Sunday, November 4, 2018

Highlander


I just finished the final episode of Highlander: The Animated Series. Now I never need to see this again. But I think it would make a great reboot. If you've never heard of it, the story is loosely based on the 1986 film Highlander, in which immortals do battle for the prize of being the last immortal. Several sequels and live action series came afterward, but I particularly liked the animated version's premise. It takes place in the far future after a huge meteor hits Earth--a post-apocalyptic adventure!

First, I'd like to give credit to its format as a kids' show. The movies were fairly violent, what with the beheadings. But the animated version basically has the same signature each episode: the main character, Quentin is being chased by the immortal tyrant's army, the Hunters. They meet some people, sometimes another immortal who passes his knowledge to Quentin in a ritual called the Quickening. Each immortal has a different scholarly discipline.

After a while, each episode feels like a merit badge: atomic energy, weaponry, electricity, martial arts. Sometimes they shake it up and add in some real conflict or twist, but it's essentially the same ending each time: Quentin, Ramirez, and Clyde escape and ride off into the sunset laughing.

My criticisms: the cost of constantly keeping all of the Quentin/Ramirez party alive is expensive. It affords little in the way of conflict. Clyde, the little sister, would have been killed in the first few episodes under normal circumstances. Next, I ding the series for excessive animation recycling. Yes, I understand it was done using traditional cel animation, but recycling in the same episode is just wrong. I will say the animation quality is mid-range, but doesn't diminish through the 40 episodes. I really like the background artwork: the City of Mogonda has a particular original futuristic look to it, with bleak landscapes of destroyed cities all around.

It has many logical problems, too. For one, why does everybody look built, like a professional wrestler? I would think in a post-apocalyptic landscape, it would be difficult to maintain that physique with the scarcity of food. Next, there are at least two occasions where the antagonist Kortan is knocked unconscious. Why doesn't Quentin behead him right then and there? Next is the found technologies. Almost every other episode has the Quentin party stumbling across still-functioning electronic devices: satellite base, missile base, submarine, hydroelectric dam. How would these places still have power after 700 years? How would the electronic components even be working? Electrolytic capacitors explode after 40+ years, used or not. There's also the issue of travel. The Star Wars don-don ripoffs couldn't take them to Japan. Yet there they are!

Ok, so it's fantasy. It has a lot of cool themes and ideas. I love the idea of immortals fighting each other in this future world. I think it would reboot well, but perhaps done in a more anime style with modern animation systems, better voice actors, and more conflict twists that carry through the series story thread.

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