I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere

Sherlock Holmes in Animation

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"Holmes in animated conversation" [REDH]</h4>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEiM3vEfY6d1mqzsbjSZIRPMDUMxB4LVXN__z_7cplP8ocaTtoFLSwrzonB5KtPlWdBA9OtKgS68gAUPDctJjj5onbE9sn2W6XfdJPurdHycmqU4FFErXV-JdAoyYYxDep70qO7jJAikMF/s1600/Deduce+you+say.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="The Adventure of the Shropshire Slasher is brought to life by Daffy Duck as Sherlock Holmes" border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEiM3vEfY6d1mqzsbjSZIRPMDUMxB4LVXN__z_7cplP8ocaTtoFLSwrzonB5KtPlWdBA9OtKgS68gAUPDctJjj5onbE9sn2W6XfdJPurdHycmqU4FFErXV-JdAoyYYxDep70qO7jJAikMF/s1600/Deduce+you+say.jpg" title="Daffy Duck and Porky Pig in "Deduce, You Say?" (1956)" width="640" /></a></div>
 
If imitation is the highest form of flattery, what's parody? 
 
We know that there have been Sherlock Holmes parodies (not to be confused with <a href="http://www.schoolandholmes.com/">pastiches</a>) in existence for nearly as long as the original stories have been with us. In 1893, <a href="http://irishcomics.wikia.com/wiki/Jack_Butler_Yeats_(1871-1957)">Jack Butler Yeats</a> created The Adventures of Chubblock Homes for Comic Cuts, the first British comic strip. And from there, the race was on. 
 
Over the years we've seen parodies go from comics to the stage, film, television, books and more. Charles Brookfield holds the distinction of the first actor to portray Holmes in the parody Under the Clock, also in 1893.  Sherlocko the Monk and Watso (later named <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawkshaw_the_Detective">Hawkshaw the Detective</a> and The Colonel, after Conan Doyle threatened legal action) appeared in comics in 1910 and later came to the silver screen. 
 
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="more"></a>Beginning in 1915 under the pseudonym Peter Todd, Charles Hamilton wrote nearly 100 parody short stories starring Herlock Sholmes and Dr. Jotson of Shaker Street. They can now be found in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000P8PSTK/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000P8PSTK&linkCode=as2&tag=thebakerstree-20" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Complete Casebook of Herlock Sholmes</a>. 
 
Speaking of casebooks, Robert Fish made the world a happier place when he created Schlock Homes and Dr. Watney and put them in a series of adventures, now collected in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0934468168/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0934468168&linkCode=as2&tag=thebakerstree-20" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Schlock Homes: The Complete Bagel Street Saga</a>. To give you a sense of the zaniness, here are a couple of randomly selected introductory lines: 
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I had been pursuing an errand for my friend Mr. Schlock Homes in the small village of Elbow Twisting, Herts., when the fateful telegram arrived. -- "The Adventure of the Adam Bomb"</blockquote>
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My notes for the early part of the year '65 contain several instances of more than passing interest for those who follow the adventures of my friend Mr. Schlock Homes. There was, for example, his brilliant solution to the mysterious gunning down of a retired boilermaker, a case which I find listed as The Adventure of the Shot and the Bier; and there is also reference to the intriguing business of the hitchhiking young actress, noted in my journal as The Adventure of the Ingenue's Thumb. -- "The Adventure of the Missing Three Quarters"</blockquote>
 
The list of parodies is practically endless, as parody isn't contained to any specific genre. Of course, the animated world gives the most flexibility in terms of silliness and escape from reality. Where else then, could a duck and a pig join forces to defeat the Shropshire Slasher? Of course, we're referring to "Deduce, You Say," the 1956 Looney Tunes send-up starring Daffy Duck as Dorlock Homes and Porky Pig as Watkins. We give you their performance here: 
 
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We also remind you to revisit <a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2007/04/was-remarkably-animated-scan_15.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">"It Was Remarkably Animated" [SCAN]</a>, a five year-old post that we have updated with working YouTube links. It involves a Russian animated short starring Sherlock Holmes. 
 
 
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Sherlock Holmes in Animation

"Holmes in animated conversation" [REDH] If imitation is the highest form of flattery, what's parody? We know that t...

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by Scott Monty

The Making of Sherlock Holmes vs. The Wolfman

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"the Great Mogul" [SIGN]</h4>
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Editor's note: Steven Doyle, BSI ("The 'Western Morning News'"), is author of the Edgar-nominated <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Sherlock-Holmes-Dummies-Steven-Doyle/dp/0470484446?ie=UTF8&tag=thebakerstree-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Sherlock Holmes for Dummies</a><img border="0" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=thebakerstree-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0470484446" /> and co-proprietor of <a href="http://wessexpress.com/" target="_blank">The Wessex Press</a>. He manages the publishing for <a href="http://www.bakerstreetjournal.com/" target="_blank">The Baker Street Journal</a> and works in video production in his day job. 
My Sherlockian Reel-Life - or, I Was a Teenage Movie Mogul. On Blaine Avenue, in South Bend, Indiana, from the years 1972-1977, I had cornered the no-budget Super 8 filmmaking industry. I was the preeminent auteur on my block. 
 
With my small company of actors (my brother Patrick and my pal Larry Bilinski), we cranked out a series of "epics" which perfectly reflected not only our adolescent interests, but our lack of movie making expertise as well. These included, but were not limited to, our critically acclaimed remake of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000EHQTZO/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000EHQTZO&linkCode=as2&tag=thebakerstree-20" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">King Kong</a>, the bizarre Professional Wrestling/Game Show amalgam, "Sadist Theater"; our homage to <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00000K3TO/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00000K3TO&linkCode=as2&tag=thebakerstree-20" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Night of the Living Dead</a>, entitled "Dead of the Living Night"; and our science fiction epics "Star Monster," and "Rocketship Zero-G." 
 
My entire movie making career was, however, a mere tune-up for what stands today as the pinnacle of my entire filmography, "Sherlock Holmes vs. The Wolfman." Our most ambitious film, "Wolfman" (as it has come to be known to us insiders) was the third and final installment in what we called our "black and white trilogy" (the first two being the above mentioned Dead of the Living Night; and Star Monster ). Wolfman actually had a budget. 
 
 
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="more"></a>We special-ordered black and white film stock, made or rented costumes, scouted locations, and bought a decent Wolfman mask. All in all, I believe we spent about $45 (<a href="http://www.davemanuel.com/inflation-calculator.php" target="_blank">mid-1970's dollars, however</a>!) And we even had a script, an element that up until this film had seemed a constraint on our otherwise free-flowing artistry. 
 
My friend and fellow filmmaker Larry was Sherlock Holmes. I, in addition to my many behind-the-scenes roles, stood in as Dr. Watson. My saint of a mother made a cameo as Mrs. Hudson (wearing a shawl and a grey "old-woman" wig, which came with an authentic bun!), thus providing me with infinite proof of her love for us. She was a real sport. And the Wolfman...ah, he was played rather enthusiastically by my brother Patrick. 
 
Briefly, the plot is as follows: 
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A Wolfman is on the loose in London. After a grisly murder in an alley, Holmes begins to monitor the situation. Following a second similar murder of an old man (another rubber mask!) in a cemetary, Holmes and Watson decide to take up the case. After finding a scrap of cloth from the Wolfman at the scene of the crime, they use Toby the bloodhound to track the Wolfman to his lair, where he attacks Holmes and Watson and escapes. As scripted, the Wolfman escapes, only to be dispatched later by Watson, when Holmes uses himself in disguise as a decoy to lure the Wolfman into a trap.</blockquote>
 
Unfortunately, following the shooting of this thrilling climax, everything following the discovering of the Wolfman's lair was lost by the film processor, and so the movie's ending was reworked. Now, following the climactic encounter in the den of the Wolfman, the film ends with the following words on the screen: "Sherlock Holmes never did catch the Wolfman. He still stalks the streets of London to this very day." Ah well, it always gets a laugh. 
 
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Many of you reading this were present for its public debut a few years ago at a film meeting of the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Illustrious-Clients-of-Indianapolis/184841455301">Illustrious Clients of Indianapolis</a>, as I had transferred it to videotape. It pleased me very much to hear, as an adult, the kind words of appreciation. I particularly relished the comments of Pat Ward, our own Sherlockian film expert, who said, "That wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be!" 
 
Some of the behind-the-screen tales of the film's shooting (getting kicked out of a cemetery for improper "horseplay," tweed coats and inverness capes in 90-degree heat, etc), will have to wait for another time. I did go on, in my adult life, to have a professional career in film and video production, and have produced countless shows and commercials using equipment and resources unimaginable to the 14 year-old behind the Super 8 movie camera. 
 
But to be honest, no production I have been involved with is as dear to me as "Sherlock Holmes vs. The Wolfman." 
 
 
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The Making of Sherlock Holmes vs. The Wolfman

"the Great Mogul" [SIGN] Editor's note: Steven Doyle, BSI ("The 'Western Morning News'"), is author...

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by Scott Monty

Episode 44: Watson and Holmes

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A new modern urban re-interpretation of Sherlock Holmes. That's how the digital comic Watson and Holmes is being referred to. 
 
The recent revival in Sherlock Holmes material across a variety of media has truly increased the buzz around our favorite topic. From the reimagining on the big screen, courtesy of the Robert Downey, Jr. / Jude Law films, to the small screen updating of the characters in Sherlock, through Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman and soon the Jonny Lee Miller / Lucy Liu version in Elementary, there is plenty of interest in the perennial character. 
 
Now, we're prepared to be treated to yet another version of the iconic detective and his faithful friend and colleague, thanks to <a href="http://newparadigmstudios.com/">New Paradigm Studios</a>. In this episode, we're joined by three of the principals who are behind the updating of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson the a modern urban setting of New York and as African American characters. Brandon Perlow, Publisher and co-creator of Watson and Holmes, Justin Gabrie, Senior Editor, and Karl Bollers, Writer joined us to tell the story behind their work with Paul J Mendoza, Co-creator and color artist and Rick Leonardi, Penciler - who has worked on a number of Marvel and DC Comics projects. 
 
We also discuss the issue of race and the Canon, landing on an interesting work from Vol. 27, No. 3  (September 1977) of the Baker Street Journal - not a Gas-Lamp, but an article by William P. Collins titled "Norbury and Steve Dixie: Holmes and Victorian Racial Attitudes." 
 
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Links:</h4>
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<li><a href="https://www.facebook.com/WatsonAndHolmes">Watson and Holmes Facebook page</a>, with previews of the page layouts</li>
<li><a href="http://www.bleedingcool.com/2012/08/03/watson-and-holmes-the-case-of-the-black-modern-urban-remake-drawn-by-rick-leonardi/">Bleeding Cool with its preview</a> of the new comic</li>
<li><a href="http://iversemedia.com/">iVerse Media</a></li>
<li>The Societe Sherlock Holmes de France <a href="http://www.sshf.com/articles.php?id=62">takes a look at the issue of color at the BSI dinner</a></li>
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Episode 44: Watson and Holmes

A new modern urban re-interpretation of Sherlock Holmes. That's how the digital comic Watson and Holmes is being referred to. ...

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by Scott Monty

Elementary Premieres

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On May 16, amid the flurry of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004QOB8SO/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B004QOB8SO&linkCode=as2&tag=thebakerstree-20">Sherlock</a> buzz hitting the web, CBS announced its fall schedule and <a href="http://www.comingsoon.net/news/tvnews.php?id=90284">Elementary made the cut</a>, set to air on Thursdays at 10:00 pm, the time slot currently occupied by the Sherlock Holmes-inspired “The Mentalist” (which will move to Sundays). 
 
The initial chatter was limited, due largely to the fact that there wasn't much information available about the series other than its stars, Jonny Lee Miller and <a href="http://www.bakerstreetblog.com/2012/02/its-lucy-that-brings-me-here-stud.html">Lucy Liu</a>. When compared with the impressively successful "Sherlock," it was natural for some commentators to wonder if the American production was simply borrowing heavily on the British hit. 
 
We'll know for certain on September 27, when the series will premiere on CBS. Now we're seeing a fuller synopsis of Elementary than we’ve yet had, including this tidbit; “Following his fall from grace in London and a stint in rehab, eccentric Sherlock escapes to Manhattan where his wealthy father forces him to live with his worst nightmare – a sober companion, Dr. Watson.” 
 
There was also three minute trailer of  Elementary that Sherlockians  no doubt combed through for clues on the quality of the show as if it were the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zapruder_film">Zapruder film</a>. In the last couple of weeks, CBS has <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ff-XiZzJLxw">posted a longer  trailer</a> (video embedded below the jump). 
 
Steven Moffat, co-creator of BBC’s Sherlock told <a href="http://www.theinsider.com/tv/52370_Steven_Moffat_Talks_Elementary_Sherlock_Update/index.html">TheInsider.com</a> in May, "What we did with our Sherlock was just take it from Victorian times into modern day. They've got three big changes: it's Sherlock Holmes in America, it's Sherlock Holmes updated and it's Sherlock Holmes with a female Watson. I wonder if he's Sherlock Holmes in any sense other than he's called Sherlock Holmes.” 
 
For months Moffat held the threat of lawsuit over CBS’s head if their Holmes incarnation was not noticeably different from the BBC; now he wonders if the very differences he called for make it anything but Sherlock Holmes. Politics lost a fine spin doctor when Moffat entered show business. Of course spin is a major part of a producer’s job and Moffat is very good at what he does, as even a cursory review of his résumé will confirm. 
 
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="more"></a>The changes wrought by Elementary are no more violent than others that have been inflicted on the Canon in the past and, indeed, have precedence. Holmes has already been brought to the present, given a female Watson and moved out of London—<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00004KDEP/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00004KDEP&linkCode=as2&tag=thebakerstree-20">They Might Be Giants</a> (1971), <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Return_Of_The_World%27s_Greatest_Detective">The Return of the World’s Greatest Detective</a> (1976), <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Return_of_Sherlock_Holmes_%28film%29">The Return of Sherlock Holmes</a> (1987), and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Sherlock-Holmes-Screen-Updated-Edition/dp/085768776X/ref=la_B001K8CPGI_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1345129049&sr=1-1">Sherlock Holmes Returns</a> (1993) more or less fit the bill. (Interestingly, the last two were broadcast on CBS.)</div>
 
It is not, then, the changes made to the Canon, but the skill to which with they are handled. Moffat and co-creator Mark Gatiss have proven themselves to viewers world-wide that they are up to the task. It is now in the hands of the Elementary team to do the same. "I don't want it to sound like Mark and I don't want other people to try this,” Moffat concluded in his take on Elementary. “We welcome it, but don't damage the brand." 
 
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Star Trek: A Cautionary Tale</h3>
I am of two minds on that last statement. He does have a point. One need only look at the cautionary tale of Paramount and Star Trek. 
 
After its 1967 network cancellation, the 79 episodes of  <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001DHXT6G/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B001DHXT6G&linkCode=as2&tag=thebakerstree-20">Star Trek</a> went in to syndication, and a new, large base of fans sprang up. Novelizations (“pastiches” Sherlockians would call them), magazines and toys brought in much need revenue to the studio. In fact, by the mid-1970’s, Paramount decided to bring back most of the cast in a new live-action TV series. In 1977 Star Wars raked in hundreds of millions at the box office, and Paramount decided to go for the brass ring and instead launched a hugely successful film franchise. 
 
However, the film cast was aging and Paramount announced in the '80's a new television show, with a new cast, to take place 87 years after the original series. The hue and cry from fans was loud and mostly negative. “Star Trek is not Star Trek without Kirk, Spock and McCoy” and “I’ll never watch it” were common refrains. It should sound familiar to any Sherlockian who remembers the period before Sherlock aired, or indeed, the one we’re in now with Elementary. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000RZIGVS/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000RZIGVS&linkCode=as2&tag=thebakerstree-20">Star Trek: The Next Generation</a> was the highest rated show in syndication in its day, beating out network programming in some markets. It was and still is beloved. 
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But what good is a cash cow if it can’t be milked for every drop? The optimal time for a TV series in syndication to generate maximum profits is seven seasons and to compensate for ST:TNG's eventual demise, Paramount spun off Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. It too was a success, if not as huge as ST:TNG, lasted for seven seasons and had its own spinoff  Star Trek: Voyager. 
 
Unfortunately, Paramount was not done. Next came Enterprise (later called Star Trek: Enterprise), about the generation previous to Kirk’s, just before the founding of the Federation. Instead of keeping with Gene Roddenberry’s original premise of Star Trek as “Wagon Train to the stars”, the producers decided to make Captain Archer and crew warriors in a Temporal Cold War against aliens from the future, who want to keep the Federation from ever existing. The problem with being a hero in a time war is that if you're victorious, no one will know it, because things will stay the way they’re suppose to be and your victories will never have existed. Enterprise barely limped to four seasons. The producers were so desperate for ratings at the end, that for the series finale they brought in Jonathan Frakes and Marina Sirtis from ST:TNG to watch the events unfold on the Enterprise-D holodeck. 
 
Paramount drained Star Trek until it was an empty husk. So anxious to keep their corpse making money, the studio turned it over to the shaky-camera, lens-flaring hands of J.J. Abrams, who proceeded to reboot the franchise by destroying the last 45 years of Trek. Trekkers can take cold comfort in the knowledge Abrams’ travesty is “an alternate time-line”. Spoiler alert: Cumberbatch will play <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khan_Noonien_Singh">Khan</a>in "Star Trek 2". 
 
Is this, then, the dire future that Elementary will bring us? 
 
The answer, I think, is no. We have not yet reached the saturation point; the Holmesian sponge is mighty large as the continuing flood of pastiches, in many media, can attest. At the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MltF5YNPac&feature=relmfu">May 2 PBS Masterpiece/Sherlock </a> question and answer event, Benedict Cumberbatch responded to negative comments about Elementary this way:  “Jonny’s a friend, you know, and as we know with the Robert Downey, Jr. franchise there’s room enough for two, so why not three?” 
 
Elementary Executive Producer Rob Doherty’s focus for the series will be one taken from the Canon but rarely depicted on screen: Watson’s weaning Holmes of his cocaine addiction. At the <a href="http://www.tvguide.com/News/Elementary-CBS-Sherlock-Holmes-1050721.aspx">Television Critics Association summer press tour </a>on July 29, Doherty said, 
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“The original Sherlock dabbled with cocaine and opiates. Our Sherlock had those same problems... but the big difference is our Sherlock hit a serious wall. To his great surprise, the world is not as easy as he thought. Something terrible happened to him in London and he spiraled out of control."</blockquote>
 
At <a href="http://tv.yahoo.com/news/elementary-comic-con-cast-producers-cbs-sherlock-holmes-030210567.html">San Diego’s ComicCon</a> on July12,  Doherty gave reassurance that Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu’s <a href="http://www.cbs.com/shows/elementary/2255809172/comic-con-2012-elementary-panel-part-2">relationship will not turn romantic</a>, as Sherlockians with a familiarity of the foibles of American television had every reason to fear. The change of Watson's gender was “never designed” to create romantic tension. “What would be more trying for Sherlock Holmes than working with a Watson that's a woman?" At  <a href="http://tvline.com/2012/07/29/cbs-elementary-sherlock-watson-sexual-tension/">T.C.A.</a> event Doherty went even further: 
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“For me, it’s completely off the table. It’s just not in my head for Season 1 and, looking ahead … I just don’t feel like that’s a part of the show.” He wants to “honor the original relationship” of the pair, adding, “And the original Holmes, to the best of my knowledge, never slept with Watson.”</blockquote>
 
 And don’t expect to see a re-imagining, of say, “The Speckled Band” or “The Red-Headed League” a la Sherlock: “We love the original stories. At the same time, what we love is the relationship [and] the mythology. Primarily, we’re looking to craft new stories.” The Canonical in-jokes that Moffat and Gatiss delight the faithful with will, in all probability, also not be a part of the equation. But we can expect a slow reveal of the shadowy figure of  Moriarty over the course of the first season. 
 
The pilot was screened at ComicCon and met with an “enthusiastic response” according to James Hibberd at <a href="http://insidetv.ew.com/2012/07/13/elementary-comic-con/">EW.com</a>. Whether that will be the case with the American public and Sherlockians remains to be seen. 
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The reality of British television means Sherlock is appointment television. They can take a year and a half, craft the three shows per season to a diamond-like brilliance and hardness, have five weeks to rehearse and film each, and reap in the accolades and BAFTAs. The broadcast of Season 2 after an eighteen month hiatus guaranteed high ratings, both in England and America. That is its strength as well as its Achilles heel.  In the meantime, anyone can come along with a knock-off Holmes, like those fake Rolex watches on the Manhattan street corners that Jonny Lee Miller will be sleuthing on. This is the damage to the “brand” Moffat speaks of. The worry is, perhaps there'll be not a cheap knock-off but a quality product, something shiny that will grab the spotlight, if only for a little while. Even if Elementary is a critical and popular success, Moffat has nothing to worry about. 
 
 Of course, the problem for Elementary is to come up with twenty-two or so quality episodes over the course of a season. That is, if it lasts that long. Network heads can be fickle, and even decent ratings are no assurance of continued existence. Based on recent history, only about <a href="http://screenrant.com/tv-success-rate-canceled-shows-aco-172162/all/1/">35% of freshmen TV</a> shows make it to their sophmore year. The fuss and bother over Elementary that has occurred since January might be moot by the time <a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2007/12/special-episode-compliments-of-season.html">Henry Baker sits down to his Christmas goose</a>. 
 
I for one will wish it well and the complements of the fall television season. 
 
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Author's note: This post evolved from a discussion between, Larry Feldman, Nick Katt, Joe Riggs and me on the <a href="http://sherlockholmes.ning.com/">Sherlock Holmes Social Network</a>, an online meeting site for Sherlockians of all stripes. The opinions expressed are solely mine.</div>
 
Editor's note: This essay was submitted by James O'Leary, a long-time Sherlockian and a huge fan of <a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/">I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere</a>. 
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