Highlander Revisited: There Should Have Been Only One

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Highlander Revisited: There Should Have Been Only One
By Philip Schweier
September 20, 2010 - 10:43

This year’s Dragon*Con in Atlanta afforded me the opportunity to reunite with a few people from my college days. We spent a lot of time reminiscing about geek culture of the mid-1980s: Buckaroo Banzai, The Dark Knight Returns and Thomas Dolby.

Conversation turned to the cult film Highlander (1986), and the rather disappointing extension of its franchise.

Christopher Lambert

Created by Gregory Widen and directed by Russell Mulcahy, Highlander is the story of Connor MacLeod (Christopher Lambert), a Scottish warrior born in the 1518 who is, for reasons unknown, immortal. MacLeod’s mentor, Ramirez (Sean Connery) educates him and the audience that he and others like him can only be killed by having their heads severed, at which point an immortal’s life essence is absorbed by the killer, a process known as a “quickening.”

Much of the story is told through flashback, as Connor MacLeod survives for 400 years until present-day New York, on the eve of “the gathering.” As the number of Immortals dwindles, they are drawn together for a final combat in which the lone survivor will claim “the prize.” Naturally, there must be a villain – the Kurgen, played by Clancy Brown. In the end, there can be only one.

Widen crafted a new mythology, which instantly appealed to science fiction and fantasy fans worldwide. Immortal heroes, unstoppable villains, sword fighting and plot lines that could be set in any era, from Revolutionary America to World War II. Naturally, Highlander’s cult success was bound to be repeated. But how?

Even though MacLeod claimed the prize at the end of the first film (sorry to spoil the ending, but to quote another adventure film of the era, “the good guys always win... even in the ‘80s.”), rumor had it MacLeod had merely ascended to the next level of competition.

Instead Highlander II: The Quickening (1991) was a horrible nightmare of Hollywood at its worst. A director’s cut, entitled Highlander II: The Renegade Version, was released on DVD, and the filmmakers explain that the inflation in Argentina had risen so high during filming that the film's insurance company started to take creative control, making a film they thought would make the most money.

The sequel is set in 2024, and it is revealed that the Immortals are in fact extraterrestrials with abnormally long life spans from the planet Zeist. Wiping the memories of its criminals and other undesirables, they are using Earth as a prison. Even Sean Connery’s return couldn’t save the movie from never-ending scorn and derision.

So producers took another route. In 1992 the television series Highlander premiered. Unlike the films, it told the story of Duncan MacLeod (Adrian Paul), a slightly younger kinsman of Connor’s. It’s premier episode acknowledged the first film by featuring Christopher Lambert symbolically passing the baton.

Like many shows during their first season, the series struggled to find its direction beyond the mere sword fight-of-the-week premise. References were made to a hidden city, possibly the home of the Immortals, but details were vague and the concept was never explored in full.

Adrain Paul, Peter Wingfield and Jim Byrnes

The inaugural season ended with the death of Duncan’s love, Tessa (Alexandra Vandernoot), and his young friend Richie (Stan Kirsch), revealed to be an Immortal. After that the setting was moved from the United States to Paris, and for the remainder of the series it would continue to bounce back and forth between the two locales. This added to the show’s international success, as it was co-produced by a number of companies in America, France, Japan, Germany and Italy.

Subsequent seasons introduced Joe Dawson (Jim Byrnes) and the Watchers, a secret society committed to observing and chronicling the lives and deaths of the Immortals, as well as other Immortal allies such as Hugh Fitzcairn (Roger Daltry) and the oldest known Immortal, Methos (Peter Wingfield). Former Miss America 1982 Elizabeth Gracen played Amanda, a disreputable sneak thief. She was never fully trusted by Duncan and often at odds with his sterling morality.

Mario Van Peebles in HIghlander 3

In 1994, a third movie was produced, ignoring the plot lines of the second movie as well as the television show. In Highlander III: The Final Dimension, it is explained that three Immortals were sealed in a cave beneath a mountain hundreds of years ago, thus removing them from the Game and allowing Connor MacLeod to claim the Prize. Now an archeaelogical dig has freed them, and Kane (Mario Van Peebles) is eager to destroy Connor MacLeod’s life, using the Highlander’s adopted son as a pawn.

Meanwhile, the ratings began to drop during the show's sixth season. Producers sought a way of continuing the franchise with a new format. For the final season, Duncan was conspicuously absent from many of the episodes, as a female Immortal was sought to star in a follow-up series. Several back-door pilots were produced, introducing new characters, but none seemed to capture the magic of the Clan MacLeod.

Instead, Davis/Panzer Productions created the single-season series The Raven, featuring Gracen’s character Amanda. Unfortunately, the character never really caught on, perhaps because beautiful cat burglars of dubious morality was hardly a novel concept.

Christopher Lambert and Adrian Paul in HIghlander: Endgame

Despite the end of the Highlander television series, Adrian Paul was not yet done with the character, nor was Christopher Lambert. They reprised their roles for Highlander: Endgame (2000). It offered fans of the films a final coda as Lambert’s character was revisited one final time, teaming him with Paul’s from the TV show.

However, the potential of the film was never fully met. Films such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon had taken sword fighting and martial arts to a new level, but for the Highlander franchise, it was more or less business as usual. The TV series had often featured Duncan MacLeod fighting his opponents in a very industrial environment – abandoned factories, construction sites and other locations where steel girders and steam pipes could be found. Highlander 4 was no different.

Despite the film’s disappointing reception, Paul starred in one final outing, Highlander: The Source (2007). Duncan MacLeod and a number of allies are on a quest to locate the root of their immortality. While the quest on film was successful, the movie was universally panned and many fans chose to avoid it altogether. It was shown on the Sci-Fi Channel in the United States, and Adrian Paul’s days as an Immortal finally came to an end.

But wait, there’s more. Did I mention the cartoon?

In 1994, an animated series was produced, set in the far future as the young Colin MacLeod battled evil, aided by his mentor Ramirez. It was pure Saturday morning pablum, which of course begs one to wonder how the producers thought cutting people’s heads off was suitable for kids. An animé-style film entitled Highlander: The Search for Vengeance was produced in 2007, again featuring Colin MacLeod.

Despite all the contradicting source material, it was announced in September, 2009 that Summit Entertainment is going into production on a remake of the original Highlander film, with Justin Lin (Fast & the Furious) attached to direct. Initially scheduled for a 2011 release, it is not currently listed as being in production at imdb.com, though it is listed on Lin’s current filmography.

Praise and adulation? Scorn and ridicule? E-mail me at philip@comicbookbin.com

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