The Scriptorium

In case it isn't obvious, I just finished watching "The Six Thatchers". I have to admit that I didn't go into it with high expectations, which might be why I was so blown away by the episode. I think I'd forgotten how good Sherlock can be without incredibly sexist, patronizing scenes involving KKK suffragettes. Yes, I know it's been a year, but I'm not good at letting things go. At all. Saying that, I think I might be one step closer to forgiving Moffat and Gatiss after tonight.

( Massive spoilers for The Six Thatchers. Seriously. Don't read this if you don't want to be spoiled. )

It's finally happened. Kongsberg Maritime has found the Loch Ness Monster! Well, actually, it's the 30 foot model of the Loch Ness Monster that was created for The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes. Unfortunately, this first model sank in Loch Ness and a new model (the one that's actually seen in the film) had to be used in its place. Not surprisingly, Billy Wilder moved the Loch Ness shoot to a large water tank in the film studio. Anywaaaaaay, you can find an article about the discovery of this Loch Ness Monster model here if you're interested. Many, many thanks to pyrateanny for sending me a link to this article and for sharing the happy news with me in the first place. :-)

This is a very strange YouTube video that uses an image of the second Loch Ness model, but it might give you some idea of what the first model looked like:

"Film's lost Nessie monster prop found in Loch Ness" (Watch on YouTube)

And here's a cooler vid of the sonar sweep search of Loch Ness that resulted in the discovery of the first Loch Ness Monster model:

"Sonar footage reveals Loch Ness Monster...film prop" (Watch on YouTube)

Yes, I'm a massive geek. Even worse, I'm a Sherlock Holmes geek. However, even if you don't think this is an exciting discovery, you should at least find the technology behind the discovery exciting.

Yes, it's that time of year again! It's Sherlock Holmes's 162nd birthday! I had been hoping to include the classic SNL Sherlock Holmes Surprise Party skit as I was finally able to track it down in I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere's birthday post. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a way to copy the embed code or even track it down on YouTube. If anyone's interested, they can find it embedded in Help Sherlock Holmes Celebrate His 162nd Birthday.

Something I can share is Vidar Magnussen and Bjarte Tjøstheim's HILARIOUS "Missing Shoulder" Sherlock parody. I only found out that they had posted a new parody the other day, even though the vid has been on YouTube for nine months. If you've seen Oklahomo and Mind Phallus, you'll have some idea what to expect. Otherwise, I can only say that they're kind of rude, extremely bizarre and incredibly funny (if you have a sick, twisted sense of humour like I do). Anywaaaaaaay, here's the vid:

"Sherlock Parody [3]: Missing Shoulder" (Watch on YouTube)

Maybe Moffat and Gatiss should take some notes on how Victorian Sherlock should be done. *g*

Title: The Peculiar Incident of the Rhinoceros on the Downs
Author: Rusty Armour
Fandom: Sherlock Holmes - ACD
Characters: Sherlock Holmes, John Watson, Mrs. Hudson (sort of)
Category: Comedy, parody
Rating: General
Word Count: 2942
Summary: On a visit to the Sussex Downs, Watson begins to question his friend’s sanity when, instead of eliminating the impossible, Sherlock Holmes seems to be embracing it. Spoilers: Fairly big spoilers for “The Adventure of the Lion’s Mane” and “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” and passing references to A Study in Scarlet and “The Adventure of the Dying Detective”.
Notes: Apologies in advance for this story. I was re-reading “The Adventure of the Lion’s Mane” when the parody muse decided to strike. It was Fitzroy McPherson’s dying words that did it and the idea just wouldn’t leave me alone after that. I don’t know if anyone will enjoy this silly little fic, but I couldn’t not write it and I certainly had fun in the process. I won’t apologize for that. *g*

I not only consulted the Canon for fact-checking purposes, but relied on William S. Baring-Gould’s Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street: A Life of the World’s First Consulting Detective as well.

Disclaimer: With the exception of the rhinoceros and the two corpses on Holmes’s carpet, none of these characters are mine and I would never, ever, ever even consider claiming them as such. They belong entirely to a vastly superior writer, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.


This story can also be found here on AO3.


( The Peculiar Incident of the Rhinoceros on the Downs )

This will probably only be of interest to die-hard Sherlock Holmes fans (and maybe fans of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in general), but there's a Kickstarter project that has been started to restore Undershaw, the home in which Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote The Hound of the Baskervilles and other Sherlock Holmes stories. It's also a building that has fallen into major disrepair. ( It's a great cause, people. )

To be more accurate, this post is actually 30 reasons why I love the Granada Sherlock Holmes series – and, to be really accurate, that would be the episodes that were filmed before 1992. I’ve tried my best to block out the episodes that came after 1991. For those of you who didn’t read my previous LJ post, I let the 30th anniversary of the PBS debut of the Granada Sherlock Holmes series pass without marking it. Even worse, I allowed the original original debut broadcast date (April 24, 1984) pass without any kind of fanfare either. It looks like I’m just managing to squeeze in this post before the 31st anniversary of the ITV airdate, which saves me a bit of work (and a 31st reason). In any case, whatever way you look at it, my recognition and acknowledgement of this remarkable series is coming later than it should. I hope this post will help rectify that situation and serve as a homage to the Granada series.

I must give credit where credit is due. I used The Television Sherlock Holmes, Peter Haining’s excellent book about the Granada series, for research and fact-checking purposes. I also ended up saving some time and effort by re-watching certain scenes with the help of YouTube. Other information came from Wikipedia, the IMDB and the original stories, of course. ( Hey, it’s not just me babbling. There are images and vids as well. You should at least skim this post to figure out how I worked 'phosphorescence' into my list of reasons. )

Thanks to Intrada, a store/record label that specializes in more obscure TV and film scores, I was FINALLY able to get my hands on the soundtrack for Young Sherlock Holmes. To put this in perspective, I've been wanting the music for this film since I was 15, which is more years ago than I'd care to admit. ( Yeah, a whole helluva lot of years! )

While recently visiting my parents, I saw Tuppence walking (or, rather, stomping) across the living room and the image of Felicia from The Great Mouse Detective popped into my head. ( I wish I were kidding. )

I was inspired to post this entry because of a discussion I had with electrikviolet about The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes references in "The Empty Hearse". I only just got around to re-watching the episode today (probably because I'm home for the second day in a row with some kind of stomach bug/fever thing and I finished off The White Queen yesterday), so I've only just contacted poor electrikviolet about that second possible allusion. Anywaaaaaaaaaay, I thought it might be fun to catalogue the various references to The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes that I've noticed throughout the three series. I doubt this will be anything new for fans of The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, especially as Moffat and Gatiss have already pointed out the major influence that the film has had on their Sherlock Holmes incarnation. And, yes, I realize that I may only be writing this post for my own benefit, but, to quote Lestrade, "I'm cool with it." The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes is my favourite Sherlock Holmes film and Robert Stephens is my second favourite Sherlock Holmes, so I'm going for it. If nothing else, it keeps me from napping. *g* ( Unfortunately, I may be the only one who's kept awake by this post. )

And I've really got to stop using these lame rhyming titles. I think somewhere along the way Sherlock broke my brain.* As with my "Empty Hearse" post, I'm amazed I can produce sentences because my brain is still trying to process everything I've just seen. I've had to pull both Volume I and Volume II of my beat up Bantam Classics from my Sherlockiana Section in order to check certain references. As usual, I'll just babble about all the things that struck me during the episode. ( Come down to the vault. )