quotable Dr. Who

"You want weapons? We're in a library. Books! Best weapons in the world! This room's the greatest arsenal we could have. Arm yourself."
                                        - 10th Doctor, Doctor Who, "Tooth and Claw"

adaptation: Sherlock

Sherlock television series

Sherlock was recommended to us earlier this year by our friend Chris,¹ but Russell and I hadn't had a chance to see it until recently. Our local public television station played the first two episodes--"A Study in Pink" and "The Blind Banker"--during a fund drive. Two episodes doesn't seem like much, but each episode is 90 minutes long and each season consists of only three episodes. So, despite having only seen two episodes, we've seen two-thirds of season one.

Sherlock reimagines Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's legendary characters in a contemporary setting. The series stars Benedict Cumberbatch as an extremely tech-saavy, slightly Auspergian Sherlock Holmes and Martin Freeman as the wonderfully ordinary war veteran, John Watson.

"A Study in Pink" (remember that A Study in Scarlet is what introduced Holmes to the world) is the series opener. In it, Dr. Watson, recently returned from Afghanistan and suffering from PTSD, is introduced to Sherlock Holmes when a mutual acquaintance finds out they are both in need of a flatmate. In short order, Watson moves into 221B Baker Street, which is still owned by Mrs. Hudson (who incorrectly assumes that Watson is Holmes' new live-in boyfriend). PI Lestrade (Rupert Graves) seeks assistance from "unofficial consultant" Holmes after one suspicious suicide becomes a series and Watson is kidnapped by a man claiming to be Holmes' archenemy.

I liked Sherlock, so much so that I could have watched all six episodes in a row if I'd had access to them. I think the series is fresh and interesting, yet still very authentic-feeling. Russell is much more of a purist so his thoughts on the show may be a bit more meaningful to die-hard Doyle fans. Though updated, Russell thought that Sherlock remained true to the original especially with regard to the main characters, their personalities, and histories.

1. Chris is also a blog reader. Hi, Chris!

adaptation: No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency

I've been watching the No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency television show on DVD.

I'm not usually a huge fan of adaptations¹, but I quite like this series. While I'm sure that it's not 100% true to the books (I don't remember the character of BK from the books, for example), it is close. And more importantly, it has the same spirit as the novels. Jill Scott is wonderful as Precious Ramotswe. For some reason I always imagined Precious as older than Scott seems to be on screen, but I think that's my error. Grace Makutsi (Anika Noni Rose) and JLB Matekoni (Lucian Msamati) are also perfectly cast.

In the Poison episode, Precious says, "You know, when I see those children together, I can hardly believe there's anything wrong in the world." Watching the show (and reading the books) gives one a bit of that same feeling. They are feel-good in the best sense of the phrase. They make one feel that there is hope for the world, that one can make the world a better place by being a good person, forgiving others, giving to those less fortunate, and sticking up what's right.

Apparently the series was canceled due to poor ratings. How disappointing. I guess I'll just have to pull out the books again.

1. There are a few adaptations that I like better than the original (Bridget Jones's Diary comes to mind), but my track record with others is so bad that I usually avoid any and all adaptations like the plague. Austen is an exception, though. My tolerance for Austen remakes is quite high... though not high enough to allow for such atrocities as Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.