In the first episode of Season 2 of BBC’s Sherlock, we met one of readers’ favorite characters from 130 years of fandom for Arthur Conan Doyle’s ultimate detective. Initially published in The Strand in 1891 in A Scandal in Bohemia, Irene Adler first stepped into readers’ imaginations. Of course Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss gave the story and characters their trademark modern twist with their episode A Scandal in Belgravia, and it’s that episode that gets the manga treatment in Titan Comics’ latest manga adaptation. Fresh from confronting Moriarty in the end of The Great Game, Holmes and John Watson are called to save the royal family from blackmail at the hands of “The Woman,” and Sherlock is truly given a run for his money. We have a special extended preview of the manga today from Titan Comics for borg readers.
So many genre novels are quick reads, full of action and modern surprises. Once in a while you stumble upon the slow read–the book that is so smartly written, so exciting and enjoyable you never want it to end, and you force yourself to take it slow and enjoy the author’s use of language. With his latest book I’ve now added James Lovegrove to my shortlist of authors I will make sure to read as soon as his next work is released. His new novel is Sherlock Holmes and the Sussex Sea-Devils, book three of his trilogy, The Cthulhu Casebooks. In short, this work has it all–tie-ins, a mash-up, genre-bending, and immersive storytelling in a suspense-filled mystery adventure. It’s a big feat because the very subject matter and project has much to overcome. First, it is the third book in a series, not your usual place as a reader to begin. As it is a new release, I delved in anyway, and discovered Lovegrove crafted a complete end-to-end story requiring no prior knowledge of the first two books in the series. Second, it’s a tie-in and a mash-up of the most well-known historical characters in all of fiction, Arthur Conan Doyle‘s Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson twisted together with the macabre, dark world of H.P. Lovecraft.
I’ve reviewed several Watson and Holmes stories written in the past decade and the challenge is always the same–getting two voices just right, voices that are so familiar after reading original Doyle writings, and watching countless modern sequels and a host of television series and movie versions. One misstep and it’s easy to pull a reader out of the narrative, yet Lovegrove doesn’t skip a beat in this regard. Whether you’re drawn to the TV series with Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, the classic Basil Rathbone film version, modern retellings, or just Doyle’s own marvelous words, you will feel this book is a believable sequel to the original stories and the voices are spot-on. Another barrier for Lovegrove to overcome is getting right that rich world of H.P. Lovecraft, whose works and words drip with a uniquely strange brilliance and eerie beauty. Again, Lovegrove fully captures the spirit of his creations and seaside environments, too, as if he’d conjured Lovecraft for this story. This strange mash-up of the logical, rational Holmes and Watson and the dark and fantastical Lovecraft probably shouldn’t work so well. These are opposites, right? But Lovegrove fuses them into one, evoking the 19th century wonder of H.G. Wells and Jules Verne science fiction and fantasy along the way. Not merely a fun romp for fans of either world, Sherlock Holmes and the Sussex Sea-Devils has all the realism and research of a scholarly work, sinking us into the world of England, the nautical life of coastal peoples at the turn of the 20th century.
The story begins a few years after the retirement of Holmes and Watson. In Doyle’s story “His Last Bow” we learned the character retired to a farm at Sussex Downs taking on beekeeping as a pastime. Only two original stories take place during Holmes’ retirement. This is where Lovegrove’s Watson catches up with Holmes: The date is 1910 and as England and the world moves toward war, Holmes and Watson learn the leaders of the famed Diogenes Club are all dead, found under strange circumstances. When three young women go missing in a nearby town, the detective duo takes on sleuthing out their disappearance as their final case, where they encounter local lore that speaks of monsters from the deep and a foretold legend of the return of a phantom from long ago. Locals believe that is why the women are missing, and Holmes knows it must all be connected. How much is real, how much is fantasy? Is it possible Holmes could discover both worlds might co-exist? Can Holmes ever escape the specter of his lifelong nemesis Moriarty? And what of his brother Mycroft?
BIG Chief Studios’ marketing line should be “go BIG or go home.” This year the UK-base company has locked three of the big four British giant genre franchises, and it’s rolling out even more of the company’s internationally popular 1:6 scale figures by year end. With deals for James Bond’s Goldfinger, BBC’s Sherlock, and Doctor Who, BIG Chief has become the new source for high-end British series pop culture collectible figures.
BIG Chief is expanding into James Bond territory with Goldfinger, releasing this month great likenesses of actors Sean Connery as Bond, Gert Frobe as Auric Goldfinger, and Harold Sakata as Oddjob. The figures each include several accessories, fabric clothing, displays, and attractive packaging, and can be pre-ordered now at online superstore Entertainment Earth. The Bond series also is available in a set bundling all three characters.
The collectible company selected the big three from BBC’s Sherlock, creating a figure of Benedict Cumberbatch as Holmes (Limited Edition 1000), Martin Freeman as Dr. John Watson (Limited Edition 800; Signature Edition 200), and Andrew Scott as Moriarty (Limited Edition 1000; Signature Edition 400), now available only in the aftermarket, such as via eBay. Three new figures are available for pre-order now at Entertainment Earth: classic Holmes as seen in “The Abominable Bride,” classic Watson as seen in “The Abominable Bride,” and Moriarty as seen in “The Reichenbach Fall.” BIG Chief also is selling a 1:6 scale diorama set of the entrance to 221B Baker Street (Limited Edition 1000; Signature Edition 250).
BIG Chief’s Doctor Who collection has something for every Doctor Who fan.
While we’re waiting around to find out if we’ll see more of the BBC’s Sherlock, here’s something worth watching. This weekend Benedict Cumberbatch posted on Facebook a link to the unaired pilot for the series. If you’re a diehard fan, here’s a way to catch a different look at the beginning of Cumberbatch as Holmes and Martin Freeman’s John Watson as they created the chemistry the show is celebrated for across the globe.
“A Study in Pink” was re-shot from the 2009 pilot, tightening up bits and pieces only slightly and in subtle ways so you may think you notice a big difference from the version that first aired in the U.S. on October 24, 2010. It’s been available on the DVD and Blu-ray releases, but only now has the show’s star pointed out the availability of the free streaming version. This version never aired in the U.K. and wasn’t part of the original airings on PBS in the States.
This early poster shows the look of the actors you’ll find in the pilot:
The now familiar music wasn’t yet integrated in such a boisterous manner. Mark Gatiss’s Mycroft Holmes–and any reference to Moriarty–are both absent from the unaired pilot. Cumberbatch’s first run at Sherlock seems to be more cheery, charismatic, slightly less blunt than the version that ended up in the series.
Or is it?
Watch the original pilot, streaming free now on Vimeo:
Almost if to prove that they can do the original Sherlock Holmes better than Guy Ritchie’s 19th century film adaptations, showrunners Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss are promoting the next episode of their Sherlock. This time stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman return to the story’s roots instead of modern England, yet the latest trailer hints that they still live in a world well aware of Holmes’s crime-fighting fame.
“You’re Sherlock Holmes,” says Dr. Watson as he thrusts the famous deerstalker hat into Holmes’s hands, “wear the damned hat.”
The 19th century streets, the buildings, the entire environments are impeccable. Would we rather have a Sherlock movie or a television series so long as either stars Cumberbatch and Freeman? We may all answer “series” if only they could crank out more than three episodes every year or so. But we’ll happily wait as we did for the equally good A&E Channel Horatio Hornblower episodes starring Ioan Gruffudd (Forever, Fantastic Four), Denis Lawson (Star Wars: A New Hope, Marchlands), Paul McGann (Doctor Who), David Warner (Tron, Star Trek, Twin Peaks, Time After Time), and Jamie Bamber (Battlestar Galactica) that arrived piecemeal in a series of eight TV movies between 1998 and 2003.
It’s pretty quick, but the BBC teaser trailer for Sherlock Season 3 reveals that Sherlock Holmes is alive and well despite the Season 2 cliffhanger (OK, duh), and we get to see Martin Freeman’s John Watson return (with moustache!), Una Stubb as landlady Mrs. Hudson, Louise Brealey as hopeless Sherlock fan/lab assistant Molly Hooper, and Mark Gatiss as brother Mycroft.
We were afraid that both Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman might not return to Sherlock with their newfound Hollywood star power, with Cumberbatch as Khan in Star Trek Into Darkness and Freeman as Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit trilogy. And we were only a wee bit disappointed that the BBC didn’t tap Cumberbatch for the 12th Doctor, but we woke up and realized Cumberbatch can’t play every role out there, can he?
Three episodes are in the queue: “The Empty Hearse,” “The Sign of Three,” and “His Last Vow.” Why, why, why can’t the Brits give us at least a 13-episode series???
Enjoy this teaser, complete with that excellent Sherlock theme music:
BBC has issued no release dates yet, in the UK or U.S., for the premier of Season 3.
While you are waiting for the return of the BBC TV series Sherlock starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman as modernized sleuths, or even the third big screen entry in the Sherlock Holmes films starring Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law in their more classic form, you could pull off the shelf the original Arthur Conan Doyle stories to hold your attention. Or there is another option: Writer Guy Adams has seamlessly intersected the world of Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes with H.G. Wells’ The Island of Dr. Moreau in his new novel Sherlock Holmes: The Army of Doctor Moreau. And he does this in a way that may be more accessible to modern readers than the original Doyle stories yet evokes the same voice, time and place. Sherlock Holmes: The Army of Doctor Moreauis being released in bookstores this week.
Told primarily through the mind of Holmes’ classic partner in solving crime, Dr. John Watson, this story blends two classic worlds that actually find a good home together. Because I am more of a fan of the modern TV and movie series over the other classic visual productions such as the Basil Rathbone performances, or even the original stories, I found myself inside the mind of Martin Freeman’s Dr. Watson throughout this novel, although transferred back in time from the 21st century to Watson’s earlier 19th century incarnation. My vision of Holmes bounced around between Cumberbatch and Downey, and I saw as Dr. Moreau, Marlon Brando from the underwhelming Val Kilmer film.
The story itself begins with Holmes’ more intriguing brother Mycroft (played in my head here by Stephen Fry’s version of Mycroft). A bit of a character you could see as an early version of M from the James Bond universe, Adams’ Mycroft is someone you are itching to leanr more of in future novels. The original mad scientist, Dr. Moreau, is believed alive and operating an underground frankensteinian laboratory melding what he believes to be the inevitable evolution of man–hybrids of men and animals. Political motivations bring Dr. Moreau from his original story to again attempt to alter perception and here, take down civilized society via an army of loyal, but horrible, creations.
Although horrific in concept, Adams’ story is pleasingly contemporary to the original stories and so this does not read as a modern horror tale, but more of a dark, lost story of science fiction’s past. It also does not overtly address the original moral and ethical lessons involving the dangers of science as the original but stays lighter in tone, focusing on the detective story.
Adams’ Dr. Watson will be familiar to anyone who is a fan of any version of Sherlock Holmes. Constantly trying to keep up with Holmes, Watson uses his medical knowledge and desire to measure up to Holmes to propel the story forward. Early on in the novel we briefly encounter a nice tribe of characters from the Industrial Revolution fiction’s past: Edward Prendick, the horrified narrator of Wells’ original Dr. Moreau story, has since gone mad and left notes that help Holmes and Watson track Dr. Moreau. Professor Challenger from Doyle’s The Lost World has his own prequel here, arm-in-arm with the heroes of this tale to the bitter end, as does Professor Lindenbrook from Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth, and a few other more obscure cameos.
But this is definitely a Sherlock Holmes tale, and Dr. Moreau primarily serves as a bit of a MacGuffin for the detectives to pursue for the bulk of the book since we only really deal with the evil doctor toward the end. The spirit of Holmes and Watson is true and pure fun, worthy of the original. A (literally) dog-headed character named Kane further helps to suck the reader into this fantastical, unthinkable world of the past. The result is a sweeping and satisfying romp. My only complaint would be the changing of narrators in the last two sections of the book from Watson to Holmes and then to all the team players by chapter. It probably works here but I have never read such an abrupt point-of-view shift in a book that I would call completely successful, and so I think a smoother and more exciting end would have been possible without all the head hopping. Still, the entries for Johnson and Mycroft at the end stood out as fun additions and the change in voice did not take away from this being a good read. Adams has done a nice job of channeling familiar and convincing voices and recreating the world in and around 21B Baker Street.
Sherlock Holmes: The Army of Doctor Moreau will be released August 7, 2012, at bookstores and online retailers, and is available for pre-order discount now at Amazon.com. Adams’ first Sherlock Holmes novel, The Breath of God, is available in trade paperback and e-book editions.
starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman as modernized sleuths, or even the third big screen entry in the 
films starring Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law in their more classic form, you could pull off the shelf the original Arthur Conan Doyle stories to hold your attention. Or there is another option: Writer Guy Adams has seamlessly intersected the world of Arthur Conan Doyle’s 
with H.G. Wells’ 
in his new novel 
. And he does this in a way that may be more accessible to modern readers than the original Doyle stories yet evokes the same voice, time and place. 
has his own prequel here, arm-in-arm with the heroes of this tale to the bitter end, as does Professor Lindenbrook from Jules Verne’s 
, and a few other more obscure cameos.
