Sherlock Shrine

✣ Introduction

Welcome to my Sherlock Holmes shrine! The main purpose of this page is to keep track of every Sherlock Holmes story, TV show, movie or videogame I've watched, played or read, but there’s also some little extras like the art section, my tiny collection of graphics and my personal bookmarks.
This is updated quite frequently since I am always indulging in new Sherlock media, but I must warn you it is full of subjective and biased opinions! After all, it’s a way to show my personal progress in getting to know as many adaptations as possible, so everything here is not meant to be taken seriously and not objective whatsoever.

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✤ Book progress

I have reached this goal! I started the ∼17th of August and finished the 25th of November, 2024.

~~A Study in Scarlet, 1887~~
~~The Sign of the Four, 1890~~
~~The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, 1892~~
~~The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, 1894~~
~~The Hound of the Baskervilles, 1902~~
~~The Return of Sherlock Holmes, 1905~~
~~The Valley of Fear, 1915~~
~~His Last Bow, 1917~~
~~The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes, 1927~~

i really want to watch this adaptation...!!

wrote a chemistry paper on sherlock holmes the other day. its goddamn awful so im not sharing but i really appreciate that we get to see so many of sherlocks experiments on granada holmes

✶ Reviews

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson (1979 - 1986)
Started: 31/08/2024
Finished: 07/11/2024

Review last updated: 30/11/2024, 14:56
I've been racking my brain trying to come up with this review… I decided that maybe writing a simple and unorganized one is probably for the best though. I wish I had kept some sort of log when I started watching it for I feel it would make this far more interesting, but I'll have to make do with what I did write down and what I remember thinking while watching it.
To put it simply: this series is INCREDIBLE. I remember being fascinated with the amount of detail and personality this show manages to have considering it isn't as long running as some of the more popular TV adaptations. I came across it very early into my Sherlock Holmes obsession and it probably wasn't exactly the best place to start (considering that, even though it tends to be very accurate to the original stories, it still changes some details and storylines that Id probably had enjoyed better had I already read the original stories beforehand or had other adaptations to compare it to)

but it made me fall in love with the characters all over again. Here's one of the few things I wrote down about it while watching it: “It gave me a completely different perspective on Sherlock Holmes and I am very grateful for that. I can't exactly give a very objective opinion considering I've barely watched any TV adaptations, but it was very different from what I had gotten from some of the modern ones I used to watch episodically as a kid, and I feel as though I've discovered a completely different character… ” Take into consideration that before starting this series the last general idea I had of Sherlocks character was, well… reading Study in Scarlet a few years back and having watched less than 5 Sherlock BBC episodes. I obviously can't judge or criticize the show knowing I've watched very, very little of it, but the truth is I had an image of the character that was very different to what I encountered while watching The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes & Dr. Watson. Same thing happened to me with Watson! It genuinely made me appreciate the character much more than I ever had.
Besides my own personal experience with it, I feel like it's genuinely a very solid adaptation that manages to stay accurate to the stories written by Arthur Conan Doyle while still giving it its own spin on the books that makes the series incredibly special. Some of my favorite details were the following:

The way that it handled The Final Problem was just incredible. I don't want to spoil it, go watch it!!!!!!!!
Sherlock and John's relationship is just. wow. So many little details that make them feel so real to me… I'm not quite sure how to express this! They're very close to each other and so very full of admiration and respect for each other! The series also tends to add little scenes that, while insignificant to the main story, I feel are important for the gradual development of their relationship and it makes the characters so much more relatable and realistic to me. See: Watson teaching Sherlock how to operate a telephone, for example.
This is something I only was able to appreciate after finishing the books but the show also emphasizes some aspects of Sherlock's personality that are usually lost in some of the other adaptations I've seen. This isn't exactly my own opinion or thought since I have read various discussions of it before but I feel like it's still worth sharing: The idea the general public tends to have (myself included!) of Sherlock being generally rude and insensate is just… Well, not exactly wrong, since he does tend to be a bit inconsiderate at times - mostly because he doesn't seem to comply with social rules or expectations very often - but it tends to overshadow a key aspect of his character, which is his kindness. I feel like the soviet adaptation manages to show this side of him perfectly! It's very much appreciated.
The Hound of Baskervilles is adapted INCREDIBLY. It made me appreciate the novel a lot more. All of the episodes are great of course, but I feel like emphasizing this particular story because I genuinely had an excellent time watching it.

I am pretty sure this is all I can say about it. I can't and won't give it any sort of rating since this review is incredibly subjective and based directly on my own personal experiences with the franchise but I am completely fascinated by this show and it's definitely my current favorite Sherlock adaptation. That may or may not change in the future, but since it's the Sherlock iteration that made me get really into the franchise again, I'll keep it very close to my heart :)

Sherlock Holmes (1984 - 1994)
Started: 08/11/2024
Finished: 07/12/2024

Review last updated: 9/12/24, 17:30
As per usual I have no idea how to start this off… the previous review was complicated enough to write down, I can't imagine how long this one is going to take me! I'm thinking for this review I'll try to go over some notes and thoughts I've written down while watching it and generally explain my overall experience with this show. I have no intention of being objective whatsoever, so forgive me if this entry is particularly personal or anything of the sort - I believe I couldnt write anything that isn't subjective even if I tried, since there's no way I'd be able to judge it properfly from my inexperience.
I started watching Granada's Holmes adaptation on the eighth of november. One of the very first things I noted down is that I was impressed with just how accurate the depictions of the cases seemed to be and how good the interpretations of both Jeremy Brett and David Burke were - they were so close to how I imagined both characters while reading that I couldn't believe it!

This is something I kept thinking while watching the entirety of the show - even after the switch from David Burke to Edward Hardwicke - the acting and interpretation of every character is very impressive! Generally speaking I liked how close it managed to stay to the original stories while still adding some of its own touches. I particularly loved that Watson is portrayed as an intelligent and competent person, yet still keeping his kindness - something I've been really missing since I started watching other adaptations! Honestly I think both actors played him excellently and the slight changes to the stories that allowed him to take more important roles were really nice to see. His relationship with Holmes was also nailed in both interpretations of the character, even though they have their differences… Overall it was great!

I don't think I even have to mention Jeremy Brett’s Sherlock interpretation. There's nothing I can say that hasn't been said yet, and even if I tried I don't think I can describe just how great and true to the character it is.
Overall I had a great time watching the show. Most of the episodes seemed to have a pretty good pacing that kept me interested and I've binge watched it more than once. The only thing that I've had a problem with, and I know this is a pretty popular opinion, was the specials. The novel adaptations were fine - they all had enough material to go on - but I can't really say the same for the short cases… I've already written in my log about this so I don't really want to go on a ramble right now but to sum it up: I don't think they worked for me. Like at all. I am pretty sure it's the fact that most of them deviate so much from the originals and generally feel so stretched out that I just couldn't sit through them. I had to take countless breaks while watching The Last Vampyre and The Eligible Bachelor (genuinely what was that special????? is it me or was it INCREDIBLY bizarre?) simply because I couldn't concentrate and kept losing track of the story. The Master Blackmailer was really good though, I'd say that's the only one I really liked.
But I don't want to end this on a negative note! Ignoring a select few episodes that I didn't really enjoy, the show was incredible. Hell, I'd say it's the definitive Sherlock Holmes adaptation. The adaptations of both the stories and characters are incredible and full of detail, Brett’s acting is spectacular, it keeps itself very close and accurate to the original stories while still adding some touch of its own that generally improves upon them… there's definitely a lot to be said I can't quite put into words.

Forgive me for the lackluster review! I seem to be struggling to write down all of my thoughts. I'll update this eventually when I understand how I feel about the series a bit better.

Sherlock Holmes (1954 - 1955)
Started: 13/12/2024
Finished: 23/12/2024

Review last updated: 24/12/24, 13:43
This has quickly become one of my favorite adaptations ever. I’m surprised at how quickly it happened too - I started watching it 11 days ago yet somehow I’ve grown so fond of it that I’d say it’s my second favorite one so far. It’s different from the other versions, more lighthearted and comical (you could say “sillier”), but it really works. Howard’s interpretation is a younger,

more energetic and expressive Holmes that reminds me a lot of his character in Study in Scarlet, and Marion-Crawford’s Watson manages to keep a balance between being an intelligent, kind man and sometimes being a bit of a dumbass as well. What I really loved about this interpretation of both characters is that they complement each other perfectly and their chemistry is so well done that they’re a delight to watch interact. And they’re so funny! This series definitely made me giggle more than a couple of times.
Another thing I realized while rereading my notes for this review is that as the series progresses the episodes genuinely get better. The very first cases are a bit too dumb and fast-paced for my liking, the main conflict often being resolved in the very last minutes and feeling a bit out of nowhere, but as the show nears its end the cases seem to get more serious, interesting and even more mysterious, all of this while improving its pacing tremendously, even though the length of the episodes doesn’t change. I’d say my two favorite episodes were The Baker Street nursemaids and The Christmas pudding, both managing to keep that balance between comical and serious. Plus, in “The Baker Street nursemaids” we get to see Holmes and Watson attempting to parent for the first half of the episode, and in “The Christmas pudding”, besides being a genuinely great episode in general, we get to see both Holmes and Watson be defensive of the other one’s safety when encountering a dangerous criminal that threatens their lives... What other reason could I possibly need to consider them my favorites?

I’ll leave an extract of my personal log (the one that’s down below this page) since I feel it conveys my feelings on this adaptation perfectly and isn’t in need of a rewrite… I hope so. At least it’s pretty genuine.
“(...) The episodes are short and flow quite well, making it very easy to watch which is definitely a big factor, but I think it’s mostly because I am enamoured with Howard’s young and energetic interpretation of the character. This series is so dumb, some of the cases kind of suck, it’s quick, low-budget, very far off from canon and way too summarized, but the interpretation of both the main actors have completely sold it to me. I'm genuinely having a blast with this one and I can't find a logical explanation for it. Some things I have noted down that may contribute to this completely nonsensical explanation are that (1) I really like how the characters are interpreted, even though they differ a bit from canon, (2) I also really like the way Holmes and Watson interact with each other and their dynamic is very fun to watch and (3) it manages to be quite funny without having to make Watson a complete idiot. In fact, it was very refreshing to see an older adaptation that actually manages to balance out their personalities and make them complement each other so well!”

To summarize all of this: I absolutely adore this adaptation, I would kill to have more than 39 episodes to watch and I miss them already!!!!!!!

✶ Graphics

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Gifs
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i like howard sorry. theres not a lot of gifs of this version

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✶ My collection

🟎 Log & other notes or thoughts

24/12/24, 12:55 - Well! I finished Ronald Howard’s Sherlock Holmes yesterday. Lots of thoughts to share on a future review :)
I’ve also started reading House of Silk, although I am taking it particularly slow. I feel like it’s a bit of a heavy book to read in English since it isn't my first language. I can’t comment much on it because I've only read a chapter and a half though… So far so good. It really does feel like reading Sherlock - I was a bit worried that the change of author would make it feel radically different, but it didn’t. Still, it’s too early to judge! I am still debating what to do next. I have a LOT of movies on my watchlist and not as many shows so I think I’ll tackle the movies first so that the difference isn't that huge. Since I just finished Howard’s adaptation I think I’ll keep watching some of the more comical / lighthearted versions so that the change isn't that abrupt. Maybe the cartoon ones? I’ve been considering The Great Mouse Detective for a while now, so that’s most likely what’s next. Besides future plans I don’t have much else to say. I finished reading one of the books I bought for my collection and it was pretty fun. I actually have never been a fan of re-reading books but for some reason I had a pretty good time going over the stories again. I’ll also re-read The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and, if possible, I want to share some of the original illustrations my book has here.

17/12/24, 19:50 - Not exactly sure which direction this entry is going to go. I want to do a quick recap of what I’ve been watching lately because I’m pretty sure there’s some stuff I missed. First of all, as I am pretty sure I have actually mentioned before, I started and kind of didn’t finish watching the Basil Rathbone movies. I am pretty sure it’s staying that way for a while… I’ll retake them eventually but to be completely honest I wasn’t fully enjoying them and I was struggling to actually pay attention to the films lately so I decided it’s for the best if I try watching them some other time.
But I needed some other adaptation to watch in the meantime, of course. I came across Wilder’s “The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes” while looking for recommendations and spent 15 minutes downloading the movie on a random Tuesday and consequently leaving everyone else in the house without wifi. I only got back home at 1 o'clock in the morning so even though I really, really tried to finish watching it that same night, I had to give up half-way in and go to sleep. I finished the rest the next morning though, so my memories of the first half were quite fresh. Anyway! I had a really good time watching it. It's charming, funny and quite entertaining - there’s definitely some critiques to make, especially on the story department and, well, the fact I don’t think the title of the movie is very fitting - but overall I loved it. It was very refreshing.

I also watched the first episode of Sherlock BBC because my brother had to answer a series of questions about the series as homework for his literature class, and I was very much excited to be able to help him with Sherlock-related homework. I am thinking about what I want to say here very carefully for I fear this is quite the controversial adaptation: I don’t think this show is my cup of tea whatsoever. I can certainly see the appeal, and maybe eventually if I run out of practically every other adaptation in existence I might give it a chance, but I don’t think I’ll like it personally. I’ve never been a big fan of modern adaptations and I’m not sure I like how the characters are adapted… I understand in order to adapt it contemporaneously sometimes you have to modify aspects of their personality to make it work but they just feel like completely different characters to me, and very unlikeable characters at that. This may be an unpopular opinion! I’m just stating what I thought while watching ONE episode. Still, I don’t think I’ll be coming back to it anytime soon. I failed to take it seriously… multiple times… and if I wasn’t watching it for literature class homework I would have genuinely turned off my computer at the “high functioning sociopath” line. I am trying to be objective and neutral really badly, but at times it felt corny and ‘cringy’ (I really don’t like that word but it’s quite close to what I want to express) which is completely fine in a Sherlock adaptation and I can usually withstand - some of my favorites are pretty corny - but for some reason it made this particular version completely unwatchable for me. Maybe because I felt it was taking itself too seriously, or because I went in knowing full well that it’s a bit controversial and my expectations weren’t very high, but I’m not quite sure.

Either way, after the failure of trying to watch BBC Sherlock, I decided to start watching Ronald Howard’s adaptation which I was way more likely to actually enjoy.

My predictions were right and it has since become one of my favorites… I feel like saying this is a bit hypocritical considering I just spent an entire paragraph talking about how dumb I felt BBC’s Sherlock was, but I can’t help it! I wish I could make a long analysis and say my love for Howard’s version is completely justified and that it’s the best thing ever, but I think it all comes down to me having bad taste. So sorry to say that. The episodes are short and flow quite well, making it very easy to watch which is definitely a big factor, but I think it’s mostly because I am enamoured with Howard’s young and energetic interpretation of the character.

This series is so dumb, some of the cases kind of suck, it’s quick, low-budget, very far off from canon and way too summarized, but the interpretation of both the main actors have completely sold it to me. I'm genuinely having a blast with this one and I can't find a logical explanation for it. Some things I have noted down that may contribute to this completely nonsensical explanation are that (1) I really like how the characters are interpreted, even though they differ a bit from canon, (2) I also really like the way Holmes and Watson interact with each other and their dynamic is very fun to watch and (3) it manages to be quite funny without having to make Watson a complete idiot. In fact, it was very refreshing to see an older adaptation that actually manages to balance out their personalities and make them complement each other so well!

Well, I think this is about it. Some notes for the next entry: I’m going to keep watching Howard’s adaptation and I’m also considering starting to read some pastiches. I’ll update on that whenever I feel like writing again.

13/12/24, 12:13 - Translating some of my personal notes for the sake of archiving once again.
“00:22, 13 Dec: I started watching Ronald Howard’s Sherlock Holmes. I’m 24 seconds in and the audio quality of the 50s makes me very nostalgic - it feels like being 10 years old and watching El Zorro on Canal Trece again.
3:23, 13 Dec: Since I don’t have access to my Sherlock log right now, I’ll write this down here so I don’t forget: When I was looking for Sherlock adaptations in B&W I honestly thought I was going to like Basil Rathbone’s interpretation the most, simply because it seems to be the most popular one… I must admit I am having a much better time watching Howard’s. I think this version, from what little I’ve seen, does manage to maintain a certain balance between Holmes and Watson so that they complement each other - Watson is still a bit dumb but I feel he’s far more useful than Nigel Bruce’s, who I feel like is only really there as a comic relief character. Anyway, I really liked how they developed their first encounter and the start of their friendship in the first episode and all the little interactions between the two that came in the next ones. I really like it when an adaptation takes the time to develop their relationship outside of the cases a bit further. In conclusion: It helped a bit with getting back into watching adaptations, since I haven’t felt like watching much lately, mostly because I can’t really get into the 1939 film series - Nothing against Rathbone, he’s marvelous! I just really can’t stand the Watson of his version. I think I may not watch the rest of his movies :( “

07/12/24, 18:15 - I finished watching Granada today! I'll wait until I can write a proper review before actually sharing my thoughts on it though. All I can say right now is that it was wonderful and I enjoyed it a lot.
On another note, I started watching Basil Rathbone's Sherlock movies and I wanted to note down some of my thoughts on it before I forget:

I really like Rathbone's interpretation of the character and honestly physically speaking he's very close to what I imagined Holmes looked like when I first started reading the books, but I can't say I like Nigel Bruce's Watson… no disrespect to the actor whatsoever! He just feels… unnecessarily stupid? Maybe that's just how he came off to me, but it just feels like a really REALLY dumbed down version of Watson that I'm not quite sure I like, and honestly this exceedingly comical interpretation of the character weirds me out so much that I can't even find him funny. That's just me though! Don't take me too seriously, maybe I'll like him more overtime.
It takes so many creative liberties? I don't understand why though. I only watched the Hound of Baskervilles and I know a lot of the next few movies are completely original cases but I can't wrap my head around why exactly they would change the most insignificant details of the story for apparently no reason whatsoever. Once again this is only a first impression so I may be wrong about this as well.

04/12/24, 18:20 - Translating some notes I have on Granada for the sake of keeping this log accurate and up to date; these are only my initial thoughts so maybe they'll change in the future, please don't take me too seriously!
“I have very few Granada Holmes episodes left but I'm finding it really hard to actually watch. I think it may be the whole “stretching short cases into 2 hour long specials” thing; they feel a bit stretched out and excessively long to me. I feel like it isn't really working… Some of the cases felt too long and confusing to me, which is quite a shame because I think the series is impeccable in every other aspect but this one. The only exception to this I can think of is “The Master Blackmailer” because there wasn't any weirdly complicated added narrative to extend the duration of the case and whenever it did add new details to it, they felt like they actually fit in quite well with the original story and therefore improved upon it. This does worry me a little. I don't want my image or opinion on this series to change dramatically because of a few “bad” episodes, but I think this is just happening to me because I'm nearing the end of it and I'm forgetting to consider how much I have enjoyed some of the earlier episodes.”

03/12/24, 19:59 - I got a new book today! Spanish edition of “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes”.

I'm pretty excited to read this one as well since it has some of my favorite short stories and the illustrations are also really cool… I like when certain editions have the original Sidney Paget ones but seeing other artists interpretations of the character is great as well.
Besides that there isn't really much for me to say. I'm still watching Granada Holmes (I underestimated just how long it is, I think… it's taking a lot of time!) and I'm currently at “The Last Vampyre”, which is… Well, I haven't finished it yet so I can't judge much, but I can't say I'm not really a fan of how they are stretching the story out… I'm not sure why exactly they decided to turn some of the shorter stories into almost 2 hour long specials…?? and I'm also not quite sure it's working? But whatever! I'm really hoping I end up liking some of them because “The Master Blackmailer” was REALLY good. There's definitely an analysis to be made of that episode that I don't have the brain capacity to actually write, but overall the adaptation was incredible.
This is all I noted down for now, so this entry ended up being really short. Hopefully I'll have more to say eventually.

26/11/24, 18:03 - Quick update today as I do not particularly feel like writing. I finished “The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes” yesterday, 25th of November, 2024… I have some mixed feelings. I am of course a bit sad about being done with the books and I've realized since finishing them that they were taking up a lot of my free time and I'm not really sure what to do with it now, but simultaneously I am glad that I did manage to reach the goal I had set for myself. I plan to watch as many adaptations as possible now and hopefully shortly review them. Not promising much though, I can't seem to find any motivation to write one for the soviet adaptation.
Anyway! I'm still watching Granada Holmes. Even as I write this I am watching the 25th episode “The Bruce Partington Plans”. There's not much I can say about this show I haven't said before; as I predicted I enjoy Edward Hardwicke's Watson just as much, but there's nothing else I can or want to comment on right now.

24/11/24, 18:22 -

GOT A NEW BOOK! GAAHHAHHH!! Oh my god I am incredibly excited! It's a spanish translated edition of "His Last Bow", got it on a bookstore while on a trip to a nearby city. Contrary to what I thought would happen, Sherlock books are surprisingly hard to find? I had to visit at least 3 different bookstores and this was the ONLY book I found. Anyway - look at that cover, it's incredible! It also has all of the official Sidney Paget illustrations. Overall it is super nice! The quality is exceptional compared to the only other book of the saga I have and it has a lot of nice details. I'm planning to start reading it whenever I'm done with "The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes" just so I can actually finish my goal of reading them all but I'm very very excited.

20/11/24, 15:47 - Finished “His Last Bow” some days ago and I've read a few of the stories in “The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes”. I am SO nervous! I'm a bit scared to be so close to the end… I have an infinity of different adaptations on all mediums to watch, read or listen to when i'm done, obviously, but i can't help but feel sad it's coming to an end. It is also a bit ridiculous to take this so seriously. I can't help it though! It's been practically invading my daily thoughts and reading a few stories a day has practically become part of my daily routine. I fear I am going to miss it a lot.
Anyway… I don't think there is much I can say about the books to be completely honest. I've been enjoying them a lot, don't get me wrong! I just dont think there's much for me to comment on. I must admit though that I feel like case-wise the first stories were a bit better… but the general focus and development of Holmes and Watson's relationship totally makes up for it. I like to keep track of the little moments they share outside of cases and I dont think ive highlighted any of the other books as much as the last two!
Overall, it's been great. As much as I am a bit scared to finish the last book, I am also incredibly excited to get to watch other adaptations and have a better base for understanding or forming an opinion on them. Does that make sense? I feel like that now that I know what the originals are like it's going to be much easier to formulate better opinions on any adaptations I may watch in the future and I guess in a way make a better job when writing reviews for this page. Do not expect anything particularly good, though. I've never been a fan of being objective when rating things. It's probably a bad thing but I also do not really care.
On the topic of reviews, I still have to write one for “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson”! I've finally read all the cases needed to actually understand the ending but I fear I may still have to rewatch the episodes to genuinely comprehend what happened in them. I am still a bit confused on why exactly they were so hard for me to get through… it has some weird jumps in time that are honestly necessary to be able to narrate the events in a way that makes sense to the viewer but also stay true to the original adaptation - noticed this particularly when reading “His Last Bow”, as in, the story by that name included at the end of the book - but even knowing that it was just really hard for me to process for whatever reason… I definitely have to rewatch those eventually.
I've decided I'll pick Granada Holmes back up as soon as I'm done with this book. If i'm not mistaken, from the second season on David Burke doesn't play Watson anymore. I'm a bit sad about it! But I'm sure I'll like Edward Hardwicke's Watson just as much. Well, on a completely different and a bit irrelevant topic, this friday im going out to a nearby city to hang out with some friends and we included going to some bookstores in the zone in our plans. Sherlock Holmes books are certainly easy to find… I'm really hoping I get lucky with the prizes so that I MAY be able to expand my collection. I would not bet on it though… Either way it would be fun to encounter one in the wild. Pretend I'm not talking about one of the most popular book franchises of all time for a second, okay? I get excited over silly stuff like that when it comes to my interests.
Oh, and speaking of my collection! I've expanded it just a little bit. It's not really much, but DIYs are a must, so I've added a few of them. This tiny Sherlock dedicated corner of my shelf was kind of a spur of the moment type of thing and I've always been a bit shy to even HAVE stuff of my fixations, so my mom was definitely surprised when she walked in and noticed the miniature shrine that seemed to pop out of nowhere. Here's a picture of it:

Well, that's about it for today. Not exactly sure when the next update to this will be. Maybe after I finish the book? I guess we'll see.

17/11/24, 02:04 - No actual update yet - all I really have to say is that I did manage to finish Valley of Fear - but I felt the need to share this picture of my Sherlock collection I took earlier because I've been seeing a lot of people's collections lately.

The hat is very poorly done simply because I do not have a printer so I had to manually draw and re-scale a papercraft guide that is originally meant to fit in your head... Needless to say it was very hard to figure out the dimensions and I fucked it up a lot of times. Oh and I also actually accidentaly stole that book from a classmate. I have no intention of ever giving it back though... so sorry to that guy but I don't think he cares much about it.

15/11/24, 20:59 - Finished the first season of Granada Holmes! It was spectacular :) Both Jeremy Brett and David Burke's interpretations of their respective characters are incredible… exactly how i imagined both characters to be! Overall the show was super fun to get into and I found myself constantly wanting to watch another episode… usually while doing important stuff like studying… but the show was just that good! I think all of the cases were adapted wonderfully and it was very nice to revisit some of the first ones I had kind of forgotten. I think since it's so early on there's not much for me to say, but if i had to pick my favorite episode so far it would definitely be “The Red Headed League”, i genuinely found it hilarious??? Leaving some of my favorite scenes from the case below so I can share:

Favorite scenes from "The Red Headed League"

I'll wait a bit before watching the second season though. I want to at least finish The Valley of Fear and maybe a bit of His Last Bow before I continue, simply because I feel like I've been neglecting the whole reading aspect… mostly because I'm struggling with the Valley of Fear… it's been good so far but i can't seem to fully focus when reading it. Plus I just got to the second part of the book and there's no Sherlock, no Watson… How do they expect me to keep reading under these conditions… I think the story is interesting enough to keep going though! I expect to finish it soon.

8/11/24, 19:14 - I had already written this update around a week ago, but I did so during class and my phone randomly decided to delete all of my recent notes… Needless to say, I am very pissed off. Still! I'll try to remember what thoughts exactly I had shared on that now lost entry, and complement it with whatever new stuff has come up.
I believe I mentioned on my last update that I had just finished The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes and was now starting the Hound of Baskervilles. I finished the novel around a week ago, I think? While I was supposed to be reading geography class material… in my defense I had only 10 pages left!
I'm pretty sure there aren't many thoughts I can share about it though. I had my opinion on the story pretty much covered on my last entry and, considering how incredibly close to the original story the soviet adaptation is, there isn't really anything new or different to remark. In fact, I was surprised at how well the show adapted the story - not that I found the original one uninteresting, but it gave all of the characters such an unique touch that definitely made the story just a bit more interesting! Also, the bits where Sherlock was absent were not as tedious to get through as I thought they could have been and I'm very glad about that.
Anyway, moving on: I finished “The Return of Sherlock Holmes” and i've read only the first chapter of “Valley of Fear”. I've only just started the novel so there isn't much i can say about, if at all, but The Return was very good! I can't tell if I liked the short stories more than the ones on The Memoirs though… I loved both of them!
On another, and possibly last note, I also finished watching The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson (often referred by me as “the soviet adaptation”; it's just easier). I know I said I'd finish reading the books first but I couldn't wait! Right as I predicted in my last entry, I didn't really understand much. The jumps in time were confusing me A LOT… and I'm pretty sure I didn't understand the last case whatsoever. Whenever I get to actually reading the original stories I'm sure I'll finish processing what I've watched and I'll finally be able to appreciate the ending even more, but even now I can say I absolutely loved the series! I was going to go more in depth on this, but I feel like it's better if I save up what first impressions I've got for later whenever I actually get around to writing a short review of the show. All you really need to know right now is that I am completely fascinated by it.
Thats around it. Not exactly sure when i'll update this… right now I still have to finish Valley of Fear and as of, right now, I am also going to start watching the Granada Sherlock Holmes adaptation - I checked the episode list and made sure I had read all of the cases of at least the first season - so maybe I'll write another one of these reporting on my progress on the future, and a proper review for the show eventually... not promising it will be anytime soon.

3/11/2024, 16:50 - Just finished reading “The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes”. Loved it! I found the short cases to be even more interesting than the ones on “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes”. I have already seen a TV adaptation of “The Final Problem” - specifically the soviet one - but reading the original story was really interesting and I was really glad to be able to understand Watson's perspective on the matter a bit better… It does leave me wondering how exactly the matter of, well, Sherlock “coming back to life” and all is going to be handled later on, if at all. The Soviet version did what in my very inexperienced opinion I consider an amazing job at handling both his supposed death and his return (way more emotional than what I expected! which is exactly what I was looking for in a Sherlock adaptation), so I'm pretty curious to see what it was like originally and be able to compare it a bit more accurately to any shows or movies I may watch in the future.
So far so good! I'm very excited to start reading "The Hound of Baskervilles" as well. I saw the soviet adaptation for it and I found the story to be very interesting - I was particularly fond of the “supernatural” or almost “horror” aspect the story has to it - and I really want to compare it to the original novel. Not sure if the parts where Sherlock is not present will be as interesting as they are on the show… I'm really hoping they are. I'd hate to get bored of it half-way through! It almost happened to me with “A Study in Scarlet”, to be completely honest.
Besides that, I want to finish reading at least what I consider essential for understanding the two episodes of “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson” I have left before I attempt to watch them again. Believe me, I tried my best to comprehend what was going on while watching the first part of episode 10, but I believe there's some context I'm missing that I may be able to understand better later on if I've actually read the original stories. If I'm not mistaken, the stories portrayed in those two episodes I've yet to read are "The Adventure of the Second Stain", "The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans" and "His Last Bow", all of which are in books I'm not even close to getting to just yet… I have to finish “The Return of Sherlock Holmes” to get the first one, then “The Valley of Fear” and only then I can read the other two on “His Last Bow”. I could technically just skip to those but I want to keep up the structure I've been following lately. I think this is all I have to comment on so far… I'll update as soon as I'm done with the Hound of Baskervilles :)

Bookmarks

Shows
✶ Giant list of Sherlock Holmes adaptations : Exactly what it says!!!!!!
✶ Sherlock Holmes (1956) : Ronald Howard's Sherlock, full series.
✶ Sherlock Holmes (1984) : Jeremy Brett's Sherlock, full series in order, including the specials.
✶ Sherlock Holmes (1939) : Basil Rathbone's Sherlock, although I'm pretty sure the playlist isn't in the right order.

Other
✶ Sherlock Holmes Paper Dolls : Well, kind of. I can't seem to find the whole book available in good quality anywhere, but for now this will have to do.
✶ freeenglish.jp/holmes/ : Every original story with a japanese translation. I do not speak japanese. The website is still pretty nice, so I decided to share it here.
✶ IT'S AN ELEMENTARY COVER, MY DEAR WATSON - The Paperback Palette : Really cool blog post that goes over a lot of illustrators and cover art for the books throughout the years.
✶ The Queer History of Sherlock Holmes : "A history of queer adaptations of Sherlock Holmes"

Art & design section

A collection of my latest and favorite fanarts I've done of the series. Also a way to show my current ACD canon designs that are very much prone to change.