Sherlock Holmes
I guess everyone knows the
figure of Sherlock Holmes since he is likely to be the most famous
detective in modern literature. But in today's post I don´t want to
talk about the original story of Sherlock Holmes, but about its
modern television adaptions, in particular “ Sherlock” and “
Elementary”. I have to say that I normally hate modern adaptions of
books, plays or anything else because in my opinion it is the worst
you can do to a story, but I have to admit that I adore these two
adaptions because they are simply awesome.
For the unlucky ones who
haven't got the pleasure the hear or read about Sherlock Holmes and
his fellow Dr. Watson yet, here is a short summery to get a
impression of the original plot and its characters:
Sherlock Holmes was
invented by the Scottish author Sir. Arthur Conan Doyle in the late
19h century, which is also the time in which the story is set. Holmes
is a genius, with a photographic memory, an incredible knowledge
about science and a passion to solve crimes. He is the best
detective known, some even think his abilities are magical and with
his fellow Dr. John Watson he solves a lot of difficult cases. John
is not only Holmes roommate in the famous 221b Baker Street - London
but his only friend since he is nether interested in friendships nor
able to keep some since he is permanently offending people and
suffers from a lack of empathy. Sherlock also never takes an interest
in women, with the exception of Irine Adler but a real relationship
between the two of them is never mentioned since she only appears in
about two of the 56 short stories and 4 novels about Holmes. Another
important character is Sherlock´s archenemy James
Moriarty, the only man equal to him, but he who uses his abilities
for the evil.
Elementary
 |
| Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu |
Elementary
the US adaption of Sherlock Holmes, but in my opinion it is just
loosely based on the original story since not just the plot is very
different also the characters. The show takes place in our times New
York city, Sherlock Holmes, is a british former consultant of
Scotland Yard, who was sent to one of the cities rehab center to
fight his drug addiction which was caused be the sudden murder of his
girlfriend Irene Adler. After he left the center he got a so-called
Sober companion, a person which helps newly recovering addicts to
stay sober, Dr. Joan Watson. Dr. Watson moves in with him in order to
help him stay sober and gets involved in his work as consultant for
the NYPD and after some time even so interested in his work that she
( oh yes, Watson is a women!) decides to quit her shop and start a
new career as Holmes trainee.
I
guess even after that short introduction to the plot it is clear that
elementary really is very different to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's
story, but I think this is nothing bad even the opposite, it is
interesting to see how Sherlock, who never gets in touch with women
in the book and is a real womanizer in the TV show, suddenly have to
cope with a woman following him around 24/7 and after some time even
becoming his partner and friend. Another thing I really think of as
great is how they connected the characters of Irene Adler and Homes
archenemy Jamie Moriarty, which is also a woman in this adaption. I
don´t want to explain how they did this, but I assure you it will
blow your mind!
Sherlock
 | |
| Martin Freeman and Benedict Cumberbatch |
“Sherlock” is the British adaption of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle´s story, although it is also set on a modern background, today's London, it is much closer to the original story than “Elementary“ especially when it comes to its main protagonists. So Holmes is as crazy and antisocial as ever, although in this stories he does have contact with women, but just to use them in order to get important information to solve his cases. A funny thing is that despite his lack of interest in women nobody things Sherlock is gay, but Watson, who is engaged, is permanently asked if he is in love with Sherlock, which annoys him a lot.
"Watson is not gay"
What
really is different is how Sherlock solves his cases, because since
the story is set in the 21th
century he uses all the modern electronic devices. I think the way
they illustrate the use of this devices is pretty cool, since they
don´t just film e.g the mobile phones screen when Sherlock gets a
message, no they let the message appear in mid air like thoughts are
shown in comic books. They also use this method to show how his
thinking process works, so a lot of words and facts pop up in mid
air, and change, and get connected to other ones really fast – it
is kind of difficult to describe this, but really impressive when you
look at it.
A
character that gets much more attention than in the books is Jim, in
the orinal story James, Moriarty he is mentioned from the 1st
episode on but he killed himself after ruining Sherlock`s life at
the end of the 2nd
session, but although I don´t want to spoil anything there is a
surprise at the end of the 3rd
session having to do with him...
I
don´t want to tell too much about the plot because it would ruin the
show for everyone who haven't watched it yet, I just want to say that
it is really, really worth watching because it is not just full of
tension but really funny and Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes,
and Martin Freeman as Dr. John Watson are doing a really good job and
are incredible actors.
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