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#27 - Sherlockians

#27 - Sherlockians

Released Friday, 5th May 2017
Good episode? Give it some love!
#27 - Sherlockians

#27 - Sherlockians

#27 - Sherlockians

#27 - Sherlockians

Friday, 5th May 2017
Good episode? Give it some love!
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The Nickscast discuss why a man who "died" over one hundred years ago is still popular today: We're talking about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's most famous work, Sherlock Holmes and, more appropriately, its fans, *Sherlockians*. How is it that one set of stories sparked so many different pastiches, re-interpretations and ever more stories? What did fandom look like in the 19th century? What does the fandom look like today? Find out on this week's episode of Fanthropological: the great game is afoot!

Next week, we’ll be talking about fans of Transformers (The *robots in disguise* variety). Stay tuned!

## Episode outline

### Fandom Facts

**Origins:**

The world's most famous fictional private detective; first appeared in print in 1887 (in *a Study in Scarlet*). The creation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, he is well known for his deductive reasoning, forensic science, and logic that borders on the fantastic.

**Fandom Origins:**

In 1897 the first "fan fiction" appears (John Kendricks' *Pursuit of the House-Boat*), during the time period when Holmes had been 'killed off' between 1893 and 1903.

In 1934, the Baker Street Irregulars were founded in NYC—one of the oldest and largest Sherlock Holmes organizations dedicated to the fandom.

Much later, fandom springs up around BBC's *Sherlock* (2010) and *Elementary* (2012).

**Names:**

Sherlockians, Holmesians

**Fan terms:**

> **Z**: *The hiatus* is the term that fans use to refer to the period where Sir Arther Conan Doyle was not writing any new Sherlock Holmes stories between 1893 and 1903.> **G**: Much like Harry Potter's 3 year summer, or, I don't know, the eternal wait for whenever the next game of throne book comes out.

**Size of Fandom:**

> Certainly, Sherlock’s audience is several million greater than the 565 people who took this survey, but they provide a glimpse into an online fandom eager to express their opinions. The majority taking this survey are female, under 30, and living in the US or UK. However, if the range of respondents to this survey is any indication, Sherlock fandom is much broader based than this summary indicates.>> — [popMATTERS: 'Sherlock' By the Numbers](http://www.popmatters.com/column/172425-the-way-we-watch-television-a-study-in-sherlock/)

Probably in the millions, considering BBC's *Sherlock* had 7.5 million viewers for its opening episode, *A Study in Pink*, an the second series averaged over 8 million viewers. Hard to estimate because of the longevity of the character and diversity of depictions.

**Fanfics:**

As of April 2017...

- Fanfiction.net: 3900 (Sherlock Holmes); Over 58000 (Sherlock); ~750 (Elementary)- Archive of our own: Over 100000 (Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms); Over 94000 (Sherlock (TV)); ~2000 (Elementary)

> At this point, I'm sure they are like "Hey, what if Sherlock Holmes was a baker and Watson was his housewife". If that fanfic doesn't exist, please send it to [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) and we will probably read it on air!>> — T

### [Last Episode's](http://fanthropological.com/e/26-spnfamily/) Famous Last Words

**G**: What is the oldest fan work, and what was fandom like in the 19th century?**T**: Seriously, why so many Sherlocks?**Z**: Is there a small-studio web production of Sherlock Holmes?

### What did we discuss?

"Pastiches" as the earliest fanfics ~ Arthur Conan Doyle's habit of rushing through his stories ~ The Great Game ~ Doylist and Watsonian perspectives to fiction ~ The blurred lines between Watson and Doyle ~ The "death" of Sherlock Holmes and its impact ~ Sherlock Holmes' popularity because of being a static / flat character ~ Holmes as a lense for the world / time period ~ Holmes as the archetype for the mystery genre ~ Sherlock Holmes outside of the Western world ~ Fandom in the 19th century

### Are you in, or out?

> **T**: ... And by that I mean are you gonna do more of the thing that

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