I believe he suggests that there is still some of the drug in the lab and the pipes, being old, are perhaps leaky. Not completely sure...it's a bit of a weakness in the plot line. (Sorry Mark).

Ah! So what is suggested is that because John was on edge already from the stuff about the hound and all the rumours of the genetic experiments at the lab when Sherlock locks all the doors and turns out the lights etc. John's mind convinces him that he is being pursued by some creature. It is all in his imagination.

Thanks for the feedback.  JaneCo - perhaps you're thinking of Sherlock putting the sugar in John's coffee.  He found out later that the drug was not in the sugar.  I do like the idea of perhaps John being under the suggestion of a gigantic hound due to what he had heard about it.  Ya know, with his mind being 'average' and all, lol!

Fact:  Henry  knight told sherlock they were the footprints  of a giantic hound.   

Fact:  Henry and Sherlock went into Dewer's Hollow,  where they stepped on some pads that released the fog  in there, (the actual drug, known as an aerosol dispersant type) )  which  led them both to think they'd seen the  gigantic hound. John didn't.   (remember the fireside scene where Sherlock muttered, 'I saw it, too, John'?) 

Fact:  In the cemetary scene,  Sherlock mentioned to John that the hound had a body that glowed in the dark, as well as the red eyes. 

Fact:  Sherlock thought  that the drug  was the sugar's fault   so he put some in Johns coffee and got permission to test  the theory  in the labs.  That theory didn't work, as Sherlock realized later. 

Fact:  When John went into one of the smaller  labs,  he saw some old pipes that were leaking some sort of gas.   It was actually the fog,  which was the actual drug.  He breathed some of it into his lungs,  but he didn't know it was the drug.  Sherlock did not know this. (no cameras were on John at this point from Where sherlock was sitting)  When  John got back to the large lab with the cages,  he was scared, and hid in the broken cage, and he DID  see the 'glowing body, the  red-eyed hound.'   He was very convinced that he'd seen it.  So when Sherlock found him,  John was mad.   Sherlock  however was calm,  because the hound wasn't even in the lab,  but John HAD seen it,  cos he was exposed to those leaky pipes.   Again, Sherlock didn't know this at that time.  he still thot it was the sugar!! 

Sooo--  hehehe  I  just saved you from having to watch the Hound episode,  right?   But notice the sentences in bold  above...the reason Henry, Sherlock, and John had imagined the hound  is because they were TOLD  beforehand, as to what the hound looked like.   That's why each of them saw a different version  of the hound.   Same hound,  different version.

Last edited by sherlockskitty (June 21, 2012 1:40 am)

Davina wrote:

I believe he suggests that there is still some of the drug in the lab and the pipes, being old, are perhaps leaky. Not completely sure...it's a bit of a weakness in the plot line. (Sorry Mark).

There is more: This time we as the audience are able to see better than Sherlock what really happens. No weakness in the plotline at all, definetely not. But I realized it not before watching the episode for the third time.
At the first Baskerville visit we can see at one point from very far Frankland coming out of one of the laboratories while wearing a GASMASK! Later - second visit arranged by Sherlock - John walks exactly into that room. At the door is a handwritten seemingly "funny" notice: Something like "Access forbidden or you´re catching a cold!"on it. John nevertheless opens the door and finds himself standing in a room full of pipes with a gas coming out of them. This must definetely be the time when he gets in contact with the drug, it´s the only possibility, the only time slot. Why else should Frankland (nomen est omen, by the way) have worn a gasmask there before, if there was nothing dangerous inside?? He is wearing that gasmask also later at Dewer´s Hollow! Knows why...
Short after that scene in the hidden laboratory Sherlock starts his own test with John. At that time he has no reason to doubt about the effect of the sugar because the timing is right, John behaves like he has expected him to do and he couldn´t see anything of what was going on in that room before. So he got it wrong as John mentions in the end. The drug was not in the sugar, he can fail, he´s human.
It was not the first time where I had to confess afterwards, that, whenever I thought the plot was "weak" or sloppy done, it was just because I didn`t see and even less observe ;-)).

Last edited by anjaH_alias (December 8, 2012 11:54 pm)

Davina wrote:

He does still test the sugar hypothesis though doesn't he. If he definitively knew that the sugar contained the drug then perhaps he would not have experimented with it on John. He is cross when he realises that the sugar does not contain the drug because he then has to come up with another source for the drug.

Yes, he wants to have the proof for his theory. But he doesn't get it because he was wrong. A bit and  it will never happen again :-)).

7% solution...

kazza474 wrote:

To help you understand this better, I will give you the link to a site that I use to watch any part of the series instantly really.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xnk5em_the-hounds-of-baskerville-part2_shortfilms#.UMlGWeRwru0

This part opens up RIGHT on the scene of John being in the lab. You will see the gas leaking from the pipes etc.
It's a very handy site I keep up my sleeve for research purposes.

Jipp, this was exactly that scene which I meant before. And during their first visit frankland comes out of that laboratory with a gas mask.

Hehe, I just found this there. Interesting. Thank you, Kazza!

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xv7k5a_the-hound-of-the-baskervilles-1939-yyyys-1_shortfilms