When adapting a book, novel, short story, etc. to film or television, one cannot obviously include every detail and sentence of the text-it would make for a very bored viewer. Along with the fact that in most cases this would make the movie or show too long, what makes a book suspenseful and draws the reader in may not necessarily work quite the same with a viewer. And so, changes are made, plot is added or taken out, and often times this creates many angry viewers who are also fans of the text and don't like to see in "ruined".
In the case of The Hound of the Baskervilles and Doyle's stories of Sherlock Holmes in general, the BBC adaptation Sherlock is widely respected and well-liked by the general television watcher and avid Doyle reader alike. So, what makes it such a good adaptation? This question is especially interesting in regard to the fact these stories were written in the 19th century and are now being put in the context of the 21st century.
To start with, the BBC show retains most of the supporting cast of characters and the same general plot-line of the original Doyle text. In the case of the episode The Hounds of Baskerville the villain is changed and some genders are swapped, in the case of Dr. Stapleton, for example, but the same names are kept and used in much the same way. Dr. Frankland becoming the villain and his motives and his means of killing all help the show bring the show into the 21st century. He is using new technology to kill, but still relies on fear and superstition to keep people away and test his theories at the same time. In the book, Stapleton uses this fear of the supernatural and the moor to keep people away and kill them at the same time. Put into this century, the fears are changed from monsters and beasts to genetic experiments and conspiracy theories, but still act in very much the same way, helping to enable the villain.
Keeping some of the same lines from the book also help to keep this updated version from straying too far. For example when Sherlock tells Watson in the book, "It may be that you are not yourself luminous, but you are a conductor of light. Some people without possessing genius have a remarkable power of stimulating it."(pg. 2) This line is repeated with slightly different wording in the BBC episode based on Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles. Small details like this are able to connect the two stories across the two media: text and film.
A significant, but at the same time necessary, change is in that of the suspense and pacing of the show. In The Hound of the Baskervilles and in books in general, the reader gets an air of suspense and excitement when things are creeping slowly, employing things like cliffhangers and slow to come action, mystery, solutions, or danger. An example of this from Doyle's text is when Holmes and Watson are waiting outside of Stapleton's house and the fog is slowly closing in around them. This impending sense of doom and fear that is brought with the fog in a way also is slowly closing in on the reader. Once this fog closes in, all the duo can see are shadows, contributing to the suspense. In The Hounds of Baskerville and film in general, suspense is shown in a much different way. Very sudden visual effects, such as the flashing lights on and off in front of Henry's house, and things appearing from nowhere, etc. are startling and contribute to suspense for the viewer in terms of film. When the lights are flashing it also shows this peculiarity in that the viewer is more scared when the lights are on and the shadow is flashing across the screen than when the lights are off, which is the opposite of the normal social construct that the dark is scary and the light is safe and warm.
These few points are some of what contribute to making a good adaptation in general and that make the BBC's Sherlock so mesmerizing and popular. The way they are able to take these stories and breathe new life into them and put them into the context of modern times while staying mostly true to the originals is amazing and wonderful and why the show is so popular (also the superb acting doesn't hurt).
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