to the point that Sherlock did, in fact, survive. Unlike Sherlock, there has been no third instalment, although Jude Law has confirmed another one!

What the two films do masterfully is not model the books. They borrow the characters and their dynamics, and certain story elements like the "death" of Sherlock and Moriarty in the Reichenbach, but, as far I can tell, the plot lines are not directly modelled off the novels/short stories, as the plots are in Sherlock and to a certain extent Elementary are. What this does is makes it so that even if you know the original canon, you can't predict the resolution of the plot. The element is mystery is still there while you can enjoy the chemistry between the characters.

Comedy is also excellently executed in both films, even though they both have very serious, dramatic elements. One of the running jokes, so to speak, is that Holmes keeps experimenting on Gladstone, the dog Sherlock and John shared while living at 221b (the first film starts the day John moves in with Mary) and it always appears that the dog has died, where as he actually has not.

Overall, both of these films get 4.5 stars. The loss of that half star is from the fact that, in the second movie especially, there are scenes with elongated fire-fights in them, which I personally find dull and repetitive. Anyone who enjoys the ACD novels/short stories, Sherlock, Elementary, or even that other Sherlock Holmes movie I wrote about must watch these two films!

PS. Stephen Fry is Mycroft. Enough said.

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From Pete's World: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes (2010)

Every time someone watches this movie, ACD has a seizure in his grave.

Don't confuse me saying that with me saying that it is bad, because that is not at all what I am saying. If we are to define the quality of a movie by it's ability to captivate the audience, then this film is fabulous.

This bastardisation of Sherlock Holmes has many redeeming qualities, and at the top of that list is the cast. Ben Synder plays an excellent Sherlock Holmes in his film debut and Gareth David-Lloyd (Torchwood, Ianto Jones) steals the show as Watson.

Staying true to ACD's canon, the piece is narrated by Watson. In this film, it is that Watson is about to die, and he dictates to a character called Miss Hudson. (In the story he narrates, the housekeeper is a Mrs Hudson, so it is unclear if this woman is her descendant or if he's confused because he is about to die). If I'm not mistaken this Miss Hudson is the same actor who played the girl Casanova told his story to in the David Tennant Casanova. It's a very analogous role.

Beyond here, I won't say anything plot wise. It's really quite a crazy story, involving a kracken, a velociraptor, an ancestor to Iron Man, a pilotable hot-air balloon, and a fire-breathing mechanical dragon who would make Smaug proud. Aside from anything beyond this being a spoiler, it is also to absurd to try to explain.

Overall, I give it 2.5 stars. Most of what is taken away is because the writers treated the iconical characters of Holmes and Watson in a way Sherlockians would call sacrilege, not to mention that they name Sherlock's brother Thorpe. Thorpe. If you're not going to call him Mycroft, okay, fine...but Thorpe? If you're someone who is in to the Sherlock Holmes aray of media, do watch this. If not, watch something else Sherlock first (like BBC's Sherlock or CBS' Elementary): this is definitely not for beginners.

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From Pete's World: Elementary (S1E12 through S2E16 "The One Percent Solution")

In my earlier post about CBS' Elementary, not only was I somewhat factually inaccurate, but also had only seen the first half of the first season. Now, I am completely caught up (The last episode to air was "The One Percent Solution"), and I have also read Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's A Study in Scarlet, The Sign of the Four,  and the collection of short stories included in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. This gives me an increased perspective of what is taken from ACD's work and what is CBS' own creation.

Sherlock producer Sue Vertue

Elementary creator
Robert Dohetry

On the topic of CBS' own creation, I have come across information that is very interesting. When Sue Vertue, producer of BBC Sherlock learned that CBS would also be doing a Sherlock Holmes-based show, she took some interesting actions to assure that there was no copyright infringement from CBS' production on the rights BBC Sherlock has to elements of Sherlock Holmes. As ACD published his stories about over a century ago, and is now since dead, the characters in his stories and their plot is somewhat public domain. However, the way BBC Sherlock (and Elementary, for that matter) presents their characters is under their copyright. In short, Vertue took steps to make sure that CBS was not, in essence, making an American version of Sherlock, which is why the two productions are so incredibly different. I imagine that both productions are walking a very fine line with each other's presences. It has also, I assume, puched Elementary (and to some extent, Sherlock) to think outside the box and get creative with their story lines.

Natalie Dormer as Irene

Now, for plot. If you are looking for a general overview of Elementary, please refer to the earlier Pete's World post here.
The second half of Elementary's first season deals with Moriatry and Irene Adler, and the writers take a very interesting plot-twist. In the first episode of Season 2, we meet two pivotal characters. First is Gareth Lestrade (played by Jon Pertwee's son Sean!!) and the other is Mycroft Holmes.

Sean Pertwee as Lestrade

Yes-there is a Lestrade  and a Gregson. In BBC Sherlock, the characters are combined in to Greg Lestrade. In ADC cannon, there is a Gregson and a Lestrade. It begs the question--why did BBC Sherlock decide to have the characters combined?

Rhys Ifans as Mycroft

Mycroft is a whole separate bundle of joy. He looks old and a little sleazy, and is a successful restaurateur. The Sherlock-Mycroft relationship seems to have more family-based tension in Elementary, while in Sherlock it is more of an all-around stressed relationship.
Also introduced in the first episode of season one is 221b Baker Street. It is where Sherlock lived before he moved to New York.

Now that I have finished a fair amount of ACD canon, I'm resizing a lot of what I said about Elementary's Sherlock being not very based in cannon is predominately false. One thing I specifically remember is that ACD Sherlock practices single stick. However, it is likely that Sherlock got to a lot of classic ADC Sherlock traits before Elementary could get to them.

My hopes for this show are still very high, and I believe it has been renewed for a third and fourth season.

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From Pete's World: Elementary (through S1E12 "M.")

Sherlock: perhaps the original fandom. If my memory serves me correctly, it was the Sherlockians back around the time of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle who used the concept of cannon outside of the biblical context.

Of course, there is the BBC's Sherlock--the downfall (sorry for using "fall"...) of which is that there is so little material. But there is also CBS's Elementary with Jonny Lee Miller as Sherlock Holmes and Lucy Liu as Joan Watson. Although the it is the second season that is currently being broadcast, there is already a lot to go on. The first season was 24 episodes and some similar number for season two is expected, I believe.



The set-up of the series is pretty different. Sherlock recently relocated to New York City from London, after completing drug rehab (in the greater NY area, I assume). He is a consultant to the New York Police Department, having the contact with Captain Gregson (for the BBC Sherlock fans, he's the Lestrade equivalent) after working with him on something I don't quite recall post 9/11. Watson is his "sober companion," hired by his absentee father to assist Sherlock in staying clean after rehab. Irene Adler also plays a role--however, much different than in the BBC version. She is dead a year and a half before the start of the series, and her death was what pushed Sherlock to use.

Having the Watson character be female presents a very different dynamic compared to that of BBC's presentation. It adds a certain amount of opportunity for some intense shipping. For me, I am yet to even want to indulge in that. Watson  is introduced to Sherlock in a professional capacity, and she seems to, at least at this point, have every intention of it remaining that way. There have been, although, hints that she did become romantically involved with past clients, which definitely are placed to ignite the idea of Holmes and Watson being together in the viewer. While the idea of a female Watson may deter people from the series, I personally find it to be one of the things that makes this interpretation very different from others. Lui's performance in the role is sublime.

Miller's portrayal of the sleuth also creates as sharp a contrast as possible to that of Benedict Cumberbatch's. In part this is through the writing and physical appearance of the characters. In all ways, Miller's Sherlock is far more grungy. He constantly looks unkempt, coated in stubble and tattoos. Personality wise, as TARDIStyle Talk (formerly the podcast) participator Desmond points out, this Sherlock is much more human, and less of the "god" that Moffat presents his Sherlock to be. Miller's is not a man trying to be a god; he is a man simply grasping to being human.

Also unlike BBC's Sherlock, there has, so far, been no mention of Sherlock living at 221b Baker Street, and he is yet to been seen in a deer stalker. But, fear not: he still wears a scarf--a plaid one in red and black. For everyone who Cumberbatch's violin playing made melt, I will send one warning: Watson finds Sherlock's old violin and suggests he take it up again, after which Sherlock sets it aflame. In general, this is not a "retelling" of the Sherlock story-it borrows the characters and their relationships with each other, but, thus far, to my knowledge, there has been no obvious parallel to a Doyle story, such as what Moffat did with "The Hound of Baskerville."
This lack of similarity is completely intentional. When Sue Vertue, producer of BBC Sherlock found out that Elementary was going to be a thing, she made sure that CBS understood that they would take them to court if she thought that it was becoming akin to an American remake of her show. I understand that she screened the pilot episode before it even aired.

I will be revisiting the series as I watch more of it. In a nutshell, here's what I have to say: this version of Sherlock Holmes is much different than any one I've seen before. I'd recommend this to anyone who enjoys BBC's Sherlock, Fox's House (surprise in the episode "The Long Fuse"), and also Bones. If you're genre savvy, you'll figure a few things out before they're announced, but for the most part I say that the surprise factor is still there. I give it 4 out of 5 stars!

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From Pete's World: Firefly and Serenity

Hey y'all. This is Ley, not Pete. There is no Pete here. It's a reference to the Doctor's name for the Alternate Universe the TARDIS falls into in "Rise of the Cybermen".
So, this is the first in what may be an ongoing column about other sci-fi shows/movies. First up: series Firefly and the film sequel to that series, Serenity. Both are from the mind of Joss Whedon (Buffy, Angel, "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog").

Firefly was a 2002 sci-fi TV series that ran for one season. It follows the crew or the starship Serenity, a Firefly class "transport" ship, and by transport I mean smuggling. The premise is that 500 years in the future, the resources on this earth have been used up and the population too large to fit our numbers. They terraformed planets and moons to make space for the human race, and a group called the Alliance tried to force all the planets into their rule, like an evil version of the United Nations. Of course, people fought a war against the Alliance to prevent the union, but they lost and the central planets are firm under the Alliance's control and lush with 26th century technology. The outer planets resemble the 1800s after an alien visitation. (Speaking of aliens, I know that can be a big magnet in the sci-fi culture, and I will tell you now that there are no aliens. Unless you include an upside-down mutated cow fetus.) The crew of Serenity is made up of Captain Malcom Reynolds (Nathan Fillion, "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog), First Mate Zoë Washburne (Gina Torres), Pilot Hoban "Wash" Washburne, (Alan Tudyk), Mechanic Kaylee Frye (Jewel Staite), Mercinary Jayne Cobb (Adam Baldwin), and Registered Companion (kinda like an refined, respectable prostitute) Inara Serra (Morrena Baccarin). In the very first episode, they pick up four additional passengers, only three of whom they are aware of and three of whom who stay. They are joined by Shepherd (equivalent to a pastor) Derrial Book (Ron Glass), Dr. Simon Tamm (Sean Maher) and his sister, River (Summer Glau). Generally speaking, each of the episodes involves the rag-tag band accomplishing different jobs to earn money, and avoid the Alliance because there are fugitives hiding upon good ship Serenity. The ending on the Firefly series is very easy to add to; the entire main cast is alive and there are more unanswered questions than answered ones.

The feature-length follow-up movie, Serenity, came out in 2005 and followed the same premise. Serenity gives closure to the plot of Firefly, mostly dealing with the curious case of the Tamms. The Alliance is hot on the tails of these fugitives, and we learn more about River and what happened to her in the Alliance Labs (I'd elaborate, but spoilers) and why she is so wanted back by the Alliance. The ending of the movie gives restitution to the story line and leaves a smile on your face.

Especially in the first episode of the series and in the movie, there are long periods of shooting and other violence, which left me bored. Once you make it past the first scene of the first episode, there is not that much shooting (but there is violence) until the movie, when it is not anywhere near as boring. Overall, the series is not overly gory, but it does feature much mature content. They are rated TV-14 and PG-13 respectively, but they do come very close to some topics that may be very disturbing even to adults.

Although the series attracts the same crowd as Doctor Who, it does not share much in common. It is much darker and less fanciful, as well as, like I said, being very much for an older audience.

The first episode of Firefly, "Serenity", is 1hr 30mins. All the other episodes are about 45 minutes long.
The movie is just under two hours.

Take my love.

Take my land.

Take me where I cannot stand.

I don't care, I'm still free.

You can't take the sky from me.

Take me out to the black.

Tell em I ain't comin' back.

Burn the land and boil the sea.

You can't take the sky from me.

There's no place I can be

Since I found Serenity.

But you can't take the sky from me.