1994 Baker Street: Sherlock Holmes Returns (or Sherlock Holmes Returns! In The Adventure of the Tiger's Revenge and sometimes shortened to just Sherlock Holmes Returns) is a 1993 American television movie about detective Sherlock Holmes, starring Anthony Higgins as Holmes.
Sherlock Holmes is awakened in modern times from suspended animation as a result of an earthquake. He is aided in his recovery by Dr. Amy Winslow, who lives 1994 Baker Street in San Francisco. Holmes pits his wits against the descendants of the Moriarty family, led by James Moriarty Booth. He is also aided by a new group of Baker Street Irregulars led by Zapper.
Tropes:
- Accidental Misnaming: When Holmes is confused or excited, he accidentally calls Dr. Winslow 'Watson'. Lefty seems to think that Sherlock's name is 'Shadrock' and continually calls him that.
- And the Adventure Continues: The film ends with Holmes describing a young women he deduces is a prostitute who is going to be his next client. Winslow corrects him by saying that the outfit he described is the uniform of a 49ers cheerleader.
- Angry Guard Dog: Booth has one on the grounds of his estate that catches Holmes the first time he breaks in. The second time, Zapper uses an ultrasonic projector to send the dog scurrying.
- Animal Assassin: A collection of people important to Lt. Ortega are all killed using animals connected to tigers: a tiger, a tank full of piranhas, a.k.a. 'tiger fish', flesh-eating tiger beetles, and a tiger snake.
- Baker Street Regular: Holmes has a run-in with a local street gang and ends recruiting one of them, Zapper, as a contact. At the end of the film, Zapper brings the rest of the gang on board as Holmes' new Baker Street Irregulars.
- A Bloody Mess: Winslow hears a muffled explosion in the kitchen and runs in to find a stunned Holmes lying on the floor covered in what appears to be blood. However, as soon as she is close enough to smell it, she realises it is tomato sauce, and discovers that Holmes had placed a can of it in the microwave oven to warm it.
- Character Name Alias: When Holmes visits the police station, he decides that giving his name as Sherlock Holmes might not be a good idea, he introduces himself as "Holmes, Oliver W", although it is not clear if he is referring to the American physician, poet, and polymath or his son, the jurist and legal scholar; both of whom would have been known to him. Of course, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. was both a physician and a writer, so perhaps Holmes was thinking of his original Watson.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: The third victim in the 'tiger murders' is Eaten Alive when his car is filled with flesh-eating tiger beetles.
- Death by Falling Over: Henry Moriarty dies when he is hit over the head with a wine bottle by Mrs Hudson and falls down, fatally striking his head on the brickwork.
- Eaten Alive: The third victim in the 'tiger murders' is devoured alive when his car is filled with flesh-eating tiger beetles.
- Enemy Rising Behind: Finding the victim of a snake bite, Holmes proceeds to not only list what kind of snake it was but detail every single part of its appearance from height to weight to color. When Winslow scoffs on how he could possibly know all that, Holmes looks over her shoulder to say "because I'm staring right at it."
- Failed Pilot Episode
- Fish out of Temporal Water: Holmes actually adapts fairly quickly to the late 20th Century, despite having been a Human Popsicle for almost 100 years. However, lack of knowledge of certain social and technological developments cause some of his Sherlock Scans to go humorously astray: such as deducing that Lt. Griffin is a supporter of the rights of little people after seeing a certificate of appreciation from the Little League on his wall.
- Grievous Bottley Harm: Mrs. Hudson hit Henry Moriarty over the head with a bottle of wine when he breaks into Holmes' suspended animation chamber. Moriarty hits his bead on the brickwork, resulting in his Death by Falling Over.
- Human Popsicle: Feeling a deadly ennui, Holmes placed himself in suspended animation in 1899, planning to awaken in 2000, hoping that the future would hold new challenges. An earthquake wakes him up in 1993.
- Luck-Based Search Technique: Dr. Winslow opens the door to Sherlock's secret lab when she tries to fix a shelf on the wine rack in the cellar that had been broken by the earthquake.
- Microwave Misuse: Fish out of Temporal Water Sherlock Holmes attempts to heat some tomato sauce in the microwave without knowing that he has to remove it from the can first. The can explodes, creating A Bloody Mess.
- Mistaken for Prostitute: In the final scene, Holmes is settling into Amy's house and proceeds to describe the young woman waiting across the street whom he is certain is his next client. He deduces that she is a prostitute because no decent young woman would be wearing such a revealing outfit: which he then describes. Amy gently corrects him, telling him that what he just described is the uniform of a 49ers cheerleader.
- No Plans, No Prototype, No Backup: In the 1890s, Holmes developed a successful means of achieving suspended animation. However, upon being awakened, he learns that it can never be used again because it relied on a biological compound derived from a species of fish which went extinct in the 1970s.
- Not Where They Thought: This movie has the brilliant detective get thawed from a Human Popsicle in the 20th century. He meets Doctor Amy Winslow and is flown to San Francisco. While motoring along a California highway, Holmes forgets that Americans drive on the right side, and ends up a victim of road rage. Holmes phones Winslow, claiming that he's back in London. Actually, he was at Lake Havasu and didn't know London Bridge had been reconstructed there.
- Piranha Problem: The second victim in the 'tiger murders' is a criminology professor who is dumped into a tank of piranhas, a.k.a. 'tiger fish', in the San Francisco aquarium.
- The Place: 1994 Baker Street is Dr. Winslow's address in San Francisco.
- Scars Are Forever: James Moriarty Booth still has the scar on the back of his hand that he got breaking into Holmes' lab 45 years earlier.
- Shark Pool: The so-called 'Tiger Killer' disposes of their second victim by dumping them in the piranha tank at the aquarium.
- Sherlock Can Read: After awakening, Holmes tells Winslow that after dealing with the newest Moriarty he should investigate the phantom tiger murder. When Winslow incredulously asks how he could possibly know about that, he picks up the newspaper lying on the coffee table and hands it to her. The banner headline reads 'PHANTOM TIGER MURDER'.
- Sherlock Scan: A Running Gag is Sherlock performing a scan and deducing a massive amount of detail and getting most of it right, but getting a few details wrong due to being a Fish out of Temporal Water, deducing that Lt. Griffin is a supporter of the rights of little people after seeing a certificate of appreciation from the Little League on his wall.
- While Holmes gets much of Winslow's life right, she does have to correct him on a few points: the "cocaine" on her table is just coffee sweetener; she wasn't actually married to her boyfriend, just a long-term relationship; the "angry paint streaks from a tantrum" were just her ex's unique painting style; her use of "Big Willy" is an inside joke to someone who doesn't understand things; and the bullet from Panama Holmes assumes she bought as "a romantic tourist" actually came from Winslow's own leg when she was shot aiding the Red Cross during the 1989 invasion of Panama. While thrown at the idea of a woman in combat, Holmes bounces back by noting "only a romantic would have kept it."
- Theme Serial Killer: A collection of people important to Lt. Ortega are all killed using animals connected to tigers: a tiger, a tank full of piranhas, a.k.a. 'tiger fish', flesh-eating tiger beetles, and a tiger snake.
