There can be only one
July 5, 2016 11:07 AM Subscribe
The cult film Highlander celebrates its 30th anniversary this year with the release of a restored 4K DVD (Trailer). The restored film had a debut screening at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in late June, prompting some retrospective looks at the film: “Add in the fact that it was the eighties in general, and you've got the campiest, period-specific film with giant hair and questionable fashion choices ever committed to film.”
The Guardian interviews director Russell Mulcahy and star Christopher Lambert about making the film.
The Telegraph has some more details on the film, its making, and its enduring nature, including thoughts from writer Gregory Widen.
Beyond the star power of Sean Connery, the film also features a soundtrack by Queen:
Princes of the Universe
Gimme the Prize (Kurgan’s theme)
A Kinda Magic
Who Wants to Live Forever
Despite the tagline, the film would inspire 4 sequels (Highlander II: The Quickening; Highlander: The Final Dimension; Highlander: Endgame; Highlander: The Source), and a TV series (which would inspire its own spinoff) amongst other properties. A planned reboot appears to be in development hell.
The Guardian interviews director Russell Mulcahy and star Christopher Lambert about making the film.
The Telegraph has some more details on the film, its making, and its enduring nature, including thoughts from writer Gregory Widen.
Beyond the star power of Sean Connery, the film also features a soundtrack by Queen:
Princes of the Universe
Gimme the Prize (Kurgan’s theme)
A Kinda Magic
Who Wants to Live Forever
Despite the tagline, the film would inspire 4 sequels (Highlander II: The Quickening; Highlander: The Final Dimension; Highlander: Endgame; Highlander: The Source), and a TV series (which would inspire its own spinoff) amongst other properties. A planned reboot appears to be in development hell.
Fun fact: awesome comics artist Lucy Bellwood's dad is the man who wrote the movie! She also created a funny comic about the reality between having your art sold as a comic to be turned into film and the reality.
posted by Kitteh at 11:11 AM on July 5, 2016 [17 favorites]
posted by Kitteh at 11:11 AM on July 5, 2016 [17 favorites]
Can't believe you fell for that internet hoax--there weren't any sequels haha that's just a myth. [xs out of browser window turns off phone and hurls it out the window]
posted by Potomac Avenue at 11:20 AM on July 5, 2016 [36 favorites]
posted by Potomac Avenue at 11:20 AM on July 5, 2016 [36 favorites]
Clancy Brown will always and forever be my favorite actor just by virtue of being the fucking Kurgan. Happy Hallowe'en, ladies! Also, the Queen soundtrack just makes the damn movie. Sooooooo good. And what the hell was Sean Connery supposed to be? A Scottish Spaniard samurai something-or-other? The accents were completely inappropriate, as the Scotland Now author points out.
Which of course brings us to everyone's favorite Bond. Connery plays Juan Sánchez Villa-Lobos Ramírez, a Spaniard by way of ancient Egypt. Confused? You should be! Especially if you've ever seen more than one Connery movie, in which case you know that dialect coaches need not apply.posted by Existential Dread at 11:22 AM on July 5, 2016 [9 favorites]
Watching/hearing the rather French-sounding Lambert explain what haggis is to the very Scottish Connery is, well, amusing to say the least. But he just looks like he's having so much fun in the role, and his chemistry with Lambert is so great, that you really don't mind.
I saw Highlander in the theater when it was first released, probably 4 or 5 times. It was thrilling. The scene transitions felt really new and special at the time, and the storyline was outright fun. Then I saw it in Germany when I was living there and it was released there, and there were several new scenes that left me feeling a bit disoriented because I thought I knew the film pretty well. I finally purchased it on DVD and realized that there were separate releases for the movie in the US and in Europe. This also happened with Aliens, another big 80s movie that had extra scenes in Europe.
The Queen album "A Kind Of Magic" was a good substitute for a soundtrack for the film, but a while back I found via some website an actual soundtrack for the movie with the score and everything. That's been fun to listen to.
Never got into any of the sequels or the TV show, but really love that one movie.
posted by hippybear at 11:23 AM on July 5, 2016 [2 favorites]
The Queen album "A Kind Of Magic" was a good substitute for a soundtrack for the film, but a while back I found via some website an actual soundtrack for the movie with the score and everything. That's been fun to listen to.
Never got into any of the sequels or the TV show, but really love that one movie.
posted by hippybear at 11:23 AM on July 5, 2016 [2 favorites]
I wasn't sure if I should include mention of the mythical sequels, but enough people appear to be committed to the hoax of their existence that actual webpages have been created.
posted by nubs at 11:23 AM on July 5, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by nubs at 11:23 AM on July 5, 2016 [4 favorites]
There is some great New York location work, which would be prohibitively expensive for a movie like this today. I love these supposedly shitty old New York films, like this and the Maniac Cop series, because they are a tour of a lost New York.
posted by maxsparber at 11:24 AM on July 5, 2016 [6 favorites]
posted by maxsparber at 11:24 AM on July 5, 2016 [6 favorites]
"...you've got the campiest, period-specific film with giant hair and questionable fashion choices ever committed to film.”
Considering the codpiece-and-revolver getup that Connery sports in "Zardoz," I think they should be a little kinder:
Considering the codpiece-and-revolver getup that Connery sports in "Zardoz," I think they should be a little kinder:
Compare (pretty bad-ass) and contrast (*shudder*).posted by wenestvedt at 11:24 AM on July 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
Forget the movie, I still have a gigantic soft spot in my heart for the TV show, which is so incredibly, quintessentially 90s. I love Duncan MacLeod and Amanda and Joe Dawson and Methos, and all the swordfights and the cheesy flashbacks, and the way all the bad immortals inexplicably had names beginning with K, and how the worldbuilding was simultaneously terrible and totally fascinating. What I wouldn't give for a seasons-long spinoff that was just the Methos-and-Joe show! Methos is 5000 years old! There could have been so many flashbacks!
Anyway, there was definitely only one movie.
posted by yasaman at 11:25 AM on July 5, 2016 [39 favorites]
Anyway, there was definitely only one movie.
posted by yasaman at 11:25 AM on July 5, 2016 [39 favorites]
And what the hell was Sean Connery supposed to be? A Scottish Spaniard samurai something-or-other? The accents were completely inappropriate, as the Scotland Now author points out.
Yeah, you have an Egyptian Spaniard with a Scottish accent, and a Scotsman with a French accent. It's kinda awesomely weird.
posted by nubs at 11:26 AM on July 5, 2016 [5 favorites]
Yeah, you have an Egyptian Spaniard with a Scottish accent, and a Scotsman with a French accent. It's kinda awesomely weird.
posted by nubs at 11:26 AM on July 5, 2016 [5 favorites]
I fucking love the tv series.
posted by fluffy battle kitten at 11:27 AM on July 5, 2016 [6 favorites]
posted by fluffy battle kitten at 11:27 AM on July 5, 2016 [6 favorites]
Clancy Brown will always and forever be my favorite actor just by virtue of being the fucking Kurgan.
Between the Kurgan and Captain Hadley in The Shawshank Redemption, he is a first-ballot Villain Hall of Famer. And that doesn't even count that he's the voice of Mr. Krabs and Lex Luthor.
posted by Etrigan at 11:27 AM on July 5, 2016 [13 favorites]
Between the Kurgan and Captain Hadley in The Shawshank Redemption, he is a first-ballot Villain Hall of Famer. And that doesn't even count that he's the voice of Mr. Krabs and Lex Luthor.
posted by Etrigan at 11:27 AM on July 5, 2016 [13 favorites]
Finding out that Clancy "the Kurgan" Brown was also the voice of Mr. Krabs was a kind of mind-blowing thing for me at the time, actually.
posted by nubs at 11:29 AM on July 5, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by nubs at 11:29 AM on July 5, 2016 [2 favorites]
Also, his turn as Brother Justin on Carnivale was chilling. A shame that show was cancelled so quickly.
posted by Existential Dread at 11:31 AM on July 5, 2016 [11 favorites]
posted by Existential Dread at 11:31 AM on July 5, 2016 [11 favorites]
Mod note: Fixed the typo in the title 2: the swappening.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 11:32 AM on July 5, 2016 [7 favorites]
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 11:32 AM on July 5, 2016 [7 favorites]
I am reminded of the time that a friend of a friend of mine went to see Highlander 2 in the theaters. He was a huge fan of the original, right down to buying it on VHS back when VHS tapes actually cost a lot of money. (Yes, Virginia, they used to be expensive.) He was completely stoked to be going to see the sequel on the big screen.
A few hours later, he came to my dorm room and opened the door and simply screamed "NO."
posted by delfin at 11:37 AM on July 5, 2016 [17 favorites]
A few hours later, he came to my dorm room and opened the door and simply screamed "NO."
posted by delfin at 11:37 AM on July 5, 2016 [17 favorites]
There is a special effects shot in Highlander, a crane shot pulling away from Connor McLeod as he is slowly dying for the first time on a battlefield, that ends in a closing circle wipe into present-day McLeod's pupil and iris. It was originally done on a GVG 100 or similar piece of hardware, a standard-definition composite-only video switcher, shot off a monitor screen.
I would love to know how this shot was restored in 4K HDR.
posted by infinitewindow at 11:37 AM on July 5, 2016 [5 favorites]
I would love to know how this shot was restored in 4K HDR.
posted by infinitewindow at 11:37 AM on July 5, 2016 [5 favorites]
As a note, if you want to fall down the Highlander nostalgia hole, all six seasons of the TV show are on Hulu Plus. I offer this more as a point of information than a recommendation. I'm honestly not sure if this show holds up at all without the benefit of nostalgia and early exposure to it in its natural habitat of the 90s.
posted by yasaman at 11:37 AM on July 5, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by yasaman at 11:37 AM on July 5, 2016 [4 favorites]
A few hours later, he came to my dorm room and opened the door and simply screamed "NO."
For those of you who weren't there: think watching the first Star Wars prequel for the first time in the theater.
posted by Melismata at 11:39 AM on July 5, 2016 [5 favorites]
For those of you who weren't there: think watching the first Star Wars prequel for the first time in the theater.
posted by Melismata at 11:39 AM on July 5, 2016 [5 favorites]
This post just taught me that Highlander was not a mainstream hit and I apparently have no idea what the hell was really popular in the 80s.
Also, I thought Mario van Peebles was hilarious in the third movie.
posted by mattamatic at 11:41 AM on July 5, 2016 [3 favorites]
Also, I thought Mario van Peebles was hilarious in the third movie.
posted by mattamatic at 11:41 AM on July 5, 2016 [3 favorites]
I sometimes have this procrastination problem where if I have a free week or two, I'll schedule something to get done on a particular day, and then I'll bump it a few times, as it technically doesn't have to be done quite yet. If I was immortal and I knew I wasn't going to die, I can't imagine any day that would feel good to try and not get my head cut off, with the added disincentive that I technically don't have to fight today.
"Hey, I'm not feeling up to this today. Want to fight next week instead? We can get a few more marathons in on Netflix before we do this thing. Actually, this year's pretty busy. How about Thanksgiving?"
posted by SpacemanStix at 11:42 AM on July 5, 2016 [5 favorites]
"Hey, I'm not feeling up to this today. Want to fight next week instead? We can get a few more marathons in on Netflix before we do this thing. Actually, this year's pretty busy. How about Thanksgiving?"
posted by SpacemanStix at 11:42 AM on July 5, 2016 [5 favorites]
I'm 42 years old and I still don't think I've seen anyone as dejected by a movie as two of my best friends were after we saw Highlander 2 in the theatre.
posted by The Card Cheat at 11:44 AM on July 5, 2016 [11 favorites]
posted by The Card Cheat at 11:44 AM on July 5, 2016 [11 favorites]
A friend of mine once owned an RPG that was clearly supposed to have been the Highlander RPG. I can't remember the title, it seemed like perhaps it actually had been planned as a licensed product but the developers lost the license, or were never able to get it and the thing had been done in hopes of getting a license, and then they just removed all references to the movie.
Instead of being called Immortals they were called something else, I can't remember what. Instead of decapitating their opponent and then the quickening empowering them they decapitated their opponent and then the rapture (I think) empowered them.
The setting was "the near future", and there was a giant megacorp that had discovered immortals existed so that was also a complication.
And I think I remember something tacked on to the very end about warlocks hunting reality altering things? It was like they lost the license so they just started tossing in all the White Wolf ripoff stuff they could think of.
We played a few times, it wasn't all that great.
posted by sotonohito at 11:44 AM on July 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
Instead of being called Immortals they were called something else, I can't remember what. Instead of decapitating their opponent and then the quickening empowering them they decapitated their opponent and then the rapture (I think) empowered them.
The setting was "the near future", and there was a giant megacorp that had discovered immortals existed so that was also a complication.
And I think I remember something tacked on to the very end about warlocks hunting reality altering things? It was like they lost the license so they just started tossing in all the White Wolf ripoff stuff they could think of.
We played a few times, it wasn't all that great.
posted by sotonohito at 11:44 AM on July 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
I like the original movie but my favorite was always the TV show. Though I haven't seen it in years and years, so who knows how it holds up now. I remember having my mind blown by the Methos/Four Horsemen two-parter.
posted by kmz at 11:45 AM on July 5, 2016 [5 favorites]
posted by kmz at 11:45 AM on July 5, 2016 [5 favorites]
Melismata I think the Star Wars prequels were masterpieces compared to the steaming pile of awful that was Highlander 2. I'd compare it more to the Star Wars Holiday Special, it's so bad it isn't even funny bad, just bad bad.
posted by sotonohito at 11:46 AM on July 5, 2016 [8 favorites]
posted by sotonohito at 11:46 AM on July 5, 2016 [8 favorites]
I would love to know how this shot was restored in 4K HDR.
I would also like to know how they made a 4K DVD.
posted by sexyrobot at 11:48 AM on July 5, 2016 [3 favorites]
I would also like to know how they made a 4K DVD.
posted by sexyrobot at 11:48 AM on July 5, 2016 [3 favorites]
This post just taught me that Highlander was not a mainstream hit and I apparently have no idea what the hell was really popular in the 80s.
Likewise, I can't even remember if I ever really like Highlander non-ironically (I think I did) or if I've always just liked the campiness of it all.
Such is the burden of being a late Generation Xer I think. We don't remember how to feel or how we felt.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 11:48 AM on July 5, 2016 [21 favorites]
Likewise, I can't even remember if I ever really like Highlander non-ironically (I think I did) or if I've always just liked the campiness of it all.
Such is the burden of being a late Generation Xer I think. We don't remember how to feel or how we felt.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 11:48 AM on July 5, 2016 [21 favorites]
Talk about a movie that never should have had a sequel made. I'm still trying to repress the memory of Highlander 2. I refuse to acknowledge the existence of Highlander 3.
posted by prepmonkey at 11:50 AM on July 5, 2016
posted by prepmonkey at 11:50 AM on July 5, 2016
AHA! I should have googled more. Legacy: War of Ages, that was it! Now you too can buy the Highlander knock off RPG that couldn't get licensed!
posted by sotonohito at 11:50 AM on July 5, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by sotonohito at 11:50 AM on July 5, 2016 [2 favorites]
I literally just spent twenty minutes at my job falling down the Highlander Wikipedia-hole.
my head hurts
posted by Kitteh at 11:51 AM on July 5, 2016 [3 favorites]
my head hurts
posted by Kitteh at 11:51 AM on July 5, 2016 [3 favorites]
If I was immortal and I knew I wasn't going to die, I can't imagine any day that would feel good to try and not get my head cut off, with the added disincentive that I technically don't have to fight today.
Methos appears to have conducted a not-insignificant percentage of his 5000-year long life this way, what with just declining to fight dudes by going "yeah, thanks, but no thanks," and running off to drink beer or whatever. Methos having to actually deal with one of those dudes was the premise of at least one episode of the TV show. (Spoiler alert: he definitely chopped that dude's head off, but he was sort of put out about it.) Further evidence for why he should have gotten his own show, because I definitely would have watched multiple seasons of him engaging in byzantine social engineering to get out of fights.
posted by yasaman at 11:52 AM on July 5, 2016 [13 favorites]
Methos appears to have conducted a not-insignificant percentage of his 5000-year long life this way, what with just declining to fight dudes by going "yeah, thanks, but no thanks," and running off to drink beer or whatever. Methos having to actually deal with one of those dudes was the premise of at least one episode of the TV show. (Spoiler alert: he definitely chopped that dude's head off, but he was sort of put out about it.) Further evidence for why he should have gotten his own show, because I definitely would have watched multiple seasons of him engaging in byzantine social engineering to get out of fights.
posted by yasaman at 11:52 AM on July 5, 2016 [13 favorites]
Highlander 2 tops Alien 3 on the list of Movies That Were Not Made. Speaking of which...
posted by Sand at 11:54 AM on July 5, 2016
posted by Sand at 11:54 AM on July 5, 2016
there weren't any sequels haha that's just a myth.
There can be only one!
posted by Artw at 11:56 AM on July 5, 2016 [10 favorites]
There can be only one!
posted by Artw at 11:56 AM on July 5, 2016 [10 favorites]
I loved the movie. I saw the second one and it registered as bad, but I didn't loathe it or anything. It was ignorable. And when the show came out, I spent a lot of time in the mid-90s on the HIGHLA-L listserv for the show (Also FORKNI-L. That was a good time for Canadian-based fantasy tv shows). I have a Watcher necklace still kicking around somewhere at home.
I have no regrets for any of that.
I have, however, watched a couple episodes of the cartoon. That I do regret. Oh man. So bad.
posted by rewil at 11:56 AM on July 5, 2016 [4 favorites]
I have no regrets for any of that.
I have, however, watched a couple episodes of the cartoon. That I do regret. Oh man. So bad.
posted by rewil at 11:56 AM on July 5, 2016 [4 favorites]
Highlander 2: There Should Have Been Only One.
posted by Sand at 11:56 AM on July 5, 2016 [21 favorites]
posted by Sand at 11:56 AM on July 5, 2016 [21 favorites]
A few hours later, he came to my dorm room and opened the door and simply screamed "NO."
I saw it at the local cheapy theater for $1.50 and have maintained for years that I paid at least $1.49 too much.
posted by Confess, Fletch at 11:56 AM on July 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
I saw it at the local cheapy theater for $1.50 and have maintained for years that I paid at least $1.49 too much.
posted by Confess, Fletch at 11:56 AM on July 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
I seem to recall something about the ozone layer, and Connor MacLeod inventing a shield for the planet, and bumblebee dudes with jetpacks flying around, but that's about it.
posted by Existential Dread at 11:59 AM on July 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Existential Dread at 11:59 AM on July 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
This post just taught me that Highlander was not a mainstream hit and I apparently have no idea what the hell was really popular in the 80s.
In the theaters, no. I don't think there was any kind of rental charting (or VHS sales charting) in the 80s but I'd easily guess Highlander stayed steadily in every Local Video Store Top 30 for 10 years, and if you yourself did not own it on VHS you had at least two friends who did. It was hugely popular, just not terribly profitably popular (though, I mean, they made a shitload of sequels and a TV show, so...)
posted by Lyn Never at 11:59 AM on July 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
In the theaters, no. I don't think there was any kind of rental charting (or VHS sales charting) in the 80s but I'd easily guess Highlander stayed steadily in every Local Video Store Top 30 for 10 years, and if you yourself did not own it on VHS you had at least two friends who did. It was hugely popular, just not terribly profitably popular (though, I mean, they made a shitload of sequels and a TV show, so...)
posted by Lyn Never at 11:59 AM on July 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
Melismata I think the Star Wars prequels were masterpieces compared to the steaming pile of awful that was Highlander 2. I'd compare it more to the Star Wars Holiday Special, it's so bad it isn't even funny bad, just bad bad.
With the Star Wars prequels, you can see what Lucas was going for, and you can see how they fit into the SW universe. Even though they were done badly, they're still of a piece with the original trilogy.
But Highlander 2 was clearly made by a bunch of people who had maybe seen the first one, but actively hated it and wanted its fans to suffer by giving them a totally unrelated story with vaguely similar characters with the same names.
posted by Etrigan at 12:02 PM on July 5, 2016 [3 favorites]
With the Star Wars prequels, you can see what Lucas was going for, and you can see how they fit into the SW universe. Even though they were done badly, they're still of a piece with the original trilogy.
But Highlander 2 was clearly made by a bunch of people who had maybe seen the first one, but actively hated it and wanted its fans to suffer by giving them a totally unrelated story with vaguely similar characters with the same names.
posted by Etrigan at 12:02 PM on July 5, 2016 [3 favorites]
Back in college I wrote, but never got around to filming, a short parody of Highlander. It really only existed for the sake of the scene in which Sean Connery shouts at the Kurgan, "Hey! You! Get off of MacLeod!"
posted by Faint of Butt at 12:03 PM on July 5, 2016 [20 favorites]
posted by Faint of Butt at 12:03 PM on July 5, 2016 [20 favorites]
This post just taught me that Highlander was not a mainstream hit and I apparently have no idea what the hell was really popular in the 80s.
Labyrinth, Brazil, Blade Runner, Highlander...
All of these were major box office flops when they were released.
posted by hippybear at 12:04 PM on July 5, 2016 [6 favorites]
Labyrinth, Brazil, Blade Runner, Highlander...
All of these were major box office flops when they were released.
posted by hippybear at 12:04 PM on July 5, 2016 [6 favorites]
Oh man I was the perfect age when I saw this movie (IE way too young) . I spent much of my childhood making wooden swords and trying to kill my brother.
The show was lovably silly.
I'm pretty sure there was only one movie.
posted by French Fry at 12:05 PM on July 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
The show was lovably silly.
I'm pretty sure there was only one movie.
posted by French Fry at 12:05 PM on July 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
This post just taught me that Highlander was not a mainstream hit and I apparently have no idea what the hell was really popular in the 80s.
unless you were a middleschooler in the 80s, Highlander & Co,along with Krull was borderline magic.
posted by Dr. Twist at 12:07 PM on July 5, 2016 [5 favorites]
unless you were a middleschooler in the 80s, Highlander & Co,along with Krull was borderline magic.
posted by Dr. Twist at 12:07 PM on July 5, 2016 [5 favorites]
Adding to the stress was the director's determination to cast Lambert, notwithstanding that the 28-year old was unknown to American audiences and not exactly fluent in English. The actor had caught Mulcahy's eye in Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan Lord of the Apes and having failed to convince Kurt Russell to take the part he was set on the Frenchman.
There's an alternate universe somewhere where Kurt Russell is MacLeod. I....don't know if I want to be here or there.
posted by Existential Dread at 12:08 PM on July 5, 2016 [7 favorites]
There's an alternate universe somewhere where Kurt Russell is MacLeod. I....don't know if I want to be here or there.
posted by Existential Dread at 12:08 PM on July 5, 2016 [7 favorites]
There is some great New York location work, which would be prohibitively expensive for a movie like this today. I love these supposedly shitty old New York films, like this and the Maniac Cop series, because they are a tour of a lost New York.
There's a shitty 60s exploitation horror movie about a mannequin company employee who strangles attractive women in lingerie (it's not the original Maniac). They clearly did not have much of a budget at all, so there's at least a solid 15-20 minutes of just candid NYC street footage interstitials in this movie. It is by far the most interesting thing about it.
It came on one of those cheap double-feature DVDs with the original Wizard of Gore if anyone wants to track it down.
posted by griphus at 12:09 PM on July 5, 2016 [5 favorites]
There's a shitty 60s exploitation horror movie about a mannequin company employee who strangles attractive women in lingerie (it's not the original Maniac). They clearly did not have much of a budget at all, so there's at least a solid 15-20 minutes of just candid NYC street footage interstitials in this movie. It is by far the most interesting thing about it.
It came on one of those cheap double-feature DVDs with the original Wizard of Gore if anyone wants to track it down.
posted by griphus at 12:09 PM on July 5, 2016 [5 favorites]
Tangential: the documentary That Gal...Who Was In That Thing (Netflix) includes Roxanne Hart (Brenda J. Wyatt, the love interest) talking a little bit about the absurdity of the filming of Highlander and some of the bullshit she had to deal with. It's an excellent documentary all around.
posted by Lyn Never at 12:11 PM on July 5, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Lyn Never at 12:11 PM on July 5, 2016 [2 favorites]
There Was So, So Much Drinking on the Original Highlander Set
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 12:12 PM on July 5, 2016
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 12:12 PM on July 5, 2016
Likewise, I can't even remember if I ever really like Highlander non-ironically (I think I did) or if I've always just liked the campiness of it all.
The camp was fun, but for me it was the idea underneath (of immortality and the pathos of it) combined with the outlandishness of it all - Sean Connery/Some French Guy as a Scot/the Kurgan's weird mix of manic villiany/the soundtrack along with being overlaid on the 80s cultural emptiness (I mean, a professional wrestling match to open the film?) that I think I responded to the most (though I couldn't have articulated my feelings about the late 80's when I first saw the film).
posted by nubs at 12:12 PM on July 5, 2016
The camp was fun, but for me it was the idea underneath (of immortality and the pathos of it) combined with the outlandishness of it all - Sean Connery/Some French Guy as a Scot/the Kurgan's weird mix of manic villiany/the soundtrack along with being overlaid on the 80s cultural emptiness (I mean, a professional wrestling match to open the film?) that I think I responded to the most (though I couldn't have articulated my feelings about the late 80's when I first saw the film).
posted by nubs at 12:12 PM on July 5, 2016
buying it on VHS back when VHS tapes actually cost a lot of money
It seemed like many of them were priced for the rental outlets to buy them, not for mass-market sale...like, $100 for a mediocre Hollywood title
posted by thelonius at 12:13 PM on July 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
It seemed like many of them were priced for the rental outlets to buy them, not for mass-market sale...like, $100 for a mediocre Hollywood title
posted by thelonius at 12:13 PM on July 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
I would also like to know how they made a 4K DVD.
Oh, I gave that battle up long ago, and I'm in the industry. It's like asking consumers today to properly use the terms EP and CD.
griphus, I think I worked on that double-feature disc, but for the life of me I can't remember the name of that film! It is not The Gore Gore Girls, which is another, later double-feature disc with The Wizard of Gore.
posted by infinitewindow at 12:14 PM on July 5, 2016 [2 favorites]
Oh, I gave that battle up long ago, and I'm in the industry. It's like asking consumers today to properly use the terms EP and CD.
griphus, I think I worked on that double-feature disc, but for the life of me I can't remember the name of that film! It is not The Gore Gore Girls, which is another, later double-feature disc with The Wizard of Gore.
posted by infinitewindow at 12:14 PM on July 5, 2016 [2 favorites]
I had an Italian Highlander poster in my college dorm room and it was a cult favorite among all of my friends. The Kurgan and his some-assembly-required broadsword was just the height of cool. (Though that voice is really hard to do for any length of time, no idea how Clancey Brown managed it.)
"Remember when we met... on Planet Zeist?" is the cinematic equivalent of watching Ralph Wiggum's heard explode in slow motion. If such a film existed. Which it doesn't.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 12:14 PM on July 5, 2016
"Remember when we met... on Planet Zeist?" is the cinematic equivalent of watching Ralph Wiggum's heard explode in slow motion. If such a film existed. Which it doesn't.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 12:14 PM on July 5, 2016
Clancy Brown will always and forever be my favorite actor just by virtue of being the fucking Kurgan.
He's one of those actors who literally elevates the quality of whatever he appears in just by being there. I stuck with Sleepy Hollow far longer than I probably should have because Brown showed up in the pilot (where his character was fatally decapitated, appropriately enough) and in semi-regular flashbacks later on. He was one of the better things in Daredevil S02 as well, all because he got to play two of his best sides as a character actor: Crustily avuncular, giving way to menacingly diabolical.
posted by Strange Interlude at 12:17 PM on July 5, 2016 [2 favorites]
He's one of those actors who literally elevates the quality of whatever he appears in just by being there. I stuck with Sleepy Hollow far longer than I probably should have because Brown showed up in the pilot (where his character was fatally decapitated, appropriately enough) and in semi-regular flashbacks later on. He was one of the better things in Daredevil S02 as well, all because he got to play two of his best sides as a character actor: Crustily avuncular, giving way to menacingly diabolical.
posted by Strange Interlude at 12:17 PM on July 5, 2016 [2 favorites]
It seemed like many of them were priced for the rental outlets to buy them, not for mass-market sale...like, $100 for a mediocre Hollywood title
That was exactly the case. Hollywood didn't think people would want to own movies. merely have them available to watch every now and then for a few bucks at a time.
posted by Etrigan at 12:21 PM on July 5, 2016 [4 favorites]
That was exactly the case. Hollywood didn't think people would want to own movies. merely have them available to watch every now and then for a few bucks at a time.
posted by Etrigan at 12:21 PM on July 5, 2016 [4 favorites]
I love Clancy Brown, and one day I will find myself in a Catholic Church and I will find an excuse to mutter in a gravelly voice:
"Nuns. No sense of humor."
posted by Mooski at 12:22 PM on July 5, 2016 [7 favorites]
"Nuns. No sense of humor."
posted by Mooski at 12:22 PM on July 5, 2016 [7 favorites]
It seemed like many of them were priced for the rental outlets to buy them, not for mass-market sale...like, $100 for a mediocre Hollywood title
When I was buying videos for myself (late 90s), they'd often release the expensive "rental" version and then a regular "for home" identical version several weeks later. I was the kind of nerd that was buying widescreen VHS releases too, which were always harder to find (if available at all) and more expensive.
And it was all obviated by the popularity of DVDs just a few years later.
posted by kmz at 12:25 PM on July 5, 2016
When I was buying videos for myself (late 90s), they'd often release the expensive "rental" version and then a regular "for home" identical version several weeks later. I was the kind of nerd that was buying widescreen VHS releases too, which were always harder to find (if available at all) and more expensive.
And it was all obviated by the popularity of DVDs just a few years later.
posted by kmz at 12:25 PM on July 5, 2016
I'm honestly not sure if this show holds up at all without the benefit of nostalgia and early exposure to it in its natural habitat of the 90s.
It totally does. I watched it all for the first time a few years ago, shortly after having seen the movie for the first time. I liked the movie and will probably give the restored version a watch, but I thought the TV series was better (except for any scene set to a Queen song, since it's not like the series merited any original songs.)
I found some of the Highlander-the-series tie-in novels in a used bookstore recently and those are pretty good, too. (Because we really do need more Methos stories.)
posted by asperity at 12:26 PM on July 5, 2016 [2 favorites]
It totally does. I watched it all for the first time a few years ago, shortly after having seen the movie for the first time. I liked the movie and will probably give the restored version a watch, but I thought the TV series was better (except for any scene set to a Queen song, since it's not like the series merited any original songs.)
I found some of the Highlander-the-series tie-in novels in a used bookstore recently and those are pretty good, too. (Because we really do need more Methos stories.)
posted by asperity at 12:26 PM on July 5, 2016 [2 favorites]
I got about three minutes into Highlander on Netflix before pausing and buying the Rifftrax. I didn't even know that there was a Rifftrax, but it felt like a safe assumption...
Clancy Brown is up there with Brian Thompson in terms of underappreciated character actors whose niche is "dude who is very plainly about to do terrible things to you".
AHA! I should have googled more. Legacy: War of Ages, that was it! Now you too can buy the Highlander knock off RPG that couldn't get licensed!
The System Mastery episode about it is pretty good.
posted by Pope Guilty at 12:35 PM on July 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
Clancy Brown is up there with Brian Thompson in terms of underappreciated character actors whose niche is "dude who is very plainly about to do terrible things to you".
AHA! I should have googled more. Legacy: War of Ages, that was it! Now you too can buy the Highlander knock off RPG that couldn't get licensed!
The System Mastery episode about it is pretty good.
posted by Pope Guilty at 12:35 PM on July 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
Nthing the TV series, although I'm pretty sure I haven't seen them since they aired, when I was just a wee lad.
Thanks yasaman! Now I know what I'm watching before bed for the rest of the week.
posted by aspersioncast at 12:37 PM on July 5, 2016
Thanks yasaman! Now I know what I'm watching before bed for the rest of the week.
posted by aspersioncast at 12:37 PM on July 5, 2016
Clancy Brown is up there with Brian Thompson in terms of underappreciated character actors whose niche is "dude who is very plainly about to do terrible things to you".
And, appropriately, he is included on the "That Guy!" character actor site, along with Michael Ironside and James Hong.
posted by Existential Dread at 12:42 PM on July 5, 2016 [4 favorites]
And, appropriately, he is included on the "That Guy!" character actor site, along with Michael Ironside and James Hong.
posted by Existential Dread at 12:42 PM on July 5, 2016 [4 favorites]
"there can be only one" i.e. there were no sequels. QED
posted by destro at 12:43 PM on July 5, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by destro at 12:43 PM on July 5, 2016 [2 favorites]
that Clancy "the Kurgan" BrownSurely you mean Buckaroo Banzai's right hand man, Rawhide.
posted by pxe2000 at 12:44 PM on July 5, 2016 [25 favorites]
There is a Yiddish word I have been having trouble with, krign, which means "obtain" or "get."
I find it helps to remember it by imagining the Kurgan obtaining Sean Connery's head.
posted by maxsparber at 12:45 PM on July 5, 2016 [4 favorites]
I find it helps to remember it by imagining the Kurgan obtaining Sean Connery's head.
posted by maxsparber at 12:45 PM on July 5, 2016 [4 favorites]
The best line in the film is "what does baffled mean?"
posted by Catblack at 12:50 PM on July 5, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by Catblack at 12:50 PM on July 5, 2016 [4 favorites]
I have, however, watched a couple episodes of the cartoon. That I do regret. Oh man. So bad.
That looks amazingly terrible. Wow.
... Has anyone played the 1986 video game?
posted by asperity at 12:56 PM on July 5, 2016
That looks amazingly terrible. Wow.
... Has anyone played the 1986 video game?
posted by asperity at 12:56 PM on July 5, 2016
I grew up watching the TV series, as they were a staple of summer afternoon TV.
The movie is one of my favourite wedges of highly entertaining 90s cheese. Always watch it when one of the movie channels airs it.
And speaking of portraits of lost New York, I've read since asshole is remaking The Warriors for TV. I almost felt the need for a Olbermann style walk around the building to vent off.
posted by lmfsilva at 12:57 PM on July 5, 2016
The movie is one of my favourite wedges of highly entertaining 90s cheese. Always watch it when one of the movie channels airs it.
And speaking of portraits of lost New York, I've read since asshole is remaking The Warriors for TV. I almost felt the need for a Olbermann style walk around the building to vent off.
posted by lmfsilva at 12:57 PM on July 5, 2016
I really don't understand people not liking Highlander 2. It had Michael Ironsides hamming it up as the big baddie.
I mean, yes, it makes absolutely zero sense, and the whole alien origin of the Highlanders makes about as much sense as someone shoving coffee grounds in their ears to hear better, but it has some of the most horrible direction of any movie ever.
Wait, oh, I see, you mean you only like good movies. Come on, you have to have some appreciation for things that are so utterly a disaster, that you can't look away, right? I mean, "The Room"? Or anything with Adam Sandler? You may not watch them for quality, but there is certainly _something_ about watching something so horrible and bad that it actually achieves "good". Any Uwe Boll movie ever?
Oh wait, I forgot, I am a horrible person with horrible taste and like bad things for bad reasons.
Also, Highlander 3 was the best thing ever to see at a theater that served beer and you could smoke in it (those used to exist). Theaters where the peanut gallery wasn't just a part of the show, it was mandatory.
posted by daq at 1:01 PM on July 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
I mean, yes, it makes absolutely zero sense, and the whole alien origin of the Highlanders makes about as much sense as someone shoving coffee grounds in their ears to hear better, but it has some of the most horrible direction of any movie ever.
Wait, oh, I see, you mean you only like good movies. Come on, you have to have some appreciation for things that are so utterly a disaster, that you can't look away, right? I mean, "The Room"? Or anything with Adam Sandler? You may not watch them for quality, but there is certainly _something_ about watching something so horrible and bad that it actually achieves "good". Any Uwe Boll movie ever?
Oh wait, I forgot, I am a horrible person with horrible taste and like bad things for bad reasons.
Also, Highlander 3 was the best thing ever to see at a theater that served beer and you could smoke in it (those used to exist). Theaters where the peanut gallery wasn't just a part of the show, it was mandatory.
posted by daq at 1:01 PM on July 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
It really only existed for the sake of the scene in which Sean Connery shouts at the Kurgan, "Hey! You! Get off of MacLeod!"
...but no scene in which someone else shouts "Hey! MacLeod! Get offa ma ewe!"? Shame. Shame. Shame. *ding*
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 1:04 PM on July 5, 2016 [4 favorites]
...but no scene in which someone else shouts "Hey! MacLeod! Get offa ma ewe!"? Shame. Shame. Shame. *ding*
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 1:04 PM on July 5, 2016 [4 favorites]
But Highlander 2 was clearly made by a bunch of people who had maybe seen the first one, but actively hated it and wanted its fans to suffer by giving them a totally unrelated story with vaguely similar characters with the same names
Yeah I wonder who would do a thing like...
Highlander
Directed by Russell Mulcahy
Screenplay by Peter Bellwood
Highlander II: The Quickening
Directed by Russell Mulcahy
Screenplay by Peter Bellwood
Oh
posted by rodlymight at 1:07 PM on July 5, 2016 [6 favorites]
Yeah I wonder who would do a thing like...
Highlander
Directed by Russell Mulcahy
Screenplay by Peter Bellwood
Highlander II: The Quickening
Directed by Russell Mulcahy
Screenplay by Peter Bellwood
Oh
posted by rodlymight at 1:07 PM on July 5, 2016 [6 favorites]
Juan Sánchez Villa-Lobos Ramírez has alway been on my Halloween bucket list.
posted by Damienmce at 1:08 PM on July 5, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by Damienmce at 1:08 PM on July 5, 2016 [3 favorites]
I'm 42 years old and I still don't think I've seen anyone as dejected by a movie as two of my best friends were after we saw Highlander 2 in the theatre.
It's possible we were best friends in high school.
posted by The Hamms Bear at 1:11 PM on July 5, 2016 [4 favorites]
It's possible we were best friends in high school.
posted by The Hamms Bear at 1:11 PM on July 5, 2016 [4 favorites]
Highlander was like Stargate and Buffy. The movies were flawed in one way or another but the TV series took it to another level (Buffy of course being a level all its own).
I saw the movie (really, there was only one) when it came out and it was enjoyable cheese but it really had some major flaws. Many years later my wife discovered Highlander slash based on the TV series and demanded that we track down the TV series. And I was pleasantly surprised. A really cheap budget but they did a decent job. The mythology held together fairly well (better than what Chris Carter did with his, not as good as what St. Whedon did with his). Duncan, Amanda, Joe, and Methos were great characters. I would have killed to have access to a bar like Joe's, or to live on a houseboat in Paris. Or have a bookstore in Paris. Good times.
posted by Ber at 1:12 PM on July 5, 2016 [6 favorites]
I saw the movie (really, there was only one) when it came out and it was enjoyable cheese but it really had some major flaws. Many years later my wife discovered Highlander slash based on the TV series and demanded that we track down the TV series. And I was pleasantly surprised. A really cheap budget but they did a decent job. The mythology held together fairly well (better than what Chris Carter did with his, not as good as what St. Whedon did with his). Duncan, Amanda, Joe, and Methos were great characters. I would have killed to have access to a bar like Joe's, or to live on a houseboat in Paris. Or have a bookstore in Paris. Good times.
posted by Ber at 1:12 PM on July 5, 2016 [6 favorites]
Highlander was not so bad that it was good. It was simply good. It checks every box for a great action popcorn flick, the most important being a fantastic showdown with an epic villain.
posted by Beholder at 1:13 PM on July 5, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by Beholder at 1:13 PM on July 5, 2016 [4 favorites]
... Has anyone played the 1986 video game?
I was all ready to call shenanigans on you, because in my mind there was NO WAY a slow-burning home video cult classic like Highlander could have had a contemporaneous video game tie-in. But I'll admit, I was wrong. (The game does look pretty wretched, even for that era of computer games.)
posted by Strange Interlude at 1:17 PM on July 5, 2016 [2 favorites]
I was all ready to call shenanigans on you, because in my mind there was NO WAY a slow-burning home video cult classic like Highlander could have had a contemporaneous video game tie-in. But I'll admit, I was wrong. (The game does look pretty wretched, even for that era of computer games.)
posted by Strange Interlude at 1:17 PM on July 5, 2016 [2 favorites]
sotonohito mentioned an RPG, but I also want to link back to this thread from last year and say that Trenchcoats & Katanas is an great little system in the hands of a genre loving DM. Garius led myself and a few friends in the most epic little convention scenario last Easter that was truely a masterpiece. So much fun, and a surprisingly robust system, regardless of the joking in the thread.
posted by Iteki at 1:26 PM on July 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Iteki at 1:26 PM on July 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
He's one of those actors who literally elevates the quality of whatever he appears in just by being there. I stuck with Sleepy Hollow far longer than I probably should have because Brown showed up in the pilot
This is me and Carnivale. Whenever I got fed up with that show's molasses pacing and allusions to plot in lieu of actual plot, Brown's menacing rumble would yank me back in.
He was in Earth2 as well, just playing some astronaut dude. Tim Curry got the Clancy Brown role in that one, I think.
posted by Sauce Trough at 1:28 PM on July 5, 2016 [2 favorites]
This is me and Carnivale. Whenever I got fed up with that show's molasses pacing and allusions to plot in lieu of actual plot, Brown's menacing rumble would yank me back in.
He was in Earth2 as well, just playing some astronaut dude. Tim Curry got the Clancy Brown role in that one, I think.
posted by Sauce Trough at 1:28 PM on July 5, 2016 [2 favorites]
Legacy: War of Ages, that was it! Now you too can buy the Highlander knock off RPG that couldn't get licensed
There was actually a spate of rpgs about immortals in the 90s. Aside from Legacy, there was The World of Darkness supplement Mummy, Immortal, War of the Ages (notable for trying to redefine every game term in as pretentious a manner as possible, and Nephilium, which gathered controversy because the immortal spirts basically murdered their hosts.
All published because Highlander made the idea popular among gamers. It really was a tailored for gamers movie.
posted by happyroach at 1:28 PM on July 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
There was actually a spate of rpgs about immortals in the 90s. Aside from Legacy, there was The World of Darkness supplement Mummy, Immortal, War of the Ages (notable for trying to redefine every game term in as pretentious a manner as possible, and Nephilium, which gathered controversy because the immortal spirts basically murdered their hosts.
All published because Highlander made the idea popular among gamers. It really was a tailored for gamers movie.
posted by happyroach at 1:28 PM on July 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
Best part of the DVD commentary (the regular DVD, not this new one) is when they are discussing how "into" the role of The Kurgan Clancy Brown got. They once sent a PA to fetch him for shooting and the PA returned looking shaken; said that Clancy would be along in about 15 minutes, he's 'doing a ritual' in his trailer.
posted by dragstroke at 1:29 PM on July 5, 2016 [7 favorites]
posted by dragstroke at 1:29 PM on July 5, 2016 [7 favorites]
I've always* imagined an Highlander video game could be something like Bushido Blade meets Megaman. You have as bunch of immortals, pick the order to beat them, and gain their powers (moves, stats, and so on). Gameplay is one on one swordfight. Hit to maim body parts, chop the head off to win.
*By "always" I mean "when I started thinking how I'd make a decent videogame tie-in"
posted by lmfsilva at 1:34 PM on July 5, 2016 [6 favorites]
*By "always" I mean "when I started thinking how I'd make a decent videogame tie-in"
posted by lmfsilva at 1:34 PM on July 5, 2016 [6 favorites]
Highlander! Music! This! Shout out to the Crown Point Immortals!
posted by fallingbadgers at 1:45 PM on July 5, 2016
posted by fallingbadgers at 1:45 PM on July 5, 2016
A friend of mine wrote slash fiction in high school and college. I never read any of her work, but I was under the impression it was rather explicit. She never watched Highlander, never saw the TV series, but she wrote a Highlander slash story. Because it was de rigueur for everybody in her newsgroup to write a Highlander slash story. I don't know how widespread this was throughout the internet at the time. (Late 90s/early 2000s)
I've never seen the rumored sequels and will go on living in a world in which they do not exist. The TV show was a lot of fun though.
posted by Hactar at 1:53 PM on July 5, 2016
I've never seen the rumored sequels and will go on living in a world in which they do not exist. The TV show was a lot of fun though.
posted by Hactar at 1:53 PM on July 5, 2016
I can confirm at least the first sequel, in that my company at the time was asked to submit a bid for some of the effects work, and I had many pages of storyboard faxed over to me in order to construct the bid. Thank goodness, we were not chosen, when I finally saw the sequel, I wanted to hurl. I love that first film, but a 4K update? Oy, enough already.
posted by dbiedny at 2:02 PM on July 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by dbiedny at 2:02 PM on July 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
I was a huge fan of Queen and pretty much the perfect age (12 or 13) when Highlander came out, so it's impossible for me to watch it too critically now. What I've really come to admire about it is the economy of the premise/mythology; it's laid out pretty plainly and doesn't fall into the trap of trying to explain everything to death. They made it work within the scope and length of a single film, and on a pretty small budget. And the Queen soundtrack does kick ass.
posted by usonian at 2:03 PM on July 5, 2016
posted by usonian at 2:03 PM on July 5, 2016
A friend of mine wrote slash fiction in high school and college. I never read any of her work, but I was under the impression it was rather explicit. She never watched Highlander, never saw the TV series, but she wrote a Highlander slash story. Because it was de rigueur for everybody in her newsgroup to write a Highlander slash story.
This explains some things about the quality of some of the Highlander fics I read when I was plowing my way through that fandom's output as a teenager in the mid-00s. That said, there were some real gems of historical fiction in that fandom, and a handful of other stories that have really stuck with me. Lots of interesting stories you can tell when your canon has characters who span basically the entirety of recorded human history.
posted by yasaman at 2:07 PM on July 5, 2016 [2 favorites]
This explains some things about the quality of some of the Highlander fics I read when I was plowing my way through that fandom's output as a teenager in the mid-00s. That said, there were some real gems of historical fiction in that fandom, and a handful of other stories that have really stuck with me. Lots of interesting stories you can tell when your canon has characters who span basically the entirety of recorded human history.
posted by yasaman at 2:07 PM on July 5, 2016 [2 favorites]
it's laid out pretty plainly and doesn't fall into the trap of trying to explain everything to death
It doesn't, but there's one scene that always left me kinda scratching my head - when Ramirez is making Connor run on the beach for some reason, and there's a big stag and Ramirez is like "can you feel it Highlander? Can you?" and they stare at the stag for a bit and Connor says he can, and then they start laughing crazily and running some more.
I may not be describing it accurately, and I can't find a clip anywhere on line, but I remember the last time I saw the film I watched that and was wondering what the hell that was about.
posted by nubs at 2:15 PM on July 5, 2016 [2 favorites]
It doesn't, but there's one scene that always left me kinda scratching my head - when Ramirez is making Connor run on the beach for some reason, and there's a big stag and Ramirez is like "can you feel it Highlander? Can you?" and they stare at the stag for a bit and Connor says he can, and then they start laughing crazily and running some more.
I may not be describing it accurately, and I can't find a clip anywhere on line, but I remember the last time I saw the film I watched that and was wondering what the hell that was about.
posted by nubs at 2:15 PM on July 5, 2016 [2 favorites]
No, I remember that, nubs. Immortals had a bunch of weird, nonsensical, never especially explained powers in the TV series too. Like whatever the deal was with Cassandra and Darius and Coltec or whatever his name was. And I don't think the movie's "breathing underwater" thing was ever revisited in the show either, was it?
Oh well, lucky thing the origin of Immortals was never explicitly explained in the one existing movie or the two existing TV shows! It will remain a mystery for fans to puzzle over for years to come!
posted by yasaman at 2:25 PM on July 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
Oh well, lucky thing the origin of Immortals was never explicitly explained in the one existing movie or the two existing TV shows! It will remain a mystery for fans to puzzle over for years to come!
posted by yasaman at 2:25 PM on July 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
they stare at the stag for a bit and Connor says he can, and then they start laughing crazily and running some more.
Ramirez is just fucking with him.
"The stag, can you feel it?"
Yes!
"Hahaha! Ok kid, let's keep running."
posted by The Hamms Bear at 2:29 PM on July 5, 2016 [2 favorites]
Ramirez is just fucking with him.
"The stag, can you feel it?"
Yes!
"Hahaha! Ok kid, let's keep running."
posted by The Hamms Bear at 2:29 PM on July 5, 2016 [2 favorites]
Wimps.
I drove six hours, from Bergen County, NJ to Rochester, NY to see Highlander 2 with a friend of mine on opening night. We were so excited.
When we walked out of the theatre, our first words to each other were the same: "I am so sorry." We redefined regret that night. Then we went to a Perkins, because the night demanded bad food.
posted by mephron at 2:34 PM on July 5, 2016 [6 favorites]
I drove six hours, from Bergen County, NJ to Rochester, NY to see Highlander 2 with a friend of mine on opening night. We were so excited.
When we walked out of the theatre, our first words to each other were the same: "I am so sorry." We redefined regret that night. Then we went to a Perkins, because the night demanded bad food.
posted by mephron at 2:34 PM on July 5, 2016 [6 favorites]
All published because Highlander made the idea popular among gamers. It really was a tailored for gamers movie.
Back when I was playing a lot of live-action Vampire: the Masquerade, I despised Highlander for what it did to the character concepts of some of the less imaginative players.
posted by Pope Guilty at 2:39 PM on July 5, 2016
Back when I was playing a lot of live-action Vampire: the Masquerade, I despised Highlander for what it did to the character concepts of some of the less imaginative players.
posted by Pope Guilty at 2:39 PM on July 5, 2016
...A few hours later, he came to my dorm room and opened the door and simply screamed "NO."
posted by delfin at 2:37 PM on July 5
Oh, Lord.
So my college buddies and I---nerds of the first order--decamped to our local cineplex to see Highlander 2 on the day it opened. We went to first showing at 1pm or so that afternoon, and took seats up towards the rear of the theater to have what we felt were the best views of the screen.
Mercifully, I've blotted most of the experience from memory except for one. The moment the caption on the screen read The Planet Zeist 500 Years Ago, from our position we could see every head in the theater simultaneously swivel as moviegoers turned to the person next to them. And as one, they all stage-whispered "Planet Zeist?!" Followed by nervous laughter as the audience realized that we'd all had the exact same reaction at the exact same time.
posted by magstheaxe at 2:49 PM on July 5, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by delfin at 2:37 PM on July 5
Oh, Lord.
So my college buddies and I---nerds of the first order--decamped to our local cineplex to see Highlander 2 on the day it opened. We went to first showing at 1pm or so that afternoon, and took seats up towards the rear of the theater to have what we felt were the best views of the screen.
Mercifully, I've blotted most of the experience from memory except for one. The moment the caption on the screen read The Planet Zeist 500 Years Ago, from our position we could see every head in the theater simultaneously swivel as moviegoers turned to the person next to them. And as one, they all stage-whispered "Planet Zeist?!" Followed by nervous laughter as the audience realized that we'd all had the exact same reaction at the exact same time.
posted by magstheaxe at 2:49 PM on July 5, 2016 [4 favorites]
I am very proud to say I have never seen any of the sequels to what was a very good and fun film. That Queen soundtrack was killer and I didn't even quite know who Queen was at the time.
The Kurgan was a masterful performance, easily rivaling, if not outright beating Heath Ledger's Joker. Probably beating, as the Joker was narrative and plot device, while the Kurgan simply embodied badness in all its glee.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 3:04 PM on July 5, 2016 [4 favorites]
The Kurgan was a masterful performance, easily rivaling, if not outright beating Heath Ledger's Joker. Probably beating, as the Joker was narrative and plot device, while the Kurgan simply embodied badness in all its glee.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 3:04 PM on July 5, 2016 [4 favorites]
I think I watched this film far too late in my life. I missed watching it at an age where I think it would have had a bit more significance. Similar to The Princess Bride. I had a friend who grew up with this film and knew every line, he was very excited to watch the film with me and while I was entertained, it didn't seem to land the way it landed with him. I have more familiarity with the television series than I do with the film. I wasn't a big fan of the television serial, but it was one of those shows that seemed to always be on in the 90s, along with Xena, Hercules, & Buffy.
posted by Fizz at 3:16 PM on July 5, 2016
posted by Fizz at 3:16 PM on July 5, 2016
Clancy would be along in about 15 minutes, he's 'doing a ritual' in his trailer.
ie. he was puking up the pint of scotch he had for breakfast... you know, to get the voice just right.
posted by ennui.bz at 3:18 PM on July 5, 2016
ie. he was puking up the pint of scotch he had for breakfast... you know, to get the voice just right.
posted by ennui.bz at 3:18 PM on July 5, 2016
Clancy Brown will always and forever be my favorite actor just by virtue of being the fucking Kurgan.
For years whenever Highlander came up I would insist that Richard Moll (Bull from Night Court) had played the Kurgan. I re-watched the movie a few years ago and was surprised that it was Clancy Brown. Then I watched the first episode of the tv show again and Richard Moll basically plays his own version of the Kurgan, Slan Quince.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 3:31 PM on July 5, 2016 [3 favorites]
For years whenever Highlander came up I would insist that Richard Moll (Bull from Night Court) had played the Kurgan. I re-watched the movie a few years ago and was surprised that it was Clancy Brown. Then I watched the first episode of the tv show again and Richard Moll basically plays his own version of the Kurgan, Slan Quince.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 3:31 PM on July 5, 2016 [3 favorites]
And I don't think the movie's "breathing underwater" thing was ever revisited in the show either, was it?
Not unless you mean that one time Duncan floated across the Pacific while drowning over and over again (for months? years?) until he washed up on a beach in Japan.
posted by asperity at 3:32 PM on July 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
Not unless you mean that one time Duncan floated across the Pacific while drowning over and over again (for months? years?) until he washed up on a beach in Japan.
posted by asperity at 3:32 PM on July 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
they stare at the stag for a bit and Connor says he can, and then they start laughing crazily and running some more.
It's The Quickening. Self-explanatory, dude.
posted by lumpenprole at 3:38 PM on July 5, 2016 [3 favorites]
It's The Quickening. Self-explanatory, dude.
posted by lumpenprole at 3:38 PM on July 5, 2016 [3 favorites]
I am so glad that when my best friend at the time and I decided to rent the Highlander movies, we didn't even see the Highlander 2 box, instead finding Highlander 3. I literally didn't know about Space Highlander until this thread.
Also: Clancy Brown is the voice of The Red Death in the last season of Venture Brothers. I have to believe that Doc Hammer and Jackson Publick nearly peed themselves when they got him for the part.
posted by mrzarquon at 4:52 PM on July 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
Also: Clancy Brown is the voice of The Red Death in the last season of Venture Brothers. I have to believe that Doc Hammer and Jackson Publick nearly peed themselves when they got him for the part.
posted by mrzarquon at 4:52 PM on July 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
Now you too can buy the Highlander knock off RPG that couldn't get licensed!
Floating around the early Internet was a fan-made RPG in White Wolf's Storyteller system called, naturally, Highlander: The Quickening. If you ask me how I remember this then all I can say is that it's definitely not because I was one of the sad dweebs that tried to write some stuff for it.
posted by um at 4:53 PM on July 5, 2016 [2 favorites]
Floating around the early Internet was a fan-made RPG in White Wolf's Storyteller system called, naturally, Highlander: The Quickening. If you ask me how I remember this then all I can say is that it's definitely not because I was one of the sad dweebs that tried to write some stuff for it.
posted by um at 4:53 PM on July 5, 2016 [2 favorites]
Sand: “Highlander 2: There Should Have Been Only One.”Winner of the Hardware Award for the worst movie since Hardware!
posted by ob1quixote at 5:00 PM on July 5, 2016
psst it was called Highlander: The Gathering don't ask me how I know
posted by Errant at 5:26 PM on July 5, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by Errant at 5:26 PM on July 5, 2016 [3 favorites]
...I also want to add that last time I was in Manhattan I walked across the Queensboro Bridge to retake a shot of me with the Silvercup sign in the background, only to find that they had redesigned the bridge so pedestrians are on the wrong side.
(Seriously considered crossing the traffic, but then remembered I am regrettably not immortal.)
I then walked to Central Park and the Kastagir Bridge (aka Bow Bridge)...which was being renovated.
My trip was thus an abject failure.
posted by Sand at 6:02 PM on July 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
(Seriously considered crossing the traffic, but then remembered I am regrettably not immortal.)
I then walked to Central Park and the Kastagir Bridge (aka Bow Bridge)...which was being renovated.
My trip was thus an abject failure.
posted by Sand at 6:02 PM on July 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
The only good thing about Highlander 2 is that there was some pretty Celtic-ish music. A worked on a production of Midsummer Night's Dream that stole a beautiful little bit of uilleann pipes and fiddle that stuck with me but I couldn't find to save my life. Imagine my surprise when flipping across the channels, I find out it was from Highlander 2!
/duncan + amanda + joe + methos 4 lyfe
posted by smirkette at 6:12 PM on July 5, 2016 [2 favorites]
/duncan + amanda + joe + methos 4 lyfe
posted by smirkette at 6:12 PM on July 5, 2016 [2 favorites]
I loved this movie. I remember loving that industrial loft apartment with the special room full of antiques from his life. I've loved that design combo of modern and ancient ever since.
I loved the TV series too.
Now, if only I knew what happened to that Geocities website that used to have some seriously kinky Duncan/Ritchie slash pr0n....
posted by dnash at 6:44 PM on July 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
I loved the TV series too.
Now, if only I knew what happened to that Geocities website that used to have some seriously kinky Duncan/Ritchie slash pr0n....
posted by dnash at 6:44 PM on July 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
While two is an unacceptable abomination, three is somehow even worse. It's essentially retelling, almost beat for beat, the first film, but with Mario Van Peebles (who was on a bit of a run after Posse and the weird heist/buddy movie he made with Christopher Lambert, both movies I enjoyed far more than I should have). Mario Van Peebles trying to be the Kurgan. Not that he was the Kurgan. He was a totally different character, who sounded exactly like Mario Van Peebles trying to imitate the Kurgan.
And, as for why, in the first film, Macleod was able to 'win' the contest, even though Mario Van Kurgen (and his two lackeys, whom he seemingly kept alive over a thousand years, only to kill them once they got out, so he would get their power)? Well, they were trapped in a cave, see. The quickening couldn't travel through rock. Whatever checklist the powers that granted the power to "be one with everything" had was just not very thorough. I mean, I guess it was the power to be one with everything above ground, because dirt stops oneness with all things.
At least two was a new story. Crazy, stupid, and horrible, but new. Three was crazy, stupid, and rehashing, with the added undoing of the premise of the first one because electricity soul demons can't go through rocks.
posted by Ghidorah at 6:55 PM on July 5, 2016 [2 favorites]
And, as for why, in the first film, Macleod was able to 'win' the contest, even though Mario Van Kurgen (and his two lackeys, whom he seemingly kept alive over a thousand years, only to kill them once they got out, so he would get their power)? Well, they were trapped in a cave, see. The quickening couldn't travel through rock. Whatever checklist the powers that granted the power to "be one with everything" had was just not very thorough. I mean, I guess it was the power to be one with everything above ground, because dirt stops oneness with all things.
At least two was a new story. Crazy, stupid, and horrible, but new. Three was crazy, stupid, and rehashing, with the added undoing of the premise of the first one because electricity soul demons can't go through rocks.
posted by Ghidorah at 6:55 PM on July 5, 2016 [2 favorites]
I am only here to say for the record that I love this movie. Not "ironically", not with a wink an a smirk, none of that bullshit. If you, on my 100th birthday, walk up to me and say "a head which at this time has no name" I guarantee that I will turn, look you right in the eye and snarl "I know his name."
posted by mhoye at 7:24 PM on July 5, 2016 [19 favorites]
posted by mhoye at 7:24 PM on July 5, 2016 [19 favorites]
I know his name
airguitars furiously
posted by Existential Dread at 7:40 PM on July 5, 2016 [5 favorites]
airguitars furiously
posted by Existential Dread at 7:40 PM on July 5, 2016 [5 favorites]
Andrea Ramono is a special genius, as not only is Clancy Brown the definitive Lex Luthor, Mark Hamill IS the Joker and Kevin Conroy IS Batman. I wonder if Brown's audition tape includes, "I have something to say! It's better to burn out, than to fade away! HIYAAAAA!"
(The church scene is especially quotable in a film that is super quotable.)
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 8:06 PM on July 5, 2016
(The church scene is especially quotable in a film that is super quotable.)
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 8:06 PM on July 5, 2016
I love how Connery pronounces his own last name in the movie "Villa-Lobos" in English rather than being bothered to say "Veeya-Lobos" as expected in typical Spanish dialects (right?)
I knew someone named Sally Jaramillo (first name fictitious) who insisted on pronouncing it "Jerra-Millo" because it was her last name by marriage, not her own by blood, see, so she didn't want to pronounce it in the Spanish form (?)
posted by aydeejones at 8:59 PM on July 5, 2016
I knew someone named Sally Jaramillo (first name fictitious) who insisted on pronouncing it "Jerra-Millo" because it was her last name by marriage, not her own by blood, see, so she didn't want to pronounce it in the Spanish form (?)
posted by aydeejones at 8:59 PM on July 5, 2016
Winner of the Hardware Award for the worst movie since Hardware!
Oh that's fighting talk.
posted by Artw at 9:00 PM on July 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
Oh that's fighting talk.
posted by Artw at 9:00 PM on July 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
Anyone here see Highlander: Reunion? It was a short movie that takes place some years after the end of the TV series and features Joe, Amanda, and Methos, um, talking a lot.
It was on Hulu, once upon a time and since the original TV show is also on Hulu, I did some unexpected revisiting for that too, resulting in a lesson about some things from the past being better left there.
posted by fragmede at 9:03 PM on July 5, 2016
It was on Hulu, once upon a time and since the original TV show is also on Hulu, I did some unexpected revisiting for that too, resulting in a lesson about some things from the past being better left there.
posted by fragmede at 9:03 PM on July 5, 2016
I remember seeing a trailer for Highlander 3: The Sorcerer at the beginning of some VHS rental that made me so hopeful for the movie--it actually seemed epic, and it made it sound like Mario van Peebles might be something other than just another Immortal or a refugee from Zeist.
It wasn't the theatrical trailer or any of the other versions I can find on YouTube, and it was before the title change to "The Final Dimension." It's entirely possible it was from an alternate reality in which it actually was a good movie.
The one redeeming thing I can say about Highlander 3 was that it was my first exposure to Loreena McKennitt.
posted by Pryde at 9:27 PM on July 5, 2016
It wasn't the theatrical trailer or any of the other versions I can find on YouTube, and it was before the title change to "The Final Dimension." It's entirely possible it was from an alternate reality in which it actually was a good movie.
The one redeeming thing I can say about Highlander 3 was that it was my first exposure to Loreena McKennitt.
posted by Pryde at 9:27 PM on July 5, 2016
walk up to me and say "a head which at this time has no name"
Well, sure. But I figured, hey, it's Jersey.
posted by dragstroke at 10:00 PM on July 5, 2016
Well, sure. But I figured, hey, it's Jersey.
posted by dragstroke at 10:00 PM on July 5, 2016
Artw: “Oh that's fighting talk.”I read it in Interface Magazine! (Vol. 1, Num. 4, pg. 53 from 1991 if you're playing the home game.)
posted by ob1quixote at 10:08 PM on July 5, 2016 [2 favorites]
While two is an unacceptable abomination, three is somehow even worse.
In its defense, it did contain the line, "The head was over here. The body was over there. I suspect foul play." That's screenwriting gold.
posted by MrBadExample at 10:29 PM on July 5, 2016
In its defense, it did contain the line, "The head was over here. The body was over there. I suspect foul play." That's screenwriting gold.
posted by MrBadExample at 10:29 PM on July 5, 2016
I also love Highlander. And the Queen songs are iconic. Princes of the Universe has some awkward lyrics in it but is a force. And Who Wants to Live Forever is straight up beautiful.
I encourage folk to check out the TV series. It's a better 90s World of Darkness show than the Vampire series ever was. I remember it showing up as a fan game on a dozen different MUSHes at the time (it and Gargoyles).
posted by curious nu at 10:57 PM on July 5, 2016
I encourage folk to check out the TV series. It's a better 90s World of Darkness show than the Vampire series ever was. I remember it showing up as a fan game on a dozen different MUSHes at the time (it and Gargoyles).
posted by curious nu at 10:57 PM on July 5, 2016
With all the talk above about the various RPG incarnations, it's almost like no one remembers the Collectible Card Game: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highlander:_The_Card_Game
It had maybe my favorite mechanic of all time: the employees' business cards were playable, and acted to cancel any played card... But to use it, you ripped the card into pieces.
posted by griffey at 11:08 PM on July 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
It had maybe my favorite mechanic of all time: the employees' business cards were playable, and acted to cancel any played card... But to use it, you ripped the card into pieces.
posted by griffey at 11:08 PM on July 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
I loved the original movie, I loved the TV show but at the same time it was at least partially responsible for me cutting my hair. I had hair down to the middle of my back for a long time, often tied back to keep it out of the way and one of my friends greeted me with "HI DUNCAN!" EVERY FUCKING TIME I saw him for like three years straight. Every time. I have super thick hair and it was insanely hot which is part of why I eventually ditched it, but honestly if it wasn't for the idiot broken record I might have kept it.
posted by weretable and the undead chairs at 12:21 AM on July 6, 2016
posted by weretable and the undead chairs at 12:21 AM on July 6, 2016
Highlander 2 is one of the very few times I've been watching a film and then snapped out of it and realised I was sitting in a room in central London watching pictures being projected onto a screen. So I sat there and watched the pictures for a bit. So I can't really hate it. But good? No.
The first movie was, obviously, woven into my life. Verily it was the age of action movies.
posted by Grangousier at 1:37 AM on July 6, 2016
The first movie was, obviously, woven into my life. Verily it was the age of action movies.
posted by Grangousier at 1:37 AM on July 6, 2016
No love for The Highlander Animated Series? Wait, not love, that other thing.
posted by Francis at 2:30 AM on July 6, 2016
posted by Francis at 2:30 AM on July 6, 2016
Floating around the early Internet was a fan-made RPG in White Wolf's Storyteller system called, naturally, Highlander: The Quickening.
posted by um at 7:53 PM on July 5
There was also the simply terrible RPG Legacy: War of Ages, the most blatant rip-off of Highlander ever published by an tabletop RPG company.
I have a copy of this game because (a) a friend gave it to me in the hopes that I'd run it for her (she later read it and apologized) and (b) I've not been able to sucker anyone into taking it off my hands.
I don't remember anything about the system (I haven't read the book since 1993), but I do recall that the combination of awful writing and unashamed borrowing from both White Wolf Games' style and the Highlander setting made the game read like a bad parody of both.
Last I heard, Battlefield Press--the people behind this travesty--attempted a re-launch of the game with a Basic edition and a bunch of grandoise promises about returning this "classic adventure game" to market. But that was back in 2009, and I for one haven't heard a peep about it since. I hope that state of affairs doesn't change, because while it's certainly nowhere near as bad as Cyborg Commando or The World of Synnibarr, Legacy certainly deserves to languish in obscurity.
posted by magstheaxe at 6:55 AM on July 6, 2016
posted by um at 7:53 PM on July 5
There was also the simply terrible RPG Legacy: War of Ages, the most blatant rip-off of Highlander ever published by an tabletop RPG company.
I have a copy of this game because (a) a friend gave it to me in the hopes that I'd run it for her (she later read it and apologized) and (b) I've not been able to sucker anyone into taking it off my hands.
I don't remember anything about the system (I haven't read the book since 1993), but I do recall that the combination of awful writing and unashamed borrowing from both White Wolf Games' style and the Highlander setting made the game read like a bad parody of both.
Last I heard, Battlefield Press--the people behind this travesty--attempted a re-launch of the game with a Basic edition and a bunch of grandoise promises about returning this "classic adventure game" to market. But that was back in 2009, and I for one haven't heard a peep about it since. I hope that state of affairs doesn't change, because while it's certainly nowhere near as bad as Cyborg Commando or The World of Synnibarr, Legacy certainly deserves to languish in obscurity.
posted by magstheaxe at 6:55 AM on July 6, 2016
In my early 20's a college friend was back in town and we were looking for a movie. I float Highlander 2, not enthusiastically because it got bad reviews. She sees Connery is in it, and when I mention that this is despite being decapitated in the first movie she says we have to see it. Can't argue with that logic.
But while having dinner we notice Citizen Kane is playing at a revival cinema nearby. Neither of us had seen it big screen so we figure we'll go see that instead. I think our logic was not quality but that Citizen Kane was one night only, and we could see Highlander 2 any time.
That may be the most unquestionably correct choice of my entire life.
posted by mark k at 7:49 AM on July 6, 2016 [5 favorites]
But while having dinner we notice Citizen Kane is playing at a revival cinema nearby. Neither of us had seen it big screen so we figure we'll go see that instead. I think our logic was not quality but that Citizen Kane was one night only, and we could see Highlander 2 any time.
That may be the most unquestionably correct choice of my entire life.
posted by mark k at 7:49 AM on July 6, 2016 [5 favorites]
Most people probably don't realize it, but this is the one the biggest early motivators behind the fascination with katanas that started in the '80s and never really stopped. I mean, obviously Kurosawa's Seven Samurai predates Highlander by two decades, but I think that a movie about an immortal dude decapitating other dudes while this big scary fucker does cool spinning tricks with his sword and snarks one liners at everyone probably had a bit more impact on the generation that became obsessed with them. (Sadly, it also opened up decades of hideously handled fantasy katanas and wakizashi that were an absolute affront to anyone with a passion for sharp metal).
Movie-wise, I also love that the driving subplot that starts connecting the characters is the detective's obsession with the sword itself as an historical oddity that could make people rethink the whole of what we know about early metallurgy. In a perfect world, there is another documentary-style version of this movie that has her chasing this thing down and after finding and studying it, is able to open up a huge new view of the technology of the early Japanese. Very much like the Ulfberht swords have been doing to our theories on Viking weapon-making.
I don't know why, but the fact that her involvement in the case is scientific and has nothing to do with the "Oh wow, buildings exploding and mass murderers chasing one another around" is just such an original entry point that I have to admire it.
Plus, the Kurgan. Plus Queen. I probably watched this movie with my friends a hundred times.
Pity they never made any sequels of any kind at all. Ever. There is probably a neat world in there that that they could have explored.
posted by quin at 8:39 AM on July 6, 2016 [2 favorites]
Movie-wise, I also love that the driving subplot that starts connecting the characters is the detective's obsession with the sword itself as an historical oddity that could make people rethink the whole of what we know about early metallurgy. In a perfect world, there is another documentary-style version of this movie that has her chasing this thing down and after finding and studying it, is able to open up a huge new view of the technology of the early Japanese. Very much like the Ulfberht swords have been doing to our theories on Viking weapon-making.
I don't know why, but the fact that her involvement in the case is scientific and has nothing to do with the "Oh wow, buildings exploding and mass murderers chasing one another around" is just such an original entry point that I have to admire it.
Plus, the Kurgan. Plus Queen. I probably watched this movie with my friends a hundred times.
Pity they never made any sequels of any kind at all. Ever. There is probably a neat world in there that that they could have explored.
posted by quin at 8:39 AM on July 6, 2016 [2 favorites]
There is probably a neat world in there that that they could have explored.
What world is left for them to explore? There can be only one. We saw how that process of finding the One was achieved. Once that happens, there is the One, and there is no need for sequels.
posted by hippybear at 8:53 AM on July 6, 2016 [3 favorites]
What world is left for them to explore? There can be only one. We saw how that process of finding the One was achieved. Once that happens, there is the One, and there is no need for sequels.
posted by hippybear at 8:53 AM on July 6, 2016 [3 favorites]
What I wouldn't give for a seasons-long spinoff that was just the Methos-and-Joe show! Methos is 5000 years old! There could have been so many flashbacks!
Further evidence for why he should have gotten his own show, because I definitely would have watched multiple seasons of him engaging in byzantine social engineering to get out of fights.
Yeah, that would have been great! Especially if it'd had plenty of appearances by Amanda being her old self, rather than her boring Raven incarnation. What a missed opportunity.
posted by homunculus at 12:48 PM on July 6, 2016 [1 favorite]
Further evidence for why he should have gotten his own show, because I definitely would have watched multiple seasons of him engaging in byzantine social engineering to get out of fights.
Yeah, that would have been great! Especially if it'd had plenty of appearances by Amanda being her old self, rather than her boring Raven incarnation. What a missed opportunity.
posted by homunculus at 12:48 PM on July 6, 2016 [1 favorite]
And what the hell was Sean Connery supposed to be? A Scottish Spaniard samurai something-or-other?
Tak Ne.
posted by homunculus at 12:48 PM on July 6, 2016
Tak Ne.
posted by homunculus at 12:48 PM on July 6, 2016
This movie hit when I was like 20, and at the time I dressed exactly like Connor; white running shoes, jeans, leather jacket under a trench coat. But I had to. I lived in The Highlands. In Louisville, KY.
posted by valkane at 1:20 PM on July 6, 2016
posted by valkane at 1:20 PM on July 6, 2016
"We saw how that process of finding the One was achieved. Once that happens, there is the One"
Yeah, but we never got to see how being the all powerful One would slowly drive MacLeod to madness and eventual world tyranny. And how one day a non-immortal would behead him thus starting the cycle all over again.
Or something like that. As long as they didn't explain the magic behind the quickening, they could have made a really cool Hero-Rises, Hero-Becomes-Villain, New-Hero-Rises type trilogy. Hell, set the second one fifty years after the first, and the third a hundred years after that. You could make either of the last two post-apocalyptic and the other in a future society and it could work either way.
But alas no. No sequels.
Probably for the best. They probably would have fucked 'em up anyway.
posted by quin at 1:50 PM on July 6, 2016 [1 favorite]
Yeah, but we never got to see how being the all powerful One would slowly drive MacLeod to madness and eventual world tyranny. And how one day a non-immortal would behead him thus starting the cycle all over again.
Or something like that. As long as they didn't explain the magic behind the quickening, they could have made a really cool Hero-Rises, Hero-Becomes-Villain, New-Hero-Rises type trilogy. Hell, set the second one fifty years after the first, and the third a hundred years after that. You could make either of the last two post-apocalyptic and the other in a future society and it could work either way.
But alas no. No sequels.
Probably for the best. They probably would have fucked 'em up anyway.
posted by quin at 1:50 PM on July 6, 2016 [1 favorite]
The absolute genius of Highlander 2 was it made the rest seem okay even though they had no Kurgan.
posted by ridgerunner at 2:33 PM on July 6, 2016
posted by ridgerunner at 2:33 PM on July 6, 2016
(Also FORKNI-L. That was a good time for Canadian-based fantasy tv shows)
I was a Forever Knight fan (and listserv denizen), with a soft spot for Highlander The Series as well. After FK had been canceled, I heard some scuttlebutt that one disadvantage that it had vs Highlander was that it was costlier to do with its requirement for night filming. Well, that plus the leading man issue: charming, intelligent, Welsh suburban dad vs. guy whose pecs were only outshone by his hair.
posted by NumberSix at 3:36 PM on July 6, 2016 [2 favorites]
I was a Forever Knight fan (and listserv denizen), with a soft spot for Highlander The Series as well. After FK had been canceled, I heard some scuttlebutt that one disadvantage that it had vs Highlander was that it was costlier to do with its requirement for night filming. Well, that plus the leading man issue: charming, intelligent, Welsh suburban dad vs. guy whose pecs were only outshone by his hair.
posted by NumberSix at 3:36 PM on July 6, 2016 [2 favorites]
Ok, I threw in the Bluray version of Highlander on last night - aside from the haircuts and Connor's wardrobe decisions, it held up surprisingly well - certainly as well as any 80's movie.
However, the transfer was abysmal in many spots; I'm assuming some of the original source material wasn't the highest quality or has degraded. If I had 4k equipment... I'd be tempted to buy the restored version.
Clancy Brown is indeed enormously under-rated.
Threw in the DVD version of Highlander: The Series and watched the first couple of episodes. Wow, Richard Moll!! (I used to adore Night Court)
FWIW, the show has held up less well than the movie; or maybe I need another decade in order for 90's nostalgia to set in. Maybe I'll try to watch a couple of episodes of The Raven, or check out some of the episodes from season 4.
However, it was a great blast from the past to pick out 90's locations in Vancouver - I was 14 and living there/here when the show first started airing.
re: Highlander 2 - iirc, it was bankrolled by some (South American?) bankers who wanted an enormous amount of creative input and would constantly change their minds. The production also ran into sever financial issues during filming. iirc, again, there was supposed to be a massive re-edit but that was terrible hot garbage as well. Surprised that it wasn't ultimately Alan Smithee-ed.
Highlander 3 was ok - it was a fun cheap cheesy action movie but already dated by the time it came out (although Mario van Peeble's stock was pretty high around then).
Highlander 4 was a crossover from the movies to the series and all I can recall was the terrible CGI and that Christopher Lambert was looking really aged - and so was Adrian Paul.
I think they put better makeup on Paul for Highlander 5, but it was a massive confusing pile of meh.
The animated movie, iirc, was entertaining.
posted by porpoise at 5:06 PM on July 6, 2016
However, the transfer was abysmal in many spots; I'm assuming some of the original source material wasn't the highest quality or has degraded. If I had 4k equipment... I'd be tempted to buy the restored version.
Clancy Brown is indeed enormously under-rated.
Threw in the DVD version of Highlander: The Series and watched the first couple of episodes. Wow, Richard Moll!! (I used to adore Night Court)
FWIW, the show has held up less well than the movie; or maybe I need another decade in order for 90's nostalgia to set in. Maybe I'll try to watch a couple of episodes of The Raven, or check out some of the episodes from season 4.
However, it was a great blast from the past to pick out 90's locations in Vancouver - I was 14 and living there/here when the show first started airing.
re: Highlander 2 - iirc, it was bankrolled by some (South American?) bankers who wanted an enormous amount of creative input and would constantly change their minds. The production also ran into sever financial issues during filming. iirc, again, there was supposed to be a massive re-edit but that was terrible hot garbage as well. Surprised that it wasn't ultimately Alan Smithee-ed.
Highlander 3 was ok - it was a fun cheap cheesy action movie but already dated by the time it came out (although Mario van Peeble's stock was pretty high around then).
Highlander 4 was a crossover from the movies to the series and all I can recall was the terrible CGI and that Christopher Lambert was looking really aged - and so was Adrian Paul.
I think they put better makeup on Paul for Highlander 5, but it was a massive confusing pile of meh.
The animated movie, iirc, was entertaining.
posted by porpoise at 5:06 PM on July 6, 2016
Threw in the DVD version of Highlander: The Series and watched the first couple of episodes.
The first season was pretty weak, with only maybe two or three episodes worth remembering. The final season was also not great, with a large chunk of the episodes back-door attempts at potential pilots before they went with the obvious choice of Amanda for the spin-off (which should have been the right choice, but they built the wrong show around her).
The middle was pretty good and would hold up better, I think. Amanda, Methos and Joe were great, and the episodes starring Roger Daltrey were always a highlight.
posted by Pryde at 5:42 PM on July 6, 2016 [1 favorite]
The first season was pretty weak, with only maybe two or three episodes worth remembering. The final season was also not great, with a large chunk of the episodes back-door attempts at potential pilots before they went with the obvious choice of Amanda for the spin-off (which should have been the right choice, but they built the wrong show around her).
The middle was pretty good and would hold up better, I think. Amanda, Methos and Joe were great, and the episodes starring Roger Daltrey were always a highlight.
posted by Pryde at 5:42 PM on July 6, 2016 [1 favorite]
The first two seasons were pretty weak, but it gets better about halfway through Season 3 when Methos shows up.
posted by homunculus at 5:45 PM on July 6, 2016
posted by homunculus at 5:45 PM on July 6, 2016
I know that I am from the Berenstain reality, but I didn't realize there was a reality where Highlander had sequels and a TV show. Perhaps I have been reality-shifted, since there are so many of you aware of these things.
posted by kreinsch at 9:53 PM on July 6, 2016
posted by kreinsch at 9:53 PM on July 6, 2016
Too much thread for me to wade through, and I only saw the film once (and loved it!) but the TV show was kind of astonishing to me. My favourite has to be The Drugs Episode.
You know the game: in order to get funding from whatever or whichever, or to get support from people who mattered, you had to have A Drugs Episode. In particular I remember the cringeworthy protest-script from ABC's Dinosaurs, which just flat out did a dumb "happy plant" story, but followed it off with the teenage dinosaur addressing the camera and explaining that high drug use was resulting in Preachy Sitcoms, so Just Say No to Preachy Sitcoms!
So how did the Highlander series handle it? Entirely in-universe, and in a way that was almost perfect. An immortal had got hooked on opium in the 1800s, and his habit was growing longer than could be imagined because he was immortal goddammit. These are people who get maimed and abused and live through it, so of course he'd just survive the overdose equivalents and keep ramping up. Mountains of cocaine on the table just for one night, and so on.
And then when he's finally beheaded, the extra shudder as all that horrible experience is absorbed... Perfect.
I haven't seen this in 20 years, but it left a mark simply because of the utter surprise that anyone at all could do The Drugs Episode better than Dinosaurs.
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 4:14 AM on July 8, 2016 [1 favorite]
You know the game: in order to get funding from whatever or whichever, or to get support from people who mattered, you had to have A Drugs Episode. In particular I remember the cringeworthy protest-script from ABC's Dinosaurs, which just flat out did a dumb "happy plant" story, but followed it off with the teenage dinosaur addressing the camera and explaining that high drug use was resulting in Preachy Sitcoms, so Just Say No to Preachy Sitcoms!
So how did the Highlander series handle it? Entirely in-universe, and in a way that was almost perfect. An immortal had got hooked on opium in the 1800s, and his habit was growing longer than could be imagined because he was immortal goddammit. These are people who get maimed and abused and live through it, so of course he'd just survive the overdose equivalents and keep ramping up. Mountains of cocaine on the table just for one night, and so on.
And then when he's finally beheaded, the extra shudder as all that horrible experience is absorbed... Perfect.
I haven't seen this in 20 years, but it left a mark simply because of the utter surprise that anyone at all could do The Drugs Episode better than Dinosaurs.
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 4:14 AM on July 8, 2016 [1 favorite]
Heh, I remember that one. The guy had built a reputation for being the best swordsman of all the immortals, so he was being challenged and forced to fight all the time and started smoking opium to cope with the stress and fear.
posted by homunculus at 11:58 AM on July 8, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by homunculus at 11:58 AM on July 8, 2016 [1 favorite]
(oh, I was watching a few clips from the movie, and recalled my favourite bit about it: Lambert is extremely near-sighted, which causes his strange, piercing glare. And yet, they put him on a film where he has to dangle and swing heavy props rigged to car batteries inches away from other actors. Clancy Brown must have been shit scared a few times.)
posted by lmfsilva at 1:49 PM on July 8, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by lmfsilva at 1:49 PM on July 8, 2016 [2 favorites]
Finding out about the car batteries really gave me insight into the choreography of that final fight scene .
posted by nubs at 1:56 PM on July 8, 2016
posted by nubs at 1:56 PM on July 8, 2016
Oh wow, that's amazing. I'll never be able to watch the movie the same way; that piercing glare isn't intensity, but Mr. Magoo without his glasses!
posted by Existential Dread at 2:55 PM on July 8, 2016
posted by Existential Dread at 2:55 PM on July 8, 2016
Late to the thread, but surprised nobody linked the awesome* Atari Jaguar Highlander game!
*lol it was garbage
posted by slater at 5:47 PM on July 20, 2016
*lol it was garbage
posted by slater at 5:47 PM on July 20, 2016
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Ow harsh.
posted by Melismata at 11:11 AM on July 5, 2016