Sherlock Holmes and Star Trek

The relationship between the fandoms of Sherlock Holmes and Star Trek is a long one.
Comparisons of the great detective to Mr. Spock go clear back to John Boardman's essay "Intimations of Mr. Spock" in Spockanalia 3 (September 1968). 
In 1976, Leonard Nimoy appeared in a Sherlock Holmes play which furthered fans' interest in the cross-pollination of the two universes. 
The next major nod in Star Trek to Sherlock Holmes was in Star Trek: The Next Generation. There were many references to Sherlock Holmes in the show. In "Data's Day," Data first became aware of Holmes when Riker called Picard a private eye. In "Lonely Among Us," Data was introduced to the works of Arthur Conan Doyle by Captain Picard. In "The Big Goodbye," Geordi La Forge described Dixon Hill as a 20th century Sherlock Holmes. 
Two episodes of TNG, "Elementary, Dear Data" and "Ship in a Bottle," focused on Data's admiration of the character of Holmes. In 1988, and then in 1993, "Data played the role of Holmes in a holodeck program, alongside La Forge in the role of Dr. Watson. La Forge, while accompanying Data and Katherine Pulaski on a challenge to solve a Holmes mystery he had not read, accidentally programmed the Moriarty hologram so well that it became self-aware and learned of its true existence, requesting the computer to create an adversary capable of defeating Data, rather than capable of defeating Holmes."
Another major connection between the two fandoms was in the 1991 film The Undiscovered Country. Written and directed by Nicholas Meyer, who'd also written The Seven Percent Solution, it gave Spock this bit of dialogue: "When you have eliminated the impossible, everything that is left must be the truth", which he attributes to one of his ancestors. Since this is a quote from the Sherlock Holmes novel, The Sign of Four, it implies that Spock, and therefore his human mother, Amanda Grayson, are descendants either of Holmes or of his creator Arthur Conan Doyle.
==Similar Relationships and Divides==
* Science Fiction Fandom vs. Media Fandom
* Sherlock Holmes and Star Trek 
* Blake's 7 and Star Trek 
* Star Trek and Starsky & Hutch
* Star Trek and Space: 1999
* Star Trek and Star Wars
==Some Meta==
* Holmes Was a Vulcan, "Mr. Holmes, where have you lived?..." by Priscilla Pollner, article in The SH-sf Fanthology #3 (1972)
* article The Starship and the Upstairs Flat, an article by Diane Duane which compares Star Trek to Sherlock (BBC)
* Michael Joseph Halm's detailed family tree expose
* The Sherlock Holmes Connection, a 1991 essay in IDIC #15
==Star Trek: TOS Fanart Examples==
File:Masiformart4.jpg|from Masiform D #4, Kevin Walsh, 1976 
File:Warped16art3.jpg| from Warped Space #16, Gordon Carleton, 1976 
File:Men10art2.jpg| from Menagerie, Doug Rice, 1976, see play poster above for its photo reference -- this illo is also commentary on Nimoy's book I Am Not Spock
Image:lnafsherlock.jpg| from LNAF Yearbook 1977, Alice Jones
File:Holmesian1.jpg|from The Holmesian Federation #1, Spock as Holmes, Gayle F is the artist, 1978
Image:sherlockspock.jpg|art by Hilary Barta and Fred Hembeck for "Sherlock Spock" in Enterprise Incidents #6, 1978
File:Holms1back.jpg|The Holmesian Federation #1, McCoy as Watson, Gayle F, 1978
File:Holms1art3.jpg|The Holmesian Federation #1, by V.M. Wyman, 1978
File:Holms1art2.jpg|The Holmesian Federation #1, by Signe Landon, 1978
File:Delta5art3.jpg| from Delta Triad #5, Melinda Shreve, 1979 
Image:Bonesstrikes.jpg|from The Adventures of Sherlock Bones #3, a rarer portrayal of McCoy as Holmes, 1980
File:Holms4art2.jpg|The Holmesian Federation #4, Merle Decker, 1983 
File:Holmes5.jpg|The Holmesian Federation #5, Wanda Lybarger, 1984 
File:Holmessix.jpg|The Holmesian Federation #6, Signe Landon, 1985 
File:Spicedpeaches35-3.jpg| from Spiced Peaches #35, "Sherlock Holmes" by Ellen Smock & Melinda, a riff squared: Sherlock (BBC)
==Star Trek: TNG Fanart Examples==
Image:whosblake3back.jpg|Data as Holmes in Who's Blake #3
File:Clipper71.jpg|from Clipper Trade Ship #71, artist is Ray, 1991 
File:Stag113.jpg|STAG #113, Asif Zabbar, 1994 
File:Makeitso12.jpg| from Make It So #12, Gordon Smith, 1993 
File:Makeitso19.jpg| from Make It So #19, Christine Carr, 1994 
Image:datasherlock.jpg|art from Transwarp, Sha'eena
==References==
Category:Star Trek TOS
Category:Star Trek TNG
Category:Sherlock Holmes
Category:Discussion