Lynn Flewelling's Blog, page 21
May 15, 2012
Sherlock: Scandal in Belgravia, uncut version
OK, yes, I am obsessed. Watched the uncut version over lunch.
The cuts were much more noticeable in this episode. Interesting that they were almost entirely speculations on Sherlock's sexuality, or lack thereof.
And how could they cut "The Speckled Blond"!!!??? Too funny. Also caught an allusion to "The Illustrious Client."
Truly one of the best episodes ever. I've watched it . . . It's all a blur, Detective Inspector. I lost count. ;-)
Back to work now, until I become obsessed with next week's episode!
The cuts were much more noticeable in this episode. Interesting that they were almost entirely speculations on Sherlock's sexuality, or lack thereof.
And how could they cut "The Speckled Blond"!!!??? Too funny. Also caught an allusion to "The Illustrious Client."
Truly one of the best episodes ever. I've watched it . . . It's all a blur, Detective Inspector. I lost count. ;-)
Back to work now, until I become obsessed with next week's episode!
Sherlock: The Hounds of Baskerville Second viewing
I downloaded the uncut version from iTunes (bless 'em!) and watched it again. The combination of the extra five minutes business, lowered expectations, and knowing what was going on to catch the little details made it much more enjoyable.
The scene with John trapped in the lab came together much better. I don't know if I missed the business with the sugar, or parts of it were cut from the PBS showing, but it hung together this time.
Sherlock experimenting on John still leaves a bad taste. In the Canon Watson remarks that he could imagine Holmes slipping him a bit of "some vegetable alkaloid" just to see what would happen, but Holmes never did it, and, as mentioned before, felt very badly at exposing him to the toxin in "The Adventure of the Devil's Foot."
I'd need a score card to keep track of what Gatiss did with the names from the original, so can't comment on that. One interesting little detail, however, was the scenes of Sherlock standing on the rocks overlooking Baskerville. In the book, Watson sees a distant figure on an outcropping and chases him down (as John does the headlights in the TV version) and discovers Holmes hiding in an ancient stone hut. Nice little Easter egg, that.
There were a few quotable lines:
"He's his PA. Well, live-in PA."
"Oh don't do that, being all mysterious with your cheekbones and your coat turned up!"
"I don't have friends. I have one friend."
Headlights code!
So cheers to the uncut version! It still lacks the brilliance of "Scandal" but it's better than the cut version, and worth watching again.
The scene with John trapped in the lab came together much better. I don't know if I missed the business with the sugar, or parts of it were cut from the PBS showing, but it hung together this time.
Sherlock experimenting on John still leaves a bad taste. In the Canon Watson remarks that he could imagine Holmes slipping him a bit of "some vegetable alkaloid" just to see what would happen, but Holmes never did it, and, as mentioned before, felt very badly at exposing him to the toxin in "The Adventure of the Devil's Foot."
I'd need a score card to keep track of what Gatiss did with the names from the original, so can't comment on that. One interesting little detail, however, was the scenes of Sherlock standing on the rocks overlooking Baskerville. In the book, Watson sees a distant figure on an outcropping and chases him down (as John does the headlights in the TV version) and discovers Holmes hiding in an ancient stone hut. Nice little Easter egg, that.
There were a few quotable lines:
"He's his PA. Well, live-in PA."
"Oh don't do that, being all mysterious with your cheekbones and your coat turned up!"
"I don't have friends. I have one friend."
Headlights code!
So cheers to the uncut version! It still lacks the brilliance of "Scandal" but it's better than the cut version, and worth watching again.
Republican War on Women? You bet!
Warning, politics ahead.
Rachel Maddow—who is like Jon Stewart with all the content and a little less humor (but not much!) outlines why the Democrats are claiming that the Republicans are making war on women—a charge they are running from as fast as they can. For the record, I'm not a great fan of abortion, personally, but I believe that is a decision every women has the right to make her own choice about. What's going on in this country right now is very frightening for women.
Rachel Maddow—who is like Jon Stewart with all the content and a little less humor (but not much!) outlines why the Democrats are claiming that the Republicans are making war on women—a charge they are running from as fast as they can. For the record, I'm not a great fan of abortion, personally, but I believe that is a decision every women has the right to make her own choice about. What's going on in this country right now is very frightening for women.
May 14, 2012
Today's Best Typo
Seregil pussed the couch closer to the fire and made Alec sit down, then put his cloak around him.
Sherlock DVD vs. iTunes Question
I just looked on iTunes and found that they have the series, including Series 2. They list the running time for each as an hour and a half, and on PBS it is 90 min. Does anyone know if the iTunes version is as complete as the BBC DVDs? Or did PBS run it uncut? They don't have commercials during the show.
Sherlock: Hound of the Baskervilles 1st Viewing Thoughts
**Spoilers ahead**
I must confess myself very disappointed in last night's episode of Sherlock. I had high hopes for a delightful mash up, like last week's season opener, "A Scandal in Belgravia". The alternate realities worked so well in that one, the humor, and the in-jokes fell like hilarious rain: The Geek Interpreter, The Naval Treatment. And Mrs. Hudson ruled! It all worked and I must confess I've watched it repeatedly, and not just for the "sheet scene" at Buckingham Palace. There were so many quotable lines.
SH: "I said punch me in the face."
JW: "I always hear 'punch me in the face' when you're speaking, but it's usually subtext."
Lestrade: "How many times did he fall out of the window?"
SH: "It's all a blur. I lost count."
But "Hound" lacked that level of detail, and just didn't have the fun factor, even with the casting of the young actor with the ears who played a werewolf on BBC's "Being Human" as the ersatz "Henry Baskerville" Knight. Worse yet, it wasn't cohesive, but seemed like a series of "Wouldn't that be neat" set pieces: the infiltration of the military base; Watson locked in the lab, experimented on by Sherlock himself; the clear miss of the appearance of the "hound". For those of you familiar with the Canon, there was some mash up with "The Adventure of the Devil's Foot" but it was a pale effort at best. In "Devil's Foot" Holmes exposes himself and Watson to the nearly deadly toxin, saves Watson, and betrays just for an instant how deeply his feelings of friendship for Watson run.
But in this modern iteration, Sherlock seems cruel and somehow spiteful when he locks Watson in the lab and scares him half to death. And he's not in the least apologetic. I found myself liking him considerably less than I did last week.
The scene in which Sherlock feels fear again echoes "Devil's Foot," but not well. It seemed so dreadfully out of character and he was so hostile to any help by John that it seemed again like ham-handed piecework.
It wasn't even internally consistent. Initially Sherlock tries to send John off with Knight, as in Canon (so Holmes could come in secret and investigate without interference) but in the same breath decides to go. Choppy. The scene of John trapped in the lab had no segue, either and I wondered if it was another of the US cuts.
The "glowing Bluebell" element was never well developed, and the ultimate appearance of a hound was flat as stepped-on gum. Even the "aren't you two a couple?" running gag seemed a bit tired, although "Does yours snore?" was kind of a chuckle. The ultimate revelation of the meaning of the H.O.U.N.D/hound element was so forced as to be insulting, and more worthy of a Scooby Doo episode.
A few things did work, though.
Perhaps the best moment of the entire episode was Sherlock's Canon-esque desperate tantrum resulting from a combination of between-cases boredom and nicotine craving. I think they even worked in a "7%" allusion, but I'll have to watch it again to be sure.
The substitution of Grimpen minefield for Grimpen mire was a nice touch.
As mentioned above, the casting of the Being Human werewolf as Knight was a clever little BBC in-joke.
Despite these few bright spots, it was a disappointment.
I must confess myself very disappointed in last night's episode of Sherlock. I had high hopes for a delightful mash up, like last week's season opener, "A Scandal in Belgravia". The alternate realities worked so well in that one, the humor, and the in-jokes fell like hilarious rain: The Geek Interpreter, The Naval Treatment. And Mrs. Hudson ruled! It all worked and I must confess I've watched it repeatedly, and not just for the "sheet scene" at Buckingham Palace. There were so many quotable lines.
SH: "I said punch me in the face."
JW: "I always hear 'punch me in the face' when you're speaking, but it's usually subtext."
Lestrade: "How many times did he fall out of the window?"
SH: "It's all a blur. I lost count."
But "Hound" lacked that level of detail, and just didn't have the fun factor, even with the casting of the young actor with the ears who played a werewolf on BBC's "Being Human" as the ersatz "Henry Baskerville" Knight. Worse yet, it wasn't cohesive, but seemed like a series of "Wouldn't that be neat" set pieces: the infiltration of the military base; Watson locked in the lab, experimented on by Sherlock himself; the clear miss of the appearance of the "hound". For those of you familiar with the Canon, there was some mash up with "The Adventure of the Devil's Foot" but it was a pale effort at best. In "Devil's Foot" Holmes exposes himself and Watson to the nearly deadly toxin, saves Watson, and betrays just for an instant how deeply his feelings of friendship for Watson run.
But in this modern iteration, Sherlock seems cruel and somehow spiteful when he locks Watson in the lab and scares him half to death. And he's not in the least apologetic. I found myself liking him considerably less than I did last week.
The scene in which Sherlock feels fear again echoes "Devil's Foot," but not well. It seemed so dreadfully out of character and he was so hostile to any help by John that it seemed again like ham-handed piecework.
It wasn't even internally consistent. Initially Sherlock tries to send John off with Knight, as in Canon (so Holmes could come in secret and investigate without interference) but in the same breath decides to go. Choppy. The scene of John trapped in the lab had no segue, either and I wondered if it was another of the US cuts.
The "glowing Bluebell" element was never well developed, and the ultimate appearance of a hound was flat as stepped-on gum. Even the "aren't you two a couple?" running gag seemed a bit tired, although "Does yours snore?" was kind of a chuckle. The ultimate revelation of the meaning of the H.O.U.N.D/hound element was so forced as to be insulting, and more worthy of a Scooby Doo episode.
A few things did work, though.
Perhaps the best moment of the entire episode was Sherlock's Canon-esque desperate tantrum resulting from a combination of between-cases boredom and nicotine craving. I think they even worked in a "7%" allusion, but I'll have to watch it again to be sure.
The substitution of Grimpen minefield for Grimpen mire was a nice touch.
As mentioned above, the casting of the Being Human werewolf as Knight was a clever little BBC in-joke.
Despite these few bright spots, it was a disappointment.
May 13, 2012
Happy Mother's Day!
I share my flowers with you. :-)
I'm being taken to Joshua Tree Nat'l Park for a hike!
I'm being taken to Joshua Tree Nat'l Park for a hike!
May 12, 2012
B(eee) Movie Day
Am I the only person who likes the 2006 remake of "The Wicker Man" with Nic Cage? It's not great film. Far from it. But I've seen it several times, and like it every time. But I also used to stay up to 2 am in college watching old black and white B SF and horror movies like "The Head That Would Not Die", "The Deadly Mantis", and "The Crawling Eye." "Wicker Man" certainly has superior production values, not to mention color, but it has that same comfortable "this is not great film but I'm going to have fun watching it" feel. I just watched it, and now am watching "Thirteen Ghosts" with Tony Shaloub. Same category. Not great, but somehow strangely satisfying. Like really good junk food when you're totally in the mood for it. If I smoked pot (which I don't) they'd probably be even better.
Other movies I'd put in this category would be:
"The Ninth Gate"
"Children of the Corn"
"Sleepy Hollow"
"Constantine"
"The House on Haunted Hill"
and
The "Paranormal Activity" franchise (Liked #3 the best, for that business with the sheet)
Anyone else have this addiction/guilty pleasure? What titles would you add?
Other movies I'd put in this category would be:
"The Ninth Gate"
"Children of the Corn"
"Sleepy Hollow"
"Constantine"
"The House on Haunted Hill"
and
The "Paranormal Activity" franchise (Liked #3 the best, for that business with the sheet)
Anyone else have this addiction/guilty pleasure? What titles would you add?
May 10, 2012
It's about time
President Obama finally comes out in favor of gay marriage. It's about damn time. Over 50% of Americans support it now. We need a federal ruling on this, not state referendums, where the majority decides the rights of the minority. What if we'd put African American rights up for a vote in 1960s south? It's ridiculous!
