The newly discovered case book of Sherlock Holmes:
Maybe it is wrong of me to include the newly discovered
casebook of Sherlock Holmes in this series. Not because it is a radio
adaptation, not because it only had one season. No. The big difference between
this and the other adaptations I’ve reviewed is that this is that most glorious
of things, a spoof.
The newly discovered casebook lovingly mocks Holmes (private
detective, master of disguise and toffee nosed ponce), Watson (made incredibly
posh and proper, until he runs out of the house to begin an investigation in a
state of partial undress) and Mrs Hudson (a tyrannical housekeeper who communicates
largely by speaking tube, accompanied by loud raspberries). And yet, there’s
still a lot of stuff here that is really good, and makes me want to talk about
it. And what I want to talk about, I will talk about.
So there.
The toffee nosed ponce himself:
The original Sherlock Holmes is a flawed character, he is
ambitious, he is demanding, dramatic, intelligent (of course) and still always
a gentleman. In this adaptation, they take all of these things and dial them up
a notch (apart from his intelligence,
most of his crime-solving seems to be successful more out of dumb luck than
brilliant deduction). Ambition becomes pride, his demanding nature becomes
demeaning and insulting, and his dramatics now dominate over his intelligence.
He is still a gentleman, but now he is also vain, and clearly sees himself as
the centre of the universe.
And it’s perfect.
This is how a good spoof is done. You always start with the
original character, give them nothing new and take nothing old away. All you
play with is the balance. Dial existing characteristics up until they become
funny, and you keep the same character, but with a comic edge. This Holmes is
instantly recognisable, and actually I find the voice acting compelling as well.
It’s clear the actors in this had an amazing time, you can often hear them
laughing though their lines, but at the same time I feel that if they had
wanted to make a serious Holmes adaptation with this cast, it would have been
brilliant.
That being said, the nature of the production means that
this Holmes lacks depth. Six thirty minute episodes isn’t enough to develop
character development when each of tthem is trying to have a comedic romp at the
same time. I feel like I can’t award a top score for this Holmes because it
relies a lot on existing knowledge of the listener. Therefore, I award five
laughs out of ten for Holmes.
The good Doctor:
Good doctor is maybe a bit of a stretch here. This Watson is
exaggerated in the same way as Holmes, but also has the role of being the but
of every joke. Not necessarily a bad thing, but it doesn’t leave much room for
anything else. He almost never has a real role in the plot, often acts lie a
slightly sulky child, and is only slightly less of a ponce than Holmes.
Still, he’s funny, but that’s not really enough. I judge
character here, and Watson.... doesn’t
have one.
Well, maybe that’s a bit harsh. He is clearly jealous of
Holmes at times and takes every oppurtunity to mock him. He is immature, but I
think he maybe exaggerates his own immaturity to irritate Holmes at times.
Maybe. Or he is just immature, and funny and has no other character to speak
of.
So...... 3/10 for Watson.
The other characters... by which I mean Mrs Hudson, Lestrade
and Moriarty:
Well.... they’re all funny. Hudson is grumpy, Lestrade is
grumpy (and kind of... just there). Moriarty is... ok. Again, character
development isn’t the point here. They are there to be funny, not to be good
characters. And they’re far departures from their original characters too.
Still. Funny.
Moriarty is particularly… well…
He’s a great, incredibly, overtly, villainous villain. He’s
funny, enjoyably wicked. But… Really Not Moriarty. You could stick that villain
in literally anything and he would be funny and evil, but, you know… Not
Moriarty. NOT MORIARTY. But good.
Still not enough to earn a good score, another 3/10
The plots:
And these are really the stars of this series. The
characters are great, but they work only because the hilarious stories provide
a template for them to fall into. Just the titles are great, “Holmes strikes a
happy medium” for example. I won’t dare tell you what happens, but.... it’s
brilliant.
The stories are simple, but funny. They do what you want
them to do, provide a vehicle for comedy, as the characters do.
Still, after being mean to the characters, I feel like I can
reward the plot with an amazing 9/10 for plot.
So, my overall thoughts... this is a great little series, I
wish there was more of it. It’s not a good adaptation, but I love it with all
it’s flaws. Don’t listen expecting the traditional Holmes and Watson, but if
you want something light, lovely and loads of fun, definitely give this a go!
Total of 20/40, not bad given that there’s only one series. Still better than
Sherlock J
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