Highlander Series: Best of the Best (2007)

6 Discs DVD

Wow, it certainly has been quite some time since I last watched this show... I remember the sword fighting, the electricity flying everywhere with every successive decapitation, and I definitely remember Queen's epic theme song used for the intro to the show... Man, those were the glory days... Sadly, it's been a good amount of time since this show originally aired, and well, sometimes it's just better to remember things how they were.

The Best of the Best is just what you might think. Several of the "best" episodes assembled into one six-disk compilation. Basically, it's for the people that are looking to re-watch the series, yet don't want to pay full price for each individual season. This way, they get right through a lot of the character development and head right into the action. The rather lame, predictable, and sometimes hard-to-see action.

When I was younger and watching this show, it just seemed cool to watch two immortals swing great blades at each other in hopes of seeing the other's head roll. Stacked against so much better action-oriented shows today though, the fights in Highlander honestly look like they were choreographed by a 10 year old that had just finished watching an episode of Power Rangers. Characters look like they're stalling in fights, just so they can remember the swing or thrust they were taught in rehearsal. And when they do happen to strike, it looks overly planned. Really, when compared to something like the brief sword-fighting scene at the climax of the film Equilibrium, Highlander appears slow, choppy and well, dull.

One of the other glaring problems with this collection is the fact that the episodes aren't even in sequential order. while you might find a part 1 and 2 right next to each other, another disk might have an introductory episode for one of the characters in that "part". Take probably my favorite episodes of the bunch: Comes a Horseman and Revelation 6:8. Both of these episodes have to do with a rather interesting take on personified versions of the Biblical four horseman. One of the four horseman though, turns out to be one of Duncan's friends. But wait... Skip over to disk 3, and there you'll find that character's original episode. Thus, you learn about certain people/events in one episode, then after all is said and done, you are introduced to them. Just a hunch, but I think it would have just been better in its proper order.

For the most part this is a "fan's only" kind of set. Aside from some good moments of story telling I can't recommend this as anything more than a rental. Though, I do give it points for the nostalgia factor alone. It really does bring me back, and I always enjoy chanting, "I am Immortal! I have in me the blood of kings!" But sometimes things should just remain as they were. Good memories. And this is one of them. What I once held high as great action and adventure honestly feels a little embarrassing now.

This collection does come with quite a good dose of features, but you really have to ask yourself, "Do I care?"

Highlander in Paris
This little segment follows Producer Bill Panzer and Director Dennis Berry as they recap the glory days of Highlander, And how do they do this you ask? Well, they walk around locations for the show such as: the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame. As they walk about, they discuss moments of the show, and which locations were their favorite to shoot at. It's really not that interesting, mainly due to the fact that you already saw all of these locations in the show... Now you get to see them again... But with commentary, and zero action!

Cutting Edge
Visit swordmaster F. Braun McCash and choreographer Anthony De Longis as they discuss swords (as well as their history) and then practice with them. Here you'll learn about many of the swords used on the show like the katana (and how many sheets of iron had to be folded just to create one). This segment honestly feels like a history lesson rather than a DVD extra, then again, that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Highlander Worldwide
Get a glimpse of the Leeds Convention in England where fans met in 2006 to discuss all things Highlander. Watching this, I didn't realize that just about EVERY fan of Highlander is a woman. I really didn't realize that its fan base consisted 99% that of women. Possibly the only semi-interesting thing here though, is the trailer they show for a new Highlander named, "Highlander: The Source". It also features a rather stupidly pale antagonist who has one of the weirdest and most embarrassing final "quips" at the end of the trailer. I was honestly stupefied as to what he even said.

Gameplay
Go behind scenes as Eidos is hard at work on the new Highlander videogame. Given their track record though, the resulting videogame could be a 50/50. Nothing really mind-blowing is shown here, only statements from the show's creators (as well as the game's creators) on what they hope the game will be like. Not a lot of information is given on the game, you do however find that it's taking the view of a new Highlander named Owen MacLeod... But that's really about it... Well, there are some character sketches thrown here and there, as well as some brief in-game footage, but at these points, the camera seems to be having blurry seizures, rendering what you see, near worthless.

Marto
Here, we are given access to the sword making facility in Toledo, Spain, where all of the swords for the show are developed. While most of it is spent listening to (and reading) the president Enrique Fernandez, glimpses are given into the whole sword-making process, along with the first sword they ever made for the show: Duncan's signature katana.

So there you have it, a lot of extras that seem like a lot, but are sometimes rather light on actual clear-cut information. But I have to say, I do appreciate what they put in here for the fans, especially since some of it you actually might even learn a thing or two from watching.

A good piece of nostalgia, but time hasn't been incredibly kind to this series.