April
6, 2006
Sherlock
Hound, as it's known in the West (in Japan it's simply "Meitantei
Holmes," or Famous Detective Holmes) doesn't have all that
much to do with Arthur Conan Doyle's stories. The whole setting
is really just a framework to create an fast-paced adventure show,
with slapstick comedy bits piled onto spectacular car chases. In
other words, it's a terrific piece of animation, a giant ball of
fun.
Sherlock
Hound was started in 1981 at animation studio Telecom, with Miyazaki
at the helm, and an amazing amount of talent; chief among these
include Yoshifumi Kondo (animation director), Kazuhide Tomonaga,
Tsukasa Tannai, Nobuo Tomizawa, Masako Shinohara, Koichi Maruyama,
and Atsuko Tanaka. The great Yasuo Otsuka even makes an uncredited
cameo for one episode.
The
series was very clearly an homage to Animal Treasure Island, the
1971 Toei film that largely cements the "Miyazaki Style."
The Telecom staff was thrilled at the opportunity to create something
with the same boyant energy, and it shows in nearly every frame.
This is the perfect example of just how effective animation, hand-drawn
animation, can be in the right hands. I don't think anything in
the CGI age has yet matched it.
There's
something of an instant, pick-up-and-play feel to Sherlock Hound,
very lightweight, that marks it as the end of an era. Miyazaki's
worldview was becoming more clouded, more complicated, as middle
age approached. Future Boy Conan carried serious, somber undertones
just under the surface; by the time Nausicaa made its way to the
big screen in 1984, that darker side was taking over. His inner
conflict is something that defines the Ghibli era, that battle between
youthful idealism and adult cynicism; note for example the third
acts of Castle in the Sky and My Neighbor Totoro, and the crises
of identity in Kiki's Delivery Service and Porco Rosso.
The
"Classic Miyazaki" period of Puss in Boots and Animal
Treasure Island and Lupin has long passed, and Sherlock Hound is
kind of an Abbey Road to the era; in the end, the love you take
is equal to the love you make.
Now
on to the history lesson. Six episodes were created at Telecom before
the series was put on hiatus. As far as I understand, this was due
to conflicts with the Conan Doyle estate, who apparantly weren't
too pleased with this unorthodox treatment of the Sherlock Holmes
characters. The series was shelved, until Miyazaki refashioned two
of the episodes as the opening short film for Nausicaa in 1984.
The public was enthralled, so the series was revived, with 20 new
episodes set in production. However, these new episodes were not
created by Telecom nor any of the principle players (apart from
the actors), but at another Japanese studio, and the difference
shows. The original six episodes were integrated into the TV series
as follows:
Episode
3 - A Small Client
Episode 4 - Mrs. Hudson is Taken Hostage
Episode 5 - The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle
Episode 9 - Treasure Under the Sea
Episode 10 - The White Cliffs of Dover
Episode 11 - The Sovereign Gold Coins
In
1984, Tomonaga, along with Kondo (director), Tomizawa, Tanaka and
Nizu created the famous Nemo pilot, which is one of the greatest
pieces of Japanese animation ever devised. This was Tomonaga's baby,
and he masterfully packs all the excitement of Sherlock Hound into
a four-minute action classic. It's just another example of the amazing
talent at that time. If only their version of Nemo was the one that
finally made it to the screen. If only Miyazaki and companay could
have made more Hound episodes. All part of the great "what
ifs?" of life.
Here
in the States, Sherlock Hound is available on DVD from Pioneer;
the entire series spans six seperate DVD's, but the original Telecom/Miyazaki
episodes are on the first three. Those discs should be part of your
collection and put into heavy rotation. The later episodes? Eh,
not so good. I'll go into greater detail at my weblog Conversations
on Ghibli. |
