Google’s Sherlock News

[HerlockSholmes]

When I bring up my google page a list of news items appears. As you will know by now my knowledge of all things ‘computer’ is minimal so I don’t know if everyone gets this. Quite often there’s a Sherlock or Moftiss-related item and I’m always a little unsure of a) are the links worth posting or has everyone already seen them and b, where to post them? So I set up this thread. I’m happy to be guided by Mods on this🙂

by the way,  I typed ‘ a)’ without a problem but when I went to do the same for b (ie b bracket) it comes up as  . Why? It does it every time!

 

http://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/2018-02-17/every-sherlock-episode-ranked/

[Arcadia]

1 hour ago, HerlockSholmes said:

When I bring up my google page a list of news items appears. As you will know by now my knowledge of all things ‘computer’ is minimal so I don’t know if everyone gets this. Quite often there’s a Sherlock or Moftiss-related item and I’m always a little unsure of a) are the links worth posting or has everyone already seen them and b, where to post them? So I set up this thread. I’m happy to be guided by Mods on this🙂

by the way,  I typed ‘ a)’ without a problem but when I went to do the same for b (ie b bracket) it comes up as  . Why? It does it every time!

 

http://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/2018-02-17/every-sherlock-episode-ranked/

I was surprised to see that the Bride rated so low, and the Final Problem rated so high. Interesting. Otherwise they fell out more or less the way I expected them to. I would have put HLV up a little higher.

That's a good find, Herlock, because it's new. At least, new to me.  We do have an "articles" thread; I suppose this could go there but I see no harm in having a spot just for internet links.

You get a  because b ) (without the space) is code for ! Drives me crazy too, I've learned to use numbers instead. Could use a letter with a different punctuation, I suppose.

[HerlockSholmes]

Ahh. So I need a space.  b ).

Thanks Arcadia👍

I’ll post any links here then. There might be the occasional bit of interesting news.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Yeah, unfortunately is a traditional emotie, so we can't really decommission it.  As Arcadia says, there are several work-arounds, such as using numbers, or as you said inserting a space.  My favorite is to use the B with a square bracket or curly brace instead of the parenthesis -- i.e., B] or B}.  One trick that will NOT work is to use a lower-case B, because emoties are all case-blind, so it'll come up as just like its big brother.

[Janyss]

Thanks for the link. Very interesting and suggestive. And, so much to comment (I didn't check wether there is a topic about favourite eps or not, and I hope I won't be in contradiction with the marks I gave to the episodes):

First, I must admit I don't like that much some well-praised episodes.  I don't mind the fourth step for TLD, but I can't cope with ASIB ranking second (come on. A story supposed to depict a mastermind woman, and she has to pop up and parade completely naked to be taken serious?).

Then, I widely prefer  T6T, the Hounds, HLV and of course the Bride to other ones ranking better like, let's say, TEH or TGG. 

To finish, I must admit it is very difficult to determine the very best of all episodes...If you had the right to only ONE Sherlock on a desert island?...ASIP as for me, but with many regrets (as my favourite scene is, I think, the scene of memories in TFP).

[Arcadia]

Oh, if I had to choose just one, I don't think I could. Too many wonderful bits in all of them, even Blind Banker. Even, dare I say it, in T6T.

I do know one thing though; the top of my list is dominated by Moffat-written episodes. I know a lot of people say they don't like his writing, but apparently it suits me just fine. The same could be said of any writer, I suppose. I know people who can't stand Tolkien!  

[Carol the Dabbler]

Ol' JRR and I have sort of a love-hate relationship. 

[Arcadia]

Which one of you is doing the lovin', and which one the hatin', precious?

[HerlockSholmes]

Latest link:

https://www.express.co.uk/showbiz/tv-radio/920415/mary-morstan-sherlock-bbc-worldwide-poll-best-female-tv-characters-uk/amp

[Janyss]

3 hours ago, Arcadia said:

Oh, if I had to choose just one, I don't think I could. Too many wonderful bits in all of them, even Blind Banker. Even, dare I say it, in T6T.

I do know one thing though; the top of my list is dominated by Moffat-written episodes. I know a lot of people say they don't like his writing, but apparently it suits me just fine. The same could be said of any writer, I suppose. I know people who can't stand Tolkien!  

I guess I tend to prefer MG's épisodes, or the ones Moffat and Gatiss wrote together. I have the feeling Moffat takes himself very seriously when writing. Plots and characters are mainly dark ones, there are many stressing situations...MG's épisodes (or the ones he took part in) have a kind of distant lightness, irony and humour, with improbable characters and situations (the Golem for eg in TGG, or Lady Brecknell thing in TFP). I like that.

[Arcadia]

I think you're not alone in that, Janyss. I can't explain it ... I see the faults in Moffat's scripts, I really do, but they grab me on an emotional level and make me care (darn it!) more than television is usually able to make me care. Of course, a lot of that is the actors too, but the scenes that stand out in my mind - no, in my heart - are almost all written by Moffat. Not quite all, but many. Maybe I'm just really gullible. Or really sappy.

Gatiss' scripts strike me as more clever, with more allusions to the canon, and slyer jokes. I enjoy all that immensely, but most of the time they don't have quite the emotional punch (for me) that Moffat's scripts do.

Steve Thompson has a few brilliant scenes in TBB. Reichenbach, the first few times I saw it, was mystifying and heartbreaking. Alas, it's been a bit ruined for me by realizing all Sherlock's emotions are being faked and everything worked out exactly the way he planned. Well, except, apparently, for Moriarty's death, but since that didn't have any effect on Sherlock's plans, I don't see what difference it makes. Too bad, because it's a brilliantly constructed episode in so many other respects. It's still high on my list, but not as high as it used to be.

I think TAB is brilliant, too, but since I can't abide Sherlock's hairstyle in that one, I have to downgrade it a bit. I'm so shallow......

[gerry]

12 hours ago, Janyss said:

....I can't cope with ASIB ranking second (come on. A story supposed to depict a mastermind woman, and she has to pop up and parade completely naked to be taken serious?)....

(as my favourite scene is, I think, the scene of memories in TFP).

I love your description of ASIB!  I feel exactly the same way which is why I’ve always thought ASIB was overrated.  

My favorite scene of TFP was the moment Sherlock remembered Victor Trevor.  It was a rare moment where Sherlock was genuine, full of real emotion where BC imbued Sherlock with true vulnerability.

[Carol the Dabbler]

7 hours ago, Arcadia said:

I see the faults in Moffat's scripts, I really do, but they grab me on an emotional level and make me care (darn it!) more than television is usually able to make me care. Of course, a lot of that is the actors too, but the scenes that stand out in my mind - no, in my heart - are almost all written by Moffat. Not quite all, but many. Maybe I'm just really gullible. Or really sappy.

Gatiss' scripts strike me as more clever, with more allusions to the canon, and slyer jokes. I enjoy all that immensely, but most of the time they don't have quite the emotional punch (for me) that Moffat's scripts do.

Steve Thompson has a few brilliant scenes in TBB. Reichenbach, the first few times I saw it, was mystifying and heartbreaking. Alas, it's been a bit ruined for me by realizing all Sherlock's emotions are being faked and everything worked out exactly the way he planned. [....] Too bad, because it's a brilliantly constructed episode in so many other respects. It's still high on my list, but not as high as it used to be.

I think TAB is brilliant, too, but since I can't abide Sherlock's hairstyle in that one, I have to downgrade it a bit. I'm so shallow......

I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one who can be distracted by a hairstyle.  Only I'm talking about The Swoop.  (I still say it makes John look like Martin Freeman.)  I disagree with you regarding Sherlock's TAB style, though.  I can accept it because it's meant to be Victorian.  Whereas John's S4 style is simply out of character for him (I've just about talked myself into accepting it as Mary's idea -- my brother let his wife talk him into getting a perm once -- but if so, it should quietly disappear by Series 5).

Regarding The Fall being choreographed, no, I don't think it was quite as cut and dried as Sherlock told Anderson (assuming that that scene didn't take place in Anderson's fevered imagination).  I assumed all along that he and Mycroft had things planned as best they could -- he'd have been an idiot to wing it.  How could he possibly have survived that fall without -- something?    But considering all the details that could have gone disastrously wrong, he was still putting his life on the line in order to save his friends.

As for whose scripts I prefer -- oh, my, that's a tough question.  My favorite episodes are ASiP, TGG, TRF, and TAB -- written respectively by SM, MG, ST, and SM&MG.  My least favorite are, hmm, TBB, ASiB, HLV, and TFP -- written respectively, I believe, by ST, SM, SM, and SM&MG.  Moffat and Thompson are well represented in both categories, whereas Gatiss appears mostly in my favorites -- so I guess if I had to pick a favorite writer, it'd have to be MG.  But I think the synergy is what really "makes" the show.

[Janyss]

10 hours ago, gerry said:

I love your description of ASIB!  I feel exactly the same way which is why I’ve always thought ASIB was overrated.  

My favorite scene of TFP was the moment Sherlock remembered Victor Trevor.  It was a rare moment where Sherlock was genuine, full of real emotion where BC imbued Sherlock with true vulnerability.

I don't hate re-watching ASIB anyway...It's Sherlock! And there is the bed sheet scene, "shut up mrs Hudson", the outcome...and a few other good scenes. My dislike is mainly about the transposition of Irene Adler, and the way the plot is told.

I also like the moment you mention, but the little boy in the well is something really awful, even if the screenplayers left it, with reason, to only a few seconds. I tend to go forwards there when rewatching, but of course BC and the effects of setting are brilliant here. I was referring to the memories in the beginning of the episode, when Mycroft tells about Euros: there is much poetry in it, the character is completely immersed in his memories, and the storytelling is dynamised by Mycroft's lies about Readbeard.  

[Arcadia]

4 hours ago, Carol the Dabbler said:

I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one who can be distracted by a hairstyle.  Only I'm talking about The Swoop.  (I still say it makes John look like Martin Freeman.)  I disagree with you regarding Sherlock's TAB style, though.  I can accept it because it's meant to be Victorian.  Whereas John's S4 style is simply out of character for him (I've just about talked myself into accepting it as Mary's idea -- my brother let his wife talk him into getting a perm once -- but if so, it should quietly disappear by Series 5).

Oh yes, The Swoop. I feel the same. Except that it's not ugly, it's just not John Watson. Sherlock's slick back is downright ugly, I don't care what era it's from.

3 hours ago, Janyss said:

I don't hate re-watching ASIB anyway...It's Sherlock! And there is the bed sheet scene, "shut up mrs Hudson", the outcome...and a few other good scenes. My dislike is mainly about the transposition of Irene Adler, and the way the plot is told.

Oh noes!! The way the plot is told is my favorite thing about ASIB! At least, the way it's filmed. The cinematography in that episode is just gorgeous.

I agree that making Irene a dominatrix is a bit ... uncomfortable. As if sex is the only power a woman is capable of wielding. But that's a woman's point of view, maybe from a man's point of view, sex is the most potent weapon imaginable? Hm.

[gerry]

4 hours ago, Janyss said:

I don't hate re-watching ASIB anyway...It's Sherlock! And there is the bed sheet scene, "shut up mrs Hudson", the outcome...and a few other good scenes. My dislike is mainly about the transposition of Irene Adler, and the way the plot is told.

I also like the moment you mention, but the little boy in the well is something really awful, even if the screenplayers left it, with reason, to only a few seconds. I tend to go forwards there when rewatching, but of course BC and the effects of setting are brilliant here. I was referring to the memories in the beginning of the episode, when Mycroft tells about Euros: there is much poetry in it, the character is completely immersed in his memories, and the storytelling is dynamised by Mycroft's lies about Readbeard.  

Irene dominates ASIB though.  Even if she isn’t in the scene, the scene is about her after she appears naked so  I won’t rewatch an episode just for a few scenes I like when a character I dislike overwhelms the rest of the episode.  It’s just hard to take that character seriously after she meets them naked.  That and ASIB has the one scene I loathe the most of all Sherlock episodes, the Xmas scene.

I assumed you were talking about Mycroft’s memory scenes.  I like those scenes too but Sherlock remembering Victor affected me far more because it was an unusual and unexpected moment for Sherlock.  It’s one of the few moments i actually feel sorry for Sherlock.

TRF is by far my favorite episode even if later episodes affected my view of some of the scenes because it had something interesting for all characters to do (even the secondary characters).  It had good pacing and elements of humor as well.  Even Moriarty was at his best as well, more of a character and less of a caricature. 

[Hikari]

Gerry makes fair points about ASiB--I am very pro-Adler (Canon), as a complex yet fundamentally morally honest woman who has to resort to some subterfuge and her own internal resources when men in her life let her down.   She is neither a criminal nor a prostitute.  Perhaps not stolidly 'virtuous' by staid, rigid Victorian standards, but only because she likes life to be varied and interesting.  Variety and an abhorrence of domesticity were not desirable qualities in a Victorian lady.  BBC Adler is morally compromised from consorting so closely with the criminal element, and she doesn't flinch at hurting people--physically, mentally, emotionally--she's a pro at it.  It's  hard to reconcile this Adler with the original.

That being said, 'A Scandal in Belgravia' wins my top marks in this series for the wittiness of its writing, the indelible bromance moments  (which include being forcibly abducted to Buckingham Palace sans clothing for SH and bonding punches to the face for both our pair.)  A complex plot with a balanced blend of light and dark.  A very meaty role for Mark Gatiss' Mycroft . . and I love the Christmas scene as a tart little play-within-a-play.  The 'deductions' scenes were also well done and the little nods to Canon (such as '1895' on Watson's blog counter.)  Adler's nudity doesn't bother me as much as the ridiculous deus ex machine ending, with Sherl channeling Superman by way of Lawrence of Arabia.  Having the collective audience go Wha the Faaaaaa????! is not the best way to end one's episode. 

My list goes like this.  Season 4 changed nothing, other than to remind me that 'His Last Vow' and 'The Abominable Bride' are not as putrid relative to this final season.  I can only rate S4 to itself, so it does nothing to influence my other rankings.

1. A Scandal in Belgravia

2.  The Reichenbach Fall

3.  The Great Game

4.  A Study in Pink

5. The Sign of Three

6.  Hounds of Baskerville

7.  The Empty Hearse

8.  The Blind Banker

9.  His Last Vow

10.  The Lying Detective

11.  The Abominable Bride

12.  The Six Thatchers

13.  The Final Problem . . aptly named, this.

[HerlockSholmes]

He’s everywhere!

http://www.radiotimes.com/news/film/2018-02-22/heres-benedict-cumberbatch-doing-a-dramatic-reading-of-im-a-little-teapot/amp/

[Arcadia]

There's no escaping him!

[HerlockSholmes]

Here’s the latest:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-5441681/amp/Benedict-Cumberbatch-arrives-Laureus-Sports-Awards.html

[Arcadia]

OMG.

I hope this works.

 

[HerlockSholmes]

Even more....

http://www.digitalspy.com/movies/news/a851100/benedict-cumberbatch-marvel-cinematic-universe-multiverse/

[Arcadia]

Meh, I think he's just talking about Dr. Strange and Black Panther. Hope so. They've already multi-versed Spider-Man so many times I don't even care about him anymore, and Spidey was one of my favorites.

[HerlockSholmes]

Anyone got £1000,000 spare?

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/lifestyle/welsh-homes/house-featured-bbcs-sherlock-up-14350598.amp

Is this place anywhere near you Pseudonym?

[HerlockSholmes]

This one isn’t Sherlock but, as there are Dr Who fans on here (and women🙂) I thought that I’d post it.

http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/doctor-who/news/a851111/doctor-who-series-11-writers/