Holmesian Derivations

Dear Fans of the new Sherlock Holmes movie:

Let me apologize on the behalf of older Sherlock Holmes fandom for the bits of it that have been generating get-off-my-lawn reboot wank, not five days after the release of the movie. The Sherlock Holmes fandom has thrived for over a hundred years and multiple generations, and every generation has its… special snowflakes.

But fortunately, every generation has also produced creative fandom work (though they may not see it that way), from the solidly analytical to the wondrously fanciful. I may not agree with all of them, or even remotely like some of them, but they all occupy a place in my heart, because there wouldn’t be a Sherlock Holmes fandom without constant re-interpretation of the works. Yes, even the fic pastiche where Moriarty is a vampire who falls madly in love with Holmes.¹

I present to you the more amusing pieces of Holmesiana I’ve gathered throughout the years. I’ve strived for a varied collection here that is at the very least sometimes accessible, even if it knocks out some of my absolute favorites. Too much of the fandom is out of print; I hope that changes one day, so that reading all the ’ship wank doesn’t cost 500£.

[Love and adaptation: that's how legends survive.]

Tags: adaptations, BBC, bitter tears, cocaine, fandom, fanfiction, hwatson 4ever, links, linkspam, Pastiches, Sherlock Holmes, ships, wank

*looks left*
*looks right*
*starts blowing dust off things*
*coughs, goes and starts properly wet-dusting, then dry-dusting things*

I’ve decided to blog more about Sherlock Holmes. To help this along, I’ve thought about starting a read/watch/listen-along. I’m still making some decisions about that.

The biggest decision, which specific instances of media to cover, has been made. They will be:

• the original text (duh),
• the Granada TV series (Jeremy Brett),
• and Bert Coules’ BBC radio series.

I’m human and have limited time, so I’m not covering anything else. Also, I don’t have access to Russian Sherlock Holmes, which makes me sadface.

The other big decision is: what to include in this series? I’m still thinking about this. Not all of the Holmes canon stories, like most any canon out there, are fun to read. Or at least, not the same level of fun. There are vastly distinctly different levels of fun, in fact, although everyone disagrees on specific levels for individual stories.

For instance: do I want to cover A Study in Scarlet and the foaming-at-the-mouth anti-Mormonism chapter, thank goodness it’s only a chapter, but doubtless there was implied stuff in there as well that went over my head when I was younger and more innocent? There’s something to be said for not wearing rosy-colored lenses all the time. Doyle, like all human beings, had faults, and sometimes they showed up painfully.

On the other hand, do I want to enjoy myself through most of this? Especially since this’ll be, at best, mostly free work. I mean, I can snark with the best of them about the awfulness of most some of “The Lion’s Mane”, but that at least is fun to me.

I think my decision on that will mostly be based on whether Bert Coules’ BBC radio adaptation for a particular story/novelette are fun or not. I’ve never listened to his adaptation of A Study in Scarlet, but I bet it leaves out the foaming-at-the-mouth stuff and replaces it with more fun Holmes/Watson interactions.

In the meanwhile, I will fit what Sherlock Holmes posts I can at Tor.com, because it’s fun and I get paid for it. But obviously not all of the planned posts can make it in, Tor.com being focused on science fiction and fantasy (and other related topics, like fandom, which is mostly how I get Sherlock Holmes in).

Things to ponder.

By the way, on the New Movie: well, it was like the Star Trek reboot, really. The characters were a fun alternative interpretation. The plot… was basically like the red blobby stuff that deformed the space-time continuum by magic science in the New Trek Movie (only now do I remember it’s called “red matter”). Not that Doyle was a plotting genius all the time either, though.

On IMDb there’s a report that one Andrea Plunket, furious over Downey and Law’s interviews playing up possible homoerotic subtext in the Sherlock Holmes canon, is threatening to withdraw sequel permissions if Guy Ritchie keeps this up.

Plunket comments, “It would be drastic, but I would withdraw permission for more films to be made if they feel that is a theme they wish to bring out in the future. I am not hostile to homosexuals, but I am to anyone who is not true to the spirit of the books.”

Dear Ms. Plunket: allow me to introduce you to the concept of shipping wars. Because you’ve just put your foot right into one of the longest ones in unofficial existence—one that is, in fact, over a century old at the time of this writing.

[I mean, just look at the hats!]

Tags: hwatson 4ever

Yes, it’s a formula. But then again, so was quite a lot of Holmes. Formula isn’t bad.

Both House and the Sherlock Holmes canon, of course, have stunning exceptions. And some equally stunningly boring typical shrek, where the most you get out of it is the snark.

Ah, 18th century, never let it be said you let this side of the snark down.

Tags: graph jam