Bonzuko

…and it kicks off Sherlock Holmes week, no less! ~Jenn

From: Ep. 1.3:

Character: Joe Harrison

Joe Harrison accidentally kills Andrew West “Westie” in the Bruce-Partington Plans subplot in this episode. He is the brother of Westie’s fiancee. He then steals the valuable plans but is foiled by Sherlock, who breaks into his apartment to confront him.

The character is from The Naval Treaty, which has a very similar plot to Bruce-Partington (Mark Gatiss is right when he declares in the 1.3 commentary that B-P is more of a remake of N-T). In the Naval Treaty, some valuable documents are stolen from Percy Phelps. Joseph Harrison is the brother of Phelps’ fiancee, and is also the thief (though in the Naval Treaty he doesn’t in fact kill anyone). So those of us who are Sherlockian nerds, when Westie’s fiancee’s brother introduces himself as Joe Harrison, we all went “Welp, we know *he* did it.”

Fun fact: The story of the Bruce-Partington Plans is pretty much spot-on from the old version, bar a couple tiny details. Also, in the modern version, they name West Andrew instead of Cadogan. I guess Cadogan would sound a mite too archaic.

(Pics of the character from here and here.)

Please to enjoy this little article about fellow Colorado fight director Geoff Kent. ~Prof. Jenn

http://www.denverpost.com/entertainment/ci_21166828/denvers-geoffrey-kent-actor-and-fight-director-theater?refresh=no

“Off you pop and talk to people.” – Irene Adler, Sherlock

Make sure you’ve watched ep. 2.3 before you read this post. ~Jenn

From ep. 2.3:

Idea: Sherlock Holmes invented Moriarty as a front for his criminal activities. Holmes and Moriarty are the same person.

Reference: The initial idea that Holmes made up the Napoleon of crime might be said to be from Nicholas Meyer’s novel The Seven Per Cent Solution. However, in that book Holmes and Moriarty aren’t the same person.

No, I believe the idea that Holmes IS Moriarty is taken directly from P.G. Wodehouse’s 1975 introduction to the Ballantine Sign of the Four. In this delightfully hilarious intro, Wodehouse supports his theory by giving us a run-down of what everything cost back then, and how high Holmes’ expenses would be. It’s actually quite educational, hearing about what was normal and what was expensive in Victorian England, what room and board would cost, etc. Wodehouse delivers his theory thusly:

It all boils down to one question–why is a man casual about money?

The answer is–Because he has a lot of it.

Had Holmes?

He pretended he hadn’t, but that was merely the illusion he was trying to create because he needed a front for his true activities. He was pulling the stuff in from another source. Where is the big money? Where it has always been, in crime. … I saw daylight, and all the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle fell into place. Holmes was Professor Moriarty.

The whole intro is worth a read, if only for the “there’s no police like Holmes” pun.

Reference: P.G. Wodehouse introduction, A.C. Doyle, The Sign of the Four, NY: Ballantine, 1975.

Pic

The good folks over at Imagined Interprises connected with me recently, and I had the opportunity to interview one of their authors, Maxwell Alexander Drake. He’s another author that specializes in action scenes and instructing others in the composition thereof. Please to enjoy this interview, and stay tuned on facebook for a promo of his work! ~Jenn

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5 Questions: Maxwell Alexander Drake

by: Jenn Zuko Boughn

1) What

Check out this post by fellow stage combat blog Play Fighting re: my Stage Combat book, and

the sequel. Thanks for the shout-out, Mr. McCormick! ~Jenn

http://playfighting.ca/combat/stage-combat-2/bonzuko-stage-combat-book/