The One

And Doctor Who is back! (Well, the show's not back, but my writing about it is back.) Aren't you excited? I'm excited. So the last time I blogged about Doctor Who, I talked about the Doctor (see here). Now I'm going to put my focus on the companions. They are an extremely important part of the show for many different reasons. The Doctor, himself, is always saying how important everybody is and makes sure his companions know that at all times. I'm putting my focus on the New!Who companions because I know the most about them (and this post would be sooooooooo long if I included all his companions from the beginning. Actually, I'm not even including all of the New!Who companions (just the long term ones).

The Doctor explains his reason for having companions: "I'm 907. After a while you just can't see it. I look at a star and it's just a big ball of burning gas, and I know how it began and I know how it ends. And I was probably there both times. Now after a while, everything is just stuff. That's the problem, you make all of space and time your backyard and what do you have? A backyard. But you, you can see it. And when you see it, I see it."

Also, he's lonely. He needs friends, people to talk to, and as one of his companions points out, "someone to stop you" from going too far.

They're usually female because the writers want to give the show some balance in gender. Because of this, the writers also make it a point that the companions kiss the Doctor at least once XD.

To explain the title of this post, the Doctor always has to leave each of his companions at some point. Each one was heart-wrenching in their own way (some more so than others). I've given a title to each of them that sort of sums up their reason for leaving. But like I said before, they all are important. Each one had a very significant impact on the Doctor's life.

Rose Tyler: The One He Lost

Rose met the Doctor when he saved her life from shop-window mannequins in a basement at her job. He decided to bring her along after she saved his life and helped stop the alien "invasion". She's the only New!Who companion to witness the Doctor regenerate. She and the Doctor, over time, fell in love with each other. However, it didn't last long. To make a long story short, Rose got trapped in a parallel universe and only got two minutes to say goodbye to the Doctor before never seeing him ever again. The One He Lost.

This girl is amazing. She is the girl that saved the Doctor from himself. I mean, he was so alone and so hardened and bitter from the Time War, but then he met Rose who was so full of compassion and it wasn't long before she saw that he needed her. She didn't travel with him for the glamor and fun of the ride, it was because of him. That's true companionship, I think. Her stubbornness and determination is a great characteristic of hers. Of course, in the end, that's what led to her separation from the Doctor. Their goodbye scene was truly tragic. (I cry my eyes out every time.) But she saved the world and got stuck in an alternate universe, she certainly earns the title the Doctor gave her, "Rose Tyler: Defender of the Earth".

Martha Jones: The One Who Left

Martha met the Doctor in the hospital where she was studying to become a doctor. The Doctor decided to bring her along for "one trip" after she saved his life. However, their "one trip" escalated into several trips. When the Doctor finally took her home, they got caught in another adventure to which the Doctor offered to reward her with another trip. Martha at first refused, saying she didn't want to be just a passenger anymore, to which the Doctor agreed to take her on as a full-time traveller. Eventually, Martha saved the world single-handedly, but at a great emotional cost. She decided she wanted to stay behind with her family and to finish becoming a doctor. Plus she had fallen in love with the Doctor, but he didn't reciprocate so she felt she had to get out and move on. The One Who Left.

Martha gets so much hate, and I don't understand it at all. She's freakin' amazing for what she went through. Don't get me wrong here because I love the Doctor, but he was not always completely sensitive towards her. He's completely oblivious of her obvious affection towards him. Also, he's angsty because of his loss of Rose and it's sort of taken out on Martha sometimes. I love Martha, really. I love her intelligence, her bravery, and her selflessness and dedication to the Doctor in the face of all the hardly ideal situations they get into. Then this woman saves the world all on her own. On. Her. Own. No Doctor, no TARDIS, or anything. If that doesn't qualify her as a boss, then I don't know what does.

Donna Noble: The One Who Forgot

Donna didn't exactly meet the Doctor per say. She was sucked into the TARDIS, much to her chagrin. After much confusion and some saving the world, the Doctor and Donna grew to like each other and the Doctor invited her to come along. However, she refused, but advised him to find someone else. This was all before the Doctor had met Martha. Later, after Martha left, Donna and the Doctor crossed paths again, this time Donna said that she would like to join him. The Doctor said she could come on one condition, she must not fall in love with him because it had complicated things in the past, to which she more than happily agreed. Because of complicated reasons that I'm not going to go into, Donna becomes part Time Lord- part Human and saves the universe. However, the Time Lord part of her brain starts to kill her and in order to save her life, the Doctor wipes her memories of all her time and adventures with him. The One Who Forgot.

Donna is one of my favorites. Her sassiness, her chatter, her loyalty, her friendship. The Doctor and Donna just formed this great partnership. They were this awesome duo, you know? Not in a romantic way, because they both agreed at the beginning not to get into that. They were best friends. They were perfectly in sync and they really needed each other. Donna needed someone to reassure her that she was important and that she was special, and the Doctor needed her to make him step back and take a hard look at himself when he needed to.

Tribute for the Companions of Seasons 1-4

Amelia "Amy" Pond: The One He Saved

Amy first met the Doctor when she was eight years old, after the TARDIS crash-landed in her backyard, suffering damages from his regeneration. He promised to take her away with him after he repaired the TARDIS, but when he came back, he got the date wrong and returned 12 years too late. He had decided to take her with him when she was little to save her from a crack in her bedroom wall that would have erased her from time eventually, but after she helped him save the world when she was older, it reaffirmed his decision. After so, so, so many life-threatening situations, the Doctor took her and her husband Rory back home telling her when she asked why he'd taken them back, "Because you're still breathing." The One He Saved. (Her story doesn't end here, but I had to give her a title.)

Oh Amy. What can I say about her? I can't say too much without being too spoilery (because I know my mom reads this, and I know that I am going to make her watch Season 6 when I come back home). She and the Doctor have this special bond. Sort of like Donna and the Doctor had, but different. I love how she always teases the Doctor like a little brother. She's so fiercely independent and feisty, yet she's also quite the damsel in distress sometimes. I've been noticing she sometimes has been making up for the Doctor's lack of angst lately, with some of her own. This isn't really a bad thing, it gives the show more emotion and real life. When she really shines though is when she's standing up for her family. She will do just about anything to defend them and she sticks close to them whenever she can. She puts them first. That's what makes her different from the other companions. She puts her family before the Doctor.

Some others who have travelled with the Doctor are Mickey Smith, Captain Jack Harkness, Sarah Jane Smith, River Song, and Rory Williams. (There are also many others who are "unofficial companions").

Video: A Beautiful Companion Tribute

A Holmes-y Analysis

So first it was Doctor Who, and now it's Sherlock Holmes. Don't worry, Doctor Who will most likely be back once the next season starts (which won't be until next year or possibly even the year of its 50th anniversary in 2013 *mega cries*). However, I've been filling my empty void by watching practically every Sherlock Holmes show/movie in existence (the ones that were available to me, at least). It's been a couple months since I started this and I think I've finished. What I've really enjoyed about this experience was seeing the many different portrayals of Holmes. He’s the most portrayed movie character of all time, with about 75 actors playing him in over 211 movies. How awesome is that? This post is dedicated to a couple of my favorites. (Of course there are many other men who portrayed Holmes, but they were not worthy enough to make it on my list.)

1) Robert Downey Jr. in the movie Sherlock Holmes (2009)

One of my mom's favorites. I did sort of talk about this one in a previous post. This portrayal was not very true to the books in many respects, but it was still well done and very entertaining altogether. This version is sort of like the action-hero version of Holmes. Because even though he's still superior intellectually, he doesn't use his smarts so much as his fists in order to defeat his enemies. He doesn't have the deerstalker cap, but he does still have the pipe. Of course I must mention that this Holmes is the only one to get some romantic involvement (well, physical romantic involvement). I know this version of Holmes gets all kinds of hate, but I don't think he really deserves most of it.

2) Ronald Howard in the TV series Sherlock Holmes (1954-1955)

This version of Holmes had a lot of focus on his quirky side. I was very entertained while watching this show, I found myself laughing a lot. It wasn't that this Holmes was a goofy character, it was just that he would do weird things in order to test theories or to get out of sticky situations. For example, Inspector Lestrade and Watson had left Holmes alone with a constable at a crime scene. When they got back they asked the constable where Mr. Holmes was. "He's sliding down the banister, sir." "He's what?". They later found out he was testing to see how much faster someone could get downstairs if they slid down the banister than if they ran. Another time he, Watson, and Lestrade were being watched and guarded in a pub, so he started a brawl-- much to Lestrade's horror-- in order to get the police there. Of course he has the trademark deerstalker cap, pipe and magnifying glass. However, what he lacked was the arrogance and the occasional coldness. This Holmes was too nice and too human, but I still found him extremely enjoyable.

3) Benedict Cumberbatch in the TV series Sherlock (2010- present)

I've dedicated an entire post to this show (see here), but I really love this portrayal of Holmes so I had to include him. Set in today's modern world, he pretty much embodies everything in the books. He does seem a bit more child-like though (I sometimes wonder how he got on before he met Watson). I am a bit disappointed that he hasn't donned a physical disguise yet. Well, he sort of did... he wore a security guard's uniform in order to get a look at a guarded painting in a museum, saying, "the art of disguise if being able to hide in plain sight". He does, however take on "personality disguises" in order to get what he wants (he is capable of crying on demand and such). Of course, being set in modern times, he doesn't wear a deerstalker cap, nor does he smoke a pipe. But he does use a magnifying glass. Not a traditional looking one, mind you, but a smaller, modern-looking one. I mentioned above that the Robert

Downey Jr. was the only version to

get romantic involvement, but then I added that it was the only version to get physical romantic involvement. That's because this version has a female lab tech who has a crush on him.

(EDIT: Since I've watched season 2, he has worn a deerstalker cap! XD. Not as a fashion statement, but he grabbed it from a nearby costume rack in order to hide his face from the press. It then became his trademark in the press, him wearing the hat. Cudos to the writers for slipping that in!)

4) Jeremy Brett in the TV movies Sherlock Holmes (1984-1994)

Probably the most accurate portrayal of Holmes in comparison to the books. I really don't know how to comment on this version because it's just so spot on. I can't even give examples or anything because all the movies were just portrayals of the books. My goodness, some of the disguises though were just amazing! Even though I knew it was him, it was so hard to tell, no matter how hard you stared. Really the only criticism I can give is that his normal voice bothered me a bit XD. He does wear the deerstalker cap occasionally and he does have the pipe and magnifying glass as well.

5) Basil Rathbone in a series of movies Sherlock Holmes (1939-1946)

One of the most famous portrayals of the character. I quite liked this version. A couple of the movies were set in the proper time of the late 1800's, but then most of them were set in the (then) modern times of the 1940's. For the ones set in their proper time period, Holmes did wear the deerstalker cap, but the ones set in the 1940's, he wore a normal stylistic hat of the period. In both, he always had the pipe and magnifying glass. I really have no criticism for him at all. Nothing even trivial like an annoying voice or something. He was a very accurate portrayal. The only criticism I would give would be directed at either the plots or at the portrayal of Watson (but I won't go into how annoying I found this Watson at times or else this would be a rather extensive post). I did find this Holmes's disguises quite good, although it was fairly easy to tell that it was him most of the time.

HONORABLE MENTION: Barrie Ingham as Basil in The Great Mouse Detective (1986)

He doesn't really count since he's not actually a portrayal of Sherlock Holmes, rather a shout-out. He gets a mention because he has all of Holmes's personality traits and such (as well as his deerstalker cap, pipe, and magnifying glass). I also like that the character's name is Basil after Basil Rathbone (named above). He also gets a mention just because I just really like his voice.

48 Years

48 years ago today, the BBC televised a daft little show about a man with a flying box. They didn't expect much; it was supposed to be an educational family show. It relied on string and staples for its special effects. Its main villain had a sink plunger attached to it. Yet, almost half a decade later, the show has become a national institution for Britain, an international phenomenon, and along with it has produced a fandom that spans three generations. 48 years ago today, the BBC televised Doctor Who.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DOCTOR WHO!!!

(If you want to know more about this show, read my previous post here: New Favorite)

My Doctors

Oh yes, we're back to Doctor Who. In the Whoniverse, every Whovian has "their Doctor", meaning either the first Doctor they watched and got attached to, or their favorite Doctor, or both. You might have noticed that this post is titled "My Doctors" with an "S". It's not that I have more than one. As a Whovian, of course I have my Doctor. I started out watching the Ninth Doctor, but MY Doctor is actually the Tenth. However, I've decided to dedicate this post to all three of the New!Who Doctors, Nine, Ten, and Eleven because they are the ones that really got me hooked on this show.

NINE- played by Christopher Eccleston

Watch an Eccleston Tribute

Accounting for regeneration, each of the Doctors have slightly different personalities. Nine is probably the most hardened out of all eleven of his regenerations. But take a look at the facts. He has just lost all of his family and friends, his entire race. His planet burned before his eyes and it was his fault. He was the cause of genocide for two whole races. Imagine having that on your conscience. He is a hardened, slightly angsty warrior who's trying to make up for it by saving everyone else. The Time War seemed to have removed some of his moral principals though, he doesn't have very much mercy. But then he meets Rose who helps him see the better way of dealing with things. Of course, he's still the Doctor, so he's not all angst and stiffness, he's definitely got a silly and fun side too. Nine's sense of humor is very unique next to other Doctors'. He's not straight out goofy like a lot of them, nor is he particularly witty, but he's got a sort of subtle silliness. Like switching a gun for a banana, or offering air from his lungs as a gift of peace, or acting indifferent in a life-threatening situation. He's also the sassiest out of the three New!Who Doctors, which I love XD

REGENERATION INSPECTION: "*looking in a mirror* Ah, could have been worse. Look at the ears though."

CATCHPHRASE: "Fantastic!"

TEN- played by David Tennant

Watch a Tennant Tribute

Yes, this one is my Doctor, but that's beside the point. So the Doctor says that this regeneration of himself "certainly has a gob". He definitely does. He's one of the most talkative of all his regenerations. He's a bit more bouncy and lively than his previous self, but he still retains a bit of that sorrow and stiffness. He's the most emotionally open out of all his regenerations, I think. He's cried openly more than any of his previous selves, and he is easily angered. In fact, when he meets River Song (who knows him as the Eleventh Doctor), she expresses her frustration with his being so emotional. But I think that's one of the reasons I personally like him so much, because of his emotion. Plus he's just adorable all around. He's easily excited by the funniest things (like the anatomy of a robot that just tried to kill him).

REGENERATION INSPECTION: "What do I look like? No, no, no, no, don't tell me. Let's see, two legs, two arms, two hands. Slight weakness in the dorcile-tubicle. Hair! I'm not bald! Ooh, big hair. Sideburns. I've got sideburns! Or really bad skin. A little but thinner, that's weird. Give me time, I'll get used to it. I have got a mole. I can feel it. Between the shoulder blades, there's a mole. That's alright, love the mole. Go on then, tell me, what do you think?"

CATCHPHRASES: "Allons-y!" or "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

ELEVEN- played by Matt Smith

Watch a Smith Tribute

The floppy-haired, bowtie-wearing madman. Doctor number eleven is definitely the quirkiest of the New!Who Doctors. I sometimes think that, although Time Lords have no control over what they get when they regenerate, their sub-conscience sort of taps in somehow sometimes. I think this was the case for the Eleventh Doctor because Nine and Ten went through so much emotional turmoil that Eleven's personality was designed specifically to defend himself against future pain. He's a complete goofball and a child, but he also has an unusual coldness and darkness about him sometimes.

REGENERATION INSPECTION: "Legs! I've still got legs! Good. Arms, hands, ooh fingers! Lots of fingers. Ears, yes. Eyes, two. Nose? I've had worse. Chin, blimey! Hair... oh my gosh! No! No! No! I'm a girl? No! And I'm still not ginger! There's something else. Something important. I'm- I'm... Ha! Crashing! GERONIMO!!!"

CATCHPHRASES: "Geronimo!" or "(insert object) are cool."

The Art of Movies

This is post's subject is on my level of expertise. Movies. Oh yes, you couldn't ask for a better person to comment XD. It's what I devote like 85-90% of my life to. As my parents say, I speak in movie quotes and I know all sorts of trivia on all types of movies. I must warn you beforehand, this post might be a little scatter-brained.

So what got me really thinking about movies was my art class. Last week, we were talking about cinematography. The entire class was devoted to how movies have evolved over time as an art form. It was extremely fascinating to me. Now I'm not going to bore you with who invented the projector and where the first movies were shown, etc., but I will be bringing up some of the things I learned that apply to my post.

I've observed that a lot of people today really don't know a good movie when they see one. They think a good movie has something to do with the camera techniques, the special effects, and so on. While those thing contribute to a movie, I believe that they are not the key to a good movie.

Plot. That's what I think is what is really important to a movie. It always comes down to plot. As time wears on, people seem to care less and less about the plot, and more and more about the techniques put into the film. This has really been driving me insane lately since I've come up here to college and I've seen people's tastes in movies. I can't tell you how many movie nights I've skipped out on because they were watching a horror movie. Now, I know some of you are rolling your eyes and thinking, "What's wrong with a horror movie?" Well, nothing really, it's just that I don't really like that genre, but that's not my point. It's that the particular horror movies that they were watching were the blood and gore, slice and dice type horror movies. (I know this because they would always be talking about the exploding heads and stuff later). Why on earth would people want to watch this? People are beginning to fail to appreciate good plots and just enjoy such violence on the screen.

I seem to be the only person to enjoy old movies. Really old stuff. I've watched things from the 1930's, the 1950's, the 1960's, etc. and enjoyed them all. However, many people will watch the same thing and will be bored out of their minds. This is because they grew up in this day and age where they are always bombarded with visual stimulus. I mean, a lot of that old stuff didn't even have color, much less lots of action.

For example, I was watching The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934). I thoroughly enjoyed it, but I have yet to meet someone else who enjoyed it just as much as I did. Now I also enjoyed The Scarlet Pimpernel (1982) and these same people watched it and enjoyed that version much more. Why didn't they like the 1934 version? I know why they didn't like it very much. To name a few: it was in black and white, there was hardly any background music, the special effects were not very adequate, there was hardly any camera movement, and there were some long drawn-out scenes that easily could have been cut down to a few minutes. So why did I enjoy it so much? Well, because of the plot. In the old days, moviemakers really paid attention to the plot and much less to techniques. That's why I find old movies so fascinating.

People often complain that old movies are "too slow". Quite right too, if you're comparing them to today's movies. In my art class, my professor showed us a clip from the old King Kong movie, where King Kong was battling the T-Rex (in which he breaks its jaw). The fight seemed to go on forever and things were just repeating themselves, I found myself asking, "Is something going to happen already?" until finally it ended.

The fight probably lasted around five minutes. Then my professor showed us a clip from the King Kong remake from 2005. It was the same fight scene and it lasted probably just under a minute. His point of showing us the clips were for a different reason than what I'm going to explain here, but what I observed was just what I explained above; we're bombarded with so much visual stimulus today, that we are easily bored with that old stuff because it's "too slow".

Now back to plot. People also like to complain that a good book will be ruined by turning it into a movie because they movie always changes the plot. This is true. The book's plot will be adapted for the screen in different degrees, but just because the plot is changed, that doesn't mean the movie will be bad. True, it may not completely butcher the book, but the movie itself may still be good. Take, for example, Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Now that plot was altered by almost every degree, but if you're some stuck up literature nerd (*cough* I'm not naming any names *cough*), I suggest you still give the movie a chance.

I will now bash techniques again. Sometimes adapting a book to movie will ruin the book though. (I'm sorry to those of you who loved it) Pride and Prejudice (2005) was a little too focused on rather than the story itself. It was an absolutely gorgeous movie, with brilliant costumes, sets, scenery, music, camera movements, etc, but the story was annoyingly rushed.

When a movie can equally combine plot AND techniques that equals a fantastic movie. While I am more interested in plot rather than the beauty, that doesn't mean I don't appreciate it. As an artist and an amateur movie-maker, I probably appreciate it more than the average citizen and am more nit-picky when it comes to my movies. I won't watch some stupid horror movie with a lame plot that's full of gore and nastiness. Where's the art in that?

So I'm not saying that technique and beauty aren't a good thing. On the contrary, it will definitely keep you in your seat watching the entire time, but plot is what makes you come back to watch it again.

Sherlock

I said in my last post that I might expound on the TV show I mentioned there. Well, I've got a long weekend of doing nothing ahead of me so I thought now would be a good time to write about it :)

OK, where to start... I guess I'll start where I normally do. A summary of how I was introduced. (I know I sort of did in my last post, but this will be a little more detailed). So, being a Doctor Who fan, I heard about two of the writers from Doctor Who that got together and came up with an idea for another show. Naturally, being a fan I was interested in other TV shows that they wrote, so when I came across the TV show called Sherlock... "WHAT IS THIS?? 8D" I didn't watch it right away though. For one thing I didn't know where to find it. And for another, I wasn't completely caught up on Doctor Who yet, so I was determined to finish that first. I have another blog elsewhere and some of the people I follow on there happen to watch the show. I started noticing their posts more and more and became more and more interested in it. Eventually, I found it on Netflix instant play and started to watch. After the first episode, I was hooked.

Sadly there's only one season with only three 90 minute episodes. However, despite the lack of footage, it is an amazing show! Season 2 is scheduled to air sometime in early 2012.

Anyways. What it is, is a modern-day Sherlock Holmes. The original Sherlock Holmes stories take place in the late 1800's, so I find it extremely entertaining to see the characters and situations placed in a modern setting. Each episode is actually based off of at least one of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's original stories (unlike most of the movies where the writers have just made up the story entirely), except it's been modernized.

Sherlock Holmes is played by Benedict Cumberbatch (try saying that when you've just woken up), who's absolutely fantastic! Since it's modern, the characters refer to each other by

their first names which explains why the name of the show is just 'Sherlock' and not 'Sherlock Holmes'. One thing you need to remember about this character is that he's not a psychopath, he's high functioning sociopath "do your

research". In this adaption he loves to text and is extremely skilled when it comes to researching on the internet. Sadly, he doesn't smoke a pipe like the original Holmes (although, I suppose that would seem a bit odd in today's society). Instead, he uses nicotine patches, saying that "it's impossible to sustain a smoking habit in London these days". Even though he's in the modern world, he still maintains most of the original Sherlock Holmes character that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote. Cudos to Benedict Cumberbatch for memorizing all those extremely long monologues of Sherlock's deductions and spewing them out at 90mph.

Dr. John Watson is played by Martin Freeman. This Watson has an amazing amount of depth compared to past Watsons. The episodes actually are mostly from his point of view like the books are. He is a traumatized war hero with trust issues, but then he meets Sherlock Holmes and then, boy, does his life get turned upside down. For the modern world, instead of writing down his adventures with Holmes as a diary for the public, he writes a blog. Another thing I found amusing was that the writers poke fun at Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's continuity error by giving him a psychosomatic limp in his leg when he actually got wounded in the shoulder.

Each adaption of Sherlock Holmes portrays the Holmes/Watson relationship differently. In this adaption, their relationship is sort of like an older brother/younger brother relationship. Watson is constantly reprimanding Holmes for his rudeness, childish behavior, lack of moral principals, etc. But then of course, Watson obviously admires and trusts Holmes more than anybody else he knows. Despite their differences, they are very good friends. Watson is really the only person that Holmes actually seems to care about (and he clearly does a great deal by the third episode). Occasionally, people assume that Watson and Holmes are a couple because they live together, which I suppose is what would happen sometimes in today's society -__-. This is played for comedy as a running gag in the show since Watson gets annoyed at it and Holmes (par usual) hardly cares and lets Watson deal with it. More comedy comes from Holmes constantly insulting and being rude to everybody ("What is it like in your funny little brains? It must be so boring.") and Watson always having to cover and apologize for it.

Of course other original Sherlock Holmes characters are present as well. Mrs. Hudson, Lestrade, Mycroft Holmes, Moriarty. Mrs. Hudson's character doesn't really alter much from the original character as Holmes's and Watson's landlady. Lestrade has been modernized to a detective inspector who respects Holmes's abilities, but is easily irritated with him. The Holmes brothers are basically pure comedy; They're so melodramatic ("This petty feud between us is simply childish. People will suffer.") and Sherlock's always just a sassy little brother to Mycroft XD. And then Moriarty... well I'm not going to say much on him. You'll just have to watch and see how they've upgraded our hero's arch-nemisis.

There's so much more I could say, but then I'd just give away the entire series. Basically, this show is amazing and I highly recommend it (especially if you're a Sherlock Holmes fan). I personally, get excited every time I notice a reference to the books, so I thoroughly enjoyed the show. I was never bored.

CLICK FOR TRAILER

So to finish, I'm just going to put a couple of my favorite quotes here for my own amusement.

Sherlock: Shut up.

Lestrade: I didn't say anything.

Sherlock: You were thinking. It's annoying.

Sherlock: Anderson, don't talk out loud. You lower the IQ of the whole street.

Sherlock: Shut up! Everybody shut up! Don't move, don't speak, don't breathe! I'm trying to think! Anderson, face the other way, you're putting me off.

Anderson: What? My face is?

Watson: So why do you put up with him?

Lestrade: Because I'm desperate, that's why. Because Sherlock Holmes is a great man, and I think one day- if we're very, very lucky- he might even be a good one.

Watson: We can't giggle, it's a crime scene.

Sherlock: I need some air. We're going out tonight.

Watson: Actually, I've got a date.

Sherlock: What?

Watson: It's where two people who like each other go out and have fun.

Sherlock: That's what I was suggesting.

Watson: No, it wasn't.

Sherlock: I've disappointed you.

Watson: It's good, it's a good deduction, yeah.

Sherlock: Don't make people into heroes, John. Heroes don't exist and if they did I wouldn't be one of them.

A Mystery History

Guess what? It's NOT Doctor Who, or Disney, or the Scarlet Pimpernel, or any of the sort. I have other interests as well. The title should give you a hint if you know me at all. Any guesses? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

Some might guess Nancy Drew. Well that's a good guess because I did read those an awful lot in my past, but that's not it. It's Sherlock Holmes.

Yeah, you probably thought of that as soon as you saw the word "mystery" (or maybe you didn't, what do I know?), but that's with good reason. He is, after all, the most well-known

detective in the world. I'm actually surprised at how many people don't know about Sherlock Holmes. They know he's a detective, but not much more than that. "Oh that guy with the weird hat and the pipe, right?" Well, allow me to enlighten you all.

First-- as it's a tradition in my posts-- I'll start by describing how I was introduced to Sherlock Holmes. Well, like most people, I just grew up hearing the name in pop culture. He's the

popular icon for detective. His magnifying glass and deerstalker cap= detective. Everybody

knows that, right? Anyways, I just knew that Sherlock Holmes was this great detective. Actually for the first probably about 8-10 years of my life I actually thought Sherlock Holmes was a real person. I had no idea he was a made up character in some books.

I found this out while I was in my dad's office and I found an extremely fat book entitled "Sir Arthur Conan Doyle". On the spine it said "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes/ The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes/ The Hounds of Baskerville/ A Study in Scarlet/ And others". Of course, I was a bit confused. I wondered if it was some sort of a biography or something. I flipped through a couple pages and gathered that they were stories. Despite what some people think, I am actually an intelligent person (and was even when I was a kid) and I deduced that Sherlock Holmes was in fact a fictional character. I attempted to read the book, but since I was only about 8-10 years old, it was waaaay beyond my level so I quickly gave it up and put it back on the shelf. I soon forgot about it.

Several years later, I was a sophomore in high school. I, being a picky teenager, was bored with my entertainment. My mom continuously suggested reading a book; advice which I always ignored. One day I was in my dad's office, scanning the bookshelf out of boredom, when I found the fat red book again. Well, I decided to give it another try. To make a long story short, I was hooked after the first couple short stories. I started taking it to school to read in between classes (despite its massive size). It didn't fit in my backpack, so I carried it. It took me a couple months to finish the entire thing. So I can proudly say that I have read every single Sherlock Holmes story ever written (at the least the ones told from Watson's POV).

Now that we've got my background, on with my post. So I've always had an interest in mysteries and intense/suspense plots. I like it when stuff ties together in elaborate ways that makes you go "OH!! That's brilliant!" at the end of the period where you're whacking yourself in the head because you want to know what the heck is going on so badly. (That's why I thoroughly enjoy Doctor Who [especially season 6, good golly!]). The Sherlock Holmes stories are particularly unique mysteries because Holmes is such a genius. In most stories the author tries to make the main character relatable (in other words, makes them like us. Makes them a real person). In mystery novels, the detective or the person solving the mystery often is a person with real emotions and average intelligence with an average thinking process. That way we can follow them and figure out the mystery along with them. Also if the character has these average emotions, other options such as hostage situations, romantic connections, and other suspense situations are available for the author to include in their story.

Sherlock Holmes is different. I don't remember where I read it... some website... where somebody had calculated Holmes's IQ. I don't remember the exact number, but it was abnormally high. He also lacks certain human characteristics that don't allow the reader to connect with him so easily. The point of the stories, however, are not to connect to Sherlock Holmes. The goal is simply to observe Holmes as he unravels the mysteries that fall at his door. Holmes's friend, Dr. Watson, kindly laid out a list rating Holmes' knowledge/talents: "Literature- nil.; Philosophy- nil.; Astronomy- nil.; Politics- feeble; Botany- variable; Geology- practical, but limited; Chemistry- profound; Anatomy- accurate, but unsystematic; Sensational literature- immense; Plays the violin well; Is an expert in single-stick player, boxer, and is a swordsman; Has good practical knowledge of British law." Watson was also shocked to learn that Holmes did not know simple facts such as that the earth went around the sun. Holmes explained that if he ever did know that fact, he erased it from his memory because he only stores information in his mind that is useful to his work... which is a consulting detective (where the police consult him when they are out of their depths).

My favorite mysteries off the top of my head are A Scandal in Bohemia, The Adventure of the Speckled Band, The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb, and The Red-Headed League. There's one more, I can remember the story, but I can't remember the title... oh well. What I like about the stories is that for a lot of them, Holmes doesn't even have to go investigate much. He just hears the story from the witness and draws a conclusion from the details. It's extremely fascinating. The stories are told from Watson's point of view for good reason because then we can follow HIS thought process and be amazed by Holmes's logic and abilities. Excellent writing choice on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's part.

One more thing I'd like to make a remark on: no where in any of the books does it mention a deerstalker cap. So I'd like to know where this tradition started. Who was the first to put him in one and why has it stuck? It does talk a lot about his pipe and I seem to recall him using a magnifying glass on occasion, but what's with the deerstalker cap and plaid coat?

That's one thing I liked about the recent movie with Robert Downey Jr. they didn't put him in the deerstalker hat. Despite what several people have said, I thought that RDJ did an excellent job of portraying Holmes and the story was very true to a Holmes adventure (even though it wasn't based off any specific one). The only difference was that it added a lot of action and violence, but I justified that by saying that the movie had to please today's audiences (also Watson specifically mentioned that Holmes was a boxer in the books). The portrayal of Watson was a refreshing take also. In the past, Watson was always Holmes's bumbling companion who happened to live with him. In the movie, he's younger, more athletic, and more capable of handling himself. Plus he seems more of a friend rather than a colleague to Holmes (as he should be. Although their friendship is a little more sassy in the movie than how it's described in the books). Of course they had to make Irene Adler a love interest to Holmes. I couldn't really justify it since the book specifically said that Holmes never looked at her romantically, but only remembered her because she was the only woman to ever outsmart him. But... it's a 21st century movie, there needs to be romance. However, I can't criticize it too much because the movie was very true to Sherlock Holmes, overall.

Sooo... what has rekindled my love for this detective lately, you might be wondering? Well, you will not be surprised that Doctor Who had something to do with it XD

Two Doctor Who writers came up with a modern-day Sherlock Holmes TV show called Sherlock. Being a Doctor Who fan, of course I heard of another show where the writers teamed up. Sadly, the next season doesn't come out until next year so I've been rewatching the three 90-minute episodes occasionally while up here at college. But maybe I'll make another post detailing the show some other time. Right now, I'm just going to leave this here. :)