Obviously, I’m talking about the tv series not the movies. However, the first movie is really worth watching as well (the others … with the exception of Endgame? Not so much). The pilot episode “The Gathering” is a great passing of the torch from movie hero Connor MacLeod to television hero Duncan MacLeod. They explain things quite nicely. Over the course of 6 seasons they had several different openings, but they kept the same awesome theme song…. Princes of the Universe by Queen, which was the theme song of the movies as well.
As you can tell, I couldn’t pick my favorite of the openings… that’s why I included all the different ones in the article. This show was and still is highly underrated! I watched it when it was on television and truth be told I was a little in love with Adrian Paul/Duncan MacLeod. (I even follow Adrian on twitter…. don’t judge me.) Some of my favorite episodes were the ones with Fitz (played by The Who’s Roger Daltrey), an immortal friend of Duncan’s and the ones with Amanda, another immortal friend/lover. When the show was on television, I watched all the way til the season finale of Season 5… then I refused to watch the last season out of pure stubbornness, mostly because I was pissed off. So, I recently binged this one to see how things ended.
Premise of the show: Duncan MacLeod of the Clan MacLeod is an immortal (and he’s not the only one) who can only die if you cut off his head, but since he’s kind of attached to it, you won’t take it without a fight. Each episode usually sees an evil immortal coming after Duncan, which has basically been the way of things for 400 years. Oh? Did I forget to mention that Duncan is over 400 years old? Hmmm. I’m sure I mentioned that.
Primary Cast:
Adrian Paul … Duncan MacLeod
Stan Kirsch … Richie Ryan
Jim Byrnes … Joe Dawson
Alexandra Vandernoot … Tessa Noel
Peter Wingfield … Adam Pierson/Methos
Elizabeth Gracen … Amanda
Pros: Um…. Adrian Paul is HAWT. Also, there’s a lot of great sword fights and action, good vs evil, even some romance. There’s great flashback period pieces that show how Duncan has spent the last 400 years. AND, let’s not forget the great music by Queen.
Cons: The only con I can think of is the one that made me quit watching when it was on television… but that involves a huge spoiler and I don’t want to ruin it for all of you. You’ll know it when you see it.
The show spawned a spin off, Highlander: The Raven (about Amanda) and two movies. In fact, the show is part of a huge franchise that includes the 3 original movies, the television show, an animated series, the Amanda spin off, and the final two movies.
There were 119 episodes total, and you can watch them on Hulu or on Youtube.
Some trivia about the show… Elizabeth Gracen is a former Miss Arkansas & Miss America. Also, Christopher Lambert (Connor MacLeod from the original movies) was originally offered $50,000 to appear in the pilot episode, but French investors weren’t happy with the amount so they had him written out. However, that ticked off some German investors who threatened to scrap the whole project if Lambert wasn’t in the episode. So, they went back to the original script. But, all the hassle pissed of Lambert, who then demanded $500,000 …. for just 3 days work.
Let me know what you thought of this show in the comments!
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