HIGHLA-L Digest - 1 Jun 2004 to 3 Jun 2004 (#2004-101)
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Thu, 3 Jun 2004 22:00:03 -0400
There are 2 messages totalling 284 lines in this issue.
Topics of the day:
1. Request for Vancouver HL tour info
2. Season Four dvds: Homeland
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Date: Wed, 2 Jun 2004 20:07:59 -0700
From: Parisrose <parisrose@prodigy.net>
Subject: Request for Vancouver HL tour info
The gods have certainly been good to me this year. Not only am I going to get to visit Paris this fall, but an awesome opportunity has presented and i will be there next week for 4 days. Could someone kindly help me out with a link to the HL site information? Thanks.
Parisrose
parisrose@yahoo.com
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Date: Thu, 3 Jun 2004 16:18:05 -0400
From: kageorge <kageorge@erols.com>
Subject: Season Four dvds: Homeland
All episode commentaries are available at:
http://www.wordsmiths.net/MacGeorge/episodes/indexframeset.htm
Homeland
COMMENTARY: Gillian talks about filming part of the episode in Scotland,
mostly exterior shots. The shots didn't match the Vancouver footage because
when they filmed in Scotland it was March, and everything was brown, but
when they filmed in Canada, it was the height of summer, when everything was
lush and green, and bugs were everywhere that drove the actors crazy.
Adrian Paul, who directed the episode, talks about filming the title
sequences, which he called a "guerilla shoot", where they had a very small
unit, with a helicopter scheduled for the second day they got there. He told
the following story on himself about that first day: When they got there,
they discovered that all the lenses they needed had not been provided.
Adrian ended up calling a friend of his in London to get the stuff, get on a
train from London and meet them on location the following day. In the
meantime, they decided they could do some stock shots where the camera didn'
t have to move. They got to the location, the weather started getting misty,
and then realized someone had left the costumes back in the hotel, which was
a ferry ride away. They sent someone back to go and get them while they set
up the first shot. By the time the costumes arrived, it had started to
drizzle, but they had to do a shot with MacLeod on horseback, riding across
the moors.
The helicopter was supposed to parallel him and then cut in front of the
horse. Adrian asked if the horse was okay around helicopters, and the
Scottish horse handler gave him a vague, unreassuring answer. In order to
get to the only non-marsh area large enough for the shot, they had to clear
a path of sheep, and lead the horse across a stream. They had no
walkie-talkies, so when the helicopter was ready, they would flash their
lights three times. So Adrian is on the horse, the lights flash, and off he
goes. The helicopter goes past, all while Adrian is worrying that the horse
is going to freak on him, but it goes okay, and the guys in the helicopter
want to do it again. So they do it a second time, and this time the horse
just went crazy as the helicopter approached and dashed off to the left. By
the time Adrian managed to rein him in he had crossed the river at a much
deeper place than where they had originally led him across, so he got wet
from the knees down.
They got back to base camp, and Adrian was told they got water in the lens
and they would have to do it again. By the time that shot was done, it was
raining quite hard, so in order not to get soaked, Adrian carried an
umbrella. "So I'm riding this horse in period costume, long hair, holding an
umbrella, in the highlands of Scotland." The wind comes up, the umbrella
started to flutter and Adrian didn't like the way the horse was reacting, so
he reached up to close the umbrella. As he did, the wind took it, the horse
bolted, and Adrian slides off the back of the horse and down a hill, in the
mud, on his back. The horse headed back to its stable and Adrian trods back
to base camp, covered in mud, only to find out that, once again, they had
gotten water in the camera and they weren't sure they got the shot. "That
was the first day of shooting of my directorial debut, and the second day
didn't go too much better either, but that's a longer story."
Jim Byrnes talked about how at the end of Season Three, after they wrapped
"Finale", he talked Ken Gord into "dragging me along", so they shot some
outdoor scenes. The pressure was off for Jim, since he just kind of "walked
down a couple of paths to say a couple of things and talk with Adrian, and
enjoy the Scottish hospitality and the real ale." He grins and says that he
enjoyed a lot of the ale.
Ken Gord says that everything that could go wrong, did go wrong, including
some things they didn't realize could go wrong. He mentions their local
driver, whom they nicknamed "Wrong Turn Angus", the non-stop rain, and the
fur cape that Adrian wears when he is riding in the flashbacks. That cape
was rented from a London agency. It weighed about five pounds, but after
four days of rain, "the thing weighed probably somewhere in the three
digits." They had no time to dry it out before sending it back, and a year
later Ken ended up speaking to someone at the rental agency, who said it was
the most disgusting return they'd ever had.
Ken Gord says he thinks Adrian was one of their best directors. He did ask
for more money, but they were used to that, and they probably gave him a
little more (David A. mentions a figure of around $60 or $70k). He was well
organized and did his homework. Totally professional. He took the
opportunity and did a great job.
Jim B. mentions that Scotland in March can be pretty cold, and he was in
several layers of clothes for those exterior shots. Then when they came back
to Canada and had to do the closeups for those scenes in middle of summer,
and he had to wear the same heavy outer wear. The bugs were unbelievable. In
between takes they had to wear beekeepers hats to keep the bugs away.
F. Braun says there were four sword fights in the episode, the one in the
village, but the other three were done with Viking weapons. He thought it
was a good opportunity to show Viking weapons used the right way, instead of
how they are usually seen. For instance, we see Kanwulf wearing his shield
on his back and wielding his axe with both hands. He parries blows by
turning his back. [SIDEBAR: It's strange, the things you learn as a
Highlander fan. I was watching "Troy" last week and noted that Achilles uses
the shield on his back in a similar fashion. Kewl.] In the flashback fight
in the woods, where Duncan kills Kanwulf, Kanwulf takes the top off a small
tree stump. They had pre-cut the stump, Adrian backed up over it, letting it
pass between his legs, and Kanwulf chops off the top. They did the seen, and
only when they were finished did F. Braun realize that it wasn't the stump
they had cut through, and the actor had chopped through a small stump with
his aluminum blade.
Roger Bellon says it was pretty rare to get to really discuss what a
director wants to do, but he and Adrian got to talk extensively, and Adrian
had some specific ideas on what he wanted to do, which helped Bellon in
defining the style of the show. It was also the only time in Highlander you
will hear an Eolian pipe and flutes, which is a true Celtic sound. He felt
the sound was essential to establishing the time the place and the emotion.
"Bonny Portmore" became the signature theme of Highlander, and this episode
is the first time you hear it. He said he gets hundreds of emails about it
and thinks the choice of the song came from Bill Panzer. He was given some
lyrics and a piece of sheet music found in a University of California
archive. He found a singer that could sing with an angelic Celtic voice, so
the piece provided a romantic and dramatic aspect to the episode.
Ken Gord tells us that the possibilities for the Quickening are limited by
the location, which in this case was in the middle of the forest. They went
for simplicity, so the use of the large moon was intended to embellish what
was not a particularly spectacular Quickening. "I don't think the moon was
as bad as everybody else thinks," he says a little defensively, then added,
"It was a really, really big moon, probably too big." Afterward, if people
wanted to blame something on post-production they would say "remember the
moon?"
David A. says the only thing that disappointed him about the episode was the
casting of Kanwulf, the bad guy. He didn't "pop" with a kind of luminescent
presence on screen. He was just "kinda there". All the rest of the episode
was great, the flashback was incredible, we got to see Duncan's early years,
who he was and why he was who he was. He says he still considers it a
wonderful episode, but it is kind of like winning the lottery, only to learn
that 150 other people won it at the same time, so while it was nice, it was
less than what you thought you were going to get. "But it was still nice to
win."
OUTTAKES: Gillian talks about filming the transitions, and in one particular
transition, we see the bracelet falling. In a series of shots, we see Adrian
dropping the bracelet several times, Adrian picking up the bracelet, and the
post-production crew re-dropping the bracelet. The final edit has pieces of
all those shots.
It had already been established that Duncan MacLeod didn't know how to read
and write at the time of the flashbacks in the episode. There is a deleted
scene showing a sobbing Duncan carving Debra Campbell's name on her
gravestone while referring to a piece of paper where the letters are
written. (It's obvious why they didn't use the scene. Looked really dumb.)
There is a shot of them filming the raven that flies around in the episode
from time to time.
There were so many bugs during the filming of the Vancouver scenes that the
crew wore beekeeper's hats. The cast didn't have that luxury, and we see a
scene between Joe and Duncan, with Jim and Adrian desperately trying not to
swat at the bugs that are crawling all over them.
The final fight between Kanwulf and Duncan is shown, and we see Adrian
simultaneously directing, fighting, and instructing the actor who is playing
Kanwulf, while the ring of fire is flaming noisily around them.
EPISODE:
Duncan comes across a Celtic bracelet that he had given to his long-lost
love, Debra Campbell, who died before he became Immortal. She had been
betrothed to Robert MacLeod, Duncan's cousin, and when the elders wouldn't
allow her and Duncan to marry each other, Duncan gave her the bracelet as a
remembrance. Robert took it badly, hit him and called him a coward. Duncan's
father, Ian, demanded that Duncan finish the fight with his kinsman rather
than let the insult stand. Duncan inadvertently kills Robert, and when he
tries to leave the village out of guilt and sorrow, Debra threatens to throw
herself off a cliff. Duncan recants and says he'll stay, but Debra gets too
close to the edge, the earth collapses under her feet, and she falls to her
death.
In the present, Duncan returns to Glenfinnan, the village of his birth, to
replace the bracelet which had been stolen from Debra's grave. We learn that
someone has been digging up the graves, stealing artifacts and killing the
locals using the ancient Viking blood-eagle evisceration method. Turns out
that long ago, after Duncan had died his first death and been banished by
his father, a Viking raider had descended on the village. Duncan returned,
but his father had been killed. He took up his father's sword and went after
the Viking, called Kanwulf. That act established a legend, that Duncan
MacLeod came back from the grave and defeated Kanwulf the Viking, and saved
the village. Now the legend is reborn, as the killings remind everyone of
the ancient Viking raider. Rumors fly that Kanwulf has returned, and Rachael
MacLeod, who runs the local inn, is suspicious of the stranger who rides the
moors in search of an old grave site. She accuses Duncan of the local
murders, and the police confiscate his katana to test it for blood.
It turns out, however, that Kanwulf is back, indeed. He is an Immortal,
currently passing as the local priest, and is searching for the axe that
Duncan originally took from them in their first battle, which took place
before Duncan knew what he was, or that he couldn't kill Kanwulf permanently
unless he took his head.
Duncan takes his father's claymore, hanging in display in the pub, and meets
Kanwulf, giving him back his axe, which he had buried in his father's grave.
They fight, Duncan wins, and Rachael MacLeod speculates that perhaps the
legend is true.
MY COMMENTS: I have significantly abbreviated and summarized this episode,
as it is easily one of the top ten most watched in the six year run of
HL:TS. It is the flashbacks that make this episode special, and what they
show, and what we learn about Duncan's formative years is some of the most
interesting information there is to know about Duncan MacLeod. We meet his
parents and learn he had a strong-willed, stubborn, prideful father who,
until he banished Duncan in horror at the thought that he had harbored a
demon all those years, loved his son deeply and regarded him as his heir to
the leadership of the village. Mary MacLeod loved Duncan without reservation
or regard for whether he was born of her body, and it is her urging to never
forget that he is "Duncan MacLeod of the Clan MacLeod" that is the reason
behind Duncan's determination to keep his name through the centuries, no
matter what.
Ian MacLeod took offense quickly, and was equally quick to resort to a sword
to solve a dispute. Duncan wanted to defy his father's instructions to fight
his own cousin, Robert, but bowed to his authority, as a dutiful son. He was
even prepared to declare Robert the winner of the fight when he drew first
blood, but his cousin kept attacking. Duty appeared to govern much of Duncan
's early life, in fact, since he reluctantly accepted the elders' judgment
that he and Debra could not marry.
It always seemed to me that the trauma of what happened at his first death
was one from which Duncan never fully recovered. He went from a lifetime of
living according to the rules and traditions of an extended clan, of having
his role in life defined from birth as that of caretaker and protector of
them all, to having it all ripped away without explanation or understanding,
and declared by his beloved, trusted father and ultimate authority figure as
some non-person, and worse, a vile and evil thing that didn't deserve to
live.
I think it is also important to later events to know that Duncan's entire
village was decimated, and his father killed while he was gone. Even though
they had banished him, you've got to know that he still felt it was his duty
to protect them, and in that, he failed. He tells Joe, bitterly, "I found
Kanwulf's men. A bunch of thieving butchers celebrating the death of my
village." He wanted to slaughter them all, but they ran away at the sight of
a "ghost", refusing to fight him or give him any sense that he had truly
fulfilled any part of his duty as protector of the village.
One plothole that bothered me was exactly what Kanwulf had been doing for
the past 350 years. He says he found some Celtic pin that somehow led him
back to Glenfinnan to look for his precious axe, but he would have to be a
moron not to figure out that "Duncan MacLeod of the Clan MacLeod" took it,
and pretty darn stupid not to have some inkling of where he might have put
it. He was looking in grave sites. Why didn't he bother looking in the
MacLeod grave sites from the right time period? But they glossed over that
minor plot detail.
I have to agree with David Abramowitz (as I do on most things
Highlander-related). This was an episode that reached for the brass ring and
almost got there. The flashback sequences are terrific, and I know there are
some who don't care for Rachael MacLeod, but I liked her, and I liked the
idea of having an ancestor of Duncan's adoptive family as part of the plot.
The actor who played Kanwulf was okay, just not particularly compelling, and
conveyed nothing of the sense of power of an ancient Immortal who truly
*believed* in ancient magic. If they had been able to take that performance
to the next level, the brass ring would have been theirs, and we would have
reaped the enjoyment of it.
As it is, I love the look of this episode, its music, and it greatly
enriches what we know of Duncan MacLeod and why he is the way he is.
MacGeorge
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End of HIGHLA-L Digest - 1 Jun 2004 to 3 Jun 2004 (#2004-101)
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