Matt Frewer's SIGN

You know how some time ago, I watched a bunch of Canadian-made Holmes movies starring Matt Frewer and Kenneth Walsh? I was missing one movie then, and now I've found it, but on VHS instead of DVD. Still, it was a good enough copy to watch.

I also rewatched my Seven-Per-Cent Solution DVD, but it's really poor quality, having been transferred from an old VHS tape. If only the owners would reissue it!

Nicol Williamson

Wow, I just read that Nicol Williamson has died. According to the A.V. Club, it happened back in December, but his son only just recently reported the news, because his father didn't want a fuss made. I didn't know Williamson was Scottish-born. The A.V. Club article has a lot of clips of his works.

I admit that I am only familiar with Nicol Williamson playing Holmes in The Seven-Per-Cent Solution, but what a performance it was. I'll have to look among my VHS tapes and watch it again, maybe this weekend. If only I had a better copy of it, though. So many Sherlockian movies are unavailable these days. You'd think more would be reissued to capitalize on the vogue for Holmes movies and shows these days.

CBS's Elementary

So, CBS has greenlighted a pilot for their new modernization of Holmes. Unlike most commentators on that page, I'm going to hold out hope that it might be okay. Why? Because I've seen Americanized TV versions of Holmes in modern times before.

I mean, they were more of the Holmes-is-cryogenically-frozen-and-revived type, but I liked them. I especially loved the one with Margaret Colin. You could say that Zero Effect was a modernization of Holmes too.

I've seen people say before that Americans already have Holmes on TV, not merely in House, but in genuine detective/crime shows like Psych, The Mentalist, and Law & Order: Criminal Intent, but the problem with all those guys is that they're unwatchable jerks. Well, I like Psych, but more for Gus than for Shawn, who grated on my nerves increasingly, and convinced me to stop buying the DVDs. The Criminal Intent guy was full of annoying tics too, forever leaning over and driving me up the wall.

So if they can do a good Holmes that doesn't make me want to slap him despite his Holmes-ness, then sure I'll watch it. I don't mind it being set in New York either. As I've just seen, the 1906 Raffles/Holmes crossover moved to New York pretty seamlessly, and Sherlockian pastiches are forever taking Holmes to America or other lands outside Britain. I'm keeping an open mind.

Muppet Sherlock Holmes

Anybody else see this book that was published in February 2011? It's a comic book/graphic novel starring Gonzo and Fozzie as Holmes and Watson. (If you ask why they didn't use Sherlock Hemlock instead, that's because the Sesame Street characters are now separately owned by Sesame Workshop.) I just found it on Alibris and ordered it recently. It apparently also came out as 4 separate magazines, but the book I got put all 4 issues together.

Point of Origin, part 5

Here's part 5 of Sherlock as a Vulcan. The explanations of pon farr turned out longer than I thought, so still no sex yet. Next chapter, when they're on the ship.

Mycroft says that pon farr lasts for 11 days because in "Amok Time," Spock had been sick for 3 days already when McCoy examined him and declared that he would die in 8 days time.

Nikita

I should have written about this show before, but was too busy enjoying the awesomeness of it. It's finally back from winter hiatus though, and I want to recommend it for how great it treats its female characters. Some showrunners could learn a lot from it.

I'm talking about the CW show, because I've never seen the previous cable series.

Raffles Holmes

Now trying to get onto other things. Happy Twelfth Night! January 6th is claimed by Sherlockians to be Holmes's birthday, based on flimsy evidence--him quoting Shakespeare's play Twelfth Night and him apparently having a hangover on January 7th in Valley of Fear, a claim that's questionable in itself. Apparently the early Sherlockians were obsessed with the idea of Holmes and/or Watson getting drunk on their birthdays. That's what came of their club-like gatherings I guess.

Speaking of early Sherlockians, I recently read R. Holmes & Co. by John Kendrick Bangs which is a sort of crossover between Holmes and A. J. Raffles, the gentleman burglar. Bangs's book was published in 1906, and Raffles Holmes introduces himself to the narrator, whom he asks to be his biographer.

Moffat is furious

Oh I just read that Moffat is furious about being accused of sexism.

Oh you're furious, really? How do you think we fucking feel? And to be clear, I never said that Sherlock the character is sexist, I said you the writer are a misogynist and that your writing for the show, (in season 1 and in this notorious episode), is sexist. And anti-canon. And disgusting. And shameful. Fuck you!

It's laughable to read Gatiss discussing how they need to be faithful in adapting the iconic Hound tale, but apparently they didn't need to be faithful in adapting the iconic Irene Adler. You didn't give a damn about reining in Moffat on that one. Piss off to you too!

Still Seething

It's not even about shipperness. I liked Holmes's female love interests in Private Life of Sherlock Holmes and The Seven-Per-Cent Solution movie (not the book). But when Guy Ritchie makes Holmes hate Mrs. Hudson and shoves a woman out of a train, yet is still less misogynistic than you, you ought to be ashamed! I was annoyed with season 1 as a feminist, but I tolerated it as just male Sherlockian blindness.

Moffat and Gatiss claim to love canon, and I was told to "trust them" to get Irene Adler right, but they fouled up everything. Besides, they threw away such trust with Jim, and the stupid Orientalism of "The Blind Banker." This is like insult added to injury. I would have preferred Baring-Gould's crackpot theory that Holmes had an affair and child with Irene Adler during the Hiatus.

Have some balls, Moffat. Name your woman literally Femme Fatale or Catwoman, but don't fucking call her Irene Adler. Jerk off in private, not on our fucking televisions, you wanker.

Moffat the Irene Killer

No I still haven't seen the episode, and I'm starting to feel less and less likely to see it when it does air here. By "Killer" in the title, I don't mean anything spoilery about whether she lives or dies. I mean her personality, her uniqueness, her incredible strength have been murdered. It's worse than Guy Ritchie's version, and worse than the version where she was a criminal mastermind, murderer, and art thief, with helpful evil scar to identify her.

Here are two spoilery reviews of the episode, telling us how badly Moffat needs to fuck off for destroying Irene Adler. 1. Steven Moffat, Sherlock, and Neo-Victorian Sexism. 2. A Scandal in Belgravia, or the fall of Irene Adler.

In fact, I'm even angrier. Gatiss and Sue Vertue need to fuck off too for allowing Moffat to do this, not only to Irene, but to all the female characters in season 1. Fuck off to the lot of you!

BBC Sherlock spoilers

So, they've seen the "Scandal in Belgravia" episode in the UK. I haven't seen it but the only thing I desperately wanted to know was the resolution of the cliffhanger. I checked John's blog, and found the answer at the end of John's very detailed summary of the Great Game episode.

So if you want to know, go there, even though of course you won't get the rest of the season premiere details, or know if they showed Moran at any point. Also, the blog in general has been updated with months worth of cases. I assume the ones written in full will not appear on the TV show, and the ones mentioned without solutions will be explained in the TV show.