Highlander, 1986
Happy New Year and Welcome to 2018‘s edition of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers! For the first episode of the year, J. Blake and Dion Baia decided to tackle a film that spawned an entire franchise across all forms of media, despite flopping at the box office. The boys are heading to Scotland this week as they cover the immortal classic, Highlander, from 1986.
Dion and Blake get into the backstory of this immense series that spans films, television, animation, books, comic books and audiobooks. They analyze the elements that, like catching lightning in a bottle, came together to make this epic a classic. They unpack the differences in the original screenplay and novelization, that expand the backstories of the characters in Highlander particularly that of the Kurgan. Blake and Dion discuss the fascinating idea of reading into and applying your own themes and subplots after repeated viewings, that may not be overtly apparent in the film. They also chat about the lore of this series, and the heavy themes that are layered within the story. So who was originally cast as Connor MacLeod? What elements of the movie’s mythology make this film a timeless and classic story that transcends into a entire Highlander universe? And is Dion actually a Laird? Well come on down and take a listen as There Can Be Only One, podcast for 2018, and that is the one you have before you, Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers!
Extras!
Here’s Clancy Brown on the red carpet talking about the film at the 30th anniversary screening!
Have a look at screenwriter Gregory Widen discuss the Kurgen and his backstory!
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What a way to start the new year! I LOVE Highlander!
This was a great episode not only for the movie discussion but also that you guys brought up the origins of the movie. I rarely go to museums but there’s no way in hell I’d get a cool idea like Highlander by looking at the exhibits.
I remember I saw Highlander 2 first and my dad explained the concept of the movie. I’m not sure if I saw the first movie or the pilot to the TV series first, but I definitely go into the whole mythology and series thanks to how amazing the first movie is. Also helps I liked a lot of Duran Duran videos growing up, so I’m familiar with Russel Mulcahy’s work. I’ve always wanted to try the Big Finish audio dramas because I’m a huge fan of the Doctor Who ones they produce.
In my head-canon, it goes Highlander, Highlander: The Series and then Highlander: Endgame. That’s Highlander to me. The second and third movie, the animated series, the anime film and Highlander: The Source…yea, those don’t exist lol
Fantastic episode, guys. If this is just a taste of what’s in store for 2018, I can’t wait to see what else you come up with! Thanks for always putting out kick-ass content!
Thanks Jose! Your support always means a lot to us.
Been loving this podcast for months now since I found it in iTunes, never occurred to me to check if you had a website, how cool you do.
The podcast is awesome guys and something cool just happened i was trying to find the Emilio Estevez segment in nightmares as currently lisening to your last starfighter episode for the 3rd time and I couldn’t find it in full, but bizarrely I found the late 90’s roots of this podcast, an old YouTube channel of yours which I won’t name here but it’s awesome! Reviews shot on dv cam in a living room in front of a TV in the late 90’s and a cool little movie you shot, which has some great original parts – Seriously cool man, that channel is like an awesome special features part on a dvd. I’m pretty passionate about this podcast, these days I’m listening to it where I’d normally be listening to music, really awesome of you guys to do this! 10/10, Time now for a beer/movie
Lol…Thanks Chris. Thank you for not mentioning the youtube channel’s name. Honestly, if I could remember how to log into it, I would probably take that stuff down. lol. It was something my friends, who get mentioned on our show frequently, and I used to do. Aside from the short film you mentioned, which obviously features both Dion and I, Dion didn’t really have anything to do with the channel…but as I’m sure you noticed…in someways it was a little bit the prototype for SNMS and it is where we got our theme music from. The short film is from the late-90s, but the rest of the stuff is from he 2000s…but still pretty damn old. Glad you are enjoying the podcast. Thanks you for the support and feel free to hang with us on facebook and twitter, if you don’t already…and thanks for keeping my secret. 😉
Blake