plot-bunny: Sherlock Holmes / The Sentinel

[marbleglove]

 
I just went and saw Sherlock Holmes. It was vast amounts of fun, although the relationship between the movie and the original stories is mostly the time period and the names. The character's... well, maybe "inspired by" is accurate enough. Loosely inspired by. Anyway, still oodles of fun. 

One of the gifts that was given over Christmas this year, was The Improbably Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, an anthology with stories written by Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, Tanith Lee, Anne Perry, Laurie R King, and many others. They are definitely fanfic, several of them AU. (Lo, the wonders of an iconic series that is out of copyright.) Definitely fun. 

Anyway, this combination of influences had me thinking about Sherlock Holmes, which (who?) is not one of my standard fandoms. Thus, the idea I have is more a premise than an actual plot. 

Consider the characters: 

Sherlock Holmes is a strung-out junky genius who observes all sorts of details. 

Dr. Watson is a loyal side-kick, doctor and unofficial biographer who helps keep Holmes grounded. 

Doesn't this sound a lot like a Sentinel - Guide pairing, a la Jim Ellison and Blair Sandburg? What about if neither of them (Holmes and Watson) are aware of Sentinels, or possibly just have a lot less information on them even than Sandburg, and yet still have to deal with the issues at hand? 

Could be interesting. 

Comments

[moonprincessnat.livejournal.com]

You know, when I was watching the movie, I thought that Holmes definitely acted like a Sentinel that was losing his Guide--Watson. I figured Irene was a female Sentinel, which is why he couldn't resist chasing after her. Glad to see I wasn't the only one thinking about the whole Sentinel/Guide parallels.

[marbleglove.livejournal.com]

Ooh. I hadn't thought of Irene as another Sentinel but it does work really well.

[bugeyedmonster.livejournal.com]

And in the books, didn't Holmes finally stop using drugs? What if the drugs were a way to keep his senses from overloading. With Watson around to help center him, this might reduce the need for some of his drug use. (I'm sure Watson would help him wean off the rest.)

Hmmm... you might have something there.

I could see Blair getting ahold of some copies of Watson's writings (I could see Watson's papers being donated to some local library or museum after his death and thus copies might be available for Blair to purchase or read.)

[marbleglove.livejournal.com]

Good idea. I do seem to recall he stopped using at some point. If he was self-medicating, I wonder how odd Holmes thought it when suddenly he didn't need to the drugs for their original use once he had this new flatmate. Of course, at that point he was just plain addicted, but it would definitely stir his interest.

And Blair would undoubtedly be interested in seeing these notes of a doctor and a detective in Victorian England who who were left figuring the situation out from pure experiment without having any of the research.