The rest of the world catches up . . .

 So an add came across my feed on Facebook, as ads do, for a prop can of shaving cream crafted like the one in Jurassic Park, used in the movie to smuggle dinosaur DNA. And, I thought, "Oh, cool, something for the Jurassic Park fan who wants to connect in reality with their favorite fiction." And then I thought, "Wait, Sherlockians have been doing this forever."

Only our favorite fiction isn't movies. And our reality items aren't usually props.

Sherlock Holmes was so well wrapped in the Victorian era by his creator that we've always been able to touch Holmes's reality by collecting regular antiques. Nobody had to carefully hand craft a new gasogene or an antimacassar like Star Trek phasers were made in the 1960s and 1970s. And if you wanted to recreate Sherlock Holmes's sitting room? Just get some furniture and stuff, shop the antique stores, arrange it just so. And even hansom cabs exist, if you want to get crazy.

As the years passed, however, those antiques have gotten a little harder to find. Reproductions have become available of some things. It's been one hundred and twenty-two years since the end of the Victorian era -- time is taking its toll. And we have entered Hollywood prop re-creation world now as well, since Sherlock Holmes now has a 221B Baker Street home set in the 2010s. A very rich or very dedicated Sherlockian could actually recreate two 221Bs in their home and time travel over a century just by going down the hall.

We're lucky, I guess, that a single sitting room will do it for us. Recreating Isla Nubar, or even just the main tourist center or InGen lab from Jurassic Park would take some actual construction. We don't have to hope for a Sherlockian John Hammond or Walt Disney to recreate Baker Street and populate it with clones or animatronics. 

But one can always dream, even when we've had so much of Sherlock Holmes's reality available to us for as long as we've had Sherlock Holmes. Bringing dreams into reality is just a part of who we are, both as fans and creatives.

DISCLAIMER: Do not invent time travel just to surround yourself with the world of Sherlock Holmes. You might not be ready for the lodgings, food, restrooms, or general smell.