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scans_dailyOkay, the more recent bit first. As quite a lot of you might know, there is kind of an overlap between the people of this community and the fandom of Stephen Moffat's non-Doctor Who tv show, Sherlock. For those of you that don't know what it is, it's a modern day adaption of the Arthur Conan Doyle novels, not exactly a straight adaption but it's still a very entertaining, visually original show with two very good leads in the form of Benedict Cumberbatch (voice of Smaug in the upcoming Hobbit movies as well as the villain in the next Star Trek one) as Holmes and Martin Freeman (who will actually be starring as the titular Hobbit) as Watson.
The show has done both very well in the UK and abroad, particularly in the US and in Korea, though in the latter case they are putting a different spin on how they're marketing it.
Anyways, as is seemingly standard for shows made in the UK now, the BBC attempted to pitch an American-based adaption to an American channel, specifically CBS. This isn't really anything new, as there have been numerous British shows that have been remade for the American market, such as the Office, Steptoe and Son, Being Human, Life on Mars, Shameless, Skins, Misfits (yes, that's getting a remake too) etc. etc. BUT, some time after BBC pitched the show to NBC, they announced that they were going to be making a modern-adaption of Sherlock Holmes based in New York, under the title Elementary.
Fair enough, I might hear you cry, but that's to be expected surely, as what with Sherlock Holmes being in the public domain, everyone has the right to use him in their own works (hence that movie by the Asylum made to cash in on the first Robert Downey Jr. Holmes film), and what with the success of both Sherlock and Sherlock Holmes: A Games of Shadows, there can't really be anything more going on with Elementary other than it being another Holmes adaption in a contemporary setting? After all, basing Holmes stories in the present isn't exactly a new concept, there were versions based in the 1940s and even one where he settled in San Francisco in the 1991 movie... Sherlock Holmes in San Francisco.
Well the BBC seem to think so, are are launching legal proceedings against CBS, not because it's an adaption of Sherlock Holmes, but because it's an adaption of SHERLOCK. The main issues seem to be that the American version will use elements from the Sherlock series that are unique to that series, such as the inserts Sherlock uses, the text messages appearing on screen, the look they chose for the Holmes brothers and John, and the editing style.
These elements appear to have been introduced into Elementary after the BBC pitched their version of Sherlock to them.
Whether it's true or not I can't say, as I haven't yet seen Elementary, but's definately interesting from my perspective anyways.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-enter
Anyway, on with the legality, with a piece from one of the more surprising stories to feature Holmes, Ian Edginton's Victorian Undead. It is a Sherlock Holmes mystery based during a zombie apocalypse and... No, wait! Come back, it's good, really!
Containing the same close plotting and sharp script from Edgintons' other Victorian-based works Stickleback (2000AD) and the Scarlet Traces Trilogy (Dark Horse), the writer manages to successfully combine several different ideas (including the germ theory work by Dr John Snow and Reverend Whitehead with The Dynamics of An Asteroid) into not only a good Holmes mystery, but also a good horror-based adventure comic that actually justifies why the more steampunk trappings are introduced later in both the story and in the sequel series (featuring Dracula).
The idea seems ridiculous (more so when you know who the villain is), but it's all harmless fun, and Holmes etc. all remain in-character despite the increasingly outlandish proceedings that surround them.
Here is a section from the first issue, where Holmes is tinkering with the head of a remote-control android that hypnotised a politician into handing over some secret documents (makes sense in context), where they get a call to Scotland Yard to investigate a mysterious prisoner...
Don't be silly, Edison couldn't make a robot in 1898! That would require someone else making one and him stealing credit first, like what happened in Jonah Hex!
And if you're still interested in me talking about Sherlock Holmes, you might be interested in my comparision between the Professor Moriarty in the book, with the ones from Game of Shadows and Sherlock.
Contains loads of spoilers though.
http://espanolbot.blogspot.com/2012/0
The show has done both very well in the UK and abroad, particularly in the US and in Korea, though in the latter case they are putting a different spin on how they're marketing it.
Anyways, as is seemingly standard for shows made in the UK now, the BBC attempted to pitch an American-based adaption to an American channel, specifically CBS. This isn't really anything new, as there have been numerous British shows that have been remade for the American market, such as the Office, Steptoe and Son, Being Human, Life on Mars, Shameless, Skins, Misfits (yes, that's getting a remake too) etc. etc. BUT, some time after BBC pitched the show to NBC, they announced that they were going to be making a modern-adaption of Sherlock Holmes based in New York, under the title Elementary.
Fair enough, I might hear you cry, but that's to be expected surely, as what with Sherlock Holmes being in the public domain, everyone has the right to use him in their own works (hence that movie by the Asylum made to cash in on the first Robert Downey Jr. Holmes film), and what with the success of both Sherlock and Sherlock Holmes: A Games of Shadows, there can't really be anything more going on with Elementary other than it being another Holmes adaption in a contemporary setting? After all, basing Holmes stories in the present isn't exactly a new concept, there were versions based in the 1940s and even one where he settled in San Francisco in the 1991 movie... Sherlock Holmes in San Francisco.
Well the BBC seem to think so, are are launching legal proceedings against CBS, not because it's an adaption of Sherlock Holmes, but because it's an adaption of SHERLOCK. The main issues seem to be that the American version will use elements from the Sherlock series that are unique to that series, such as the inserts Sherlock uses, the text messages appearing on screen, the look they chose for the Holmes brothers and John, and the editing style.
These elements appear to have been introduced into Elementary after the BBC pitched their version of Sherlock to them.
Whether it's true or not I can't say, as I haven't yet seen Elementary, but's definately interesting from my perspective anyways.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-enter
Anyway, on with the legality, with a piece from one of the more surprising stories to feature Holmes, Ian Edginton's Victorian Undead. It is a Sherlock Holmes mystery based during a zombie apocalypse and... No, wait! Come back, it's good, really!
Containing the same close plotting and sharp script from Edgintons' other Victorian-based works Stickleback (2000AD) and the Scarlet Traces Trilogy (Dark Horse), the writer manages to successfully combine several different ideas (including the germ theory work by Dr John Snow and Reverend Whitehead with The Dynamics of An Asteroid) into not only a good Holmes mystery, but also a good horror-based adventure comic that actually justifies why the more steampunk trappings are introduced later in both the story and in the sequel series (featuring Dracula).
The idea seems ridiculous (more so when you know who the villain is), but it's all harmless fun, and Holmes etc. all remain in-character despite the increasingly outlandish proceedings that surround them.
Here is a section from the first issue, where Holmes is tinkering with the head of a remote-control android that hypnotised a politician into handing over some secret documents (makes sense in context), where they get a call to Scotland Yard to investigate a mysterious prisoner...
Don't be silly, Edison couldn't make a robot in 1898! That would require someone else making one and him stealing credit first, like what happened in Jonah Hex!
And if you're still interested in me talking about Sherlock Holmes, you might be interested in my comparision between the Professor Moriarty in the book, with the ones from Game of Shadows and Sherlock.
Contains loads of spoilers though.
http://espanolbot.blogspot.com/2012/0
no subject
Date: 2012-01-27 01:38 am (UTC)I remember Showtime or Starz also wanted to remake Billie Piper's show Secret Diary of a Call Girl at one point, but opted to licence the British original for American airwaves when they couldn't find a high profile actress who was willing to appear nude on telly.
On an unrelated note, I totally read 'BBC vs CBS' as 'BBC vs CBC' thinking there was going to be a Canadian remake.
no subject
Date: 2012-01-27 02:11 am (UTC)That being said, I am very tired of Sherlock adaptations, none of which have any of the spirit of the original stories. The Big-Screen Sherlock especially, that must make Doyle spin in his grave.
Sherlock Adaptions: I have Views.
Date: 2012-01-27 09:07 am (UTC)And they're good, contain a lot of details that have been lost over the years due to someone decision that all Holmes adaptions should be the same. Things like, he only wears a deerstalker one time when he's in the country, because that's where you're meant to wear it as it's rural dress, Holmes knowing how to box (he wins a fistfight in one of the novels, and the British bareknuckle fighting champion knew Holmes and said that even he thought that he was good) and a form of judo, this is on top of him being a master of disguise, kind of sarcastic and a bit of a slob etc. etc. As well as other pieces of characterisation, such as Watson not being a bloody idiot who exists purely to tell Holmes how awesome he is, which is a more recent introduction to the "canon" that people assume is part of the original stories as well.
RDJ and Jude Law do really good job in the films, as does Stephen Fry as Mycroft and Game of Shadows has one of the few genuinely threatening Moriarty's in recent memory. The films are fun to watch, entertaining, funny and both contain a good story.
Just because something is different from other adaptions, doesn't mean that it's bad. If that were so then the only version of Dracula we'd have would be one with a huge moustache and hairy palms that's wheeled out all of the time to the point where the replication becomes monotonous.
Everything that is in the Guy Richie versions of the films is there for a reason, not just because someone thought that it'd be "cool". There are elements of "cool" in the movies, but it follows and builds on what was actually in the novels a bit more closely than some of the other adaptions I've seen.
Re: Sherlock Adaptions: I have Views.
Date: 2012-01-27 09:38 am (UTC)Doyle sent back a telegram that said: 'You may marry him or murder him or do whatever you like with him!"
Basically, if he got the money for it, so be it.
Re: Sherlock Adaptions: I have Views.
Date: 2012-01-27 04:03 pm (UTC)Re: Sherlock Adaptions: I have Views.
Date: 2012-01-27 09:25 pm (UTC)For one, there is nothing cerebral about the Ritchie films. Furthermore, they have more in common with buddy cop movies than any classic Holmes novel.
The details are there, sure, but those are just window dressing.
I admit that it is WELL MADE sure, but you can't help but think the average person must have been more intelligent in Victorian England than now based on how Holmes is presented in the two media.
no subject
Date: 2012-01-27 02:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-27 03:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-27 06:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-27 11:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-27 03:17 am (UTC)If asked the BBC would look at you confused before asking what is a CBC.
no subject
Date: 2012-01-27 06:34 am (UTC)i mean do they really not think americans know that sherlock holmes is a british thing? do they think if people have to watch a show taking place somewhere other than the US there will be mass riots in the street?
no subject
Date: 2012-01-27 11:00 am (UTC)Which oddly sounds similar to another show based on the Holmes model, doesn't it?
no subject
Date: 2012-01-27 07:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-27 09:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-27 06:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-27 09:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-27 01:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-27 03:53 pm (UTC)Cable channels can air British shows more easily because of their short order seasons (10-13 episodes instead of 22-24), and they do: HBO airing Ricky Gervais shows, Adult Swim airing Garth Marenghi and Mighty Boosh, or A&E airing Spooks.
Beyond that, I think it's more cultural reasons, especially with shows like Queer as Folk or Shameless. The characters can easily be relateable across the pond, but the social and political commentary will be less relevant than if they just remake the shows and talk about actual gay and blue collar issues in America.
no subject
Date: 2012-01-27 07:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-27 09:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-28 12:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-28 12:20 am (UTC)We've all seen the Korean trailer for Sherlock, haven't we?