How Disappointing. . . . 'The Adventure of the Doctor and the Duellist'

When ever I first recieve my copies of the publications for the John H. Watson Society I always quickly glance through the pages checking out the art work and illustrations (I do that with the BSJ also).
And towards the end of this booklet is an illustration of Holmes and Watson in a romantic embrace.
As I have let be known here before I am not a fan of most fan fiction in general and 'shipping' of Holmes and Watson in particular.

Now I guess this can be taken as I have no sympathy for the LGBT community, but that would be very untrue and of no need to be discussed in this format.

I really don't care if 'fans' want their Holmes and Watson to be lovers, to each his own.
I just don't make that a choice of my reading.

The biggest problem with this display is the strange need too some how have to explain the sexual relationship between these two men and why that has become such a big part of Sherlockian lore now. And why that in the world of Sherlock Holmes that is becoming the acceptable norm. We are asked in society now to accept people for who they are, yet there is now a need to have this 'shipped' relationship continually played out and that if we don't like it, we just aren't open minded enough.

I found Elinor Gray's writing very good, and her style worthy of a good pastiche on Holmes and Watson. She knows her subject, and is indeed a fan. However, her agenda was always apparent (I guess as an agenda should be) from the very beginning, and I only continued to read the booklet hoping that I would be surprised at how it turned out. I was not.
While inside the her story was indeed the possibility of a good mystery, it was not allowed to be enough and really only provided filler for her purpose.

Now with that said, I have no problem with Ms. Gray wanting to write this type of fan fiction, and I am sure there is a willing audience for that kind of work. But to have a society like the John H Watson publish it to a membership paying group of people is, to me, troubling.
There is, no matter how well it is written, no scholarly value to it, with the exception of creating a discussion on the subject. But with no Canonical references included to back up her claim (which I am sure was not her intention) it was hardly worthy.

I was very disappointed that such a talented writer could not make a stronger case for the, well, case than for Holmes and Watson's romantic relationship.

But like I said, it is not so much about the subject matter, as not having a choice whether to add it to my collection or not. Yea, I know, if I don't like it I can give it away or something. But that is not the point. The JHWS is now making a non-scholarly stance on the sexuality of Holmes and Watson and members dues are helping to make that happen.

As I have said, I am not a big fan of 'fan fiction' but will defend others rights to write it and read it, even if the best you can do is 'ship' these two.
I do however not want to participate in it.

I don't understand how the most important thing you can come up with about Holmes and Watson is their imagined love life.

I have not read every single thing published in the JHWS publications, so maybe I have missed this position of theirs in the past. But I am not sure I want to continue membership in a group that wants to support a 'shipped' relationship of Holmes and Watson.
I apologize to all those more used to using phrases like, 'shipping' and 'shipped' if I used them wrong.
Kinda of like fan fiction, I find those words annoying.

My first response is to discontinue my membership with the society ( a gasp goes up!) but will think about it a little longer and see what kind of response this gets.

I would imagine with this rant my readership will drop in half, so the the two remaining readers, thanks mom and dad for sticking by me.

Elemenetary S4E1 - 'The Past is Parent' - Let the fun begin!

Season four began last night with Holmes facing repercussion from beating a drug addict/criminal at the end of last season. And of course at the end of the episode we see him picking up a container, well, containing Holmes drug of choice.

We find out early in the season four opener that Holmes has fallen off the wagon and had indeed taken the drug.

We also find out that there is not much chance of him working for the NYPD again, at least this week, and has probably drug Watson down as well.
Gregson and Bell only make brief appearances in this episode, so indeed, we do not know what lays ahead for them.

Holmes is also not sure if he will end up in jail or not for the beating.

This episode mostly deals with happenings from the past. We find Holmes investigating an unsolved crime from the 20's in one of the opening segments. And the episode also finds Holmes and Watson investigating the disappearance of two women 15 years earlier, which ties into a case from last season.

Throughout the episode Holmes' father keeps cancelling appearances as well.

The episode had nothing new to add to it's now episodic structure. Holmes has still toned down his behavior and his character is not as likely to go for shock value as we had feared was going to be the trend. The Canonical tidbits are either repetitive or rare with the ones this week perhaps being a mention to old cases, the mention of Moriarty and the fact that Holmes had a father.

The most redeeming aspect of this episode for me, however, were a couple of things.
First of course would be the examination of Holmes', and somewhat Watson's, behavior after Holmes has fallen off the wagon. Canonically were some of these 'brown study' episodes a reaction by Holmes to his giving into his habit, or were they indeed just a sign of boredom when not involved with a case? We know the Canonical Watson had to probably deal with this situation more than once, while for the TV Watson this was the first relapse.

Another well done aspect of this episode was the defense of the friendship and loyalty by both Holmes and Watson. While Holmes was trying to make plans to 'protect' Watson, Watson had no intention of continuing without Holmes. Canonically we see Holmes and Watson separating a few times either by Watson's choice or Holmes'. It was never a business relationship.

It will also being intriguing, since he finally showed up, how the show will handle the presence of Holmes' father. Canonically often examined without any firm conclusion.

The show is still brave enough to examine some touchy subjects in a very un-Canonical kind of way, which, thankfully, makes one examine things from a different point of view and test our own Canonical beliefs.

So for the lack of anything new, yet still making good conversation I give this episode:

Seven Degrees of Sherlock Holmes - #27- a tribute to the inaugural edition of the Watsonian

I thought it might be fun, to celebrate the John H. Watson Society and the first edition of their publication The Watsonian, to disregard any direct connection actors have to their roll as Dr. Watson, and make a connection to Holmes excluding those rolls. I other words, can actors who portrayed Watson be connected to Holmes as if they never took those parts.

So I though we should start with the Watson that, for good or bad, all other Watson's seem to now be compared to in some way. Whether you liked his portrayal as Watson or not, he was a well respected character actor, well loved thespian and WWI vet. For someone who is some times described as the 'Not Watson' of all Watson's,  he sure left his Holmesian mark, and got to act along side some of the greatest actors in showbiz.

I love the guy, if not his Watson.

So here goes.

Nigel Bruce (1895-1953)

starred in a little film called The Scarlet Pimpernal in 1934

which also starred Leslie Howard (1893-1943)

who is one of my favorite all time actors, and this is the way I wanted to go with the Seven Degree connection, but. . . . I found a shorter connection, so went with. . . 

Also starring in that great film was another great actor, Raymond Massey (1896-1983)

who played Sherlock Holmes in the 1931 film, The Speckled Band

As it turns out, whether I had gone with Leslie Howard or Raymond Massey, there are just so many film and theater connections to Holmes.

So, even if Nigel Bruce had never played Watson, he would still have had many connections to Holmes.

A little trivia about one of the actors who starred in The Voice of Terror (if I had used the Leslie Howard connection).

Actor Reginald Denny; 

He served as an observer/gunner in World War I in the Royal Flying Corps,^[1] and in the 1920's he performed as a stunt pilot. In the early 1930s, Denny became interested in radio controlled model planes. He and his business partners formed Reginald Denny Industriesand opened a model plane shop in 1934 known as Reginald Denny Hobby Shops.

He bought a plane design from Walter Righter in 1938 and began marketing it as the "Dennyplane", and a model engine called the "Dennymite".^[2] In 1940, Denny and his partners won a US Army contract for their radio-controlled target drone, the OQ-2 Radioplane. They manufactured nearly fifteen thousand drones for the US Army during World War II. The company was purchased by Northrop in 1952.^[3]

Marilyn Monroe was discovered working as an assembler at Radioplane. A photographer assigned by Denny's friend, Army publicist (and future US President) Capt. Ronald Reagan, took several shots and persuaded her to work as a model, which was the beginning of her career.

Source, wikipedia

Reginald Denny also took part in the 1922 film, Sherlock Holmes.

So that saves me from having to do a Marilyn Monroe connection.

So, there you have it, there you are.

An important number!

'We are delighted to have you as a Charter Member. You are our 100^th' 

From the John H. Watson society