Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century

I would suggest watching the first episode of the series. It explains what is going on with the characters. You'll find out why Watson's head is on an android body and all about what happened to Holmes himself. I was confused at first also, but the first episode cleared it up. The main thing I noted was the fact that they use the titles of the original stories and then update them for the time period they take place in. You may understand what's going on better if you read Doyle's original stories. Read a Complete Sherlock Holmes if you can find it. They also have The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes as a separate volume. There may also be other volumes. Ask at a library for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle or Sherlock Holmes and they can direct you to the Call Number. If you want to buy a book, look under Mystery in the book store. Waldenbooks has a good selection. Good luck!

It's the 22nd Century, and crime has been almost eradicated in "New London", thanks to a rehabilitation program known as "cripnotism." However, a new crime wave makes it appear that cripnotism is no longer working. Inspector LaStrade (great-great-however many greats -granddaughter of the Inspector LaStrade that worked with Sherlock Holmes over two hundred years ago) has a run in with the mastermind, who looks just like Professor Moriarity. Then she hears a news release about a scientific breakthrough that makes reanimating dead tissue possible. Mistakenly believing that the man she saw is a 'reanimated' Moriarity, she insists on trying the process on Sherlock Holmes. It works, and they, acommpanied by a robo-droid that she has nicknamed Watson, begin unraveling the mystery. Later on, Watson adopts a mask of the original Dr. John Watson, to make Holmes feel more comfortable with it. The series actually does a good job of capturing Arthur Conan Doyle's original character, although he does use Basil Rathbone's line, "Elementary, My dear Watson" quite a bit.

Wonderful animated "steampunk" that mixes late 19th century literature with futuristic fantasy. Like the SciFi Network's live-action THE SECRET ADVENTURES OF JULES VERNE, this isn't about the original novels so much about the spirit and adventure of the characters. When authors like Arthur Conan Doyle, Jules Verne, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and H.G. Wells, etc...penned their classics, it was a time when the world was opening up new avenues of exploration on every continent, and new avenues of discovery in laboratories and workshops. It was the dawn of the 20th century and they educated us not only to "what is"...but to "what if". As we seek new discoveries and new adventures in the future we hope there will be literary figures that take us there first that are up to par with the immortal Holmes, Fogg, and Lord Greystoke. This series has chosen one of the best to take us into the 22nd century and perhaps will introduce younger viewers to Holmes and inspire them to read Doyle's original novels. That much better than inspiring them to collect Pokemon cards.

I certainly wouldn't say this show is "bad", and I can see where some of the appeal lies, but it kind of underwhelmed me. I watched a few episodes, and thought it seemed kind of fun, but it just didn't do enough for me for me to persist.

The thing about the show is that the concept seems so fun. Sherlock Holmes' extremely well-preserved-in-honey corpse is reanimated 200 years later and he resumes being a detective, this time with a female Inspector Lestrade and a robotic Watson by his side. The thing is...it just feels like the show doesn't really "have fun" with its goofy premise. It seems to take itself way too seriously - not that it's dark or anything, just that it plays everything very straight, almost like it's acting like there's nothing weird about the situation when there obviously is. And this just doesn't work for me. It's a show with a ludicrous and yet very charming premise, but it's very unwilling to "let loose" and really have fun with it. I'm not saying this show has to be completely jokey or silly or anything, but at least have the characters react the tiniest bit realistically to the extremely odd fact that a 200-year-old detective is alive again.

Another big problem is Sherlock Holmes himself. He's from 200 years ago, and yet all he has to do is listen to a few teaching CD things to "get him up to speed", and then he's COMPLETELY comfortable in the 22nd century and capable of solving crimes involving technology he couldn't have even dreamed up before. I'm sorry, but just...no. People will accept absolutely absurd things if it leads to a more interesting story, but in this case it makes things LESS interesting. Imagine - the great super-amazing detective Sherlock Holmes has been brought back to deal with crime, but is disabled by being a "fish out of water" and can't really help until he relearns everything he'd ever known. Talk about character development! And wouldn't it be interesting if, despite being taken down a MAJOR peg, Sherlock still manages to use his amazing observational and deductive skills to "save the day"? But now, instead of being the veritable god of detective work, he's someone who has to put in a lot of effort and often rely on help from his friends to succeed. Wouldn't that be extremely interesting? But no, this show doesn't do that, and as a result it feels like HUGE wasted potential. Basically, this show is asking you to believe something ridiculous, but it's not so you can have a more interesting story, it's so you can have an exponentially LESS interesting story.

While this show DOES have merits and can certainly be entertaining, it's hard for me to overlook what it COULD'VE been if it could have just followed up all the way on its premise. I understand that may have been "beyond the scope" of what the show was trying to be (basically a sci-fi adaption of Sherlock Holmes stories for kids), but if they had wanted to do that, why not just make Sherlock be BORN in the 22nd century? Having him be from the past adds almost nothing in this show aside from a huge feeling of wasted potential.

Basically, it's not a bad show, but they shouldn't have created such an interesting premise if they weren't going to follow up on it all the way. It's good enough, but it's SO far from being as good as it could be that I just can't get into it. Just my two cents tho'. Check it out if you think it sounds interesting.

(By the way, the traditional animation in this show is fine, but the badly incorporated CGI for buildings, cars, etc. is really cheesy and bad.)

This series is interesting but can be confusing at times. It has a lot of potential but it hasn't come through yet. Holmes's wit and keen senses are displayed very well but you still get the feeling that that person isn't quite the real Sherlock Holmes. I'll continue to watch this show despite the occasional bewilderment it causes and just hope that it gets better. You don't have to like it but you should give it a chance.