Friday Night At The Movies IV

Last night I was looking for a movie on Netflix and found an old TV show instead; Highlander.

Its 20 years old now, but still interesting; the three episodes I watched last night held up well. My basic requirements were met; a good story, convincingly told.

In case you're not familiar with the premise of the movies and the TV show, our hero is Duncan McLeod; he is 400 years old, and one of a collection of immortals roaming the earth. There are good immortals, friends of his; and bad immortals, usually one an episode, who loses his head. Literally.

It seems you can kill an immortal, but the only way to make him stay dead is to cut off his head. So every immortal carries a sword with him- or her- everywhere. Just in case he happens to run into another immortal who needs to lose his head.

I know, stated like that it sounds cheesy, and could have been if handled differently. The shows I remember were always well done, and had the extra bonus- for me anyway- of telling the back story of the immortal that Duncan would meet in each episode, usually from a couple of hundred years ago, when the two immortals had first met. You can make a lot of friends (and enemies) in 400 years.

I remember the show ran in syndication on on Friday nights, about midnight. The kids were asleep, FINALLY, and the week was about to close. A good time for a little escapist fantasy TV.

Who hasn't thought about living forever? Other than the whole losing your head thing, it seemed like a good gig. Who cares if it takes 10 years to perfect a skill? What's 10 years out of 400 or so? Think of the things you could do in 400 years, especially if you were in your physical prime.

So last night me and the wife relived a little past. It wasn't like it was 20 years ago. The kids weren't asleep; they were out running around somewhere. And it wasn't 1:00 when were turned off the TV and went to bed; it was more like 10:30. Okay; it was 10:15. But in my defense, it had been a busy day.

So Highlander is now in my instant queue; all 119 episodes. So I figure I'm good for the next 2 years of Friday nights, assuming I live that long.

I'm not Immortal you know.