Apparently 'Sherlock' was a big hit on the BBC when it aired about a month ago. O'Bviously it's about Sherlock Holmes, but a Sherlock that exists in 2010. It stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock and Martin Freeman as Dr. John Watson.*I can tell that it was wildly popular, because there are so many music video tributes to be found for it at YouTube.
It hasn't arrived in America yet, but since the DVD will be on sale by early November, I expect we'll be seeing it quite soon on 'Masterpiece Mystery'. And I can't wait, being a big fan of Cumberbatch since first seeing him as Hugh Laurie's oldest son in 'Fortysomething'.
I'll have to watch the three episodes first**, but right now I'm leaning toward letting it remain in Earth Prime-Time, even though it might appear that it conflicts with the classic view of the character, especially as portrayed by the incomparable Jeremy Brett. However, the theory I'd like to employ would be that this Sherlock Holmes is descended from the original (but not via Nero Wolfe who is considered the son of Holmes by Irene Adler).
Toobworld has often seen characters repeat, although usually with different names. And most often these reoccurrences are lateral copies - that is, within the same time frame. For example - the proliferation of clones for 'The Office' and 'Ugly Betty'.
Usually shows like this end up in the TV dimension of remakes, as did the second versions of 'Flipper', 'The Addams Family', '87th Precinct', and soon, 'Hawaii Five-O'. (Shows like 'Star Trek: The Next Generation', 'Young Maverick', 'Knight Rider', 'Burke's Law', and the 'Bonanza' TV movies are continuations.) But I have high hopes I can pull off the claim that this version of the Great Detective can remain in the primary Toobworld. But again, I'll have to watch it first.
BCnU!* My sympathies to Freeman - apparently he lost out on the role of Bilbo Baggins in the movie version of 'The Hobbit' because he had already signed up for the second season of 'Sherlock'. If only there was a way he could have done both!
** My British blogging buddy MediumRob tried to warn me off from watching the middle episode (three in all of 90 minutes in length), but I'll have to see it - there might be some nugget of trivia within it that could prove necessary for Toobworld.
Gosia and I really enjoyed all three of the episodes... I say leave him in Prime Time... there's very little overlap in the actual events of the stories, and hey, history repeats itself anyway... They're such a great set of characters that Prime Time just couldn't let them go.....
ReplyDelete