DVD/Blu-Ray Extras for Series 3

[sittything]

 

So, CAM is a moist, pervy, creepy reptile of a blackmailer, but he's not sloppy about medical equipment apparently.

So he has SOME redeeming qualities! Or, one, at least. Good to know.

 

 

I'm sorry... every time I see the words CAM and "moist" I just go... 

 

[Bendydoodle Cantaloupe]

Probably the scariest thing about CAM is how he reminds me of about 60% of the male population at my school. 

[sittything]

Probably the scariest thing about CAM is how he reminds me of about 60% of the male population at my school. 

 

I am scared for you.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Well, here's at least one reason to be glad series 4 isn't here yet. I'd miss ya, Carol!

Aw, shucks!    I mentioned to Alex just now that I might stay away from the forum during the early days of Series 4, till my own impressions had a chance to jell, and he very sensible pointed out that I wouldn't need to stay away from the whole forum, just the episode-related threads.  So I'll probably stay entirely away only until I've seen the episode(s), as I did for S3.

 

The most positive thing for me was this: (from http://arianedevere.livejournal.com/75250.html)

 

<snip>

Mark: “In my head, though, she’s sort of like Callan. She’s a troubled assassin. I don’t want to think she’s being totally evil.”

Steven: “I think the Callan comparison’s terrific – the idea that she’s done bad things but not because that’s what she wants to do.”

Oh, thanks for that part in particular! If Moftiss both think Mary is not basically a bad person (though she's been in some rough spots where she felt that she had to do some not-nice things), then I do think there's hope for her to be fleshed out considerably.

  

Probably the scariest thing about CAM is how he reminds me of about 60% of the male population at my school. 

 

You are attending -- umm, a reform school (or whatever the current euphemism is)? 

[SherlockedCAMPer]

Probably the scariest thing about CAM is how he reminds me of about 60% of the male population at my school. 

 

When I was in high school (almost 20 years ago) I could count on 1 hand the number of guys I'd think of dating if asked. And I knew several guys who were nice but I wasn't interested in them from a dating stand point.  I was in a school of close to 1500 students.  There's a chance that there could have been more as I didn't know all of the guys in the school, and only about a hand full reminded me even remotely of Magnussen.  So I'm not surprised that you have a higher percentage as I've seen things go down hill.

[Arcadia]

Probably the scariest thing about CAM is how he reminds me of about 60% of the male population at my school. 

Gosh, I didn't know you went to the same school I went to!

[sittything]

 

Probably the scariest thing about CAM is how he reminds me of about 60% of the male population at my school. 

Gosh, I didn't know you went to the same school I went to!

 

 

I am scared for you too.

[sittything]

 

Probably the scariest thing about CAM is how he reminds me of about 60% of the male population at my school. 

Gosh, I didn't know you went to the same school I went to!

 

 

Oh wait, you used past tense.  I am less scared for you then. 

[Bendydoodle Cantaloupe]

 

Probably the scariest thing about CAM is how he reminds me of about 60% of the male population at my school. 

Gosh, I didn't know you went to the same school I went to!

 

To be fair, though, some of the girls act the same way.

[T.o.b.y]

Probably the scariest thing about CAM is how he reminds me of about 60% of the male population at my school. 

 

Oh dear. *Sigh* I remember school, it was pretty awful. Hang in there - it'll end sooner than you think and in ten years or so, you'll see comments like this and, like me, look back and go "oh yeah - it was bad, now that I think about it, but I can't quite remember the details".

 

Magnussen I think is meant to remind us of the bullies in our lives. He basically is nothing more than your average schoolyard bully, given wealth and power and a grown man's body. His threat is a lot more easy to relate to than Moriarty's. And when Sherlock shoots him, this association is supposed to help us find that perfectly okay. It's like he's acting out one of those wicked, vengeful fantasies one has as a little girl, crying locked up in the school toilet.

 

[Bendydoodle Cantaloupe]

  

Probably the scariest thing about CAM is how he reminds me of about 60% of the male population at my school. 

 

You are attending -- umm, a reform school (or whatever the current euphemism is)? 

 

No, but my school's pretty far down the crapper, and in the halls you can see a lot of boys -- um -- trying to force themselves onto girls.

 

 

When I was in high school (almost 20 years ago) I could count on 1 hand the number of guys I'd think of dating if asked. And I knew several guys who were nice but I wasn't interested in them from a dating stand point.  I was in a school of close to 1500 students.  There's a chance that there could have been more as I didn't know all of the guys in the school, and only about a hand full reminded me even remotely of Magnussen.  So I'm not surprised that you have a higher percentage as I've seen things go down hill.

 

I think I'm too weird to be dating-material. So the males who aren't my friends typically avoid me.

[Bendydoodle Cantaloupe]

 

 

 

Oh dear. *Sigh* I remember school, it was pretty awful. Hang in there - it'll end sooner than you think and in ten years or so, you'll see comments like this and, like me, look back and go "oh yeah - it was bad, now that I think about it, but I can't quite remember the details".

 

Aw, thanks, T.o.b.y. 

 

 

 

Magnussen I think is meant to remind us of the bullies in our lives. He basically is nothing more than your average schoolyard bully, given wealth and power and a grown man's body. His threat is a lot more easy to relate to than Moriarty's. And when Sherlock shoots him, this association is supposed to help us find that perfectly okay. It's like he's acting out one of those wicked, vengeful fantasies one has as a little girl, crying locket up in the school toilet.

 

Maybe that's why a lot of us find CAM creepier than Moriarty (at least, creepy enough that we comment more on him than we do Moriarty). CAM hits really close to home while Moriarty is sort of a believable fairy-tale-type creature.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Hmm, good point.  Moriarty is basically entertaining because he's so over-the-top, while CAM is -- uggh! -- creepily familiar!

 

In my school, though, and even if the school where I taught later on, I'd say he was reminiscent of only perhaps 1% of the boys (which is plenty bad enough).

[T.o.b.y]

I think what also makes Magnussen fairly reminiscent of a schoolyard bully is his "sense of entitlement", as Moffat (I think) put it. He doesn't see himself as evil, has no idea that what he does is in any way wrong - unlike Moriarty, who openly refers to himself as a villain and kind of revels in that role.

 

Funny how that makes Magnussen and Sherlock kind of alike, in a way. Sherlock thinks it's perfectly okay as well when he manipulates and exploits those ordinary mortals around him for his own exalted purposes. I love how the villains in this series manage to mirror the hero... Makes me stop and wonder sometimes, wait, why am I on his side? And then I see Sherlock rushing through the flames, or kissing Molly on the cheek, or making his point during the wedding speech, or looking back yelling "give my love to Mary - tell her she's safe now" and remember, oh, right - that's why.

[Bendydoodle Cantaloupe]

Maybe that's why I like Sherlock more than Doctor Who. Antiheroes are more relatable than saviors.

[Boton]

Although this could have gone in the HLV thread, it seemed to fit better here.  Was watching the DVD commentary on the S3 special edition last night, and had to laugh at how much Moffat and or Gatiss (couldn't tell the voices apart) apparently hate CAM.  When Sherlock shoots CAM, one of them exclaims, "Deduce this, b**ch!"  No real love for CAM there from the writers, so the little perv was clearly doomed from the start.  I approve.

[SherlockedCAMPer]

That's hilarious. My next task is to watch the commentary of season 3.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Although this could have gone in the HLV thread, it seemed to fit better here.  Was watching the DVD commentary on the S3 special edition last night, and had to laugh at how much Moffat and or Gatiss (couldn't tell the voices apart) apparently hate CAM.  When Sherlock shoots CAM, one of them exclaims, "Deduce this, b**ch!"  No real love for CAM there from the writers, so the little perv was clearly doomed from the start.  I approve.

 

I must say it's a relief to hear that I'm not the only one who has trouble telling their voices apart.  When I can see who's talking, they sound completely different to me -- they've even got different accents! -- but then they somehow manage to be indistinguishable in the commentaries.  (And it sure doesn't help when they both talk at once and/or finish each other's sentences.)

 

Now I'm trying to remember who else I recently heard saying they often sound alike -- it surprised me because it was someone I thought for sure would know their voices well enough to tell them apart.  Darn, who was it?  Someone connected with the show?

[sittything]

  When Sherlock shoots CAM, one of them exclaims, "Deduce this, b**ch!"  N

 

I love this so much.

 

[T.o.b.y]

Although this could have gone in the HLV thread, it seemed to fit better here.  Was watching the DVD commentary on the S3 special edition last night, and had to laugh at how much Moffat and or Gatiss (couldn't tell the voices apart) apparently hate CAM.  When Sherlock shoots CAM, one of them exclaims, "Deduce this, b**ch!"  No real love for CAM there from the writers, so the little perv was clearly doomed from the start.  I approve.

 

And somewhere else they say Magnussen should have been shot as soon as he urinated in the Baker St fireplace.

 

Magnussen was doomed all right. I mean, him getting shot is essential to the original Milverton story, so why should they have let him live here?

 

[SherlockedCAMPer]

Too many witnesses for murder & Sherlock needed to figure out the full gravity of the situation.

[T.o.b.y]

He doesn’t think other people matter enough for it to be evil to abuse them – a bit

 

For those who have not yet seen or read the audio commentaries: Whom are they talking about?

 

Answer: Magnussen. But couldn't it just as well have been Sherlock? And isn't that kind of scary, in a way?

 

 

 

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

I really can't put Sherlock on down as evil. Manipulative yes and he did torture the cabbie as he lay dying. But if he had any training in black ops that's what happens to some people. The cabbie was also a murderer. But Sherlock has a modicum of compassion and care.

[sittything]

 

He doesn’t think other people matter enough for it to be evil to abuse them – a bit

 

For those who have not yet seen or read the audio commentaries: Whom are they talking about?

 

Answer: Magnussen. But couldn't it just as well have been Sherlock? And isn't that kind of scary, in a way?

 

 

 

That's kinda creepy.  My first thought was possibly Sherlock.

[Arcadia]

 

He doesn’t think other people matter enough for it to be evil to abuse them – a bit

 

For those who have not yet seen or read the audio commentaries: Whom are they talking about?

 

Answer: Magnussen. But couldn't it just as well have been Sherlock? And isn't that kind of scary, in a way?

 

I see your point, and sometimes things the Moftisses say makes me think that is, in fact, their view of Sherlock. Still .... we've also been shown him acting like other people do matter (comforting Sarah, preventing Henry Knight's suicide, apologizing to Molly) -- so I guess I choose to believe that's the real Sherlock, and the bloodless psychopath is just an act he puts on to fool himself into thinking he doesn't care.

 

Is Sherlock abusive? Insensitive, certainly (or, hopefully, pretends to be).  Manipulative? Yes. Still, I can't quite equate the things he does to people with the things CAM does to people. I'm not sure what the difference is but I feel like there is one. The degree of malevolence involved, perhaps.