Highlander

Far superior to the films, for every reason: Better venue for developing the mythos and the characters, better opportunity to explore the nature and implications of immortality, and a far superior leading man for all the reasons we choose them. Adrian Paul (who inspires whole libraries of romance novels) looks magnificent and convincing in any time period and has ALL the right moves. He's also a vastly superior actor to Christopher Lambert. It is easy to see why the producers regretted not having made Duncan MacLeod immortal in an earlier time period; not only would there have been more history to explore and a richer background for Duncan, but it would have provided more visual riches for the audience.

The series jumped the shark after season 5, which I think had some of its best episodes: "Comes a Horseman", "Revelation 6:8", "Duende", "Dramatic License", "Little Tin God". "The Stone of Scone," which has its defects, represents an episode type that this series should have done more of: a complete flashback without 20th C references. The possibilities of such episodes were a missed opportunity.

Back in the late '90s, I used to watch a syndicated episode of HIGHLANDER on USA Network every night before going to sleep. It definitely beat SILK STALKINGS! This engaging, oddly sexy show took my mind off the past day and made me forget about my worries for the coming day.

I recently rediscovered the show on Tubi, and it still has the same effect. It's not high art, just pleasant, enjoyable, escapist television. It's also fun to remember stars of the '70s and '80s, and to see a few of today's stars before they were big names.

It's fun, and I recommend it!

The quality of the Highlander DVD box sets is a delight through all six releases. Season Five is no exception and contains the same unique special features and great video transfer as the rest. My one major turn off that, unfortunately, seems to be an industry standard is the folding package that takes up the whole coffee table. It doesn't detract from my enjoyment of the series or the special features which were enough in the first two seasons two make me buy the rest, at a premium for my impatience, from the official site (www.highlander-official.com).

As in the previous season, Highlander season 5 begins with a tale of Duncan's childhood. Through present day events and flashbacks, ' Prophecy' shows us a whole new breed of older immortal with powers that certainly would have helped the character of Methos (Peter Wingfield) in earlier seasons, mind control over humans and younger immortals through a powerful form of hypnotic suggestion. We are introduced to the character of Casandra, the first immortal that Duncan (Adrian Paul) ever came into contact with as a child and a fabled witch in his native village. 'Prophecy' as befits its title foreshadows the entire season we later find, even to the point of making minor mention of Connor MacLeod, Duncan's distant cousin and the hero of the original Highlander movie. While some may not see the referencing of the original movie for the first time since the pilot for the series as foreshadowing, to me it stands as a statement from the producers that all bets are off.

It is easy to forget that there is now a 'chosen one' prophecy hanging over Duncan's head as you get into the season. After his failed attempt to kill Richie Ryan (Stan Kirsch) during his 'Dark Quickening' (the 'good guy gone evil through no fault of his own' scenario of the previous season), Duncan must make amends with his former pupil or push him away. Relations are still strained with Joe Dawson, his former Watcher now friend and Methos shows up in enough episodes this season that the producers must have been thinking spin-off.

The penultimate season of Highlander has the usual mix of comedic episodes interspersed with the serious. Highlights of the lighter episodes include the return of Roger Daltrey as Hugh Fitzcairn in an entirely 'historical' episode entitled 'The Stone of Scone' and a 'Bonnie and Clyde' style romp with the spin-off character Amanda (Elisabeth Gracen) and her former partner Cory Raines (Nicolas Lea) making Duncan's life miserable both in present day and the past in 'Money No Object.' The Funniest moments from the season come from an episode entitled 'Dramatic License' in which a female author has published a romance novel about Duncan and an exaggerated account of some of his many exploits.

Foreshadowing plays a huge role in this season and the Prophecy that was told in the opening episode starts to come into play in the darker episodes of the season. In 'Comes a Horseman' and 'Revelation 6:8' we find that Methos has been hiding an a secret of his ancient and evil past that could end up destroying the world. 'Double Jeopardy' uses the Highlander master craft of the flashback to reintroduce us to one of the series original and deadliest villains, who may not be dead after all, Xavier St. Cloud (Roland Gift). Finally, 'Archangel', the finale, introduces the deadliest threat to immortals yet which may very well Satan himself

The idea of immortals isn't new.This show examines the life of "immortals" and examines the answers to question as: What is like surviving your loved ones?Surviving your family?Your hometown?Your country?Your religion?The civilisation whose ideas you carry on?It can be thoughtful.Especialy once you stop thinking about "good"and "evil"immortals and start examining what makes them act the way they do.It's deeper than most modern TV shows and far better than the movies with the same name.The charachters tend to be very interesting.Especially the cynic,dissilusioned immortal Methos the surviver.Five thousand years old and he is sounding like count Fosca from de Beauvoir's "All Men Are Mortal"who is bitter,dissilusioned and hopelessely alone,destined to survive mankind.Other charachters of interest to viewers are1)Amanda the French,manipulative thieves who seems to enjoy her life more than other immortals seem to do.Has she found the meaning of life?2)Duncan McLeodThe star.Noble and thick-headed.He doesn't hunt other immortals.He waits for them to come and they do.How important is he?3)Darius,general and priest.What made him quit the game anyway.4)Kalas,singer and monk.An immortal killer who loves music and plotting.5)Kronos a horseman.He brings anarchy. The show is definitely worth seing.

Ever feel that good things go to those who don't deserve them? If only someone who could do it justice had gotten hold of Gregory Widen's brilliant idea. But no. So I just pretend that the ending of the original movie and all the other movies never happened, as well as all the stupidity of the last season of the series. (who ever heard of the hero only appearing in about 3 episodes of the final season?) I just wish the show had taken itself a little more seriously. Here was a grand opportunity to bring some genuine high concept to TV and the series did that in many respects. However, it was made in the 90's and the bits which seem out of place now were, I suppose, the best they could do. Still, the series was the first of a wonderful kind of modern fantasy TV genre, which has been followed by the Crow: Stairway to Heaven, and now Witchblade. (If only the writers of Witchblade had written the series! Not to mention if the series would've had those kind of effects.) I just pick and choose what fits with my personal vision of highlander. Watch it yourself and make up your own mind- it is definately worth it.

Final Words: Quit making the idiotic movie sequels. Give Methos his own show and set it entirely in the past.