HIGHLANDER: THE SERIES 🌟 THEN AND NOW 2021

[Music] [Music] hello you're watching how they changed it may be so 90s it hurts but the highlander tv series spin-off is still very much worth a watch the series follows the adventures of duncan mcleod cousin of the movie's conor explaining the premise of highlander in complex detail would make me go far over my word count so i'll be brief basically immortal sword fighters fight to decapitate each other in order to be the last one standing and so gain a mysterious prize which is power beyond imagination there i think that covers it if this confuses you then for god's sake don't watch highlander 2. the film franchise is known for being an uneven product where sense and meaning tend to get laughed at the door not so with the television series thanks to a team of creatives who genuinely cared about what they were putting out it's a series with an ever-changing cast of characters where nobody's safe one of the highlights of the original film was the montage where connor's wife heather grows old and dies in his arms while he stays the same age this montage inspired brian made to right the beloved queen son who wants to live forever in highlander the series they were examining the ups and downs of an immortal's life nearly every week sometimes they even used the same song we got to meet a fantastic cast of supporting characters and we felt genuine pain when any of them died you'll never hear kansas's dust in the wind in the same way again the series considers every facet of a mortal existence every weight could go wrong and right for those afflicted with it sesame sexes unusual suspects is a hilarious murder mystery force starring the who's roger daltrey as recurring character hugh fitzkern in an episode said entirely in the twenties fitzkaren's immortality allows him to survive his own poisoning so he has to hide in the crowns of his house while macleod plays detective i mean it's the fantasy cluder version of a murder mystery but it hits exactly the right tone even if immortality is only used as little more than a joke this episode still has something to say about love and betrayal episodes like this showcase what screenwriter blake snyder called the promise of the premise the reason that people tune in all sorts turn up in this show and it's fascinating to see how the various guest characters use their immortality from a nazi dredged out of the sand to a con man who uses his immortality to effect harmless little blackmail schemes the immortal of the weak nature of the show allowed for a huge rotation of people who were famous or who'd become famous later to name but a few he had anthony head ron perlman joe and jed rowdy roddy piper christ even a young danny dyer was in two episodes for my money one of the most interesting characters in the whole series was darius the immortal catholic priest played by the late werner stalker darius was a 1900 year old former general who turned away from war in his heyday he would have been the kind of villain that duncan needed to stop the thing is he doesn't seem to actually regret it to deny what i was is to deny what i am he says to duncan at one point he simply accepts his past as part of who he is and gets on with helping people standing as a living example of how it is possible to come back from complete darkness such is his impact that a legion of highlander fans still remember fondly a relatively minor character not pleased because of how compelling ernest talker was in the row this was a show that knew the strength of its cost and used them well according to creative consultant david abramowitz the episode duende happened because anthony the longest swordmaster came in with that style of fighting and said can we do something with this that's an hour of proper television with a well-developed story or because a swordmaster wanted to show off something cool and one of the most poignant moments of the series happens when serious regular joe dawson is tempted with the restoration of his missing legs a moment that's so much harder to watch when you know that actor jim burns is also unable to walk due to a car accident part of the joy of watching this show is watching the characters develop as the seasons go on duncan goes from historic or wise immortal to someone who's questioning what his role is his sidekick rich ryan changes from a young thief with a good heart to a more cynical tough and immortal both amanda and methos grow into more noble people and show the positive change that one person can have on his friends it's also worth taking a look at a couple of the villains because another of those themes that the series was good at exploring is what exactly makes a person evil this is a show where even the good guys are actively decapitating folks just to survive what makes villains like callus or grayson who cut off heads as part of the immortals game different from the good guys like duncan and mithas who do exactly the same thing certainly early on there are times where duncan is presented as right about the issue the weak solely because the story says he is but this is something they fixed as time went on some of the better episodes like season fives the valkyrie and forgive us our trespassers examine how duncan is guilty of the same food he's killed plenty of times for reasons he sees as just nobody is the villain of their own story [Music] one of their recurring storylines is that of a fallen friend for whatever reason the life of an immortal gets too much for many of duncan's comrades and he has to decide what to do about it i still oddly think about from time to time brian cullen once famed as the best swordsman in europe has degraded into a petrified jungle it's a lovable 90s psa against drugs but it's also a compelling story and the way he lives his life is one of the best arguments against being immortal say you were to take my advice and start watching this with most other shows the obvious thing to do is start at the pilot and just keep going from there the best thing to do is to watch the pilot to really get to grips with what the show is about then skip ahead to episode 13 band of brothers the first season is not really continuity heavy and the first half features some rough episodes it was as i cannot stress enough a product of the early 90s so it's best to come back and watch them when you are already invested band of brothers is universally recognized as a turning point for the show and still stands as one of its better episodes let's not forget the reason most people start watching in the first place the fantastic sword fights over a period of six years the swordmasters became very good at putting great fights together as you can see from watching behind the scenes features they put real effort into considering the different weapons the immortal would use and how they would interact at one point main swordsman for march of the show's run f brown mccash brings up the very good point that for some of these styles there is no stage in history where they would have interacted with each other and so he had to essentially marry two disparate styles it worked as the sword fights are one of the better elements of the tv show nearly every week you were guaranteed a great final battle while the first season's title cards did everything they could to make duncan mcleod look like a smug idiot i can assure you that he's not far from it he shows himself over six seasons to be a man of honor and something to aspire to that's what march of highlander the series is about how you choose to live your life what moral code you subscribe to abramowitz often described as the moral core of the show's staff has said on more than one occasion that a good way to think of the show is as a talmudic discussion with ass kicking in many ways highlander is so 90 as it hurts but when it comes to its memorable characters and the way it deals with the meat and potatoes of immortality it's a more timeless show any show that can so skillfully match philosophical debates with unparalleled swordplay is surely worth watching the series was originally planned to follow the film with conor mccloud in the lead role to be played by adrian paul paul however wanted the freedom to create his own characterization and to avoid direct comparisons to christopher lambert so the writers agreed to create a new character and that's all for now don't forget to leave a like subscribe and share this video with friends take care

Channel: HOW THEY CHANGED

Views: 89,931

Rating: 4.8871918 out of 5

Keywords: how they changed, then and now, before and after, tv, film, actor, actress, tv series, celebrity, celebrities, famous stars then and now, Antes e Depois, Avant et Après, sitcom, top 20, top, top 15, viral, filmography, nostalgia, aging, thenvsnow, 70s, 80s, 90s, where are they now, fair use, soap, 2021, Highlander: The Series, Adrian Paul, Duncan MacLeod, Stan Kirsch, Jim Byrnes, Christopher Lambert, Michel Modo, Joan Jett, Marion Cotillard, Stephen Macht, Soon-Tek Oh, Ron Perlman

Id: tB95koD1RYY

Length: 10min 13sec (613 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 11 2021