Sherlock Snoopy and Watson Woodstock Are Ready to Solve a Mystery

I’m a movie buff, and as a result, the December crop of movies has me a bit stressed out. How, oh how, am I going to make it to the theater for The Princess and the Frog, The Lovely Bones, Avatar and Sherlock Holmes? I may have to wait for Netflix, but at least with the last one, I have Snoopy to help tide me over. That’s because several years ago, while browsing around in a local thrift shop, we found The Detective, the third ornament in the Spotlight on Snoopy series. It’s always a bit of a chore to locate this ornament come Christmastime, since it came packaged in the box of an entirely different ornament, something to do with giving a gold star to a worthy teacher. But that makes its arrival all the more welcome once we do find it.

Like the other Spotlight on Snoopy ornaments, this Snoopy is fairly small at just over two inches high. From the back of his head to the front of his nose, there is about an inch and a quarter, and that is the thickest point of the ornament. Snoopy stands flat on his two white feet, and Woodstock, on his tiny yellow feet, stands flat as well. Leaning up against Snoopy, Woodstock is dressed in drab black. He seems to be holding a legal pad, perusing notes pertaining to the case at hand. On his head is a jaunty derby.

Snoopy, meanwhile, is garbed all in red augmented with green and yellow stripes that intersect and go both horizontally and vertically. From the colors to his oddly-shaped hat to the magnifying glass he holds in the hand that stretches out from underneath his cloak, it’s clear that Snoopy is emulating Sherlock Holmes, making Woodstock Watson. The two are a perfect pair. Clearly visible is Snoopy’s entire head, with his squinty eyes, round nose and black ears; the rest of him, aside from the hand and two feet, is obscured by the clothing.

I don’t recall seeing Snoopy play Sherlock at any point in the comic strip, but given the beagle’s fondness for literature, it’s no surprise to see him portray such an iconic fictional figure, and bringing Woodstock along for the ride is simply the friendly thing to do. Besides, where would Sherlock be without his trusty assistant? This is a very cute little ornament that could easily stay out all year long, though we always put it away for the year. It could rest on a shelf or piano with no trouble, but we always hang this one on the tree; the hook goes atop his hat, and he dangles quite nicely from the branch at hand.

We’re big Snoopy fans around here, so it’s something of a surprise to me that we don’t have more of the ornaments in this series, but I’m glad we picked this one up, even if he did come in the wrong box. After all, a little bit of mystery is particularly fitting for this super sleuth and his dedicated assistant.

Star Trek: The Next Generation - Genesis Is Completely Ridiculous, In a Good Way

So I was sitting in the living room, too tired to do anything productive, too awake to call it a night, and after one flatulence joke too many from Craig Ferguson, I grabbed the remote, whereupon I was reminded of that glorious, albeit inconveniently late, time slot during which Star Trek: The Next Generation is on WGN. So I settled in for Genesis, an episode I’d never seen before. It features one of my favorite minor players, jittery Lieutenant Barclay (Dwight Schulz), and it starts off with the promising scene of Data (Brent Spiner) undergoing a consultation regarding his pregnant cat, Spot.

Some of my favorite moments in the series involve this cat, including Data’s reading of his own poetic composition, An Ode to Spot, and his range of emotions concerning her fate in Star Trek: Generations, so I figured her appearance was a good sign. And who can resist the promise of kittens? Unfortunately, while Spot does play a key role in the plot, we see very little of her, and even less of her and Data together - and in one of those scenes, her appearance is decidedly different. In high school, I witnessed the taping of a commercial spoofing The Wizard of Oz that co-starred an iguana as Toto. The fact that it made no sense whatsoever added to the humor. It’s supposed to make sense that fluffy Spot transforms into an iguana before the episode is out, but it never really does. This is one weird episode. But it’s very entertaining.

I was surprised to see that Genesis originally aired in March. It definitely struck me as a Halloween episode, sort of Treehouse of Horror TNG-style. Beware the Ides, and beware the episode’s premise if you want to avoid scratching your head in confusion or shaking it in exasperation. The whole thing plays out like a spoof of cheesy horror movies as various members of the crew begin demonstrating strange behavior before undergoing startling changes to their physiology.

Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) becomes unbearably chilly; Will Riker (Jonathan Frakes) can’t hold onto his train of thought; hypochondriac Barclay becomes hyperactive. Most noticeably, Worf (Michael Dorn) becomes unaccountably surly, which is initially funny but grows worrisome as the episode wears on. Even Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) is beginning to exhibit symptoms of paranoia. Data alone is unaffected, and it’s up to him to put on his Sherlock Holmes cap and figure out just what is going on.

Genesis goes in a much different direction than I anticipated. It’s one of the funniest TNG episodes I’ve seen, in a campier-than-the-original-series kind of way. I’m not sure it was supposed to be so silly, but really, once Deanna sprouts gills, it’s hard to take anything that happens in the episode too seriously. But boy, it sure made me chuckle...

My First Movie

As I recall, this is the first movie I ever saw in the theater. This was a great experience for me, and I probably would have been impressed no matter what the movie was. But this particular film happened to be Disney's The Great Mouse Detective, a fine member of the Disney full-length animated features collection which is too often overlooked.

The story takes place in Great Britain and begins with Olivia, the daughter of a brilliant toymaker. When her father is kidnapped by Ratigan, a vicious rat with plans to take over the royal throne, young Olivia seeks the services of the famous detective Basil of Baker Street. She is led to his residence by Dawson, a portly doctor who is well acquainted with the "Great Mouse Detective". Basil and Dawson are very similar in appearance and personality to Sherlock Holmes and Watson.

Basil, who is a bit haughty and sometimes rather daft, is balanced out by the kindly and practical Dawson. With Olivia in tow, they embark on a mission to save her father. Upon their arrival, they discover that the toymaker's task is to create a robotic queen who will fool the masses and through whom Ratigan will rule. This, of course, means that the current queen will have to be taken care of as well, so it's a race against time for the sleuthing pair to keep the queen from falling to Ratigan's lethal aspirations.

This is a great Disney movie full of adventure and suspense, leading up to a fabulous climax at Big Ben. London is a popular setting for Disney movies, and it is once more used most effectively here. My favorite character is the gentle Dawson, but there are many well-defined characters here to enjoy. Even the dog, who provides their transportation. Ratigan is despicable, and he's got one of the liveliest songs a Disney villain has ever been given. I'm not sure why this film has been overlooked so often, but don't let that deter you from introducing your children to the wonderful world of The Great Mouse Detective.