Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century

Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century is a British-American animated television series, in which Sherlock Holmes is brought back to life in the 22nd century. The series is a co–production by DiC and Scottish Television and was nominated for a Daytime Emmy for Special Class Animated Program. The program premiered on Scottish Television on May 6, 1999 before it's September 18th release in the US on Fox Kids.

Overview

Set in the 22nd century in New London, Inspector Beth Lestrade of New Scotland Yard is chasing grotesquely deformed French rogue geneticist Martin Fenwick, when she realizes that his companion is none other than the 19th century criminal mastermind, Professor James Moriarty. She goes on to discover that this is not the original Moriarty but in fact his clone, created from cells taken from his corpse, which Sherlock Holmes had buried in a Swiss ice cave. Lestrade knows that Holmes survived and actually lived to a ripe old age, and further knows that his corpse is preserved in a glass-walled, honey-filled coffin in the basement of New Scotland Yard. She takes the body from the basement and delivers it to biologist Sir Evan Hargreaves (who looks just like Doyle), who has just invented a process of cellular rejuvenation. The biologist then uses his cellular rejuvenation technique to return life and youth to Holmes's body, so that the detective can combat Moriarty. Holmes also returns to his Baker St rooms, which had been preserved as a museum. Lestrade's compudroid reads the original Watson's journals and assumes his name, face, voice, and mannerisms in order to assist Holmes in both his crime-solving duties and his difficult assimilation to England in the 22nd century.

During the series, Holmes and Watson often work on retainer for New Scotland Yard, with Beth Lestrade as their supervising officer and Superintendent Greyson as hers, but they also work for private citizens. They are often assisted by the new Baker Street Irregulars: soccer player Wiggins, the Cockney Deidre, and the paraplegic Tennyson, who communicates through electronic beeps only Holmes seems to comprehend. The primary villains are Moriarty and his henchman Fenwick, appearing as they do in almost half of the produced episodes.

Each episode is inspired by one of the literary works of Arthur Conan Doyle. Many of these are direct rewrites of the original stories, such as "The Empty House", "The Speckled Band", "The Five Orange Pips", "The Red-Headed League", and "The Engineer's Thumb" — while others are drastically different from the stories on which they are based.

Visually, the series is a blend of traditional 2-D and 3-D CGI animation.

Episodes

Season 1

1. The Fall and Rise of Sherlock Holmes
2. The Crime Machine
3. The Hounds of The Baskervilles
4. The Adventure of the Empty House
5. The Crooked Man
6. The Adventure of the Deranged Detective
7. The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire Lot
8. The Scales of Justice
9. The Resident Patient
10. The Sign of Four
11. The Adventure of the Dancing Men
12. The Musgrave Ritual
13. The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle
14. Silver Blaze
15. The Five Orange Pips
16. The Red-Headed League
17. The Man with the Twisted Lip

Season 2

1. The Secret Safe
2. The Adventure of the Second Stain
3. The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb
4. The Gloria Scott
5. The Adventure of the Six Napoleons
6. The Adventure of the Creeping Man
7. The Adventure of the Beryl Board
8. The Adventure of the Mazarin Chip
9. A Case of Identity

Production

The concept for the series was the product of Sandy Ross, a Scottish Television executive, who came up with the idea while skiing in Aspen in 1996. DiC and Scottish Television had previously worked together to create other series and this continued the trend. Some issues were raised about language carrying different connotations between cultures, but alternative action and dialogue were used to overcome this.