A Cliff's Notes of Sherlock Holmes

Humanitys darker side

A Review - 'Tom and Jerry meet Sherlock Holmes'

I was going to buy this to add to the collection and watch it with my daughter, but HUB saved me the effort, thank goodness, and showed it this past weekend.

While it carries some heavy weight talent in the voice department;
Michael York as Holmes
John Rhys-Davies as Watson
Malcolm McDowell as Moriarty,
it does little in the animation department.

The story, especially for kids is OK and plausible, but the animation and slap stick really let it down.

Much of the slap stick of Tom and Jerry that was excepted years ago is no longer appropriate or, in this case, funny. It is way over done and badly drawn.
In the old cartoons I never really felt sorry for the Tom, but you had to in this one.

I shared some of the background art work for the movie a while ago on this site here, and loved it.
But the finished product really let that wonderful art work down.
Holmes and Moriarty are drawn OK, and if the other characters aren't moving, they are fine, but there is lots of bad character animation especially during the slap stick.

Kids who grew up with Scooby-doo aren't going to care, it's all they expect now unless it is a major animation studio putting it out.

There are several nods to Holmes and Holmes stories and actors ( Jeremy Brett, Nigel Bruce ), Red Headed League, BLUE, etc, especially early on, which makes it kind of fun for a little while.

So I can only fairly give it,

and that's only because I don't want to cut my pipe in half.

It is rather unfortunate that they plan several 'Tom and Jerry meet. . .' programs.

To be fair, my daughter would probably give it

'A Landmark Story" - episode #21 - review

We are finally drawing near the end. Well at least of this years run of a show that, at least among Sherlockians, is quite controversial.

Which I think for the most part is a good thing for no matter how you feel about the show, it has people talking about Sherlock Holmes, and it has Sherlockains hunting for Sherlockianisms.
Which, several times, has turned out to be rather fruitful.

Most of the criticism has become kind of mundane with the biggest criticism being that the show has fallen into the category of just another police procedural. That was a great comment until just about everybody took it up as a tag line and then it  became rather redundant. After all, was Sherlock Holmes not the founder of the police procedure's that we now find common in most police shows.?
So far, the episode tonight has fallen pretty far away from being a common police procedural.

The show is not without it's Sherlockian faults, and for me the biggest criticism is that the writing fails to WOW! us with Sherlock's observation and deductions, making it seem like Sherlock is often more led to clues rather than coming upon them by observational skills and discoveries. It would have been better if Sherlock had found the link between the heart attack victim and 'M' and Moriarty, than 'M' giving him that lead.

With all that said, I really enjoyed the acting in this episode, especially with F Murray Abraham as Gottlieb. His acting skill and presence lead me to suspect him to be Moriarty at the beginning and his manner and look could well have pulled that off. It seems a shame at this point to have someone of his caliber play such a minor hit-man and serial killer. That may be the point, that that  may not turn out to be all he is.

I found it a little disheartening that Holmes feels the need to keep him hostage while he does his investigation, especially after the last episode, and a few others, where Gregson has been willing to go along with Holmes' methods. It even seemed more odd that Watson went along with it.
It will interesting to see where that story line goes.

I won't miss Moran or 'M', never did like that take on him. But we can't even be sure he is gone, he hasn't died yet. And in the second series, who is going to be in the empty house with the air gun.
Which brings up the question; Who was the marksman who shoot John Douglas? And did we really need John Douglas. Probably just part of explaining the reach and control Moriarty has.

We have some wonderful references to the Canon.

Most obvious is the quote; “It may be that you are not yourself luminous, but that you are a conductor of light. Some people without possessing genius have a remarkable power of stimulating it.”  

We have the reference to bee's once again. And used in a very clever manner. 

We have a reference to physics. 

We have a reference to Black Peter. In Black Peter he uses a Harpoon on a pig to replicate a murder. In this one he uses an Air Conditioner.

Not a lot of humor in this one, but the scene during the autopsy where Watson declares they are not having a moment was pretty good.

I am giving this episode a rating of 

because I liked the acting, the Sherlockisms that were present and hoping it will lead to a good last few episodes.

I don't always agree with. . . .

Sherlock Peoria, matter of fact, seldom,. . . but to give credit where credit is due, his piece today was rather insightful. . .

SHERLOCK PEORIA

New Game. . . 'The Seven Degrees of Sherlock Holmes'.

OK, I'm going to start a new game. This is the first day, and as far as I know, the first time it has ever been played. So until we find out otherwise, if you like it, give me credit.

The new game; - 'The Seven degrees of Sherlock Holmes'.

No this is not an attempt to find out how much college education Sherlock Holmes has, that pursuit is for more scholarly Sherlockians than I.

This game is about picking an actor/actress and see if we can get to some connection to Sherlock Holmes in seven steps or less.


OK, just for fun I started with Rock Hudson.
Very popular when I was growing up.



OK, Rock Hudson was in a movie called 


Which also starred Yvonne De Carlo 


Who starred in 

Which also starred John Carrindine 

Who was in the 1939 'Hound' with Basil Rathbone 
Hey! Desert Hawk also starred Richard Greene, which actually makes the connection even shorter.

Of course we also have the Charlton Heston connection to Sherlock.

See how it works?

Wow, this is going to be fun.

And with such a big film like The Ten Commandments, there are probably lots of Sherlockian connections to be found

Give it a try, and tell me your results.
If I remember, I will try a new one each Tuesday.

Have fun.

At least two more Sherlockian connections. . . although rather obscure . . .

You may have to look a little bit.

(OK, make that at least four connections.)

Nicholas Meyer on Studio 360

THE DAY AFTER

Trivia Monday, or what ever day I decide to have it on. . .

I just came up with it, that is why it is Trivia Monday. If I come up with one on Tuesday, it will be . . . well, you get it.
What is a Sherlockian connection in this movie,. . . .

Dead Man's Switch - Elementary episode #20

Sorry for the late review, I didn't get to watch this episode till Sunday morning.
'Holmes' is asked by his sponsor friend Alfredo to help catch a blackmailer blackmailing Alfredo's sponsor.
And much to quickly in an uninspiring way finds out it is Charles Augustus Milverton.
Where in the Canon Milverton is one of the most intriguing criminals, he is hardly in this episode long enough to ever be placed in the intriguing category.
In the Canon he is the ". . . worst man in London." In this episode he could be, and it turns out he is, just one of many, and maybe even a little less worse than his killer. In the Canon, Holmes is already very aware of him when we are introduced to the case.  In this episode he is not.
We do, however, get lots of great nods to the story in this show; Holmes breaking into Milverton's. Holmes seeing Milverton shot. A past victim being Milverton's killer. Blackmail of a young women. The disfigurement of the face. Holmes's dislike of blackmailers even more than murderers.
But instead of it just ending as a case of revenge, it ends as a case of greed and blackmail.
Which if handled right would have been OK.
It would have been nice to see some of the other references and material from the Canon used.

There is some very good acting by Miller in this episode, and also from his supporting cast.
We see his battle with his addiction is not yet over, and from that we get some good insight into Holmes personality through his being very disappointed with himself for his lack of control over his choice to give up the drugs.
I found very little humor in this episode, which was OK.
The conclusion seemed a little anti-climatic to me after having, within the story, several twists.
Overall I think it was a pretty good treatment of 'Charles Augustus Milverton', and I was only a little disappointed with the ending.

So I give it;

mostly for it's strong acting.

And what is up with no hookers again?

Because I know it will bother some, I am posting it here. . .

221b Cellars.