#shit22c

"Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century" is a super nostalgic show to me. We didn't have cable when I was growing up, so I watched shows like that one, "The Magic School Bus", "Stargate Infinity", and "Archie's Weird Mysteries" on the Fox Box back in the day.

Now, the archives that I was able to find from the old DIC site don't have very much content for the show. they just have the synopsis and a short clip.

BEGIN SYNOPSIS

The world's greatest detective has returned - and this time, he's fighting crime in the brave new world of the 22nd century! Sherlock Holmes has been brought back from the grave to battle Professor James Moriarty, the only adversary Holmes ever considered an equal. Moriarty, accidentally cloned by an unscrupulous scientist, is determined to dominate the crime-free world of the future. To help Holmes stop him, the personality of Holmes' loyal friend and companion, Dr. Watson is programmed into the brain of an android. Co-produced with Scottish Television, this series is visually highlighted by a striking blend of traditional 2-D and 3-D CGI animation. Each thrilling, action-packed mystery is inspired by one of the actual literary classics of Arthur Conan Doyle

END SYNOPSIS

While we're on the official synopsis, I noticed something that doesn't actually line-up with the story of the show. Perhaps it is a remnant of an earlier draft of the concept that slipped through. It claims that Moriarty was "accidentally" cloned. In the proper series, the unscrupulous scientist, Martin Fenwick, cloned Moriarty deliberately. He traveled to Reichenbach Falls, found Moriarty's preserved corpse, and took DNA from him. It was Fenwick's intention that Moriarty would become his henchman. Naturally, Moriarty made himself boss instead.

Anyway, while DIC didn't provide much information, there was another group that had more.

Kidsnet.org was a group that produced supplementary educational materials for various kids shows and movies from back in the day. Their website is still viewable in the WayBack machine.

They had a combination poster and study guide for "Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century".

This is where we get the official character bios, with the blessing of Fox, DIC, and Scottish Television. Before I figured out the original source, I had seen these bios on fan-sites in low-quality cropped forms. I couldn't find any existing postings of the high-quality versions of the bios, so it may have only existed on the WayBack Machine. Well, now I'm posting the high-quality versions here.

Big thanks to suburbanbanshee.net, the fan-site that showed off the cropped versions and provided the link to kidsnet.org.

BEGIN SHERLOCK HOLMES BIO

Sherlock Holmes, the world's greatest detective, is a gentleman with a keen sense of tradition and a wry wit who still wears his trademark cape and deerstalker hat. When Holmes is involved in a case he tunes out everything else around him because he's always thinking, solving mysteries and fighting crime with his brain, not his brawn.

END SHERLOCK HOLMES BIO

To be fair, he does plenty of cane fighting in the show as well. He also appears to have kicked his drug habits for this incarnation.

BEGIN DR. JOHN WATSON BIO

The John Watson of old was a physician, a writer and a bit of a bungler. Now, his personality has been programmed into the brain of an android. He is very logical and precise when it comes to handling details, but at a loss when faced with situations that don't make sense to his brand of logic (precisely the circumstances where Holmes shines).

END DR. JOHN WATSON BIO

I feel like this bio doesn't really give either the 19th century Watson or the 22nd century Watson proper respect. The 19th century Watson was one of the few people that Holmes genuinely cared about, and he was instrumental to solving several cases. The 22nd Century Watson has a magic scanner that allows him to find evidence that Holmes could not gather with only his eyes and brains.

BEGIN INSPECTOR ELIZABETH "BETH" LESTRADE BIO

Lestrade is impetuous and volatile, the exact opposite of Holmes. The two often clash over how to handle cases. Lestrade's ancestor was a Scotland Yard inspector who worked with Holmes on many cases in the 19th century. Lestrade often locks horns with her New Scotland Yard boss, Chief Inspector Grayson, who grows impatient with he impulsive ways. Lestrade is Holmes's and Watson's guide to the manners, mores and the technology of the London of the future.

END INSPECTOR ELIZABETH "BETH" LESTRADE BIO

Some of the wording here is weird to me. I can understand her acting as a guide to Holmes as he adjusts to the 22nd century. However, Watson is a Scottland Yard robot who already has all of that information. Reading the original Watson's journals allowed him to take on the original Watson's personality as his own. However, that didn't wipe out his 22nd century knowledge.

Her special move is a flying kick.

BEGIN PROFESSOR JAMES MORIARTY BIO

With his extensive knowledge of mathematics and philosophy, Moriarty's brilliance is undeniable. Just as in the 19th century, however, Holmes' evil adversary uses his profound intellect to pursue power and wreak havoc. His mastery of 22nd century computer allows him to control his futuristic crime wave over cyberspace. Professor Moriarty has become a twisted half-man, half-machine bent on world domination.

END PROFESSOR JAMES MORIARTY BIO

Okay, there are a few things here that aren't reflected in the final show. They must be remnants of an earlier draft of the concept. While Moriarty runs a wide variety of evil schemes, the Internet is never a prominent part of his schemes. I can think of two examples where the Internet was involved. There was "The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire Lot", which involved hacking into banking systems. They talk about the systems being drained by the titular vampire, but there's never any mention of money or data being stolen. The systems are just taken offline and are temporarily unable to be brought back up. And then, there was "The Adventure of the Mazarin Chip", where Moriarty created a prefect virtual recreation of the Prime Minister's office and used it to break the economy.

And what are they talking about with him being half-man, half-machine? The final show never suggests that he is anything other than a fully organic clone. I like the idea of Cyborg Moriarty, but the show didn't go for it in the end.

BEGIN BAKER STREET IRREGULARS BIO

This diverse band of street kids is Holmes's secret weapon in his war on crime. Wiggins, the 16 year old leader with boxing training and a photographic memory, 11 year old Tennyson, the match and computer whiz, and 12 year old Deidre, a precocious, reformed scam artist are Holmes's eyes and ears in the streets of New London.

END BAKER STREET IRREGULARS BIO

I don't remember Wiggins being described as having a photographic memory in the show, so maybe this is something that was changed. He does mention training as a boxer though.

Huh. I always figured Deidre was around 14 or 15. But no, the official materials say she is only 12. Either way, she is presented as a reformed con artist. In the episode "The Secret Safe", she tells Holmes about a shop that will act as a fence for expensive stolen goods, which is worrying.

We never see the kids' families, nor do we get much insight into their home lives. We don't get a good view on why they got into pulling cons. We see Deidre's bedroom during "The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire Lot". So, we know she has somewhere to live. It looks pretty comfy, and it isn't falling apart. But that's the most insight that the show gives us into her home life. I don't think we ever see inside Wiggin's or Tennyson's homes.

I don't remember many interactions between Holmes and the new Irregulars outside of case-solving. However, plenty of fans reason that Holmes has been helping them get a proper education and move away from pulling cons.

I do wish the kids had gotten individual bios. Because all three were crammed together into one bio, we don't get much information on them.

Inspector Lestrade: Just a direct descendant of the original LeStrade, simple, no sci-fi weirdness.

Watson: Actually a normal police droid that mimicked Watson's personality by reading his journals. The human face is actually a Mission Impossible-style mask.

Sherlock Holmes: Survived Reichenbach to die of old age, was rejuventated in the future (his body intact because it was preserved in honey, of course).

EDIT: I found the original source. It was a "Study Guide" for the show produced on kidsnet.

https://web.archive.org/web/20030611084332/http://www.kidsnet.org/pdf/holmes_poster.pdf Hello all, The cartoon "Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century" from the late 90s and early 2000s is super nostalgic to me. I was browsing an old fan-site recently, where they had pages for the characters, and I noticed something interesting. Several of the pages had cropped images that appear to have been taken from official character bios.