#sherlocked usa 2018

[meeedeee]

Fan Vid/Vidding Stats

I've been combining my convention fanvid show playlists (thank you to every convention that has ever offered their playlists to their convention attendees in any format ...and an even bigger thank you to those using Google  Sheets or Excel or some format that can be converted).

The Two Big Vidding Conventions

Vividcon - USA (2002-2018), a fan run vidding convention showed approximately 4,737 vids.

VidUKon  - UK (2008-present), a similar vidding convention based in the UK has shown approximately 2,248 fanvids

You can find Vividcon's fanvid database here

VidUKon has combined its database with other conventions that run on the Conline.Club platform. You cannot search by convention year, but their dataset allows you to search by Fandom, Vidder and Title

Other Conventions

Below is the list of conventions where I am trying to gather the lists of fanvids that were shown - it ranges from 1979 through the present

Bascon

BistoCon

Cabrillo Con

Calicon

Con.txt

Confabulation

Connexions

Constrict

Convergence

DC SlashCon

Eastern Media Con

Eclecticon

Equinox Spring (a challenge, not a convention)

Equinox Fall (a challenge, not a convention)

Escapade

FanWorksCon

FemmeslashCon (TGIF/F)

FanStudies (an academic convention)

Festivids (a challenge, not a convention)

Friscon

Geek Media Expo

Hypericon

IDICon

Kiscon

Kismet

MediaWest

Nine Worlds

PacificCon/ Bitchin' Party

Revelcon

Slashcon (Australia)

Sharecon (SH10x)

Sherlock (Seattle)

Sirens Conference

Slashcon (AUS)

Slayage

Swancon (AUS)

Southern Media Con (VidCon until 2010)

VidUKon

Virgule

Vividcon

VegaSH Con

Wincon

Wiscon

WorldCon

ZebraCon

[nickymortis]

Resurrecting Fear: Alone in the Dark Returns to its Roots

The first Alone in the Dark game from '92 is basically the OG of survival horror, laying the groundwork for series like Resident Evil and Silent Hill, which is why enthusiasts often seek out platforms to buy Xbox games. While those two blew up big-time, Alone in the Dark kinda fizzled out by the early 2000s. The spin-offs dropped in '08 and '15 pretty much sealed its fate. But in 2018, THQ Nordic swooped in, snagged the rights, and announced they're rebooting the OG game. They're aiming to bring it back to its roots while giving it a modern makeover. We got to test out the PS5 version early, and it's clear: there's a ton of legacy to live up to, but the competition in the genre has leveled up big time, especially in the action department.

Evolving Darkness: A Contemporary Twist on the Classic Tale

Alone in the Dark kicks off with a spooky car ride through the swamps of the American Southwest, where we meet Emily Hartwood and Edward Carnby, embarking on a journey that has sparked interest in platforms offering options to buy PS5 games. Carnby's a private eye hired by Emily to find her missing uncle Jeremy, who's chilling at the Derceto Manor sanatorium, far off the grid. Once you're there, you gotta pick which of these two you're rolling with for the whole game. Emily and Carnby each see the story unfold differently in some scenes, so it's worth running it back a few times to catch it all. You can only get those alternative endings after you've seen the "normal" one with both characters. Alone in the Dark sticks to the '92 original's vibe but puts its own spin on things instead of just rehashing the plot. You don't need to know anything about the ancient debut to dive right in.

Mysteries of Derceto Manor: Navigating Haunted Hallways

No matter which main character you pick, Alone in the Dark spins a gripping detective tale with supernatural twists. It's set in 1920s Southern USA, dripping with period costumes, decor, and a jazz-heavy soundtrack. The devs roped in real Hollywood heavyweights for Emily and Carnby. Jodie Comer (Killing Eve, Free Guy) nails the brave Emily, while David Harbour (Stranger Things) brings grumpy detective Carnby to life. They add serious personality to the main duo, with the original English voices shining a bit brighter, but the German dub ain't too shabby either. Even the side characters hold their own, like the perpetually griping housekeeper, the shady director, and the artsy celeb. They unfold through cinematic cutscenes, leaving you mostly to your own devices in between. Derceto Manor steals the spotlight as the main haunt. You navigate this eerie sanatorium in third-person, starting with lots of locked doors and blocked paths. To move forward, you'll snag clues and crack environmental puzzles like a pro.

Combat Frustrations: Navigating Survival in 'Alone in the Dark'

In Alone in the Dark, you've got three difficulty levels to choose from. The higher ones amp up monster toughness and cut back on gear. But since the combat's the weakest link, it just ends up being frustrating. You can opt in for puzzle hints too. Characters drop lines like "I've seen this before," and key details are highlighted in docs. Sometimes, it makes things too easy, but at least you won't wander clueless for ages. It's cool that you can pick which hints to use. The monsters hunting you are mostly cut from the same cloth. There's a handful of types—zombie dudes of different sizes, leeches, and these demon bat things. They all kinda move the same and go down quick. The only thing giving you a rush is the clunky controls. You can sneak around, but it just drags out the annoying parts without any real perks besides saving ammo.

A Call for Focus on Core Strengths

They really went all in! I kept wondering if the action parts were even needed like this. Personally, Alone in the Dark would be way better without them, more like those newer Sherlock Holmes games or Call of Cthulhu. If THQ Nordic wants to keep the series going, they gotta think hard about sticking with this formula or focusing on what it's really good at.

[detectivenyx]

as an australian watching this happen from our own somewhat recently somewhat extinguished dumpster fire, while the american election was absolutely part of it, i wish usamericans would stop assuming for 5 minutes that the world revolves around them and which despot they decide to throw in charge and that they make up so much of any userbase ever that everyone else must surely be outliers. non-US citizens were also swept up in the destiel hysteria - if the election were the main component it wouldn't have caught on this way because ultimately the election only affected usamericans, at least directly.

i'll also note through the archive system, op's blog has only been active since march 2018 - long after supernatural posting had hit a massive lull. this was not only after the height but the critical analysis that ultimately led to its downfall and obsolescence in tumblr culture. i'll concede it could be a newer blog for an older user, but im speaking as someone who jumped in just before what i think is another historical tumblr event that influences how supernatural is seen, because alongside multiple other fandoms, this one event just about killed enthusiasm for these fandoms overnight:

dashcon.

yes the funny meme ballpit con - the ballpit was honestly just the cherry on top of the shitshow dashcon was. it was advertised and fundraised as a tumblr convention where many of the hottest stars of the time would be, including steampunk giraffe and welcome to night vale. the con raised a considerable fund on indiegogo, but friday night of the con, the people in attendance (as well as an online page) had to fork out an extra 17k to keep the con from being closed. because of that, nobody had any money to buy things from the vendors who had paid to be at the con, so they were losing money too. steampunk giraffe cancelled long before con weekend but nobody informed the con-goers, and welcome to night vale also cancelled - people who paid extra weren't refunded but instead were offered a few 'goodies', including the infamous 'extra hour in the ballpit' that immortalised the con.

the con was absolutely so bad that people wondered if the staff were incompetent or if dashcon was less referring to the tumblr dashboard and more referring to a literal dash-con. but the con was also so bad that it almost tanked the main fandoms present overnight. superwholock which once held the crown jewels of tumblr was now being regularly deconstructed (or supernatural and sherlock were - doctor who got by by being a mostly actually good show).

dashcon killed superwholock and tumblr's original 'cringe' in one fell swoop even if it wasn't a perfectly clean cut, but in doing so, dashcon became synonymous with the superwholock era by being its killer. and through the immortalisation of dashcon, so too was superwholock - so too, was supernatural.

sherlock ended not long after, so badly, people were convinced there'd be a secret season 4 that would definitely eventually come out. dr who survived through being good, but not on tumblr. but supernatural continued airing, just no longer as tumblr's darling.

i don't think the same effect would've happened if it had been a sudden resurgence of sherlock and they confirmed the secret season 4 - it had to be supernatural, it had to be destiel-is-(sorta)-canon. it had to be castiel declaring his love for dean. for the clumsy addition of queer rep, for the clumsy confirmation of a one-sided ship that had once been the biggest investment for 2012-fujoshis-turned-2020s-queers, for the sheer memeability of the moment that would've set tumblr off.

it also wasn't solely usa election results people were anxious about - there'd been rumours putin was going to resign and of course the entire world was going through covid - there were absolutely countries that had a worse run of it than the united states (although i'll concede, my country was one of the best; or, at least, my state was).

unfair to blame supernatural entirely, but unfair to say this was all the work of the usa election.

People who try to analyze what happened on Tumblr on November 5th, 2020, often really overstate how much it was actually “about” Supernatural. As someone who has never been in the supernatural fandom ever but dID join in on the hysterical destielposting—it was really more about the stress of the pandemic and the 2020 presidential election.

The two biggest Youtubers I’ve seen try to dissect “what happened that November 5th” in video essays both weren’t American—- and I think that explains why they both tried to explain the hysteria primarily via analyzing the Supernatural fandom/the original show, rather than through the lens of the election. And while those videos are cool, valid, informational, and make lots of really well-considered interesting points— I can tell you that me and almost all my mutuals had literally no knowledge or interest in the fact that “oh supernatural had made nods at the ship in the past but the creators were adamant that I wouldn’t be canon” or etc etc etc etc. the first time I learned about any of that context was way later, watching videos where people claimed that fandom history context (that I did not know anything about) was the actual reason for the hysteria.

But the reality is that people latched on to the Destiel stuff because it was a piece of big useless inane zero-stakes fandom news in a time when we were desperately waiting for serious high stakes election news. We were latching onto a “positive “ piece of inane stupid fandom news in a time of great stress, with all the desperation of a drowning man who latches onto whatever piece of wood will keep him afloat.

The core of the hysteria was that Americans (who make up a huge chunk of tumblr’s userbase) were currently glued to their laptops watching the live presidential election vote counts come in. These vote counts were taking an extended amount of time due to the pandemic causing high numbers of mail-in ballots, resulting in a constant state of Election Day Stress for multiple days straight.

This was also during the height of the Pandemic. People had predicted Trump’s presidency would be bad; no one had predicted it would be this apocalyptically bad. No one had predicted pandemics and lockdowns and hospitals overflowing with bodybags. remember Trump spreading Covid lies and conspiracies?? There were so many Qanon conspiracies about democrats being Satanic child traffickers who had to be put to death, and coup threats were mounting from the right wing side. It seemed like this election was a choice between ‘centrist democrat’ and “apocalyptic right wing conspiracy theory authoritarianism,” in the midst of pandemic conditions that people feared would never ever improve— and it seemed like a close election.

Another major point was that Trump voters were more likely to be antimaskers/Covid deniers, while Biden voters were more likely to take the pandemic seriously— so Biden voters were more likely to send in mail-in ballots instead of risking the in-person voting crowds, which meant their ballots would take much longer to count. And so, in many state electoral vote counts, it would initially seem like Trump was very far in the lead— only for Biden to slooooowly build up an agonizingly small lead as the mail in ballots came in, and then defeat Trump at the very end.

So you’re just watching these news sites giving live election updates, refreshing the page every 2 minutes to see if you’re going to live under a spineless centrist democrat or a literal Qanon Dictatorship. And then you go on tumblr to distract yourself, and there’s more election posting, and more agonizing over the votes, and more stress and despair—-

And then it’s been days and we’re right at the crucial tipping point where it’s anyone’s game and the next few hours will determine whether Trump will win, so you need to keep your eye on the vote count, because the next hours will determine the future of the pandemic and your country and your plans for your entire life—

And then stupid Destiel becomes canon! And it becomes canon in the silliest way possible!

If Destiel had become canon at any other time, it would have been a big goofy tumblr celebration? But we wouldn’t have gotten the insane explosion of hysterical interaction.

The entire core of it was the contrast between the inane meaningless stupidity of fandom news vs the actual stressful election news you wanted to hear! It really is best conveyed in that meme where Castiel says “I love you” and Dean indifferently responds with a piece of important election news.

It’s about the contrast between the low-stakes inanity of fandom and the massive life-destroying stakes of a terrifying election. There really was no reason it had be Supernatural specifically, except that Supernatural was a thing everyone knew basic things about from dashboard osmosis— it could’ve been any other equally huge silly fandom ship news about a ship everyone *knew of* but might not necessarily be invested in (ex. Stucky becoming canon, Johnlock becoming canon, Kirk/Spock becoming more canon somehow, etc etc etc.)

I think it’s true that people who weren’t paying agonizingly close attention to the American election news got swept up in it, and that non American Supernatural fans also were extremely excited for purely fandom reasons — but the entire reason it blew up to an unprecedented degree was because of that core of stressed out terrified Americans glued to their computers watching election results and suddenly receiving stupid fandom news instead, and deciding to just hysterically parodically hyper-celebrate this absurd useless zero-stakes news.

I think it was also all elevated by the fact that, as I said before, this happened at the crucial “tipping point” of the election where the next few hours would determine the winner. The fact that Biden began to slowly develop a lead in the hours after made it feel, hysterically, as if the hours after Destiel became canon was somehow the turning point where he began to win; so celebrating Destiel felt like celebrating that slow turn towards victory.

The tl,dr is that it’s so important to Remember the Fifth of November …..in preparation the inevitable hysteria that will happen in the presidential election on November 5th of next year. XD. Personally I’m rooting for Johnlock or Frodo/Sam to somehow become canon in the eleventh hour right before the democrats win

[gravesdiggers]

Two great pictures from Sherlocked USA 2018, courtesy of Tom Stoughton (young Sherlock), of him with Rupert and him showing Rupert, Louise Brealey and Gordon Kennedy how to “floss like a boss”! [1] [2]

And then he shoved him in the pool...

[all-things-andrew-scott]

A very important prop. With an interesting bit of information or two if you read

[fandomonium-quintobatch]

“The one person he thought didn’t matter at all to me was the one person who mattered the most.”

[mottlemoth]

I can’t actually cope with all the stories about Rupert coming out of Sherlocked USA. The man is too good for this world. Has he been thrown in the pool yet? 

We genuinely don’t deserve Rupert Graves.

[drinkingcocoa-tpp]

Memories of Rachel Talalay’s talk at Sherlocked 2018, as they come to me

I had the delight of attending Rachel Talalay’s presentation on the deleted “Six Thatchers” transitions while sitting next to @fffinnagain, whose reporting on the event can be found here.  I elected to take no notes at all, all weekend, so I could just absorb in the moment.  But as things come back to me, I will post them here.

My favorite thing is RT telling us about one of her favorite quotes from working with Steven Moffat.  For a Doctor Who episode she was directing, he asked her to create something spectacular and implausible (”and you’re always being told, ‘There’s no money, there’s no money’”), and she was trying to talk to him about just how she was expected to make this implausible thing work, because physics.  And budget.

And he said to her, “The logic is flexible, but the poetry is immutable.”

In her extremely reasonable way, she looked at the audience and said, “I mean, who talks like that?”

My heart was bursting with mirth and identification.  Um, me?  I love that, yes, of course, that’s what he does, he finds the emotional truth of it and that’s what makes everything work, etc. etc. etc...

After the event, @fffinnagain -- who, in case you don’t know, is an accomplished supergeek in music and science and math and tech -- mentioned that quote from Moffat.

“Ah, yes!” I said happily.  “What was it?  Hmm...” [affectionate dreamy smile]  “The poetry is immutable!”

Finn said, “That was PART of it.  The FIRST part of it went, ‘The logic is flexible.’”

I am still not finished laughing over the fact that I forgot the part that was pertinent to Finn.  The part in which Moffat leaves all the figuring and labor up to the director and, as Finn noted, indicated how much he didn’t care, heh.

I said at least as a piece of communication, it’s extremely clear.  You know exactly what’s expected of you after that!

Anyway, I now think of that quote as the two-person Halloween costume that @fffinnagain and I could put together someday.  Finn going as “The logic is flexible,” with clenched teeth and an outraged expression on their face, while I go as “the poetry is immutable,” smiling spacily with happy clouds floating over my head while I walk into things and hum.

[watsonofagun]

ooc;

here are some pictures and accounts from the Sherlocked convention in LA, stuff that i haven’t mentioned in my Wordpress blog, and not much of anything else because i’m a lousy con attendee who doesn’t bother joining in the fun because of my dislike for crowds (also jetlagged and exhausted from the US trip so far). please DO NOT REBLOG.

only 6 guests, but all the same makes it nice and intimate against 200 con attendees. Rupert got up and showed his bum on purpose as he picked up his dropped glasses but it was really just a 1-second tease. Loo was so adorable with the dolphin sound she makes.

i missed out on the scavenger hunt thanks to LA traffic, but this is such a cute story of John that i’m making it headcanon.

popped into the pirate party for a second and caught Tom in his pirate costume!

and then i left the party to grab some food to go and head to bed, when !!!

that’s his kid behind him, being a kid. they walked out after and i noticed that the kid was wearing a SHOLTO shirt that’s literally too big for him and i was grinning about it when Rupert caught my eyes, smiled and said a ‘hey’. imagine how flustered i am then.

the next day, i found my perfect writing spot, and waited for the crowd in the signing room to clear before popping in to get my autographs.

a new assistant had just sat down next to Rupert when it was my turn. the picture was from last year that i decided to get signed, and he was really impressed. i thought i might need to pay for a second, because i wanted to get the book “A Room with a View” which i found in the airport signed, but the assistant guy wasn’t sure about any fee, and Rupert just went “no one can see anyway, i’ll just sign it” and the guy was like “oh yeah, my glasses have been pretty bad, i can’t see anything with them!” and he just signed it! /cries also i told him i loved the part where he played the piano, and he said he couldn’t actually play it and had practised a lot for it. showed him the clip and the assistant was like “quite the hair you had then” and we had a laugh.

i got to talk to Rachel Talalay, the director of “The Six Thatchers”, and asked about how i could get into the screenwriting job. clearly it’s difficult to go into, but she was optimistic about how the industry was looking for female writers, and that my Asian descent would be super advantageous too, which isn’t racist, it’s just very true in these days. i’m really excited about the tips and hope i’ll find a way into it.

also Gordon Kennedy who played the bigger-sized innkeeper in THoB told me about how he and his wife visited Malaysia years ago and loved it there! i’m so flattered that anyone knew my home country, and he was sooo much fun to talk to. i love how he told about how in awe he was with Martin’s acting and yes, i agree with him whole-heartedly.

oh, but the highlight of sunday:

Tom had a whole lot fun defacing posters, mainly Rupert’s, Sian’s and eventually a bit of Gordon’s.

Rupert began to chase down Tom. I got up from my writing spot at just the perfect time to capture it. they were so fast that i couldn’t get Rupert’s hilarious expressions though.

and then Rupert stopped him and was like “okay, you try and catch me now, alright? ready?”

and off they went, with Rupert trying to keep his trousers up. (i swear i didn’t notice the trousers until i checked my pictures later.)

the game show at the end was great, and of course pushing Rupert into the pool in honour of charity. when a convention is small and intimate like this, you really get the most fun out of it, especially being a solo attendee. i can’t imagine having this much fun as in Birmingham last year, and it was really a maddening experience in that last one because they’re always rushing us to get everybody in. here, they’re constantly reminding people that there’s still time for photo sessions! thanks to the relaxing timing, i got two pictures in instead of one for Rupert on set too! basically i decided that i want Rupert to choose how we do the picture, so it went like this:

me: what would greg and john do when sherlock’s not home? rupert: oh! er, erm, they’ll read his diary! photographer: grab a book then! rupert: *grabs a book* oh wait, here, you take the book, and i’ll *grab the violin* smash his violin.

and that’s one snap, and he put down the violin, and quickly,

rupert: or we’ll just read the book, here. photographer: hang on, the photo’s not coming out.

cue us standing there awkwardly for them to fix the camera. then i joked that Sherlock’s messing with it, and we laughed. eventually we got the 2nd picture, and i got a quick hug with him before collecting them.

and there you have it, Joan Watson and D.I. Greg Lestrade reading Sherlock’s diary, only to find something that made Greg lose it. because i really was there as Elementary’s Joan Watson, except in Sherlock’s John Watson’s clothes.

i know, i don’t have anything else with other guests because i was mostly trying to save money, and i didn’t win the raffles for meet and greet anyway, but they’re all amazing. sian was so beautiful, i was mostly gawking at her. Loo was sooo busy and yet even though she had to be running off to a meet and greet, she asked me who was the last in line for autograph whether i had a question for her, and my mind blanked like the dumb it is. i DID have a question, but i forgot. ahhh well.

but yeah, that’s me at Santa Monica pier on Sunday morning, just to get a quick LA view in before the con. i’ll definitely be back, but first, it’s time to plan my move to London.

[anket47]

As Sherlockian how couldn’t i draw “Benedict Cumberbatch” as Sherlock

[nyxi-styx]

I’m planning to cosplay Incognito!Mary at Sherlocked USA 2018. I found the EXACT SAME SUNGLASSES she wears for $7 with Prime shipping. I’m so hype. They arrived today 😁

[sarahthecoat]

wow, so interesting! On the one hand they would have been so cool, on the other, it sounds like they were more story-confusing than story-telling. I'm glad you got the chance to see this much, and thank you for sharing!

Rachel Talalay and the Case of the Missing Transitions

Some times experiments don’t work out. Sometime big projects include mistakes and it takes a lot of compromises to satisfy the real goal. So was the case with The Six Thatchers.

To a room of ~100 people, Rachel Talalay explained something of the complicated backstory to the first episode of Series 4 and shared with us a little of the amazing footage that had to be left on the cutting room floor.

In Mark Gatiss’s initial script, the story was going to be told with a complicated chronology. The story was supposed to start somewhere in the middle, with flashbacks inserted into scenes. This show has played with chronology before, but this plan was more ambitions and experimental than previous episodes. In the spirit of Sherlock’s cinematographic ingenuity, Talalay decided to demarcate these flashbacks with fantastic transitions in and out of the scenes into which they were inlayed.  

The filming proceeded with this non-chronological order of scenes, but when the material was assembled in a temp edit, it became apparent that the narrative didn’t really work. Talalay had her doubts about how it came together, and Moffat and Gatiss made the call to change the sequence to the straight forward chronology we saw broadcast. Talalay took pains to explain that the switch was necessary for the sake of the story and that no one was at fault for how the experiment failed. They took a risk together and these things don’t always pan out.

The choice to reorder was the right one, but it was also a very difficult compromise for two reasons. First it changed the purpose of many scenes, and with no time to reshoot they had to work out new criteria to determine the best takes to make a cohesive narrative from what they had. Second, it meant abandoning these amazing transitions that were in and of themselves creative and technical acheivements that each took days to prepare and shoot.

It was these transitions that Talalay shared with us at Sherlocked USA 2018. They will never be released, so here are my descriptions of the transitions she shared. Some of them involve scenes that weren’t part of the final edit at all. I’ve done the best I can to describe what I can remember from seeing these only twice.

1. In and Out of Cars This seems to be on the way to the first case with Greg, on the way to the WELSBOROUGH HOUSE. John, Sherlock, and Greg are in a taxi in the middle of the day. Greg says “So how long has it been then” and John replies “Three months.” Sherlock rises from his right-forward facing seat and steps out of the passenger door into day light. The camera approaches his back until we only see the coat. Camera recedes and it is night. Sherlock steps back into the right passenger seat while typing in his mobile and Mary is wheezing in labour. The camera pivots to also catch John at the steering wheel, as seen in the show. There is another transition back to the original taxi shot and John repeats “About three months.”

2. Walking through Doorways: As Greg, Sherlock, and John approach the door to the Welsborough House, Greg says “…We thought we’d never see you again.” Sherlock replies “You weren’t the only ones.” As Sherlock steps through the doorway, he pass into the room where he and Mycroft are interrogated by Sir Edwin and Lady Smallwood. He sits down and takes off his coat. The scene that followed was the one used to open The Six Thatchers.

At then end of this scene, Sherlock says “Because I love it.” and walks out the door and back into the WELSBOROUGH HOUSE.

3. To and From the Christening: John is looking at bus shelter and a bus goes by and reveals that he is wearing church clothes at the Christening for Rosie. John says to Sherlock something along the lines of “You could come visit Rosie” and Sherlock replies “The conversation would be a bit onesided.”

Another shot of Sherlock approaching the camera down the aisle, framed by the arches of the church. I’m not sure if this transitioned to another scene.

4. Through the Mirror: In the sceen where Mary finds Sherlock in the Moroccan hotel, the shot begins with her standing by the table looking accusing and Sherlock sitting on the floor crossed-legged. Sherlock gets up and walks towards a mirror by a curtain in the back of the room. In the curtain we see a reflection of Mycroft’s underground office. Sherlock walks past the mirror into the scene where Mycroft begins by reciting the wikipedia article for “Agra”

When that scene ends, Sherlock rises from his seat and walks back to the mirror to pass back into the Moroccan hotel room and sits down on the floor again to pick up the conversation with Mary.

5. Lastly, one of the magical transitions that were kept was Ajay remembering his torture and then falling back onto the carpet. Apparently the sequence was initially filmed as a single shot, with four sets lined up side by side. Like wow.

***

I can’t attest that these are perfect descriptions of what was in these shots, and I know I’m missing some details. If anyone else remembers other things, please add them in.

Talalay had every reason to be proud of these transitions. They were breath taking (my descriptions do not do them justice!) and the audience gasped and clapped through the three minutes of footage that she shared. I am so sorry they had to make the compromise of removing these. I understand that it was deemed necessary, and Talalay was very clear that she agreed with the decision to change the order of the scenes, but it is a tragedy that we lost these beautiful tricky transitions.

[gravesdiggers]

Great pic of Rupert Graves at Sherlocked USA 2018 by [RebelGirl Photography on Instagram]

[all-things-andrew-scott]

Photos from the Rupert & Louise panel

[fandomonium-quintobatch]

Yes hello I’m a Sherlock cosplayer.

[sarahthecoat]

thanks so much for doing this, it's so helpful!

TJLC Month in Review: May

Welcome to the third installment of the TJLC Month in Review! I’ve collected most of the meta published this month below. Questions, comments, and additions are welcome! Please check the About page (below) first.

TJLC Month in Review: FAQ

March/April edition

February edition

People Are Talking About…

The creators are hinting about something called The Game is Now. We’re not quite sure what it is yet, but the leading theories are an interactive Secret Cinema event, an ARG, or an escape room/London-based activity.

Here’s a good summary of speculation by @inevitably-johnlocked and @evetidefog.

Here’s the first video release.

Here’s the first “intercepted audio” clip released, transcribed by @swissmissing.

Some meta on it:

On why Martin’s not involved, by @garkgatiss; connected to this mini meta on unreliable narration in Thor Bridge

Connections with The Blue Carbuncle, by @green-violin-bow​

Connections with James Bond, by @221bloodnun​

Connections with TBB, by @mikabee​

Interpretations of the audio clip, by @garkgatiss, @devoursjohnlock, @appliedcontext, and @tjlcisthenewsexy…

…prompting this meta on Sherlock as England, by @garkgatiss

Sherlocked USA was also this month. @roguefankc wrote a general roundup. People are particularly interested in the news that the order of scenes in TST was changed, as explained by @fffinnagain with additions by @theleftpill​.

General consensus is that this would have made the episode more surreal, though whether that’s good or bad depends on who you ask. There have been several wide-ranging meta discussions on the significance of the transitions:

Here, by @green-violin-bow, @devoursjohnlock, @tjlcisthenewsexy, and me

Here, by @jenna221b​

On the first line discussion at SDCC, by @waitedforgarridebs with additions by @devoursjohnlock​

On problems with the transitions, by @fffinnagain​ here and @garkgatiss​ here

Meta about Season 4 Only

On advertising for Series 4, by @garkgatiss​

On TLD and John’s humanity, by @magicalpinetree​

On haunting elements of S4, a visual meta on TST, TLD, and TFP by @afishlearningpoetry​

On Eurus and love triangles, by @gosherlocked

On pictures in TST, by @graceebooks with additions by @moriarty and @devoursjohnlock

Meta about Any/All Seasons

On playing with canon characterization of John and Sherlock, by @watsonshoneybee

On Sherlock’s indifference to women, by @witch-lock

On different readings of Sherlock’s investigation of Mary in S3, by @beejohnlocked, @ivyblossom, @iwantthatbelstaffanditsoccupant, and others.

On the relevance of Watson’s unreliable narration, by @green-violin-bow

On bacon sandwiches and THoB, by @tendergingergirl​

On an EMP reading of Sherlock’s drug use, part 1 by @possiblyimbiassed​, and part 2, with additions by @spenglernot​ and @sarahthecoat​. This is part of a meta series; start here.

On Irene Adler in TAB, by @gosherlocked​ with additions by @the-7-percent-solution​ here and @someovermind​ and @possiblyimbiassed​ here

On regression, by @garkgatiss and @tjlcisthenewsexy

On John Yorke and 5-act structure, by @garkgatiss

On 57 texts, by @victorianfantasywatson, @gosherlocked, @tendergingergirl, @meta-lock, and others

Meta about the Original Stories

A giant discussion about the Aestheticism and Victorian queer coding, with contributions by @a-candle-for-sherlock, @tendergingergirl, @marsannay, and many others.

On authorial intent, by @watsonshoneybee

On Watson’s overlooked importance, by @witch-lock

On Doyle’s repression, by @devoursjohnlock and @norburylibrary

On Holmes’s treatment of women, by @green-violin-bow

On The Dying Detective’s illustrations, by @devoursjohnlock

Intertextual Meta

On John Yorke and Into the Woods, by @garkgatiss

On parallels between Lady Bracknell from The Importance of Being Earnest and Mycroft and John’s first meeting, by @nihilistwitch and @raggedyblue

On the Granada Holmes theme and Waltz for John and Mary, by me

Mini Meta

On “abstinence is not immortality,” by @watsonshoneybee

On Magnussen, by @witch-lock

On teapots, by @tjlcisthenewsexy

On five-act structure, regression, and S4, by @watsonshoneybee

On S2, S4, and five-act structure, by @victorianfantasywatson

On Sherlock’s coping mechanisms, by @theconsultinglinguist

On Goldfinger and TEH, by @bbcatemysoul

On costumes in ASiB, by @garkgatiss​

On Mary and Soo Lin Yao, by @vitruvianwatson​

On unfortunate symmetry, by @kinklock

On teapots, by @tjlcisthenewsexy

On Molly/John mirroring, by @gosherlocked

Cast & The Powers That Be

Ben C talked about Sherlock on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

Back from the Dead

LSiT’s old meta was archived by @artfulkindoforder.

In Case You Missed It

@garkgatiss discussed Sherlock’s 5-act structure, Bond, and Hannibal to explain how S4 contributes to the writers’ broad objective of fixing misinterpretations of Holmes and homophobic tropes.

@green-violin-bow explained how the idea of “historiographic metafiction” helps us make sense of S4 and the show’s overall structure.

Miss Sherlock, a new Japanese femlock show, is out! You can learn about it here, watch the trailer here, and watch episodes here or here.

The scripts for THoB, TRF, TEH, and TLD are now available.

Did you write some cool stuff that I missed? Drop me a message and I’ll stick it in next month’s review. Check out the About page first.

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