I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere: Cory Howell

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Inspector Watson? An Alternate History Twist

<h4 style="text-align: center;"><b>"it may have an influence upon European history." [SCAN]</b></h4><div class="separator" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTh4vEEJaUFalNEOAQDoeDBbYWDUM0FScdpV6JIsweq86MbXWeJ5pWGClg4rk3BLj0Hse-yBH3-6HCKVu4Ob0Eb9YqXkVqgJl4aX41nR9W4TM28N4Na31Wuo5keabyDHs2ZFGKCgA9hUx3/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTh4vEEJaUFalNEOAQDoeDBbYWDUM0FScdpV6JIsweq86MbXWeJ5pWGClg4rk3BLj0Hse-yBH3-6HCKVu4Ob0Eb9YqXkVqgJl4aX41nR9W4TM28N4Na31Wuo5keabyDHs2ZFGKCgA9hUx3/w640-h480/3365503-1--50a8aaea24be22d28b50de0e7a6e37ac83113918.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><br />Re-imaginings of the Sherlock Holmes stories are nothing new in the Sherlockian world. We've seen Holmes in the 20th, 21st, and even the 23rd centuries. Some adaptations have placed him in America or reworked him as a female Japanese detective. Most of the time, Dr. Watson is there in some form, although occasionally Holmes goes it alone. <div><br /></div><div>So imagine my surprise when I saw a fairly detailed synopsis of an <a href="http://ib.frath.net/w/Inspector_Watson">alternate history</a> in which the character of Sherlock Holmes didn't exist at all, and Hamish Watson was the famous hero! But let me back up a bit...<div><br />Recently I have been exploring a topic apart from Sherlock Holmes that I have long found fascinating: constructed languages, or as they are often called, conlangs. Conlangs range from Esperanto, a language created by a Polish ophthalmologist in 1887 (the same year a novel entitled <i>A Study in Scarlet</i> was published), to Klingon, a language created in the 20th century for the Star Trek franchise of films and TV shows. </div><div><br /></div><div>One of the hundreds of conlangs to show up in the 20th century was called Brithenig. It was created in 1996 by a linguist from New Zealand named Andrew Smith, as a "thought experiment" to answer one fascinating question: what might Latin have sounded like if it had more fully replaced the Celtic languages of the British Isles and developed alongside other Romance languages? </div><div><br /></div><div>To flesh out the answer to that question and provide a context for the language he created, Smith began to develop an alternate history he named Ill Bethisad (a phrase which in Brithenig means "the universe"). The Brithenig Project, as it was named in 1997, shortly became a <a href="http://ib.frath.net/w/Main_Page">collaborative wiki</a> that involved other people who had found Smith's conlang and alternate history intriguing, adding their own languages and other ideas to the world.<br /><br />In the alternate timeline of Ill Bethisad, several aspects of history are quite different from our own. For one thing, the American Revolution never happened, and so there is no country called the United States of America. Rather, the North American League, a federation of colonies and tribes with allegiance to several European monarchies, shares the North American continent, the map of which looks quite different from "our" America. Meanwhile, on the other side of the pond, the island of Great Britain is divided among the Federated Kingdoms, composed of England, Scotland, and Kemr (or "Cambria" in English). Kemr's main language is Brithenig, the conlang that began the whole project. And this is what leads us to the literary work of Sir Uther Conan Doyle, whose most famous character is the great detective...Inspector Hamish Watson!<br /><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEh0_K-MhY2ZizmeP1i1I5lDnO9voum8gW6JY97FHwfy8g-qszL95oTXv4M4cEukceNebN81aypLfc-pysh3e3PnJRydwT7FshxdHFms59xl0vb40J3_oL2oKbk8FuD2zCBnXer6F5tB7rApj9rDR319VFhk6V9DbFVce8U=" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><font size="2">The flag of Kemr (Ill Bethisad's version of Wales)</font></i></td></tr></tbody></table><br />Although, to my knowledge, there are no actual stories extant which feature Inspector Watson, the Ill Bethisad wiki <a href="http://ib.frath.net/w/Inspector_Watson">article</a> about him is remarkably detailed. In the alternate history I've been describing, the character of Hamish Watson (often seen in "the long Inverness coat, the floppy broad-brimmed hat") is a beloved work of literary fiction, whose name is synonymous with the term "detective." </div><div><br /></div><div>Speaking of his name, Sherlockians will certainly find the name "Hamish" interesting, as many have speculated that the "H" in "John H. Watson" just might stand for "Hamish." Inspector Watson's sidekick and biographer is Sgt. Mycroft Jones. (I'm sure I don't need to point out the significance of the name "Mycroft.") </div><div><br /></div><div>The character makes his debut in The Mark of Fear in 1891; he eventually appears in five more novels and 66 short stories. Among the stories are some titles that will raise more than a few Sherlockian's eyebrows, such as "The Adventure of the Lemon Seeds" or "The Giant Rat of Bali" (a posthumously published tale).<br /><br />In 1901, Sir Uther, growing sick of his famous character, attempts to kill off Inspector Watson in the novel The Terrible Hand. As one can imagine, the public outcry is immense, and the article even mentions that "Watson’s demise was even blamed for contributing to the death of Queen Victoria!" (Another little point of departure from our timeline!) </div><div><br /></div><div>A couple of other details are quite interesting for the Sherlockian in our universe: the character of Hamish Watson was reportedly based on "a real person," William Sherlock Holmes, a famous private detective. And Sir Uther's son, also named Sherlock, died from "wounds sustained during the First Great War," an event which contributed to Uther's death of a heart attack in 1934. Meanwhile, the character's fame would spread, especially when he was portrayed by the gifted actor Sir Basyl Rathbone, who would play Watson in 20 films from 1939 to 1951.<br /><br />As I read the article about the great Inspector Watson and the bizarre but familiar world he "inhabited," I found myself wishing that some clever author would eventually pen all of the works described in this fabulously creative article of an alternate history where Sherlockians would presumably be called "Watsonians." </div><div><br /></div><div>This reminds me of one more detail that made me smile. In the world of Ill Bethisad, Inspector Watson lives at 221A Quaker Street, and many of his devoted fans call themselves--what else?—the "Quaker Street Irregulars." Among the ranks of the QSI are famed science fiction author Robert G. Heinlein and beloved politician <a href="http://ib.frath.net/w/William_Josiah_Clinton">William Josiah Clinton</a>. I can only imagine the spirited discussions they would have about the detective's famous dictum: "When you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth—but the main difficulty lies in ensuring that all impossible contingencies have indeed been eliminated." </div><div><br /></div><div>And in case you were wondering, Watson's famous line, "Elementary, my dear Jones," is not canonical, but was made famous by Rathbone in the movie <i>The Cathedral of Secrets</i>. Of course it was!<div>
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Inspector Watson? An Alternate History Twist

"it may have an influence upon European history." [SCAN] Re-imaginings of the Sherlock Holmes stories are nothing new in the Sherl...

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by Cory Howell

VeggieTales: Sheerluck Holmes and the Golden Ruler

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<span style="text-align: start;">"who brings our vegetables round" [BERY]</span></h4>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb1BkvfhAnYjjwsJ3JxXWkxuXO4HuO1U8QBbfHZFnlsKXUZQQDmJxDGUdw5KCcv7tHwFMpNpiyDaAoqHegpDhQnlLbmzF-WZw_m9CYrhgN7cGYij2R9jiyCk0W05oTMAi6GHosJawbErqT/s1600/Veggie+Tales+Sheerluck+Holmes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1440" height="332" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb1BkvfhAnYjjwsJ3JxXWkxuXO4HuO1U8QBbfHZFnlsKXUZQQDmJxDGUdw5KCcv7tHwFMpNpiyDaAoqHegpDhQnlLbmzF-WZw_m9CYrhgN7cGYij2R9jiyCk0W05oTMAi6GHosJawbErqT/s640/Veggie+Tales+Sheerluck+Holmes.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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There have been so many famous partnerships through film and TV history who have played Sherlock Homes and Dr. Watson: Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, Jeremy Brett and David Burke (and Edward Hardwicke), Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu. And of course Larry the Cucumber and Bob the Tomato.<br />
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Okay, that last duo may not be as familiar to Sherlockians as some of the others. However, back in 2006, the popular Christian entertainment franchise VeggieTales released their 28th video, a Sherlock Holmes parody titled <a href="https://amzn.to/39h8hZ1" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><i>Sheerluck Holmes and the Golden Ruler</i></a>.<br />
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The company had already tackled a couple other film/literature classics, such as the Phantom of the Opera (Sumo of the Opera), Indiana Jones (Minnesota Cuke), and the Lord of the Rings (Lord of the Beans). My children received the DVD as a gift several years ago, and I only recently watched it myself.  As Sherlock Holmes parodies go, this VeggieTales version is a fairly entertaining story, with a nice lesson on the value of treating people as you would like to be treated (the "Golden Rule," of course).<br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KVLTqMJEnGM" width="560"></iframe><br /></div>
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As you can see from <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVLTqMJEnGM" target="_blank">the trailer above</a> (click here if you can't see it), Bob and Larry (the regular hosts of all VeggieTales videos) portray a stereotypical representation of the Great Detective and his companion, complete with deerstalker cap, Inverness cape, pipe, magnifying glass, and even mutton chop whiskers for the good doctor. (This being children's media, however, Sheerluck's pipe only blows bubbles.)<br />
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The story borrows an idea from the 1988 film Without a Clue, wherein Watson is the real brains of the duo, while Holmes is the one who gets all the attention. Indeed, every time the pair walks into their favorite pub, everyone shouts, "Sheerluck!" Watson ends up feeling a bit like a second-class citizen. I should also mention, the pub Holmes and Watson frequent is named "Doylie's," appropriately enough, and in an effort to be family friendly, only seems to serve milk.<br />
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Sheerluck and his underappreciated friend are summoned to Buckingham Palace, to solve the mystery of a missing key, which unlocks the room where the valuable "Golden Ruler" is kept.<br />
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While Watson does all of the actual detective work, looking for clues, Holmes is fairly clueless, especially when it comes to understanding the amazingly non-Scottish brogue of a policeman (portrayed by series regular Scooter Carrot). They are hampered in their investigation by a pair of bumbling policemen, and not Lestrade and Gregson, as a Sherlockian viewer may expect.<br />
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No, this pair are named...wait for it...Fish and Chips. Their job seems to be to cover all of Buckingham Palace with yellow police crime scene tape. (Anachronistic, of course, but hey, the story is told by talking vegetables...)<br />
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Of course, the Golden Ruler eventually is stolen, and Watson is so frustrated by Sheerluck's hogging of the limelight, that he eventually leaves Holmes to investigate the case without him. Sheerluck encounters nothing but frustration as he tries to figure things out on his own, and finally realizes how badly he mistreated his friend, thereby learning the valuable lesson that one should treat others as one wishes to be treated.<br />
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The case is solved by the friends working together, but you won't find any spoilers about the actual solution here.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie6MTwmeaRGZdfCSKg33zJQ24fT_PQ39xxRlPx19CCS8ZHP0uCp6kwXF-1PZ_A7U9A1ookW3Ayx8uxBM1pDehEwFfpQ5GdwgFirubuIb33bWAKKXDMdmKlYL9Ipoua-yDX-R0Y5LJanER2/s1600/Veggie+Tales+Holmes+and+Watson.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="403" data-original-width="537" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie6MTwmeaRGZdfCSKg33zJQ24fT_PQ39xxRlPx19CCS8ZHP0uCp6kwXF-1PZ_A7U9A1ookW3Ayx8uxBM1pDehEwFfpQ5GdwgFirubuIb33bWAKKXDMdmKlYL9Ipoua-yDX-R0Y5LJanER2/s640/Veggie+Tales+Holmes+and+Watson.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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As far as children's media goes, this parody of Sherlock Holmes is pretty enjoyable, with entertaining antics and a nice moral for the kids, as well as several nods to Sherlockian canonical details that will make adults smile. (There are at least three repetitions of "the game's afoot" throughout the story, often accompanied by a clinking of milk glasses.)<br />
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The animation, voice work, and writing are high quality, as any regular viewers of VeggieTales will have come to expect. I don't know if Bob and Larry will ever find a place in the pantheon of great Watson/Holmes duos, but they certainly aren't the worst "actors" to have filled the roles.<br />
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If you acquire a <a href="https://amzn.to/2Iar8sv" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">DVD</a> of the video (or watch it <a href="https://amzn.to/3anhnna" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">streaming</a>, more likely) you may want to be aware that the Sheerluck Holmes story is preceded by a mildly amusing parody of Don Quixote ("The Asparagus of La Mancha") and a "Silly Songs with Larry" segment ("Gated Community," not really one of the better Silly Songs). The Sheerluck Holmes segment begins about halfway through.<br />
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[<b><i>Editor's note:</i></b> this wasn't corny enough for you? Read about <a href="https://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2017/07/sleuth-your-way-through-this-sherlock.html#.Xl1wC6hKjb0" target="_blank">the Sherlockian connection to an English corn maze</a>.]<br />
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VeggieTales: Sheerluck Holmes and the Golden Ruler

"who brings our vegetables round" [BERY] There have been so many famous partnerships through film and TV history who have pla...

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by Cory Howell

Sherlock Holmes in LEGO: The Strange Case of the Interlocking Blocks

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<b>"he would bring his little boy home a box of bricks" [TWIS]</b></h4>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg47C3Z_N5jQVTCC38UcDpU2vuwyk1veJ44zW-PuILdZZvWmVv4I-B3RgirvXK7coWig8ZztTvquhhdes4WYayDvw0MMXq4t3LAqmDvJNT6yuCAK9UuRj8diuthVFNyOhyphenhyphenDTtp8uPsq2qOx/s1600/Lego+Sherlock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="672" data-original-width="736" height="584" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg47C3Z_N5jQVTCC38UcDpU2vuwyk1veJ44zW-PuILdZZvWmVv4I-B3RgirvXK7coWig8ZztTvquhhdes4WYayDvw0MMXq4t3LAqmDvJNT6yuCAK9UuRj8diuthVFNyOhyphenhyphenDTtp8uPsq2qOx/s640/Lego+Sherlock.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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I suppose my association with LEGO blocks goes back just a bit farther than my interest in Sherlock Holmes. LEGOs were an essential part of my childhood, an opportunity to build all kinds of creations, in a variety of colors.<br />
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Now that I am a father, the hard plastic blocks, with their sharp corners, have become a potential hazard in my children's bedroom, if I have the misfortune to enter the room in bare feet. (I'm sure a few readers have experienced this unique pain.)<br />
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Whereas the LEGO sets of my childhood were fairly generic in their themes (castle, rescue vehicles, spaceship), LEGO began to release <a href="https://lego.fandom.com/wiki/Licensed_themes">licensed sets</a> in 1999, when they released their first "Star Wars" themed set.<br />
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Since then, LEGOs have been a sort of barometer of pop culture sensations: <a href="https://amzn.to/3a2tFC0">Harry Potter</a>, <a href="https://amzn.to/2tTldUN">Indiana Jones</a>, and a plethora of superheroes have been well represented over the past couple of decades. LEGO movies and TV series have continued to interact with popular entertainment. But one famous figure from literature, film and television has never been officially represented: the great detective, Sherlock Holmes!<br />
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Holmes hasn't been <i>completely </i>absent from the LEGO universe. Back in 2011, one of the characters released as part of "Minifigures Series 5" was simply named "<a href="https://amzn.to/2RayMXU">Detective</a>." (<i>Link goes to Amazon</i>.) The Detective minifigure's features will be instantly familiar to Sherlockians, or indeed, to most people who have seen the iconic Sherlock Holmes look: deerstalker cap, Inverness cape, and magnifying glass.<br />
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<a href="https://amzn.to/2RayMXU"><img alt=" Lego Series 5 Detective Mini Figure" border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdnAMeO2dgFQqxgGymMXndYZEnWo2MjpwKwOktiZ2AjXWN8DJyT9Tep6m5_O3kTsdbvTpFohx7MJWY2lQ4qWh9a7uM7fbKfQ51MG2wgqm0O28NugtJCo5fjvffnvjsqNvc7lcN3CUsHTqJ/s320/Lego+Series+5+Detective+Mini+Figure.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The Detective character also appears (as a minor character) in a 2013 video game entitled <i><a href="https://amzn.to/2NgHgMc">LEGO City Undercover</a></i>, under the name "Doorlock Homes." Clearly, LEGO has flirted with the idea of Sherlock Holmes being part of the LEGO Universe. Still, official Sherlock Holmes LEGO sets are conspicuous by their absence in the "pantheon."<br />
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<a href="https://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2013/09/lego-recreation-of-sherlock-sitting-room.html#.Xg3thkdKiM9">As reported earlier</a> on I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere, LEGO fans still tend to push for the Great Detective's official inclusion in the world of LEGO-dom. A search for "Sherlock Holmes" at the <a href="https://ideas.lego.com/">LEGO Ideas website</a> will yield a host of different concepts for Holmes-themed sets, whether it be a traditional representation of the flat at 221B, or the characters of the BBC's highly successful <i>Sherlock</i>. As fellow contributor Margaret M. McMahon reported <a href="https://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2015/08/the-adventures-of-sherlock-holmes-re.html#.Xg4VDUdKiM9">back in 2015</a>, author James Macaluso has published <a href="https://amzn.to/2TbCcwp">several of the canonical Holmes stories in LEGO format</a>, all of which are available on <a href="https://amzn.to/2TbCcwp">Amazon</a>. (Macaluso has also published two different "Sherlock Holmes Alphabets," also done in LEGO.)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8-vGqBuKYKEzmsARJIRCkj-qnRdkPRrweprulJ3jsMQglJ_4xlJm8HsPfBHMwTCSjHLYyQ2LPv-oEweEQ3kvdgH3c0ux5S90U-Df6vHjLKR7znybzA_xO51FrG_hu_AzhSU55B80ekdsR/s1600/Lego+Sherlock+cast.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="810" data-original-width="1440" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8-vGqBuKYKEzmsARJIRCkj-qnRdkPRrweprulJ3jsMQglJ_4xlJm8HsPfBHMwTCSjHLYyQ2LPv-oEweEQ3kvdgH3c0ux5S90U-Df6vHjLKR7znybzA_xO51FrG_hu_AzhSU55B80ekdsR/s640/Lego+Sherlock+cast.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Over at the <a href="https://lego-fanon.fandom.com/wiki/Main_Page">LEGO Fanonpedia</a> website (a LEGO fan site), at least one LEGO enthusiast has shared ideas that range from a <a href="https://lego-fanon.fandom.com/wiki/LEGO_Sherlock_Holmes:_the_video_game">LEGO-themed video game</a> based on the Guy Ritchie Sherlock Holmes films to a <a href="https://lego-fanon.fandom.com/wiki/SH:_Sherlock_Holmes_Advent_Calender">LEGO Sherlock Holmes Advent Calendar</a>!<br />
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And <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSGaIrMqrsc">on YouTube</a>, a creative animator has reproduced the final scene from the cliffhanger <i>Sherlock </i>episode at the end of series 2, "The Reichenbach Fall," combining the audio from the episode with LEGO representations of the characters:<br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TSGaIrMqrsc" width="560"></iframe><br /></div>
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Perhaps one of the issues that gets in the way of an official Sherlock Holmes LEGO set is the sheer number of different representations of the great detective over the course of film and TV history. Which version of Holmes would be the most successful LEGO form? The Guy Ritchie version, the <i>Sherlock </i>version, the <i>Elementary </i>version, or the classic version with the deerstalker, who has already shown up, albeit anonymously?<br />
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One thing seems certain: fans of the Sherlock Holmes mythos and LEGO blocks will continue to express their creativity and their love for the great detective in a variety of ways.<br />
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Maybe one day, the good folks at LEGO will bring one of these ideas to life as an official set (or sets), thereby enabling a new generation to discover Holmes for themselves.<br />
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Sherlock Holmes in LEGO: The Strange Case of the Interlocking Blocks

"he would bring his little boy home a box of bricks" [TWIS] I suppose my association with LEGO blocks goes back just a bit f...

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by Cory Howell

Sherlock Gnomes: An Animated Bit of Fun

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"...scrambling over your garden wall." [EMPT]</h4>
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Several years ago (in 2011, to be exact), when my older
daughter was a lot smaller, we watched a fairly humorous children's film
adaptation of Shakespeare's <i>Romeo and Juliet</i>, entitled <i>Gnomeo
and Juliet</i>. I remember how, as a five year-old, she was entertained, and there
were enough tongue-in-cheek Shakespeare references to keep me interested as
well.<br />
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As you can imagine, the “star-crossed lovers” do not take their own
lives at the end, as the target audience would likely find such a thing a bit
traumatic. Still, the animation was pretty good, the soundtrack was fun, and
there was a very entertaining bit with Patrick Stewart as a statue of the Bard
himself. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In March 2018, a sequel to <i>Gnomeo and Juliet</i> was
released, this time a spoof on Sherlock Holmes: the title of this new gnomish
adventure was—you guessed it—<i>Sherlock Gnomes</i>. The film is part sequel,
involving the characters of Gnomeo and Juliet in new adventures, but it is also (of course) a
spoof of some of our favorite Sherlock Holmes characters. In fact, the film starts out with a funny
little bit where a few gnomes argue about which story they’ll tell next (“Game
of Gnomes! Or The Gnome Ranger!”).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sherlock
Gnomes (voiced by Johnny Depp) is a garden gnome detective (that is, a
detective who happens to be a garden gnome), who is sworn to protect all of
London's garden gnomes. He finds himself pitted against his old archenemy,
Moriarty: a sort of "Bob's Big Boy" type of pie mascot (don't
ask). <br />
<br />
Sherlock is a kind of self-absorbed character, who doesn't treat
his sidekick Watson with the respect he deserves. Of course, this is a subject
that has been explored in other Holmes films and spoofs. (The Holmes/Watson relationship
in the Guy Ritchie films, or the spoof <i>Without a Clue</i>, both spring to my mind.)<br />
<br />
Their paths cross those of Gnomeo and Juliet, who are attempting to improve the
garden of the house they’ve just moved to, when their fellow garden gnomes are abducted
by the evil Moriarty. Or are they? Sherlock Gnomes hears of that abduction and
many more around London, and…the game is afoot!<br />
<br />
Honestly, I found the film pretty entertaining. Depp was not the best Holmes I've ever seen (well...heard), while Chiwetel Ejiofor voices Watson with great subtlety and dignity. There were all kinds of goofy
nods towards the Sherlock Holmes canon: Doyle's Doll Museum, Wisteria Lodge Florist
Shop, a grating with "221B" on it, while Sherlock and Juliet encounter a "fierce" pug dog, which Mr. Gnomes calls "the Hound owned by the Baskervilles."<br />
<br />
One character even delivers the entertaining line, “No ship, Sherlock!” And of course, there's the obligatory deerstalker cap, Inverness cape, and magnifying glass.<br />
<br />
In a little
homage to the BBC's <i>Sherlock</i>, perhaps, Mr. Gnomes occasionally
retreats into a "mind palace" of sorts, with a completely different
style of animation for those sequences (it looks like black and white cel
animation, although I suspect it is still done mostly with computers). One
little animation detail that I thought was odd: Sherlock Gnomes has a tiny
little white beard on the tip of his chin! I think this was probably the only
bearded Holmes I’ve ever seen on film. Not that a beard that small is really deserving of the name...</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The voice cast is a panoply of celebrities: James McAvoy
(Gnomeo), Emily Blunt (Juliet), Michael Caine
(Lord Redbrick), Maggie Smith (Lady Bluebury), Mary J. Blige (Irene), and many
more. Even Ozzy Osbourne has a brief role, as a somewhat befuddled ceramic
fawn.<br />
<br />
The animation is quite high quality, and the aforementioned "mind
palace" sequences were bizarre and fun. The story is packed with enough
action and silly humor to keep children entertained, while there are enough pop
culture references sprinkled throughout to keep adults from being completely
bored.<br />
<br />
As mentioned above, Sherlockians will no doubt be amused by canonical
references here and there. The plot as a few fun little twists, so the movie
isn’t as predictable as some animated feautres can be. As a Holmes fan, I found
it enjoyable enough, if not incredibly brilliant. The film only received a 28%
on film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, but I've seen much poorer films with
higher scores.<br />
<br />
If you have young children, you could do a lot worse. Or if you’d
simply like to indulge in 90 minutes of innocent fun, it’s worth a few laughs. Oh,
and did I mention that most of the soundtrack is made up of Elton John songs?
(One of the film companies that produced the film was founded by Elton John, so
it’s no surprise.)<br />
<br />
I would give the film 4 Calabash Pipes on a 5-Pipe scale.<br />
<br />
--<br />
<br /></div>

Sherlock Gnomes: An Animated Bit of Fun

"...scrambling over your garden wall." [EMPT] Several years ago (in 2011, to be exact), when my older daughter was a lot sm...

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by Cory Howell

The Final Problem: Problems Abound

<h4 style="text-align: center;">
"It is with a heavy heart that I take up my pen" [FINA] </h4>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyYixB-BFqf8YyORR26F78OhpKq2O9UU5SPiIQlJLz7cAlxDl32yeXCufS-0tIonjMfX-iZm3C2eJtokYAscie8AGskheS93pbMW3xgKwNIogf5D1fjW_LnO8DnXQYm2NrL_ZwGF2-lrzP/s1600/Sherlock+-+Series+4+table.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyYixB-BFqf8YyORR26F78OhpKq2O9UU5SPiIQlJLz7cAlxDl32yeXCufS-0tIonjMfX-iZm3C2eJtokYAscie8AGskheS93pbMW3xgKwNIogf5D1fjW_LnO8DnXQYm2NrL_ZwGF2-lrzP/s640/Sherlock+-+Series+4+table.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
[<b><i>Editor's Note:</i></b> this is the eighth in our series of reviews for Series 4 of Sherlock. There are <b><i>spoilers below</i></b>. Don't say we didn't warn you.]<div>
<br />Where to begin? How does one describe this beautiful mess, this sublimely ludicrous end to a season that has delighted and frustrated so many viewers? Well, I guess we have to start with the obligatory <b>spoiler warning</b>. I mean, for the love of all that is Sherlockian, don't think about reading any further until you've watched the final episode of Season 4 of <i>Sherlock</i>: "The Final Problem."<br />
<br />
Let's start with that title: despite the obvious reference to perhaps the most famous of all Holmes stories in the Canon, this episode has little to do with Doyle's story of the same name. Moffat and Gatiss had already plundered Doyle's "The Final Problem" back in Season 2, with "The Reichenbach Fall." So plot-wise, there's not much in the way of references to that source material, other than a certain air of finality at the end of the episode. But more on that point later...<br />
<br />
There are references to the Canon, of course, as we have come to expect from this series: the reference to "The Three Garridebs" (just their names—the plot point is completely different); the "Dancing Men" reference in the final montage. Perhaps other more eagle-eyed Sherlockians will detect other clues. And there was a delightful detail in the final shot, where a placard on a building clearly reads "Rathbone Place," a cheeky little extra-canonical tidbit. But I'm getting ahead of myself again.<br />
<br />
As a fan of comic books when I was younger, I can't help but think that the island fortress of Sherrinford was reminiscent of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arkham_Asylum" target="_blank">Arkham Asylum</a> from the <i>Batman </i>series: a place where only the most brilliant of the criminally insane reside. Meanwhile, the writers made the parallel to <i><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QU8jKn7sMwU" target="_blank">Silence of the Lambs</a></i> explicit in the scene where Sherlock first visits Eurus at her cell, and a guard refers to the famous film/novel. Eurus certainly brought Hannibal Lecter to mind right away.<br />
<br />
Perhaps one of the biggest laughs I got (maybe the only laugh, considering the dark tone of the episode) was when the camera panned down through the floor at 221B, to show Mrs. Hudson vacuuming her floor, while listening to Iron Maiden's "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxnN05vOuSM" target="_blank">Number of the Beast</a>" on her headphones. No, that's not right, I did laugh at one other spot: the great musical cue at the beginning of the flashback to Moriarty's visit to Sherrinford, wherein he's listening to Queen's "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUOtCLOXgm8" target="_blank">I Want to Break Free</a>." Typical Moriarty flash and cheese, all in one delicious moment.<br />
<br />
<h3>
<b>The Critical Question</b></h3>
At this point, though, I have to ask myself: canonical references and humorous musical cues aside, what about the rest of it? Did this episode, in fact, make any sense?<br />
<br />
No, I don't think it did. For all their attempts to really wow us, with all the suspense — will Sherlock shoot Watson or Mycroft? Will Mrs. Hudson perish in the explosion? Will Molly Hooper die because she won't say "I love you"? — for all that, much of the action felt horribly contrived to me. If anyone has watched any of the <i>Saw </i>films, there's often a point in those elaborately executed torture traps where the viewer thinks, "How could anyone possibly set all of this up?" In the case of Eurus Holmes, a woman who had been incarcerated for much of her adult life, I found myself thinking the same thing: even with the help of the guards that she had (almost magically) talked into doing her bidding, there was just too much planning and almost superhuman omniscience involved in setting up her elaborate test of brothers Sherlock and Mycroft.<br />
<br />
Speaking of superhuman, we're also forced to believe that Sherlock, John and Mycroft (not to mention Mrs. Hudson) all walked away from the huge explosion at 221B, with nary a scratch on them? For heaven's sake, Sherlock and John were blown <i>through a second story window</i>!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij0q2GSSQKonYmmQ1oJbi5ByFxPFYzKiB2nHHgC2YDgBhOS5fUIFWphNfX2wSmjQ67NUGCaKsl1Yi1ppO9DRPXLxCh8zjGnlXKIsbQknxW2t7fIUO9_zx_5JURmd7jiTztRy1raYuOjehA/s1600/Sherlock+-+Series+4+explosion.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="356" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij0q2GSSQKonYmmQ1oJbi5ByFxPFYzKiB2nHHgC2YDgBhOS5fUIFWphNfX2wSmjQ67NUGCaKsl1Yi1ppO9DRPXLxCh8zjGnlXKIsbQknxW2t7fIUO9_zx_5JURmd7jiTztRy1raYuOjehA/s640/Sherlock+-+Series+4+explosion.PNG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
But this same superhero-style Sherlock doesn't even realize that there is no glass between him and Eurus, the whole time he's talking to her? Nope, sorry, I don't buy it. I've stood in front of glass walls, and it's quite easy to tell the difference between glass and thin air. And it takes that long for Sherlock to figure out that the little girl on the plane is all a ruse? As they have in the past, Moffat and Gatiss seem to have thought we, as viewers, would simply accept their overly elaborate game (that's "not a game any more," according to the trailer), and not notice how far-fetched the whole thing was, or how lame Sherlock has gotten at figuring things out.<br />
<br />
Almost the entire length of the episode, I just kept thinking, "No, that wouldn't happen that way...no, that just isn't possible." Just as they did at the beginning of Season 3, when everyone wanted to know how Sherlock had survived his "Reichenbach Fall," the Sherlock writers simply said, "We don't need to explain it. Sherlock's just the cleverest man alive." Except for when he's not. Which leads me to the end...<br />
<br />
There has been much speculation, especially as Season 4 has progressed, as to whether this will be the last season of <i>Sherlock</i>. The final montage of this episode certainly seemed to lean that way: Mary's final words about her "Baker Street Boys...Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson!" had a definite air of finality about them. Are Moffat and Gatiss going to accomplish what Arthur Conan Doyle failed to do with his "Final Problem"? Will this be the end of the story? Doyle tried to kill off his detective, but ended up bringing him back to life. All of our favorite characters (well, most of them) are still alive and well at the end of <i>this</i> "Final Problem." So I guess the future of the series is still open.<br />
<br />
Of course, that leads me to my final dilemma: how do I view this episode as a series finale, rather than just a season finale, if that's what it turns out to be? I suppose, to a certain extent, this finale demonstrates what <i>Sherlock </i>has always been: entertaining, frustrating, impressed by its own cleverness, slick, modern, and completely in love with its source material. I mean, that's what's kept so many of us coming back, through the long hiatuses and all that, isn't it?<br />
<br />
It's always been clear (to me, at least) that Moffat and Gatiss absolutely adore the characters and stories created by Arthur Conan Doyle. In the end, if it is actually over, the whole series is kind of like a crazy, devoted fan fiction: they have always said, "What if?" What if Sherlock Holmes and John Watson were living in today's world? What stories could we tell about <i>that</i>?<br />
<br />
And they did.<br />
<br />
--<br />
<br />
<br /></div>

The Final Problem: Problems Abound

"It is with a heavy heart that I take up my pen" [FINA] [ Editor's Note: this is the eighth in our series of reviews f...

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by Cory Howell

Sherlock Returns to Form with The Six Thatchers — Review

<h4 style="text-align: center;">
"I found myself in dream-land, with the sweet face of Mary Morstan looking down upon me." [SIGN] </h4>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPVCTEu6zlzB1APyueX4cyYwq3wFfwiwAV6IwEv_KB8FBCeG58-JAc3sQdHzLkGquergDhqfoYMzaWwi6-amuWDf60n6Wty3UiRrFQbMNEJpnxJXZVptHcwSP-oHKyFDCLhZzTDq1ZWm_h/s1600/Sherlock+-+Series+4+Sherlock+landscape.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPVCTEu6zlzB1APyueX4cyYwq3wFfwiwAV6IwEv_KB8FBCeG58-JAc3sQdHzLkGquergDhqfoYMzaWwi6-amuWDf60n6Wty3UiRrFQbMNEJpnxJXZVptHcwSP-oHKyFDCLhZzTDq1ZWm_h/s640/Sherlock+-+Series+4+Sherlock+landscape.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
After 2014's filler episode of <i>Sherlock</i>, "The Abominable Bride" I was afraid that the Moffat and Gatiss may have painted themselves into a bit of a corner. As entertaining as it was to see Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman transported into a more traditional Victorian setting, the one-off episode didn't really advance the plot of the show at all. Besides, I've never been the kind of Holmes fan who really gets much of a charge out of the Victorian nostalgia aspect of Sherlockiana.<br />
<br />
I know many Sherlockians dwell on that whole period, and I get it, it can be a lot of fun. But I've always thought the great strength of the BBC's <i>Sherlock </i>was their ability to make Holmes and Watson so contemporary, while still always retaining so much of the flavor of Doyle's original stories. For me, then, "The Six Thatchers" was a stunning return to form.<br />
<br />
<h3>
<b>Spoiler Alert</b></h3>
I may as well take this chance to warn any readers who may be approaching this review without having seen the episode, that <b>MAJOR SPOILERS</b> lie ahead! If you read from this point on, I am assuming that you have seen "The Six Thatchers." So let's move along, shall we?<br />
<br />
<br />
For much of the first act of the episode, I wasn't certain that this episode was going to work: there was a lot of comedy in that first 20 minutes. I was beginning to think, "this is all very enjoyable, seeing Cumberbatch displaying his comedic side, but when does the story really begin?" As the story began to get more serious, however, and the plot began to reference "The Six Napoleons" (as we all thought it would), I really began to be drawn into the story. Looking back on the episode now, I feel as if the comedy towards the beginning really heightened the drama to follow.<br />
<br />
One thing I'd like to mention right off the bat is how much I enjoyed Amanda Abbington's work in "The Six Thatchers." Ever since they introduced her as Mary, I've thought the chemistry she shared with Martin Freeman's Watson has been spectacular, and the equal rapport with Cumberbatch's Sherlock was just as enjoyable.<br />
<br />
Most who have loved <i>Sherlock</i> from the beginning knew that the Holmes/Watson duo was one of the best in film and TV history; Mary changed the relationship into an intriguing equilateral triangle. Indeed, for a little while during this episode, I found myself wondering if the attention paid to Mary's role in the show might be working at cross purposes to the dynamic of Freeeman and Cumberbatch's perfect balance as Holmes and Watson. As the show progressed, though, all of those fears were put to rest as, in the end, Mary's presence (followed by her absence) made that Holmes/Watson relationship even more powerful for me.<br />
<br />
Anyway, back to the story... I continued to be fascinated by how skillfully the writers managed to combine elements of "The Six Napoleons" with some of the plot of <i>The Sign of Four</i>, a story that is, of course, inextricably linked with Mary as a canonical character. The four assassins who went by the acronym of A.G.R.A. would make any Holmes fan immediately think of Major Sholto and his associates.<br />
<br />
Another thing I've always admired about the writing on <i>Sherlock </i>is how they manage to refer to the Canon (as well as extra-canonical sources), without merely repeating them as reworked plots in a modern setting: in other words, "A Study in Pink" is not <i>A Study in Scarlet</i> in the 21st century, "The Hounds of Baskerville" is not an update of <i>The Hound of the Baskervilles</i>, and so on. (Did some fans catch the brief reference to Nicholas Meyer's pastiche, <i>The Canary Trainer</i>, in this episode? It made me smile.) [<b><i>Editor's note:</i></b> it could just as easily have been a reference to Wilson, the notorious canary trainer, mentioned in "The Adventure of Black Peter," where Meyer got his inspiration.]<br />
<br />
As Mary's story line grew, I found myself wondering if she would come out of it alive, but I never <i>really </i>thought they would kill her off! Yes, now we come to the biggest spoiler of all: the death of Mary Watson, taking a bullet for Sherlock. As the tears ran down my cheeks, I found myself thinking, "You fool, of course she had to die! We've always assumed that Watson ended up as a widower in the books!" Now, I don't know enough about ballistics and such to know whether it's even possible in real life to jump in front of a bullet, but we all know it's a trope that has shown up throughout film history. For a minute, I thought back to Sherlock being shot by Mary in "His Last Vow," and I thought, will they actually save her? At this point, I'm thinking she's really gone, and I hope there is no "resurrection," as there was for Sherlock. And so three have become two again.<br />
<br />
Before I'd even had the chance to recover from my shock at Mary's death, I had to deal with my sadness at the wedge that has now come between John and Sherlock, as a result of that death, and Mary's posthumous request that Sherlock "save John Watson." Which made me shed yet another tear or two...as well as wondering, what's in store for John Watson? So, as I look forward to the next two episodes of <i>Sherlock </i>Series 4, I find myself with many questions:<br />
<ul>
<li>Will John and Sherlock reconcile? (Of course they will. (<b><i>Ed.:</i></b> The question is <i>how</i>.))</li>
<li>What of the mysterious woman on the bus? Did she and John have a full-blown affair? Will she be back in another episode? (<b><i>Ed.: </i></b>Count on it.)</li>
<li>Is Moriarty indeed involved in the story arc of Series 4?</li>
<li>Is there a life for <i>Sherlock</i> beyond Series 4? (I guess that depends on what happens in the next two episodes.)</li>
<li>Is Mycroft really the kind of guy who would keep reminders stuck to his refrigerator?</li>
<li>Are we going to be introduced to the (mythical) Sherrinford Holmes?</li>
</ul>
So, wrapping up this review, I feel that, overall, "The Six Thatchers" was one of the best episodes of the entire series. (I don't know if anything can ever beat "A Study in Pink," which I re-watched just last night.) It certainly made me very anxious to see what else is in store for the rest of the season! After my mixed feelings on "The Abominable Bride," I felt as if I were home again: the story was gripping, the acting was top notch, the cinematography was beautiful (those sharks!), and the whole thing was powerful, emotionally and intellectually. I can't wait to see what twists and turns lie ahead.<br />
<br />
--<br />
<br />

Sherlock Returns to Form with The Six Thatchers — Review

"I found myself in dream-land, with the sweet face of Mary Morstan looking down upon me." [SIGN] After 2014's filler epi...

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by Cory Howell

Sherlock Holmes vs. Tarzan — by the Numbers

<div style="text-align: center;">
<h4>
"aided by this chart" [SIGN]</h4>
<div style="text-align: left;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNn8YVwEfmLj0AmTGezwdkbVUbnGjnKphy_NSyDSmPB6s2SL3k3Vdi_nfjGWQ5xJMY_Dsla8NSUjk2S-hRDyx5sxrT2mExEl9na0BKGg7_bwoqYcQuTUTiUcoqQ_-Pwg0xDBsZ93MtLldF/s1600/Sherlock+Holmes+vs.+Tarzan.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="464" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNn8YVwEfmLj0AmTGezwdkbVUbnGjnKphy_NSyDSmPB6s2SL3k3Vdi_nfjGWQ5xJMY_Dsla8NSUjk2S-hRDyx5sxrT2mExEl9na0BKGg7_bwoqYcQuTUTiUcoqQ_-Pwg0xDBsZ93MtLldF/s640/Sherlock+Holmes+vs.+Tarzan.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Throughout the Canon, we encounter a variety of "grams": telegrams, programmes, cryptograms, monograms, and cablegrams; such was the nature of the written word in the Victorian age. Indeed, telegrams in particular often play a crucial role in many different Holmes adventures. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Now in the age of Google, we have another "gram" to consider: <a href="https://books.google.com/ngrams/info" target="_blank">Google Ngrams</a>. The <a href="https://books.google.com/ngrams">Google Ngram Viewer</a> is a handy tool that enables the user to see the frequency of words and/or phrases across the vast corpus of digitized books that Google has at its disposal. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br />
[<b>Editor's note:</b> click on any of the links above the images below for an interactive version of the graphs.]<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Considering the multi-cultural appeal of Sherlock Holmes, it may come as no surprise to Sherlockians that the default example words and phrases that show up when a user logs on to the Ngram Viewer are as follows: Albert Einstein, Sherlock Holmes, Frankenstein. It did come as a surprise to me, however, that Frankenstein references outrank both Albert Einstein and Sherlock Holmes in the English corpus! <a href="https://books.google.com/ngrams" target="_blank">Take a look</a>:</div>
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3Y_C7e1P3If-xRepf7ftKWos7AxNOQf-Z58XLxgwn6Upiq4egpQdILgX6mqMTZw5PUlb-pKMdGMM1zPAQXoWyIoIiY0LVtTHpaymBpeaWxcxMqMf2T6HCg-z6jEb5fjBt1segTnOSsMeo/s1600/ngram-English.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3Y_C7e1P3If-xRepf7ftKWos7AxNOQf-Z58XLxgwn6Upiq4egpQdILgX6mqMTZw5PUlb-pKMdGMM1zPAQXoWyIoIiY0LVtTHpaymBpeaWxcxMqMf2T6HCg-z6jEb5fjBt1segTnOSsMeo/s640/ngram-English.PNG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Sherlock Holmes gains a bit of ground if we change the corpus to British English, <a href="https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=Albert+Einstein%2CSherlock+Holmes%2CFrankenstein&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=18&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2CAlbert%20Einstein%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2CSherlock%20Holmes%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2CFrankenstein%3B%2Cc0" target="_blank">as shown below</a>:<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjlvY2Rx_RxnvrI-Py2rM4ZYEjpAO3gQgm1Hmezp9jJyf_qMNPx8uSifzK3gJa7bWNudsA67vmKHRwpuac9_DwORc6jOtQAvBCWz62Z5FwSzs0sTeRBvPYwRsJCsgRNxYFPkipSH_NALab/s1600/ngram-British.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjlvY2Rx_RxnvrI-Py2rM4ZYEjpAO3gQgm1Hmezp9jJyf_qMNPx8uSifzK3gJa7bWNudsA67vmKHRwpuac9_DwORc6jOtQAvBCWz62Z5FwSzs0sTeRBvPYwRsJCsgRNxYFPkipSH_NALab/s640/ngram-British.PNG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
And if we use the smoothing tool set to 50 (instead of the default 3), we see <a href="https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=Albert+Einstein%2CSherlock+Holmes%2CFrankenstein&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=18&smoothing=50&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2CAlbert%20Einstein%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2CSherlock%20Holmes%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2CFrankenstein%3B%2Cc0" target="_blank">a result that is more comforting to the Sherlockian</a>:<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHxp5Rw8bLu4lthc6DYrER7alp4if5pgrnN14aEdP_DumeD3HOT5tEzy6-e8F-_iS5ONLI_E6r2MYO7xqo0taSDFAgxQju8WfF0Bez1egVe5vqDK7q6EeNWg2eASl8_awC6P4NazAq5D6_/s1600/ngram-smooth.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHxp5Rw8bLu4lthc6DYrER7alp4if5pgrnN14aEdP_DumeD3HOT5tEzy6-e8F-_iS5ONLI_E6r2MYO7xqo0taSDFAgxQju8WfF0Bez1egVe5vqDK7q6EeNWg2eASl8_awC6P4NazAq5D6_/s640/ngram-smooth.PNG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<br />
Now I'd like to make it perfectly clear that I am by no means  an expert in statistical analysis. What follows is mere conjecture from  my own point of view, as a fan of both Sherlock Holmes and Tarzan. (The  reader has been warned!) However, as I began to consider Ngrams and iconic characters, my mind went back to a discussion I once had with some fellow Sherlockians at a meeting here in Nashville, Tennessee, wherein we got talking about the popularity of Sherlock Holmes vs. the popularity of the famous Edgar Rice Burroughs character, Tarzan of the Apes. To my surprise and delight, several of the Sherlockians at that meeting were avid Burroughs fans, something we had in common beyond our interest in Holmes.<br />
<br />
As I considered the Ngram results mentioned above I wondered, how would references to Sherlock Holmes compare in frequency with references to Tarzan? After all, both characters were iconic, and both characters were associated with their creators for the better part of their careers. So I decided to put it to the test: putting in a time range of 1910 (two years before <i><a amzn-ps-bm-asin="0486295702" class="amzn_ps_bm_tl" data-amzn-link-id="ead5c455ca08af811f2095809cd4a4bc" data-amzn-ps-bm-keyword="Tarzan of the Apes" href="http://www.amazon.com/Tarzan-Dover-Thrift-Edgar-Burroughs/dp/0486295702/ref=as_li_bk_tl/?tag=thebakerstree-20&linkId=ead5c455ca08af811f2095809cd4a4bc&linkCode=ktl" id="amznPsBmLink_3261758" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Tarzan of the Apes</a><img alt="" border="0" height="0" id="amznPsBmPixel_3261758" src="https://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?source=bk&t=thebakerstree-20&bm-id=default&l=ktl&linkId=ead5c455ca08af811f2095809cd4a4bc&_cb=1453897579325" style="border: none !important; height: 0px !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important; width: 0px !important;" width="0" /></i> was published) through 2008 (the most recent figures available on Google Ngram Viewer), I chose to search the English corpus. <a href="https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=Tarzan%2CSherlock+Holmes&year_start=1910&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2CTarzan%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2CSherlock%20Holmes%3B%2Cc0" target="_blank">Here are the results</a>:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX8QLhEzOWMoXEwWh0wp_hSqZU0JvREXM3dp_aOF1edzBX9p-1YjkR1SVzkkZeFNN-KoLUi9iEN7hW5Fw5a7qdgKACCKjyX_5hU4WzXTw2nYz0PqyUBwjLFN77FJrydxuMV9lqkQVoXbtS/s1600/ngram-Tarzan-English.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX8QLhEzOWMoXEwWh0wp_hSqZU0JvREXM3dp_aOF1edzBX9p-1YjkR1SVzkkZeFNN-KoLUi9iEN7hW5Fw5a7qdgKACCKjyX_5hU4WzXTw2nYz0PqyUBwjLFN77FJrydxuMV9lqkQVoXbtS/s640/ngram-Tarzan-English.PNG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Well! We see quite a lead for Tarzan in the first several years, and then Sherlock Holmes gains some popularity, until the last several years of the search period. A very popular time for Sherlock Holmes references starts after 1930 (due in part to the publication of the Doubleday edition and then the on-screen popularity of the Arthur Wontner and Basil Rathbone, no doubt). Tweaking the search parameters a bit more, changing to the "American English" corpus, Tarzan gains a bit of ground in the early years of this century (although we still see that frequency of Holmes hits in the 1930s), <a href="https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=Tarzan%2CSherlock+Holmes&year_start=1910&year_end=2008&corpus=17&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2CTarzan%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2CSherlock%20Holmes%3B%2Cc0" target="_blank">represented here</a>:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCWsnUQU9bGShyphenhyphenhqstaSIKEa_Eem4VVNUinOtqvBpuiyF7j-HdulwYfI_wPioF67xeRasTxGWTexO_571BubRzYhxKjjyDKjcAvVw3oNjvO7E0qT1-aSTKo4ZQ8F9CtklIt7ulI5EJvEaV/s1600/ngram-Tarzan-American.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCWsnUQU9bGShyphenhyphenhqstaSIKEa_Eem4VVNUinOtqvBpuiyF7j-HdulwYfI_wPioF67xeRasTxGWTexO_571BubRzYhxKjjyDKjcAvVw3oNjvO7E0qT1-aSTKo4ZQ8F9CtklIt7ulI5EJvEaV/s640/ngram-Tarzan-American.PNG" width="640" /></a></div>
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And just as one might expect, changing the corpus to "British English" puts Sherlock Holmes firmly <a href="https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=Tarzan%2CSherlock+Holmes&year_start=1910&year_end=2008&corpus=18&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2CTarzan%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2CSherlock%20Holmes%3B%2Cc0" target="_blank">back on top</a>:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjs1UYrL9-NAjVCPpO9H6NcIObav7sB5msAA2Hb7dlgV_JuTGQal4fUvQyaDMaeovbttaXH_sHE57KzCXX6wIXO-nyDJjjG9nniU0eFOKhU-QO41-PVKRDFam8e-4eXfLx3LjYkP_Dgu8q/s1600/ngram-Tarzan-British.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjs1UYrL9-NAjVCPpO9H6NcIObav7sB5msAA2Hb7dlgV_JuTGQal4fUvQyaDMaeovbttaXH_sHE57KzCXX6wIXO-nyDJjjG9nniU0eFOKhU-QO41-PVKRDFam8e-4eXfLx3LjYkP_Dgu8q/s640/ngram-Tarzan-British.PNG" width="640" /></a></div>
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[On a personal note, I find it interesting, if inconsequential, that there is a pretty sharp spike in the graph above in the early 80s, which just happens to be around the time I started reading Sherlock Holmes as a kid!]<br />
<br />
Then I discovered the parameter entitled "English One Million." According to the guide to using the Ngram Viewer,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"The 'Google Million'...are in English with dates ranging from 1500 to 2008.  No more than about 6000 books were chosen from any one year, which means that all of the scanned books from early years are present, and books from later years are randomly sampled.  The random samplings reflect the subject distributions for the year..." </blockquote>
That corpus yielded a slightly different result, with Sherlock leading the way for most of the time period, except for a huge spike for Tarzan in the 1990s! (Right between the release of the film <i><a amzn-ps-bm-asin="B001OKKRV2" class="amzn_ps_bm_tl" data-amzn-link-id="6d17f82eaca19cc841de105f6e397bb8" data-amzn-ps-bm-keyword="Greystoke, Legend of Tarzan" href="http://www.amazon.com/Greystoke-Legend-Tarzan-Lord-Apes/dp/B001OKKRV2/ref=as_li_bk_tl/?tag=thebakerstree-20&linkId=6d17f82eaca19cc841de105f6e397bb8&linkCode=ktl" id="amznPsBmLink_8864050" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Greystoke, Legend of Tarzan</a><img alt="" border="0" height="0" id="amznPsBmPixel_8864050" src="https://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?source=bk&t=thebakerstree-20&bm-id=default&l=ktl&linkId=6d17f82eaca19cc841de105f6e397bb8&_cb=1453898738591" style="border: none !important; height: 0px !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important; width: 0px !important;" width="0" /></i> in 1984 and the Disney animated film <i><a amzn-ps-bm-asin="B000AAF1TU" class="amzn_ps_bm_tl" data-amzn-link-id="95caf89376e4c8c67c3bdbfbf68d1464" data-amzn-ps-bm-keyword="Tarzan" href="http://www.amazon.com/Tarzan-Special-Edition-Tony-Goldwyn/dp/B000AAF1TU/ref=as_li_bk_tl/?tag=thebakerstree-20&linkId=95caf89376e4c8c67c3bdbfbf68d1464&linkCode=ktl" id="amznPsBmLink_8513549" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Tarzan</a><img alt="" border="0" height="0" id="amznPsBmPixel_8513549" src="https://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?source=bk&t=thebakerstree-20&bm-id=default&l=ktl&linkId=95caf89376e4c8c67c3bdbfbf68d1464&_cb=1453898817546" style="border: none !important; height: 0px !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important; width: 0px !important;" width="0" /> </i>in 1999.)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-l3qchS-0lNm9J2E-nY3YZOpFK4ZZg0_rDJDowLSG-zH-uL0R5Y8T9-iywT9p8yIN7u9765n70_dZabGt9mglsELOZU3BaxAxdibCTVB9xUnIHT1QGIMtuSDchiOfMvhdMZVcWxowUPln/s1600/ngram-Tarzan-Million.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-l3qchS-0lNm9J2E-nY3YZOpFK4ZZg0_rDJDowLSG-zH-uL0R5Y8T9-iywT9p8yIN7u9765n70_dZabGt9mglsELOZU3BaxAxdibCTVB9xUnIHT1QGIMtuSDchiOfMvhdMZVcWxowUPln/s640/ngram-Tarzan-Million.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<br />
One more parameter change I tried, which yielded a slightly different result, was changing the corpus to "English Fiction." The steady downturn that the graphs take through the decades indicates to me that, even though writing <b>about </b>the characters has continued to proliferate (as is clear from several of the graphs above), the actual publication of the fiction works featuring the two characters has decreased, <a href="https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=Tarzan%2CSherlock+Holmes&year_start=1910&year_end=2008&corpus=16&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2CTarzan%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2CSherlock%20Holmes%3B%2Cc0" target="_blank">as you can see here</a>:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJVXHv_5SAGnDCNi4xEeDgqBlIcJwzMRiOnEd0kVVXdt15IHhvP8tycw7J9TMQ8YhVmgHOnh0R_Yc0_RSzAvd0uYE7t8l_DQjYtS6jYo9TpEJuIt3rawfI2xC0SfNb2uyyM5jNoPwCjhqQ/s1600/ngram-Tarzan-Fiction.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJVXHv_5SAGnDCNi4xEeDgqBlIcJwzMRiOnEd0kVVXdt15IHhvP8tycw7J9TMQ8YhVmgHOnh0R_Yc0_RSzAvd0uYE7t8l_DQjYtS6jYo9TpEJuIt3rawfI2xC0SfNb2uyyM5jNoPwCjhqQ/s640/ngram-Tarzan-Fiction.PNG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<br />
In my romp through the hills and valleys of the Ngram Viewer, I've been looking at written references to a couple of the more popular characters in the past century of English publishing. Both Lord Greystoke (Tarzan) and the Great Detective are almost synonymous with the names of the authors who created them. Although Conan Doyle's output may be seen my some critics as more "literary" than that of Burroughs, the Tarzan novels and the Sherlock Holmes novels and stories share a similar popularity among their respective fandoms. The sheer volume of subsequent reprints of the novels and stories about the two characters is almost impossible to calculate. Moreover, both characters have been largely in the public domain for  some time, which has no doubt contributed to their continuing popularity  in print. I would also postulate that the popularity of both characters has been increased immensely by their many appearances in a variety of film (and stage) adaptations. <br />
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As I pointed out in <a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2014/09/sherlock-holmes-and-wold-newton-universe.html#.VpatIxUrKM8" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">an earlier article</a> here, authors such as Philip José Farmer and others have postulated links between the Holmes universe and the Tarzan universe. John Clayton, after all, is both the English name of Tarzan, aka Lord Greystoke, and the name of a very minor character in Conan Doyle's <i>The Hound of the Baskervilles</i>. Whether there is any actual link between these two iconic characters or not, their popularity in the written word has often been intertwined, at least as I read the graphs above.<br />
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I would love to hear thoughts (and even dissenting opinions) from readers who may be more well versed than I in the analysis of Ngrams. Please share your opinions in the comment section below. And give the Google Ngram Viewer a try some time. (Warning, though: it can end up wasting scandalous amounts of your time!)<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/030747450X/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=030747450X&linkCode=as2&tag=thebakerstree-20&linkId=KOVSE46WLPKLYDPW" rel="nofollow"><img border="0" src="http://ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=030747450X&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=thebakerstree-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=thebakerstree-20&l=as2&o=1&a=030747450X" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />    <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1101870893/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1101870893&linkCode=as2&tag=thebakerstree-20&linkId=NFQZARRRQP4ZRCDY" rel="nofollow"><img border="0" src="http://ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=1101870893&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=thebakerstree-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=thebakerstree-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1101870893" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br />
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<br />

Sherlock Holmes vs. Tarzan — by the Numbers

"aided by this chart" [SIGN] Throughout the Canon, we encounter a variety of "grams": telegrams, programmes, cry...

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by Cory Howell

Sherlock Holmes and the Wold Newton Universe

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<div style="text-align: center;">
<h4>
"I had no idea that such individuals exist outside of stories." [STUD]</h4>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPCaVRvlMkqwaIJMgJ3kVOjFXOMVuJodrKy99NkfUdyPfnPP7XzqFmEPGIFoLRbtUbtSd1kbHQHcKFkTBPXg0E_3ywzx7GPDliLIdrilbCbgQG3mpNyp9aP5sIRPDs9SFxJVG7IDV4P_RX/s1600/peerless01a.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Sherlock Holmes meets Tarzan?" border="0" height="456" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPCaVRvlMkqwaIJMgJ3kVOjFXOMVuJodrKy99NkfUdyPfnPP7XzqFmEPGIFoLRbtUbtSd1kbHQHcKFkTBPXg0E_3ywzx7GPDliLIdrilbCbgQG3mpNyp9aP5sIRPDs9SFxJVG7IDV4P_RX/s1600/peerless01a.gif" title="The Adventure of the Peerless Peer - PJ Farmer" width="640" /></a></div>
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As a kid, around the same time I began reading the Sherlock Holmes canon, I was also a pretty big fan of comic books.  These were the days (the late 70s and early 80s) when the average price of a comic book was about 30 cents, and we used to get marked down comics at the local five-and-dime for ten cents.  Back in those days, one of my favorite types of comic books were the ones that featured "crossovers": <i>The Brave & the Bold</i>, for example, which always featured Batman teaming up with another hero; or one of my other favorites, a DC/Marvel collaboration that featured Spiderman and Superman teaming up against the Incredible Hulk. (In fact, Batman even teamed up with a 135-year-old Sherlock Holmes in <a href="http://crossover.bureau42.com/zbatmanholmes.html">Detective Comics #572</a>.)<br />
<br />
But those crossovers are pretty small potatoes when compared to the Wold Newton Universe, a massive crossover concept developed by science fiction author Philip José Farmer.  Farmer, who hailed from Peoria, IL (very close to my hometown), wrote many novels that featured collaborations and connections among a host of famous literary characters, including but not limited to: Tarzan, Doc Savage, the Scarlet Pimpernel, Lord Peter Wimsey, Solomon Kane, Arsène Lupin, and of course, Sherlock Holmes.  The basic idea presented by Farmer in some of his novels, beginning with <i>Tarzan Alive</i> in 1972, was that a mysterious meteorite fell to earth near Wold Newton in Yorkshire in the year 1795, and that radiation from the impact caused genetic mutations in the occupants of a nearby coach.  The descendants of these travelers were, according to Farmer, some of the famous fictional characters mentioned above.<br />
<br />
The Wold Newton Universe, as it was dubbed by Win Scott Eckert, is not limited to Farmer's work: Eckert and other fans of Farmer's work have greatly expanded the Wold Newton mythology to a host of other fictional characters.  The development of the Wold Newton Universe is not unlike the "great game" that is so popular with Sherlockians around the world. Indeed, Mr. Farmer, like William S. Baring-Gould and various other Sherlockians, treated Holmes and Lord Greystoke and others as if they were real people whose stories were deliberately fictionalized by Arthur Conan Doyle, Edgar Rice Burroughs, et al.<br />
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<br />
I wish I could report that Philip José Farmer was as skilled at writing further adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Lord Greystoke as were the authors to whose work he paid tribute.  But sadly, I have read one of the novels that teamed up Tarzan with Holmes and Watson, <i>The Adventure of the Peerless Peer</i> (1974). I found it to be an absolutely painful read, nothing like either Doyle's or Burroughs's work.  Holmes in particular is presented as pompous ass, for the most part.  Lord Greystoke fares a bit better, but not very well.  And Watson is an absolute bumbling oaf in the book. Still, there is something about the <b>idea </b>of the Wold Newton Universe that appeals to my twelve year old, comic book-reading self.<br />
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You can find out more about the mythology of the Wold Newton Universe at Win Scott Eckert's <a href="http://www.pjfarmer.com/woldnewton/Pulp2.htm" target="_blank">site devoted to the subject</a>.  The website is a bit scattered and difficult to navigate, but there is quite a bit of information about the subject of the Wold Newton Family, including a list of Farmer's works that incorporate the various characters of that universe, as well as a variety of works by other authors that have been woven into the tapestry.<br />
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--<br />
<br />

Sherlock Holmes and the Wold Newton Universe

"I had no idea that such individuals exist outside of stories." [STUD] As a kid, around the same time I began reading the...

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by Cory Howell

Watson Actually Was a Woman

<h4 style="text-align: center;">
"an experience of women which extends over many nations and three separate continents..." [SIGN] </h4>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmuwFbpLNYq4CzzjsBG_-e0mtOi6QHAR6wbD38j9WpClKxutQdO-R-Du47_XpDVMCJ785ZKaXuW1Ovae8rOysaza4A77UyEgmHydworPyIcSUmp3ory82Mt2aUuUQRaPDq8L6sE6Dt24wD/s1600/Joan+Watson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="435" data-original-width="700" height="396" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmuwFbpLNYq4CzzjsBG_-e0mtOi6QHAR6wbD38j9WpClKxutQdO-R-Du47_XpDVMCJ785ZKaXuW1Ovae8rOysaza4A77UyEgmHydworPyIcSUmp3ory82Mt2aUuUQRaPDq8L6sE6Dt24wD/s640/Joan+Watson.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<br />
<br />
In all the recent debates among Sherlockians over the CBS program <a href="http://www.cbs.com/shows/elementary"><i>Elementary</i></a>, one will often find vehement disagreement over the decision of the show's creator's decision to cast Lucy Liu as "Joan Watson."  They will say that it destroys the all-male dynamic of Holmes and Watson's relationship, they will worry that it will develop into a romantic relationship, they will say "It's simply <b><i>not</i></b> Holmesian!"  All the while, the assumption seems to be that the idea of casting Watson as a female role is a new (and perhaps dangerous or ill advised) idea.  As we'll see, that simply is not the case.<br />
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Let us consider an article published in <i>The Saturday Review of Literature</i>, March 1, 1941, written by a certain Rex Stout, creator of another famous detective, Nero Wolfe.  The article, based on a speech Stout had given to the Baker Street Irregulars earlier that year, was entitled "<a href="https://www.nerowolfe.org/pdf/stout/home_family/BSI/Watson_was_a_woman.pdf" target="_blank">Watson Was a Woman</a>." Stout, apparently with tongue implanted firmly in cheek, opens his article thusly:<br />
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You will forgive me for refusing to join in your commemorative toast, "The Second Mrs. Watson," when you learn it was a matter of conscience. I could not bring myself to connive at the perpetuation of a hoax. Not only was there never a second Mrs. Watson; there was not even a first Mrs. Watson. Furthermore, there was no Doctor Watson.<br />
Please keep your chairs.</blockquote>
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"Please keep your chairs," indeed.  To address a gathering of Sherlockians, opening with the words "there was no Doctor Watson" seems to be a potentially disastrous idea.  Remember, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had only died about a decade before Stout dared to give his speech and publish his article.  I can only imagine the outrage that must have taken place among some of the Sherlockians who first read or heard these words!<br />
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It gets better, though.  Mr. Stout goes on to quote from one of Watson's earliest impressions of Holmes, in A Study in Scarlet: ...he had invariably breakfasted and gone out before I rose in the morning."  Aha! A clue...  Stout continues:<br />
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I was indescribably shocked. How had so patent a clue escaped so many millions of readers through the years? That was, that could only be, a woman speaking of a man. Read it over. The true authentic speech of a wife telling of her husband's-- but wait. I was not indulging in idle speculation, but seeking evidence to establish a fact. It was unquestionably a woman speaking of a man, yes, but whether a wife of a husband, or a mistress of a lover, . . . I admit I blushed.</blockquote>
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So here we have it!  Not nearly as coy as the creators of <i>Elementary </i>would be seventy years later, Rex Stout presents the theory that Watson was a woman, and not just any woman: either the wife or mistress of Sherlock Holmes! "My blushes, Watson!" (I can almost hear the great detective saying it...)<br />
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Mr. Stout finds more proof in Watson's statement about Holmes's prowess on the violin: ". . . his powers upon the violin . . . at my request he has played me some of Mendelssohn's Lieder. . ." He writes: "Imagine a man asking another man to play him some of Mendelssohn's Lieder on a violin!"  Stout goes on to develop his theory of Watson as the wife of Sherlock Holmes.  He finds particularly interesting Watson's role as a "reformist wife," in his attempts to break Holmes of his cocaine addiction.<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: ivory; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25.600000381469727px; text-indent: 6%;"><br />
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Further on is possibly the most incredible (or the most ridiculous, depending on your point of view) bit of deduction in the entire article.  In an almost acrobatic feat of acrostics, Rex (I don't think he'd mind me calling him "Rex") arranges eleven of the adventures in the canon in the following order:<br />
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     <span style="font-size: large;">I</span>llustrious Client<br />
     <span style="font-size: large;">R</span>ed-headed League<br />
     <span style="font-size: large;">E</span>ngineer's Thumb<br />
     <span style="font-size: large;">N</span>orwood Builder<br />
    <span style="font-size: large;"> E</span>mpty House<br />
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     <span style="font-size: large;">W</span>isteria Lodge<br />
     <span style="font-size: large;">A</span>bbey Grange<br />
     <span style="font-size: large;">T</span>wisted Lip<br />
     <span style="font-size: large;">S</span>tudy in Scarlet<br />
     <span style="font-size: large;">O</span>range Pips<br />
     <span style="font-size: large;">N</span>oble Bachelor<br />
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IRENE WATSON!  All he has to do after this bit of legerdemain is to connect the name "Irene Watson" with the classic description of Irene Adler as "the woman," and his case is complete.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirPuqvNMhpJUhRX_x7NwDY9wNmw8l7XffedAhX97xcH0wlQQ7ywPXGvnZl07qJZFkVhXM5-8UxW_UkXFm03HdA3870x-wdwD7ooUxdtnZYmWGB-T-FRHRzNVkO_EtdP8m22xQVnQ4n2SZi/s1600/vlcsnap-2012-01-23-22h34m03s149.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirPuqvNMhpJUhRX_x7NwDY9wNmw8l7XffedAhX97xcH0wlQQ7ywPXGvnZl07qJZFkVhXM5-8UxW_UkXFm03HdA3870x-wdwD7ooUxdtnZYmWGB-T-FRHRzNVkO_EtdP8m22xQVnQ4n2SZi/s1600/vlcsnap-2012-01-23-22h34m03s149.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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Towards the end of the article, Stout admits: <br />
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"All this is very sketchy... I am now collecting material for a fuller treatment of the subject, a complete demonstration of the evidence and the inevitable conclusion."</blockquote>
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Presumably no further treatment of the theory was forthcoming, and one has to wonder if the whole thing, speech and subsequent article, was just a little fun at his fellow Sherlockians' expense.<br />
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It's plain to see, then, that the idea of Watson as a woman is hardly a novel one; inflammatory for some Sherlockians, certainly, but not new.  It's no secret that Watson has appeared in many different guises over the years: old man, young man, doddering, comical, and intelligent. Indeed, in the world of film and TV adaptations, Watson has been presented as a woman in 1971's <i>They Might Be Giants</i> (Dr. Mildred Watson becomes the companion of Justin Playfair, a man who thinks he is Sherlock Holmes), and as a robot in the animated series <i>Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century</i> (a robot companion programmed to believe his is the original Dr. Watson).  To borrow from Ecclesiastes,"there is nothing new under the sun."<br />
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[You can read the Rex Stout article in its entirety <a href="https://www.nerowolfe.org/pdf/stout/home_family/BSI/Watson_was_a_woman.pdf">here</a>, or if you'd prefer a PDF of the article as it appeared in The Saturday Review of Literature in March of 1941, <a href="http://www.unz.org/Pub/SaturdayRev-1941mar01-00003">here</a> for the first two pages and <a href="http://www.unz.org/Pub/SaturdayRev-1941mar01-00015">here </a>for the final page.]<br />
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UPDATE:<br />
Julian Wolff, MD, BSI wrote the retort courteous: <a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2014/02/that-was-no-lady.html#.UwZUjfldV8E" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">That Was No Lady</a>.<br />
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Watson Actually Was a Woman

"an experience of women which extends over many nations and three separate continents..." [SIGN] In all the recent debate...

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by Cory Howell

Review: They Might Be Giants

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"Great Scott!" [REDH]
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If you're a fan of quirky music, as I am, you've no doubt encountered the duo known as They Might Be Giants.  What you might not know is that the band borrowed their name from the title of a 1971 film starring George C. Scott (based on a play by the same name).  <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067848/?ref_=nv_sr_1" target="_blank">They Might Be Giants</a></i> tells the story of a millionaire named Justin Playfair who, after the death of his wife, begins to think he is the great detective, Sherlock Holmes. He wears the famous deerstalker cap, smokes the calabash pipe, and makes Holmesian deductions about strangers he meets. He is befriended by a psychiatrist named Dr. Mildred Watson, who at first attempts to analyze him.  The two develop a friendship that is not unlike the friendship between the canonical Holmes and Watson.<br />
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You can read a fair review of the film in Alan Barnes' book <i><a href="http://amzn.to/1mXUAOx" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Sherlock Holmes on Screen</a></i>, and the film is available for streaming at <a href="http://www.netflix.com/">Netflix</a>. The <a href="http://youtu.be/q2oB0pMWh0Q">YouTube clip below</a> (from early in the film) shows George C. Scott's rather straightforward and competent Holmes imitation. (Sherlockians will enjoy the presumably intentional canonical reference of Dr. Watson's patient being named "Mr. Small," a character from <i>The Sign of the Four</i>.)  Although the plot of the film is a bit hard to follow at times, Scott's performance is always enjoyable, and the relationship that develops between Justin Playfair and Mildred Watson is alternately touching and humorous. Meanwhile, the presence of a female "Watson" in this film is more evidence that <i>Elementary</i>'s Joan Watson, who has been so controversial for so many Sherlockians, is not as groundbreaking as everyone seemed to think!<br />
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Although it's not really a "Sherlock Holmes film," in the strictest sense, <i>They Might Be Giants</i> is well worth watching for the Sherlockian material that makes the film's premise so intriguing.  Think of it as a "Sherlock Holmes as Don Quixote" tale in a contemporary setting.  Indeed, the title of the film appears to be an indirect reference to Don Quixote's predilection for "tilting at windmills," under the impression that they are terrible giants.  The following dialogue from the film makes this connection explicit, and sums up the basic thrust of the film:<br />
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<b>Watson</b>: God! You're just like Don Quixote, you think everything's always something else.<br />
<b>Playfair/Holmes</b> [Laughs]: Well he had a point. Of course, he carried it a bit too far. He thought that every windmill was a giant. That's insane. But, thinking that they might be... well… all the best minds used to think the world was flat. — But, what if it isn't? — It might be round — and bread mold might be medicine. If we never looked at things and thought of what they might be, why, we'd all still be out there in the tall grass with the apes.</blockquote>
 Have you seen the film? What did you think of it?<br />
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Review: They Might Be Giants

"Great Scott!" [REDH] If you're a fan of quirky music, as I am, you've no doubt encountered the duo known as They...

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by Cory Howell

This Threadless Sherlock Holmes T-Shirt Contest Is Cool

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<span style="font-weight: bold;">"He was in shirt and trousers, with no covering to his feet." [HOUN]</span></div>
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<br />[<i><b>Editor's note:</b> this is Cory's first contribution to I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere. We hope you'll make him feel welcome.</i>]<div>
<br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threadless">Threadless</a>, an online artists' community based in Chicago, is well known for their creative T-shirt designs, among other things. (My brother got me a Threadless T-shirt a couple years ago, and I love it!) You can peruse some of <a href="http://www.threadless.com/" target="_blank">their many designs at their website</a>.<div>
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If you are of an artistic bent and a Sherlockian, or if you've just always dreamed of having your own graphic design on a T-shirt, then take a look at the <a href="http://www.threadless.com/sherlockholmes/" target="_blank">contest that's being hosted by Threadless</a>.<br /></div>
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<b>The Assignment</b>: to design a T-shirt based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's famous character.  The people at Threadless want to remind you: "this challenge is about the original novels written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. No actor likenesses will be accepted."  Perfect, right?  Sidney Paget, Frederic Dorr Steele...& [insert your name here].  This is your chance to have your own artistic portrayal of Sherlock Holmes go down in history.<br /><br />Possible prizes you could win are: <br /><ul>
<li>$2,000 cash </li>
<li>$500 Threadless cash </li>
<li>1st Edition of <i>The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes</i></li>
<li>$100 Kindle gift card to read more mystery novels </li>
<li>Crime-solving kit including a magnifying glass, decoder ring and more (valued at $100) </li>
</ul>
<br />The deadline for submissions is February 7, 2014, so...quick, Watson!  To the drawing pad! And if you're not one for creating your own design, there are currently <a href="http://www.threadless.com/sherlockholmes/submissions/" target="_blank">90 submissions to sort through and vote on</a>. Here are just a few - some of which have some very specific Canonical connections.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.threadless.com/designs/read-between-the-lines-2" target="_blank">Read between the lines</a></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLHqn2dWp2dyKp16aQRgTlC0SRqGsOCe1pZHWG-k-pH7tqdQHPi3pBCu52Tztoa5dqJQXmfL3IzIUZabsfnVVZ3V8GF1dOpSLjEwdJGXTgxKng-UxHmiw9FptNKsZNGfFMs9z2K6zgnMw6/s1600/Sherlock+Threadless+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLHqn2dWp2dyKp16aQRgTlC0SRqGsOCe1pZHWG-k-pH7tqdQHPi3pBCu52Tztoa5dqJQXmfL3IzIUZabsfnVVZ3V8GF1dOpSLjEwdJGXTgxKng-UxHmiw9FptNKsZNGfFMs9z2K6zgnMw6/s1600/Sherlock+Threadless+2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.threadless.com/designs/the-consulting-detective" target="_blank">The Consulting Detective</a></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizy1XPrilJokYn1998iOL7oxvuVrUy86R0KzsvfbeL2AKgeK0UBDZmbCfqblHkoT6onpWWrHBnMJKoi34EZmS6uGV2pG09xxiKoOW9frNagmmg7tSxp2p73waz3jKRS0QgMYqpWQcEZW3Q/s1600/Sherlock+Threadless+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizy1XPrilJokYn1998iOL7oxvuVrUy86R0KzsvfbeL2AKgeK0UBDZmbCfqblHkoT6onpWWrHBnMJKoi34EZmS6uGV2pG09xxiKoOW9frNagmmg7tSxp2p73waz3jKRS0QgMYqpWQcEZW3Q/s1600/Sherlock+Threadless+3.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.threadless.com/designs/holmes-watson" target="_blank">Holmes & Watson</a></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM2XFuq9HkfqVThA0ctfxMZbe0fvfTShMOJuMkYH7hSZv7ml8eKxnXZTqT4Beu-GrvkTl7n9NkGN8vHun69C30_zRdAv4UtBVSfXJnBmj79jqXz1h-IBl5pjM2NyqATvOPxUFzDgv22FRq/s1600/Sherlock+Threadless+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM2XFuq9HkfqVThA0ctfxMZbe0fvfTShMOJuMkYH7hSZv7ml8eKxnXZTqT4Beu-GrvkTl7n9NkGN8vHun69C30_zRdAv4UtBVSfXJnBmj79jqXz1h-IBl5pjM2NyqATvOPxUFzDgv22FRq/s1600/Sherlock+Threadless+4.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.threadless.com/designs/the-hunt-is-on-3" target="_blank">The hunt is on</a></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNTe5q-KuC6OVF7RgXRYF4t8gpihahz8BPi13HOV9ujb7yIL7oYYJcGLhDsV3VUQnShzBhkp0O4s08sHAAjbMylCN3QMLue4MQpYtN7k4UDjNddxVlGMjfl_Ym2eeD6WhUdte8QzO68V4K/s1600/Sherlock+Threadless+5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNTe5q-KuC6OVF7RgXRYF4t8gpihahz8BPi13HOV9ujb7yIL7oYYJcGLhDsV3VUQnShzBhkp0O4s08sHAAjbMylCN3QMLue4MQpYtN7k4UDjNddxVlGMjfl_Ym2eeD6WhUdte8QzO68V4K/s1600/Sherlock+Threadless+5.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.threadless.com/designs/are-you-3" target="_blank">ARE YOU?</a></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ948fHfO1oT57RZZJGHzR6jm00dODNjK4VjDpwAiF1fq9rLzBqQalbHU8OOj9JOk4hmjzyUs8OqVmY4NsI8JlMR_NErpN9zPPq_Zv7TtJW3heBGeVCFZkM58xL4-OhvP-xlMIXRGkgrmk/s1600/Sherlock+Threadless+6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ948fHfO1oT57RZZJGHzR6jm00dODNjK4VjDpwAiF1fq9rLzBqQalbHU8OOj9JOk4hmjzyUs8OqVmY4NsI8JlMR_NErpN9zPPq_Zv7TtJW3heBGeVCFZkM58xL4-OhvP-xlMIXRGkgrmk/s1600/Sherlock+Threadless+6.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.threadless.com/designs/bartitsu-the-adventure-of-the-dancing-men" target="_blank">Bartitsu - The Adventure of the Dancing Men</a></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAXnoLi3uQz-LxOAQ49a9N5ofgY3g3rKfCXHWI422nqRE-gzgwxEZbsg1BWMQdMQRWRUgy6KDeiIQQBFBSE8kwybXuRKtkdZFFSStZuX_L0dD9FnRpnf6yUWVvZ8HQg-Gfqqq6oycfULnt/s1600/Sherlock+Threadless+7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAXnoLi3uQz-LxOAQ49a9N5ofgY3g3rKfCXHWI422nqRE-gzgwxEZbsg1BWMQdMQRWRUgy6KDeiIQQBFBSE8kwybXuRKtkdZFFSStZuX_L0dD9FnRpnf6yUWVvZ8HQg-Gfqqq6oycfULnt/s1600/Sherlock+Threadless+7.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.threadless.com/designs/find-me-6" target="_blank">Find Me</a></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWHBsqQooR9ih2bai5nv7aME-QC5EY2z6ybX9Oe8cL7x5jOaxM8imfJWrnO8L4zQj0GaN7TJHI-IFN-rgrZ2IfMzO7ssA0vyVwNssAt-jWSqA8B9TAfkVVpI4_6_WMbO7db3tywR7BB13G/s1600/Sherlock+Threadless+8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWHBsqQooR9ih2bai5nv7aME-QC5EY2z6ybX9Oe8cL7x5jOaxM8imfJWrnO8L4zQj0GaN7TJHI-IFN-rgrZ2IfMzO7ssA0vyVwNssAt-jWSqA8B9TAfkVVpI4_6_WMbO7db3tywR7BB13G/s1600/Sherlock+Threadless+8.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.threadless.com/designs/six-napoleons" target="_blank">Six Napoleons</a></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpNCMioZZRi4i_ARvhewtKx3s0WmXr4kpJwGp9LZmO0OYueC7-NzyTCw6rg8IYhhhvHQD7NHs8lS5ZI4AwQ4Lh7rC-4GwZH97gxXaMHdd7N7c4fKMFANXpA-GrJv2fErwC19NNe0bE0tHG/s1600/Sherlock+Threadless+9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpNCMioZZRi4i_ARvhewtKx3s0WmXr4kpJwGp9LZmO0OYueC7-NzyTCw6rg8IYhhhvHQD7NHs8lS5ZI4AwQ4Lh7rC-4GwZH97gxXaMHdd7N7c4fKMFANXpA-GrJv2fErwC19NNe0bE0tHG/s1600/Sherlock+Threadless+9.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.threadless.com/designs/the-adventures-of-sherlock-holmes" target="_blank">The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes</a></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIlcUQU4m5WFFwEnBzUmCwygqdqnVjD77Gzt_6nDhd1kGtmpTUVCoWy8Jb0T-1hqS42BvhFP5Nkl4fybwOPl9U9rJNHVX3npLx7037QWTvdGNys0heeMtmIBacLWrH4w6sDHIiZ4JPNsDL/s1600/Sherlock+Threadless+10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIlcUQU4m5WFFwEnBzUmCwygqdqnVjD77Gzt_6nDhd1kGtmpTUVCoWy8Jb0T-1hqS42BvhFP5Nkl4fybwOPl9U9rJNHVX3npLx7037QWTvdGNys0heeMtmIBacLWrH4w6sDHIiZ4JPNsDL/s1600/Sherlock+Threadless+10.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.threadless.com/designs/dress-to-solve" target="_blank">Dress to Solve</a></td></tr>
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As it says on the <a href="http://www.threadless.com/sherlockholmes/">Sherlock Holmes T-Shirt Contest page</a>: "So, to crack the case of the perfect tee, read between the lines! It's elemen-tee, my dear, Watson."  The game is afoot...or in this case, a torso.<br /><br />And if you happen to be <a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2007/12/episode-16-collectors-corner-jerry.html#.Uum9W8RDuSp" target="_blank">Jerry Margolin</a>, we imagine there's a treasure trove of artists and original art to pursue.</div>
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