I just love the show. And when I was watching it on PBS (Sunday night, 9pm EST. The last time I watched Sherlock Holmes was the Granada series with Jeremy Brett and Edward Hardwicke… sigh!), I along with a number of other fans who were all sharing a stream on Twitter (#sherlock_pbs), noticed some cuts in the PBS showing. Not just one episode, but all three. Soemtimes it was no biggie, but other times it was leaving out some important information. So much that I spent some time taking notes on the differences Not just seeing, but observing (haha, little Sherlockian humor there).
Below are the differences that I caught. There’s bound to be some edits that I overlooked, but I thikn I got most of them, including some major gaps that PBS left out.
Just to say, I love PBS. Have for years. There’s just some things that they do that do not make sense.
Am I over doing it? Maybe, but then again I love this show (and Sherlock Holmes stuff in general). It was mostly a fun little project for me.
WARNING!!! Spoilers!
If you haven’t seen it, the killer, and his modus operandi, are revealed at the end. You have been warned.
A Study in Pink
Below is the end of the intro as it was/is seen on the BBC
While the rest of the cuts don’t affect the US’s release of the Sherlock DVD nor the Netflix streaming version, this one change still exists.
John investigates Sherlock
After Sherlock and Watson’s meeting, shot of the Millenium wheel, then to John in his apartment. He sits on his bed and pulls out his phone. Looks at the message that Sherlock had sent earlier:
“If brother has green ladder arrest brother. SH”
then goes over to his laptop and does a search for Sherlock Holmes:
Importance — Somewhat. It makes a little more sense when John tells Sherlock the next day “I looked you up on the internet last night.” when they meet at 221B.
Sherlock and John leave for Lauriston Gardens
A few seconds of Sherlock and John leaving 221b by cab as it stops at the intersection.
Importance — Minor. Just a couple more seconds more after John closes the cab door.
Meeting Donovan
Sherlock meets up with Donovan. After Sherlock’s line of commenting that he knew she did not come home the night before, she stops him and points to John.
Donovan: Who’s this?
Sherlock: Colleague of mine, Dr. Watson. Dr. Watson, Sally Donovan. An old friend.
Donovan: Colleague? How do you get a colleague?
[Turns and asks John] Donovan: Did he follow you home?
John [to Sherlock] “Would it be better if I just waited…?”
Sherlock [sherpily]: No [He lifts up the crime scene tape over John’s head.]
Donovan: Freak’s here. Bringing him in.
Importance — Somewhat. Gives more of an introduction to Sgt. Donovan.
Meeting with Lestrade
After Sherlock heavily implies that Donovan and Anderson of having an affair, he and John enter the building.
They go through a couple rooms to meet with Lestrade.
Sherlock [pointing to a lab suit to John]: You should wear one of these.
Lestrade [to Sherlock, seeing John]: Who’s he?
Sherlock: He’s with me
Lestrade: But who is he?
Sherlock: I said he’s with me.
John [holding a suit, to Sherlock] “ Aren’t you going to put one on?”
Sherlock doesn’t answer, just looks at John with a “I don’t do that” look on his face.
Sherlock [to Lestrade]: So where are we?
Lestrade: Upstairs.
“I can give you two minutes” says Lestrade as he leads Sherlock and John up the stairs.
“May need longer” says Sherlock.
Importance — Somewhat. Sets more of a tone to the type of person Sherlock is: He follows his own rules.
John leaving the crime scene
After Sherlock says the serial killer’s mistake was “PINK!”, the police got to finishing up the crime scene. John hobbles down the stairs.
and out to where he came in near Sgt. Donovan.
Importance — Minor. It does show that he loses Sherlock totally as Sherlock had already ran off without waiting for him.
John finally arrives home after a detour
John gets out of the car after meeting the mysterious man in the warehouse, and goes to knock on the 221B door
Importance — Minor. Though it’s always good to see more of John 🙂
Sherlock and John head towards Northumberland Street
Sherlock and John leave 221B and go by foot to Northumberland street. Sherlock thinks aloud as to who the killer could be:
John: Where are we going?
Sherlock: Northumberland Street’s a five minute walk from here.
John: You think he’s stupid enough to go there?
Sherlock: No, I think he’s brilliant enough. I love the brillant ones. They’re all so desperate to get caught.
John: Why?
Sherlock. Appreciation! Applause! At long last the spotlight. That’s the frailty of genius, John, it needs an audience.
John: Yeah
Sherlock: This is his hunting ground. Right here in the heart of the city. Now that we know that his victims were abducted, that changes everything. Because all of his victims disappeared from busy streets, crowded places, but nobody saw them go. Think! Who do we trust, even though we don’t know them? Who passes unnoticed wherever they go? Who hunts in the middle of a crowd?
John: Don’t know. Who?
Sherlock: Haven’t the faintest. Hungry?
Then they enter the restaurant.
Importance — Important. Sherlock ask key questions about the type of person they are looking for.
Flashback audio
In Baker Street, Sherlock, John, Lestrade and the Scotland Yard crew discover the pink phone is with them…somewhere. Sherlock then flashes back to his earlier questions.
This is a different kind of edit. While the video isn’t cut, there’s audio that is missing. Sherlock’s above questions are repeated.
Importance — Important. For the same reasons as above. Of course, they had to cut out Sherlock’s flashback audio because they had cut out that previous scene.
Sherlock leaving with the Cabbie
Sherlock exits the cab and follows the cabbie’s lead to one of the buildings.
Back at 221B, John is about to walk out the door, realizes he doesn’t have his cane and goes back to get it. And then the computer beeps that the pink phone’s GPS was connecting again.
Importance – Minor. For John, it shows that he was still relying on his crutch even though Sherlock had already proved to him he didn’t need it.
Sherlock and Cabbie enter a classroom
Cabbie – So what do you think? It’s up to you. You’re the one who’s going to die here.
Sherlock: No, I’m not.
Cabbie: That’s what they all say. Shall we talk?
Importance — Minor. Does show off more of Sherlock’s confidence. Never can have too much of Sherlock!
The real reason why the Cabbie is killing random people
Cabbie: I’ve outlived four people. That’s the most fun you can have with an aneurism.
Sherlock: No… No, there’s something else. You didn’t just kill four people because you’re bitter. Bitterness is a paralytic. Love is a much more vicious motivator. Somehow, this is about your children.
Cabbie: Oh…You are good, aren’t you?
Sherlock: But how?
Cabbie: When I die, they won’t get much, my kids. Not a lot of money in driving cabs.
Sherlock: Or serial killing.
Cabbie: You’d be surprised.
Sherlock: Surprise me.
Cabbie: I have a sponsor.
Sherlock: You have a what?
Cabbie: For every life I take, money goes to my kids. The more I kill… the better oof they’ll be. You see? It’s nicer than you think.
Sherlock: Who’d sponsor a serial killer?
Cabbie: Who’d be a fan of Sherlock Holmes? You’re not the only one to enjoy a good murder. There’s others out there just like you, except you’re just a man. And they’re so much more than that.
Sherlock: What do you mean… more than a man? An organization… what?
Cabbie: There’s a name that no-one says. And I’m not going to say it either. Now enough chatter.
Imporatnace — Very! It explains why the cabbie was murdering the other people. And how the Cabbie knows of (shhh!) Moriarty.
John looks for Sherlock
Cabbie: Shall we?
Cabbie [with shots of John running down the hallway looking frantically for Sherlock]: So what do you think? Can you beat me? Are you clever enough…to bet your life.
Imporatnace – Somewhat. The Cabbie continues to play mind games with Sherlock. And like I said earlier, you can’t have too much of Sherlock… or John :).
After the cabbie gets shot
The sound effect of Sherlock throwing the pill on the floor is cut out.
Sherlock: Ok… tell me this. Your sponsor. Who was it?
Importance — Fairly. As like Sherlock’s questions, this was also cut out because they had cut out the cabbie talking about his sponsor.
That’s it! Or at least, the ones I caught. There might be others. I did not realize until the last one, “Hey! There’s a sound missing!”. So there might be other little bits omitted for whatever reason. It was fun, and a good thing I love the show so much other wise it might have driven me a little crazy. Especailly getting the right screenshots without them being blurry or the lighting being bad for that split second and you can’t tell what you are looking at.
It also took over a year to do this since I didn’t record it from PBS but rewatched their version live during the broadcast as well as online. Once they took it down near the end of December 2010, I had nothing to go on, until they rebroadcast it earlier this year. This episode is online at PBS’s site until March 1, 2012.
The Reenactments
It is fun to see how people re-enact scenes from a Holmes production. Below are live and animated re-enacted scenes both from the Granada series and BBC’s Sherlock. I include the original scene and same scene, redone:
The Dancing Men
Sherlock Holmes – The Dancing Men 1/6
Skip to 2:53 in the video to watch Watson’s astonishment as Holmes makes an “absurdly simple” deduction about him. Ends at 5:47. Or you can watch the whole episode if you wish (I recommend that! One of the best episodes of the series!)
Sherlock Holmes The Dancing Men (Jeremy Brett) Cartoon
An adorable cartoon version, using the audio from the above episode. Animation has a nice folkart quality to it. I posted in the comments section that it reminded me of the 1990s cartoon, Dr. Katz (without the shaking). And I always laugh at Watson’s confused face.
The Resident Patient
The Resident Patient part 6
You only need to skip to :19 to get to the scene. If you watch from the beginning, you’d be spoiled somewhat since this segment is near the end and Watson narrates what happened to the villains after the mystery had been solved. The scene in the sitting room is not in the original story, but incredibly charming and, as far as character goes, it’s very canonical. The song Holmes is playing on his violin is Beethoven’s Violin Concerto, 3rd movement.
The Resident Patient
Take one YouTuber (in this case, dalek42), have him play both Watson and Holmes well, and you have a great little tribute to the show! While the Watson angle is a bit dark, his timing is very good. I love how his Holmes rolls the “r” in “What’s wrong?”. And the smily face on the bedroom door! Just thinking of Holmes having a smily face on his door is hilarious…..
The Great Game
….Which brings me to Sherlock shooting a smiley face into his wall. This is from BBC’s Sherlock, the third episode “The Great Game”. The argument that Sherlock and John have here (in the show, they call each other by there first name rather than their last) is from the canon: Holmes not liking what Watson had published about their first case is from the second story, “Sign of Four”, and the solar system is from the very first story, “A Study in Scarlet”. Along with Holmes shooting into the wall, from The Musgrave Ritual, though in the story he shoots nota smiley face, but the letters V R, standing for Victoria Regina (another name for Queen Victoria).
Although I was not able to find the whole scene in one video, I found three short ones that has almost the whole thing (minus a second or two):
Sherlock “Bored” Scene Recreation
These guys usually do videos based on Doctor Who (both original stories and also hilarious impersonations), but after a number of requests, they redid the above scene (minus the head-in-the-fridge bit):
For those curious, below is the original solar system argument:
My surprise reached a climax, however, when I found incidentally that he was ignorant of the Copernican Theory and of the composition of the Solar System. That any civilized human being in this nineteenth century should not be aware that the earth travelled round the sun appeared to be to me such an extraordinary fact that I could hardly realize it.
“You appear to be astonished,” he said, smiling at my expression of surprise. “Now that I do know it I shall do my best to forget it.”
“To forget it!”
“You see,” he explained, “I consider that a man’s brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose. A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge which might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best is jumbled up with a lot of other things so that he has a difficulty in laying his hands upon it. Now the skilful workman is very careful indeed as to what he takes into his brain-attic. He will have nothing but the tools which may help him in doing his work, but of these he has a large assortment, and all in the most perfect order. It is a mistake to think that that little room has elastic walls and can distend to any extent. Depend upon it there comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forget something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones.”
“But the Solar System!” I protested.
“What the deuce is it to me?” he interrupted impatiently; “you say that we go round the sun. If we went round the moon it would not make a pennyworth of difference to me or to my work.”
Since restarting this blog, there has been a new Sherlock Holmes series, called, simply. Sherlock (Original, right? LOL!). I will post my review of it here (I have it posted somewhere else at the moment). But I wanted to show some brilliant fanvids here.
A Study in Time
Oh My Gosh! This video just blew me away. It’s done like a BBC trailer for a show (even has the BBC One logo on the bottom), combining Sherlock and Doctor Who (BTW, both shows are written and (in the case of Sherlock) created by (Steven Moffat (head DW writer) and Mark Gatiss). Unfortunately, Moffat has said that he will never combine the two on one show though I think he should for charity like Big Nose Day or Children in Need. Anyway….
Short explanation of the Sherlock show. Holmes (played by Benedict Cumberbatch) and Watson (Martin Freeman) are brought up in present day instead of Victorian England. If you haven’t seen it, please do yourself a favor and watch it! Acting, writing, sets, etc., top notch! The song is Cracking the Code by PostHaste Music.
Sherlock Holmes: The Boys Are Back
I found out about this video from the Baker Street Blog (a great blog to find out news from the world of Holmes and Watson) a while back. This includes 5 different sets of Holmes-Watson teams: Rathbone-Bruce, Brett-Burke, Basil-Dawson (from Disney’s Great Mouse Detective movie), Downey-Law, and Cumberbatch-Freeman. Note that in different clips Holmes is playing the violin during the guitar solo…. nice touch!
Sherlock – ‘tick, Tick BOOM’
A short one. And loud music. Probably will attract attention if you play it with people around. Tick Tick Boom by The Hives.
Sherlock – Life in Technicolour
Life in Tecnicolour ii is one of the best songs by Coldplay, so put together with one of the beat teams of Holmes & Watson, it’s hard to not like it :). But it’s a short video :(, still brilliant though.
