Highlander

[cawthon777 0]

Was anyone else into the movies / TV series?

 

I was into the first film but the second killed the momentum. Haven't seen the two since but the final film with both Christopher Lambert and Adrian Paul looks interesting.

 

I picked up Season 1 of the TV show earlier today at Best Buy. Classic early 90s syndicated TV. Not the greatest show but very nostalgic. Back in 6th grade (92-93), my Saturdays were usually spent watching WWF Superstars, Star Trek: the Next Generation, and Highlander.

 

And on an interesting note, the mascot of my university is the highlander. Sadly, I don't think they mean the immortal kind that goes around chopping people's heads off.

[Guest areacode212]

I enjoyed the first few seasons of the series. I'm not sure how well those episodes have aged, but I intend to pick up the DVDs too, once I get through the rest of my Wish List first.

 

I didn't like the first movie as much as most people seemed to, though.

[Guest razazteca]

I was a big fan of the tv show and watching both Connor and Duncan on the same show that was the pilot was better than some of the movies! The spinoff show Raven was weak as was the last 2 sequals.

 

The 1st movie ruled, it had the FREE BIRDS in the begining. Too bad Edge's performance in the last movie was nothing really to talk about other than goofy dumass, but Donnie Yen made it watchable.

[Guest red_file]

I really liked the first movie when I first saw it, but subsequent viewings have left me a tad cold on it. The romance doesn't quite seem to work all that well with very little chemistry; the sword fights, which amazed me when I first saw them, seem clumbsy and uninspired; and the flashbacks really seem to drag. Which isn't to say that the movie doesn't have it's good moments (Clancey Brown is amazing, Connery does his usually appealing turn, and the idea itself is very appealing), just that their are irksome qualities that make me not really want to watch it again. The Queen soundtrack was pretty sweet, though.

 

I'm one of the few people that I know who actually enjoyed Highlander 2. I've seen both cuts of it, and I kinda dig the surreal nature of the Ziest storyline. Sure, it sucked that it contradicted virtually everything we learned in the first film, but, judged on its own merits, it wasn't really all that bad. Or maybe I'm just willing to forgive any movie that allows Michael Ironside to go over the top like that. The romance in this one was just as weak as in the first one, and the MacGuffin of the shield didn't appeal all that much.

 

The only appealing moment, to me, in the third film is the wonderful sex scene in the unrated version. Easily one of the best mainstream sex scenes I've ever seen; highly erotic, tasteful, and actually seemed to work within the characterizations given. The movie unfortunately contradicts both the previous two and cannot stand on its own like the second could. The symbolism of the broken sword was handled poorly, I though, and the villain left much to be desired.

 

I never saw any of the films beyond the third.

 

As for the series, I have good memories of catching it on rainy weekends during high school. I never followed it, but it was also nice to see on, though I was always a tad disappointed that we were following Duncan instead of Conner. The first episode where they were together was pretty sweet, but the real selling point was the guy from Night Court as the villain. I remember that I few years ago I caught either the last episode or an episode that was near the end where some immortal or watcher was going to expose the immortal to the world and the oldest immortal was helping Duncan out or something. After seeing that I was thinking that I wanted to see them all again, but it was cancelled soon after.

 

I'll have to pick up that sets, though it'll be pretty low on my priority. So many sets, not enough money.

[cawthon777 0]

The first episode where they were together was pretty sweet, but the real selling point was the guy from Night Court as the villain.

Bull from Night Court didn't quite scare me as a villian. He bothered me, just didn't scare me.

 

The series had many pseudo-famous character actors seen in a dozen other TV shows. Joan Jett does a guest spot in one of the early episodes and Roger Daltry becomes a regular towards the end of the 1st season.

 

Although there are some down points with the films / series, Queen's "Princes of the Universe" always sucks me in. Very cool badass, sword-fighting, head-chopping music.

 

Not sure when (maybe season 2?), but they had a great episode where Duncan's girlfriend Tessa (the french chick) gets killed off after a drive-by. Richie was killed too - but that's where he and the audience find out that he is actually an immortal. The end of the episode used Kansas' "Dust in the Wind". Bloody awesome.

 

It's clear from the first episode of the series that they're forshadowing the fact that Ducan and Conner already know what Richie is - even if he doesn't.

[Guest DrTom]

I just picked up Season 1 today at Best Buy, also. Since I'm off Monday and we're supposed to get gobs of snow between now and then, I'll probably get to watch a few of the discs.

 

(Possible spoilers ahead, for those who aren't familiar with the movies and series)

 

I liked the first movie. It's not awesome or anything, but it's an interesting premise, a good story, and has some good performances. I liked that Immortals were rare , and were basically just humans with a few neat abilities. I thought the movie could have spawned its own mythos, but it was a self-contained story with a definite conclusion, so I never expected it to go anywhere.

 

Then Highlander 2: The Quickening came out, and I HATED it. "We're not really Immortals per se, just aliens from another planet." Bah. This is the problem with trying to explain things that don't really need an explanation (see Midichlorians for a more recent example). Later, another version of the movie surfaced, much truer to what the director intended, and not what the studio chopped together and pushed out because of budget concerns. The Renegade Version Director's Cut is still not a good movie, but it does remove the lame alien bullshit, and if you watch it without the first one in mind, it's not a bad little adventure story.

 

Highlander 3: The Final Dimension (or Highlander 3: The Apology for Highlander 2, as my friends and I called it) got back to the roots of the original while ignoring the second film completely. The problem is, it also ignored the fact that MacLeod had won the prize by basically saying that a few guys stuck in a mountain missed the rollcall in New York. Mario van Peebles was dreadful as the villain, which also doomed the movie, since Clancy Brown shone in the first film.

 

Highlander: Endgame felt like a long episode of the TV series to me. It was necessary to transition from Duncan to Connor, though their fight was contrived, and Duncan's later fight with Jacob Kell was even more contrived. It wasn't a bad movie, though, but it was something definitely made for fans of the movie and TV series.

 

Highlander, the TV series, was often very good, occasionally terrible, and pretty solid overall. I think it reached its peak in seasons 3 and 4, with the introduction of Methos to the series. He was by far the best character in the series, and should have been the one to get his own spin-off show, as opposed to Amanda. I liked Amanda (and her tendency to wear skimpy clothes), but she just wasn't a strong enough character to carry her own series. The show jumped the shark at the end of season five by introducing Ahriman, a Zoroastrian demon. into the mythos. Season six was short by ten episodes and didn't focus on Duncan as much (an injury to Adrian Paul necessitated that), but some of the lesser characters filled in nicely. Ragen Cole was excellent, and the episode with Methos and Joe Dawson chasing Joe's past was superb. The denouement was pretty mediocre, but I think the show had a good run overall. Immortals were way too common, but you can't have a Highlander project without a bunch of swordplay.

[Guest DrTom]

Not sure when (maybe season 2?), but they had a great episode where Duncan's girlfriend Tessa (the french chick) gets killed off after a drive-by.

I just have to say, that was an AWFUL episode, maybe the worst of the series. The fact that some nitwit is going around killing immortals in swordfights by TURNING OFF THE LIGHTS is absurd enough. These people are hundreds of years old -- they could FEEL their way thru a fight and hand him his ass on a plate. As for Tessa, I didn't really like her, but I thought it sucked she died in some completely random incident. She was a major character up until that point, and deserved a better death. Richie was known to be an Immortal from the first episode, so how he got transitioned into that didn't really matter. The only redeeming factor in the way he and Tessa were shot is that the killer turned up in a later episode and was pursued by Richie. Other than that, "The Darkness" was a dreadfully bad episode of an otherwise good series.

 

Edit: Yes, it was in the second season, about a third of the way in or so.

[Guest razazteca]

The episode in the mountain or forrest where Duncan fights the Beast Master with an axe was one of my favorites of all time along with the one that had the rouge watchers which featured Joe Dawson.

[Guest SpiritualRemains]

I personally feel that the show totally peaked at either end of Season 3 (Kalas was awesome) or with the Four Horsemen episodes.

If you mention spinoffs, don't forget about the short-lived animated series...

 

SR

[Guest Vyce]

Let us forget the animated series. Now THAT was awful.

 

I really dug the TV show. Really solid syndicated program, a lot of fun to watch on the weekends (unlike the fare or today - I'd rather watch the Weather Channel than "Mutant X"). Hey, you can't go wrong with a show that had both Roger Daltry and that guy from "Fine Young Cannibals" as frequent guest stars.

[Guest Lethargic]

I'm one of the 5 people in the world that enjoyed the second movie. I liked it a whole lot. Better than the first. I remember everybody talking about how much better the Renegade version was so I got that. I was horrified at how bad that version was. It seemed the entire movie was gone. Everything I liked about the first was gone. So I went back to the original version. Never watched the TV show. I can't think those damn syndicated action shows.

[Guest red_file]

Cool, two out of five. Just gotta find the other three.

[Guest DrTom]

I personally feel that the show totally peaked at either end of Season 3 (Kalas was awesome) or with the Four Horsemen episodes.

I think its peak was seasons 3 and 4. Kalas was an excellent recurring villain, and METHOS~! was the best character on the show. With those two tearing up the screen, it didn't matter that I hated Anne Lindsey.

[Guest SP-1]

I enjoyed all three movies, with 3 being the easiest for me to digest for whatever reason. I think because it might have been where I came in with the Highlander universe.

 

The TV show was alright, I watched it some.

 

My problem with the fourth movie is that it basically tried merging Connors movie timeline with Duncan's TV series timeline and it seemed like a big hodgepodge of crap to me. Enjoyable if you don't go into it with any past history whatsoever, though.

[cawthon777 0]

As for Tessa, I didn't really like her, but I thought it sucked she died in some completely random incident.  She was a major character up until that point, and deserved a better death.

Now that I'm starting to re-watch these episodes from season 1, I cannot stand Tessa at all. The accent drives me nuts and the woman can't act her way out of a wet paper bag. She's the weak link of the cast.

 

It's a good thing she was killed off - for various reasons - and I liked that it was kind of a cop-out death. Duncan has to avoid his head being chopped off in every episode by some uber powerful immortal ... but humans don't live the same lives nor suffer the same fates. And the way that episode was set up was great. Duncan faces big evil, predictably wins, comes home, lets out a big sigh of relief, and then with 5 minutes left in the show his girlfriend gets randomly shot down outside their home. Didn't see that coming.

 

I'm glad they didn't kill her off too early, so that it would be more meaningful, but she def had to go.

[Guest Vyce]

I have to add that I loved Methos too.

 

I remember back around the time that "Raven" debuted, I remarked to my friends who watch such programs (i.e. geeks like me ) that METHOS was the obvious choice for the spinoff. I'd have watched a show with him as the title character.

[Guest DrTom]

Now that I'm starting to re-watch these episodes from season 1, I cannot stand Tessa at all. The accent drives me nuts and the woman can't act her way out of a wet paper bag. She's the weak link of the cast.

Definitely. I don't think the character was particularly bad -- she was very human, and an excellent foil for MacLeod's stoic self-righteousness at many points -- but the actress just wasn't up to snuff. It's a shame, really... with a better actress, I think that could have been an excellent role. The writing for Tessa was very good in some episodes.

 

I liked that it was kind of a cop-out death.

See, I hate that because it's lazy writing. A key element of fiction is that if you take a gun off the wall, you must have first put that gun on the wall. The gun was put on the wall when Tessa got menaced by some of the Immortals Duncan was fighting at the time. To kill her off in a random incident like that was cheap. It would have been different had one of MacLeod's enemies ordered her and Richie to be gunned down (then you still get Richie's rebirth as an Immortal out of the deal), especially after their fight, as the final fuck-you for Duncan's victory. But to kill her like they did was lame. I didn't like the actress, but the character deserved better.

[Conspiracy_Victim 0]

I didn't mind them killing her. Like many I thought she was pretty decent eye candy (not as good as Elizabeth Gracen, but not bad), but annoying as hell. Then, they go and bring her back, IIRC, when some Immortal uses plastic surgery to make a new Tessa to distract Richie and Duncan, or something like that. By that point (I think it was season 6) the show was starting to drag for me. But then, I'm a huge Lambert mark so I always preferred Connor to Duncan. As a matter of fact, I like Methos more than Duncan too. Anyone who can joke about being one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (Death, as a matter of fact) and MEAN it is ok in my book.

[Guest DrTom]

I didn't mind them killing her, either. By that point, I think the character had served her purpose, and most people (me included) preferred Amanda anyway. I just think the way they killed her sucked the big one. Major characters deserve significant deaths, and hers was cheap.

 

When Tessa was "brought back" via plastic surgery, that was the end of the second season, IIRC, in a two-parter called "Counterfeit." The person behind it was renegade Watcher Peter Horton, who would never really leave the series despite several apparent deaths.

[Conspiracy_Victim 0]

OK thanks DrTom. After writing it I looked her up on IMDB and saw what episode it was and that she DID appear in season 6 in some capacity. So, I'm not completely senile yet. By the way, they have some great Methos lines in the "memorable quotes" section. Never realized that he did get just about all the really good one-liners.

 

Edit: I can't believe this was my 500th post and it wasn't even about wrestling! I feel so..unfulfilled somehow.

[Guest DrTom]

After writing it I looked her up on IMDB and saw what episode it was and that she DID appear in season 6 in some capacity. So, I'm not completely senile yet.

Not completely, and not yet.

 

The season 6 episode you're thinking of is "To Be" and "Not To Be," the series-ending two-parter that's basically the Immortal version of "It's A Wonderful Life." Season 6 had a lot of crap in it, and few bright spots; the final two episodes were thoroughly mediocre.

 

And yes, Methos had a LOT of great lines. He was just the MAN.

[Conspiracy_Victim 0]

In the series finale didn't they eventually reveal to the whole world the existence of Immortals, Watchers, the whole deal? I seem to remember it ending with Duncan, Methos, and Amanda standing somewhere (I'm thinking atop the Eiffel Tower?) talking about how the world is going to change or something like that. If that's so I kind of remember the episodes. Yeah definitely not their best. Still, it let the show end on an optimistic note rather than Duncan surrounded by his friends bodies or something.

[Guest DrTom]

"To Be" and "Not To Be" were basically about one of MacLeod's enemies kidnapping Joe and Amanda and forcing MacLeod to come for him. When he does, he gets shot in a scuffle, "dies," and has the It's-A-Wonderful-Life flashbacks before reviving in the second part and killing the chap.

 

I think the episode you're thinking of is a two-parter, interesting called "Finale," that ended season 3. In that, Kalas had gotten a hold of one of the Watcher's discs, which had information on all the major Immortals and Watchers. He was going to make it public unless Duncan gave himself up. When Kalas was killed in the eventual fight (one of the better ones, and Kalas was a great recurring villain), the Quickening channeled thru the Eiffel Tower into his nearby home and shorted his computer, thus ending the threat of exposure.

 

Damn, I feel like such a Highlander geek...

[Conspiracy_Victim 0]

Crap! I can't remember shit anymore. I'll just go back to my Mortal Kombat DVD over here in the corner.