Friday, November 4, 2005

HI HONEY, I'M HOLMES! (PART THREE)

There have been over a hundred alternate TV dimensions seen, thanks mostly to 'Sliders', but also due to 'Futurama', 'Star Trek', and the various science fiction anthology series.

And each of them is home to Holmes.

We've covered all of the POTUS-powered planes of existence in the TV Universe, but there are divers dimensions and lots more Sherlocks to asssign to them.

Here are some of the more prominent of those Toobworlds.....

TOOBWORLD OF 'LOIS & CLARK'/'SUPERBOY'
Guy Henry (I) (Sherlock Holmes)
. . . "Young Sherlock: The Mystery of the Manor House" (1982) TV Series
Roger Ostime (Sherlock Holmes)
. . . "Baker Street Boys, The" (1983) TV Series

It's my contention that the young Clark Kent from 'Superboy' grew up to become the mild-mannered reporter in 'Lois & Clark'. (Tom Wellig's performance in 'Smallville', in which he doesn't even have the costume yet, let alone practice his powers in public, exists in the same dimension as 'The West Wing'. Otherwise, President Bartlet would have been calling on Superman's help in every major crisis that's been depicted in his administration!)

And in keeping with this idea that two series represent the different ages of the same character, I've combined these two series about Sherlock Holmes. What helps maintain the premise is that Holmes took a back seat to the Baker Street Irregulars in the second series; to the point where any glaring discrepancies between the resemblance of the two actors doesn't stand out too much.

EARTH PRIME-TIME-USSR
Vasili Livanov (Sherlock Holmes)
. . . Priklyucheniya Sherloka Kholmsa i doktora Vatsona (1980) (TV)
. . . Priklyucheniya Sherloka Kholmsa i doktora Vatsona: Dvadtsatyy vek nachinaetsya (1986) (TV)
. . . Priklyucheniya Sherloka Kholmsa i doktora Vatsona: Korol shantazha (1980) (TV)
. . . Priklyucheniya Sherloka Kholmsa i doktora Vatsona: Krovavaya nadpis (1979) (TV)
. . . Priklyucheniya Sherloka Kholmsa i doktora Vatsona: Ohota na tigra (1980) (TV)
. . . Priklyucheniya Sherloka Kholmsa i doktora Vatsona: Smertelnaya skhvatka (1980) (TV)
. . . Priklyucheniya Sherloka Kholmsa i doktora Vatsona: Sobaka Baskerviley (1981) (TV)
. . . Priklyucheniya Sherloka Kholmsa i doktora Vatsona: Sokrovishcha Agry (1983) (TV)
. . . Priklyucheniya Sherloka Kholmsa i doktora Vatsona: Znakomstvo (1979) (TV)

A world in which the United States was under the control of the Soviet Union was seen in the premiere episode of 'Sliders'. But perhaps the rest of the world fell under the sway of Mother Russia long before the Soviets took control. That might be due to the Soviets becoming the dominant power in Russia in this dimension long before 1917.

In any event, with this series it could be argued that England fell to the Bolsheviks during the Victorian Age, and Russian was adopted as the official language. (Ironic payback after the English forced the Irish to abandon Gaelic!)

EARTH PRIME-TIME-SS
Erich Schellow (Sherlock Holmes)
. . . "Sherlock Holmes" (1967) TV Series

This series follows along the same line of thinking - the Germans gained dominion over the Earth long before even World War I, and that is why we have a Holmes who speaks German. [Schellow wouldn't be the only German actor to portray Holmes on Television. Wolf Ackva, Rolf Becker, and Ernst Fritz Furbringer all donned the Inverness cape and the deerstalker cap in productions on the Western side of the Berlin Wall.)

A world in which England was under the control of the Nazis might have been found in the evil mirror universe, but I prefer to link it to a TV movie which starred Rutger Hauer and Miranda Richardson, "Fatherland".

EARTH PRIME-TIME SAP
Eugenio Monclova (Sherlock Holmes)
. . . "Ultimo caso del detective Prado, El" (2005) (mini) TV Series

If I was willing to segregate all telenovelas to their own dimension, then this series would fit as snugly as a Persian slipper (minus the tobacco lining). But I prefer to keep them in Earth Prime-Time to preserve Toobworld's global heritage.

However, there may be some telenovelas which contradict all of the others to such a degree that there is no other option but to banish them to yet another off-shoot. And to get the ball rolling on that, this series, which was produced in Puerto Rico and in which Holmes hable Espanol, would be the flagship of the line.

Who knows? Maybe there's a what-if? storyline out there in TV Land in which the Spanish never lost their Armada in the English Channel........

One major alternate dimension that is not taken into account here is the Tooniverse. But four different animated productions have enough Zonk!s between them to warrant a separate essay to cover them all.

So we'll get to that in a week or so......

BCnU!
Tele-Toby

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