Canon References In BBC Sherlock

[T.o.b.y]

Has this been pointed out here before? I can't remeber...

 

In The Hounds of Baskerville, Sherlock says:

"Your mind, it's so placid, straight-forward, barely used. Mine's like an engine, racing out of control. A rocket, tearing itself to pieces, trapped on the launch pad. I need a case!"

 

In "The Devil's Foot", there's this observation by Holmes:

"To let the brain work without sufficient material is like racing an engine. It racks itself to pieces."

 

... and there the parallel ends, because Holmes was in the middle of a case when he said that and just not getting anywhere with it.

[T.o.b.y]

In The Great Game, John when asked to analyze the trainers says something along the lines of "no, I'm not here on a stand so you can humiliate me". That never seems to be a concern of the original Dr Watson, he happily plods along with his own deductions and lets himself be ridiculed on occasion without much complaint. Critics of course have claimed that he was invented expressly to be dense and make Holmes look more brilliant by comparison and I think that line was supposed to be a comment on that.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Ah -- a little in-universe meta!  I suspect you're right.

 

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

But he wasn't really that dense in the Canon. There are references to Watson being more then just Holmes biographer. That Holmes considered Watson to be an equal, a partner and a friend. In more then one story Watson is able to use Holmes' methods and deduce accurately. True, Watson may not have shone as bright as Holmes but even Sherlock accused Watson of puffing up Holmes brilliance.

 

  But after saying all that, there were times when Holmes did seem to bait Watson to make deductions on a object and then tear him down, so it's cool that Gatiss and Moffat has John Watson point that out.

[T.o.b.y]

Oh, I am a great fan of the original Dr. Watson. I don't get the impression that he's supposed to be dense at all - or that his role is merely that of a sidekick. Mr Holmes would never have tolerated the company of anybody who wasn't clever and useful. I only read the other day that a lot of critics are supposed to have put him aside as nothing more than a dim-witted goof who was only kept around so Holmes would look better. Sounds to me like something Moriarty would have said...

 

How was Watson portrayed in older film adaptations? Estleman says that in the Rathbone version, he was "a corpulent and ineffectual bumbler" and "when he managed to stumble on an important clue, he could be depended on to blow his nose in it and throw it away". True? Doesn't sound very close to the source...

 

The original Mr Holmes did quite often say things to and about his friend that could be found pretty humiliating, for example:

 

"a singularly consistent investigation you have made, my dear Watson,” said he. “I cannot at the moment recall any possible blunder which you have omitted. The total effect of your proceeding has been to give the alarm everywhere and yet to discover nothing" (from "The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax").

 

Or:

 

"Not one of your cases, Watson - mental, not physical. All right; come if you want to"

 

It's just that the original doctor never seemed to mind that much. He sometimes made a "bitter" remark in turn, but more often he just kept his mouth shut and continued to follow his friend in loyal admiration. And he certainly never seems to have seen it coming. That's why I often giggle at Freeman's lines: It's as if John was saying: "Oh no, don't expect me to be like that!"

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

 I loved Nigel Bruce but I do feel Hollywood did use him way to much for the comic relief. It was war time and rightly people went to the movies as a type of escapism and needing and wanting to be able to laugh but even Rathbone got fed up with Hollywood using Holmes as a type of propaganda vehicle. He found the whole thing boring after awhile.

 

 But I have watched a couple of Rathbone/Bruce movies lately and noticed that Watson was actually able to do some pretty smart on deductions and was very pleased to see it.

[T.o.b.y]

This is another example where I am not sure whether it was a deliberate reference or not:

 

In The Great Game, Sherlock says exultingly "I am on fire!"

And in "The Reigate Puzzle", there is this paragraph about Holmes:

“Some folks might say there was madness in his method,” muttered the Inspector. “But he’s all on fire to start"

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

  As deeply as Gatiss and Moffat has researched or are doing so, it does seem as if one or both of them have an extensive Holmesian library, I would be inclined to think that every reference we see from the Canon included in BBC Sherlock as being a deliberate nod to Doyle.

[T.o.b.y]

Well, deliberate or not, it certainly adds both to the pleasure of viewing and the pleasure of reading to find connection after connection between the two. I keep thinking I must have spotted all there is now, and then yet another detail shows up. Oh, I am going to have so much fun with 3 entirely new episodes!

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

 

Oh, I am going to have so much fun with 3 entirely new episodes!

 

  It is going to be fabulous for sure.

[Carol the Dabbler]

In The Great Game, Sherlock says exultingly "I am on fire!"

 

And that line has a very distinctive sound not heard anywhere else in the six episodes.

 

I don't know whether it's delivery or recording technique or what, but the sound reminds me of the Lone Ranger's episode-ending "Hi-yo, Silver -- away!"  Even on television, this iconic line was a recording from the old radio program, because they never could get it to sound right again.

 

[T.o.b.y]

"A Study in Pink" really follows "A Study in Scarlet" pretty closely. I'm sure most of the parallels have already been pointed out here. One struck me, though, just now: I used to think the whole thing about Watson being traumatized by his war experiences was a modern idea and that the original was merely known to have been in Afghanistan with the army. Well, I was wrong, because:

 

"I ought to be more case-hardened after my Afghan experiences. I saw my own comrades hacked to pieces at Maiwand without losing my nerve."

 

How can it be that I never noticed that passage before? No wonder they wrote John as having bad dreams and seeing a therapist!

 

Sherlock is also really a pretty accurate portrait of the young Mr Holmes in the first novel, I must say.

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

I think in "A Study in Scarlet", Watson makes several references to how the war shattered his nerves and he was still feeling very much the convalescent and stated that he feared his health was beyond repair. Holmes proved him wrong.

[Carol the Dabbler]

I've just had another look at Chapter 1 of A Study in Scarlet, looking particularly for references to Watson's physical and mental condition:

 

"I was struck in the shoulder by a Jezail bullet, which shattered the bone and grazed the subclavian artery."

 

"I was struck down by enteric fever, that curse of our Indian possessions.  For months my life was despaired of, and when at last I came to myself and became convalescent, I was so weak and emaciated that a medical board determined that not a day should be lost in sending me back to England.  I ... landed a month later on Portsmouth jetty, with my health irretrievably ruined...."

 

"... I naturally gravitated to London....  There I stayed for some time ... leading a comfortless, meaningless existence."

 

"I am not strong enough yet to stand much noise or excitement.  I had enough of both in Afghanistan to last me for the remainder of my natural existence."

 

Naturally I must jump in here with an excerpt from Ariane DeVere's transcript of "Study in Pink":

 

SHERLOCK: Seen a lot of injuries, then; violent deaths.
JOHN: Mmm, yes.
SHERLOCK: Bit of trouble too, I bet.
JOHN (quietly): Of course, yes. Enough for a lifetime. Far too much.

 

"I object to row, because my nerves are shaken, and I get up at all sorts of ungodly hours, and I am extremely lazy.  I have another set of vices when I'm well, but those are the principal ones at present."

 

[T.o.b.y]

Oh yes, the original made pretty clear that Watson was not exactly in great health when he came back to England. I had just never noticed before that there was an explicit passage about mental trauma as well as physical. Thanks for the additional quotes, Carol!

[Carol the Dabbler]

I hadn't really noticed that, either, before reading your post.  Of course, anyone in such a depleted physical condition would be very likely to have emotional effects as well -- as Watson says, his nerves were shaken.

 

I'm especially touched by Watson's comment about leading "a comfortless, meaningless existence" before meeting Holmes.  That's exactly what I see in "Study in Pink."  As I've probably said too often already, I think it was the "meaningless" part that was really getting to him (either Watson or John, I guess), as someone who was accustomed to literally saving lives every day.

 

[T.o.b.y]

 

I'm especially touched by Watson's comment about leading "a comfortless, meaningless existence" before meeting Holmes.  That's exactly what I see in "Study in Pink."  As I've probably said too often already, I think it was the "meaningless" part that was really getting to him (either Watson or John, I guess), as someone who was accustomed to literally saving lives every day.

 

I am sure you are right!

 

I hadn't read "A Study in Scarlet" in a long time and totally forgotten how much fun it is to read if you just skip over the Utah chapters. I think Sherlock and John were both drawn the most from the way they are introduced there - makes sense, of course, because this is the youngest Doyle wrote them.

 

After having gone on and on about how different Sherlock is from the original Holmes, I was a trifle embarrassed to find on returning to the earliest story how much alike the characters are there, after all. Also that Watson seems to be the first person to really appreciate Holmes' brilliance (and his personality) while the police are still sneering at him is true to their original beginning.

 

[T.o.b.y]

There are several passages like this one in "A Study in Scarlet", where Watson compares Holmes to a hound following a trail:

 

"As I watched him I was irresistibly reminded of a pure-blooded well-trained foxhound as it dashes backwards and forwards through the covert, whining in its eagerness, until it comes across the lost scent"

 

Well, I've never heard Sherlock whine (yet), but I do think he is fairly reminiscent of a "sniffer dog", in spite of what he says to Lestrade about that. I love how he works with his nose a lot.

[T.o.b.y]

Am I the only one who finds the puns on the titles of Doyle stories rather silly? This one, at least, had a clever tie-in:

 

"The Navel Treatment" is said to be a "big case" by Lestrade and the first where we see the press line up to get photographs of Sherlock. "The Naval Treaty" was indeed a big case, involving a "secret treaty between England and Italy".

[Carol the Dabbler]

Am I the only one who finds the puns on the titles of Doyle stories rather silly?

 

You mean like "The Empty Hearse"? 

 

In general, I like the ones used within the episodes, such as "The Geek Interpreter."

 

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

Or the case of the Speckled Blond?

[T.o.b.y]

Exactly. Although I do hope that wasn't all we've seen based on "The Speckled Band". I have no idea how one would make anything halfway sensible out of that story, but I'd love to see them try!

[Carol the Dabbler]

In my opinion, the worst thing that story has going for it is the title.  You'd almost think that someone challenged Conan Doyle to take a story he'd already written, and by changing it as little as possible, make it fit a random phrase they'd selected to be the new title.  The version on John's blog makes more sense.  Or at least, no less sense.

 

[T.o.b.y]

I can't believe this escaped my notice before. Has anybody pointed out here yet that, as one of his many inconsistencies, Doyle named Holmes' landlady in "A Scandal in Bohemia" not Mrs Hudson, but - Mrs Turner?

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

 I read a comment on this recently but just where escapes me. Something about Mrs. Turner being a next door neighbor and she bought up the rest of that section of Baker Street from Mrs. Hudson.  Yup, I remember it from Canon.