Thoughts: Highlander stuff
Sep. 26th, 2015 09:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
argentum_lsI've been binge-watching Highlander these last couple weeks. As with many binge watches of shows I've already seen, this one started with me wanting to check on one quick thing in one episode, then I had to check another thing, then another, and suddenly I'm re-watching the whole show out-of-order.
The episodes on Hulu have the Euro-minutes--a fact I might have been aware of previously, yet only now have I been paying attention to. It's amazing to me how many really good character moments are tucked in those minutes. On the one hand, I'm glad that the writers approached the extra time knowing it would be cut out of the American airings because it meant that they generally didn't put plot-worthy information in; instead it's full of the quieter character interactions that were cheap to film and yet are really far more interesting to me than sword fights. On the other, I wonder how the minutes could have been better used, because in many episodes they are clearly, and sometimes ham-handily, filler.
As I've gone back through the episodes, a few things have really jumped out:
1. The writers really had no idea what to do with Richie. None whatsoever. As the show progresses past the second season, it's really obvious that the writers are flailing for material. So much of what they do choose is meant to make Duncan look wise and level-headed, but to me it often has the effect of Duncan looking completely cold-hearted because of how often he refuses to explain anything to his ostensible student until it's too late for those explanations to be useful. Richie's poor treatment on the show is certainly one I've been aware of since my original viewing, but it's really standing out to me now, to the point of making it hard to watch some of his episodes.
2. The show was clearly on the cusp of the transition in television from purely anthologized episodes to encompassing story arcs. I remember the writers talking at a convention (Syndicon '98?) about why they did the Horseman arc as a two-parter, with their reason being that doing season long arcs was boring because the viewer was always going to know how it ended up. (This reason strikes me as rather flimsy since anthologized episodes, with their necessary reset buttons, are only going to be more of the viewer always knowing the ending.) Personally, I think the Horsemen and Judgement Day arcs would have worked a lot better if they'd been more than two-parters.
3. So many of the guest actors had little to no idea how to use their weapons. I suppose it's unfair to expect otherwise, and I know that the Swordmaster has spoken at length about the rigors he put the guest cast through to try to make them appear somewhat competent, yet the swordfights were such a large component of the show that the actors' inability to stage fight effectively is so noticeable. I was watching one episode with the kid and she started critiquing the actor's technique. (As she was also working on one of her own weapons forms at the time, I felt it necessary to remind her that she probably had a lot more experience with the weapon than the actor did.)
4. My memory of the show is a lot weaker than I thought it was. I had completely forgotten many of the guest characters, including a few whom I will now be adding to future exchange requests. I'd also badly mis-remembered at least one plot line, to the point where I'm a little regretful that I've reminded myself of how it really went because I liked my version better. There are also a couple scenes that I can clearly visualize yet I can't seem to find visual evidence of. Is this fanfic contamination or am I just skipping the relevant episodes?
5. If there's an episode I haven't seen since first airing, it's probably better to keep it that way. I'm sorry, Charlie; I adore you. However, I couldn't make it through "The Zone."
The episodes on Hulu have the Euro-minutes--a fact I might have been aware of previously, yet only now have I been paying attention to. It's amazing to me how many really good character moments are tucked in those minutes. On the one hand, I'm glad that the writers approached the extra time knowing it would be cut out of the American airings because it meant that they generally didn't put plot-worthy information in; instead it's full of the quieter character interactions that were cheap to film and yet are really far more interesting to me than sword fights. On the other, I wonder how the minutes could have been better used, because in many episodes they are clearly, and sometimes ham-handily, filler.
As I've gone back through the episodes, a few things have really jumped out:
1. The writers really had no idea what to do with Richie. None whatsoever. As the show progresses past the second season, it's really obvious that the writers are flailing for material. So much of what they do choose is meant to make Duncan look wise and level-headed, but to me it often has the effect of Duncan looking completely cold-hearted because of how often he refuses to explain anything to his ostensible student until it's too late for those explanations to be useful. Richie's poor treatment on the show is certainly one I've been aware of since my original viewing, but it's really standing out to me now, to the point of making it hard to watch some of his episodes.
2. The show was clearly on the cusp of the transition in television from purely anthologized episodes to encompassing story arcs. I remember the writers talking at a convention (Syndicon '98?) about why they did the Horseman arc as a two-parter, with their reason being that doing season long arcs was boring because the viewer was always going to know how it ended up. (This reason strikes me as rather flimsy since anthologized episodes, with their necessary reset buttons, are only going to be more of the viewer always knowing the ending.) Personally, I think the Horsemen and Judgement Day arcs would have worked a lot better if they'd been more than two-parters.
3. So many of the guest actors had little to no idea how to use their weapons. I suppose it's unfair to expect otherwise, and I know that the Swordmaster has spoken at length about the rigors he put the guest cast through to try to make them appear somewhat competent, yet the swordfights were such a large component of the show that the actors' inability to stage fight effectively is so noticeable. I was watching one episode with the kid and she started critiquing the actor's technique. (As she was also working on one of her own weapons forms at the time, I felt it necessary to remind her that she probably had a lot more experience with the weapon than the actor did.)
4. My memory of the show is a lot weaker than I thought it was. I had completely forgotten many of the guest characters, including a few whom I will now be adding to future exchange requests. I'd also badly mis-remembered at least one plot line, to the point where I'm a little regretful that I've reminded myself of how it really went because I liked my version better. There are also a couple scenes that I can clearly visualize yet I can't seem to find visual evidence of. Is this fanfic contamination or am I just skipping the relevant episodes?
5. If there's an episode I haven't seen since first airing, it's probably better to keep it that way. I'm sorry, Charlie; I adore you. However, I couldn't make it through "The Zone."
