How the Relationship between Fraser and Vecchio mirrors that of Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson.
I was recently watching a documentary on Sherlock Holmes and it talked about how he and Doctor Watson were the basis for all partnership shows which have come after and I began thinking that possibly Due South comes the closest to matching the characteristics of the Holmes/Watson partnership.
In this slight essay, I will be referring to the Sir ( Read more... )
I'll comment more on this in the morning. I am intrigued.
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I'll be interested in reading what you have to say:)
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I think the character of Fraser is a fairly close match to the character of Holmes (though without the rudeness). Firstly, he is brilliant at solving crimes, he picks up clues missed by others, etc. His method is often questioned, as is Holmes’s.
Yes he is a polite version of Holmes in a lot of ways. One thing that stands out to me deduction-wise is the first scene in Ida's apartment where Fraser deduces Barry's drinking habits:
Fraser: You’re worried about someone. A man. A man who smokes too much.
Ida: How did you know that?
Fraser: Well, you don’t smoke, and yet you have ashtrays stationed everywhere in your apartment. He also drinks rather more than you would like. The indentation on the lacquer of this chest suggests that there was a decanter on it until recently. And then you became concerned and you removed the liquor so there’d be less temptation, but it didn’t work, did it?A very Holmes like deduction. And of course Fraser mentions that he notices things that other ( ... )
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I'd forgotten about that one actually. They are also both in the habit of flinging themselves down on the ground to examine it, which I'd also forgotten to mention, as well as there superior senses. They both have a good sense of smell, I'm not sure whether Holmes has a developed sense of hearing like Fraser does.
And like Holmes Fraser has dressed up on occassion when going undercover - like he does in SLIR.
Holmes disguises was one of the things I was going to mention but the only similar situation I could remember for Fraser was his bad job at disguising himself as a used car salesmen, I never thought of SLIR where he does successfully disguise himself as a female teacher.
I sometimes think Irene Adler has things in common with Victoria and both of them escape.But then Watson is careful to note that "it was not that he felt any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler", which I take to mean that he didn ( ... )
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Oh yes. They are not averse to tasting things. And they do get right doen to examine things. And they are both expert at following footprints and recognising footprints.
I can't recall any instances of Holmes having extra sensative hearing but it would not surprise me.
I never thought of SLIR where he does successfully disguise himself as a female teacher.
I think that's proof that Fraser can do it when he puts his mind to it. Part of me thinks he played dumb in P&P because he wanted Ray's help.
But then Watson is careful to note that "it was not that he felt any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler"
True. I think perhaps they both fufil the role of woman nemesis though in wildy different ways.
Holmes does use a gun in the Hound of the Baskervilles to ( ... )
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Possibly, if that's the one where Elaine tells him something like "You're good" as he's following Ray out the door.
And I did forget that Holmes does do target practice indoors with a gun.
I think that was meant to have been during a bought of mental instability or manic depression. I don't believe that Fraser suffers from any manic depression (I would think that would be frowned upon in the police force) of course he also isn't exactly the most sane of people since he needs to ask his father who has just appeared to him as a ghost if there's any insanity in their family. It also seems to have been something which ran in their family at least going by Uncle Tiberius and his fondness for cabbage leaves. I'm sure there are other examples which demonstrate his questionable mental state other than Dead Bob (which isn't really a mental problem if the ghost is real), but that's the only one I can think of at the moment.
I doubt the Granada series can be bettered.It's ( ... )
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That's the one.
I think that was meant to have been during a bought of mental instability or manic depression.
Ah yes that's it. Not the most sane of actions.
I don't believe that Fraser suffers from any manic depression (I would think that would be frowned upon in the police force) of course he also isn't exactly the most sane of people
Well he did manage to get himself commited by telling the truth.
It's rather unfortunate that they weren't able to complete all of the canon.
Indeed and that toward the end they had to deviate from it more and more.
I think Holmes has told him so on a number of occasions.
Yes, he did.
He was fortunate to meet him at that time. In one of my abandoned fics I was writing a situation whereby someone (possibly Dead Bob) was showing Fraser what would have happened if he'd went with Victoria the first time aroundThat's a very interesting idea. I don't think I've read anything ( ... )
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They also felt the need to stretch some of the stories to 2 hours. The only shows they should have been doing this with is the full length novels. The short stories were just too short to do this with.
That's a very interesting idea. I don't think I've read anything like that. It's a reasonable hypothesis from canon, though yes it would be depressing.
I've just found the file on my computer, I don't actually seem to have gotten far enough to tell the story, it just remains a bit of dialogue between Fraser and Dead Bob leading that way. If you want I can post the dialogue I've got. I found it kind of amusing but that's probably because I've nicked the best bits from canon to get Dead Bob to sound right. I hadn't even told the depressing part at that point, it must have just been that I was depressed at having given in to writing which always seems like too much hard work, to me anyway:)
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Yes, I agree. The Sussex Vampire is one that springs to mind as being too long at two hours. Fifty minutes was perfect for the shorter stories.
If you want I can post the dialogue I've got.
I would appreciate it. I nick bits from canon all the time ;-) It works out better that way.
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I've posted it here:
http://sharon28.livejournal.com/45804.html#cutid1
This post is getting way too long to start putting snippets in it as well*G*
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Oh yes. And it doesn't matter how important whatever they are doing is as soon as their partner calls they will be there. Which shows what good friends they are and how much they like being with their friend.
It’s interesting how in both partnerships they appear to spend most of their time together and it rarely gets questioned.
Yes. People clearly notice but they don't ever find it strange. The only person to comment on Fraser's prescence with Ray is Carver in The Duel:
Carver: There must be some logical explanation for why you’re going around on duty with a Chicago policeman.
Fraser: Curious, possibly. But logical? No.
It has its own logic really.
Fraser and Holmes both find a kindred spirit in Vecchio and Watson. Yes. In both cases the partnership has made the men more than they were before. For both partners in it. As you say without Watson Holmes's career might have been cut short, Fraser might not have survived Chicago. But without ( ... )
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I always liked Holmes' note to Watson in The Adventure of the Creeping Man, "Come at once if convenient-if inconvenient come all the same." He expects Watson to drop everything and if he didn't he'd be very put out. Of course Fraser would take the opposite reaction, saying something like "of course you're too busy," (which would often lead to Ray being guilt tripped into doing what Fraser wanted) but he would also be upset by it as he is in The Blue Line.
But without Holmes watson might nto have been able to stay in London, he wouldn;t have the chance to indulge his writing and without Fraser Ray could have suffered burnout.
Very true. Though Watson I think would have found a practice somewhere, like he does when he gets married.
Watson's case the wife was there very early on and then had to be written out as she was getting in the way.When Doyle wrote about Watson's marriage he never intended to do anything more with the ( ... )
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Oh yes I did like that one. And Watson can't refuse, and I think Holmes knows that. Fraser does tend to be a bit more...subtle seems the wrong word. It's couched in politeness and relies on Ray's guilt rather than Holmes relying on Watson's curiousity. It's ultimately the same effect but different approaches.
Very true. Though Watson I think would have found a practice somewhere, like he does when he gets married.
Yes he would have become just a GP. And would have made a decent living at it no doubt.
When Doyle wrote about Watson's marriage he never intended to do anything more with the characters I believe it was meant to be a one off.Yes. 'The Sign of Four' was the second novella published after 'A Study in Scarlet'. Conan-Doyle never intended any more. SiS is set in 1881 I think and SoF is set in I think 1887 or ( ... )
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I think most people tend to use the idea that Holmes was born in 1854 due to a line in The Last Bow which says Holmes was in his 60th year and Watson's birth usually is cited as being 1852 making him a tad older. Oddly enough whenever we see them in canon they tend to be at the older end of the spectrum, usually in their 40s or 50s, which they would have been during their last cases. I'd like to see a series which follows canon whereby they start off in their twenties with the Study in Scarlet and goes right through till the end. I'm doubtful that will happen though, as even if they could find someone willing to commit to it (the way David Suchet has done with Poirot), with the smoking ban I'm not even sure they'd still be able to film it. And I find it difficult to imagine Holmes without his pipe.
And Holmes canon is ( ... )
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