sanguinity: woodcut by M.C. Escher, "Snakes" (Default)
[personal profile] sanguinity
Title: The Case of the Black Arrow
Author: [archiveofourown.org profile] TheDoubleExposure
Pairing: Gen (Basil of Baker Street, Dr. Dawson, OC)
Length: 38,657 words
Rating: Unrated (reccer’s rating: Mature)
Warnings: child abuse and child-trafficking; moderate violence
Verse: Great Mouse Detective
Author's summary: Two years after Ratigan’s demise, and Basil is in a rut. Finding missing people and lost items are not nearly challenging enough for London’s only private consulting mouse detective. That is, until a mysterious vigilante solves Basil’s latest case before he does. Now Basil of Baker Street is determined to catch the rogue crime fighter and discover their real identity. But things are rarely that straightforward, as Basil and Dawson will soon learn.

Reccer's comments: A vigilante crimefighter, as sharp and skilled as Basil himself — and some respects sharper! — is operating in Mousedom’s London. But while the Black Arrow is solving Basil’s cases — and dispensing a rougher justice than Basil would — Basil turns to solving the Black Arrow. At first Basil investigates the Black Arrow out of simple professional jealousy (although he would never to admit it), then in the name of the law, but ultimately in the name of justice.

Basil and Dawson are entirely themselves in this case fic, Basil with his black lows and brilliant highs, and Dawson with his fierce protectiveness. (I note that Dawson shades away from the Bruceian movie depiction and more toward his literary forebear, which is all to the good for those who enjoy a strong and competent character in the Watson role!) The Black Arrow proves a strong foil for our heroes, a vibrant OC who pushes Basil both professionally and personally, and causes both Basil and Dawson to wrestle with where their conscience lies. The case fic, too, is nicely paced, with the question of proper action becoming murkier as Basil and Dawson draw nearer their quarry.

A note about the author’s AO3 content warnings: the author shows an abundance of caution in their warnings, possibly because the story has much darker content than the film. The case centers on the abuse, trafficking, and murder of children, but none of those topics are graphic. (There is one brief instance which invites inference about what the victims endured.) There is some on-screen violence between adults, which I personally feel slants more moderate than graphic, although obvs mileage can vary on that.

Mostly, though: long-form GMD casefic! With an antagonist who really makes Basil work for it. :-D
[identity profile] phoenixfalls.livejournal.com
Title: Something Good (Will Come From That)
Music Title & Artist: Would You Like to Take a Walk? by The Sunshine Boys
Vidder: [livejournal.com profile] 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. [livejournal.com profile] 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. :)
sanguinity: woodcut by M.C. Escher, "Snakes" (Escher Snakes)
[personal profile] sanguinity
Title: Egg Hunt (series)
Author: [livejournal.com profile] gardnerhill
Pairing: Basil of Baker Street / Dr. Dawson
Length: 11,800 words across all four stories
Rating: G for the first three stories; T for the last
Warnings: No standard warnings apply (but see notes below)
Verse: Great Mouse Detective
Author's summary: Basil of Baker Street is a friend to all animals in Great Britain, not just the mice.

Reccer's comments: Basil may have learned deduction at the feet of the Great Detective, but no one knows more about courage and heroism than Basil of Baker Street and his dearest companion, Dr. Dawson. After all, while Holmes and Watson enjoy the considerable advantage of being apex predators in the great cityscape of London, Basil and Dawson are merely mice, tasty bite-sized morsels for nearly any comer. And yet, god love his valiant heart, Basil will take as his client any creature in Great Britain that has need of him:

“I will not ask you to aid me in this venture, Doctor.” His ‘business’ voice – the one he always used when he tried to dissuade me from coming along. “Not only is this case an extremely dangerous one, but I have a strong suspicion that my failure will result in my clients attempting to eat me.”
(*snerk* Yeah, right, Basil. Has a Watson — or a Dawson! — ever opted to stay home were it was safe??)

The first three stories are a serialized adventure of ingenuity and raw physical courage, as enjoyable for its quirkiness as our protagonists' devotion to each other. (No criminal masterminds here, just an unusual and challenging problem, accepted out of compassion for the clients.) The last story in the series, “The Cage,” is a years-later epilogue, featuring a brave and clever Dawson, inadvertently on his own and fiercely determined to prevent any harm to Basil.

Content Warnings: While no standard warnings apply, the first case centers on infertility, and the series is unsentimental about predator/prey relationships. I feel it would be disingenuous to tag this “animal harm” or “harm to children,” and yet there are parts that might be difficult for some readers.

(Mods: do we need a Basil/Dawson tag, or do you want the sh/jw tag on this?)
[identity profile] rachelindeed.livejournal.com
Title: Flaversham (The Great Mouse Detective Remix)
Music Title & Artist: the background hip-hop beat is unattributed; otherwise the sounds are created using clips from the music and dialog of the film
Vidder: Jesse Dill
Pairing or Character: Basil of Baker Street, Rattigan, Dr. Dawson, the Flavershams
Verse: The Great Mouse Detective (Disney)
Link: I have not found this vidder on LJ, DW, or tumblr, so please note the available link is to YouTube: Flaversham (The Great Mouse Detective Remix) vid

Reccer's Comments: In the world of vids, a "remix" is a special form which takes up the challenge of hearing and creating music within what are traditionally thought of as non-musical sounds (combining snippets - even mismatched syllables - of spoken words or vocal exclamations, and environmental sounds, e.g. a ticking clock). The vidder usually lays in a strong, simple background beat and often also incorporates quick selections of the film's original soundtrack. It's a sort of multimedia hip-hop, and when done well it can be both hilariously fun and irresistibly rhythmic.

This vid is done very well, and it has a lovely array of sounds to work with, especially given the marvelously flexible vocal performances of the film's actors (I love you, Vincent Price & Barrie Ingham!) This is a great tribute to the colorful, charming, heartfelt Disney movie that managed to capture so much of what I love about Sherlock Holmes.

A note: if this is your first remix, I feel I should warn you that it can be a bit repetitive, as the same sequence of images/sounds stands in for repeated verses or choruses in the music. But I think you will find this a very inventive piece which never pauses in the same track for too long. Plus, it's only 2 minutes. I'm hoping that at the end of it, your day will be a little brighter! :)
[identity profile] mainecoon76.livejournal.com
Title: Moustery
Author: [livejournal.com profile] rabidsamfan
Pairing: Gen
Length: 1523 words
Rating: G
Warnings: none
Verse: ACD Canon; The Great Mouse Detective (crossover)
Author's summary: Watson knows that eliminating the impossible is not always possible.

Reccer's comments: There is, as I have been telling just about everyone lately, not enough GMD fanfic in this world. This story was a holmestice gift to me, and I may not be entirely objective about it, but still – if you like Basil of Baker Street at all, I’d highly recommend checking it out. Not only is it thoroughly and utterly adorable, but also very cleverly developed, especially the parallel existence of those two Holmesian verses which begin to overlap as Watson is able to see those mice for what they are. Also, the characterization is spot-on, the language is beautiful, and the very last image is particularly heartwarming.

Also here on AO3.
keladry_lupin: (John and Sherlock)
[personal profile] keladry_lupin
Title: Holmes/Watson (Multi-verse) - At the Beginning
Music Title & Artist: At the Beginning by Donna Lewis and Richard Marx
Vidder: [livejournal.com profile] selinabln
Pairing or Character: Sherlock Holmes/John Watson
Verse: Granada, The Great Mouse Detective, Ritchie, BBC

Link: http://selinabln.livejournal.com/29623.html

Reccer's Comments: I come back to this video when I've read too many angsty fanfics; it's short, sweet, and it always puts a smile on my face. The addition of the Disney incarnations is appropriate for the singers' voices and the song itself. I'm a fan of all [livejournal.com profile] selinabln's vids, but this is one of my favorites.
[identity profile] sussexdowns.livejournal.com
Title: Home is Where
Author: [livejournal.com profile] rat_chan
Pairing: Basil/Dawson, with past Basil/Ratigan
Length: 2180 words
Rating: PG
Warnings: Mentions of (canon) character death.
Verse: Great Mouse Detective
Author's summary: Dawson comes home to (yet again) find Basil in deep contemplation of Ratigan's portrait. He's not sure why this bothers him so much, but he is very sure why he's shocked when Basil explains about his and Ratigan's secret past...

Reccer's comments: This is somehow both hilarious and kind of heartbreaking. Hilarious because THEY ARE MICE. They are so clearly mice. [livejournal.com profile] rat_chan does a marvelous job of keeping the fact that these are anthropomorphic rodents very clear without making it heavy-handed or intrusive on the narrative. They've also managed to make Ratigan a vaguely sympathetic character which takes some skill, imo, since all the movie gave us was a one-dimensional villain. And also, what could be more adorable than anthropomorphic mice in love?

I think we need a Great Mouse Detective tag up in here!
[identity profile] unovis.livejournal.com
Hi!
Just a few words on our tags and tagging your recs.

Tags are useful search tools for grouping the recs by categories: by pairing, genre, content, and sources for the stories or other fanworks.

We ask that reccers attach tags that are relevant to the works they rec. You don't have to add everything that applies-- for example, not a character tag for everyone who might appear in the story, or every theme or content. But if Molly has a significant cameo, say, that you think people searching for her might appreciate, then by all means list her in a tag. Likewise if you think this is the addiction story people should read, then use the content: addiction tag.

The required aspects to tag are pairing (if it applies), relationship genre (i.e., gen, slash, or het*), and verse (the source: ACD books, Sherlock BBC, Granada, etc.).

The easiest place to see all of the tags available is in this list of tags.

Tagging is enabled only for the author of the post and the mods. Only the mods can add new tags. We have a beginning list up now, anticipating likely categories and characters. We'll add more as recs are made, if characters and pairings, for example, aren't covered already. You can request a new tag to be added by commenting here or by contacting one of the mods. Keep in mind, again, that we'll be adding character tags as additional characters appear in recs.

Sherlock Holmes and John Watson have been abbreviated as SH and JW in pairings and some other places (e.g., content: sick jw). Since this recs comm is open to all versions of Sherlock Holmes, it seemed the simplest way to identify the characters. Lestrade, Gregson, and Dimmock are listed as "inspector" following ACD book canon, and Moriarty is listed only once by his (their) surname alone. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is abbreviated throughout as ACD.

*We won't add a category for "slash-if-you-squint" or similar invitations for the reader to see subtext in a story. If the author hasn't labeled her work as slash, then it's genre: gen or genre: friendship.

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