TV on DVD: Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century (DVD)

Back in the nineties, there was this strange movement to take pulp and serial heroes and revive them for a modern audience. Everything from Flash Gordon to Doc Samson were revived. Some of them, like “Zorro,” were big hits, while a lot of them surprisingly missed with audiences. I’ve always loved the pulp and serial heroes, but a lot of the box office and ratings for movies and television decided that they were best left in their era. One of the bigger movements was to place serial heroes in to the future. So, The Phantom was placed in to a futuristic setting, and Sherlock Holmes was brought back a la “The Demolition Man.”

I vividly recall seeing “Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century” with great enthusiasm as a teen and loving most of it. Sure the animation was off sometimes, but the story was pretty awesome, and I liked the twist of bringing Sherlock Holmes in to our time where he’d often outwit even the best technology. After a brief prologue in to reminding us who Sherlock Holmes and Watson were, we go in to the 22nd century where a crime spree is being perpetrated.

A young female officer named Lestrade figures out the James Moriarty has been revived thanks to cloning of his DNA. In order to fight fire with fire, Lestrade insists on reviving Holmes with the same technology. Now with Holmes in a new era, he has to learn how to deal with technology and the future, all the while trying to stop his greatest foe. Along the way we meet Lestrade, a fun heroine who bears much of Holmes’ enthusiasm for solving crimes, while they’re accompanied by a robotic compudroid, who assumes the identity and mannerisms of Holmes’ old friend Watson.

It’s a neat twist in bringing back Holmes’ most fascinating sidekick. That said there are problems with world building, as the 2D and 3D animation mix is a neat gimmick, but never allows us a defining look in to this new London.

That said, “Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century” is a painfully underrated tribute to Arthur Conan Doyles’ character and garners a fresh idea that hopefully turned some of its audience on to the character. The re-release from Mill Creek Entertainment features a Digital copy of the series you can redeem at their website.