A Study in Pink

The doctor:  Why didn’t I think of that?

The detective: Because you’re an idiot.  (Observes the doctor’s indignant reaction.)  No, no, no, don’t be like that.  Practically everyone is.

Everyone except…

Gets forgotten because he’s almost always played as middle-aged, but Holmes was very young when he and Watson met.  So was Watson.

Ironic, though, that one way this new series is able to stay true to the original stories is by having Watson get wounded in Afghanistan.

Tonight on PBS, 9 PM Eastern.

Quick trivia question.  What was the only one of the Basil Rathbone Holmes movies that was set in Victorian England?

(Trivial update: I’m holding off publishing some comments on this one to give more folks a chance to answer the question.  But actor212 and crayolathief reminded me that there are actually two Rathbones set in period.  Only one of those, however, is a faithful adaptation of an original Doyle story and it’s the only one out of all the Rathbone movies that is.)

Comments

[KathyF]

Has it played in the US? How did you get the clip? I can't view it in my country. But that's okay, I bought the DVD set.

[CrayolaThief]

Just saw this episode last night & thought it was surprisingly good. But then I suppose I was expecting to be horrified. Casting Martin Freeman as Watson was a masterstroke. Some great allusions to the original stories, like Holmes' sarcastic reply to the meaning of "rache."

Trivially-speaking, probably just "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes," though wasn't "Hound" as well? It's been a long time. Wait... so you're suggesting all those episodes where Holmes battles laser-wielding Nazis in America weren't authentic?

[actor212]

Two films, actually, Hounds of the Baskervilles and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Both were released by 20th Century Fox, which then dropped the option for more. Universal then moved the films into contemporary times.

[Kevin Wolf]

I know "Hound of the Baskervilles" is a period piece. Can't think of the other.

The new Sherlock is a lot of fun (aside from a questionable scene early in the first episode). It's a successful update, I think, and I look forward to more. Especially since they end the last episode in a cliffhanger.

[Janelle Dvorak]

It starts tonight on PBS Masterpiece Mystery. I've seen it and really liked it. Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman are quite a team.

[El Jefe]

"I'm not a psychopath, I'm a high-functioning sociopath. Do your research."

After your post about Downey Jr.'s Holmes (which of course took a different line but touched the same terrain), I punched the air on that one. Great stuff.

Some scattershot thoughts:

- Yup, Watson was wounded in another bloody and generally pointless Afghan conflict as per (the Second Afghan War was not one of the Raj's high points. Around that time, between the disaster at Isalndwana -- or, from a slightly different point of view, the well-executed and historic Zulu victory -- the mess at Maiwand where Watson was wounded, not really that far from Helmand province where the Brits have been fed through the grinder in recent years, and getting chased off Majuba Hill by the Boers it was not a good period for imperial hubris.) And Watson points out that London's unaffordable on an army pension. And they walk out the door, onto the real Baker St. (been there) and hail a cab. "Not your housekeeper, dear." Well, kinda ....

- Between this, Coupling, the first two-thirds of Jekyll, and the latest season of Doctor Who, Moffat has a nice CV for King of Awesome going.

- Absolutely these two are canon for "Study in Scarlet." Watson aged beyond his mid-thirties years, Holmes somewhere notionally around thirty but the perpetually asocial college-sophomore genius.

- Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman rule, as Janelle wisely pointed out.

[El Jefe]

Lance,

And I will be staying up late waiting for the long version of this.

[El Jefe]

Lance,

Well that wait was well rewarded :)

Also: best. [You know who]. Ever.