Sci-Fi Storm

J. Michael Straczynski, creator of Babylon 5 and prolific writer of comic books and movies now, watched the first part of the second series of Steven Moffat’s Sherlock, after which he took to Facebook and Twitter to give praise. On Facebook he said:

After watching tonight’s Sherlock episode the only thing keeping me from getting out of the writing business is knowing it would bring joy to too many people. Goddamn that may be some of the best television I’ve ever seen…I’m doomed.

Then on Twitter, he addressed Steven Moffat directly:

straczynski: @steven_moffat I bow to a superior mind. You do stunning work. If I quit the business for fear of inadequacy it’s entirely your fault.

After which a bit of back-and-forth took place:

stevan_moffat: @straczynski Oh hello! How nice to meet you! Very kind – far TOO kind.

straczynski: @steven_moffat Not at all. Series 1 was amazing but tonight I paused it every half hour to digest just how stunningly great it was bravo.

stevan_moffat: @straczynski No pressure for series 3 then! Cake walk! Hope you keep enjoying.

straczynski: @steven_moffat Honestly one of the best things I’ve seen on TV. I’m in awe. You should be most proud.

This of course ignited a lot of tweets about getting JMS to write an episode of Sherlock, or even Doctor Who. Moffat didn’t respond to any of that, but when asked by another person if he’d write an episode of Who if asked by Moffat, JMS replied, “Totally.”

Seems my Bothan-er, Warner Home Video/BBC spies have failed me – not only do I not seem to be getting my customary early X-Mas present of Doctor Who DVDs this year (Doctor Who: The Complete Fifth Series is out on [sfs=1039]DVD[/sfs] and [sfs=1038]Blu-ray[/sfs] this Tuesday), but I was unaware that Doctor Who writer Mark Gatiss and writer/producer Steven Moffat’s critically acclaimed series Sherlock also appears on [asin=B004132HZS]DVD[/asin] and [sfs=B004132I20]Blu-ray[/sfs] the same day. I have heard nothing but good things about this version, which stars Benedict Cumberbatch (The Last Enemy, Hawking) as Sherlock Holmes and Martin Freeman (soon to be very well known as Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit) as Dr. John Watson, and have been waiting for it to come to the U.S. on television. What I didn’t realize is that it was being shown on PBS, and is under the “Masterpiece Mystery!” banner and not under its own name. Check your local PBS listings, but fortunately in Boston they are repeated all three episodes on November 14th…thanks to @dire_rampancy for the tweet about that, and @tnsears for also pointing out that it is available online on the PBS website under Masterpiece Theater.