Did the entire story of Highlander 2 ever come out?

[Sister_Vigilante]

@TonySinclair

Actually, there was.

Several years ago, I read an unfinished fanfiction crossover of Highlander and ST:TNG, where the last immortal on earth, centuries after winning the Prize, discovered that there were immortals among various sentient alien races, so the game wasn’t over after all. I thought it was a great premise which flowed very naturally from the phrase, “we are the princes of the universe.”

This couldn’t happen though. After he wins the game, he explains that he can now love and have children, live and grow old.

[Intergalactic_Gladiator]

Heh, check out the trivia section in IMDB for Highlander II:

Highlander II: The Quickening (1991) - Trivia - IMDb

In the Renegade version, a documentary following the film has the filmmakers explain why the original theatrical release contradicted the first film. According to them, inflation in Argentina had gotten so bad during filming that the film’s insurance company started to take creative control, and made a film they thought would make the most money.

[Chimera]

Cocaine and love of money. A dangerous combination.

[Kamino_Neko]

@TBG

Endgame, which still wasn’t very good (alright, it was pretty bad), that I could see considering an episode of the series, but not the Source.

:smack:

Endgame! That’s what I was thinking of. I haven’t seen The Source. Rassafrassa…

[dracoi]

@Stranger_On_A_Train

To be fair, there was really no way to make a good sequel of this film without contracting the “rules” laid out in the first film, so of course the sequels make no sense. The aliens from planet Zorg or whatever will a ridiculous addition, of course, but that is what happens when you extend something that really doesn’t bear a sequel to begin with (e.g. The Godfather, Part III or 2001: A Space Odyssey). That the film was totally over the top in awfulness is more a tribute to the desperation to do something that would match the outlandishness of the first film than ineptitude; a good writer and director would likely have passed on the basis that there was no essential story to continue.

I think they have pure gold in prequel potential, though.

There are several characters in the original Highlander movie who could very easily be stars of their own prequel movies. Pick a time period that would engage audiences. Victorian England, Revolutionary America, Pharoanic Egypt, ancient Sumeria… anywhere in between…

Also, I think there are plenty of ways to write a sequel that still makes sense. The first Highlander ends with our hero basically having superpowers and being the only one left. What’s to say that his superpowers don’t make it possible to start a whole new cycle of immortals? Maybe he even has to sacrifice his super powers to make that happen. Tada! A sequel that could make sense.

[gonzoron]

@Kamino_Neko

I haven’t seen The Source. Rassafrassa…

Don’t ever regret that. Love have children. Live and grow old. You may yet die happy, unlike those of us who have.

[CaptMurdock]

@Stranger_On_A_Train

Here/we are
Born/to be kings.
We’re the princes/of the universe.

Without the Queen soundtrack, the film likely would have disappeared without note.

Stranger

It almost did. If it weren’t a ton of guys like me who discovered this movie on VHS and cable, it would be barely a footnote on IMDB.

[foolsguinea]

@Kamino_Neko

• I think The Sorcerer was worse than The Quickening, personally…I consider [del]The Source[/del] [Endgame] a terrible episode of the TV series, not a terrible installment of the movie series, but it probably ties with The Quickening.

II/The Quickening is a bad movie. And I still maintain that its art direction blatantly rips off Blade Runner, but in a cheaper, sadder way. Did the Argentine insurance company think the best way to make money was, “Look like a low-budget Turkish ripoff”?

III/The Sorcerer/The Final Dimension is a terrible sequel. Better photography than II, yes, but an insultingly bad script that basically hits the notes of the first movie—while spitting on the first movie’s climax—and adds a new, younger, magical destined love interest. Barf.

IV/Endgame is disgusting for a number of reasons, but most immediately strikingly bad business for being sold as a continuation of the movie series while being set in the TV continuity. Non-TV-series Highlander fans were not happy.

I have not seen V/The Source. I am told that it only fits in TV continuity as a bad dream one of the cast (Joe? Duncan? I don’t know) is having. And that’s fair enough. I hope people got paid.

I think I hate II the least. I appreciate the Highlander sequels, though, because they are all terrible, terrible sequels in different ways. I wish I taught film school; I’d turn them into a class on how not to handle a franchise.

[gonzoron]

@Miller

There is, apparently, a documentary about why the film went so wrong: Highlander 2: Seduced by Agentina. I have not seen it.

Well, I just watched it on youtube. Seems to claim that it was 90% the insurance company’s fault for making them stop early. If the filmmakers (I use that term as loosely as possible) had had their way, the the theatrical release would have been what became the recut Special Edition version (which has new digital effects and a newly filmed ALL IMPORTANT car chase scene) that was eventually released on DVD. I haven’t seen that version, but I can’t imagine that it’s that much better.

When talking about the MAJOR issue of the plot, the writers basically shrugged their shoulders and said something to effect of, “we were backed into a corner by the end of the first movie. We did out best to dig out of it. Maybe we shouldn’t have tried the origin story part. oh well. heh heh… whoops.” That 10% or so, as they saw it was the extent of what they did wrong on their own. (They didn’t call out these percentages. I’m just summarizing the general sense I got from their comments.)

I seems like the still think they had a decent script on their hands, and filmed (part of) a good movie. baffling…

[gonzoron]

Oh, and I’ll just step up and defend Endgame a wee bit. I thought it was great as passing-of-the-torch movie. Lambert wasn’t looking so immortal anymore. Paul (despite only being 2 years younger) looked more action hero-like and still could have had a few more Highlander films in him.

Yes, it was in the series continuity, not the movie “continuity” (if it can be called that). That’s why they didn’t call it Highlander 4.

as a big fan of the series, I thought Endgame set things up very nicely for a run of Series-based movies. Imagine my horror at getting The Source instead.

[DrDeth]

Actually, the Director’s Cut version known as the Renegade Version that Mulcahy made is fairly decent.

Not very* good*, mind you, but not a embarrassment.

[gonzoron]

@DrDeth

Actually, the Director’s Cut version known as the Renegade Version that Mulcahy made is fairly decent.

Not very* good*, mind you, but not a embarrassment.

Well, the Special Edition starts from the Renegade Version and goes a few steps further… so maybe it reaches mediocre?

[DrDeth]

@gonzoron

Well, the Special Edition starts from the Renegade Version and goes a few steps further… so maybe it reaches mediocre?

Maybe even Fair.

Anyway, the original H2 is a abomination, but yeah the later cuts are decent addition to the canon.