Who Can Solve the Mysteries? Elementary, My Dear Watson

Video

Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century. DIC Home Entertainment and Lions Gate Home Entertainment. VHS (60 minutes): $10. DVD (78 minutes): $15. Ages 6 and older. www.lionsgatecorp.com

The place: New London. The year: 2103. Inspector Beth Lestrade has traced the source of a mysterious crime wave to none other than Sherlock Holmes’ nemesis, James Moriarty, who died 200 years before. What to do? Use scientific advances to bring back to life the great 19th century detective himself.

With a robotic Dr. Watson and the re-creation of his rooms at 22 Baker St., the resurrected Holmes soon adapts his methods of deduction and observation to 22nd century mysteries.

This video release, featuring the interconnected first episodes of the stylish syndicated TV series, is a cut above most action cartoons. The show’s gothic look and mix of traditional cel and computer-generated imagery are a visual kick, and the storytelling is smart and imaginative, with episodes inspired directly by the stories of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, from “The Final Problem” to “The Hound of the Baskervilles.”

Maggie and the Ferocious Beast: Adventures in Nowhere Land. Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment. VHS (38 minutes): $12.95. DVD (46 minutes): $19.95.

“Great googly-moogly!” That’s the very unferocious reaction that the giant, horned, polka-dotted “Ferocious Beast” has to gentle surprises in magical Nowhere Land, where he’s best pals with a little girl named Maggie and a pig named Hamilton. This new DVD release contains six episodes (five on the VHS version) from the Nick Jr. TV show based on books by writer Betty Paraskevas and artist Michael Paraskevas, a mother-and-son creative team. The winning formula is a mix of bright colors, simple animation, stories about friends helping friends and serene flights of fancy.

DVD

DVD Read-Along: Toy Story 2 and Tarzan. Walt Disney Records. 90 minutes. $14.98 each.

Disney’s modestly entertaining first DVD “Read-Along” movie spinoffs allow viewers to follow the story--if they can read the narrative and pieces of dialogue that appear below stills from the films fast enough. Beginning readers will have more immediate success with the “Vocabulary” feature: 20 movie-related nouns.

“Toy Story 2” includes a music video performance by Riders in the Sky; two Phil Collins music videos appear on “Tarzan.” Each also offers a simple game, song lyrics and the ability to switch back and forth between English, German, French, Italian and Spanish. Also included is a DVD-ROM Internet connection to Disney Web sites.

Audio

Reggie Rapasaurus. Ages 5 to 9. CD: $15. www.ReggieRapasaurus.com

Several years ago, San Diego-based literacy promoter and actor-singer Stacey Roberts began using original songs and a stuffed, dread- lock-bedecked dinosaur named Reggie to encourage children to read and inspire them to pursue learning. This smooth and mellow CD by Roberts and composer-producer Bill Harris was created to share that message with a wider audience, mixing sophisticated traditional jazz, Latin jazz and pop melodies with simple lyrics in songs about reading, heroes (“The Little Flea”), the ABCs, counting, the first day of school (“Marvin the Platypus”) and more.

An anthem to the Head Start early-education program, which has adopted the songs, while sincere and tuneful, is a bit out of place for a general audience. “Toothache Blues,” however, is a fun departure: It’s the real thing--a raspy blues song about a candy-loving kid who has to learn something about dental hygiene.