softmachine

he's one of those actors who always seems to pop up everywhere.... and is always interesting when he does!

must have a tipple there some day.....! (probably in the far future when i can afford a beano to London haha)

May you all receive jewel-concealing geese and/or interesting battered felt hats on the morrow or failing that, hope you all find a snug corner of the Alpha Inn to enjoy some of the landlord's fine refreshment

absolutely. Isn't it wonderful?

I was reading this last night, and thought, "even in the later/lesser cases there are so many lovely little details".... that make any tale, no matter how weak the actual detective/mystery plot might be, rise above its station. Even Watson gets the fake ad straight away, and that Killer Evans is trying to lure little Mr Garrideb away from his house becomes clear quite quickly. So this should be a fairly weak story in anyone's eyes..... but!!!....... We have nice little bits of continuity, e.g the reference to Holmes' always reading the wanted ads and the gossip columns of newspapers; Holmes being an action hero; some rare words of appreciation for Scotland yard; and of course THAT scene where Holmes thinks Watson may have been wounded. Bonus points for "it's only a flesh wound" sounding like something from Monty Python and The Holy Grail

going even more off-topic, this subject of zines reminds me of DWB, which started off as a Dr Who zine in the early 80s, went pro as a general sci-fi mag in the 90s, evolved into 'Dreamwatch'.... then sort of fizzled out (i think due to the runaway success of SFX magazine) apparently though the owner became a millionaire off the back of it, which surprises me! (a friend bumped into someone who turned out to be the owner's brother) Does anyone know what happened to the Sherlock Holmes Gazette magazine? Run i think by David Stuart Davies? (don't quote me!) Did it end with the Northern Musgraves which he also ran? There's a new quarterly 'Crime' magazine by the makers of SFX .... which i don't think will last too long...

Jeremy Brett acting with/opposite Peter Wyngard...... doesn't the air just crackle with subtext...?

it is interesting, how two different reading cultures are attuned to processing things differently. I wonder if the Victorians would be puzzled reading contemporary lit from our time - "but i never know who's speaking! what's happening? And why is there no descriptions of the interior decor?" :p

hehe

re: the sudden interlude in the valley of death, mormon country etc etc.... i have a mental collection of sorts of antipathetic crticisms of these chapters; the most vitriolic i've so far found from a 'respectable' source is Ian Sinclair, in his intro to the Penguin Classics edition. He says it is so staggeringly bad that aside from being a youthful and inexperienced offence on Doyle's part, it also suggest he's being paid by the word and is desperately padding...! (of course we, and Ian surely, knows Doyle was doing no such thing, and was a penniless Doctor at the time) I'm not well versed in Victorian Literature..... was this sort of lenghty narrated aside a conventional part of most novels of the period?? (p.s i'll say this once again.... i actually LIKE it!)

and the other reason to have the two figures snogging each other's faces off having exciting detective adventures...? :D hehehe

oh my goodness.... that is seriously wonderful! Previous merchandise of BBC Sherlock has seemed so bizarrely high end (translation: bloody expensive!!) but thsi si something (a) affordable and (b ) cute! Pocket money action figures for budding detectives-stroke-high functioning sociopaths everywhere ....and us that should know better!

it is indeed, Carol. I decided against Susan Who from the Dr Who TV Comic strip - some people might think it was an accurate portrait of myself! I love that Paget drawing of Holmes literally shedding light on a mystery..... poor old Brunton..!

just thought actually.... the Rathbone series seemed to use the original plot elements in similar ways. Unless my memory massively deceives me (and i'm getting on, so it might!) the film 'The House of fear' recycles the 'five orange pips', the faked death from 'Valley of Fear' , distinctive tattoo marks (nods to 'valley' and 'Sign'?), and possibly even the earlier (crappy) film version of 'Study in Scarlet' (the club whose members are being killed off). To say nothing of 'The Scarlet Claw', my fave, which is a more or less shameless remake of 'Hound of the Baskervilles'!!

hums "stuck in the middle with you", shuffle-dances around like that chap in Reservoir Dogs.....

I was watching 'The Murder Detectives', part 3 of a 3-part documentary series on Channel 4 on Tuesday I think it was. It followed a Bristol police department through a young man's stabbing, all the way through the process of finding suspects, charging and eventual trial. I couldn't help noticing that the symbol on the ribbon of all the police dept's lanyards was a little white Sherlock (deerstalker and pipe) silhouette against a blue background

something Carol said a few days back got me thinking, maybe there should be a little space for former users of the forum who have.... lapsed!.... can say "hi, we're back!" after a spell away.... I have to say my lapsed period came from a much-needed 'time away' from all things Sherlockian.... a rest is as good as a change... My main interests remain the original Doyle stories but outside of those, BBC Sherlock, Peter Cushing, Douglas Wilmer, the Rathbone series and of course Jeremy Brett are THE motion-picture Holmeses. ((i'm no anti-Downey Jr snob, mind... it was those films that helped lure me into the Sherlockian world in the first place!)) During my time away I got rid of a LOT of my collection, which means i'm starting collecting again, however, this time I am being much more selective. Part of the problem I think was that I wanted to get EVERYTHING!!!!!.... which can quickly lead to over-obsessiveness and burn-out. Other than that, I'm a Scotsman living in Lancashire working in the care sector, and I also like Dr Who, William Burroughs, old books and old comics etc. And that's me

i'm still boggled that fan theories about names (and such) can 'become' quasi-canonical 'fact' (e.g Holmes' apparent full name, the H in John H Watson.... we have Baring-Gould and Sayers to thank for those don't we?)..... it's a fascinating process... bonkers and fun

hee hee, thanks I doubted anyone would remember me! Been off the Baker St scene for a while, but re-addicted once more... my mind rebels at stagnation...

nothing like childhood nostalgia, whatever one's generation

a couple of favourites from old book scans : how cool does Gillette look in that pic? Answer: VERY!!!!!

^ that would be superb as a film... imagine it, 'Muppets Christmas Carol'-style...!!!

good points there they can set up so many story ideas that come 'from' the originals, but the new combinations will have new effects on the characters, and hence to new plots....

I've been thinking about this myself, especially since series 2 where they really seemed to ditch 'new stuff' like the Blind Banker (which itself has a few nods to SIGN!) and have really gone for the very modern 'mashup' method.... as springboards at least the truth is that probably there is an infinite number of ways even 'pure' referencing could be recombined and the stories ending up as 'fresh'.... but I would prefer lots more NEW stuff.... come on BBC, let's have a few more standalone Blind Bankers...!!

I suffer from depression myself so have a horrid feeling I would end up with 'Brett'......!!!! (i'd much rather be the dashing, sexy, carefree Cumberbatch... or the snugly, smugly self-assured Rathbone... haha)