TiVo Community Forums Archives - The Highlander on TNN revisited.

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The Highlander on TNN revisited.
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Posted by: JimSpence

I am enjoying watching this series again and seeing a few episodes that I missed or don't remember very well. I'm enjoying it even more now that TNN has stopped using the squish-o-vision. Still hate the animated graphics just before going to commercial however.

But, now I need to pad the end as they have started to go long.:( (Stripperella went long too. No need to pad it though, not worth the time!)

I added my comments to their website feedback.

Posted by: Philosofy

Best. Series. Ever.

Posted by: JimSpence

BTW, I just got a notice that my email to TNN was returned. I used my yahoo acct.

****** Message from InterScan Messaging Security Suite ******

The following mail could not be delivered.
Reason: Unable to deliver message to <writetous@thenewtnn.com> (and
other recipients in the same domain).

Tried again with a different email acct.

Posted by: jones07

quote:
Originally posted by Philosofy
Best. Series. Ever.

Now that is a statement. Ever ? :eek:

I Have only seen the first HL movie. After a statement like "Best Ever" I'm going to place this series on my RPTV theme. Does TNN show this series in order ?

Posted by: JimSpence

So far TNN is showing the episodes in order. Tomorrow's showing is called Vendetta which is ep #11 of season 3. There were 6 seasons produced.
I have no idea if they will start over once they complete this run.

Posted by: Philosofy

Season 6 was weak, and only had 11 episodes. The first season was good, but they had some growing pains. The end of season one kicked it up a notch, and they took off from there. There are a couple of Highlander nuts here (me, Hanumang, Medieval Guy, etc.). Its well worth a look, and pop in if you have any questions.

Posted by: hanumang

quote:
Originally posted by jones07
Now that is a statement. Ever ? :eek:

I Have only seen the first HL movie. After a statement like "Best Ever" I'm going to place this series on my RPTV theme. Does TNN show this series in order ?

While it might seem very bold, the Highlander series, IMHO, is a vast improvement over the first film.

Philosofy is on-point for 4 reasons:
1. the writers were able to attach real emotion to Duncan. When he lost someone (in the present or past) we felt his pain. We feel that immortality is truly both a blessing and a curse.
2. the supporting cast and guest villians were usually pretty good for a show of this magnitude.
3. The flashbacks where great, they did a good job of showing how Duncan becomes who he is. Every episode used them to teach us about his life lessons. (I think the episode where we learn the origin of his katana stands out here).
4. On a visceral level, the swordfights have pretty cool choreography. And cool locations as well.

It just sucks that I don't have more spare time on my hands. I can barely manage to watch 2 episodes a week off of my TiVo.

Posted by: bprothero

I also thought the HIGHLANDER tv series was better than any of the films. Wow... "The Darkness"... talk about the pain of loss... the final scenes were a tear jerker for me. I could feel Duncan's emotions.

Posted by: buffan

I'm glad that you're enjoying it, Jim. I started watching it back in April (??) when they started with episode one on TNN. However, I gave up on it a few weeks ago. There were several good episodes, but it was not nearly a good enough show IMO to take 5 hrs/week of my TV time.

The character development through season two (I stopped near the end of season two) was poor. Main characters (Richie and the guy who owned the marshal arts place) came and went with no logical reason. It was like the producers only had enough money to pay one of those guys per episode. If one of them was on, the other one wouldn't be.

Well, maybe that problem gets resolved later in the series, but I just gave up. I kept waiting for the show to get "great" and I never thought that it did. And if you've seen one swordfight, you've seen 'em all.

Nevertheless, to each his own. My wife can't stand 75% of the TV I like, so I can completely understand why other people like shows that I don't. Glad that you all enjoy it!

Posted by: gchance

buffan, the reason characters come and go on Highlander was the logistics of having half of each season filmed in Canada (posing as the US), the other half filmed in France. When Macleod comes back to the US, and to the Dojo, Charlie Desalvo's back as well.

Of course Maurice goes away then hehe.

Posted by: speedy4022

quote:
Originally posted by gchance
buffan, the reason characters come and go on Highlander was the logistics of having half of each season filmed in Canada (posing as the US), the other half filmed in France. When Macleod comes back to the US, and to the Dojo, Charlie Desalvo's back as well.

Of course Maurice goes away then hehe.

Another reason they go away is the actor that plays them dies. I have the season 1 DVD set and it pointed out something I did not know the actor Werner Stocker who played Darius died of a brain tumor just before the finale for season 1.

Posted by: hanumang

quote:
Originally posted by gchance
buffan, the reason characters come and go on Highlander was the logistics of having half of each season filmed in Canada (posing as the US), the other half filmed in France. When Macleod comes back to the US, and to the Dojo, Charlie Desalvo's back as well.

In addition to that, the writers have noted that they wanted to show that once he lost Tessa, Duncan's life was more of a loner's life (having lost his 'companion') for a while. Sure, he had friends but they -- and he -- came and went as needed. The latter part of season 2 was meant to cement the idea that immortality was a lonely existence. And that Duncan was the type to mourn Tessa for so long.

Also, as far as Richie goes, it's been shown (and stated) that once a 'student' immortal has learned all that he/she can from their teacher, they must leave (it happened to Richie with Duncan and Amanda with Rebecca). Hence, Richie only pops back in when he's in trouble later in season 2.

Posted by: buffan

quote:
Originally posted by gchance
buffan, the reason characters come and go on Highlander was the logistics of having half of each season filmed in Canada (posing as the US), the other half filmed in France. When Macleod comes back to the US, and to the Dojo, Charlie Desalvo's back as well.

That's only partially true. There were quite a few episodes in Canada where only one of the two would show up. In the episodes that I saw even in Canada, it was rare for both of them to be there.

And when Macleod went to France, they both disappeared.

Although I'm sure that you're correct to a large extent, I don't think that the rotation between France and Canada was beneficial to the series. There may have been good non-story-related reasons to do it, but IMO it didn't help the show.

BTW, just because I'm curious, did they stop doing that rotation later in the series? And does anybody know why they did the rotation?

Posted by: hanumang

quote:
Originally posted by buffan
BTW, just because I'm curious, did they stop doing that rotation later in the series? And does anybody know why they did the rotation?

Highlander: The Series was a joint Canada/France financed production with Rysher Entertainment handling the Canadian side of things (as far as finances go) and Gaumont Productions handling the French side of things. So, to split costs equally, half of each season (ie. 11 episodes a piece) were shot in the respective locations.

The rotation continued until the end of Season 5, unless I'm mistaken, though I'm drawing a blank on how Season 6 (with only 11 episodes) was split. If it was split, that is.

Posted by: Philosofy

I think season 6 was shot all in France, but I'm not totally sure. The only reason season 6 was there was USA wanted another female action show to go with Profiler and La Femme Nikita for a "chicks kick butt" evening of programming. Because of the Gaumont/Rysher deal, the new star had to be Canadian or European (some kind of work rules or something.) If you'll notice, season 6 had a lot of female immortals, and they were basically auditioning for the part. Then they found a way to get Elizabeth Gracen (Amanda, and an American) to do the show, and the awful Raven was born.

Posted by: doom1701

quote:
Originally posted by Philosofy
Then they found a way to get Elizabeth Gracen (Amanda, and an American) to do the show, and the awful Raven was born.

Which was kinda sad, considering one of those auditions was a pretty decent showing from Claudia Christensen.

Posted by: Philosofy

And another had an unknown playing some woman named Alex (?). I think her last name may have been Raven. That was the best of season 6.

Posted by: Hoffer

I used to watch Highlander 7 years ago when I was doing my internship. I hadn't watched it again until just last week. I remembered liking the show, but I just didn't continue watching it after my internship.

After watching it last week, I realized how much I like it. About ten minutes ago, I ordered season 1 & 2 DVDs.

Posted by: boywaja

quote:
Originally posted by Philosofy
. Then they found a way to get Elizabeth Gracen (Amanda, and an American) to do the show, and the awful Raven was born.

my tivo picked up Raven as a suggestion recently so I have now watched one episode of the Raven, god that sucked.

I remember back in the day i loved Elizabeth Gracen in the highlander episodes. Of course once I found out she did Clinton that kind of soured it for me.:mad:

Posted by: mrmike

There are brief bright spots in Raven, but ot never really gelled.

-MM

Posted by: JimSpence

quote:
Originally posted by Philosofy
Season 6 was weak, and only had 11 episodes. The first season was good, but they had some growing pains. The end of season one kicked it up a notch, and they took off from there. There are a couple of Highlander nuts here (me, Hanumang, Medieval Guy, etc.). Its well worth a look, and pop in if you have any questions.

Season 6 was the last season according tonm TVTome and it had 13 episodes.

I don't think I liked the ending. I see when it comes around.