Customer Reviews

Difference between the 2008 adn 2005 versions - By: Ravindra P. Marathe, 14 Nov 2008
I wish to buy the complete collection but am not sure which one to buy. Besides the differencein quality as ppl have pointed out, I also notice the cast to be different. The 2008 version casts Jeremy Brett as holmes, does it have Edward Hardwick/David Burke as Watson? Please comment & I'll place my order. Thank you - Ravi

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A Big Improvement - By: Caius Petronus, 03 Nov 2008
This is a big improvement over the 2005 DVD release of the series where the transfer seemed to be of no better quality than the VHS tapes. In this 2008 release the prints are much better & look more like a film. I have never seen the characters & scenery looking so sharp & clear. The sound is excellent & each episode comes with the option of English sub-titles for the hard of hearing. Also the series is beautifully & compactly packed. A great bargain!

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London's Only "Consulting Detective." - By: Themis-Athena, 02 Nov 2008
In his foreword to Bantam's "Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Novels & Stories," Loren Estleman called the relationship between Sherlock Holmes & Dr. Watson literature's warmest, most symbiotic & most timeless: rightfully so. Not surprisingly, film history is littered with adaptations of Conan Doyle's tales & Holmes pastiches (using the protagonists but otherwise independent storylines). Yet - & I'm saying this with particular apologies to the fans of the Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce canon - none of these prior incarnations can hold a candle to the ITV/Granada TV series produced between 1984 & 1994, starring Jeremy Brett as Holmes & first David Burke, then, beginning with the second ("Return of Sherlock Holmes") cycle &in near-seamless transition, Edward Hardwicke as a refreshingly sturdy, pragmatic, unbumbling Dr. Watson.

Jeremy Brett was the only actor who ever managed to perfectly portray Holmes's imperiousness, bitingly ironic sense of humor & apparently indestructible self-control without at the same time neglecting his genuine friendship towards Dr. Watson & the weaknesses hidden below a surface dominated by his overarching intellectual powers. The series takes the titles of its four cycles of shorter episodes - "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes," "The Return of Sherlock Holmes," "The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes" & "The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes" - from four of the five short story collections featuring London's self-appointed only "consulting detective" (published 1892, 1905, 1894 & 1927, respectively); thus nominally omitting the 1917 collection "His Last Bow," which is, however - but for its title story - completely representedin individual episodes spread out over the other four cycles. While the grouping of instalments doesn't necessarily correspond with Conan Doyle's original story collections, & the series's premise - Holmes's & Watson's shared tenancy of rooms at 221B Baker Street - was no longer true even at the beginning of the "Adventures," this excellently produced series is a must-have for any mystery fan. This is particularly true for the first two cycles ("Adventures" & "Return") & the movie-length versions of the novels "The Hound of the Baskervilles" & "The Sign of the Four," which alone makes this set well worth the purchase; even if the movie-length dramatizations of the short stories "The Eligible Bachelor" (a/k/a "The Noble Bachelor") & "The Last Vampyre" (a/k/a "The Sussex Vampyre") are less than faithful to Conan Doyle's originals:in fact, their quality rests almost exclusively on an already ailing Jeremy Brett's shoulders (as well asin "Vampyre" on the extraordinary guest performance of Roy Marsdenin the episode's title role), thus emphasizing even more the significance of Brett's achievement.

This set contains (in "volumes" or episodes grouped on discs as originally released):

THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES
* A Scandalin Bohemia
* The Dancing Men (from "Return")
* The Naval Treaty (from "Memoirs")
* The Solitary Cyclist (from "Return")
* The Crooked Man (from "Memoirs")
* The Speckled Band
* The Blue Carbuncle
* The Copper Beeches
* The Greek Interpreter (from "Memoirs")
* The Norwood Builder (from "Return")
* The Resident Patient (from "Memoirs")
* The Red-Headed League
* The Final Problem (from "Memoirs")

THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES
* The Empty House
* The Abbey Grange
* The Second Stain
* The Six Napoleons
* The Priory School
* Wisteria Lodge (from "Last Bow")
* The Devil's Foot (from "Last Bow")
* Silver Blaze (from "Memoirs")
* The Bruce-Partington Plans (from "Last Bow")
* The Musgrave Ritual (from "Memoirs")
* The Man With the Twisted Lip (from "Adventures")

THE CASEBOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES
* The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax (from "Last Bow")
* The Problem of Thor Bridge
* The Boscombe Valley Mystery (from "Adventures")
* The Illustrious Client
* Shouscombe Old Place
* The Creeping Man

THE MEMOIRS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES
* The Three Gables (from "Casebook")
* The Dying Detective (from "Last Bow")
* The Golden Pince-Nez (from "Return")
* The Red Circle (from "Last Bow")
* The Mazarin Stone (from "Casebook")
* The Cardboard Box (from "Last Bow")

THE FEATURE FILMS
* The Sign of Four (adaptation of the 1890 novel)
* The Hound of the Baskervilles (adaptation of the 1901 novel)
* The Last Vampyre (adaptation of the short story "The Sussex Vampyre" from "Casebook")
* The Eligible Bachelor (adaptation of the short story "The Noble Bachelor" from "Adventures")
* The Master Blackmailer (adaptation of the short story "The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton" from "Memoirs")

For completion's sake, this leaves only the first & last Holmes novels ("A Study In Scarlet," 1887, & "The Valley of Fear," 1915) as well as the following short stories unrepresentedin this series:

From THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES:
* A Case of Identity
* The Five Orange Pips
* The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb
* The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet

From THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES:
* The Adventure of Black Peter
* The Adventure of the Three Students
* The Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter

From THE CASEBOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES:
* The Blanched Soldier
* The Lion's Mane
* The Veiled Lodger
* The Retired Colourman

FROM THE MEMOIRS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES:
* The Yellow Face
* The Stock-broker's Clerk
* The "Gloria Scott"
* The Reigate Puzzle

From HIS LAST BOW:
* His Last Bow

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difference between this one and the old version? - By: S.G, 10 Oct 2008
I already have the old version of the complete collection, which was released on 21 feb 2005, run time:999 mins, ASIN: B0006Z40TQ.

I start to wonder what more isin this new version, as the run time is 2356 mins.

Any one knows?