Sherlock

In the BBC miniseries Sherlock, Sherlock Holmes is presented as a modern day consulting detective, utilizing cell phones and the internet to solve his crimes. The first season is edited into three 90 minute episodes, ending with the introduction of Jim Moriarty, played by Andrew Scott.

In their own version of Doyle's The Final Problem, Holmes and Moriarty finally come face to face in the third and final episode of the first season. However, Moriarty has commonly been portrayed as a posh old man, the shows creator took some liberties and made Moriarty into a flamboyant man boy with some psychotic tendencies. Often in remakes, fans will be disappointed by how their favorite heroes and villains have been portrayed. They had an image in their minds, which don't usually line up with the direction that the movie or show takes. Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat, the producers, took a different route then how Moriarty will be shown in the upcoming Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, where he is played by Jared Harris. When you think of a villain, someone more along the lines of Alan Rickman or James Earl Jones comes to mind. There is an image of a a large, intimidating man with a deep voice standing over us. Which is why I find this portrayal of Moriarty so interesting. Here we have a small Irish man with a high-pitch voice threatening the death of the beloved hero, almost completely reversing the well known role of the Professor.

Game of Shadows comes out later this year and Sherlock is hopefully returning in early 2012. It is amazing how one series of books can manifest itself into two separate remakes coming out at the same time almost a century later. They are even following the same individual plot line of the case against Professor Moriarty. But it's the simple act of changing the location that strings these two stories into completely different re-imaginations.