oh, Highlander....

[rivendellrose]

WHY??? WHY would they do something so... WHY???!!!

What the fuck kind of tag-line IS that? What the hell are they thinking? Why the hell can't they just leave well enough alone?

First, they choose my second-least favorite style of animation. Then they fill the world with mechas, which I also don't like. Then they apparently decide that Duncan wasn't good enough for the damned katana ("For the first time, the MacLeod katana blade will find itself in the hands of a Japanese master"... and since when is it the "MacLeod" katana, anyway? Silly me, I thought the "MacLeod" sword was the one from Scotland...)!

Who did they get for their copy-editor, Babelfish? "Have we wet your appetite?"

After "a few thousand years" I would expect this bastard to be... hmm, METHOS. Or possibly Cassandra. But that's an entirely different nightmare.

And, last but not least... how many MacLeods are there, anyway? And why the hell are they ALL IMMORTAL?! I'm waiting for the day someone decides Rachel was immortal, too... and then maybe Duncan's cousin, the one he killed, for good measure. Just wait - I bet you it turns up in "The Source" as the big climactic shocker.

The more I think about this, the more I realize that it's too funny to bother being annoyed by it.

Oh yeah. And when they say "two successful television series," do you suppose they mean the second to be The One Season Wonder, or what I'm told was The Animated Horror? Ah, the burning questions this ad conjures....

Comments

[sjen.livejournal.com]

Eep, I didn't mean to incite anger by informing you of this! I thought it would be good for a chuckle. ;_; *tends to laugh when they trash her fave series* I'm sorry, Jen!! *hugs*

[nekokoban]

Eh, don't worry about her. XD She was alternately laughing and raging at me, and then came up with an epiphany about the next live-action movie. XD

For my part, I'm damn amused. XD

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

*Laughs and hugs* It's okay - whenever I write something like that it comes out pissed off, when actually I'm going back and forth between being annoyed and just plain laughing my head off.

You really can't be a Highlander fan without having a good sense of humor about stupid shit, I don't think. I just get a bit worked up while writing my responses, sometimes. XP

[sjen.livejournal.com]

Hehe, s'cool then. ^o^ I luv overracting about stuff too. Like, Hollywood bought the rights to make a live-action movie of a really good anime/manga called MONSTER. I know it's gonna be horrible... yet who's gonna be the first person in line to see it? *raises hand*

I was actually most surprised by everyones comments that they hate the art style for this Highlander movie, as well as Vamp D Bloodlust and Ninja Scroll. Because, uhm... I thought that above all, the art for those movies were excellent and very gorgeous and interesting... even if the story adaptations themselves were butt. ^^ Oh well, I guess I like creepy and grotesue-looking stuff. ^^

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Exactly. I've been hearing what crap the Highlander movies were ever since I started watching the show, but if they actually manage to make the next live-action one with the same cast, I'll go off to a matinee with much hope of laughing my ass off.

Honestly, I've only ever liked the style of a very very few animes (honestly, I only really like FMA, I think...), and D wasn't one of them. It was okay, but I just couldn't get used to the pointy-ness and how grotesque everything looked. It's just a thing - I've long since realized that my tastes in anime art are way the hell off from the usual.

[sjen.livejournal.com]

They're actually not tho. ^^ Most people like the new shiny pretty like FMA. I like the oldschool retro "ugly" stuff best. ^o^ No one understands why... I think I just like classic stuff.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

*Shrugs* I'm guessing that people who are more into the whole genre have a higher appreciation for the older stuff - that seems to be the case with most art forms or genres.

[ellid.livejournal.com]

"Have we wet your appetite" sounds like something from the Food Network. Who knew that Alton Brown was an Immortal?

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

It really does. Something bad from the Food Network.

Perhaps they're trying to match the 'anime' theme by throwing in some Engrish? ;)

[narsilion.livejournal.com]

Why indeed.....
On a totally different topic, the book I was talking about yesterday was Changing Planes, by Ursula K. LeGuin.
Have a good day!

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Changing Planes, that's the one! Oh, it's a really good book, you'll like it. I need to read more by her...

[zinjadu.livejournal.com]

Hey, don't knock Babelfish! It knows all!

Though, I'd so go see that just for the shiny animation. Really, if you just take away the title and a few of the names, it's probably just it's own little movie with no giant connection to much of the canon. *shrugs*

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Riiight. "I have me soul of rice." Did Fey ever tell you what the others were? I found out...

Yeah, that seems to be the answer to a lot of things about Highlander canon - just take each individual piece on its own and ignore the rest. It'd be pretty damned hilarious, if they had Duncan or someone make a cameo, though...

[zinjadu.livejournal.com]

Oh dear. No she didn't, but I feel you will.

Eh. Really, I enjoy the silly as much as anything else. And in show wise, canon's pretty fucking tight from what I've seen and heard from Fey and Terra.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Well, you know the first was "Princes of the Universe." The one with the whole "you want necessity melon goddess for love" or whatever was, if I recall, "Somebody to Love," and the other was "I'll Be Watching You." I haven't gone back over the lyrics since she told me, but you can bet I'm planning to....

The silly is fabulous. Which is why if they ever actually manage to put out another live-action with the same cast, I'll be seeing it. I just prefer the silly to not interfere too much with the canon I have to deal with when I write. ;)

[theladyfeylene.livejournal.com]

OMG!

Yoshiaki Kawajiri! Yoshiaki Kawajiri! *Bounces up and down* That man is a master! I'm honestly thrilled beyond all belief now.

Technically, yes, it is the Macleod katana. It was blessed to Duncan, passed into his family and bears his family name. The Macleod claymore is the one in Scotland.

There are a lot of Macleods. And yes, a lot of them are Immortal. That doesn't strike me as odd, since it's part of the shows mythos. Connor and Duncan discuss it in the first episode. Really, it's just following in the theme that was laid down a while ago.

The second series, I assume, would be Highlander: The Raven, Amanda's show. Which was relatively succesful.

Honestly, after seeing the trailer, I can't wait for this movie. I'm happier that they're taking it in a whole new direction, rather than trying to hash out shit that's been done before, with a cast that's long since moved on.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know about the claymore. I was just feeling like making snipey comments about the katana. ;)

You have to admit it's funny. Immortals have to be relatively rare... but there's, what? Six of them, in this one family line? Besides, I just like the idea of Robert MacLeod returning after a few centuries of hiding....

I tend to assume that a series that only survives one season isn't really all that successful... they're doing their best to make the franchise look good, though. *g*

I had a feeling you'd like it, I just can't stand his style of animation. Not a huge fan of the dragging out of the franchise, either - I like the series because I like the characters. Nothing beyond them really interests me, and an anime less so. *Shrugs*

[theladyfeylene.livejournal.com]

I guess I can understand that, but it wasn't very clear in your original post that you were just being snipey.

No, not really. It's part of the show's canon. The Macleods were known for taking in foundlings. And actually, there's only really three if we count the character from the upcoming movie. If you really want to stretch it to include the animated series, there's four. And they can't be that rare, if Duncan runs into at least one (often two) new ones in every single episode. And then Amanda did, as well.

Depends on how you measure success. I consider quite a few shows that were only on for one season to be successful, since they had a strong fan base that's still going strong. And since Raven was cancelled mainly because of the Elizabeth Gracen/President Clinton scandal, I think it's one of those things that we'll never know.

I know you don't like Kawajiri's art. That's fine. But I don't know if I can call this dragging out the franchise. If they were just dragging it out, I doubt they'd bother with Kawajiri. He doesn't take his projects seriously and is very picky about them, and he's expensive. Endgame was dragging out the franchise. Endgame which was an insult to the series, because it tried to be directly linked but destroyed some of the most important and pivotal points of the series. This is giving a new twist to an old favorite, and isn't trying to pass itself off as a direct continuation.

I'm a fan of the series for a lot more than the characters, as you know, so I'm coming at it from a different angle. I probably sound like I'm being picky or bitchy, but it's a genre that I love, have loved for over ten years, and can honestly call my first fandom. So yeah, as you already know, I can be pretty picky about it. :D

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

I felt like picking it apart, because it amused me, for the most part. I was irritated by some things, but mostly just enjoying the thrill of picking on it.

I've been meaning to have a bit of fun working out the population dynamics that'd be necessary for all the random immortal encounters Duncan and others have - it's on par with the situation in a lot of Vampire series or movies or whatever, with the exception that if Vampires were really as common as they sometimes seem, I'd find it hard to believe the actual human race still existed. I take a twisted delight in playing with that sort of thing, although considering how much I hate dealing with statistics, I'd probably just fuss it out in general terms.

I'm sensitive about franchises, whether or not good things continue to come of them - legacy of many years watching Star Trek run itself into the sludge, and watching the Rodenberry estate continue to put out as many of his half-finished ideas as possible, and then run them into the ground, too, while simultaneously watching the X-Files drag out rather than gracefully bowing out when it should have. So I get... tetchy, whether or not a project actually turns out to be any good, just because I hate the Hollywood (or, rather, film business) trend of "as long as a few people will pay for the name, we'll just keep going whether or not its any good anymore." I'm jaded, jaded, jaded, as usual.

[theladyfeylene.livejournal.com]

Which I understand. But, like I said, a lot of the things you were picking at weren't really points which I felt deserved it. So I defended them, being a die hard fan of the genre.

For me, I don't mind keeping things going as long as the people are doing it because they actually want to keep the series going, rather than just trying to make money. Which, Highlander has never been about. Highlander has never been about making money. It's been about the series, and about people keeping going something they love. And while I don't agree with what the writers do sometimes, I respect them for keeping it going because they want to, rather than to try and squeeze money out of it.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

That's fine. You know I've not been here since the beginning, so I miss out on a lot of the early set-up type things. I'm always glad to be corrected on details as long as it's done in good fun.

There really does seem to be a lot of love from the writers, which is fabulous. I just wish they'd try for a bit of consistency in their canon - nothing irritates me more than plot-holes and dropped threads. The essence of writing over a long-term storyline is to keep building on what you have, not to remake it every time. I feel like the Highlander writers do a lot of reinventing the wheel, and it's done them some damage over the different incarnations of the concept. But we've bitched about that whole deal before. It seems like they're genuinely seeking the best stories, they just can't seem to remember and keep what they've done in the past that worked.