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Well, it should be obvious by now that I'm a major fan of Highlander. Personally, I prefer the TV shows to the movies.
The Concept
For those who don't know the concept of Highlander, here it is. Living among everyone else is a group of people who, when they die a traumatic death, come back to life and become immortal. Immortals can sense one another when in close proximity to each other. The only way to kill and immortal is to behead him. They will revive from gunshots, drowning, or any death other than a beheading. Now, to complicate things, there is a thing called the Game. Immortals battle each other to the death to absorb the Quickening (more or less the life essence, power and knowledge an immortal has accumulated) of the other immortal. At the time of the Gathering, the last of the immortals will come together to fight to become the final immortal and win the Prize.
The Movies
The movies are where it all started. Sadly, they should have stopped after the first one. The first movie was a great concept and a great production. Its main problem in the big picture is that it has closure. It really wasn't written for a sequel. The time of the Gathering has come and Connor MacLeod battles the Kurgan for the Prize. The second movie is mostly ignored by fans, as it tried to say that the immortals come from another planet. A re-editing of the movie changes the source to another time instead, but is hardly better. The third movie is passable and the fourth is actually based on the TV series.
The TV Series
It's the television series that really drew the fan base to Highlander. Although I had seen the movie a long time ago, I never connected it with the show when I first caught it on TV late at night a few times. The TV show is based on a "descendant" of Connor MacLeod, Duncan. (In name only -- not a blood descendant since they can't have kids.) The show had a number of other regular immortal characters and a revolving door of evil ones for Duncan to battle and defeat. Regular character Richie (who is revealed as an immortal in the second season when he is shot) is one of my favorites. Recurring immortals Amanda and Methos (who is over 5,000 years old) add a lot of spice to the show. A new concept to the TV show is the idea of Watchers, humans who know of the immortals and chronicle their history without the immortals' knowledge. The season lasted 6 seasons before Adrian Paul, who played Duncan MacLeod, decided to work on other projects.
The Raven
To fill the space created by the cancelled Highlander: the Series, the spin-off show Highlander: the Raven was created. This show followed the adventures of the afore mentioned Amanda. With cohort Lucy and new friend and ex-cop Nick Wolfe, Amanda went through one season and was cancelled. Personally I liked the show, but was severly disappointed by the last episode when they revealed that Nick Wolfe was an immortal as well despite constant reassurance in almost every episode that he was only human. I think the character worked better as a mortal.
The Conventions
Like many programs with a huge fan base, there are conventions throughout the year across the country. I've been to 2 of them myself, in Denver and Baltimore. The actors are very friendly, especially Stan (Richie) Kirsch and Elizabeth (Amanda) Gracen. Jim Byrne (who plays Duncan's Watcher, Joe) sometimes has his band give concerts at the conventions. His rock-blues music is great and draws a crowd of young and old together to hear him. I've made a lot of friends at these multi-day conventions and had a great time at both of them.
The Concept
For those who don't know the concept of Highlander, here it is. Living among everyone else is a group of people who, when they die a traumatic death, come back to life and become immortal. Immortals can sense one another when in close proximity to each other. The only way to kill and immortal is to behead him. They will revive from gunshots, drowning, or any death other than a beheading. Now, to complicate things, there is a thing called the Game. Immortals battle each other to the death to absorb the Quickening (more or less the life essence, power and knowledge an immortal has accumulated) of the other immortal. At the time of the Gathering, the last of the immortals will come together to fight to become the final immortal and win the Prize.
The Movies
The movies are where it all started. Sadly, they should have stopped after the first one. The first movie was a great concept and a great production. Its main problem in the big picture is that it has closure. It really wasn't written for a sequel. The time of the Gathering has come and Connor MacLeod battles the Kurgan for the Prize. The second movie is mostly ignored by fans, as it tried to say that the immortals come from another planet. A re-editing of the movie changes the source to another time instead, but is hardly better. The third movie is passable and the fourth is actually based on the TV series.
The TV Series
It's the television series that really drew the fan base to Highlander. Although I had seen the movie a long time ago, I never connected it with the show when I first caught it on TV late at night a few times. The TV show is based on a "descendant" of Connor MacLeod, Duncan. (In name only -- not a blood descendant since they can't have kids.) The show had a number of other regular immortal characters and a revolving door of evil ones for Duncan to battle and defeat. Regular character Richie (who is revealed as an immortal in the second season when he is shot) is one of my favorites. Recurring immortals Amanda and Methos (who is over 5,000 years old) add a lot of spice to the show. A new concept to the TV show is the idea of Watchers, humans who know of the immortals and chronicle their history without the immortals' knowledge. The season lasted 6 seasons before Adrian Paul, who played Duncan MacLeod, decided to work on other projects.
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The Raven
To fill the space created by the cancelled Highlander: the Series, the spin-off show Highlander: the Raven was created. This show followed the adventures of the afore mentioned Amanda. With cohort Lucy and new friend and ex-cop Nick Wolfe, Amanda went through one season and was cancelled. Personally I liked the show, but was severly disappointed by the last episode when they revealed that Nick Wolfe was an immortal as well despite constant reassurance in almost every episode that he was only human. I think the character worked better as a mortal.
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The Conventions
Like many programs with a huge fan base, there are conventions throughout the year across the country. I've been to 2 of them myself, in Denver and Baltimore. The actors are very friendly, especially Stan (Richie) Kirsch and Elizabeth (Amanda) Gracen. Jim Byrne (who plays Duncan's Watcher, Joe) sometimes has his band give concerts at the conventions. His rock-blues music is great and draws a crowd of young and old together to hear him. I've made a lot of friends at these multi-day conventions and had a great time at both of them.
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