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Highlander movie, TV series, animated show

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The Highlander mythos, in movies and TV shows - Okay, suspend your disbelief and pretend that living among regular people are a group of people who are immortal. Many have been alive for hundreds of years, some for thousands. If they are injured or even mortally wounded, they soon heal and are good as new. But, there is one way they can be killed forever, and they all have to watch their backs because every Immortal is in a competition to be the last surviving Immortal, and collect the unnamed Prize. I suppose that short explanation sounds dumb enough, but watch the original movie and the series and you'll be drawn in. There's something intriguing and inspiring about the secret struggle of the Immortals. A big part is the mystery - wondering where Immortals come from, and why they must fight. But the writers can't give us an explanation (or can they?), because anything they gave us would likely be unsatisfying.

The relationship of the movies to the shows - Here's how it all works, though I don't know if it's ever been laid out officially by the producers of the movies and shows. The original 1985 Highlander film, featuring Christopher Lambert as Connor, was and remains a classic, that inspired everything that followed. In the film, Connor is the last surviving Immortal and wins The Prize, which apparently is knowledge of the thoughts of world leaders, along with the fact that he becomes mortal. Two movie sequels followed, the first one was awful and everyone seemed to realize that, so officially the second sequel pretended the first sequel never happened. The second sequel and the TV series also had to pretend the final moments of the first film didn't happen: Connor wasn't the last Immortal and didn't collect The Prize.

The TV show broadens the lore - The TV show, 1992-1998, established another Highlander, Duncan, from the same Scottish village as Connor, who in fact was trained by Connor. The show was a lot of fun and established a lot of extra lore, most significantly the existence of The Watchers, a secret society of mortals who observe and record the deeds of the Immortals, without interfering. It also established the existence of a much-liked character called Methos, who at 5,000 is the oldest Immortal.

The spinoff TV show - In between the end of the Highlander TV show and the fourth movie there was a spin-off show called Highlander: The Raven. It featured Amanda, an Immortal and sometime flame for Duncan. I only saw snippets of it, but a review of the episode guide shows that Joe Dawson did appear in one episode. This show was gone after one season.

The TV show's main characters enter the movie series - With the end of the show in 1998 came word that a fourth movie was being filmed, this one featuring both Highlanders, Connor and Duncan. The movie, Endgame, came out Sept. 1, 2000. I really enjoyed it, but I think you probably need to be a fan of the TV show to really appreciate this movie. Favorite TV characters, including Duncan, Methos and Joe Dawson, all make appearances. There is a significant development in the Duncan/Connor saga, and the door is left open for more movies.

The TV show's main characters become the movie series - In 2005 came word that the fifth movie would come out in 2006, and would feature Duncan, Methos and Joe from the series. While I said in the first paragraph on this page that any explanation of the origin of immortals would likely be unsatisfying, that is exactly what Highlander - The Source was promising. In fact, they were saying it would be the first in a trilogy of Highlander movies. I braced for the worst and was hopeful for something good.

In late 2007 The Source ended up airing on the Sci-Fi cable channel, not in theaters. There was no mention of a trilogy or more movies. It was mostly lame, but I did like the ending: they basically redefined what the Prize is, and how to win it. It was a very cool prize. Duncan won it, of course. The origin of Immortals is not verbally discussed, but the viewer could infer that Immortals have always been an integral part of the nature of the cosmos.

I hope this is the end. It's been a fun run but any more Highlander could only further muddy the waters. The original movie is still best. I advise you to watch that and skip the rest.

Highlander Links

Highlander episode guide
The complete guide to all episodes of Highlander. Nobody else has it all in one, simple text file.
Highlander movie, TV series, animated show
The official Highlander store. Get the DVDs, clothing, on and on.

highlander.org list archive Bellchant - Music from the series
Highlander swords site alt.tv.highlander newsgroup
Tasha's Highlander site Highlander: The Game
  The Immortal One

Highlander articles at Wikipedia

Connor MacLeod Christopher Lambert Duncan MacLeod Adrian Paul
HIGHLANDER
Movies Highlander | Highlander II: The Quickening | Highlander III: The Final Dimension

Highlander: Endgame | Highlander: The Source

TV Series Highlander: The Series (episodes) | Highlander: The Raven (episodes)
Animated Highlander: The Animated Series | The Methos Chronicles | Highlander: The Search for Vengeance
Books The Element of Fire | Scimitar | Scotland the Brave | Measure of a Man | The Path | Zealot | Shadow of Obsession | The Captive Soul | White Silence | An Evening at Joe's
Comics Highlander (Dynamite Entertainment) | Highlander: Way of the Sword (Dynamite Entertainment)
Video Games Highlander | Highlander: The Last of the MacLeods | Highlander: The Game
Main Characters
MacLeods Connor MacLeod | Duncan MacLeod
Friends Heather MacLeod | Juan Sánchez Villa-Lobos Ramírez | Rachel Ellenstein | Tessa Noël | Richie Ryan | Amanda | Joe Dawson | Methos | Charlie DeSalvo | Anne Lindsey | Darius | Hugh Fitzcairn | Nick Wolfe
Enemies The Kurgan | Xavier St. Cloud | James Horton | Kronos | Four Horsemen | Ahriman
Fictional Universe
Misc. The Immortals | The Quickening | The Watchers | Seacouver
Listings Characters | Timelines | Screenshots

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