I love, love Alan Rickman! He is the only reason, that I watched some of the Harry Potter movies, though I did not like them all that much. But Rickman always rocked. Did you know, by the way, that Rowling told Rickman all about Snape before they started to shoot the very first movie? How cool is that! But it's the reason, he's so great in that role. He knew all the time! I only wished, the directors had known as well and given him more screen time.
I love Eric Bana as Hector (such beautiful integrity!), though I agree with you. 'Troy' is an insult to Homer! And this from a German director! We grew up with the classic Greek legends!
As to Ben and his great voice: Isn't he playing Khan in the prequel of 'The Wrath of Khan' ( Star Trek)? Since we share the love for great voices: In the original movie, Khan is played by Ricardo Montalban, who is another one with an absolutely mindblowing voice. It's my favorite movie of the older Star Trek series, and it's because of Montalban. I think, Ben is a great choice for playing a younger Khan.

Lol, kazza, yes, it's clearly a shock blanket! And Moriarty wasn't the first to steal the crown jewells.

Irene, my heart reaches out for you. I was exactly the kind of girl you describe having been yourself. I was very lucky to meet my husband early in my life, who clearly considered brainy the new sexy and liked that I was the woman who beat him, though it was only at chess, lol! Though I had two previous boyfriends who split up with me explicitly for that reason.Flipside: I realized my own attractiveness only late in life. It has never become something integrated into my personality, but it hurts a bit, that my husband never seems to see it, probably, because it has never been important to him. Oh well, better this way than the other way round, I guess.
Now, look at us, getting all personal over a tv show! Anyway, I wish you the best of luck Irene!

As to Ben Cumberbatch: I could't care less about his private life. I'm never drawn to actors themselves, but to the characters, they play. I have seen Ben in  other roles , and while I always thougt him to be a very talented actor with a great voice, I never found him especially attractive. Sherlock draws the best out of him, and the stylists have been magnificent with him. Just everything fits and falls into place.

There's a peculiarity about Benedict's eyes, which has even been described by Thomas Mann in his novel 'Magic Mountain': The lids almost disappear in a fold of skin, which makes them look slanted. It is considered a minor blemish, and many afflicted people get a surgical correction. In Thomas Mann's novel the female character (Clawdia Chauchat) is considered to be mysteriously attractive because of those eyes. I have a friend with eyes like that, and was always fascinated. I think, Ben Cumberbatch's sightly alien look contributes a lot of fascination to this version of  Sherlock Holmes.

Hi, tobeornot221b;
Greetings from a fellow German Sherlock fan!
To your question:I guess, John has no official authorisation to visit the morgue; Sherlock always took him along. Molly would have been adamant, that it's not a good idea for John to see the body of his best friend.
I have found your screengrab of the tiny hooked object Sherlock is possibly concealing in his hand on the roof, by the way!  I've seen exactly the same, only sharper and clearer than on your grab. Thank you for posting it anyway. I will write about it later, since my guinea pigs have seen it also. They made some very interesting observations, too.
Now I ask myself, if there is a conspiracy, and only Germans can see it, lol!

I think, the casting was a stroke of genius. And I know, I will feel sorry for Smaug now, when he dies, but maybe he's only faking his death, because always guarding a treasure is pretty boring and not very challenging, lol!
The Necromancer is only talked about in the book, but who knows, how the script will handle it; maybe we will get a glimpse of him in the first part of the movie...

I don't think, John has any concrete ideas about Sherlock's survival. His grief and confusion is too real, and the whole point of Sherlock's suicide note and performance was, to convince John.
BUT, to utter those words, there must be a nagging point in John's brain, something in his subconsciousness, which vexes him and makes him feel unreal about Sherlock being dead and a fraud. We all have pointed out, that the performance of the 'homeless paramedics and doctors' wasn't exactly school medicin procedure, and John was just too dazed and confused to be too quizzical about it. But there is something else. Remember the touching exchange, when John points out, that at their first meeting Sherlock knew all about his sister, and Sherlock responds, that nobody could be that clever and that he researched John in order to show off and impress him. Now, John has all the time in the world to mull things over and over again, and he must eventually remember the jarring little fact, that Sherlock did NOT know, John has a sister - he thought, John has a brother. So the claim, that he had researched John cannot be true; even a very superficial research should have gotten the basic facts about John's family right. As soon as John realizes, that Sherlock probably lied on this point, he must ask himself, what else is wrong with the whole scenario of Sherlock as a suicidal fraud.

Oh Irene, it's just fun and an excuse to watch again with new people. Actually, my husband promised to watch and take a look; but he said, he will just analyze, what he sees (or not sees). No speculation, what it means. Since it's  a tv show, speculations about the content are not scientific for him. He's a theoretical physicist. But still, it will be fun, and I'll let you know, what he says, if he has anything helpful to add, that is. We can then go on and speculate to our hearts content, lol!

Ha, ha Irene, I still can see it, and it drives me just as crazy, lol! I think, I need a guinea pig. I might recruit my husband. Since he still hasn't seen the Reichenbach Fall, he might be an unprejudiced observer (being a natural scientist might help also) I just have to take care to ask him in a non suggesting neutral way. I don't want to contaminate his observational skills. If he doesn't see anything, I have to conclude, that my dvd came with a big dose of the Baskerville fog; if he sees something... well I don't know... the fog is in the world wide web, or my dvd is more sharp and detailed for some reason, or my dvd player is awfully good.
Anyway, I will inform you of the results.

Interesting idea, that a bad US version would degrade 'Sherlock' somehow. That could unfortunately well be true. People might get tired of Sherlock Holmes stories, since the movies are kicking around there as well. Otherwise I cannot imagine, that the US concept will work all that well. To make Dr. Watson female is a bad move in my opinion.
Good to know, there are long term plans for the show.