Canon References In BBC Sherlock

[T.o.b.y]

 

I haven't found them yet (and I even went so far just now as to type "Waters" into the search box of my complete Sherlock Holmes PDF, which is cheating and not usually something I stoop to). But there are other robber gangs mentioned, like the one which has Moffat in it.

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

 

It just seems like they gave them an awful lot of air time if their only purpose was something for Greg to be lured away from for a gag.  That's why I thought they might be a canon reference -- thanks for checking.  Maybe they'll break out of prison in the next series, so that we'll at least know that they were finally convicted.

 

 

Oh -- there's a complete Sherlock Holmes PDF available?  With a search function?  Where?  I've often wished I had something like that, and I would definitely stoop to using it!

 

[Janie]

You can try this, Carol: https://sherlock-holm.es/. And for the search function, well, I use the simple ctrl+f. It works everywhere 

[T.o.b.y]

I wonder whether Sherlock says "John" so often when addressing him because that is a modern substitute for the famous "my dear Watson". I mean, people don't usually say their friend's name all the time.

[The Rani]

I wonder whether Sherlock says "John" so often when addressing him because that is a modern substitute for the famous "my dear Watson". I mean, people don't usually say their friend's name all the time.

 

Now that's a good point. I've never really picked up on that before.

 

Maybe Sherlock makes a point of calling him 'John' in front of Mary to make it clear that he's not called James

[Carol the Dabbler]

Seems like John calls him "Sherlock" quite a bit, too.  So yeah, that could very well be Moftiss's nod to "my dear Holmes" and "my dear Watson."  Hadn't thought of that!

 

[Undead Medic]

And with modern sensitivities being what they are, saying "My dear John" would sound either sarcastic or would further feed the fan-fic writers! :smiley:

[Carol the Dabbler]

Heaven forbid that either Sherlock or John would ever be sarcastic! 

 

[Pamela]

I was just re-watching Granada's Blue Carbuncle and was reminded of the betting tactic Holmes used with the goose vendor to get information out of him (which of course is canonical).

 

And Moftiss apparently lifted that idea and put it in Hounds of Baskerville -- can't believe it took me all this time to figure that one out!

[Carol the Dabbler]

Watching the Granada episodes has had that effect on me, as well.  There seems to be something about seeing and hearing a scene that catches my attention more effectively than reading it would.  Maybe that's because Sherlock is also an audio-visual experience.

 

[T.o.b.y]

Another small reference from the wedding speech: "I really cannot congratulate you on your choice of companion".

 

This probably developed from:

 

“I really cannot congratulate you.”
I was a little hurt. “Have you any reason to be dissatisfied with my choice?” I asked."

 

It's a nice little twist to change that comment around the way they did.

 

Other bits from the speech are also from the ending of The Sing of the Four, such as this:

 

"...love is an emotional thing, and whatever is emotional is opposed to that true cold reason which I place above
all things."

 

Of course, all the nice bits were not in the original. But you could argue that they were subtext.

[Carol the Dabbler]

There's a rather obscure canon reference in "The Empty Hearse" -- but I suspect it may have been intentional.  When Sherlock is about to pry off the grate in the Tube station, we get a glimpse of a poster on the opposite wall of the corridor.  I'm virtually certain it's the same poster we saw all over London the following month, advertising a stage musical comedy ("from the creators of South Park") called The Book of Mormon.  Any of you who have made it all the way through A Study in Scarlet will understand what I'm getting at!

 

 

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

Oh yes, without a doubt.

[Convict13]

There's a rather obscure canon reference in "The Empty Hearse" -- but I suspect it may have been intentional.  When Sherlock is about to pry off the grate in the Tube station, we get a glimpse of a poster on the opposite wall of the corridor.  I'm virtually certain it's the same poster we saw all over London the following month, advertising a stage musical comedy ("from the creators of South Park") called The Book of Mormon.  Any of you who have made it all the way through A Study in Scarlet will understand what I'm getting at!

 

 

 

I have to say when I read A Study in Scarlet I wondered if somehow some other book got mixed up with my Sherlock Holmes,  is was a little confusing for a while there,  

[T.o.b.y]

This has probably been noticed by most people already, but I feel like pointing it out anyway, because I think it's very cleverly done:

 

The plot from the original "Empty House" is used for His Last Vow. There's an empty house, there's an assassin aiming at Sherlock Holmes and there is the dummy - pardon, John Watson, whom Mary takes to be a dummy, like the original used a wax figure.

 

So Mary is really up as the "real" Moran. I do wonder whether they'll take that parallel further and if so, how, exactly. I do hope it's a more complex solution than "she's a villain". I just like things to be complicated, I guess...

[Carol the Dabbler]

Well, complicated can be a whole lot more satisfying than "she's bad because she's bad" (which strikes me as venturing into soap-opera territory).

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

Just ran across this on Amazon (both .com and .uk):

 

BBC’s Sherlock has brought the classic adventures into brilliant life—fans across the world are delighting in every moment. But more is hidden within the episodes for the more serious fans—nonstop hints to the original adventures and the classic films as well. Within this book are all the references, with quotes from the actors and creators, notes from John and Sherlock’s blogs, and loads of colorful symbolism. There are vistable locations in London and a look at the constant byplay, far more than simple friendship, between the two heroes. With character bios and notes on all the unseen cases, this book bursts with references for Sherlock’s fans, those who know the century of lore and those who are yet to begin it.

 

It's available as either a paperback or Kindle file.  Sounds interesting, and is well reviewed (though by only 3 people).  I've added it to our wishlist.

 

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

Well,looks like I've got to make another trip over to Amazon.com then. Thanks for the heads up, Carol.

[T.o.b.y]

Just found this:

 

"The whole question of the Netherland-Sumatra Company and of the colossal schemes of Baron Maupertuis are too recent in the minds of the public, and are too intimately concerned with politics and finance to be fitting subjects for this series of sketches."

 

Baron Maupertuis? Wait - wasn't that the guy Sherlock "got himself in deep with" in Serbia?

 

And that encounter, as we all know, wasn't too pleasant. Well, in Canon, it leaves him ill in a French hotel:

 

"I received a telegram from Lyons which informed me that Holmes was lying ill in the Hotel Dulong. Within twenty-four hours I was in his sick-room, and was relieved to find that there was nothing formidable in his symptoms. Even his iron constitution, however, had broken down under the strain of an investigation which had extended over two months, during which period he had never worked less than fifteen hours a day, and had more than once, as he assured me, kept to his task for five days at a stretch. Even the triumphant issue of his labors could not save him from reaction after so terrible an exertion, and at a time when Europe was ringing with his name and when his room was literally ankle-deep with congratulatory telegrams I found him a prey to the blackest depression. Even the knowledge that he had succeeded where the police of three countries had failed, and that he had outmanoeuvred at every point the most accomplished swindler in Europe, was insufficient to rouse him from his nervous prostration."

 

This is, by the way, one of my favorite characterizations of Holmes. I have always loved the contrast between the genius and hero who outsmarts half the world and whose room is flooded with fan mail, and the nervous wreck lying around suffering from "the blackest depression" once the excitement is over and the deliberate over-working takes its toll. Talk about liking a damaged hero...

[Carol the Dabbler]

Well, at least he didn't get himself beaten to a pulp!  That turns out to be from "The Reigate Puzzle," which I have read but of course did not remember the very beginning of.

 

I wonder how "Maupertuis" is pronounced in whatever language it's from?  Mycroft says it as though it were spelt "Maupertius," and I must say I can't blame him.  Added:  Mycroft and I aren't the only ones confused -- the incorrect spelling "Maupertius" has about half as many hits on Google as the correct "Maupertuis."

 

[T.o.b.y]

Well, at least he didn't get himself beaten to a pulp!  That turns out to be from "The Reigate Puzzle," which I have read but of course did not remember the very beginning of.

 

Yes, it is - thanks for naming the source, Carol, I should have done that... sorry.

 

No, it did not get him beaten to a pulp and once again, I have no clue why the writers thought they needed that torture scene. To show Mycroft is a bad person? Thanks, I kind of suspected as much before. To let us admire the actor's body? Thanks again, but if this is the context, I don't really care for that... Give me the sheet scene any day

 

A damaged hero is all very well, but that scene was just several yards over the line of what I find appealing. I mostly fast-forward it now. It makes me too angry.

 

Holmes does get beaten up in "The Illustrious Client", but that was an attack on the street, not torture. And it didn't happen "on stage"; Watson read about it in the papers, if I remember correctly.

 

 

 

[Arcadia]

 

 

No, it did not get him beaten to a pulp and once again, I have no clue why the writers thought they needed that torture scene. To show Mycroft is a bad person? Thanks, I kind of suspected as much before. To let us admire the actor's body? Thanks again, but if this is the context, I don't really care for that... Give me the sheet scene any day

Maybe it's an homage to all the times Sherlock is severly beaten in fanfics. 

[T.o.b.y]

I just noticed yet another (potential) little nod to the original stories:

 

"Pray give my greetings to Mrs. Watson" is the last sentence in Holmes goodbye-letter in "The Final Problem". And what does Sherlock say in "His Last Vow", when it is clear that he has maneuvered himself into a leave-taking situation again? "Give my love to Mary". 

 

Also, Mary Morstan was a client in "The Sign of Four", so making her a client in His Last Vow kind of "sets that right".

[T.o.b.y]

Ah-h-h, it is so much fun to finally get back to combing through my old volumes after the excitement of series 3 has passed a bit and look for references, imagined or real... I don't believe I'd like Sherlock half as much if it weren't for the level of adaptation. (I'd still be gaga over it, though... )

 

It just struck me that while I used to think the idea of Watson as a danger seeker was no more than an interpretation by Moffat and Co (a very interesting one, though), there are actually hints in the original that Mr Holmes shares this impression of his character. Take this statement for example, from "The Devil's Foot" (great story, by the way):

 

"Now, Watson, we will light our lamp; we will, however, take the precaution to open our window to avoid the premature decease of two deserving members of society, and you will seat yourself near that open window in an armchair unless, like a sensible man, you determine to have nothing to do with the affair. Oh, you will see it out, will you? I thought I knew my Watson."

 

The context is that Holmes has just found an exotic drug which he thinks was used as a murder weapon and what better way to test that theory than to burn the stuff and inhale the fumes himself? This is, by the way, one of the instances where our detective would have been stone dead as a result if Watson hadn't intervened... Seems the good doctor's constitution was a bit stronger (or maybe he just got a lesser dose by sitting closer to the window).

 

The substance itself I think could well have been the inspiration for the "H.O.U.N.D." drug in series 2: Vaporous, hallucinogenic, made victims go insane (if they didn't die).

[T.o.b.y]

From A Scandal in Belgravia: "The wheel turns - nothing is ever new".

 

From "The Valley of Fear": "The old wheel turns, and the same spoke comes up. It’s all been done before, and will be again."

 

He also says in the same paragraph: "Everything comes in circles, even Professor Moriarty". Seems the Sherlock writers are honoring that as well...