Oh. Um.

[elaby]

My Russian Holmes DVDs came in the mail today! After accidentally receiving somebody else's order yesterday ^^;; Which included something like $160 worth of Russian movies and books. Going to send it back when I receive the envelope from the seller.

I watched "The Sign of the Four" tonight, which was remarkably close to canon (except for the cocaine... I missed the cocaine ;_;) and as a result I are a sad Elaby. Because the end of "Sign" is sad. And in this version, Watson just leaves, and Mrs. Hudson gets the "What's left for you, Mr. Holmes?" line, to which he just doesn't answer... because they left out the cocaine. Not that I was really surprised that they did, but I think it's an important frame for the story (not to mention an indication of how lost Holmes is without Watson).

Also, there was random "Scandal in Bohemia" in the middle! Which was interesting, and very short, with an extremely overwrought hereditary king of Bohemia and a great deal of conflicted introspective Holmes.

On the plus side, we did get to see a full scene of Irene Adler in drag, which is always delightful.

But, um. Yeah. There were plenty of wonderful parts, but Baker Street was left very lonely at the end. And the subtitles were word-for-word from the story (even the dialogue quirks of the guy they borrowed Toby from, for instance), which was really cool on the one hand, but on the other hand made me suspicious that that wasn't exactly what they were saying. I need to learn Russian!

Um. I think I might go watch the reunion scene from "The Empty House" to cheer myself up.

Comments

[kcscribbler]

I know! I was all massive squeeing ovewr adorable Watson and Mary (because it hasn't been done right until then), and then they had to go and depress everything on the end! *smacks Holmes*

Hee, the King cracked me up. Upset muchly, no?

[elaby.livejournal.com]

OMG, I know! I was really shocked by how overwrought he was. He was kind of adorable, actually XD

[le-russe-satan.livejournal.com]

Oh, oh, how did they subtitle the bit where Mary is talking to her friend and tells her how Watson messed up his words (smth about leopard and the gun)? XD

And *hugs* such a horrible, horrible ending. ;_; Well, not horrible, but you know what I mean. Imagine this being the Holmes you were born to? No wonder, we russians write such depressed stuff. XD

[elaby.livejournal.com]

That part was straight from the story! It said a tiger cub in the subtitles, though. That part's hilarious XD

Yeah, it was really sad! *comforted* They got the awful mood of the story down perfectly.

[poelaramont.livejournal.com]

Holmes needs to go to rehab. Or maybe he already did, since there was no cocaine in that movie.

[elaby.livejournal.com]

Dude, have you heard of "The Seven Per-Cent Solution"? It's a book written in the 1970's, I think, that explains that Holmes didn't really go traveling after he faked his death at Reichenbach, he actually went to detox with Sigmund Freud XD It was really cool, actually.

In the Granada TV show, Holmes gives up cocaine sometime around the fourth season.

[the-arethusa.livejournal.com]

Oh, Sign of Four is so sad at the end *whimpers*

Leaving the cocaine out is understandable though in a way. It is very hard to for some people to come to grips with the idea of our hero with a hard drug usage problem (even though it was perfectly legal at the time).

I'm with you though, the idea of Holmes being left alone to get wasted on cocaine is what makes Sign more poignant.

Other comments: Irene Adler in drag is always brilliant. I didn't like Granada's Irene much. And Watson actually getting the girl! So many versions omit this and they shouldn't!

[elaby.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I can definitely see why they wouldn't want to face handling the whole drug angle. I'm glad it's been done in some other media, though! Bert Coules radio play FTW :3

This Irene looked very good in her men's clothes! And little fake mustache :D I'm glad they kept Watson's getting married; it's important to his relationship with Holmes!

[the-arethusa.livejournal.com]

Bert Coules radio play FTW

I know! It's like Bert Coules read my mind, because his version of Holmes matches mine almost exactly.

[elaby.livejournal.com]

Yes! It's brilliant. I'm a total voice-actor geek in other fandoms (mostly anime) and so Clive Merrison's subtlety and brilliance makes me so deliriously happy sometimes XD

[dakegra.livejournal.com]

I caught a bit of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes on tv last night, which was, um...

*googles*

this one!
http://www.mindthezap.tv/programs/84636.html

Jeremy Brett! Who looks exactly as I'd expect Holmes to look. Not sure about the guy playing watson, other than his splendid moustache. Lestrade had an awesome moustache too.

Sadly I only saw about five minutes as I was in the middle of doing Stuff. Must set the box to record some. :-)

[elaby.livejournal.com]

BWEE! That show is BRILLIANT. And Jeremy Brett's Holmes is beyond compare. I like both of the Watsons they had :3 Their Lestrade didn't have a moustache, though, so that must've been another Scotland Yard fellow :)

YAY, I'm glad you got to see some!

[dakegra.livejournal.com]

yeah, I just assumed it was Lestrade. Must watch more!