HIGHLA-L Digest - 18 Jan 2005 to 19 Jan 2005 (#2005-7)
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Wed, 19 Jan 2005 22:00:15 -0500
There are 9 messages totalling 357 lines in this issue.
Topics of the day:
1. The "What if?" Season 6 (3)
2. Highlander Sword Collection (6)
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Date: Tue, 18 Jan 2005 23:13:34 -0500
From: Sandy Fields <diamonique@comcast.net>
Subject: Re: The "What if?" Season 6
At 09:05 PM 1/18/2005, a.j.mosby wrote:
>Funnily enough I hated the idea. One of Highlander's strengths is that it
>largely took place in the 'real' world or at least one which we could
>recognise and might be just out of sight. Taking the series into the future
>would have pretty much doomed the concept for me, turnign it into much more
>science-fictiony areas.
I agree. Sort of like a Stephen King book. They're set in Anytown USA
with normal stuff happening in today's normal world. Then you get
comfortable in your surroundings and all kinds of weird crap starts to
happen. :-) I think the 'normalness' of the settings is what makes his
stuff work so well.
And I think it's one of the reasons HL:TS worked so well.
-- Sandy
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Date: Tue, 18 Jan 2005 23:30:46 -0500
From: Wendy <Immortals_Incorporated@cox.net>
Subject: Highlander Sword Collection
My ...my...the merchandizing never ceases.
Next up from those crazy guys at D/P - The 20th Anniversary Sword
Collection!
Swords of Elite Immortals!
Duncan's Duende rapier!
Amanda's sword! Did she have a special sword? She was such a poor fighter
it didn't really register.
Kronos' sword! Again . . . was it anything special?
Ramirez's katana.
And who did they start with?
Who is truly elite????
Come on...guess.
Is it Methos?
Connor?
Who is the epitome of elite Immortals?
Richie!
Richie's rapier! I wonder if it is as uncomfortable to handle as the
original?
And there's more... each sword has a character-specific quote etched on the
blade. What did they pick for Richie? I was hoping it was "Swish... thud" in
honor of his final moments or "There was this woman..." but...no. It will
say "It was a fair fight, I won… What did you honestly expect me to do, let
him kill me?” Wow. How profound. That's *exactly* what I think of when I
think of Richie.
There will only be 3500 sets made, so call to reserve yours.
No price given. Call now for details before they sell out.
Wendy(Call 1-800-More-HL-Junk)
Immortals Inc.
immortals_incorporated@cox.net
"Weasels for Eternity"
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 18 Jan 2005 22:41:19 -0600
From: Ginny <RED57@aol.com>
Subject: Re: Highlander Sword Collection
Wendy wrote on 1/18/2005, 10:30 PM:
> My ...my...the merchandizing never ceases.
>
> Next up from those crazy guys at D/P - The 20th Anniversary Sword
> Collection!
Oh my God. Is it ten years already since the last anniversary marketing
frenzy? Let's see a show of hands - is anyone still wearing the 10th
anniversary jacket? Yes, probably. :giggle:
But maybe that Duende rapier...
New news: I heard from Gillian Horvath the other day; she's got some
Andromeda episodes (one already aired, one to be aired). If that had
been announced on the list, I must have missed it, but my hubby watches
Andromeda and he'll be sure to see them, thanks be to TiVo.
More info on that at her website:
http://members.aol.com/webgill/newnews.html
--
Ginny
RED57@aol.com
Fresh out of .sig lines
http://www.blogula-rasa.com
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2005 14:51:53 +0200
From: T'Mar <tmar@sifl.iid.co.za>
Subject: Re: Highlander Sword Collection
>What did they pick for Richie? I was hoping it was "Swish... thud"
Thanks, Wendy, there is now fruit juice all over the keyboard! That's
really funny. :)
>"It was a fair fight, I won… What did you honestly expect me to do, let
>him kill me?” Wow. How profound. That's *exactly* what I think of when I
>think of Richie.
No, no: "I'm sorry, Mac, I know he was your friend." Or even, "I'm
sorry I killed your friend."
- Marina.
Swish... thud. BWAHAHAA!
\\"You can spend precious time marching in your prefect lines,//
// but I don't hear that drum; I'm looking for something else.\\
\\ And if you don't like what you see, you don't have to look //
// at me." - Melissa Etheridge ||=======tmar@tmar.za.net======\\
\\==========Chief Flag Waver and Defender of Richie===========//
"Nothing in the world is the way it ought to be. It's harsh and
it's cruel, but that's why there's us ... We live as though the
world were how it should be, to show it what it can be." - Angel
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2005 14:57:46 +0200
From: T'Mar <tmar@sifl.iid.co.za>
Subject: Re: The "What if?" Season 6
>I think the 'normalness' of the settings is what makes his
>stuff work so well.
>And I think it's one of the reasons HL:TS worked so well.
We were discussing that a year or more ago, IIRC. Was it Wendy
who said that these things work because they only expect you
to accept *one* little deviation from 'reality'?
Like in HL, it's immortals and all the trappings. In Stargate
it's that there are aliens. In Buffy it was vampires and
demons. It's when you try to add more stuff later that the
audience gets annoyed. Like with the psychic projections of
Garrick, or BREWs, or nonsense like that. At least in Stargate
you can accept that there would be other aliens with different
kinds of technology. But aliens in big ships who landed in
Sunnydale and demanded to be taken to our leader would have
had the show laughed off the screen.
It's also why I don't much like crossovers. I can *maybe* see
crossing over HL with Stargate or Buffy with the X-Files or
something. But sometimes people want to see, say, Buffy crossed
over with The Sentinel, and that would never work.
- Marina.
\\"You can spend precious time marching in your prefect lines,//
// but I don't hear that drum; I'm looking for something else.\\
\\ And if you don't like what you see, you don't have to look //
// at me." - Melissa Etheridge ||=======tmar@tmar.za.net======\\
\\==========Chief Flag Waver and Defender of Richie===========//
"Nothing in the world is the way it ought to be. It's harsh and
it's cruel, but that's why there's us ... We live as though the
world were how it should be, to show it what it can be." - Angel
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2005 09:48:40 -0500
From: Gregory Mate <gmate@rogers.com>
Subject: Re: Highlander Sword Collection
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Wendy:
>Richie's rapier! I wonder if it is as uncomfortable to handle as the
>original?
If it comes with a free green jacket, I'll buy it.
....Greg....
gmate@rogers.com
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Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2005 15:51:07 GMT
From: "rideo@juno.com" <rideo@juno.com>
Subject: Re: Highlander Sword Collection
The 20th anniversary already? I guess that's why
they've come out with these new Highlander Dolls.
http://www.sideshowtoy.com/cgi-bin/category.cgi?category=010705highlander
Abbi Cee
-- Wendy <Immortals_Incorporated@COX.NET> wrote:
My ...my...the merchandizing never ceases.
Next up from those crazy guys at D/P - The 20th Anniversary Sword
Collection!
Swords of Elite Immortals!
Duncan's Duende rapier!
Amanda's sword! Did she have a special sword? She was such a poor fighter
it didn't really register.
Kronos' sword! Again . . . was it anything special?
Ramirez's katana.
___________________________________________________________________
Speed up your surfing with Juno SpeedBand.
Now includes pop-up blocker!
Only $14.95/month -visit http://www.juno.com/surf to sign up today!
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2005 09:21:26 -1000
From: MacWestie <mac.westie@verizon.net>
Subject: Re: Highlander Sword Collection
Wendy--
> Call now for details before they sell out.
Too late--DPP sold HL out ages ago.
Nina (20 years....& DPP have managed to do NOTHING other than HL, which is
currently swirling the bowl)
mac.westie@verizon.net
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2005 10:10:37 -1000
From: MacWestie <mac.westie@verizon.net>
Subject: Re: The "What if?" Season 6
John--
>> The examples of Henson and Whedon may be misleading. <snip>
Wendy--
> But D/P *did* get money to make a movie after HL:TS died. They just made a
> crappy movie instead of a good one. Henson made a great mini-series to
> follow Farscape and , from all reports Whedon has made a great movie to
> follow-up Firefly. D/P seem incapable at this point of making anything
> watchable in the HL universe.
Yet, they keep threatening us w/ oddball crap like operas, cartoons, & teen
immies. And, instead of actually producing new HL, they try to keep the
franchise alive by distributing silly swords, cruddy jewelry, & tons of
truly cheesy merchandise. Maybe it's simple blackmail--"Keep us in Scotch &
cigars by buying our swords & dolls, OR--we'll actually _make_ Highlander:
The Opera!"
Wendy--
> I suppose it's just hard, from a fan's perspective, to grasp that the
> people
> who make TV series and movies are not necessarily as enamored of the
> final
> product as they are the paycheck that accompanies it. D/P didn't produce
> HL:TS because they loved Duncan MacLeod and his moral dilemmas. They
> produced HL:TS because they were making money. If they could no longer
> make
> money on HL:TS and they could make money producing "Hot Immortal Bimbos in
> Leather", then that is what they would make. If there was no money for
> dark
> angsty tales of morality and there was lots of money for vacuous tales of
> tossed hair and pouty lips, then they would go where the money was. The
> writers were equally willing to write scripts that involved ethical
> choices
> as fashion choices. It would be nice to think that they would refuse to
> dumb-down HL:TS on principle but that's asking way too much of any
> businessman or any working writer.
Really? I don't think so. Dumbing down a concept like HL was the same as
killing it, & expecting a franchise's creators to protect rather than kill
it isn't really asking that much--just common sense & self-preservation.
Joss Whedon didn't compromise his creation, & neither did Henson--& as a
result Firefly has an upcoming feature film that sounds fabulous & Farscape
got a quality mini-series (& quite possibly more to come).
Yes, it's hard for fans to be objective about a franchise they came to love.
After all, these fans watch eps over & over, pondering the moral issues,
memorizing dialogue & swooning over angst-ridden profiles. They buy the VHS
& then DVD sets, the novels, the photos, & all the other stuff. They visit
boards & join email groups to talk about the show. And join fan clubs & go
to conventions, etc., etc., etc. All as encouraged by TPTB, who attend &
even organize cons to wax eloquent about HL being the best experience of
their lives, drone on about the philosophical implications, & take every
opportunity to talk about their very special show that has inspired so many
devoted fans. So, when those TPTB then do things, over & over, that
demonstrate they do not in fact care about the franchise's quality,
yes--fans get disillusioned. It was ALL about money after all--NOT about
anything we loved.
Nina (DPP have gleefully & repeatedly raped the HL franchise for fast bucks.
Happy 20th Anniversary.)
mac.westie@verizon.net
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End of HIGHLA-L Digest - 18 Jan 2005 to 19 Jan 2005 (#2005-7)
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