Sherlock Pilot
Aug. 28th, 2010 10:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lady_t_220I have watched the Sherlock pilot. It makes for surprisingly interesting viewing, despite being essentially a 60-min version of 'A Study in Pink' there are definite style differences and it's interesting to note what they kept and what they changed.
Over-all, I'm glad they ended up re-filming. I think the series version is a much stronger piece of TV and while I still would have enjoyed the series if they'd gone on making it in the style of the pilot, I don't think it would have made quite the impression the finished version managed to make.
There are some bits of the pilot that I have to admit were... well, a bit fail. The obvious blue-screen cab journies for one, and Sherlock standing atop the roof after leaving the corpse-in-pink to stare meaningfully around Brixton on the hunt for a suitcase, looking like a slightly badly-compositied highbrid Jack Harkness-vampire-Cullen. Just not quite as glittery. That was pretty facepalm-worthy.
The one thing I actually liked more in the pilot though is probably the resturant scene, and the efficiency with which Sherlock works out that they're looking for a cabbie. That's the one thing that bemused me about A Study In Pink; that it took him SO LONG to figure out the taxi driver connection. In fact when they chased the cab in ASIP I did genuinely ask the TV "Why are they talking to the guy in the back? I thought they were chasing the driver..."
That, I fear, is probably a side-effect of it being written originally as a 60-min episode and needing an additional half-hour adding into the middle. Sherlock's deduction ended up substantially delayed in order to have his later face-off with the murderer. But all in all it's a minor quibble. The series pill-scene is much better than the pilot's, Sherlock actively choosing to go along out of sheer curiosity is a much more revealing insight into his nature than the pilot's twist of him being drugged and coerced. It's also good they moved it out of 221b and into a different location. With all the additional details they managed to put in with that additional half hour it made an awful lot more sense for them to go elsewhere for that moment.
The alternative resturant scene is not the pilot's single redeeming feature though, it does have some definite other highlights. I very much enjoyed drugged!Sherlock, as I enjoyed drunk!acting Sherlock and throwing-a-drink-in-his-own-face!Sherlock. (I also, and quite unashamedly enjoyed grunting-while-thrashing-a-corpse!Sherlock. Which is absolutely all to do with the grunting. I don't remember there being quite such... uh... vocal enthusiasm in the re-shoot. But then I am a colossal pervert.)
It's also interesting to see that in the pilot Sherlock just seems all-over a little softer and more socially-aware. He seems younger just in general. He wears jeans and, corpse-thrashing aside, come across as less stand-off-ish and superior and has a much nicer and tidier flat than he does in the series. He seems, essentially, a lot less weird. And to be honest when John says 221b will be nice when it's cleaned up I can't see what he's complaining about, the flat's freakin' gorgeous in the pilot. At least his comment makes sense in the series as Sherlock's filled the place with boxes rather than it looking like he's been living there for months in elegent eccentricity.
Interestingly the pilot also holds more overt references to Sherlock's former drug habit. I know it's touched on in ASIP with Lestrade's drug bust and the comment he makes to John at that time, but in the pilot Sherlock just plain old admits he used to do drugs after the Cabbie sneakily sticks him.
Points of interest aside, on every other aspect the pilot and A Study In Pink are more or less the same. The scenes are recognisably similar, a lot of the dialogue remained unchanged and the cast was pretty much identical. (With the exception of Sgt. Donnovan, and Anderson's truly awful beard.) A lot of it works very much the same as it did in the broadcast version. But the series wins by a mile in terms of style and polish. The pilot feels weirdly lacking without the text and deductive subtitles, and the opening credits on the pilot are... well, they're kind of cheap looking. Which really goes for most of the rest of it as well. It feels cheaper than the series ended up being. Which out of everything is probably its biggest failing really. It's nice, but it's not *amazing*... A Study In Pink blows it out of the water.
What I want now though... are screencaps. Because the one thing the pilot has that the series doesn't, is brighter lighting and more intese colour saturation. It totally doesn't work for the feel of the show itself and I'm very glad they toned that down, but it will make for some very nice graphics.
Also in one of the overhead shots in the pill-scene at the end you get a very nice shot of Cucumberpatch's arse, and I am shallow. Shallow like the puddle. (He has grey undies on. *giggles like a schoolgirl*)
I think I'll have to watch the commentaries tomorrow, I'm not going to get through them tonight without wanting to fall asleep and I would generally prefer to pay attention to their contents.
Over-all, I'm glad they ended up re-filming. I think the series version is a much stronger piece of TV and while I still would have enjoyed the series if they'd gone on making it in the style of the pilot, I don't think it would have made quite the impression the finished version managed to make.
There are some bits of the pilot that I have to admit were... well, a bit fail. The obvious blue-screen cab journies for one, and Sherlock standing atop the roof after leaving the corpse-in-pink to stare meaningfully around Brixton on the hunt for a suitcase, looking like a slightly badly-compositied highbrid Jack Harkness-vampire-Cullen. Just not quite as glittery. That was pretty facepalm-worthy.
The one thing I actually liked more in the pilot though is probably the resturant scene, and the efficiency with which Sherlock works out that they're looking for a cabbie. That's the one thing that bemused me about A Study In Pink; that it took him SO LONG to figure out the taxi driver connection. In fact when they chased the cab in ASIP I did genuinely ask the TV "Why are they talking to the guy in the back? I thought they were chasing the driver..."
That, I fear, is probably a side-effect of it being written originally as a 60-min episode and needing an additional half-hour adding into the middle. Sherlock's deduction ended up substantially delayed in order to have his later face-off with the murderer. But all in all it's a minor quibble. The series pill-scene is much better than the pilot's, Sherlock actively choosing to go along out of sheer curiosity is a much more revealing insight into his nature than the pilot's twist of him being drugged and coerced. It's also good they moved it out of 221b and into a different location. With all the additional details they managed to put in with that additional half hour it made an awful lot more sense for them to go elsewhere for that moment.
The alternative resturant scene is not the pilot's single redeeming feature though, it does have some definite other highlights. I very much enjoyed drugged!Sherlock, as I enjoyed drunk!acting Sherlock and throwing-a-drink-in-his-own-face!Sherlock. (I also, and quite unashamedly enjoyed grunting-while-thrashing-a-corpse!Sherlock. Which is absolutely all to do with the grunting. I don't remember there being quite such... uh... vocal enthusiasm in the re-shoot. But then I am a colossal pervert.)
It's also interesting to see that in the pilot Sherlock just seems all-over a little softer and more socially-aware. He seems younger just in general. He wears jeans and, corpse-thrashing aside, come across as less stand-off-ish and superior and has a much nicer and tidier flat than he does in the series. He seems, essentially, a lot less weird. And to be honest when John says 221b will be nice when it's cleaned up I can't see what he's complaining about, the flat's freakin' gorgeous in the pilot. At least his comment makes sense in the series as Sherlock's filled the place with boxes rather than it looking like he's been living there for months in elegent eccentricity.
Interestingly the pilot also holds more overt references to Sherlock's former drug habit. I know it's touched on in ASIP with Lestrade's drug bust and the comment he makes to John at that time, but in the pilot Sherlock just plain old admits he used to do drugs after the Cabbie sneakily sticks him.
Points of interest aside, on every other aspect the pilot and A Study In Pink are more or less the same. The scenes are recognisably similar, a lot of the dialogue remained unchanged and the cast was pretty much identical. (With the exception of Sgt. Donnovan, and Anderson's truly awful beard.) A lot of it works very much the same as it did in the broadcast version. But the series wins by a mile in terms of style and polish. The pilot feels weirdly lacking without the text and deductive subtitles, and the opening credits on the pilot are... well, they're kind of cheap looking. Which really goes for most of the rest of it as well. It feels cheaper than the series ended up being. Which out of everything is probably its biggest failing really. It's nice, but it's not *amazing*... A Study In Pink blows it out of the water.
What I want now though... are screencaps. Because the one thing the pilot has that the series doesn't, is brighter lighting and more intese colour saturation. It totally doesn't work for the feel of the show itself and I'm very glad they toned that down, but it will make for some very nice graphics.
Also in one of the overhead shots in the pill-scene at the end you get a very nice shot of Cucumberpatch's arse, and I am shallow. Shallow like the puddle. (He has grey undies on. *giggles like a schoolgirl*)
I think I'll have to watch the commentaries tomorrow, I'm not going to get through them tonight without wanting to fall asleep and I would generally prefer to pay attention to their contents.
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no subject
Date: 2010-08-28 10:03 pm (UTC)The fact didn't go unnoticed. Not, er, one bit.
I found it interesting, at times, but I'm quite glad they changed so much. Almost universally for the better, in my opinion, although I'd have to watch it again to be sure of specific bits. The earlier version felt hokier. You know what I mean?
But, as I said, it was really interesting to watch and compare the two. They're so very different, but the story is essentially the same.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-28 10:24 pm (UTC)Somehow suspected it wouldn't...
The earlier version felt hokier. You know what I mean?
That's exactly what I mean when I say it felt cheap. Most of the ingredients are there, most of the dialogue's the same apart from the added half-hour, it's recognisably the same show, it's just... nowhere near as good.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-29 11:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-29 11:51 am (UTC)So I don't think it was intentional in that respect, I think just simply being given the chance to go back and try again and fix the things that didn't work like they thought the first time round made an awful lot of difference.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-29 11:56 am (UTC)Why does this show make me sermonize so much!
no subject
Date: 2010-08-29 12:02 pm (UTC)Though I totally agree about the more caustic, aloof Sherlock being an improvement.
I mean, Pilot Sherlock was entertaining, but he seemed an awful lot more personable. Even the Molly's Lipstick, interlude he seemed more baffled by it than disdainful of her efforts.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-29 12:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-29 12:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-29 12:10 pm (UTC)I'm still holding out for an upload of them. Going to Yorkshire on Wednesday, and they'd be awesome to listen to on the way, but with the cost of binding my dissertation and traveling I'm not sure if I'll have the dosh to go get the DVD. Stupid grown up choices.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-29 12:23 pm (UTC)