(Hated)changing somenthing to be more "progressive" ends up being a bad thing

[u/Morr4Seiya]

Now to be clear,i am not one of these "anti-woke" losers that complain some people exist,and i am also not the type to complain about changing somenthing in a new version or adaptation,however there are cases where it did ended up being a bad idea.

-In the anime of Cowboy Bebop there is the character Gren,despite being short lived the character is very memorable specially thanks to his tragic story.Basically his story was that he was a soldier from the titan war who was a great friend with Vicious(the main bad guy)after the war he was emprisioned thanks to Vicious who testified against him and he was forced to take a experimental drug that caused him hormonal problems,giving him a feminine appearence and even breasts.

In the Netflix live action,for some reasons they decided Gren was going to be non-binary,which wouldn't be a problem(some people believe he was gay in the anime)if it wasn't for the fact that they also removed all the nuances and complexities that made the character memorable and interesting,instead of a tragic war veteran that was betrayed and had his body changed against his will,Gren is just kinda there.

-The original Rugrats cartoon had the couple Betty and Howard,Betty was a big and masculine woman while Howard was a smaller and nervous man,it was a genuine interesting relationship that stood out from the other couples who were the standard straight couple.

In the new series however they replaced Howard with a woman named Trish,two things,first off why?What was the problem with having a woman being the stronger in a straight relationship?Second why does Hollywood seem to think that every tomboy or masculine woman is a lesbian?

Overall not the worst thing but it is jarring that they had a gender reverse roled that was progressive and decided that wasn't enough.

-Oh man,this one pisses me off the most so i am gonna have to break it down

So back in the late 80s and 90s there was this anime called Saint Seiya also knows as Knights of the zodiac,it tells the story of knights who fight for the Goddess Athena to protect earth,being divided in the golden,silver and bronze knights,the anime was a huge hit in latin america and Europe and while it floped in the US it still has a loyal fanbase.

Being a fan myself i can't recommend it enough,now granted the story does have a fair share of flaws,and that's because the author was honestly just making stuff up as he went along(also a lot of side characters are poorly used or even forgotten about)still it is a great story you should check out

But then a couple of years back Netflix got the rights and decided to a 3D reboot,in this reboot they decided to make the story more "american" to try to bring more american viewers,now i could go on and on a big rant about how that was a bad idea and the execution was so terrible that it made me want to strangle someone but this post is about one specific change.

So Saint Seiya has five main characters,those are Pegasus Seiya,Dragon Shiryu,Cygnus Hyoga,Phoenix Ikki and finally Andromeda Shun.

While the other four characters were the standard masculine and brute male characters who were always ready to throw punches,Shun was smaller,more sensitive and even feminine looking,a pacifist who didn't liked fighting,but don't mistake that for weakness because Shun was loyal to his friends and was extremely powerful.

Then Netflix decided to change Shun into a girl named Shaun.

So wait,you have a male character who goes against every male stereotype and you turn him into just another generic female character?

When asked about it,the showrunner Eugene Son said he made that change because there was no girl in the group and having a all boys group wouldn't be acceptable nowadays

First off that's not true because Athena was also part of the main cast,yeah she wasn't the fighting type but she still helped quite a lot in the story even saving the knights on several occasions,second if you wanted to add a girl to the main group why not use Marin or Shaina?Hell,if you were going to change the story anyway why not turn Seiya sister into a knight?

Thankfully this monstrosity was cancelled(so much for trying to bring more fans)

[u/alkonium]

Once again, Elementary did it better. Though in that, Irene doesn't really exist and is simply a false identity used by a female Moriarty.

[u/katamuro → u/alkonium]

honestly I was surprised by just how much better a USA tv show actually did Sherlock than a british tv show.

[u/alkonium → u/katamuro]

Yeah, it's a rare occurrence.

[u/fedexpoopracer → u/alkonium]

hey remember when Brits decided to make their own version of That 70s Show?

[u/alkonium → u/fedexpoopracer]

No, when was that?

[u/fedexpoopracer → u/alkonium]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Days_Like_These_(TV_series)

[u/alkonium → u/fedexpoopracer]

Interesting. I never even heard of it.

[u/fedexpoopracer → u/alkonium]

yeah, because it was that bad

[u/Beneficial_Focus_910 → u/katamuro]

Its because the BBC tried to adapt the stories to modern times and the US show adapted the characters to modern times.

[u/pretty-as-a-pic → u/alkonium]

I was a Sherlock fan back in the day (although I stopped watching the show after the series 3 premiere said “oh you actually care about the mystery in our mystery show? FUCK YOU, you’re a weird obsessive creepy perv!”) and so heard endless hate on Elementary from other Sherlock fans. I recently decided to watch it and LOVED IT! I’m only on season 2 but Miller’s Sherlock is a million times better than Cumberbatch’s (probably because he gets to have emotions beyond “smug gloating” and “bored annoyance”

[u/MashSong → u/pretty-as-a-pic]

Yeah I wouldn't blame Cumberbatch for too mich of that. He's probably doing the best he can with what they gave him

There was a stage production of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde that had Miller and Cumberbatch playing the titular characters and each night they would swap roles. Miller talks about it a bit in an interview when asked about the other Sherlock.

[u/641092 → u/pretty-as-a-pic]

I agree with you entirely and I apologise for what is about to happen, this is stream consciousness. I am just glad I am not alone anymore.

Okay, so I was an early fan of Elementary. I though the that making it NYC and a female for Watson was an interesting change that I would watch. and I was immediately sold. I had to put up with so much shit from people being like SHERLOCK is so much better because..... reasons.

The reasons from series one only why I preferred Elementary. Sherlock is incredibly flawed, a man like Sherlock would not be this untouchable machine of deduction. He would chase oblivion because he would be constantly assaulted by his own mind. His doing this causing addiction, which it would because he is ultimately just a man not a super hero. He is just as prone to addiction when relying on drugs to get things done. Miller's Sherlock is not a robot and is capable of emotional moments but the push and pull of that when he is on a case is interesting to watch as you see him overstep and regret his actions. He doesn't want to care about people, but he does. Because he isn't a Psychopath or a Sociopath or anything he is trying to turn the cacophony of his internal monologue into something for the greater good. Another thing is that they establish early that Sherlock is not perfect, how did he know about Watson's parent's affair? Google. because there would be no way he could possibly figure that out from the one train ride he spent with Watson.

When BBC Sherlock wanted to attract the police following the (?)first Irene meeting, he fired a gun into the air in a crowded city. That is lunatic behaviour and Watson is like "huh, odd."

In nearly any other adaption, but particularly Sherlock, Why does Watson continue to live with Sherlock? He is a butthole. I get that the excitement is fun but nobody is keeping a roommate who fires a gun into the wall unless they have to. Elementary addresses this whilst maintaining Watson being a doctor in a way that feels like it would work for long enough for them to form a relationship that makes sense.

Finally, when I started to get into Elementary there was maybe 2 series of Sherlock out number 6 Episodes, and 24 Episodes of Elementary. of the 6 Sherlock episodes there were at least 2 weak episodes, the 2nd Episode of each series was notable poorer than 1 and 3. but of the first 24 episodes of Elementary I noted maybe 3 "weak" episodes. so SHERLOCK was 1/3 weak and Elementary was 1/8 weak. as a time investment it could not be clearer.

[u/pretty-as-a-pic → u/641092]

I definitely think Elementary handled Sherlock’s drug abuse waaaaaay better than BBC Sherlock as a whole. BBC Sherlock’s drug abuse feels like something that part of his dark and edgy backstory (“I’m so twisted, I used to do DRUGS!!!”) while Elementary really made Sherlock’s past use a big part of his character and had it feed into who he his. I have family members who are former addicts and Elementary feels far more realistic and respectful to them than BBC Sherlock

[u/641092 → u/pretty-as-a-pic]

Yes absolutely! I always liked that they took it seriously like over the course of seven series it never "goes away" because that can be what it is like for many people in that position.

I hope your family are doing well as well.

[u/pretty-as-a-pic → u/641092]

They’re over a decade sober so they’re doing good

[u/anomalyknight → u/alkonium]

I couldn't care less about most of the crime procedural parts of Elementary, but the characters and character interactions and relationships are fantastic, 10/10.

[u/SethCyclone → u/anomalyknight]

The mysteries are fun, but rarely great. You watch elementary mostly because of Miller's and Liu's performance and chemistry together 

[u/RobertPham149 → u/alkonium]

I will die on the hill that Elementary had one of the best representation of a transgender character in TV show history. Even though barely appearing, Mrs. Hudson is considered to be attactive person that charms the titans of industry and politics, but implied not because of looks, and rather she is an extremely smart and cultured person to converse with (she is an autodidact of ancient Greek to the level of an Oxford's don). The most powerful men alive, this hypermasculine ideal of men, are all head over heels obsessed with Mrs. Hudson.

[u/Silverr_Duck → u/alkonium]

How tf is that better?

[u/ColinHalter → u/Silverr_Duck]

It's better, but still not great. Sherlock is just REALLY bad

[u/Quixotic_Tendency → u/Silverr_Duck]

Two words. Natalie Dormer.

[u/CatrionaShadowleaf → u/Silverr_Duck]

In Elementary's case Moriarty is not bested by Sherlock, but by Joan Watson. Because fuck yeah, strong and smart women.

[u/LumplessWaffleBatter → u/alkonium]

I'm sorry, but that twist in Elementary was so aggressively dumb.

My family all watched that show together when it was airing, and unilaterally bailed after that episode.  I didn't remember it being too bad until I rewatched the show last year...and yeah, it's awful.  Just dreck.