HIGHLA-L Digest - 11 Sep 2002 to 12 Sep 2002 (#2002-145)
Automatic digest processor (LISTSERV@lists.psu.edu)
Thu, 12 Sep 2002 22:00:01 -0400
There are 6 messages totalling 194 lines in this issue.
Topics of the day:
1. Richie (Was: Another One Bites The Dust) (4)
2. (OT) Another one bites the dust..... (2)
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Date: Thu, 12 Sep 2002 11:12:49 EDT
From: MaryAnnBMc@aol.com
Subject: Richie (Was: Another One Bites The Dust)
KLZ3 <KZIMMERMAN3@cox.net> said:
> I think Daniel ran into a problem similar to Ri - Ry - er - the
> red-haired kid on HL. There wasn't much further they could take
> him. His conflicts had been resolved - his wife, his initial
> anger at Teal'c for taking his wife, the wide disparity between
> his character/brains and Jack's. Same with Ri - Richie (made you
> look!). Once he became immortal, resolved his immense conflict
> with Duncan after SW, died in front of a crowd of thousands in
> France, etc., and grew out of his sidekick role, there wasn't
> much they could do with him and keep him a minor character.
>
I think this gets to one of the fundamental reasons that Highlander ran out
of stories to tell: they *insisted* that this was purely Duncan's show, that
it was not an ensemble, and that he had to be front and center in every
episode.
If they had made an ensemble of Duncan, Methos, Richie, and perhaps Claudia
Christian's character introduced in Season 6, then they would have multiple
branches to follow and more *good* stories to tell.
Just tell met that there were not enough stories if you followed Methos's
past, and Richie's future, as a hero in his own right! And the Claudia
Christian episode had me so intrigued that I almost cried when I discovered
that *she* was not going to be headlining the new series. (IMHO she is the
only female immie that we *ever* saw on the series who had the potential to
be as much the hero as Duncan.)
Anyway, that's something that I have felt for a very long time and this just
gave me an opportunity to vent. heh
MaryAnn (who used to make 5 posts a day way back in the heyday)
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Date: Thu, 12 Sep 2002 11:31:16 EDT
From: MaryAnnBMc@aol.com
Subject: Re: (OT) Another one bites the dust.....
In a message dated 9/9/02 4:08:14 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
LISTSERV@LISTS.PSU.EDU writes:
> >Scifi said that they didn't want anymore space shows and it seems that they
> >are kicking out the current space shows, too.
> >
> Excuuuuse me???? What are they going to show????
>
> Space shows are the meat and potatoes of science fiction. Unless they come
> up with a good fantasy (as in magic, dragons, wizards, etc.), what do they
> consider science fiction?????
>
That bothered me as well. A *lot*. What on earth is sci-fi if you don't
want a space show?!!! Okay, Odyssey 5 and Jeremiah. I'll bite. But wait a
minute. They're on Showtime, aren't they? If Sci-Fi is ditching their space
shows, they're ditching what 95% of fans consider "sci-fi." Technically,
fantasy (as much as I love it) is not *really* sci-fi. Sorry, I'm just not
into Twilight Zone type shows and "Crossing Over With John Edward."
And...uh...not to change the topic or anything, but they just got
"Stargate-SG-1" (one of my favorites, by the way.) What is the story behind
their picking up that *space* show from Showtime?
MaryAnn
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Date: Thu, 12 Sep 2002 14:17:30 -0400
From: KLZ <kzimmerman3@cox.net>
Subject: Re: (OT) Another one bites the dust.....
>
> And...uh...not to change the topic or anything, but they just got
> "Stargate-SG-1" (one of my favorites, by the way.) What is the story behind
> their picking up that *space* show from Showtime?
>
Richard Dean Anderson's dimples.
~grumpy
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Date: Thu, 12 Sep 2002 14:57:50 -0400
From: jjswbt@earthlink.net
Subject: Re: Richie (Was: Another One Bites The Dust)
MaryAnn said:
>I think this gets to one of the fundamental reasons that Highlander ran out
>of stories to tell: they *insisted* that this was purely Duncan's show,
>that it was not an ensemble, and that he had to be front and center in every
>episode.
>
>If they had made an ensemble of Duncan, Methos, Richie, and perhaps Claudia
>Christian's character introduced in Season 6, then they would have multiple
>branches to follow and more *good* stories to tell.
This might have worked on a limited basis...if TPTB had used 4 or 5 episodes to showcase someone else. I can't see it working if too many episodes were not Duncan-centric.
>Just tell met that there were not enough stories if you followed Methos's
>past,
The question would have been....watch Methos do....what? Just because you can put him further into the past for flashbacks doesn't mean there are "better" stories to tell. Unless you wanted to go with the idea of Methos-as-Forrest-Gump and stick him into exciting historical situation ("See Methos at the Crucifiction") ..something I abhor generally. Methos gave no indication that he was "heroic" by nature ... he surely managed to keep his head for 5000 years by staying *away* from trouble...avoiding charging into situations that could lead to swordplay. So... what would we have watched him do each week?
> and Richie's future, as a hero in his own right!
Hmmmm...we could debate if he *was* a hero in his own right<eg> But ... yeah ... sure...they could have written more episodes where we watched Richie come to grips with his new life ... where he started to learn how to both survive and prosper with centuries ahead of him. But with no past to speak of, you'd lose the flashback angle (unless Duncan was always going to be there to relate a parallel story) And, of course it would have taken a major retooling of Richie's character..from kid who didn't learn much no matter how often he was told ...to kid who learns his lessons and moves on.<g> How many times could we watch Richie meet a new Immortal and win every time? It was barely believable that Duncan always won...but a new Immortal like Richie? What are the odds he cold beat all the badasses he would come across? So it would be either run to Duncan (which we saw) or run away....which is dramatically less than satisfying.
> And the Claudia
>Christian episode had me so intrigued that I almost cried when I discovered
>that *she* was not going to be headlining the new series.
But how would she have worked into the series? Make her a friend of Duncan's who comes to live in town and who we occasionally saw doing her own thing? I'm just trying to imagine how one would have integrated her into the cast in a way that would make devoting a number of episodes per season to her. That said, her character *was* interesting..and she *should* have been the spin-off "girl".
I don't really think that the problem with HL was that the writers didn't know what to do with the character because all the dilemmas had been solved. I think the trouble was that the writers (as so often happens on TV series) got bored writing things that the audience liked ... and wanted to write new and challenging things that the *writers* liked. I think they got caught up in the idea that a TV character has to change every season or two to stay interesting. I think they got fixated on the idea that "drama" required the main character to be miserable. I think they worried more about the actor getting bored than with the audience getting annoyed. I think they got locked into a format that demanded that every Immortal Duncan met had to have met him in the past. I think they got psyched into thinking that every seasons "villain" had to be bigger and stronger and scarier than the last season's (Buffy got caught in this big time) I think they assumed that viewers wouldn't wat!
ch any episode that didn't include a big fight - when I think most of us would have relished some episodes that just showed how an Immortal gets by in a mortal world. There were lots of angles left to explore had the writers been willing to get off the how-can-we-torture-Duncan-this-week train and look for them.
Wendy(We never did get that twin Immortals episode<eg>)
Fairy Killer
jjswbt@earthlink.net
http://home.earthlink.net/~jjswbt/index.html
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Date: Thu, 12 Sep 2002 18:16:36 -0700
From: Pat Lawson <plawson@webleyweb.com>
Subject: Re: Richie (Was: Another One Bites The Dust)
you wrote:
>Methos gave no indication that he was "heroic" by nature ... he surely
>managed to keep his head for 5000 years by staying *away* from
>trouble...avoiding charging into situations that could lead to swordplay.
>So... what would we have watched him do each week?
Coming this fall to the Travel network, _Travels With Methos_. Tune in
each week as our Wandering Immie moves to an exciting new location. Watch
him pick a new identify! Visit our website, enter the Pick An Alias
contest and you could win an exciting prize!
Pat L.
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Date: Thu, 12 Sep 2002 15:34:01 -1000
From: MacWestie <mac.westie@verizon.net>
Subject: Re: Richie (Was: Another One Bites The Dust)
Pat--
> Coming this fall to the Travel network, _Travels With Methos_. Tune in
> each week as our Wandering Immie moves to an exciting new location. Watch
> him pick a new identify! Visit our website, enter the Pick An Alias
> contest and you could win an exciting prize!
He'd have to spend a lot of time in Vegas, though. Boring....
How about a Methos show on The Food Channel? Almost anything goes w/
beer... One strict rule, though--no knives allowed on the set.
Methos stayed alive for 5,000 years by doing NOTHING. And, as The Messenger
pointed out--what was the point of that?
Nina (Seinfeld already did a show about nothing)
mac.westie@verizon.net
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End of HIGHLA-L Digest - 11 Sep 2002 to 12 Sep 2002 (#2002-145)
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