Highlander: Season Five (1996-97)
Review by Dindrane
Film:
DVD:

Starring Adrian Paul, Stan Kirsch, Peter Wingfield, Elisabeth Gracen, Nicolas Lea, Roger Daltrey, and Roland Gift

Features:

• All eighteen fifth season episodes
  
• New footage
  
• Bloopers and deleted scenes
  
• Interviews with actors, producers, editors, and other crew-members
  
• Watcher Chronicles
  
• Running audio commentaries on six episodes with cast and crew, including directors Peter Ellis and Richard Martin, actors Krisch, Paul, Anthony DeLongis, Jim Byrnes, and crew members Don Paonessa, Gillian Horvath, Donna Lettow
  
• Duels listing
  
• Romances of Duncan MacLeod feature
  
• Original production designs
  
• All eighteen episode scripts
  
• Actor, director, and writer bios
  
• Series trivia
  
• Production notes and shooting schedules
  

Released by: Anchor Bay
Region: 1
Rating: NR
Anamorphic: N/A; episodes appear in their original 1.33:1 format.

My Advice: Get it.

The penultimate season of the adventures of Duncan MacLeod (Paul) has hit the shelves with Season Five of Highlander. The season opens with a look back at Duncan's childhood and shows a kind of Immortal different than any we've seen before--Immortals who can, to a limited extent, control other, younger Immortals, as well as humans. We also meet Cassandra (Tracy Scoggins), the first Immortal Duncan ever met who turns out to be much more than a village myth and who now in the present wants Duncan to fulfill what she sees as his destiny. Duncan continues to deal with the fallout from his faux-pas of last season when, possessed by the Quickening of an evil Immortal, he went bad and tried to kill Ritchie (Kirsch). Further episodes send viewers back into Duncan's memories of Prohibition, the Civil War, and more, and has Duncan coping with such issues as former slaves, wars against Satan, novelists who pattern characters on him, and other such dangerous things.

The acting continues to improve as the series producers were able to hire better, more experienced actors, and as the series principals warmed to their roles. The role of Methos was beautifully played by Peter Wingfield, though his screen-time is a bit overdone this season. Look for a cameo by Ron Perlman in "The Messenger" and more Roger Daltrey goodness.

The audio and video quality are both good, especially given that the originals are several years old and were filmed for non-digital TV. The dark areas are still a bit too dark, but plenty good enough for enjoyable viewing. The special effects continue to be impressive, and the spare sets allow the actors and their costumes to shine.

The features list is outstanding. We get an entire season in one box of course (eighteen episodes), but we also get a passel of never-before-seen scenes, bloopers, and outtakes. These continue to be hysterical and allow fans to see the lighter side of their favorite actors. The Watcher Chronicles are the same as before from previous season sets and are one of the most useful features I've ever seen on a TV DVD collection, allowing viewers to read synopses of episodes right on the screen and to keep up with the various Immortals, important mortals and so forth with ease.

Between the DVDs and the CD-ROM, there are some very interesting and entertaining audio commentaries by cast and crew, especially Adrian Paul, scripts for every single episode, a lovely photo gallery, a feature on the various women in Duncan's past, cast and crew bios, a full listing of duels, and even a hefty selection of series trivia. The crown of the collection might have to be the collection of interviews, however, which allow the cast and crew (including some fascinating bits with the costumers) to revisit their characters and have their say about the show. You could exhaust yourself watching nothing but the ten hours of special features.

My only real gripe is in the packaging. As always, I have to say that the fold-out method of displaying several discs is just irritating and cumbersome. A book-like approach like that used by Universal in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine sets would have been ideal; this method flops all over the place and endangers the discs. As an aside, this season's box looks a bit different visually than the previous seasons, a minor alteration that is sure to annoy some fans who have nothing better to do than rate how closely one season's release matches another.

If you've been following the adventures of Duncan MacLeod, then whether or not to buy this set is a no-brainer--of course you will. If you're new to the series, however, then let me assure you that your money will be very well spent. No other DVD set has this many special features, and features of a very high quality at that. History fans will want to own this, as they will want the previous seasons, and fans of action shows or just heroes in general will love this.