Highlander: The Immortal Edition

[Don Mappin]

Tomorrow (April 16th) sees the release of a new transfer of "Highlander" from Anchor Bay. The "Highlander: The Immortal Edition" includes an all new transfer, 16x9 enhanced, with DTS sound and a second disc of extras, including the Highlander Queen videos. (Something of a rarity but pretty cool.)

Edition Details:
• Region 1 encoding (US and Canada only)
• Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Box set, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound
• Uncensored director's cut
• Queen music videos
• Commentary
• CD with Queen material
• Widescreen anamorphic format
• Number of discs: 2

Early reports say that the picture is greatly enhanced from the previous 1997 (?) DVD release, which was very grainy and non-anamorphic. (It looked simply horrible, trust me.)

If you're a Highlander fan, a home theater enthusiast, or both, you'll want to pick this up tomorrow.

There can be only one!

[AslanC]

Must save money!

Can't buy disk!

Don't sell blood!

Awwww crap...where did I put my walle?

[Greg Smith]

The second disc is a Queen CD with three songs on it.

The special edition (also released today) is cheaper and has pretty much the same stuff, less a few Queen videos and the CD. But it doesn't come a shiny box.

But I'm gonna buy the Immortal edition, for the cool name and the shiny box.

[Caretaker]

I got it. Can't watch the DVD right now as my computer with my DVD-ROM drive just died. But the songs on the CD are nice to listen to... I've waited a long time to get a good copy of Princes of the Universe.

[Kronok]

Great movie and I love Queen.

Thanks for the heads up.

[Kronok]

Highlander, the original, which I saw in the theater, is ranked in my top 10 movies.

When the director's cut came out on video, later on DVD, I had to have it. Unfortunately, it did not live up to my ecpectations. Only the Nazi scene lended greatly to the movie's storyline.

In addition, the "look" of the director's cut left much to be desired. I can't seem to put my finger on it, but the picture looked different somehow; and not in a good way.

Final thoughts: Give me a digitally remastered version of the "original" movie and I will be happy. Take a look at the VHS version and you will see what I mean.

[Don Mappin]

A few comments on the Immortal Edition.

Transfer: It’s a really nice transfer, but keep in mind that it’s from 1985 film. You can only clean it up so much. With that said, I was pleasantly surprised by the picture quality. Outdoor scenes (as they tend to be in any film), show more graininess than others. The picture is 1:1.85 and anamorphic, so it looks really nice on 16x9 sets (like mine).

Sound: Dolby Surround and DTS are included. I watched the DTS and saw a marked improvement in the sound. This was especially noticeable in the New York scenes (ambient noise) and Connor being driven from his village. There’s a commentary but I haven’t listened to it. I suspect it’s the same commentary from the previous DVD release.

Extras: I’m disappointed in the extras. There is a still gallery, bios, trailers, and three four minute Queen videos. The second disc has three more Queen videos. Overall a pretty anemic showing in the special features department.

Film: The cut is the Directors Cut, which if you haven’t seen before, add a few more scenes. Most contribute to the story and I don’t mind having in there. A few you can tell were removed (rightfully) for pacing reasons. The pace suffers a little with the new footage but the story also gains a bit as well. The new bits with Rachael are the best part. Again, this is identical to the previous DVD release.

I’d say “get it” if you have any serious Highlander interest. Retail is about $35 and you get a nice metal case with the two discs. I snagged my copy on sale for $21 and don’t feel cheated. I finally have a nice anamorphic transfer of Highlander with kick-ass sound.

I’m happy.

[AslanC]

Slightly on topic, what was the anme of the Higlander like role-playign game from the same guys who made the Imortals (Mage-like) game?

I really, really, really need to know.

[Don Mappin]

Legacy: War of Ages by Blackgate Publishing.

[AslanC]

Cool beans Don!

Thanks very much

By any chance have you (or anyone else) played this game?

If so, how is it? Is the system any good?

Thanks in advance

[Don Mappin]

Originally posted by AslanC
By any chance have you (or anyone else) played this game?

If so, how is it? Is the system any good?

The system is a blatant Storyteller rip-off. (The author/publisher even admits as much.)

It's okay but doesn't do anything special. You could substitute Storyteller easily if you were so inclined.

The product was short-lived (as was the company), and only two books were released. The core rulebook and a (bad) supplement, "Blades." A third book, "Sentinels: Mortal Enemies," written by yours truly, never saw print, although Gold Rush Games continues to contend that they will print it one day.

The few times we played it I actually liked it. Haven't cracked it open in ages, however.

If you want more information, let me know.

[edit]
Whoa! Stop the presses! Apparently the book has been released as a PDF! Color me shocked!
http://www.goldrushgames.com/sentinels.html

(I wrote this so long ago I'm afraid to read it, however!)

[Greg Smith]

Originally posted by Don Mappin
A few comments on the Immortal Edition.

Film: The cut is the Directors Cut, which if you haven’t seen before, add a few more scenes. Most contribute to the story and I don’t mind having in there. A few you can tell were removed (rightfully) for pacing reasons. The pace suffers a little with the new footage but the story also gains a bit as well. The new bits with Rachael are the best part. Again, this is identical to the previous DVD release.


I’m happy.

Director's cut is a bit of a misnomer. Those scenes were in the edition of the film released at the cinema over here. Reputedly the scenes were cut for US audiences after test screeings when the switching between different eras proved to be confusing.

[Don Mappin]

Originally posted by Caretaker
But the songs on the CD are nice to listen to... I've waited a long time to get a good copy of Princes of the Universe.

Go to any music store in the Popular/Rock section under Queen. Their album, "A Kind of Magic," is the Highlander soundtrack. All of the Highlander tracks are on that album plus a few others ("One Vision" from Iron Eagle being a notable).

There originally was a Highlander soundtrack planned but the movie did so badly in the theaters in 86 that the soundtrack was scrapped. Queen took their tracks and simply released them themselves ("A Kind of Magic"). The Kamen Highlander score eventually was released with music from the other two Highlander movies (at the time) in the mid 90s.

[AslanC]

Originally posted by Greg Smith
Director's cut is a bit of a misnomer. Those scenes were in the edition of the film released at the cinema over here. Reputedly the scenes were cut for US audiences after test screeings when the switching between different eras proved to be confusing.

Also the French version that plays on Quebec TV has the added scenes. I think the loss of the explanation for the line "It's a kind of magic." was something I never thought about until I saw the Nazi scene and then realized how important it was.

I still love this movie.

I hated 2, though the Rogue cut is funny as hell.

I also worked on Highlander 3, but in my mind "There should have been only one."

Never saw the 4th one and have seen a total of 20 minutes of the series (never saw the one with the chick either)

Is either series any good?

[AslanC]

Originally posted by Don Mappin

The system is a blatant Storyteller rip-off. (The author/publisher even admits as much.)

It's okay but doesn't do anything special. You could substitute Storyteller easily if you were so inclined.

The product was short-lived (as was the company), and only two books were released. The core rulebook and a (bad) supplement, "Blades." A third book, "Sentinels: Mortal Enemies," written by yours truly, never saw print, although Gold Rush Games continues to contend that they will print it one day.

The few times we played it I actually liked it. Haven't cracked it open in ages, however.

If you want more information, let me know.

[edit]
Whoa! Stop the presses! Apparently the book has been released as a PDF! Color me shocked!
http://www.goldrushgames.com/sentinels.html

(I wrote this so long ago I'm afraid to read it, however!)

Thanks again Don

I may pick thisup, just to check out their world and universe, though they seem to have it all online, so maybe White Wolf is the way to go.

Blades sucks? Too bad, it sounds interesting.

Your PDF huh? I may have to buy this as well, it looks like a nice cover actually, and lord knows I love to buy a book by its' cover.