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I have the entire series, watch it from time to time, but to me, it is so "eh". So what was the magic that it had that people worshiped it, what is the magic that I am not seeing.
Well, I liked the show more so for the ideas than any production value. I went back and watched a lot of the shows last year after watching it religiously back in the 1990's and it does seem dated. It has the typical plot and set up of a lot of shows during that time. I definitely think it would be more of a cult following than some mainstream show. Even in some modern reviews of the movie, you'll see that they say the movie is not great, but still has a large cult following.
What made an episode interesting was seeing the time period that he had flashbacks to. For the 90s, the costumes and the settings were very well done for just an average t.v. show. If you are a fan of history, this is the main reason I'd watch the show. Adrian Paul was also a great hero, somewhat soft-spoken, tried to avoid confrontation/conflict, but wouldn't back down from it either and then would kick the bad guys butts if necessary.
A little bit of romance, history, mystery, and fighting in every show. Comparing Highlander with say Growing Pains, Full House, the Fresh Prince, Beverly Hills 90210, Home Improvement, Golden Girls, Roseanne, Married with Children, Who's the Boss, Baywatch.... It offered something different.
The other show that had a similar tone was Quantum Leap, where you'd watch just to see what situation and time period the main character was transported to. Highlander did much the same thing with flashbacks. Think back to the early to mid 90s, no DVR, no internet, no on-demand content, you just flick through the channels and watch something that's on. Goodness, the top rated show back in 1992-1993 was 60 minutes. So you have a choice, some ripped model traveling through time, visiting different countries, carrying on romances with women over the course of 400 years, chopping people's heads off with a sword, or you can watch Cheers.
Well, I liked the show more so for the ideas than any production value. I went back and watched a lot of the shows last year after watching it religiously back in the 1990's and it does seem dated. It has the typical plot and set up of a lot of shows during that time. I definitely think it would be more of a cult following than some mainstream show. Even in some modern reviews of the movie, you'll see that they say it's not a great movie, but has a cult following.
What would make an episode interesting would be seeing the time period that he had flashbacks to. For the 90s, the costumes and the settings were very well done for just an average t.v. show. If you are a fan of history, this is the main reason I'd watch the show. Adrian Paul was also a great hero, somewhat soft-spoken, tried to avoid confrontation/conflict, but wouldn't back down from it either and then would kick the bad guys butts if necessary.
A little bit of romance, history, mystery, and fighting in every show. Compare Highlander with say Growing Pains, Full House, the Fresh Prince, Beverly Hills 90210, Home Improvement, Golden Girls, Roseanne, Married with Children, Who's the Boss, Baywatch.... It offered something different.
The other show that had a similar tone was Quantum Leap, where you'd watch just to see what situation and time period the main character was transported to. Highlander did much the same thing with flashbacks. Think back to the early to mid 90s, no DVR, no internet, no on-demand content, you just flick through the channels and watch something that's on. Goodness, the top rated show back 1992-1993 was 60 minutes. So you have a choice, some ripped model traveling through time, visiting different countries, carrying on romances with women over the course of 400 years, chopping people's heads off, or you can watch Cheers.
Dated shows as in made decades ago, I have no problems with. The library is loaded with them.
Shows that do flash backs, well, that's the interesting thing. I see Forever Knight as very similar to Highlander in concept, in background, in production. The thing is, Forever Knight fascinates me but Highlander has yet to do so.
Since I did buy the entire series, I am curious if there is something there I am missing, that once I see it, I will enjoy the show more.
As far as Quantum Leap, I never really got into that much, other than the last season, either. I guess the concept of the wanderer who arrives, helps people with their problems and then moves on, like The Fugitive, like the Incredible Hulk, like the Immortal, really does not appeal to me. Admittedly, the last 2 I have, the latter because I got hooked on it in childhood (and it has a great soundtrack). The former I guess because when you have something else other than the show, in my case Starlog TV Guide, you get hooked as well and want to see what it was all about. That and an advertisement off one of the sampler cable channels of the 90s (Movieplex?) that convinces you what great horror it is.
As for the other shows mentioned, with the exception of BH 90210 and Golden Girls.....wouldn't touch them with a 10 foot pole!
The world building was excellent. I wish they reboot, and add some more modern flavor to it. There was a spinoff show, and adult cartoon, and several crappy movies. They should have done more with the movies.
I really like the showcasing of history, and the fashions, and cultures, and the accents. I wish they go more in depth about the swords though. Give a little history like Forged in Fire does.
I was a big fan of the show when it was airing, at least the first four or five years. It wasn't in reruns or anything for all these years, so it has been decades since I watched it first-run. A streaming channel is airing some of the episodes and when I peeked in I have to say I felt more nostalgic for the time period in which the show aired (mid-1990s) than the actual show.
I loved the co-production aspect of the series--half a season produced in Vancouver, the other half in and around Paris. Shows were not doing stuff like that back then. It gave them the chance to do exterior work/filming around famous landmarks in Paris. I also found the camera work to be more cinematic than your typical program, and yes, Adrian Paul was very charismatic in the lead role. As for the whole "Immortals Fighting for The Prize" World Building, they did a good job of keeping up continuity and not cheaping out on the special effects. It went a little overboard with the testosterone at times, but it was kind of hard to avoid when guys are running around waving swords. It was certainly not the sort of cookie-cutter show one would have seen on a network in the 1990s. The fact that it was syndicated meant you had to search to find/watch it.
I sort of drifted away from it in the final season or two because it soon felt rather repetitive. There were only so many different ways to write episodes where Duncan has to kill the bad guy via swordfight. In the opening year he had a mortal girlfriend and interacted with folks in the neighborhood ('the real world') like an average guy with a big secret. They stunt-casted rock stars as guest villains like Joan Jett, Roland Gift, and Sheena Easton, which was fun to see. After they killed off his girlfriend and focused more on the World Building, all the bad guys started having names starting with a "K" sound (was that some kind of writing mandate?), and he became more remote. He no longer had a circle of friends in the neighborhood.
They must have run out of rock stars trying to become actors, because they stopped most of the stunt-casting. After Duncan's love story with Anne (another "average gal") he became more removed from the real world and isolated with his Immortal enemies. It also became a bit too macho, to be honest---I recall one of the last episodes I ever watched featured Duncan spraying some people with a machine gun, looking entirely too much like Rambo as he did it.
But it was fun while it lasted, the kind of show I looked forward to each week but did not miss terribly once it was gone.
I have the entire series, watch it from time to time, but to me, it is so "eh". So what was the magic that it had that people worshiped it, what is the magic that I am not seeing.
Dunno what you're not seeing, but I never got the show. The Highlander movie (Russell Mulcahey, Chrisophe Lambert, and Sean Connery) totally different story, other than a couple of commonalities.
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