People remember cartoons in such a way that they reminisce about them long after their childhood has passed, reflecting on simpler times. For that matter, even the average ones. After all, He-Man was not exactly an animated Citizen Kane, and the show’s retro-coolness has not waned.
For every He-Man, there are probably a dozen other shows that, although being well-written and amusing, have faded so far from memory that even hipsters can not recall their likenesses well enough to put them on a t-shirt. Nonetheless, a few devoted followers are always there to recall… That is where the twenty-first-century Sherlock Holmes comes in.
DiC Entertainment and Scottish Television teamed up to physically recreate Sherlock Holmes twenty years ago, before Mark Gatiss, Steven Moffat, and the BBC gave the World’s Greatest Detective a modern update. This was not the first time the two companies had worked together, but it was certainly the oddest.
The adventures of a resurrected Sherlock Holmes were followed by Beth Lestrade, a descendant of Holmes’ Scotland Yard antagonist Inspector Lestrade, and an android named Watson in Sherlock Holmes in the Twenty-First Century.
Rather than Victorian London, the three protagonists solve puzzles and solve crimes in 22nd century London. Undoubtedly, the creators assumed that a future setting would appeal to a younger audience considerably more than Doyle’s gas-lit London.
This show brings you a futuristic Sherlock Holmes, who has been defrosted in the 22nd century, and now, he solves crimes with a robotic Watson for an assistant. Talk about the legacy of Sherlock Holmes in literature and live-action movies and TV shows.
This was a brave attempt to try something new, but the fans loved the show. They even brought to life some of the original Sherlock Holmes stories with a futuristic twist. This one is an underrated gem that is a must-watch for Sherlock Holmes fans.
The Masterstroke of using Professor James Moriarty
James Moriarty is an iconic villain and is probably the greatest villain ever encountered by the greatest detective on Earth. Their rivalry was iconic and the cartoon show started off with Moriarty in the mix of things. He has troubled Sherlock time and again. Professor James Moriarty is a fictional character and a criminal genius invented by Arthur Conan Doyle to be a challenging opponent for Sherlock Holmes, the author’s fictional investigator.
Moriarty is a Machiavellian, consulting criminal mastermind who uses his brains and resources to give criminals, new crime methods and occasionally protection from the law, all in exchange for a fee or a part of the profit. He was essentially conceived as a means for Doyle to kill Holmes and put an end to the hero’s stories.
Inspector Beth Lestrade of New Scotland Yard is hunting the grotesquely disfigured French rogue scientist Martin Fenwick when she finds that his companion is none other than the 19th century criminal genius, Professor James Moriarty, in the series set in the 22nd century in New London. She then discovers that this is a clone generated from cells taken from Moriarty’s corpse, which Sherlock Holmes had buried in a Swiss ice cave after Moriarty’s death in 1891.
Moriarty and Fenwick, who Moriarty has duped into being his loyal henchman, are the main antagonists, appearing in nearly half of the episodes. With the inclusion of Moriarty as the main villain, this show is elevated and gives a glimpse into their ever-complicated dynamic as well, that the fans in recent years have seen play out on the silver screen and in various other TV series.
In this video, we will explore some of the best episodes of the show that delivered the finest stories.
The Fall and Rise of Sherlock Holmes: Episode 1
This is the first episode of the series and lays the foundation for Sherlock Holmes to come back to life. The theme song is extremely catchy but it is the story that will draw you in. The story is narrated by Watson.
In 1891, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson were on vacation in the Swiss Alps. It is here that he is ambushed by his enemy Professor Moriarty. He ambushes him and they duel it out over the Reichenbach Falls, resulting in their alleged deaths after falling off the bridge. Watson loses his best friend but he is yet to be revived.
The episode cuts to the future, specifically, May 2103, where Beth Lestrade, a descendant of Inspector G. Lestrade, Holmes’ old Scotland Yard colleague, witnesses crazed French scientist Martin Fenwick colluding with a guy who resembles Moriarty.
She is able to catch Fenwick but is unable to persuade her supervisor, Chief Inspector Charles Grayson, that Moriarty could return from the dead. She questions Fenwick, for further information and then has to chase him as he escapes and goes into the dilapidated Sherlock Holmes Museum where he steals Moriarty’s disguise worn by him, way back in 1891.
When Chief Grayson doesn’t believe her about Moriarty’s return, on her own accord she breaks into the New Scotland Yard basement, where Holmes’ body had been kept in honey; the investigator had survived the fall and had retired, later becoming a beekeeper. She takes him to Sir Evan Hargreaves, a biologist who has invented a cellular regeneration procedure that restores Holmes’ youth and revives him. Lestrade shows Holmes some instructional DVDs to keep him up to date on world developments since his time. She also has her compudroid Watson read Dr. Watson’s notebooks in order to learn how to help Holmes better, with the compudroid taking on Watson’s demeanor. A fitting first episode!
The Crime Machine: Episode 2
Grayson is skeptical of taking the help of the newly revived Sherlock Holmes in solving his cases at the end of the first episode but Beth manages to convince him and in this second episode, Lestrade follows Holmes to an ice cave in the Swiss Alps where Moriarty’s body is preserved in ice.
Beth was sure that Moriarty was the one who was behind New London’s recent crime wave and malfunctions with anti-criminal intent processes. They explore the cave that Sherlock thinks Moriarty’s body is in, but they set off a trap that makes the cave collapse and locks it off, preventing them from investigating further.
Meanwhile, folks who had previously demonstrated no criminal intent have started taking various pieces of technology without knowing why. We see multiple scenes of thievery as security alarms blare all over New London the police get on high alert, as cases start being reported from all over town.
The case piques Holmes’ interest as he watches the pattern of crimes and explains how there is a set pattern of the crimes which leads back to a larger purpose by simply following their master’s orders, a master who lives underground. He goes off with Lestrade to investigate and meets a trio of children that try to swindle them, whom he names the Baker Street Irregulars.
They then encounter armed foes in the underground tunnels and after defeating them, It is with their assistance that Holmes discovers that Fenwick is using a gadget to transform residents into criminals in order to steal items that he requires; the machine, as well as a piece of the old railroad, is destroyed.
During the battle against Fenwick and his henchmen, Holmes accepts Watson the robot as his new buddy. Later, Holmes returns to his old digs, and Watson receives an upgrade in the form of a prosthetic mask that closely resembles the real Dr. Watson’s visage. A great first adventure indeed.
The Adventure of the Empty House: Episode 4
After landing into a laser grid in July 2103, Holmes and Moriarty are allegedly incinerated. The episode shows their epic battle and shootout as the two arch-enemies battle each other once again. We watch as both of them fall to their deaths on the laser grid. The scene then shifts to a laser-shooting tournament where young participants are practicing.
The tournament then begins as we see the contestants charge and get their blasters ready and start shooting. The competition is fierce and intense as all of them clash against each other, no one cutting anyone else some slack. It is here that the next unusual event occurs. One of the best competitors, Ronnie, walks out of the tournament before the last round, much to everyone else’s dismay.
We also watch as Watson grieves over the death of Holmes. However, his grief is cut short by Beth as she takes him away and Watson and Lestrade then begin to look into the case of Ronald Adair, the same laser-shooting contest contender who left the tournament and then was discovered frozen solid. A gunman using a ranged freezing weapon froze him and they have to find out who it was and why they did it.
They come across a homeless man loitering outside the victim’s house who takes out a computer disc and puts it in Ronnie’s computer and before Beth can arrest him, he drops a smoke bomb and escapes.
The investigation continues and they find out that Ronnie and his teammate actually cheated and rigged their blasters to never run out of charge and they theorize that the other teams must have found out and put him on ice. It is then revealed that both Holmes and Moriarty are still alive, and the same shooter is on the hunt for Holmes. It was actually Holmes disguised as the Homeless man loitering outside the victim’s house and Watson is finally reunited with him.
They crack the case and come face to face with the ice blaster who targets Holmes but Beth finds his DNA and he is arrested and taken to prison.
The Adventures of the Sussex Vampire Lot: Episode 7
In the seventh episode, Lestrade enlists Holmes and Watson’s assistance in tracking down a vampire who has been stealing information from government and bank computers. We watch as a red-eyed Vampire transports himself in and out of doors and steals information after scaring the living hell out of the guards on duty. It looks like the Sussex Vampire has struck again. They rush to help her to apprehend and bring down the vampire. However, something worse is brewing as Moriarty plans to enlist the vampire’s help.
The vampire is able to steal from high-security vaults and change the vault codes so that no one is able to get in. They try to blast open the vault door and Lestrade manages to get it open but they see that the vault is completely empty. Watson and Holmes set out and the Irregulars, remember the three kids Holmes meets in the second episode on his first detective adventure? Yes, them. He recruits them to assist him in the search for the Sussex Vampire, assigning them various tasks such as research and stake-outs.
They slowly find out information and begin piecing together things about who the Sussex vampire truly was and what did it want as Holmes was sure it was a human up to no good, as he did not believe in vampires. It is during a stake-put that Warson comes face to face with the Sussex vampire but is saved by Holmes.
However, the vampire shows again as alarms blare and it flies over them, away into the dark night sky. Moriarty also makes his appearance here. Holmes and Watson, along with the irregulars begin tracking the vampire the next morning and they come face to face with him once again in an underground tunnel where Holmes chases him and they go into a secret passage.
Lestrade, who follows them is captured by Moriarty and Lestrade in the tunnels as Moriarty decides to capture the vampire for his own evil plans. Turns out that there is no vampire at all and it was just a hacker in disguise who wanted some information. Moriarty however, escapes.
The Resident Patient: Episode 9
This is another episode where Fenwick and Moriarty are trying to carry out their evil plans. We see as they steal things from all over London in broad daylight. Beth gets on their tails to track them down and arrest them however, their robberies always have something much more sinister planned beyond just robberies. She manages to find Fenwick after a day of tracking him down and goes off on her own to capture him.
The police force reaches the area in no time to see Beth catch the rest of the minions of Dr. Fenwick. It turns out that Dr. Blessington’s technique allows Fenwick and Moriarty’s other minions to disguise themselves, making their DNA unrecognizable which is why all the people that Beth caught, looked nothing like the people who were committing the crimes all over the city. These people were all let go since all their details such as records and prints were unavailable or they were fake.
Holmes investigates the scene further and finds out that something fishy is going on and decides to make it his mission to find out what is going on. Accompanied by the Irregulars, they continue their investigation and come across a secret passage and as they enter, they are ambushed by the criminals who beat them up quite badly.
They are taken hostage and Holmes figures out that one of the guys who was arrested and then was released was Fenwick himself, simply disguised as a law-abiding citizen. Beth intercepts the meeting, as she comes to save Holmes and Watson and a fight ensues as the criminals run away after activating a disruptor that blows up the entire place, giving the criminals ample time to escape. They make it to safety and decide to visit the lab for anatomical reconstructions to prove that all the criminals had disguised themselves.
He manages to find all the crooks and catches them all. The crooks seem to be extremely scared of Moriarty as they beg Holmes to help them. However, Holmes refuses to as he catches them red-handed as he explains their entire plan.
However, the real trouble was brewing as they realized Moriarty was planning on world domination as he wanted to replicate two world leaders signing an important document. However, Lestrade along with Holmes and Watson stops this from happening, saving the day once again.
The Adventure of the Engineer’s Thumb: Episode 20
The story in this episode is extremely cleverly written and while like the other stories are inspired by the original Holmes stories, it incorporated the futuristic theme brilliantly. The episode opens with a scientist called Victor who is working extremely hard on a gadget in his lab as his girlfriend comes to speak to him and accidentally bruises him with her ring while hugging him.
The scene then shifts to Lestrade and Holmes who are persuading a criminal named Louie, in a dark alley. They work together and are able to catch him in the end with the help of Watson. They find a shipment of the frozen human hearts and question Louie about it but it is during this that Lestrade gets a call from the Chief informing them that a blood-regenerating gadget has been taken from the safe of the same Victor Hatherley, a scientist.
Holmes is called in to investigate its disappearance as the Chief believed that this theft might tie into the organ trafficking ring that Lestrade was pursuing earlier. To open the safe, Hatherley’s fingerprint is required and thus they are all confused about how anyone else could have stolen the gadget.
Lestrade continues to torture Louie into spilling all that he knows while Holmes and Watson pay a visit to Mike, Vic’s old science experiment partner as Victor believes that he is the one behind the theft. Mike refuses to cooperate with them and it appears that Victor’s girlfriend, Jill is the one who is colluding with Mike as she takes his DNA as well.
They follow Jill and finally find out that Jill is actually double-crossing both the men and working for Fenwick as Lestrade finds out where the next organ shipment was dropping in from. The aim of Fenwick and Moriarty was to increase their black market organ transplant profits but as usual, Watson, Holmes, and Lestrade save the day heroically. The sad losers in this episode happen to be the two men Jill bamboozled.
The Adventure of the Creeping Man: Episode 23
In this episode, Lestrade’s friend, Edith is seen having an unhappy conversation with Lestrade. It turns out that Professor Jacob Presbury, Edith’s father, is engaged to Alice, Lestrade and Edith’s college classmate. As the conversation continues, it is seen that Edith feels like Alice wants her fortune and that it was the main reason behind her marrying Edith’s father.
She also believes that her father has been acting strangely and has changed profoundly, becoming almost animalistic. During their conversation, they hear screams, from Alice. They rush up to her and find her almost hanging outside her window. She says that she saw a bizarre gorilla-like monster with Jacob Presbury’s face at her window and thus, Holmes is called to investigate.
The scene cuts to an issue that is brewing regarding the theft of three rare and endangered species of monkeys which is being looked into by none other than Sherlock Holmes. Once he reaches the Presbury house, however, he has a different ‘monkey business to attend to. He interrogates the people in the house, especially Alice and find a match for DNA left behind by the gorilla – it is Jacob Presbury, Alice’s to-be husband.
Holmes meets him and it is absolutely not a pleasant meeting as Jacob gets incredibly defensive. This erupts into a full-blown confrontation but Holmes continues to slowly forge ahead. His study of the adrenal gland is discovered by Holmes and his assistant also tells Holmes that the professor has been acting strange.
Holme’s investigation involves altercations with angry primates but it finally does yield results as they find out that the professor has been using himself as a test subject for his study of the adrenal gland. Which would explain the sudden outbursts, temper tantrums, and violence.
The professor appears at his own wedding as a full-blown massive Gorilla, having fully transformed. However, it turns out that Jacob’s assistant, Trevor was the one behind all of this because he loved Alice and wanted to turn Jacob into a monster because he took Alice away from him. He encouraged Jacob to do the experiments on him.
The Adventure of the Mazarin Chip: Episode 25
In the last episode that we explore today, Moriarty and Fenwick are once again up to their own shenanigans and here, they kidnap the Prime Minister and take the Mazarin Chip, a microprocessor that can quickly generate virtual landscapes.
We watch in the opening scene as a bomb is set off in a building and all police personnel rush towards it, however, Fenwick and Moriarty as successful in taking the Mazarin chip which was being kept in the building they bombed, under high security. However, Fenwick and Moriarty hadn’t gone anywhere, they had simply used Mazarin chip to create a fake environment and disguise the destroyed building.
Then they embark on their mission to find and kidnap the Prime Minister of Great Britain. Holmes is then recruited by the Prime Minister of England to find out who took the Mazarin chip. This is where Sherlock demonstrates how he is always many steps ahead of everyone and has been investigating the case for a long ago.
He used cat DNA to figure out who was there at the crime scene along with having caught Fenwick disguised as a traffic droid and got his boot prints. They conduct the last thorough test of the cat DNA to find out that Moriarty was the second accomplice. To catch Moriarty in a trap, Holmes creates a waxwork imitation of himself and disguises himself as a traffic robot.
Fenwick and Moriarty take their chance to try and kidnap the Prime Minister but their plan is foiled as Fenwick is fooled by his waxwork imitation. However, the Prime Minister comes back to speak to Holmes and is caught by Moriarty who manages to take him away with the help of the Mazarin chip as he seals Holmes and the gang in a prison built from the chip. The Irregulars come to help but things have already started going downhill as economic chaos starts escalating.
However, Holmes is successful in finding and extracting the prime minister from Moriarty’s layers with the help of the gang and the Irregulars. He then returns the Prime Minister to his duties so that all the chaos can be undone but the Mazarin Chip is still missing. Fenwick and Moriarty continue their shady business however, they are apprehended by the police and Holmes manages to take the Mazarin chip from the two criminals however, while Fenwick is caught, Moriarty escapes once again.
For this video, we have picked some of the best stories, but the others are also quite interesting. The show got canceled abruptly, but the idea was so innovative that it would have been amazing to witness a longer run. The authors were aware of current trends in both mass media and technology and used a little creativity to construct a future that resembled our own.
This is one of the trademarks of a good science fiction novel, and the creators of Sherlock Holmes in the Twenty-First Century succeeded in doing just that: crafting a story with a beloved, diverse cast of people who must traverse a world that is both strange and familiar to the audience.
Sure, the series has shortcomings, but it serves as a modern example of how a critical perspective on the world may lead to a fresh foresighted portrayal of the future, a lesson that each aspiring science fiction writer should learn to adhere to.
There’s one lingering question that has to be answered: if Sherlock Holmes in the Twenty-First Century was such a fantastic sci-fi show, why did it last only two seasons? Why aren’t there any plans in the works for a reboot? And why didn’t the BBC make Sherlock a futuristic show? The short answer is that in terms of sci-fi aesthetics and trappings, the series was much ahead of its time, and the shortcomings outweighed the virtues.
Despite its ageless source material, the dialogue was sloppy, the episodic plots were lightweight, and the character development was lacking. No, it wasn’t flawless, but then again, nor are most great works. This is demonstrated in Sherlock Holmes in the Twenty-First Century. It provides an example of how marginal, even substandard effort may nevertheless be valuable and accomplish great things.
This show is available to view online and comes highly recommended from our channel because of the wonderful animations, extremely cool and adapted storylines, and amazing dialogue work. Give it a watch!