There should be only one!

What is there not to like about a small sect of people known only as immortals that have lived among us since the dawn of time living only to hunt each other to decapitate their adversary and gain their power and abilities? It is a very great premise to a story about men and women who live by the sword through the ages of man and cannot die.

Well they did a decent job with it in one movie and screwed it up the rest of the attempts. There should have been only one.

One could argue that the problem with the modern story, across all mediums, is that the stories conclude with a satisfying tie up of the loose ends with a bit of mystery but leave the ending open to a sequel. The continuing story often does not live up to the original and we are left with the classic to hold dear to our hearts, but it is now bitter sweet. There are many perspectives to this and is always left up to interpretation. Sequels and series can be great while others can continue to flop and ruin whatever good name the title borrowed from.

Highlander (as a franchise) has a much bigger problem. The first movie is a modern classic which utilizes the pitch noted above to a near perfect tee. It is the story of an immortal Scotsman who is immortal and lives for five hundred years watching his loved ones die and battling other immortals for a chance to obtain the prize at the gathering, a final show down of the few immortals remaining. Have “Queen” do your entire soundtrack and you got a great movie. (Flash Gordon is still up for debate).

Now the original Highlander ended with all loose ends covered and the fate of the hero is grand as Conner MacLeod does come out as “The One” after the gathering and gives a brief explanation of the prize of having obtained the knowledge of the world, the abilities of those before him, and the gift of being able to grow old and die (he became mortal). It left a bit of mysteriousness to the story but ultimately the story has concluded.

There there came Highlander 2 which has had numerous cuts of the director’s, producer’s, fans, and too many to count. The fundamental plots that are consistent of all the Highlander 2’s is that the Immortals have come from a very distant past (with space ships) and/or alien planet and that being sent to our time as Immortals is more or less a capital punishment by that society. There is also a very large demeaning artificial shield that has taken place of the ozone layer and has brought mankind to a stand still. So, more immortals are pumped in to kill the old Conner MacLeod, he grows young again by a giant explosion of fossil fuel, and the film can’t decide if it’s weak plot point should be wrapped up at the end or should they destroy the ozone layer shield? So it does both and two separate fight scenes are mashed together for the ending.

There is also the third movie. This one, depending on your region, is called “Highlander 3: The Sorcerer” which makes some sense because the Japanese master of sword and martial arts also holds some power of illusion and is obtained by the main antagonist of the film. Then there is “Highlander: The Final Dimension” which makes absolutely no sense until I suspended by disbelief and thought that maybe the title is trying to instill in me that each Highlander film is in it’s own universe and this is a tale for this one. This would make everything fine and dandy. It worked for Final Fantasy. Why not this series?

The filmmakers of the franchise try WAY too hard to make all of the events in the films to some how fit in a deformed continuity. Even if they wanted to make each film separate in terms of story and time line, there is too much effort put in to tie one film to everything else. The explanation is quickly shot down. Also, the third Highlander movie also serves to occur at the same time as the Highlander television series.

Speaking of the television series, this iteration of the franchise is my favorite. If you put aside your brain and suspend all past logic of the franchise, it’s the most well rounded of the projects, aside from the first movie. It really gives some insight into the life of an Immortal and provides some great period pieces with some great choreographed sword fights. The series passes the torch from Conner MacLeod of the movies, to another MacLeod known as “Duncan.” It also introduces a secret society known as “The Watchers” who only observe to record, but not interfere and adds a new element to the saga. The show actually grabs my attention and I want to be immersed in this world that has been created and presented to it’s intended audience. It captures something that the film franchise could not have and that is to grow and build upon it’s basic principals without rewriting or breaking them. It sets itself apart from the movies and is itself, clearly, it’s own “dimension” of sorts.

Then the fourth Highlander movie was released. It attempts to bring the film and television franchised together for a smash hit of swords and intense action. The movie focuses on a being known as Jacob Kell, an immortal that has far surpassed all others in terms of power and focus. He is able to use magic, stop sword attacks with his mind, create disturbing illusions and imagery out of thin air, levitate, and anything else that can come to mind. He does not follow the sacred rules of Holy ground and fighting one on one as he commands a gang of powerful immortals to do his bidding. When one MacLeod isn’t enough, Conner and Duncan team up to take on this massive foe of immense power.

Sounds exciting doesn’t it? That was just the trailer. The studio actually wrote and filmed separate scenes of action and story just for the trailer that was never meant to be used in the actual film product. We don’t even get to see why the MacLeods are jumping out of a portal. What we get instead, is weak motivation for an anti-social immortal who is only marginally powerful in skill because Christopher Lambert (Conner MacLeod) is practically blind in real life and because power levels of the immortals can be measured by how many heads have been taken. So Duncan MacLeod taking the head of Conner (262 + 174) is great against Kell’s 661 right? If the Watchers counted by heads, then that would mean Duncan would have 175 after Conner. This one of many problems that plague the film, including the theatrical release differing from the DVD edition which includes cut scenes that attempt to make sense of the mess, only adds more confusion as they are put in out of order or repeats previous scenes for missing action between.

I have yet to see the recent movie “The Source” which I have not heard any good news on and I have not see “The Raven” which is a spin off of the original TV series. The franchise is definitely plagued with nearly every problem that could occur in a film/television series. However, I can’t help but feel excited about another movie/show that is being in production. With the newest movie “Highlander:The Reckoning” being a remake, I think it would be great to see a re imagining from a fresh set of hands and minds. This could possibly be something that the franchise really needed and could be redesigned with “series” in mind. Until then, I will stick with the television show and get my fixes from there.

There should have been only one!

Primetime on the PC

My television while growing up, like everyone, was the old CRT box that was black and came with the pair of rabbit ears that linked you to the rest of the outside world, so help it if you decided to stay inside during the 90’s. Those of you who are as old as I am or older will understand this. My television was a whopping 13”s and I grew up on the the classics of Roseanne, All in the family, Martin, the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Hercules, Xena, Star Trek (Voyager, The Next Generation, The Original Series), and I Love Lucy. PBS and it’s awesome British Programming goes without saying.

After several moves I had stopped watching television all together. Six years I am able to say that during the time I had gotten by without the programming of the media world. When returning to the big city I began to hear by word of mouth some great shows that really seemed to be unbelievable. Spending your high school years out in the middle of no where and you desired any kind of entertainment DVD’s became the greatest filler of the deafening nights of a ranch. I considered myself to be a movie buff. Now I like to pick the quality programming of choice that I can keep up with on a weekly or seasonal basis.

I own two LCD High Def TV’s that can punch out a fair amount of quality in those 1080p resolution. Old habits die hard as I can not even receive the local stations. Which is a very calming feeling mentally when you think about it. If you are reading this, please do think about it because I have no idea what that really means. Either way I have stuck with the traditional DVD, now Blu Ray, and the occasional TV on home video niche.

I remember over fifteen years ago when VHS was king. Owning a television series on home video was something of a novelty. It was really expensive to own just one season and really hard to even find the “box set” unless you went to specialty stores. This is when box set actually meant a box set as the ten to fifteen VHS tapes are bundled together in a slightly thicker than cardboard box that held the tapes together in order to spell out something clever like the logo with the show’s stars or banners on the side. Owning TV and Movies on the home video medium today is so easy and affordable that it is mind blowing to be able to think back to an age when owning your favorite season of a hospital or science fiction show would really make your home video collection go BOOM from setting it down next to the Entertainment center.

Watching television for me is all done on the PC. If the codec is compatible and able to be shared, I am able to place it on the Playstation 3 for my viewing pleasure. Because of the internet and the television station’s websites that allow broadcasting of their material, programs are easy to come by and I couldn’t be happier. I live a busy lifestyle and it is wonderful to carry around a preferred entertainment on a variety of platforms that most middle class citizens have, arguably, too much of.

With the further advancement of technology and give it’s rate of speed I have become an advocate of the digital age. I still purchase a few special DVDs of shows that I like. The large wall of DVDs I have collected over the years have all been sold and have been backed up to hard disk for a more future proof solution. Granted that Blu Ray is the accepted medium of high definition for the time being, I do purchase the occasional Blu Ray if the film/show is of good enough quality to warrant a purchase. Anyone who sees the lack of creativity and the cash ins of today’s Hollywood knows that this trail and error of what is worthy of a purchase isn’t too hard to do these days.