Jeremy Brett

[Carol the Dabbler]

... thanks Carol! I've only ever known that American and British DVDs were different.

 

It's not an intrinsic difference, by the way.  The two countries didn't just happen to adopt different formats or anything like that.

 

It's a way for the studios to control distribution of home videos.  Let's say that an American movie is released in the US in May, but not till September in the UK.  If the general British populace could just buy a DVD as soon as the movie leaves American theaters (in, say, July), a lot of them would do just that -- they could see the movie a couple of months sooner, and probably for less money (assuming there are at least two people in the household).

 

So the studios have conspired with the manufacturers of DVD players to create "regions."  A DVD sold in the US will play only in Region 1 DVD players, and one sold in the UK will play in only Region 2 players.  Of course, that doesn't stop us -- so far! -- from ordering the DVDs from each other's Amazons and playing them on our region-free players.  But most people aren't even aware that this is going on, or that there's a workaround.

 

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

   One of the easiest ways of getting around the Region problem is download the free version of the VLC player. It plays Region 1 and 2 and you don't have to worry about changing it on your computer.

[Alice Holmes]

I had a VLC player once. My friend gave it to me (oddly enough, it was so that I could watch Sherlock, which he had downloaded for me, but the files wouldn't play on my old Windows Vista) but it didn't work, so I just deleted it. (Luckily, I just got a Windows 8 and the files play splendidly.  )

[Carol the Dabbler]

We watched "The Musgrave Ritual" recently, and I was very favorably impressed.  I had previously read the story, and thought the Musgraves must have been congenital idiots, with Holmes having a bad brain day.  This adaptation keeps the basic story intact, but cleans up most of the idiocies very nicely.

 

If you don't want to hear the details, STOP READING NOW.

 

One negative point of the written story is that Watson isn't really in it, he just hears Holmes tell about it.  The episode moves the story forward several years, after Holmes has met Watson, and doctor is very gracefully incorporated into it.  They do manage to keep the tin box nonetheless, which is a nice touch.

 

It had seemed incredible to me that in the story, the Musgraves considered their Ritual to be just a bunch of nonsense.  The episode has the current Musgrave say that when he was a child, they had repeatedly tried to "solve" it (though without success).  Even better, when the Ritual is read aloud, Watson exclaims, "It's a treasure hunt!"  Finally, somebody with half a brain has entered that house!

 

One problem common to both versions is that the missing elm tree is remembered by Musgrave as 64 feet tall and Holmes uses that figure in his calculations, even though the Ritual is assumed to be a couple hundred years old.  Hey, guys, trees grow!  But at least the episode avoids a similar goof with the oak tree, using an oak-patterned weather vane instead.

 

And one final difference -- in the story, a possible murderess apparently escapes, while in the episode she drowns while trying to escape -- that is, I suspect, the heavy hand of television morality at work, but it's also a more dramatic ending.

 

[Alice Holmes]

I just watched Brett's Hound of the Baskervilles, with a delightful commentary from my father going on throughout. Some of the most helpful quotes from the commentary, quite possibly, were, 'Let me nuzzle your scarf as the green dog dies,' 'Hey, babe, I'm Sherlock Holmes,' and 'You KNOW he dead,' all in some ridiculous accent that I could not place. Positively enlightening, don't you find?

[Carol the Dabbler]

We haven't gotten to that episode yet, Alice, but I'll be sure to bear those comments in mind when we do!

 

Apparently Jeremy Brett's biographer and fellow Holmes enthusiast David Stuart Davies recently visited the set of Sherlock.  Sherlockology passed along these photos from his Twitter page:

 

 

 

 

 

David Stuart Davies was friend and biographer to the late Jeremy Brett and spent time on the Granada Studios set for the Sherlock Holmes series of the 1980s and 90s. He has also authored many Holmes novels and is playwright to two Sherlock Holmes plays.

 

[Jacco111]

Jeremy Brett's Holmes is the best Holmes in my opinion. The acting, the setting, the finetuning. When I hear the intro, I am  in 1895.

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

Nice publicity photos for the BBC Sherlock, but I wonder what Mr. Davies himself thinks of the modernized Sherlock compared to Jeremy Brett's setting.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Doubt that he's likely to say anything particularly specific.  The two shows are different, that's for sure, yet somehow identifiably the same.

 

When I hear the intro, I am  in 1895.

 

And I think that's the main overall difference.

 

[Jacco111]

Indeed it is. Sherlock is more contemporary and more easy to acces for a new public than the Granada series. 

[Carol the Dabbler]

I think you're right about Sherlock being more accessible, Jacco.  I think the Victorian version is a lot of fun too, but some people seem to have a strong preference for something more contemporary.

 

Oh, and by the way, welcome to Sherlock Forum!    You fit in so well here that I didn't notice last time that you were a first-time poster.

[Alice Holmes]

You're right. I feel like while the Brett versions are a good--no--excellent portrayal, Sherlock makes it easier for us, the modern audience, to relate to the character through the modern parallels. We understand smoking addictions and computers and sock indexes. I feel that if television was available for the Victorians, they would feel tht the Brett versions were more 'accessible' as you so accurately put it.

[Carol the Dabbler]

... Sherlock makes it easier for us, the modern audience, to relate to the character through the modern parallels. We understand smoking addictions and computers and sock indexes....

 

If you can relate to sock indexes, maybe your name really is Holmes! 

 

[Alice Holmes]

Don't judge me! I actually have a drawer in which I keep my socks, organized by colour, then length, then material, in a sort of cross-reference. I never have lost socks, I can tell you that. 

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

I think if I were to ever able to become that organized, my head would explode.

[Alice Holmes]

It's really just rows, columns and stacks that intersect. It's not that complicated.

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

Tell that to my brains. They thrive on chaos.

[Alice Holmes]

Well if you want to know two embarrassing stories, one time my sister Edith bought me a package of socks that were all mismatched, like they are supposed to be cute or something. I was like, 'THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING.' And it took me a really long time to figure out why my friends kept suggesting to me that I watch the American show The Big Bang Theory.

 

But, for the record, I'm not crazy, and I don't have any disabilities or anything, I don't have OCD (as far as I know), and...well yeah. That's it really.

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

I have been known to wear mismatch socks but they do have to match in color pretty much.

[Carol the Dabbler]

... my sister Edith ....

 

Do you by any chance also have a sister named Lorina?

 

[Alice Holmes]

No, I don't, sorry. Do you know another Alice+Edith combination?

[Carol the Dabbler]

Yes, Alice and Edith Liddell, who also had a sister named Lorina.  Alice was the inspiration for Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, written by Charles Dodgson ("Lewis Carroll"), who met the sisters when they all lived in Oxford.

 

So I thought maybe your parents were big Lewis Carroll fans.

 

[Alice Holmes]

That's actually a really interesting observation...

 

My dad loves Carroll. He used to be a bit of a fanatic. My mum, on the other hand, has never really liked his work. So, if indeed Edith and I are named after them (which seems a likely thing for my father to want, I mean, then he could have his little Alice and Edith who live in Oxford), he could easily have just influenced my mother towards those names without actually telling her what they were. The only thing is, 'Alice' is actually the middle name I've always gone by. My first name is Jane. I don't really know why I've gone by Alice, but what you're saying might have something to do with it.

 

I'm going to text my dad and ask him right now.

[Alice Holmes]

So I just asked him, and this was our actual conversation:

 

 

 

Me: Did you name Edith and I after the Liddells?

 

Dad: Liddells as in Lewis Carroll?

 

Me: Yes

 

Dad: Don't tell mum!!!!!!!!!!

 

Me: Great thanks

 

Dad: What?

 

Me: What?

 

Dad: Please don't tell mum!!!!!!!

 

Me: Okay!

 

Dad: Alice was actually mum's idea, but I decided that the appropriate follow-up would be Edith

 

Me: So we were or we weren't?

 

Dad: Half and half.

 

Me: That means yes. Bye

 

Dad: Not necessarily!

 

 

 

So, Carol, you have aided in an incredible family discovery. Thank you. It's really strange that I didn't even think of it, I feel a bit stupid now.

[Carol the Dabbler]

You were too close to notice the "coincidence."

 

Cool, though!