Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century

For the sake of completeness of my Holmes project, I watched a couple episodes of this.

The fancy is that Holmes is placed 200 years in his future. The future setting allows the animators to use all sorts of visual shorthand for sets and situations. The appropriation of Holmes allows the writers existing stories that can be reduced to skeletal plots. These two devices were likely important to the decision to go, as they would greatly reduce costs.

This was inspired by Sherlock Holmes in the 23rd Century (of the decade before), an even cheaper production with even more abstract notions of a future.

When characters and story structures reach this level of reuse, like Frankenstein, it is because they have such power that all one has to do is reference them by sketching, and the viewer fills in details.

The amazing thing is the ends of the thing. The production itself is the scantiest, cheapest thing possible and the external reference is one of the richest.

When I heard that there was gonna be a cartoon on about the master detective(though I didn't know it would be animated) I watched the first episode. When I heard the theme song, I thought at once this would be one of those stupid no-deduction cartoons were Moriarty is in everyone and they just run around, etc. But they actually used the final problem! That alone makes this "kids" show unique, and able to watch for adult Holmes fans too! I, having read the entire canon, love how they keep the original stories, add a bit more action (but not too much, you know what I mean), change murders into robberies, assaults, disappearances, temporary disablement, etc. etc. RealmMan couldn't be more wrong! (Oh, and one more thing. Now women have better rights, and Lestrade's descendant is strong and able.) Allow me one more thing. Holmes does deduce, and they aren't cheap ones with no foundation. Holmes can tell by the way a man walks he was once rich and proud, but by his clothes he has lost his fortune and tries to ignore it; when they are trapped in an empty train, instead of busting down the door, fires his gun, starting an alarm and opening the doors. See my point?

My wife and I are very big Sherlock Holmes fans so we had to see this cartoon version.

Our impression is that it is a very suitable introduction to Sherlock Holmes for children who can handle minor cartoon violence. In this series, like Scooby Doo, the protagonists use reason and deduction to solve problems that are always human in origin.

Sherlock Holmes' catch phrase (repeated often enough to be annoying) is "eye and brains," which is a positive message to teach any kid. I hope my kids take this message to heart.

One person noted the great computer graphics. Given that the comment was in Jan 2000 (10+ years previous) they can be forgiven.

From a Sherlock Holmes perspective; the episodes bear little resemblance to the originals.

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!

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.