221B Recs

Title: Something Good (Will Come From That)
Music Title & Artist: Would You Like to Take a Walk? by The Sunshine Boys
Vidder: sanguinity
Pairing or Character: Holmes & Watson
Verse: 54 different adaptations - see full list at vid page
Link: AO3 | tumblr
Reccer's Comments:
For me, this is the ultimate Holmes & Watson vid. sanguinity summarized it as "100 years of moving pictures about Holmes & Watson," and that is exactly what it is and yet it conveys none of the sheer majesty that is the result. As I noted above, sanguinity used 54 different adaptations as source material -- all the biggies are there, BBC Sherlock, the Ritchie/RDJ movies, Granada, Elementary; the less common but still not unexpected adaptations like both Russian Holmes series, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, and Young Sherlock Holmes; several different Holmesian cartoons like The Great Mouse Detective, Sherlock Hound, and Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century; silent movies and web series like Herlock and entirely fanmade 'verses like 221B Baker Towers; and adaptations from Japan, China, Korea, India, and Brazil in addition to the Anglophonic and Russian adaptations we're more familiar with. It's very, very tempting to call the vid "all the Holmeses and all the Watsons," but I don't recommend doing so because sanguinity will immediately pop up to explain exactly how many Holmeses & Watsons didn't make the cut.

But the sheer genius of the vid, beyond its scope, is how much a love letter it is, not only to Holmes & Watson but to fandom and fannishness in general. Because the way sanguinity put all these sources together, arranged around themes like walking arm in arm, or Holmes torturing Watson with his violin, or Reichenbach, highlights how in conversation they all are with each other. All the adaptations are, after all, fanworks of one original canon; and cut together like this there is a amazing sense of Holmesiana being one enormous, chaotic, joyous fandom, spanning decades and continents. The effect is delightful, overwhelming in the best way, and utterly charming.

And once you've watched the vid a couple (hundred) times, I strongly recommend reading the commentary posted as chapters 2 & 3 at the AO3 link. The process of sourcing and making the vid (and the various ways sanguinity cut down the multitude of adaptations into something manageable) is fascinating. But more than that, watching so many adaptations in a fairly close time frame (and with an eye to using them for a vid) gave sanguinity a unique perspective on how Holmes & Watson get interpreted in visual canons. She discusses how technological changes affected adaptational styles; the rise and fall of various tropes (it apparently has not always been the case that it is "always 1895"!); diversity in casting; and the relative shippiness of different adaptations. Reading about the vid is just as rewarding as watching the vid itself, even at 9,000 words. :)