Reading Sherlock Holmes

[honorh]

I picked up the second volume of the Complete Sherlock Holmes the other day. You can't get too picky about English-language reading material, so even though mystery isn't generally my genre, I decided to give it a shot.

And I'm really enjoying it. I finished The Hound of the Baskervilles today and started The Valley of Fear. Still remaining in

Comments

[selenak]

In some Third Doctor episodes audio commentaries, you get a lot on the Holmes/Doctor parallels, and one story - The Silurians - even makes a dialogue reference. (More about that in a minute.) The Master as a character was created so that the Doctor "should have a Moriarty" (Barry Letts, producer at the time - he who died very recently and to whom Waters of Mars was dedicated), and Letts also said the relationship between the Doctor and the Brigadier was very Holmes/Watson.

Here I actually would have to beg to differ a bit because the Brig is the Doctor's boss during Three's UNIT time which changes the dynamics and makes for many an initial argument, but that's what he said. And there is that witty dialogue allusion, which turns expectations because it goes thusly in the SiluriansBrig: *is frustrated that the Doctor hasn't discovered the mystery of the week yet

[evil_little_dog]

I REMEMBER that exchange. *snort* And yes, so very true about the Master (I remember being at a convention where that was discussed on a panel with John Nathan Turner and whomever he'd brought with him to Florida this time). In general, as I said below in my response, I'd see most of the companions could take the role of Watson, in one way or another.

[jpgr]

I read my first SHerlock Holmes when I was around 11/12 and have loved them ever since. I think I have three editions of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes alone.

[evil_little_dog]

I have always thought that the Doctor's character was inspired by Holmes (the very first episode we saw was Tom Baker roaming around a very British area, wearing an Inverness cape and a deerstalker hat - and my parents and I couldn't figure out just why everyone kept calling Mr. Holmes "the Doctor" and why Watson had been replaced by a woman in a leather minidress). It's very much in the vein of Holmesian literature - very smart man with not quite as clever but still able to hold his/her own traveling companions - the need and desire to take on other people's problems (and solve them, despite the odd nature of said problems). I haven't watched any of the new Doctors and I stopped watching with Colin Baker, though I can highly agree on your sentiments.

[phoenix64]

There was a brief British series called Murder Rooms about a crime-solving partnership between Arthur Conan Doyle and Joseph Bell (who most felt was the inspiration for Holmes). I felt what it really needed was a crossover with DW, with Ten fanboying Bell and at the same time driving him more than a bit mad.

Also, I think there's a good possibility that Sherlock Holmes was the first modern fandom. You had the fanclubs and the conventions and people dressing up, and of course the pastiches.

[neadods]

Holmes is a classic - wonderful stuff. My favorite is "The Musgrave Ritual," followed by "The Solitary Cyclist."

I've always felt that Talons of Weng Chiang was pretty basically Doctor-as-Holmes.