Highlander Season Three (1994)
Review by Dindrane
Film:
DVD:

Executive Producers: Christian Charret and Denis Leroy
Starring Adrian Paul, Stan Kirsch, Elizabeth Gracen, Peter Wingfield
Guest Starring Roger Daltrey, Robert Ito, Roland Gift, Myles Ferguson

Features:

• deleted footage and extra scenes
  
• audio commentaries on many episodes from cast/crew
  
• Watcher Chronicles on every episode
  
• behind-the-scenes footage and cast/crew interviews for most episodes
  
• production sketches and designs
  
• blooper reel
  
• photo gallery
  
• CD-ROM scripts for all episodes
  
• cast/crew bios
  
• series trivia
  
• fight choreography scripts
  
• production notes
  
• shooting schedules
  

Released by: Anchor Bay
Region: 1
Rating: NR
Anamorphic: N/A; presented in original 1.33:1 TV aspect.

My Advice: Get it if you like sci-fi or fantasy at all

Fans of the TV show The Highlander already know how clever and just plain fun this show could be, but those of us who never watched it during its original run might not be aware. Luckily, the nicely produced collections from Anchor Bay are there now to show us.

Last season, we lost Tessa, but gained a new heroic Immortal in Richie. This season, Richie returns to his training as Duncan's protégé, and other Immortals, good and bad, fade in and out of Duncan's life. This season's overarching plot line delves more into the Watchers, the organization all over the world that for centuries has been keeping tabs on the various Immortals--all except for the enigmatic Methos, who may very well be the oldest Immortal ever and who definitely predates Sumer and Babylon.

Classicists will be thrilled to see the number of Greek and Roman Immortals increase this season, as we meet such entities as a Thracian former slave (who supposedly fought with Spartacus, an unnecessarily irritating detail), Roman soldiers who knew Paul the Apostle, and so forth.

Because the writers of the show create their characters with such rich detail, reading the Watcher's notes associated with each episode is definitely worth your time, but read them after watching the show to avoid spoilers. The Watcher's notes do include whether or not a given Immortal is still alive and who killed him or her if they are not, so it might give away plot elements.

Speaking of those Watcher Chronicles, they are one of the best of the special features and an excellent addition to the set. We get not only a "current" report from each Watcher on the status of a given Immortal, but we get supposed past reports, too, such as a report from a Japanese Watcher about the arrival of a gaijin in medieval Japan. Fans of the show's military hardware will love the surprisingly detailed notes you get about each sword and why, in most cases, a given Immortal chose that particular weapon. Their military advisor definitely did his homework, and even if you don't like the show itself, check these notes out. The Watchers' Notes also list which Immortals and mortals are involved in each story, who was whose Watcher, and the details of the Immortals, such as their employment, original cultural affiliation, known aliases, and so forth. Other features include videotaped comments from cast and crew for most episodes, especially a lot of input from Adrian Paul, and lots of behind-the-scenes comments for most episodes as they were filmed. New scenes are also included, along with the treasure that is the blooper reel; Paul seems like quite the practical joker--a handful for any director. Photo galleries, audio commentaries for many of the episodes, and original production designs and sketches round out this stacked set. As an aside, when you page through the Watcher Chronicles for this season, be sure to look carefully at the known aliases for Methos and the Watcher assigned to his case.

A special note should be mentioned in praise of Myles Ferguson, who portrays the fascinating 10-year-old Immortal in "Lamb." He has an amazing range for any age, but especially for an actor so young; he can go from innocent and sweet to evil and weary-old easily. His death in a car accident was quite a great loss for the field of acting.

I only have a couple of minor quibbles with this beautifully produced set. First, there really should be chapter breaks right after the opening credits, before the action of the episode starts. Second, the physical layout of the set, a fold-out wallet, is just too cumbersome for a set with this many discs. Discs and folds are flipping everywhere when you try to pull one out. A book-like setup would have been much better.

If you never watched Highlander when it was on TV or maybe only caught one episode here and there, you might not understand how genuinely strong this show really is. A few critics here and there have bashed it, but that seems to be more the usual tired bias against genre shows (and books!) than any real problems with the show itself. Sure, now and again a guest actor with a bit part won't exactly be a born thespian genius, but most guest actors are solid, and the core group (Paul, Burns, Kirsch, and so on) are all great, every week. The plots are surprisingly fresh and interesting week after week, even if you take into consideration the frequent use of a formula (evil Immortal shows up and Duncan must smite him). So if you haven't actually sat down and watched the show as the overreaching plot progressed or the show matures, then do yourself a favor and do so now.