Quick Highlander question

[beanheadmcginty]

I just tried Googling my question and it turns out there's a lot more Highlander stuff than I realised and it's clouding my results.

I'm currently watching the original film Highlander and apart from marvelling at how bad some of the ADR sound mixing is, I can't work out why McLeod is younger than all the other Immortals. Connery and the Kurgan have been around for centuries but McLeod just turns up without a clue. Have I missed a bit where it's explained why he's this fresh innocent immortal? Surely immortals should all start from the same point?

[bgmnts]

Maybe McLeod went through a traumatic experience and blocked it out of his memory.

As for his fresh faceness, maybe he just lived healthier than the others, Kurgan and Ramirez definitely seem like epicures who have lived, bit of wear and tear.

You can also ask why Ramirez, an ancient egyptian from Spain, has a Scottish accent, but there you are.

Although, quick wiki states:

Ramírez was born Tak-Ne in Egypt in 896 BC

So they have birthdays, guess they aren't all spawned at the same time?

[Shaky]

Immortality starts at the point of their first death and McLeod isn't killed until the 16th century, whereas Ramirez and The Kurgan became immortal long before that. Just Connor's origin story, innit. Don't think there's more to it than that and you can infer that other, newer immortals have all been beheaded by the time of The Gathering in the mid-80's leaving the young buck and his ancient nemesis.

[bgmnts]

Immortality starts at the point of their first death

So you could die of old age and then have to live forever as an old cunt? Grim.

[beanheadmcginty]

Also feels like this film was intended to be totally Queen soundtracked a la Flash Gordon (a soundtrack that was incorporated into my DNA in the womb) but somewhere someone chickened out so this is only present in certain scenes (i.e. May's guitar mimicking sound effects) .
Also, no one who has seen Police Squad could ever take Alan North seriously.

[Famous Mortimer]

I assumed the creation of them was random, like a genetic thing. If you take the TV show rather than the sequel, new immortals are made all the time.

[A Hat Like That]

They all came from the planet Zeist.

nothing to see here, move on.

[A Hat Like That]

Also feels like this film was intended to be totally Queen soundtracked a la Flash Gordon (a soundtrack that was incorporated into my DNA in the womb) but somewhere someone chickened out so this is only present in certain scenes (i.e. May's guitar mimicking sound effects) .
Also, no one who has seen Police Squad could ever take Alan North seriously.

Queen packaged a lot of their work on this into A Kind of Magic

[buzby]

Also feels like this film was intended to be totally Queen soundtracked a la Flash Gordon (a soundtrack that was incorporated into my DNA in the womb) but somewhere someone chickened out so this is only present in certain scenes (i.e. May's guitar mimicking sound effects) .
Also, no one who has seen Police Squad could ever take Alan North seriously.

Michael Kamen was already on board to do the soundtrack. Russell Mulcahy approached Queen during the editing process to write the theme song (the film's working title was Princes Of The Universe) and showed them a 20-minute highlight reel. They were impressed and agreed to get more involved with the soundtrack, writing 6 songs for it between them (Princes Of The Universe, A Kind Of Magic, Gimme The Prize, One Year Of Love, Don't Lose Your Head, Who Wants To Live Forever and recording a short cover of New York, New York). These were handed to Michael Kamen, who then rewrote his score to incorporate them.

As A Hat says, Queen then recycled the songs into the A Kind Of Magic album (along with One Vision, which had been written for the sountrack of Iron Eagle a year earlier, the demo of which also spawned A Kind Of Magic), though in most cases they rerecorded them. Most of the versions of the songs used in the film have never been officially released, as there was no OST album released for the film.

[Shaky]

I assumed the creation of them was random, like a genetic thing. If you take the TV show rather than the sequel, new immortals are made all the time.

Yeah, ignoring the terrible 2nd film (as the other sequels do), it's never really explained why certain people become immortal. It just happens when they die.

So you could die of old age and then have to live forever as an old cunt? Grim.

Aye, hence Connery's aging Egyptian/Mexican/whatever the fuck mentor character (until he gets the chop, anyway). It's implied he's been that age for a couple of thousand years by the 16th century.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Highlander was a documentary and the events happened in real time.

[Fr.Bigley]

Maybe you shouldn't be researching in depth a film that is at best abysmal and at worst, stars Sean Connery.

[Sebastian Cobb]

The original film was fine. Everything else was plops tho.

[Shaky]

Maybe you shouldn't be researching in depth a film that is at best abysmal and at worst, stars Sean Connery.

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh! Not so much "research" as "people who have seen the film are now discussing it." Isn't that what this section is for?

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

What if an immortal died as a baby? Would they spend the rest of time soiling themselves and dribbling until someone chopped their head off?

[Fr.Bigley]

No, I won't allow it! We'll do things properly if you don't mind. Now go out would you!

[BeardFaceMan]

Yeah, ignoring the terrible 2nd film (as the other sequels do), it's never really explained why certain people become immortal. It just happens when they die.

Aye, hence Connery's aging Egyptian/Mexican/whatever the fuck mentor character (until he gets the chop, anyway). It's implied he's been that age for a couple of thousand years by the 16th century.

Been a long time since I've seen this but dont they have to die a violent death or a warrior's death or something to become immortal,  not just die? Or is that from something else?

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Is that not for vikings going to Valhalla?

[BeardFaceMan]

Yeah I know the Vikings have the 'straw death' thing, I'm sure I remember a scene though from a Highlander movie of someone coming to on a battlefield after being fucked with an axe, as a way of showing how you come back after dying violently. Must be from something else.

[The Culture Bunker]

Highlander was a documentary and the events happened in real time.

You beat me to my line (as per the "comedy moments that form part of your inner monologue" thread) you swine!

I also quite enjoyed the Christopher Lambert appearance in Venture Bros: "Lord of the Apes, once Lord of Diane Lane - the guy had sex with Diane Lane! Multiple times!"

[Dex Sawash]

Quick(ening) Highlander question, morelike

[Famous Mortimer]

What if an immortal died as a baby? Would they spend the rest of time soiling themselves and dribbling until someone chopped their head off?

There was a child immortal in the TV series (like, 10 years old or so), which isn't the same thing but for some reason I want everyone to know I saw every damn episode of that show. Danny Dyer was in an episode! And it was the screen debut for Marion Cotillard!

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

You beat me to my line (as per the "comedy moments that form part of your inner monologue" thread) you swine!

There can be only one!

[Icehaven]

I saw this for the first time recently too, having had it on my "How the fuck have I never seen..." list for years, and I found it confusing how the reward for being the last immortal is... being able to grow old and die. I know it's supposed to be so he can live a normal life with his wife, but hypothetically if his arch rival had won, he didn't seem the type to want to move to the suburbs and grow old gracefully, so why was he battling so hard to be the last one? I know they got unlimited knowledge and power too but what use is that if you're dead? And as mentioned, most of them are already old so they'd have died even sooner. I think I'd rather live forever, sorry Queen.

[Glitch King]

Glitch King!

[Blumf]

I saw this for the first time recently too, having had it on my "How the fuck have I never seen..." list for years, and I found it confusing how the reward for being the last immortal is... being able to grow old and die.

I think it's something they can choose at that point. Maybe.

Was there ever any books or comics that expanded on it all and nailed any of this down, canonically?

[Mango Chimes]

The line is actually "there can bee only one". The last one becomes a bee. The Queen bee.

Starring Sean Connerbee and Christopher L'abeille.

[Famous Mortimer]

I saw this for the first time recently too, having had it on my "How the fuck have I never seen..." list for years, and I found it confusing how the reward for being the last immortal is... being able to grow old and die. I know it's supposed to be so he can live a normal life with his wife, but hypothetically if his arch rival had won, he didn't seem the type to want to move to the suburbs and grow old gracefully, so why was he battling so hard to be the last one? I know they got unlimited knowledge and power too but what use is that if you're dead? And as mentioned, most of them are already old so they'd have died even sooner. I think I'd rather live forever, sorry Queen.

If you're interested in learning more than you strictly need, then

https://highlander.fandom.com/wiki/The_Prize

This only applies to the first film, of course. Everything after that either changes what immortals are (the sequel) or just ignores the question (everything else).

[monkfromhavana]

Why does it say that "There can be only one" when there were a few of them?

[dissolute ocelot]

Why is it called Highlander when the Clan Macleod comes from the Western Isles, a group of islands often not considered part of the Highlands, which commonly refers only to the northwest of the Scottish mainland (e.g. when classifying whisky)?