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[Solar]

Because we need a Holmes & co. thread, I think. For the canon, non-canon (pastiches and such), extra-canon and adaptations and so on & so forth.

Some preliminary questions for a little direction (but this thread can be used to discuss anything related to the works and things):

1) What/who got you into SH stories? What was your first story or adaptation or etc you were exposed to?

2) What are your favourite canon works?

3) What are your favourite non-canon/Holmes-related or inspired works?

4) What is the core appeal of the Holmes & Watson narrative for you?

For me, there's always been a lingering childhood fondness for the distant cultural concept of Sherlock Holmes and I watched Basil of Baker young without recognizing it as a Holmes adaptation, but that was about it until the end of elementary school/the beginning of junior high when my grandparents sent me a collection of the four long stories (the novels) as a present, for a birthday I think. I read A Study in Scarlet and I was more or less sold. Going through highschool I went through things, good and bad, and found comfort, distraction, and leisure in the short stories and even some lesson; watching BBC's Sherlock, the Brett series, and The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes escalated my fondness for the universe, as well as the pastiches and fans and related works I came across in the last year or two that more or less made the tales a key part of who I am.

My responses can be long on this topic aha so I'm going to respond to the other questions after some others post.

Enjoy!

 

[Nyangoro]

1) What/who got you into SH stories? What was your first story or adaptation or etc you were exposed to?

Wishbone: Slobbery Hound 1/2 - YouTube

I still get a nostalgic tingle whenever I watch it.

2) What are your favourite canon works?

My favorite is probably The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, mostly because I love A Scandal in Bohemia, The Speckled Band and The Red-Headed League. As for novels, while I enjoyed A Study in Scarlet, my favorite is Hound of the Baskervilles (I know, original right?)

3) What are your favourite non-canon/Holmes-related or inspired works?

The Basil Rathbone series of films
The Great Mouse Detective
BBC's modern Sherlock

4) What is the core appeal of the Holmes & Watson narrative for you?

While their bromance has an undeniable charm to it, I'm just a huge sucker for Holmes' personality. I just love watching his often manic approach and seeing his seemingly endless trains of thought. Though the Basil Rathbone films clearly follow the more romanticized and eloquently Victorian version of Holmes (however, the Holmes/Watson dynamic is one of the best), the Great Mouse Detective and BBC's Sherlock capture the more insensitive and eccentric side of the character, which I love.

 

[Wehrmacht]

1) What/who got you into SH stories? What was your first story or adaptation or etc you were exposed to?

Probably the closest thing would be the Great Mouse Detective, which isn't a holmes adaptation per se but it serves as a very affectionate homage and highlights similar characteristics to holmes stories in its characters and setting.

2) What are your favourite canon works?

I haven't read all the canon works yet, but I love pretty much all the short stories. Red-Headed League, The Adventure of the Devil's Foot, A Scandal in Bohemia, The Speckled Band, etc, are all great mystery short stories.

3) What are your favourite non-canon/Holmes-related or inspired works?

The Great Mouse Detective. I don't make a habit of watching a lot of TV, so I haven't seen BBC's Sherlock, but I'll always have a soft spot for that movie. It was pretty underrated for a long time but I think now people are starting to appreciate it more. It may not be as good as some of the later Disney Renaissance stuff, but without it we would have never gotten any of those movies and it's a pretty great flick in its own right.

4) What is the core appeal of the Holmes & Watson narrative for you?

I'm just a fan of mystery stories in general, so Sherlock Holmes stories already have a natural appeal to me by their very genre. What really sucks me in about Holmes in particular is the way that he notices things the vast majority of people take for granted, how he's easily able to piece together narratives from trivial clues. That moment at the end of the stories where he explains in detail how he came to his conclusions makes it all seem so simple, but during the actual story a lot of people (myself included) have no idea what he's thinking, what he's looking for when he examines objects, what information he really wants to gleam from the questions he's asking, etc. Like Nyangoro I also cherish his eccentric and charming (if often aloof and mechanical) demeanor and the flavor it brings to the stories.