#SIXN

[somethingintheforest]

[granadaholmesdaily]

💤 Let Watson Sleep! 💤 (Inspired by this video by @jabbage)

[eirinstiva]

Sherlock Holmes: consultant detective, drama queen and soft hearted man

He's so dramatic, he likes to do a little bit of drama, he needs the praise!

He always get praised by Watson, but with Lestrade everything was slower. They didn't have that chemistry between them, but the inspector is an important part of Holmes' life, so when Lestrade is the one praising him

EMOTIONS!!!

HOLMES HAS EMOTIONS!!!

The Adventure of the Six Napoleons is the evidence! And some people forget that!!!

(and Jeremy Brett did an amazing work in this case)

[dailyholmes]

"He picked up his hunting-crop and struck Napoleon." The Adventure of the Six Napoleons. Published in Collier's. Frederic Dorr Steele, 1904

Source

[missanthropicprinciple]

Love the parallel play of Holmes, Watson, and Lestrade just hanging out in the beginning of The Six Napoleons.

[paulgadzikowski]

Sherlock Holmes's movements were such as to rivet our attention. He began by taking a clean white cloth from a drawer and laying it over the table. Then he placed his newly-acquired bust in the centre of the cloth. Finally, he picked up his hunting-crop and struck Napoleon a sharp blow on the top of the head. The figure broke into fragments, and Holmes bent eagerly over the shattered remains. Next instant, with a loud shout of triumph, he held up one splinter, in which a round, dark object was fixed like a plum in a pudding.

“Gentlemen,” he cried, “let me introduce you to the famous black pearl of the Borgias.”

Lestrade and I sat silent for a moment, and then, with a spontaneous impulse, we both broke out clapping as at the well-wrought crisis of a play. A flush of colour sprang to Holmes's pale cheeks, and he bowed to us like the master dramatist who receives the homage of his audience.

The Adventure of the Six Napoleons, Doyle

[usalock]

boys night

[holmesillustrations]

and Six Napoleons is out!

[iosonoignorante]

NO/ON - SIXNES STASEIS

[milquetoast27]

Inspired from a conversation with my friend, something I feel about Sherlock Holmes, is that to read him as unempathetic, monotone and emotionless, is to misread his mask for truth. Holmes's real state only comes out around those he trusts; Watson, of course, being the prime example.

For an instant the veil had lifted upon his keen, intense nature, but for an instant only. When I glanced again his face had resumed that red-Indian composure which had made so many regard him as a machine rather than a man. [CROO]

for a moment I saw something in his eyes which was nearer to tenderness than I had ever seen. The next instant he was his masterful, practical self once more. [BRUC]

We often see Holmes highly expressive and unable to contain himself at the peak of his enjoyment and stimulation of a case, and often this is something he actively suppresses. (God, we're all thinking about that scene in SIXN - or 3GAR, aren't we?)

There was a gleam in his eyes and a suppressed excitement in his manner which convinced me, used as I was to his ways, that his hand was upon a clue. [SILV]

Holmes had taken out his watch, and as minute followed minute without result, an expression of the utmost chagrin and disappointment appeared upon his features. He gnawed his lip, drummed his fingers upon the table, and showed every other symptom of acute impatience. So great was his emotion, that I felt sincerely sorry for him, while the two detectives smiled derisively, by no means displeased at this check which he had met. [STUD]

Holmes is actively masking his excitement very often, and it's through his relationship with Watson and success in his career that he learns to accept and be his openly emotional self more and more as we progress through the Canon. Aside from this, Holmes is highly emotional and compassionate towards his clients, take FIVE, SPEC, or ILLU. I don't think ACD tumblr is really the audience that needs to hear this, but I want people to read this who understand where I'm coming from. I feel that Sherlock Holmes is so often misunderstood as genuinely dispassionate, when this is, in fact, the act, the mask, the antic disposition that he wants those around him to believe.

To believe that Holmes's coldness is in any way a truth doesn't fly with me. For me it's nothing more than defence-mechanism, which, to be fair, is what most intolerable behaviour really is. However, I would disagree with anyone who argues that it is a natural part of Holmes.

[blistering-typhoons]

would love to highlight my favourite bits of granada's SIXN, but i can't just dump the whole episode onto tumblr

[somethingintheforest]

[skyriderwednesday]

November 15th Quick Chronology

I've moved things again! So in quick fashion... (bold titles changed, see bottom for notes)

GLOR - Summer 1875

MUSG - Spring 1879

STUD - Jan to Mar 1881

SHOS - May 1881

RESI - Oct 1881

YELL - Mar 1882

SPEC - Apr 1883

BERY - Feb 1884

LADY - May 1884

CHAS - Winter 1884

HOUN - Oct to Nov 1885

COPP - Spring 1886

GREE - Summer 1886

VALL - Jan 1887

REIG - Apr 1887

SIGN - Jul 1887

CARD - Aug 1887

NOBL - Oct 1887

SCAN - Mar 1888

STOC - Jun 1888

NAVA - Jul 1888

SECO - Jul 1888

CROO - Aug 1888

FIVE - Sep 1888

BOSC - Spring 1889

TWIS - Jun 1889

ENGI - Summer 1889

DYIN - Nov 1889

IDEN - Sep 1890

REDH - Oct 1890

BLUE - Dec 1890

FINA - Apr to May 1891

EMPT - Apr 1894

WIST - May 1894

NORW - Aug 1894

SILV - Sep 1894

GOLD - Nov 1894

REDC - Dec 1894

SOLI - Apr 1895

3STU - May 1895

BLAC - Jul 1895

BRUC - Nov 1895

VEIL - Early 1896

MISS - Feb 1896-7

ABBE - Feb 1897

DEVI - Mar 1897

SIXN - May or Jun 1898

DANC - Jul 1898

SUSS - Nov 1898

RETI - Summer 1899

PRIO - May 1901

THOR - Oct 1901

3GAR - Jun 1902

ILLU - Sep 1902

BLAN - Jan 1903

MAZA - Summer 1903

3GAB - Summer 1903

CREE - Sep 1903

LION - Jul 1907

LAST - Aug 1914

Notes:

LADY, moved to May 1884: Lady Frances Carfax originally disappeared (sorry) in Spring 1901. After discussions started by LFW reaching it, I've decided it makes more sense pre-Hiatus and early(ish) in the canon.

COPP, moved to Spring 1886: The Copper Beeches originally sat in the spot now occupied by Lady Frances in Spring 1884. I shifted it ahead by two years because Holmes needs more time to get sick of young lady clients.

SILV: Please do not @ me about Silver Blaze. It's my chronology and I only care about publication dates when it's funny/historical.

REDC: I'm still unhappy with The Red Circle being in December 1894. If anyone has any better ideas for when it takes place, I'm all ears.

[darchildre]

Two fannish things:

I did indeed watch the Granada SIXN this evening and it remains a complete delight. Holmes, Watson, and Lestrade all hanging out together and being friends; so many different Victorian weirdos; Watson bringing candy on a stakeout; Lestrade's whole general everything - truly the best.

I keep thinking, "Surely the Raffles stories cannot get any gayer" and then I hit one where a) it is revealed that Raffles memorized Bunny's terrible schoolboy poetry and still has it memorized well over a decade later and b) quotes that poetry at Bunny while they are out on a nostalgic starlit stroll around their old school. I mean, they are on their way to break into somewhere while this is happening, but I'm pretty sure Raffles considers burglary a necessary part of any romantic outing. This is the height of romance, as far as AJ Raffles is concerned.

[dailyholmes]

"Holmes had just completed his examination when the door opened." The Adventure of the Six Napoleons. Published in Collier's. Frederic Dorr Steele, 1904

Source

[triflesandtea]

Colin Jeavons is always my favorite Lestrade. I fully believe that Lestrade is not a buffoon but simply a man who'd likely have ADHD today—someone who HAS to be advancing in some way, tracking someone down, and catching his man...but he's so quick to do it that it's not always the right man.

(I think Jeavons' performance in that scene where he gets to 221B quicker than Holmes and Watson and starts snooping around, inspecting things before instantly pretending he was languidly sitting all along is the one that sold me on this.)

I love the way Lestrade grows over time in the Canon. Even outside of the wonderfully moving ending of SIXN, the opening is telling in itself: "It was no very unusual thing for Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, to look in upon us of an evening, and his visits were welcome to Sherlock Holmes...." They chatted. He came by to talk often and keep them updated on news, whether talking about the weather or discussing cases. He was not so proud as to refuse to visit Holmes just because he wasn't an official policeman, and he was humble enough to even talk about his cases and accept non-interfering hints and suggestions from Holmes. He is infinitely more multifaceted than most realize.

I fully respect and love that Lestrade is your favorite character, OP. He's one of mine too.

On My Favorite Actor

I reposted a post yesterday that reminded me of my favorite actor, and I thought I’d talk about him a bit.  Colin Jeavons is not a particularly well-known actor at this point, and even his best-known role (Inspector Lestrade in the Granada ‘Sherlock Holmes’ series from the 1980s) tends to be overshadowed by the absolutely riveting portrayal of Sherlock Holmes himself by Jeremy Brett.  Likewise, he was in the original ‘House of Cards’ miniseries, but was paired against Ian Richardson at his most mesmerizing.  

But the thing about Colin Jeavons is, whenever he was on screen, even with such amazing actors, he held his own, and heightened any scene he was in.  And he did something even more than that.  He took characters who tended to be disregarded and he changed the perception of them.  His character in ‘House of Cards,’ Tim Stamper, didn’t even exist in the book the series was based on.  He was created as a vehicle for exposition and to have someone for the main character, Francis Urquhart, to bounce off of for the television series.  But his performance was so good and his character so gloriously awful that his character was written into the subsequent book. He turned a character created for convenience into one that was compelling enough for the author to change the next book to include him.

But perhaps the greatest example of this is ‘Sherlock Holmes.’  I am a massive Holmes nerd and have been for decades.  I inhaled the short stories and novellas in High School, and then branched out to every pastiche I could find.  And of course, I found the ‘Sherlock Holmes’ series from the ‘80s, and loved it as the most faithful adaptation of the short stories possible.  The acting was excellent, and every character looked like they’d stepped out of the illustrations from the stories.  It was incredible.  

The first time I watched the series, I was transfixed by Jeremy Brett’s performance, as I’m sure most people were.  But as I went back, watching again, I found myself more and more drawn to Colin Jeavons’ portrayal of Inspector Lestrade.  In the stories, the character is essentially a plot point.  He’s described as diligent, neat, and a little vain. He has a bit of a competition with Holmes, but also respects him a great deal, and Holmes respects Lestrade more than any of the other inspectors at Scotland Yard.  Theirs is a relationship played, for the most part, in implications.

In High School, I missed those implications until I watched the series and saw Brett and Jeavons play opposite one another.  Suddenly, Inspector Lestrade was infinitely interesting to me.  He was proud, smart but not brilliant, stubborn, but also had great reticence taking credit for Holmes’ accomplishments.  His respect for Holmes came out in ‘The Six Napoleons’, in a scene in which Holmes (for the only time in the books and one of the very few in the series) is nearly brought to tears by Lestrade admitting that he was proud of Holmes.  It’s a tense, lovely scene played carefully, with huge restraint by both actors, and it’s my favorite scene in the entire series.

As I plowed through pastiches, I noticed something else.  Those published before the Granada series tended to portray Lestrade as an idiot, a buffoon, or even actively malicious.  He was an antagonist with relative frequency.  But after 1985, this changed.  Lestrade becomes more complex, more competent, a character in his own right rather than a roadblock or a bit of stupid comic relief.

I can’t credit the writing of the Granada series with this.  The series is essentially the short stories ripped to the screen.  The pastiche writers had all these scenes before the Granada series in the original short stories, almost word for word.  They were likely influenced by the Basil Rathbone movies, which also portrayed Lestrade as an idiot, so they, too, missed the more interesting implications in the writing.  

So the only conclusion I can draw is that Colin Jeavons, by taking the lines from the original stories and infusing them with his own ability to make a character compelling, changed the perception of Inspector Lestrade forever.  In every subsequent adaptation, and in the majority of subsequent pastiches, the characterization is in part or in whole based on his portrayal.  That portrayal has, in fact, been more or less accepted by the fandom as the canon interpretation.

He made Lestrade my favorite character in Holmes canon.  He took relatively small, disregarded roles and turned them into something so compelling he could elevate scenes even with acting greats like Brett and Richardson.  He is forever overlooked as an actor, but he will forever be my favorite actor.

Addendum: He also played a role in easily the most controversial episode of ‘The Avengers’ (The Hellfire Club episode), which makes me happy, and he was hysterical in ‘Adam Adamant Lives!’, the single most camp series ever created (ripped off wholesale by the creators of Austin Powers).  He was one of the few villains who didn’t die at the end of the episode, because they didn’t have time to choreograph the fight scene, so it consisted of Adam chasing him around a room as he chucked potted plants at Adam.  The actor playing Adam argued to the director that killing a character after he threw potted plants at him was just way too much overkill.

In summary: Colin Jeavons is one of the most influential actors you’ve never heard of, and he also just had a WILD acting career, and I love him for that.