- Joined
- Feb 8, 1999
- Messages
- 18,409
- Real Name
- Robert Harris
I've always enjoyed the words "re-imagined, or re-imagining."
Take a literary work, a film, a piece of art, turn it on its head, and make something quite different out of it.
Sometimes a "re-imagined" work will, and sometimes it won't - work.
The BBC, that bastion of British civility, history, and humour, set out to back filmmakers Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat in their concept to take the Sherlock Holmes character, as first published in A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in 1887, and bring he and Dr. Watson to present day London. They were getting into something odd, albeit with top talent, and could have stumbled.
And it works.
It works exceedingly well.
Holmes, played by Benedict Cumberbatch (what a great name!) and Martin Freeman as Watson, are entirely likable gents, who seem to be in their mid-thirties. That seems to work, as Holmes birth was around 1854, andy is appearance in Study would make him thirty plus.
What's great, is that while the spirit of the originals is respected, the tails are purely modern and up to date.
Each season gives us three feature length films, all based upon the Holmes works of Sir Arthur.
Season One includes A Study in Pink, based upon A Study in Scarlet (1887), The Blind Banker, based loosely upon a premise found in The Valley of Fear (1914-15), and finally The Great Game, taking bits and pieces from a number of works.
Season Two offers A Scandal in Belgravia, again loosely based upon original works, The Hounds of Baskerville, with obvious parentage (1902), and The Reichenbach Fall, from The Final Problem (1893).
While it's all about thought processes and deductive reasoning, Sherlock takes us on a fun ride.
Those who read "A Few Words..." will recall the problems with the PBS release of Season Two of Downton Abbey, which I understand is under review.
Sherlock, although still 1080i, is handled in a different technical manner, which rather than holding and replicating a frame, combines a couple, for a virtual double exposure.
While the result in Sherlock (both seasons) is transparent, I must wonder how much better the Blu-ray might look if a different methodology is used in the future. For these releases, there are not only no problems, but the results are generally stunning, even in 1080i.
If any readers own the UK version, I'd be interested in knowing how the work is portrayed in a frame by frame mode, and whether that version, which would be 1080i / 50, goes smoothly frame by frame, without intervention. For those interested in cinematographic minutia, Season One was shot with a Sony F35, while for Season Two, the move was made to the uber-popular Arri Alexa, all taken through a DI to HDCAM.
As a huge fan of the Holmes pantheon, I'm loving this series.
Great stories, based upon works generally going back a hundred years or more, brought to us by BBC in splendid looking Blu-rays.
Is the game afoot?
Definitely.
With fifty-six short stories and four novels that can be used as future fodder, this series could have a long way to go, and that's very good thing.
Highly Recommended.
RAH
Take a literary work, a film, a piece of art, turn it on its head, and make something quite different out of it.
Sometimes a "re-imagined" work will, and sometimes it won't - work.
The BBC, that bastion of British civility, history, and humour, set out to back filmmakers Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat in their concept to take the Sherlock Holmes character, as first published in A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in 1887, and bring he and Dr. Watson to present day London. They were getting into something odd, albeit with top talent, and could have stumbled.
And it works.
It works exceedingly well.
Holmes, played by Benedict Cumberbatch (what a great name!) and Martin Freeman as Watson, are entirely likable gents, who seem to be in their mid-thirties. That seems to work, as Holmes birth was around 1854, andy is appearance in Study would make him thirty plus.
What's great, is that while the spirit of the originals is respected, the tails are purely modern and up to date.
Each season gives us three feature length films, all based upon the Holmes works of Sir Arthur.
Season One includes A Study in Pink, based upon A Study in Scarlet (1887), The Blind Banker, based loosely upon a premise found in The Valley of Fear (1914-15), and finally The Great Game, taking bits and pieces from a number of works.
Season Two offers A Scandal in Belgravia, again loosely based upon original works, The Hounds of Baskerville, with obvious parentage (1902), and The Reichenbach Fall, from The Final Problem (1893).
While it's all about thought processes and deductive reasoning, Sherlock takes us on a fun ride.
Those who read "A Few Words..." will recall the problems with the PBS release of Season Two of Downton Abbey, which I understand is under review.
Sherlock, although still 1080i, is handled in a different technical manner, which rather than holding and replicating a frame, combines a couple, for a virtual double exposure.
While the result in Sherlock (both seasons) is transparent, I must wonder how much better the Blu-ray might look if a different methodology is used in the future. For these releases, there are not only no problems, but the results are generally stunning, even in 1080i.
If any readers own the UK version, I'd be interested in knowing how the work is portrayed in a frame by frame mode, and whether that version, which would be 1080i / 50, goes smoothly frame by frame, without intervention. For those interested in cinematographic minutia, Season One was shot with a Sony F35, while for Season Two, the move was made to the uber-popular Arri Alexa, all taken through a DI to HDCAM.
As a huge fan of the Holmes pantheon, I'm loving this series.
Great stories, based upon works generally going back a hundred years or more, brought to us by BBC in splendid looking Blu-rays.
Is the game afoot?
Definitely.
With fifty-six short stories and four novels that can be used as future fodder, this series could have a long way to go, and that's very good thing.
Highly Recommended.
RAH
If you have a compatible player, is using one of these discs transparent to the user both visually and operationally?
