Buzz Lightyear, Meet Sherlock Holmes

But it’s more than just action. In fact, action will probably form very little of the story, which may turn out to be a duology. It’s yet another character-centric story, but the dynamic of it is that, while the players from Holmes’s time (in this case, the 22nd century—will get to that in a minute) are changing in their relationships, the players of Buzz’s time are very static. When the story starts. As events move forward, the dynamics begin to change.

Have not worked out yet which time period uses time-travel initially. But Professor James Moriarty (literature’s first super-villain) enters the 31st century—ergo, the era of Buzz Lightyear—and joins forces with Zurg. On the surface, that is. Beneath the surface, there’s a lot happening. Hate to say it, but the fact is, Moriarty is the intellectually superior villain here, and he’s forever ambitious.

Star Command realizes that they’re out of their depth—majorly so—and eventually but reluctantly calls upon a historic crime-fighting team: D.I. Beth Lestrade of New Scotland Yard, Sherlock Holmes, and Dr. Watson 2.0 (a compudroid).

(Here’s the deal: this isn’t just a crossover with Sherlock Holmes. This is a crossover with Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century, a 2001 DiC cartoon. In it, Professor Moriarty has been cloned and is wreaking havoc upon New London; Inspector Beth Lestrade, descendant of Scotland Yard’s most famous detective, recognizes him and has a scientist rejuvenate the preserved body of Sherlock Holmes. Despite having an old soul in a young body, Holmes enthusiastically takes on his old nemesis and whatever other problems life throws his way. As for the cloned Professor, he is like and unlike the original, but very respectfully characterized, a serious, brilliant man who is determined to take control of the world and will crush anyone in his path, even his esteemed archenemy.)

As Data tells Captain Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation, the only thing Moriarty needs to assimilate to the future is time. Like the Great Detective, he is remarkably adaptive, a man of two worlds who manages to fit seamlessly into both. Whether the future is the 22nd or 31st century makes no difference to him—he will get what he wants as long as he has time enough to do so.

On the other hand, the young, talented, tempestuous Inspector Lestrade has trouble adapting to a remodeled Earth, a paramilitary setup for the galaxy’s main police force, and the loss of humanity’s heritage. It’s that last bit that’s one of the big themes of the story: how much of mankind’s identity and heritage has been lost. It’s something that both Lestrade and Holmes struggle with.

And, while I’m still working out Zurg’s role in all this, I know where Warp fits in. (I know, big surprise. ) No OC sweethearts, this time, though. Instead, he’s caught in the midst of these opposing forces: Zurg, his longtime boss; Moriarty, who’s courting Warp’s services; Buzz, who still wants him to come back to Star Command; and, surprisingly, Lestrade, who kind of chews him out and gets him thinking. (That’s actually one of Lestrade’s strengths in the series—I’m not making it up.)

So where does Team Lightyear come into all this? Well, they’re the ones working with Holmes & Co, for starters. Buzz and Holmes keep coming to be at loggerheads with each other, each an expert on his respective archenemy, and Holmes, well… much older and more experienced than Buzz. And smarter. Don’t forget, this is the amateur detective who chewed out members of Scotland Yard for incompetence. Captain Buzz Lecturer Lightyear gets a heapin’ helpin’ of his own medicine, and Holmes isn’t even being malicious—he’s concerned about Moriarty and he’s not tolerating any nonsense.

Mira finds herself torn a bit between the two superpowers of the enlarged team, and she and Watson play mediator more than once. Plus, she and Lestrade rub each other the wrong way on occasion—Lestrade has a heart of gold but a slightly abrasive personality, as well as a temper to outmatch Mira’s. Seriously.

XR is slightly jealous of Watson, a compudroid with a human face and personality. Watson is not always getting blown-up or damaged, is actually much more powerfully-built than XR, and is treated as a human by the other organics. Nevertheless, Watson takes to the little robot and treats him with respect and kindness (think Booster’s sweetness and outgoingness, coupled with maturity and wisdom). The incorrigible XR gets along better, in a sense, with Lestrade—he’s constantly flirting with the admittedly-attractive detective, who is actually amused and doesn’t mind bantering with him.

Booster finds a new best friend in Watson, and the two hit it off smashingly, much to XR’s irritation (though Booster in no way ignores or abandons XR). Booster stands in awe of the Great Detective and even trips over his tongue in front of Lestrade, who will give him a pat on the shoulder and tell him it’s okay.

Lestrade actually has issues with Buzz. His occasionally-superior attitude drives her up the bulkhead, and his unwillingness to listen to Holmes at times has her on the verge of a ruptured blood vessel. She will argue herself with Holmes, enthusiastically, but she won’t brook anyone else arguing with him, even her boss, Chief Inspector Greyson. Not only that, but as a Detective Inspector, she either holds equal footing with Buzz or even outranks him, and she knows it. Thus, she isn’t too happy when Buzz gets “my way or no way,” even if, technically, her team is supplementing his. And, um, if Star Command thinks Buzz Lightyear is an… interesting… pilot, well, he’s got nothing on Lestrade. The woman’s a speed demon and reckless to the umpteenth degree, but she has the skill to keep herself from ending up as a crater.

So, we’ve got all these juicy conflicts amongst the heroes, and I’m not really favoring one above the other. (Although, I put to you that the only contest Buzz could win over Holmes is piloting. That’s it. Otherwise, Holmes is a dead shot, a martial artist, and an impossibly-quick thinker.) Obviously, Lestrade’s got her issues, and is by no means a better woman than Mira—she’s simply a few years older and has the benefit of experience and responsibility. Mira, on the other hand, is a bit more… innocent, almost, and she’s more moderator-oriented.

And then there are the bad guys. There’s Zurg, who seriously needs me to work on his character development… There’s Warp, who’s being bombarded from all sides… There’s Dr. Fenwick, the French geneticist who cloned Moriarty in the first place and is now his gopher… And then there’s the Napoleon of Crime himself, James Moriarty. He is a charismatic, perceptive gentleman, and therein lies one of his greatest strengths as a criminal: he is a gentleman, first and foremost. It is intrinsically part of him. Upon his first meeting with Lestrade, he actually took her hand and kissed it—and her caustic response initiated the mix of backhanded respect and enthusiastic insults that forms their dynamics throughout the rest of the series. The point is, he’s not psychopathic, not in the popular sense of the word. He has his lights, and he sticks to them. The fact that they oppose the established law is immaterial to him.

And, in the 31st century, he effectively blurs the galaxy’s conventional line between good and evil. He’s an evil man, but he doesn’t wear a Z on his chest proclaiming it. He’s… well, let’s just say I am going to have a ball with my favorite criminal mastermind when I finally start writing this.

So, when will we actually see this story online? Not until January, for sure (which, admittedly, isn’t that far away). Plus, I’ve still got an online writing course to wrap up, as well as a suspense novel in the drafting stage (google Deliver Us from Evil, Part I: Mortality to click to the FF.N version). But I very much want to start on this story as soon as I can. Probably once I’m much closer to wrapping up school and have Zurg’s role in the story figured out, I’ll start typing. And then, folks, it’ll be coming to an FF.N near you…

The Enemies Within Us saga, So Many and So Alone. Stay tuned!