Wrestling, Swords, Immortals, Queen. It’s a kind of magic that could only emerge from 1986. Don’t lose your head, and read all about Highlanding over the years.
Nineteen eighty-six was a very good year. Europe and Berlin were topping the charts with “The Final Countdown” and “Take My Breath Away.” Everyone knew about The Legend of Zelda, but most people couldn’t link Link with his image. The kids playing war with G.I. Joe toys or with Lazer Tag. And Russell Mulcahy captured audiences’ fantasies with a centuries-spanning story of Immortals wrapped up in a head-hunting game in which only one victor could claim the Prize. Highlander has continued to be a favorite among fans from the ‘80s, the ‘90s, and even today. Yet a lingering question continues to haunt the cult classic: How can a movie that kills off all of its major characters have sequels in movies, series, and cartoons?
Connor MacLeod was born in 1518 in the Highlands of Scotland. At the age of eighteen, he faced a black knight in battle and received a mortal wound. To the surprise of his girlfriend, his family, and his entire clan, Connor survived the cut that should have killed him and is accused of witchcraft and being “in league with Lucifer.” Fast forward to 1985, and MacLeod is living in New York under the assumed name of Russell Nash, an antique dealer on Hudson Street. Also known in the community of fellow Immortals as the Highlander, MacLeod is a sword-wielding head-hunter in the final battle of all the Immortals in the world called “The Gathering.” At the end of the movie, rife with flashbacks to various times in MacLeod’s long life, the Highlander faces off against the strongest, meanest Immortal of all: the Kurgan. After separating his ancient enemy’s head from his neck, MacLeod receives the Prize, achieving the ability to tune in to the thoughts of every person on Earth as well as finally being able to father children, grow old, and die (which is obviously a great value to an Immortal, because, after all, “Who Wants to Live Forever?”).
The appeal of Highlander is easy to understand. Sean Connery played Ramirez, an Egyptian with a familiar Scottish accent who was born a thousand years before Jesus. The actor formerly known as James Bond owned the screen as MacLeod’s mentor and friend in the sixteenth century. Christopher Lambert returned to the silver screen after his debut in the reimagined Tarzan feature, Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes for a quotable performance no one can forget. The film’s flashbacks continue to stir the passions of fantasy genre aficionados, while Clancy Brown’s portrayal of the Kurgan clutches the macabre minds of horror hounds. With memorable rock ballads and hard-hitting guitar riffs from Queen, Highlander has something for fans of all ages (over 17, of course).
As more and more people became aware of this cultural sensation through video releases and cable viewings, some bean-counter must have informed the powers-that-be of the plausibility of a successful sequel–monetarily speaking, of course–nevermind the fact that the essential aspect of the original story left absolutely no room for the possibility of more Immortals. Yet the writer, director, and major stars (Christopher Lambert and Sean Connery) all seemed to believe there was life in the franchise.
But I thought there can be only one?
The year is 2024. For a quarter of a century, the planet has been protected from the sun’s dangerous ultraviolet rays by an artificial ozone layer called “the Shield.” Created by the planet’s top scientists, aided by an omniscient Connor MacLeod, the Shield has saved humanity by plunging the Earth into an impregnable darkness, evidently killing all plant life (under the Shield) in the process. Highlander II: The Quickening (1991) retconned the whole of Highlander by providing a back story for the Immortals, namely MacLeod and Ramirez, by borrowing from Superman. No longer were they Immortals a group of humans born to normal parents who, by chance, were just a little different from other humans in that they stopped aging at some point in their lives. In the sequel, humans from the planet Zeist became immortal when they were transported to Earth. Ramirez and MacLeod were judged guilty of treason and exiled to our home planet (evidently in different times) until only one Immortal remained. Once only one Zeistian remained, the Prize would enable him to choose whether to remain on Earth to grow old and die, or return to Zeist as a free man. The space of science fiction invaded the fantasy realm of Highlander in a disruptive fashion as if the Star Frontiers role-playing game crossed over with Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: a collision of mismatched gaming rules and player abilities that would be impossible for the likes of Gary Gygax himself to decipher.
Almost every element of the original Highlander was dumped by this new rendition. Connor MacLeod of the 1500s would have already known the two thousand year-old Ramirez, negating the need for an introduction. In fact, he wouldn’t have been surprised in the least to discover that he had healed from his wound at the hands of the Kurgan, since his head had not been removed. Connor’s training became not only redundant, but nonsensical. Even the concept of the Quickening took on a new meaning. No longer was it the means by which one became immortal or gained power from decapitating another immortal. The Quickening in Highlander II was some quasi-scientific blend of magic, religion, and physics that gave Zeistians a connection to one another that, on Earth, caused them to live forever. Therefore, when two hit men arrived to execute Connor MacLeod in 2014, they inadvertently made the decrepit and dying old man young again in his immortality.
After the backlash from fans of the original film, the film makers decided to revisit the sequel, removing all references to Zeist and reediting the remaining parts to make MacLeod and Ramirez citizens of an ancient human civilization who had been transported through time, not space, to exile far in the future. Instead of fixing the problems inherent in the sequel, this Renegade Version actually made matters worse, retaining all the discrepancies created by the first edit of Highlander II while creating an even more ambiguous and confusing movie with its harsh edits and frustrating inconsistencies. Two options remained for the Highlander franchise at this point: either reedit the original at considerable expense and maintain the sequel’s story or pretend that Highlander II never happened. They chose the latter.
How many “ones” can there be?
In 1994, Highlander III: The Sorcerer presented a more feasible solution to the problem facing film makers who still wanted to capitalize on the Highlander sensation which had by then grown to include a television series featuring a younger cousin of Connor MacLeod named Duncan (played by Adrian Paul). The success of the series evidently got the owners of the franchise thinking about how they could fix the problems they had caused by continuing a story that had long ago reached its only possible conclusion by releasing a third movie featuring Connor MacLeod. Eventually dropping the numeric description from its title, Highlander: The Final Dimension ignored Highlander II completely, opening the door to sequels by imprisoning a small group of Immortals in a cave centuries before the Gathering, thereby explaining why they failed to assemble with the rest of their kind in 1985 when Connor evidently won the Prize in the first place. Fans who hungered for more Highlander stories creatively retconned the story by imagining that the immense power MacLeod had absorbed during the Quickening he experienced upon killing the Kurgan was simply mistaken for the Prize. After all, the Kurgan had killed so many Immortals (according to fans’ explanations), the enormity of the energy surging through Connor at the end of Highlander could be misinterpreted by MacLeod to be the Prize, even though it clearly had not been the final reward at all.
The second sequel solved most of the problems that Highlander II had inadvertently caused, even to the point that Duncan’s existence (as well as the existence of many, many more Immortals after the Gathering of 1985) could be tolerated as fans returned week after week to enjoy more swordplay and flashbacks that were an addictive kind of magic for fantasy lovers. However, The Final Dimension, in hindsight, still left a great deal to be desired — even for the most rabid apologists for the franchise. Although they clamored for more Highlander, fans became more and more frustrated with the seemingly never-ending supply of Immortals and immortality available at the fingertips of writers at their word-processors and computers.
Add to Highlander: The Final Dimension and the
Highlander television series two more movies, both featuring Duncan MacLeod, one of which ends the story of Connor MacLeod dying at the reluctant hand of his own cousin. Highlander: Endgame capped off the series in 2000 with a suitable end as Duncan wins the Game by beheading Jacob Kell, a bad guy even more evil than the Kurgan himself. That was until franchise owners decided to try and cash in one last time with Duncan’s final story, wherein he actually wins the Prize, in Highlander: The Source (2007). This final (?) movie in the franchise actually challenged Highlander II for worst Highlander sequel.
Two other series increase the complexity of the Highlander universe while simultaneously diffusing the impact and significance of virtually every battle between Immortals. Highlander: The Raven was a brief spinoff of the Highlander television series following a female Immortal from the series. A Highlander cartoon series brought loads of fun fantasy violence to children of the ‘90s for two seasons featuring Quentin MacLeod (after all, you’ve gotta have a Highlander, right?) who battles another evil Immortal hundreds of years in the future. Another animated version, Highlander: The Search for Vengeance (2007) centered around Colin (you can guess his last name) and his arch-rival, Marcus Octavius. While some of these additions and renditions are worth watching, they take more away from the Highlander mythos than they add.
Can there be only one?
At this point, we can almost say with conviction that the answer is “No.” In fact, for several years the idea of a remake of the original Highlander with Dave Bautista (Guardians of the Galaxy) has been rumored to be in pre-production. But as is true with all forms of entertainment, viewers have a choice. While we may enjoy bits and pieces of the Highlander franchise, most fans would agree that nothing has ever quite measured up to the original thrill and wonder that enraptured us when we first saw Highlander, and with good reason.
As for me, I’ll continue to enjoy the parts of the franchise I like while filing away the others in the dustbin of the past, but for my own sanity, I’ll choose to keep the original Highlander as the only official story in my own personal canon of the Highlander saga. The others can be regarded as legends, stories, or dreams that never really happened. To paraphrase the Kurgan in my best Clancy Brown imitation: There can be only one Highlander.
Check out TechnoRetro Dads discussion of Highlander on the thirtieth anniversary of the film!
Christian. Husband. Father. TechnoRetro Dad. A child of the ’70s and ’80s, shazbazzar grew up in a galaxy far, far away even while residing in the land of iron and coal in a small town in northeastern Kentucky. Enthralled with many aspects of science fiction and fantasy, he embraced 3 3/4″ action figures and playsets, a wide variety of games, and all kinds of cartoons, TV shows, and movies in his childhood. Now living in the South, he shares the fun and fandom of his youth with his own kids who, in turn, are introducing him to their own interests.