I think what they're missing is the bluster and naive arrogance of the Victorian era, when men were men, women were women, and English virtues were the only virtues worth owning. It had an aura of innocence and certainty that you can't recreate in a modern setting. Nor can you duplicate the romance that the imagery of a fog shrouded horse drawn London provided. Setting and the era are at the heart of Sherlock Holmes appeal. Much like Jules Verne and H.G. Wells needed a less technologically sophisticated world in which to create their wonders and make them believable within that context. Steampunk is trying to get some of that back, but it's still only a pastiche no matter how skillfully it's done.
-40hz
This is a beautiful explanation of it, thank you. This is also a new thing to me. I'm starting to notice all the British influences in my life, it's interesting. I'm definitely getting a better sense of what it means to be British specifically as opposed to American. it's something I never understood before.
And you've now given me many hours of Holmes to look forward to.
-superboyac
I know this is a Necro Thread, but then Sherlock Holmes is a 100 year old classic, so why complain that a thread is "all of a year old"? So here goes.
I'll reverse it: What the old series had that maybe the modern takes don't (I haven't seen them) is respect for both pondering and the spoken word. I'm having trouble recalling scenes where Holmes was actually fighting - yes, he could avoid a two bit thug, but he didn't go around becoming known as the next great fighter.
Instead, he sorta just tripped-and-punched the thug, *then went home*. Then he thought a lot about what it all meant (with Watson as a sounding board.)
So in one sense, it's back to my theme this month about pacing - sometimes he sent off a letter by postal mail, and he knew there wouldn't even be an answer for about three days. That alone is way different from our hyper-speed world!
