History MythologyGag / Sherlock

--->'''Moriarty''': I would try to convince you, but, everything I have to say has already crossed your mind.\\

* Like the original novel, Sholto is yet again another victim of a murder in a locked room, but instead of murder by a poison dart, it's by a delayed stab with a knife. Luckily, Mayor Sholto's murder is averted in the episode, unlike Bartholomew Sholto, who died in the original novel.

** Mayor Sholto deciding to die in his bedroom alludes to Thaddeus and Bartholomew Sholto's father, Mayor Sholto, who died in his bed after an encounter with a mysterious figure.

* The murder of Carl Powers by [[spoiler: Moriarty]] giving him botulinum toxin, which causes him to have a fit in the water before drowning, is identical to the murder of Sir Thomas Rotteram in Guy Ritchie's Film/SherlockHolmes2009, in which Lord Blackwood gave him a paralytic, causing him to drown in his own bathtub.

* "[[hrrp://www.johnwatsonblog.co.uk/blog/03september The Inexplicable Matchbox]]": The PTSD-suffering Isaac Persano, and whatever was in the matchbox, are both references to one of the more famous {{Noodle Incident}}s in the canon: "Isadora Persano, the wellknown journalist and duellist, who was found stark staring mad with a matchbox in front of him which contained a remarkable worm, said to be unknown to science" from "The Problem of Thor Bridge". And this NoodleIncident largely remains so, because John's not allowed to give us further details.

* "[[www.johnwatsonblog.co.uk/blog/03september The Inexplicable Matchbox]]": The PTSD-suffering Isaac Persano, and whatever was in the matchbox, are both references to one of the more famous {{Noodle Incident}}s in the canon: "Isadora Persano, the wellknown journalist and duellist, who was found stark staring mad with a matchbox in front of him which contained a remarkable worm, said to be unknown to science" from "The Problem of Thor Bridge". And this NoodleIncident largely remains so, because John's not allowed to give us further details.

* [[http://www.johnwatsonblog.co.uk/blog/27may The Poison Giant]]: Giles Conover gets his name from the villain of the Basil Rathbone film ''The Pearl of Death'', and the Headcrusher is based on the Hoxton Creeper from the same film. Swandale, as noted above, is based on the tribesman from ''The Sign of the Four''.

** "[[SarcasmMode No, she was writing an angry note in German]]. Of course she was writing Rachel!"

The following list is very long and likely to get much longer, as Creator/StevenMoffat has openly admitted that he's having "endless fun" with finding modern parallels for aspects of the original stories.

* Jim Moriarty's personality appears to take inspiration from Moriarty {{Expy}} Professor Ratigan in ''Disney/TheGreatMouseDetective''. Both even have scenes wearing the Crown Jewels.

[[CaptainObvious Naturally, the plot is primarily inspired by]] "Literature/AStudyInScarlet."

[[CaptainObvious Obviously, the story is nearly the same as "A Scandal In Bohemia",]] which appeared in ''The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes.''

* The book written by Sherlock and Mycroft's mother, ''The Dynamics of Combustion'', is a reference to a similarly titled book written by the original books' Professor Moriarty, ''The Dynamics of an Asteroid''.

* The main plotline is, essentially, ''Film/VForVendetta'' crossed with Guy Ritchie's ''Film/SherlockHolmes''. The shot of Westminster exploding and the shot of hot gas seeping into the House of Commons from a bench grate are copied from each of the two films, respectively.

* "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yiz7cToJxI Vatican cameos]]" was a [[http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Vatican%20Cameos code phrase]] used in World War 2 on British military bases when identifying an armed intruder in an occupied area - a signal for everyone to duck out of the line of fire. Sherlock knew that John, being a military man, would recognize it and duck out of the way of the gun [[spoiler:in Irene Adler's safe]]. Best part? The military appropriated it from a throwaway line in ''Literature/TheHoundOfTheBaskervilles''. Meta!

* The [[spoiler: pills]] are a plot element lifted straight from the original book, as the killer also uses the two [[spoiler: pills]] in killing one of the two [[AssholeVictim victims.]] [[spoiler: In both tales, one of the pills is lethal and the other is harmless.]] [[spoiler: He knows which one is harmless and asks both of his victims to choose one, like in the episode.]]
* The [[http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sherlock-Study-Scarlet-BBC-Books/dp/1849903662 tie-in]] of the original book features a mythology gag for ''the episode itself'' and the novel-the spine and the back of the book feature two [[spoiler: pills]] prominently, symbolizing their significance in the episode and the novel, as [[spoiler: pills are used by both of the murderers.]]

* The title is a direct reference to the story "His Last Bow", which is where we see Holmes on the eve of WorldWarOne.

* "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yiz7cToJxI Vatican cameos]]" was a [[http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Vatican%20Cameos code phrase]] used in World War 2 on British military bases when identifying an armed intruder in an occupied area - a signal for everyone to duck out of the line of fire. Sherlock knew that John, being a military man, would recognize it and duck out of the way of the gun [[spoiler:in Irene Adler's safe]]. Best part? The military appropriated it from a throwaway line in ''Literature/TheHoundOfTheBaskervilles''. Meta!

* In "The Yellow Face", Holmes deduced wrongly and stakes out a cottage in Norbury by mistake. After the case is solved, Holmes asks Watson to say "Norbury" whenever he starts to become arrogant or insensitive. In the episode, [[spoiler:the main villain is named Norbury, and although Sherlock deduced correctly, he fails to protect Mary from being killed, therefore his "mistake". In the end, because Watson left him, Sherlock asks Mrs. Hudson instead to say "Norbury" to him.]]

The title alludes to the short story "The Dying Detective".

The title is lifted straight from the short story "The Final Problem".

* Charles Augustus Magnussen is basically the same as the titular character of the original story, albeit with a changed surname. Like his literature counterpart, he is a blackmailer who ruins the lives of the rich and famous. However, in the book, he controls the whole of England-but in the episode, ''it's the entire Western World.''
* Sherlock calls Magnussen "The Napoleon of Blackmail." In "The Final Problem", he called Professor Moriarty "The Napoleon of Crime."

[[folder: Pilot]]
* A few nods to the canon only appeared in the pilot version of "A Study in Pink":
** Since the Mycroft subplot didn't appear in the pilot, an e-mail to "mycroft@dsux.gov" is intended to be this.
** The e-mail to Mycroft is simply "When you have eliminated the impossible whatever remains must be the truth". This line first appeared in ''The Sign of Four'' and is a common phrase of Holmes throughout the original canon. The pilot has Sherlock saying it in some form repeatedly. (This also comes up if you [[LoggingOntoTheFourthWall Log Onto The Fourth Wall]] on Sherlock's homepage: [[http://www.thescienceofdeduction.co.uk/ When I've eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how mad it might seem, must be the truth.]])
** The location in which Mike Stamford and Watson dine in the pilot is the real Criterion Bar, in which they first met in the original ''A Study in Scarlet'' which led to Watson and Holmes sharing a flat. The 90-minute version showed them having coffee in a park instead, but ensured that the viewer saw the cups bearing the name "Criterion" to retain the reference in spirit.

[[folder: Blogs]]
* John's blog entry "[[http://www.johnwatsonblog.co.uk/blog/16june The Geek Interpreter]]" has several references to the original, "The Greek Interpreter". The client's name is Melas, the name of the interpreter in the original and KRATIDES, the fictional organisation, is the name of the Greek prisoner. The names Davenport, Kemp, Latimer, and Sophy are also taken from the original story, as are Wandsworth Common and Beckenham. The superhero identity "the Flying Bludgeon" is a reference to Harold Latimer's weapon of choice. Mention of 'a storyline about Latimer, one of the superheroes, defeating two masked terrorists on Shaftesbury Avenue...' might also be a reference to how Sophy originally killed her captors.
* "[[http://www.johnwatsonblog.co.uk/blog/13july The Speckled Blonde]]" is an ''inversion'' of "The Speckled Band" [[spoiler: It looks like she was killed by a snake, but she wasn't]].
* "[[http://www.johnwatsonblog.co.uk/blog/19december The Six Thatchers]]'' is basically a simplified version of "[[http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventure_of_the_Six_Napoleons The Six Napoleons]]". Albeit with Beppo and Pietro being lovers, the story's pretty much the same.
* When Moriarty [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enIwRGc8XlM infriltrates 221B]], he takes a look at the ballistics case Sherlock has. One of the cartidges is .455 Rev-which is a CallBack to the revolver Sherlock used in the original stories-a [[CoolGuns/{{Revolvers}} Webley Revolver]], chambered for the .455 Eley round.
* [[http://www.johnwatsonblog.co.uk/blog/02september The Aluminium Crutch:]] The name of the detective in the play is a reference to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidney_Paget the original illustrator]] of the short stories and novels, who had the same name. The name of the case is a reference to a case Holmes mentions in "The Musgrave Ritual" as occurring before he met Watson.
* [[http://www.johnwatsonblog.co.uk/blog/27may The Poison Giant]]: Giles Conover gets his name from the villain of the Basil Rathbone film ''The Pearl of Death'', and the Headcrusher is based on the Hoxton Creeper from the same film. Swandale, as noted above, is based on the tribesman from ''The Sign of the Four''.

[[folder: The Casebook]]
* In the section for "The Great Game", Sherlock references the Five Orange Pips by mentioning that "some secret societies used to send them as a warning."
* John continually referring to Sherlock as "the best and wisest man he'll ever know" references ''The Final Problem'', where Watson refers to his friend using the exact same line.
* Sherlock's opinion of the countryside in "The Hounds of Baskerville" is an ironic reference to the book, where Holmes ''loves'' the countryside. Sherlock standing on a tall rock is also another reference, as that is how Holmes secretly observes Watson in the book.