On January 6, 1854 Sherlock Holmes was “born”. He is known as “the man who never lived, and will never die”.
As I’ve mentioned (a few times) my Pop introduced me to Sherlock Holmes one summer before my Junior or Senior year of high school. At the time I had plenty of friends, but still felt alone in a way. But finding these books allowed me travel to London and solve crimes all without leaving the comforts of my own home. I’ve had a relationship with Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson going on close to 20 years now this coming June. Together they have seen me through it all…ups, downs, and everywhere in between. In the past year they also lead me to meet folks that I am happy to call friend. So I was indeed so alone, and do owe him (and of course creator ACD) so much.
As I mentioned earlier today is the great detective’s birthday, his 161st to be exact. Really he doesn’t look a day over what? Say 40? In honor of this day I plan to watch an episode of the Granada Series with a cup of tea and a baked good of some kind (gluten free of course) and toast the man himself.
At least I imagine the cake would look something like this. (Thank you internet for not letting me down)
Once again… Happy birthday, Mr. Sherlock Holmes. May there always be a crime for you to solve!
As you may or may not know I love Sherlock Holmes. Be it the Canon, TV, movies (not all movies, but some), I love it. I’ve read all the stories and 4 longer pieces, all in one summer in ’94 or ’95. My pop had loved the stories and offered to buy me Vol. 1 & 2 if I promised to read them. Read them I did and then we would spend hours talking about them. Of the stories there were some I truly did not enjoy…Valley of Fear anyone? Others are at the top of my list of favorites…I’m looking at you Three Garridebs (for obvious reason I will not go into here).
My favorite film adaptation of the Canon would have to be that of Jeremy Brett. That man was Sherlock Holmes at least in my book. But I hear you say “he was just acting”. Yes, but I haven’t really seen anyone come anywhere near his performance of the Great Detective. Yes Mr. Cumberbatch has come close. I happen to think his portrayal of Holmes is very good for a modern day telling. However, as far as traditional Holmes goes Brett is you man.
Perfection
I was lucky enough to receive the Complete Series of the Granada Holmes Blu-ray for Christmas from my hubbins and I started it New Year’s Eve. Oddly enough the Series isn’t truly complete as of the 60 stories only 42 were dramatized for television and two stories were combined The Mazarin Stone and Three Garridebs. There are I think 18 stories not accounted for in the Granada Series. I myself would have loved to have seen their take on A Study in Scarlet. But we can’t have everything can we.
I do have good news if you can’t afford the hefty price tag on the complete series…they are available on You Tube. Once in a great while Netflix adds them back to streaming too. But you can also request the discs if you like.
Other incarnations of Sherlock Holmes include The Great Mouse Detective and Young Sherlock Holmes. I happen to own GMD on DVD (also streaming on Netflix). I also have two made for TV movies: Sherlock: Case of Evil and The Case of the Silk Stalking, which were just ok. Before you ask I also have VHS copies of Star Trek: TNG when Data took to the holodeck to portray Holmes.
When you think about it they really were like Holmes and Watson in space…
I of course also read a lot of “new” stories about Sherlock Holmes. I would highly recommend Dust and Shadow: An Account of the Ripper Killings by Dr. John H. Watson written by Lyndsay Faye. This is one of the top notch stories I’ve read as of late. However, there are also the other glorious fanfiction based stories written over at AO3. Some are of course very slashy and about both BBC Sherlock and Canon Sherlock, but many of them are so well done you might forget you are reading fan written tales. (Please note many AO3 stories are NOT for your kids to read)
So what are your favorite adaptations of the famous detective? Tell me about it in the comments.
Yes, I know it’s been an AGE since last I wrote anything. But I’ve been busy. Mostly with being sick and the rest of the time traveling or now doing NaNoWriMo things. There are (I promise) posts coming on my trip to NYC and Northampton, MA. But those will have to wait a few days as I’m off to see another Sherlockian friend (as well as a few more) tomorrow in Virginia. Look out Amtrak here I come! I love to travel and you could say I’ve been quite the busy little bee.
Which leads me to today’s blog post title. My Poppy was a pretty amazing guy. Sadly he passed away in 1997. But before that he and I did a whole host of things together. One weekend he showed me a Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes movie and I remember saying “Aren’t there books?” You see I’d watched The Great Mouse Detective and Young Sherlock Holmes years before, but I’d never read the stories/novels.
Well, he bought me my first copy. I read then in an entire Summer. I then introduced him to my Sherlock Holmes, Jeremy Brett. I think we might have watched almost all of the Granada Series…at least what Masterpiece was re-airing and what we could buy at Media Play. So when it came time for my next tattoo I knew it would be a Sherlock Holmes related tattoo. I also thought of it as a unique reminder of my Pop who started me on this wild love of a fictional character. So Poppy this one’s for you (and Sherlock Holmes)!
You all read of my wold journey to attend Gridlock DC last weekend? You didn’t? Well, I’ll wait.
Took you long enough! 😉 Right so I for one had a blast! I saw everyone I wanted to see, minus some of the folks who couldn’t make it. But I can tell you I didn’t see them for nearly long enough! However, this is what visits to NYC and Virginia are for…with better planned travel of course.
I was even able to attend a few panels and I have to say the Gridlock folks put on a pretty amazing first con! One of the panels I attended was called From Bohemia to Belgravia: Influences of Canon on BBC’s Sherlock. The purpose was to look at the way the canon (ACD’s stories), fanon, and other adaptations had influenced or shaped the show. I loved this panel, hell I even spoke up a time or two. Which is very much unlike me.
What I liked hearing about was how people had come to the BBC show. Half the folks in the room had read the stories, the others had come from other adaptations, or seen the BBC show and gone back to read the canon. This got me thinking about my own introduction to Sherlock Holmes. Which I quickly shared with the group.
Looking back my first introduction would have either been The Great Mouse Detective or Young Sherlock Holmes.
Come on what kid wouldn’t love Basil and Dawson?
I still have this movie today…on VHS and DVD! Yup I’m nerdy about my Sherlock Holmes and my first was a mouse. Of course later squeed at the fact that they used voice clips of Basil Rathbone (my Pops first Sherlock) in the movie. Young Sherlock Holmes was just ok for me. At the time I saw it I thought it was a good “kid” movie. Once I was older I added a copy of it to my movie collection.
In the summer of 1994 my Pop and I went to our local Media Play (remember those?) and he picked up a few of the Basil Rathbone tapes to watch with me. I admit that I liked the stories, but felt there had to be something MORE. I also felt that some of this stuff had probably never happened in the books that I knew existed. I was told I was correct and if I promised to read the books my Pop would buy me volumes one and two. I did and he went out and got them for me the very next day.
Well, A Study in Scarlet had me from paragraph one. Before I knew it the summer bugs chirping in the night gave way to the sound of hooves on a cobblestone street! I spent that summer running off on grand adventures with Mr. Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson and I loved every moment of it. That fall, my English teacher started off our class on mysteries. His first question? “Who lived at 221b Baker Street?” Three guesses who nearly jumped out of her skin to answer? Yup it was me. Also turned out I was the only one who knew.
We read the usual stories in class: Scandal in Bohemia, The Red Headed League, The Final Problem, and The Empty House. But we were also introduced to the Granada Series staring Jeremy Brett.
Now here was my Sherlock Holmes!
We watched The Final Problem and The Empty House and I was hooked! That weekend I was back at Media Play with my Pop begging to introduce him to my Sherlock Holmes. We bought 5 episodes. After the first my Pop was hooked too. By this point the episodes were being rerun every now and again on Saturdays and when they were I would stay at my Pops house and we’d watch all the Sherlock Holmes we could.
I must say a part of what I loved about it was that it was ours, my Pop and me. It even got me writing some of my own mystery stories included my first known fan fic involving Sherlock Holmes getting married of all things! That manuscript is probably in a dump somewhere…ah memories.
When I went to college my roommate and I lived in room 221. Yes we added a “b” to the door and began calling ourselves “Holmes” (me) and “Watson” (her). In fact we still sign off on all correspondence with our chosen name. “Watson’s” mother even bought us deerstalkers. That was how deep our love for the great detective went!
Fast forward to 2010/11 as I can’t recall when we watched it first. But we were on Netflix and my husband suggested we watch this new BBC version. I stomped my feet, I pouted, I even told him “This isn’t going to be Sherlock Holmes!”
I mean just who did they think they were!?
Then I watched episode one. I relaxed a little. When it was over he asked if I wanted to watch episode two? “If you do, we can.” Was my response. By the end of episode two the mister was asleep and I was pressing play on episode three! I was then very disappointed to find there were no more episodes and that it would be two years before I would find out what happened to Sherlock and John!
Do I like the show? YES! Do I love the show YES! Do you need to have read the canon to get it? No, but it does help as the seasons come out. Should you read the canon? Oh yes! There’s so much in there to read and find! If you haven’t read the canon does that make you less of a Sherlock Holmes fan? Not in my book, I’m glad you found him! Pull up a chair, kettle’s just boiled.
Long story short I love the canon, I love the BBC version. I love The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (seriously go watch it), and I love all the other adaptations out there. I LOVE IT ALL!
But to be the respectful person I am…I’m taking the majority of my BBC Sherlock talk (as well as other not safe for work or my mom stuff) to a new locked twitter account. So while you are welcome to keep following me on @galinthegreyhat you can also request to add me at @illbemother221b (not all requests will be granted).
So get on out there and read the stories, write your own, watch the BBC and Granada Series as well as the loads of other adaptations out there. Here’s a list of a few to get you started on IMDB. Cheers!
I know it has been a bit of time since last I posted. But as you know I’ve been ill. However, that seems to be going away – thankfully.
So yesterday I received a tweet from a tea friend of mine, Rachel. She owns iHeartTeas where you can find teas, tea beauty products, and more. Give her shop a look, you won’t be sorry. This was the tweet…
You should also follow her on Twitter – RachelKCarter and iHeartTeas
This was the picture she sent along with the tweet…
Photo thanks to Rachel Carter of iHeartTeas! (Check out that tea ware!)
I then asked which episode it was she had watched and I already had my own guess. But I thought I’d ask. Rachel thought Series 2 Scandal in Belgravia and I thought perhaps Series 1 The Great Game. Lucky I happened to have today off and time to run through Series 1 & 2. I had little to go on, the purple shirt (swoon) and what I thought was Watson in a red shirt and his black jacket. So I started with The Great Game and came across this during the deduction on the sneakers…
Not the exact image…
Can I tell you how difficult it is to pause at JUST the right moment. But I feel comfortable saying that you were watching The Great Game Rachel! I also recalled that there were no John and Sherlock in the Bart’s lab scenes in Scandal in Belgravia. Just with Sherlock. Is it possible I might like this show a little too much? Nah.
Gal In The Grey Hat 