Highlander the Series - well worth the watch

[Joelist]

Of late I have been having a case of fatigue. It is fatigue over the usual films and TV shows on the air right now. I decided to look for something a bit more eclectic and Highlander the Series came up. Now I have seen it before so it wasn't a totally new experience but here are some thoughts on it.

Highlander the Series came into being after the first Highlander movie. It does have ties into the film universe. For example, the lead character is Duncan McLeod who is kin to Connor MacLeod of the movie. Also Christopher Lambert appears in the premiere episode.

Is the show good? It is very good in my opinion. It is in a real way the poster child for a TV series far exceeding its movie source material. And that superiority starts with world building.

This show is up there with the very best examples of world building in TV and movies. It takes a fairly sketchy premise from the first movie and by the time it is done that premise has been built out into a colorful world with rules that are actually obeyed in the screenwriting. It does an outstanding job not only explaining the immortals but also looking at the implications of being an immortal.

Even better, a combination of strong writing and good acting gives us characters who are memorable even after watching the show. Adrian Paul does a good job as Duncan, Elizabeth Gracen is great as immortal thief/con artist Amanda, Peter Wingfield as Methos the oldest immortal, Jim Byrne as Joe Dawson, part of a secret society that knows of the immortals and chronicles their adventures and of course Stan Kirsch as Richie Ryan, new immortal and Duncan's student from Season 2 to Season 5.

These characters and others came to life in the setting because of the acting, writing and chemistry between them.

Well worth the watch and recommended.

 

[PussyGalore]

Oh wow, talk about a blast from the past. I loved the series Highlander. It was consistently interesting and quite enjoyable. And even though it was a fantastical premise it was done seriously enough that I could suspend my disbelief and connect with the characters. Despite the fact that it was fantasy it was never cartoonish. There was always a palpable, genuine anxiety for the character of Duncan. ('No Duncan, don't get your head chopped off!' )

Looking back I now realize that shows like this from the 90's sorta ruined me for the shows we have today. It's just not the same anymore. The writing and production seems weaker and watered-down these days. Maybe it's just nostalgia making me think that way but I suspect there's some truth to it.

 

[Joelist]

I agree that these types of shows spoiled us with the strong writing, characterization and good acting. With regard to Highlander, it was interesting that they did both serious drama and outright comedy and both worked well (the Stone of Scone episode is hilarious).

Nowadays we get poorly written shows with shallow characters like SGU and STD. The Orville by comparison actually felt like a throwback to an earlier era.