I continue on with my deep dive into 90s kid cartoons because Y'ALL. Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century, circa 1990, is on Tubi. (It is also findable on YouTube, if you wish.) I do actually remember watching this show when I was a kid--I distinctly remember the name Moriarty coming up a few times. But, honestly, I was kind of surprised to find out it actually existed and wasn't some nostalgic fever dream.
Whoever came up with this concept is a mad genius. Also, this theme song is going to be stuck in my head for WEEKS.
Logline
Sherlock Holmes died at Reichenbach Falls in 1851. OR DID HE?
In New London, 2103, Inspector Beth Lestrade is chasing down a criminal mastermind and she thinks it's Moriarty. Naturally, she decides to have Sherlock Holmes brought to life.
Dramatis Personae
Inspector Beth Lestrade of New Scotland Yard, descendant of that Lestrade, constantly breaking the rules FOR JUSTICE, wants Holmes to FOR ONCE just call her before he starts trouble
Sherlock Holmes, the one and only, surprisingly cool about being "rejuvenated," keeps telling people, "Eyes and brains" as if that means anything
Dr John H Watson, the compudroid "snitch" that rides along with Lestrade, mostly to report on her back to headquarters, newly updated with the original Watson's writings for, I dunno, flavor
Martin Fenwick, a mad scientist, "notoriously unethical genetic engineer repeatedly arrested for his unlawful cloning experiments"
Professor James Moriarty, still a criminal mastermind, but actually a clone (Sherlock and Lestrade have a difference of opinion about whether he's the "real" Moriarty)
Wherefore Art Thou
After billions of adaptations of the Sherlock Holmes mythos, it's hard to find a new spin. Move him into the future, though? There's a bit of fun to be had. The same mysteries can be story templates (thanks, public domain), but new and imagined versions of technology add some extra zip.
"Zed," I should note, is this future's cuss word of choice.
The Episode Rundown
- 1.01 The Fall and Rise of Sherlock Holmes inspired by "The Final Problem"
Beth Lestrade follows mad scientist Fenwick to the currently-closed Sherlock Holmes museum. While he escapes, they find he stole an old disguise of Moriarty's. Concerned about stopping whatever is being planned, Lestrade has Sherlock Holmes BROUGHT BACK TO LIFE. It turns out he escaped Reichenbach Falls, died of old age, and then, like, preserved himself in honey?
There's a new crime wave, because somehow crypnosis--"the process by which criminal impulses are deprogrammed from the human psyche," WHAT--is being overridden and she thinks Moriarty is responsible.
On their first investigation, Chief Inspector Grayson rides along to make sure things are being done by the book. (They are not.)
- 1.02 The Crime Machine inspired by "The Valley of Fear"
Sherlock, rather condescendingly, decides they should travel to Reichenbach Falls, as SURELY this lady Lestrade needs to be convinced Moriarty isn't alive. And, uh, it turns out Sherlock "buried" Moriarty in a nearby cavern--except he's encased in glass and totally preserved. What the hell?
Meanwhile, there's been a series of odd robberies around New London, and Sherlock points out all the incidents happened near manholes. On their exploration of the underground, they meet our soon-to-be Irregulars, Tennyson, Deidre, and Wiggins.
Fenwick is crimatizing ordinary citizens. There are also robots involved, but have no fear, Sherlock blows up a few steam tanks or something and then they escape via the somehow-still-powered Underground.
There's a bit of drama in the end, where compudroid Watson almost sinks to the bottom of the Thames. Sherlock kind of freaks out. Lestrade says she'll get him a new compudroid and he's like, "I don't want any compudroid, I want Watson!" It's all very touching, especially when Compu-Watson walks out of the river.
Hilariously, they move Sherlock into the Sherlock Holmes museum. He invites Compu-Watson to move in and is 100% discombobulated that he's going to be supervised by Lestrade. "A WOMAN?!" Oh boy.
- 1.03 The Hounds of the Baskervilles inspired by, oh, you know
We're going to the MOON, y'all. Some tourists get attacked by...something. "All that remains of the three teenagers are the shredded spacesuits surrounded by huge hound-like tracks." -
There's a running thing where Lestrade has to keep reminding Sherlock that she's the one in charge. Sigh. In the meantime, he deduces that one of the "lunar hounds" is a hologram, while the other is non-organic. Also that the three teenagers were kidnapped, not mauled to death.
After some research, it turns out two of the disappeared kids are super, SUPER rich, and one of them was orphaned--which meant her fortune-and-company-to-be might be the motivation for the entire misadventure.
It turns out Moriarty the CLONE is responsible. "And so it begins," Holmes says, "again." After rescuing the kids and one of their guardians, Moriarty reprograms the LUNAR NUCLEAR DEFENSE SYSTEM to bomb New London. They stop it, of course, with one second to go.
- 1.04 The Resident Patient inspired by the same
There's been a series of daylight robberies, and while Lestrade suspects Fenwick is involved, Sherlock realizes this particular group either wants to or is supposed to be caught.
None of the thieves match DNA on file, nor do they have any records, alas. Holmes, Watson, and Wiggins travel to their listed address--a derelict block with stolen electricity. They find a SECRET TUNNEL, but get jumped. And Holmes figures out Fenwick has undergone some, uh, "DNA washing" as well as some "anatomorphing" with "nanomechanics" by a Doctor Blessington.
There's apparently a big treaty-signing going on and Moriarty wants to replace the two big treaty-signing dudes. There's some triple-disguise stuff happening--Sherlock disguises himself as Blessington, and Fenwick disguises himself as Moriarty, etc. The treaty is saved!
- 1.05 The Scales of Justice inspired by "The Adventure of the Speckled Band"
A mysterious robbery occurs at Genie-tech, particularly in a time-locked vault with titanium-fortified walls and ceiling. The object stolen: A bio-chip.
Grimesby Roylott, an intense herpetologist, and his daughter Helen, who work at a derelict zoo, direct them to Fornis Chapman, a geneticist who creates chimeras for public entertainment. Chapman's work is to create new species in order to replace the extinct ones which...is not...how ecology works.
Chapman, however, points them back to the Roylotts, whose financial straits are being suspiciously alleviated. Just as Helen uncovers some inexplicable funds in the zoo's accounts, Our Heroes realize Grimesby is using Chapman's work to transform himself INTO A GIANT SNAKE in order to commit these mysterious burglaries.
- 1.06 The Five Orange Pips inspired by the same
Joseph Openshaw receives an envelope with the titular pips and tells his son to find Sherlock Holmes before he lapses into a coma. When Sherlock and Watson arrive, young John Openshaw tries to throw Watson out. The Openshaws, you see, are anti-technologists.
John's uncle, Elias, also attempts to throw poor Watson out. Holmes insists Watson stay on guard while he goes to seek out information. It includes a complicated disguise wherein Holmes obtains the signature of shipments to the Openshaws. The Openshaws are actually anti-tech terrorists who have attempted, ironically, to use micro-ticks to destroy robot-oriented technology.
While Elias gets poisoned, too, Watson discovers Joseph has an artificial heart--which is where he has hidden the micro-tick tech that some new terrorists are seeking. Action! Flying car chase! Moriarty taking Lestrade hostage for a couple of minutes!
Holmes bluffs it out, thankfully--Moriarty, being a relative relic like Sherlock, doesn't realize the tech he's seeking is completely obsolete by now. Plus young John now knows that robots are people, too!
- 1.07 The Adventure of the Beryl Board inspired by "The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet"
Arthur Holden is discovered sneaking around in the family manor. While his sister Mary looks on, his father has him arrested. Later, Lestrade interrogates him--and in an extremely creepy bit, notes that he's facing having his brain "washed like a pair of old socks" if he's found guilty.
The Irregulars are visiting Baker St and being quizzed on their detecting skills when Father Holden bursts in and asks for help. While the main circuit board has been recovered, a piece is still missing.
There's some drama with another company getting split up by scion Helfin Paine III, shady art gallery George Burwell, and Mary Holden's secret affair with Burwell. "I am sad to see," Holmes says during the denouement, "that there are still men who use love to twist a young girl's heart against her family and even against her own wishes." Arthur was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Funnier, however, is Lestrade's snark. "Don't get cliche, Georgey-Porgey."
There's a whole robot sculpture attack. Everyone panics until Holmes unplugs them. *facepalm* Anyway, Burwell was selling the board to Paine II, so this was just a lot of industrial espionage, I guess.
- 1.08 The Adventure of the Empty House inspired by the same
We open with Holmes grappling with Moriarty on a rooftop. They plunge off together and seem to disintegrate while passing through a laser grid.
Then we catch up with the Irregulars at a holocade tournament, where there's, like, hijinks of some sort. One of Deidre's friends, Ronny Adair, walks out of the tournament early. Later, Adair is found frozen solid.
Lestrade asks Watson to help her with the case, partly because his expertise is necessary, but also that he needs to get his mind off losing Holmes again. (Adair is frozen, but apparently he'll thaw out in a few days?)
Then Holmes reveals himself! He believed Moriarty had an accomplice that night, and was hoping his "death" would bring them farther into the open. It turns out the same person who was helping Moriarty is the one who froze Adair--one of Ronny's teammates! Though he was using the same weapon for both crimes, they were separate crimes. In addition to being a mercenary, he also was, I guess, really competitive about holocade.
- 1.09 The Secret Safe inspired by "His Last Bow"
Someone breaks into 10 Downing Street, grabbing something from a hidden space. When an alarm gets set off, however, he runs across the room to a shelf filled with art. "Decoy, I need a decoy."
Because it's the Prime Minister, Chief Inspector Grayson is on the case and he is NOT pleased when Lestrade mentions she called Holmes. "A major crisis and a major meddler," Grayson moans.
One of the PM's attaches, Colonel Devlin, is their liaison. Holmes quickly deduces a secret safe was opened, but Devlin too quickly assures everybody nothing was taken and only the doll is a concern.
Lestrange starts tracking the doll while Holmes and Watson go to the circus, suspecting only an acrobat could have pulled off the burglary as they perceive it. They are correct.
Holmes poses as the masked acrobat to confirm Devlin's guilt. Lestrade is SUPER irritated when Holmes insists Devlin get to escape--to find out who's really in charge. (It's Moriarty.)
- 1.10 The Adventure of the Mazarin Chip inspired by "The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone"
Moriarty and Fenwick rob Science Division headquarters via a large explosion, but in the 57 seconds it takes for the cops to arrive and investigate the alarm, they use a "virtual environment" so that it looks like nothing happened. They toss a black cat into the area so it looks like the stray triggered the alarm. ALL the cops who arrived just, like, leave and Moriarty drops the hologram immediately. So I guess...they get away with it? What?
While the Prime Minister legit goes himself to update Our Heroes, a slinky traffic robot walks in and flirts with Watson. Except...it's Holmes in disguise! They had thought Holmes in his armchair, but it's actually a wax figure from Madame Tussand's because why not?
The Prime Minister is exasperated and moves to leave, but Holmes tells him there's about to be an attempt to kidnap him, so hold on a second. Because the PM is just, like, driving around New London without any security at all. Sigh.
In his preliminary investigation, Holmes decided to adopt the black cat. He names it Tiger Lily and informs everybody cats lick 95% of people they come in contact with. (Seriously?) He uses the cat's saliva to identify the perpetrators, who are, of course, Fenwick and Moriarty.
Said villains appear. ("No violence," Holmes tells Fenwick. "Consider the furniture.") The Mazarin chip makes "virtual environments," but the cell Moriarty conjures up in the Baker Street apartment is annoyingly solid. What? WHAT? Then he kidnaps the PM.
There's some shenanigans with shutting down systems and such. Holmes gets the PM back. Then Moriarty and Fenwick break into Baker Street to re-kidnap the PM? (Hilariously, they see Holmes in the armchair and assume it's just the wax figure again. It was just Holmes sitting very, very still.) Annoyingly, however, Moriarty escapes again.
- 1.11 The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire Lot inspired by "The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire"
A cloaked, red-eyed figure breaks into a...place. It ambushes a security guard. But this vampire drains data banks, not people!
They think they corner the vamp at its next break-in. It seems to have locked itself in the vault, so Lestrade has an ionic cannon brought in. "Just a few more centimeters of steel and the jaws of justice will put the bite on our caped criminal," she crows, because she has been spending WAY too much time with Holmes.
The Irregulars get called in again, and we get a cool close-up of Tennyson's rig. (I haven't heard it stated in the show itself, but according to Wikipedia, Tennyson is supposed to be paraplegic--we always see him in his chair, but we haven't gotten a gander at his tech until now.) Unfortunately, the vamp definitely crashes the New London central database.
The vampire makes two plays at poor Watson, walking database. When thwarted, it hisses, "You cannot command what you do not understand." Lestrade scolds Holmes for endangering the children and tells the Irregulars to go home.
All the drained databases were only blank temporarily--the day after, each information cache was restored. Also, the vampire has a distinctive manicure that both Deidre and Holmes notice.
Moriarty tries to recruit the vampire to his own cause, but has to scram because Lestrade's about to cuff him. Sherlock discovers the vampire is actually hacker Amanda Wheelwright. She'd been searching for the address for a holo-star so she could send them a birthday card (uhhhhhh) and noticed Moriarty was sneaking into the system. Realizing crime was afoot, she staged a few data robberies in order to draw the authorities to Moriarty's machinations.
- 1.12 The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle inspired by the same
Carbuncle in this story is, like, the Tickle-Me-Elmo of the 22nd century. It is creepy as hell, friends. One poor dude in a bowler hat snags the last one in the toy store and then Fenwick tries to steal it from him! Lestrade happens to fight off Lestrade, but the poor dude flees the scuffle and leaves behind the doll and his bowler.
Sherlock is extremely irked about the robot carolers outside. When Watson brings over a Christmas gift, Holmes whines, "How much spirit can a person get from a machine?" because he is a JACKASS. He is also outsizedly nostalgic about Victorian Christmas and despises the commercialism.
Lestrade brings over the lost doll. When they turn it on, Carbuncle comes to life, like, for REAL comes to life.
"Hey, what's this do?"
They track down the guy who lost it and offers him a brand-new Carbuncle in exchange for finding out where he got the first one. Tracking it back to the factory, it turns out the creator of the Carbuncle dolls has a brother who works in national security. This particular doll was...customized. (So this isn't a Tickle-Me-Elmo so much as Furby, threat to the Pentagon.)
The Blue Carbuncle runs off to join Moriarty because Holmes is, like, a draaaaag, man. Then it hears Moriarty bragging about how these tiny robots will be slaves, tireless and obedient, unlike measly human minions.
Blue Carbuncle does NOT approve.
- 1.13 The Red-Headed League inspired by the same
A series of heists are committed and clues lead Holmes to the Red-Headed League, who have an advertisement in the local newspaper (basically) for natural red-heads only. What an...extremely odd way to build a criminal enterprise. The newest member, Carter Wilson, thinks it's simply a group that's advancing the good name of red-headed chaps everywhere, because...okay, sure.
Carter Wilson owns a fish-and-chips franchise, so Holmes heads over to the store where there's an extremely new and rude employee. Along with some badly cooked fish, Holmes finds traces of dirt and art supplies. Next up, the National Art Gallery. It turns out eccentric billionaire Casper Gottling is having a benefit at the gallery later.
"Well, this woman has certainly had a rough day."
"It's a famous piece of modern art, Holmes."
Back at the chip shop, Watson (hilariously) gets an electronic warrant before they break in to snoop around. Thanks for clearing that up, Watson! They find an underground tunnel and a big ol' pile of art forgery supplies and stolen originals.
The forgeries are coated in anesthetic that, upon warming, will sublimate into vapor and knock everybody out. Then, Moriarty and Fenwick plan to rob all the attendees and kidnap Gotting, the world's wealthiest man. But AHA. Holmes disguises himself as Gotting, switches the originals for the forgeries, and thwarts the plot!
Obvs, Moriarty escapes anyway. Wilson gets his restaurant on the map due to some networking, then restarts the Red-Headed League with, like, non-criminals.
The Bottom Line
This was more Sherlockian than I expected of a 90s sci-fi cartoon for kids, actually. Every mystery has (mostly) clear clues laid out. Sherlock's the fastest thinker, but not the only one--Lestrade and Watson can easily solve mysteries on their own, and the Irregulars are being trained up pretty quickly.
It's super-weird that Sherlock and Moriarty adapt so quickly to several centuries' worth of technological advancement, but twenty-minute episodes don't leave a lot of time for time-travel trauma.
Also, there's something delightful about Watson being the strongest and mostly impervious buddy around, while Lestrade is always 75% ready for maximum violence.
Eyes and brains, my friends. Eyes and brains.
1 comment:
this looks absolutely hilarious and amazing. thank you for bringing it to my attention!
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