FanX is right around the corner.
FanX is a spring Comic-con that's held in spring in Salt Lake City this next month. Coincidentally they also hold an actual Comic-Con in September as well, but that's neither here nor there.
But with FanX coming up, guests for the convention are being announced. Two of them are Christopher Lambert and Adrian Paul. They are the two gentlemen that played the Highlander in the film and movie, respectively.
I am super stoked.
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| Duncan |
In my early teens I stumbled across this little gem of a T.V. show and was instantly hooked. I was quickly captivated by the idea of this group of immortal beings hiding in shadow and secretly hunting each other. The reason? To take one another's head and gain the others life essence and experience. The "quickening" as it was called, made them stronger. Thus making them want to continue the hunt for more like themselves. The ultimate goal being to behead all your opponents and be the last immortal, gaining an unknown "prize". A lot of the time they'd tell their opponent "There can be only one." before divesting them of everything above the shoulders. It was pretty great.
That prize? To rule the world, or bring it together, or finally shrug off the curse of being immortal and die as a human, or something else really vague. They never really explained what the prize was, or could be until the last movie, Highlander: The Source, which was horrible and I can't really even remember the what the prize ended up being. It didn't really matter much to me though. I was more intrigued with the journey.
Anywho, back to the point. I loved the show. It had a charismatic front man in Duncan Macleod. He was everything cool to me. A strong warrior that carried a katana and took the heads of anyone he came across, but only when there was no other choice. He usually ended up fighting only evil immortals hell bent on winning the prize and ruling the world. (At least that's what they assumed the prize was.) Plus he was one of the few guys I thought looked cool with a pony tail.
He even had a sidekick, Ritchie. A young boy he took under his wing, at first for some unknown reason, until you found out he was a immortal waiting for his first death. Duncan was a protector of humans. Which was usually what caused a lot of conflicts and eventual duels with other immortals. The evil immortals would do anything, including using mortals, to get to Duncan. And Duncan couldn't let that stand.
I loved the idea of guys walking around in long jackets, having swords on their person until they sensed another immortal through an early warning sense. It was really hard for them to sneak up on each other, which made for a little more of a fair fight.
The show had action and drama. One minute Duncan would be some sort of moral dilemma on if he should fight that weeks evil immortal or not. The next he'd realize he had to and be locked in combat with said immortal the winner keeping his head. It was always Duncan of course, but the fights were still awesome.
I enjoyed how the show delved into the downside of immortality. Duncan would continually fall in love with mortals or befriend them and worry about their safety. His first love on the show, not overall, Tessa did die and it messed with him for the rest of the series.
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| Connor |
I eventually learned of the movies. Even though I did enjoy them, the first one and the one that eventually included Duncan in particular, Christopher Lambert really never stuck with me as much as Adrian Paul. I think it was due to the fact that they could expand more on what it was to be immortal in a weekly T.V. show than they could in a 116 minute movie. Also I don't think that Christopher Lambert is as good of an actor.
The show was also great at retconning the movie to incorporate Connor, Christopher Lambert's Highlander, and how he connected with Duncan in more than just last name. You found out that it was Connor that first found Duncan and trained him. You see an immortal must be taught to fight, so here's hoping you're found by a good one that will teach you instead of behead you.
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| Ken (See I was a huge Highlander dork.) |
The show was such a big part of my life that I talked about it all the time. So much that I would get in trouble for talking about it too much at work. The manager that yelled at me was actually a huge fan of the show too. That shows you how bad it was. I even dropped quite a bit of cash on a long leather jacket (You might remember mention of said jacket from my last post. Brooke was quite a fan of it. Thank you Duncan MacLeod!) and swords. I have quite a few of them. They collect dust in my basement. (Thanks a lot Duncan MacLeod!)
It really became an obsession.
With the FanX announcement of both stars of the Highlander franchise being there, it's made me quite a bit nostalgic and giddy. I have memories of good times coming home from work or going to bed before school the next day and watching an episode before bed.
It makes me want to re-watch the show again. Which I could. What am I doing here?
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