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what's so good about Highlander, then?
Given all that I said below, you might be wondering what it is about this fandom that I like and that has inspired such a huge volume of fanfic (over 3400 on the Seventh Dimension archive).
It is a marvellous universe to play in for the pro or fanfic writers as the concept of Immortality gives it so much scope. With Connor born in 1518 and Duncan in 1592, there is roughly four hundred years of backstory to explore and use in flashbacks, and up to 5000 years of history for other Immortals.
The series (and the first film at least) moved easily between action, drama, romance, tragedy and comedy and created some fantastic characters along the way. These people can live for centuries, millennia, what could they have experienced, what does the Game do to them, how does it feel to watch their loved ones die of old age and their culture change and vanish? Writers can look at any of these issues, set it in any period of human history and use any style from swashbuckling romp to out-and-out tragedy.
It’s also an incredibly flexible fandom in terms of crossovers. Anything set in the past or the future can have an Immortal wander into it with ease and any character death can have someone revive as a new Immortal. The mystical side of the Quickenings also lets it cross fairly smoothly into any fandom that involves the fantastical, like Buffy, The Sentinel or The X-Files.
Secondly, this is a fandom heavily linked to swordfighting, which I pretty much think is a reason to watch in and of itself. Swashbucklers, fantasy, historical fiction, martial arts – if there is hand-to-hand fighting or blades involved there is an immediacy, a romance and a lethal grace to it that can be anything from the beautifully elegant tree fight in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon to the dirty, brutal work in Gladiator or Lord of the Rings. It’s much more engaging for an audience to watch or imagine than modern methods like guns, and I personally think that, aside from it just looking cooler, it is because it is so much more personal. The opponents have to get in close and connect with each other, and the winner is decided by the skill, determination and ingenuity of the fighters. It’s much more interesting and inherently creative than two guys blasting away at each other, and I think that’s the reason why even in technologically advanced science fiction, authors are still finding ways to bring conflicts down to a bit of mano e mano duelling.
It is a marvellous universe to play in for the pro or fanfic writers as the concept of Immortality gives it so much scope. With Connor born in 1518 and Duncan in 1592, there is roughly four hundred years of backstory to explore and use in flashbacks, and up to 5000 years of history for other Immortals.
The series (and the first film at least) moved easily between action, drama, romance, tragedy and comedy and created some fantastic characters along the way. These people can live for centuries, millennia, what could they have experienced, what does the Game do to them, how does it feel to watch their loved ones die of old age and their culture change and vanish? Writers can look at any of these issues, set it in any period of human history and use any style from swashbuckling romp to out-and-out tragedy.
It’s also an incredibly flexible fandom in terms of crossovers. Anything set in the past or the future can have an Immortal wander into it with ease and any character death can have someone revive as a new Immortal. The mystical side of the Quickenings also lets it cross fairly smoothly into any fandom that involves the fantastical, like Buffy, The Sentinel or The X-Files.
Secondly, this is a fandom heavily linked to swordfighting, which I pretty much think is a reason to watch in and of itself. Swashbucklers, fantasy, historical fiction, martial arts – if there is hand-to-hand fighting or blades involved there is an immediacy, a romance and a lethal grace to it that can be anything from the beautifully elegant tree fight in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon to the dirty, brutal work in Gladiator or Lord of the Rings. It’s much more engaging for an audience to watch or imagine than modern methods like guns, and I personally think that, aside from it just looking cooler, it is because it is so much more personal. The opponents have to get in close and connect with each other, and the winner is decided by the skill, determination and ingenuity of the fighters. It’s much more interesting and inherently creative than two guys blasting away at each other, and I think that’s the reason why even in technologically advanced science fiction, authors are still finding ways to bring conflicts down to a bit of mano e mano duelling.