Nuns. No sense of humor.

[yendi]

Because it's something that's come up a few times, I've been thinking about the various Highlander movies and shows (not counting novels, short story collections, and other spin-offs). What's your opinion of the whacky swordfighting immortals?

[Poll #292414]


I've filled out my responses (which, by the way, include more than just the first movie).

Also, as far as I'm concerned, the first movie is just as good whether or not we include the deleted holocaust scenes (the scenes are great, and make Rachel a much more compelling character, but the movie was fine before the scenes were added, to).

Comments

[aussie-nyc.livejournal.com]

Am I right in saying those scenes were only deleted in the USA?

[yendi]

Correct.

[misskitten77.livejournal.com]

of course! only americans have their panties so far up their ass they can taste the cotton. *grumble*stupid censorship*grumble*

[mightywombat.livejournal.com]

I thought the TV series was pretty good, actually. The first season was maybe a little weak as far as production value, but subsequent seasons were actually really well thought out, in my opinion. Haven't seen the animated series so I can't speak to that one, which is why I chose to ban it. Best to err on the side of safety. Now, is Endgame the last movie, or was that the two-hour premier of the TV series?

[yendi]

Seasons 2 and 3, imho, are damned worthwhile.

Endgame is the last movie. I consider the premiere of the series (Evil Bull!) to be part of Season 1.

[amokk]

Imagine Highlander 2, but after a nuclear war where every regular human died, so all that is left is Immortals.

Now try to explain why Immortal foot soldiers are working for the bad guy and not hacking each other to bits if they're really bad enough to be working for the bad guy.

Yeah, it's that kind of logic.

[zitronenhai.livejournal.com]

What about Highlander: The Apology?

[yendi]

Still waiting on that one.

[mfree.livejournal.com]

An apology is going to take more than one movie...

Highlander: The Apology
Highlander: Still Apologizing
Highlander: Begging For Forgiveness
Highlander: On Bended Knee
Highlander: Grovelling
Highlander: Weeping On The Ground
Highlander: Seppuku

[amokk]

I almost felt bad wanting to hit everything but the original, then noticed a couple others had already so I didn't feel as bad.

The second movie was just such a typical Hollywood "Jesus, that made some money, we have to have a sequel! And it's gotta have Sean Connery!" "But the way it ended, we can't. And Sean Connery's character is dead." "So? Bring him back. Say they're all aliens, kids love that shit."

The TV series should have been some alternative reality where the immortals continued on instead of having the final Gathering, because that's the only way it makes sense.

I never watched the Raven other than a few scenes while flipping the channels.

Endgame was pretty crappy, too..

Yeah.

[yendi]

The TV series should have been some alternative reality where the immortals continued on instead of having the final Gathering, because that's the only way it makes sense.

Actually, I think that was the case, if never stated explicitly. At one point, Joe (the head watcher) made mention of an item in the database that had Kurgan being just another immortal (albeit a nasty one) killed by Conner in NYC.

[terracinque.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you made those checkboxes, so we could pick all of them if we wanted.

[yendi]

I thought about using radio buttons and declaring, "There can be only one," but that would force people to spend way too long contemplating how bad some of these were.

[bassfingers.livejournal.com]

So, I've been meaning to get your opinion on this... Gregory Widen wrote the first Highlander, and apparently it had the seed of enough mythology to spawn all that has followed. Similarly, he wrote the first Prophecy movie (the one with Christopher Walken as the angel Gabriel) which now has a 4th film in the works.

Is there something particularly brilliant about this guy's world-building skills, or is it a fluke that these things have at least minor cult followings? (Can't really say I've ever met any other Prophecy fans, but I own the first 3 films on DVD and am not ashamed of it... There must be others, if they went to the trouble of making more, even if they were direct to video)

[yendi]

I've never seen any of the Prophecy movies, although I've heard good things about them.

But there's yet to be a Backdraft series, so until he scores with a third franchise, the jury's still out.

[pinballsorceror.livejournal.com]

I know you really can't have the series with the first movie as canon but they are both so good I figured we should just accept them as canonized with conflict and enjoy them independently.

[malinaldarose.livejournal.com]

I can't comment on the last few seasons of the series; I didn't have cable for them. What I did see, I liked, especially once Duncan's hair grew long enough to not be obviously fake. I saw most of The Raven and thought it was okay (not fabulous, just okay). The second movie was an abomination, though the director's cut is at least better than the theatrical release, and the third movie is just a retread of the first, right down to the kid screaming in the car where the chick did in the first one. Endgame was...okay, I suppose, though one does have to wonder about those wacky MacLeods spawning Immortals all over the place.

Sigh. I remember the old, old days on CompuServe, when we used to gather in the Sci Fi forum (and there was only one then) and speculate on where Immortals kept their swords....

And...there was an animated version?

<---- fellow WoCIS refugee, LOL

[robling-t.livejournal.com]

Sigh. I remember the old, old days on CompuServe, when we used to gather in the Sci Fi forum (and there was only one then) and speculate on where Immortals kept their swords....

{wiping nostalgic tear from eye} Yes, that was quite a group, wasn't it? Back in the days when the internet was made out of rocks and we had to go a mile in the snow uphill both ways to post, and all... ;)

THERE SHOULD HAVE BEEN ONLY ONE!!!!

[crwilley.livejournal.com]

...our anguished cry after waiting hours and hours to see Highlander 2 because the show we went to was sold out, then actually seeing it. The Director's Cut wasn't much better.

I thought, and still think, that Highlander, the original movie, was pretty much DONE. I mean, he's The One The Only One. Won the prize. Game over.

Excusing the slight cognitive dissonance of that not actually having happened in the TV series, it was mostly watchable, with some much better than merely that. I liked the premise behind Raven but didn't see enough of it to really rate. Haven't seen the other movies, but I gather The Final Dimension was not too bad.

The Animated Series MUST GO, simply because it brings the whole Zeist malarkey back.

[tenn-crichton.livejournal.com]

While I like the renegade version of Higlander 2 than the original I saw in the theaters, I could do without it in some ways. Granted, I liked that cut of it better than the third movie.

Hadn't seen the any season of the series or it's spinoffs, so I can't really comment on any of them.

Sigh

[gythiawulfie.livejournal.com]

I have only seen one or two of the movies, and soooooo long ago, I can't remember which is which.

Caught a glimps or two of the seiries... literally a glimpse or two. I am not a huge tv watcher unless its after 11pm at night.

So, I can't vote :(

[pbristow.livejournal.com]

I caught the series before any of the movies, and quite enjoyed the first 3 seasons, but started getting bored with it around the time Methos became a regular. I never felt Peter Wingfield was entirely credible as "the oldest immortal".

[pbristow.livejournal.com]

I also once filked the title sequence (based on a fusion of the title sequences of the first 2 seasons) as a Pratchett Diskworld scenario, featuring "Drunken O'Dowd... The Hublander!" =:o}

[digriz.livejournal.com]

The best part about Endgame was the intro, which more or less said "Uh... you know those other movies? Umm, ignore them."

[skylion.livejournal.com]

I had to waver between the Quast version of H:2 and plain ole H:3. Both sucked eggs, bad eggs. But at least 2, both renegade and Quast versions, had Connery. Connery beats Peebles any day.

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

I've never seen Highlander anything.

[yendi]

I figured there'd be someone who hadn't on my list. :-)

[psycho-hedgehog.livejournal.com]

I've only seen one Highlander thing ever. I think it was endgame. It was so damn bad I had to make a friend shut it off. I have never tried to watch it at all again.

[yendi]

I actually consider Endgame to be the worst of the lot. Just a load of utter shite.

[aki-dreaming.livejournal.com]

How did I miss this?
I'm a very vocal purist about this... very very very. Vocal.