Which is Your Favourite Sherlock?

[Neverhoodian]

Why it's the 22nd century version!


I kid I kid and sorry for unleashing that horror back to the prent!

Aw man, I was going to be a rebel and post that! I was positive nobody else would remember that one.

Well, clearly, Wishbone!
image snip

Ugh, I actually watched that show growing up. A part of me wishes I could forget it. I'll just blame it on not having cable TV.

In all seriousness though, I have to go with the original books. I'm not too familiar with most other iterations, but I really enjoyed the first movie with Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law, the latter of whom takes my "best interpretation of Watson" title. It irks me when Watson is depicted as a fat, clueless buffoon, as anyone who's read the books knows that he possesses a strong physique and is quite intelligent to boot. The only reason why he appears slow on the uptake from time to time is due to Holmes' savant-level intellect. The second movie was too over the top for my taste, as the actual detective work took a back seat to the action and spectacle.

 

[Flatfrog]

Don't forget 'Tom and Jerry meet Sherlock Holmes' [youtube = 'hQpCiXZofWE']

For me it will always be Basil Rathbone, purely for nostalgia reasons.

I just finished watching the first season of Elementary, which I expected to hate and actually thought was rather brilliant - I certainly preferred it to Sherlock in terms of its storytelling, even though the original character of Sherlock was fantastc.

 

[Ieyke]

This question is two-fold
What is your favourite Sherlock TV series/Film/Book?
And which is your favourite interpretation of the character Sherlock?
And bonus Q, your favourite interpretation of the character Watson?

The reason I listed the Q's separately is because for me my favourite TV series is Elementary but my favourite Sherlock is Benedict Cumberbatch and my favourite Watson is Jude Law.

Favorite series - ....eh....settingwise it's the Robert Downey Jr world, show-wise it's House M.D.

Favorite Sherlock - A tie between Jonny Lee Millar and Hugh Laurie(Gregory House).

Favorite Watson - I lean slightly towards Lucy Liu, who SERIOUSLY holds her own against Jonny Lee Millar's Sherlock.
Notably, 2nd place is actually a 3-way tie between Martin Freeman, Jude Law and Robert Sean Leonard (Dr. James Wilson).
Apparently they're really good at casting Watsons.

Favorite Mycroft - Mark Gatiss(Sherlock). No contest.
(I wish I could say Stephen Fry(RDJ movies). I love Stephen Fry, but he just doesn't really do much as Mycroft...)

Favorite Moriarty - Natalie Dormer (Elementary). No contest. At all. Not even a little.

Favorite Lestrade - Rupert Graves (Sherlock).
Actually, I heavily considered the Lestrade from Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century. She's a badass.

-

-

Why it's the 22nd century version!


I kid I kid and sorry for unleashing that horror back to the prent!

OT- My is the Robert Downey Jr version including Watson.

I actually love that show. I have the whole thing.

Well, clearly, Wishbone!

Props to Wishbone. Wishbone was awesome. Requiescat In Pace, little doggy. :/

 

[Quellist]

Jeremy Brett and David Burke without a doubt. Nowadays you cant get an adaption like that because everyone wants to reboot, reimagine, reinterpret so we get things like Elementary, Sherlock and the Robert Downey jr Movies...All these are fine but imo they are kind of beside the point. In that respect i prefer House which just used concept without trying to make it a Sherlock adaption.

 

[dragonet111]

For me it will always be this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1LkIGsFeg4 I loved it as a child. Miyazaki worked on this show.

PS: sorry for the French version but this is how I remember it.

 

[putowtin]

All three of mine are from the same series... To me Sherlock is and always will be the Jeremy Brett and David Burke version.

It's classic, true to the original stories (unlike any of the adaptations in the last few years) and works really well. Watson's admiration of Holmes really stands through, which works well as it was that which made him write the memoires in the first place!

This!
A million times this!

The Guy Richie version arn't Sherlock, Sherlock Holmes sat infront of a fire, smoking and thinking, not getting in fist fights or cross dressing!

 

[TheVampwizimp_v1legacy]

All three of mine are from the same series... To me Sherlock is and always will be the Jeremy Brett and David Burke version.

It's classic, true to the original stories (unlike any of the adaptations in the last few years) and works really well. Watson's admiration of Holmes really stands through, which works well as it was that which made him write the memoires in the first place!

This!
A million times this!

The Guy Richie version arn't Sherlock, Sherlock Holmes sat infront of a fire, smoking and thinking, not getting in fist fights or cross dressing!

Well, originally, Holmes actually did do some cross-dressing, and only sometimes spent a whole case sitting in his room. Most of my favorite cases are the ones where he got up and took action; investigated the crime scene, or laid an ambush for the criminal, like in "The Red-Headed League" or "The Speckled Band."

My personal favorite version of Sherlock Holmes is probably the original material. I usually go for the authentic version with these sorts of things, and Arthur Conan Doyle was just a great writer of short mysteries.

But that's not to say that I don't adore both Benedict Cumberbatch and Hugh Laurie's respective versions. "House" is one of my favorite tv shows ever, and his relationship with Wilson is the best part of the whole show. And the BBC's "Sherlock" is just fantastic, it really nails Holmes' near-superhuman observational skills, and I love how when he explains his lines of reasoning it seems so obvious once you hear it, just like in ACD's original stories.

As for Watson, again, James Wilson on "House" is one of the biggest reasons to love that show. Martin Freeman is probably the best pure interpretation of the character though. I just wish that series 3 of "Sherlock" hadn't taken quite so much inspiration from Tumblr for its character pieces.

 

[Dominic Crossman]

When I made this thread I hadn't even considered Holmes in all but the name type characters (i.e. House)
While I did enjoy the couple of Arthur Conan Doyle books I've read, and while I've never seen a Sherlock series outside of Elementary/Sherlock (BBC), I just enjoy the modern interpretations more then the older books.

Off-topic: If they don't explain how

Spoiler

Sherlock AND Moriarty both survived in BBC's Sherlock next season (and properly)

then I'm giving up with it.

 

[2many typos]

Martin Freeman's Watson is absolutely brilliant! A lot of interpretations either portray Watson as the not-so-bright sidekick or the long-suffering chaperone, Freeman plays Watson as an eccentric whose weirdness is equal to Sherlock's.

As for best Sherlock; Hugh Laurie as Gregory House... ok I kid Cumberbatch is my personal fav Sherlock.

 

[octafish]

Talons of Weng Chiang for mine with the Doctor as Holmes, Leela, Litefoot, and Jago as Watsons and Marcus Greel as Moriarty.

Well that or Peter Cushing's short run. Cushing could have been the best Moriarty too.

 

[busterkeatonrules]

Basil Rathbone is the ultimate stereotypical upper-class British gentleman - and therefore the ultimate Holmes.

I also love Nigel Bruce's take on Watson in those same movies. He does do the 'comic relief' - thing, but he does it wonderfully well. (Also, it must be noted that many of his outright blunders are actually lifted directly from the original works!)

Spoiler: My favourite movie starring these two:

Holmes and Moriarty working for opposing sides during WW2? F**K YEAH!.

Honorable mentions go to Basil the Great Mouse Detective -

- and to The Seven Per Cent Solution, a more obscure movie starring Nicol Williamson as Holmes, Robert Duvall as Watson... and Alan Arkin as Sigmund Freud. The plot, intentionally taking slight liberties with the source material, concerns Holmes' descent into madness from cocaine addiction and Watson putting together a fake mystery in order to lure him to Vienna for special treatment by Freud. Of course, Holmes' skills come in handy as our friends get involved in a more conventional adventure. Which, incidentally, leads to the greatest train chase I've seen! [small]Excluding the one involving Wallace, Gromit and a certain penguin.[/small]

Moving on to the literary realm, my favourite of the original stories by Doyle himself is The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton. Here, Holmes finds it necessary to dedicate his genius to the planning and execution of a simple burglary! Watson, who comes along, is very nearly captured - but Holmes later convinces Lestrade of his partner's innocence with a single, magnificently brilliant remark which I will not spoil here.

 

[IllumInaTIma]

I really love BBC's Sherlock and I think that both Benedict are Freeman are amazing at their roles... however, I just can't help but adore Elementary's portrayals of Sherlock and Watson. They are not the best, but they are just so different that I can't help myself!
Johnny Lee Miller's Sherlock is much more physically capable, active, but at the same time more vulnerable and emotional than Sherlock's traditional portrayal.
And Lucy Liu! I'm in love with that woman! She's beautiful, smart, capable, and can easily give Sherlock run for his money in snark department.
Oh yeah, and Moriarty. I'd say that Elementary's Moriarty is brilliant because Natalie Dormer just nails her character and because Sherlock's Moriarty is just laughable little shit.

 

[Eamar]

It'll always be the books for me, and I really struggle to narrow it down to a favourite few stories so I'm not going to. There have been some fantastic adaptations, but the books are what I'll always be comparing them to.

Despite acknowledging that there are some good ones, I'm actually pretty resistant to Sherlock Holmes adaptations, so I put off watching the BBC Sherlock series for ages. I really wasn't keen on the idea of a modern version, if I'm honest. Having got fully up to speed with it though, I'd say it's actually probably my favourite screen adaptation, closely followed by the Jeremy Brett series.