Well this has been a long time in the works! Certainly longer than I intended. But life has a funny habit of getting in the way of hobbies sometimes. Anyway, if you don’t want to read an exhaustive history of both the creation and the many subsequent reversions of Highlander 2 then feel free to skip to my second post which details my fanedit. If you do, then buckle up!
There should have been only one…
A joke that basically wrote itself over the years when looking at the sprawling Highlander series. At this point it has ballooned into a franchise encompassing 5 movies, a syndicated TV show, an anime OVA as well as a Saturday morning cartoon. All of varying quality but none reaching the level of the original film.
Highlander was a relatively low budget, independently financed film released in 1986. But with flashy direction from up & coming director Russell Mulcahy, multiple hit songs from Queen and a genuinely original premise; Highlander had all the ingredients to become a hit.
Unfortunately its US distribution rights were picked up by 20th Century Fox. Who had no idea how to market a film with such a high concept - an immortal warrior, living, loving and fighting throughout the centuries. Their poor marketing campaign (with a bafflingly ugly poster) didn’t help it find an audience in America. The film came and went without making much of a dent at the US box office. But across the pond, things were a different story. The international distributors knew what they had on their hands and went full out to support the release. In star Christopher Lambert’s home country of France the film was a smash hit. This extended to the UK and across the rest of Europe.
With this success, the producers found themselves repeatedly being asked by those very same distributors, when the sequel was coming. But of course there were no plans for a sequel. The producers tried to explain that the story was all tied up at the end of the film. There were no more immortals left to fight. In fact the one immortal who was still alive, wasn’t even an immortal any more! But those requests kept on coming. With the distributors confident they would somehow figure it out. And as long as the producers could come up with a Highlander 2, starring both Christopher Lambert and Sean Connery, there would be plenty of people willing to release it. So with the gauntlet thrown down the producers tried the think of how to get both the now mortal Lambert and the very much dead Connery back. Along with new immortals to battle. And so begins the creation of Highlander 2 - The Quickening. Once described as the worst sequel of all time.
For better or worse the decision was made to retcon the origin of the immortals to being aliens from another planet. The planet Zeist to be exact! The new lore was that all the immortals shown in the first film had previously been exiled from Zeist as punishment for trying to overthrow the dictatorial regime in charge there. Similar to how Superman only has powers when he’s near the yellow sun of Earth; on Zeist everyone is mortal. The immortality only kicks in as a byproduct of Zeistians being on Earth. Now why do they exile the rebels in this elaborate way, rather than just executing them on Zeist…? Never really explained other than saying it’s the tradition. Anyway, rebel leader Connor MacLeod and his Merlin-esque advisor Ramirez were captured and exiled to Earth 100s of years ago. Where they and their fellow immortal prisoners must compete in “The Game” of combat from the first film. With the final survivor gaining “The Prize”. Which is either to remain on Earth as a mortal or (unmentioned in the first film) return to Zeist as a free man. With this bat-shit crazy explanation in place, the story is free to conjure up as many new immortals as it needs just by beaming more Zeistians to Earth. Another crutch the sequel leans heavily on is the loosely defined but pretty coolly named power called The Quickening. The first film didn’t really explain what this was. What it wasn’t meant to be however, was the release of lightning and explosions that follows an immortal being beheaded. But in Highlander 2 it is changed to not only refer specifically to that but also the transfer of energy from a vanquished immortal to another. As well as any other mystical plot contrivance the script needs. One such example is how they got around Sean Connery’s death in the first film. They show him and MacLeod taking part in a blood-brothers like ceremony before being captured on Zeist. During which, the power of the Quickening apparently bonds their souls together. Ramirez promises that if MacLeod ever needs him that he only has to call out Ramirez’ name he’ll come running. This name calling coupled with the power released from a decapitated immortal is enough to just magic Ramirez back to life. So armed with these new retcons the stage is set for a confrontation between rebel leader MacLeod and the despot who wants to make sure he never returns to Zeist to finish overthrowing him - General Katana. Who I must say is played very entertainingly by the legendary Michael Ironside. Acting as if he’ll be fined by the production if any of the scenery is left unchewed!
But seemingly this wasn’t enough of a plot for the producers. And as it was the early 90s, they had something else more topical on their minds - the hole in the Ozone layer. If you weren’t around back then you may not know how big a news item this was at the time. A widening gap in the protective layer that stops excessive UV radiation reaching the Earth’s surface had developed over Australia. I’m not sure when the discovery was made public that our rampant use of CFC gases was the main culprit. But this led to their widespread ban. The Producers of Highlander 2 wanted to include the Ozone layer crisis of the time as a major plot point. They extrapolated a near future where the hole continued to widen unabated, leading to the Ozone layer totally disappearing and a worldwide death toll in the millions. Into this comes Connor Macload. Who uses the vague psychic abilities granted to him at the end of the first film, to help unite the world’s leaders behind the creation of The Shield. An electromagnetic force field that surrounds the entire planet and blocks the deadly UV radiation. Unfortunately it also blocks out all light from the Sun. So humanity was saved, but it has been living in perpetual darkness for decades by the time the main story begins in 2024. A general malaise hangs over the world as society slowly crumbles. And hope for a better tomorrow dwindles as time goes by…
If you’ve never seen the film I hope you can tell that Highlander 2 pivots genres hard from the historical fantasy of the first movie to pure science fiction. Featuring aliens, force fields, hoverboards and more! I feel this is the main issue people have with it and why it has such a poor reputation within the fandom. It undoes so much of the mystique that people love about the first one. And whats worse it goes about it in a way that doesn’t even make sense within its new internal logic. Why do they exile the prisoners to Earth rather than killing them on Zeist? How come MacLeod and Ramirez have the same names on Zeist as they do on Earth? How is MacLeod sent to Earth as an adult when we know he was born in Scotland to the clan MacLeod in the 15th century. Why does General Katana wait until it’s 2024 before trying to kill MacLeod? The list goes on.
But on top of the choices made when writing the screenplay; the actual production itself was riddled with problems. Those that have done their own damage to its reputation, and have resulted in multiple attempts over the years to course correct its original release.
As with the first film, the financing for the production was independent from a major studio. So in an industry where you want as much of the budget to show on screen the decision was made to shoot in Argentina. The budget went much further there than in the US or Europe. This allowed for the creation of the vast sets designed to show the crumbling world of the future. The government was also very accommodating in allowing the use of several impressive locations as set. Such as the opera house and the hydroelectric dam that doubled as Shield Control. Unfortunately Argentina’s economy went spiralling out of control, making it impossible to keep the film on budget as rapid inflation increased local costs on a daily basis. The deal that had been struck with the insurance company was that if the production went over budget, they would step in to complete the film in the most economical way possible. And that’s exactly what happened. The shoot was abruptly cut short without completing everything. Mulcahy was kicked out of the editing room, leading to some scenes being structured out of their intended order. And the VFX shots were completed as cheaply as possible. This gave birth to what will be referred to as the US Theatrical Cut (US). This is the one that was first released in cinemas in 1991. And the one that garnered all the critical backlash at the time. People didn’t like the Zeist retcons to begin with. But this cut also removed scenes that helped clarify character motivations, it combined two separate sword fights into a single long one (despite Lambert wearing different clothes in each) and it ends very abruptly right after the destruction of the shield with an awkward freeze frame on MacLeod.
In a move I’ve not heard of on other films, the British distributor was able to reject releasing the US cut and somehow had the right to create their own version. This one I’ll refer to as the European cut (EURO) since it also screened across the rest of the continent. They brought Mulcahy and the Producers back to try and salvage as much of their original vision as they could. I suspect this is really the workprint that Mulcahy had already gotten pretty far with before the Insurance company vetoed it and made their changes for the US release. The editing is pretty much frame for frame identical in scenes both versions share, implying they must have been far along the editing process by the time they were removed from the cutting room. Anyway this version puts the film into the intended non-chronological order which was designed to mirror the flashback heavy style of the first film. It expands Virgina Madsen’s contributions to the plot and gives her character of ecoterrorist Louise Marcus more of a journey. It also included the original ending, who’s removal accounts for that abrupt freeze frame in the US cut. Here MacLeod chooses to return to Zeist and takes Louise with him. Disappearing into the stars in what is known as the Fairytale ending. Overall the film is certainly more complete and works better than the US cut. Unfortunately it is not widely known about. As although it was the Theatrical release across Europe it’s not been widely released there on home video. For example all UK video and DVD releases so far have just been the butchered US cut. It is available on DVD in Germany. But with very poor picture quality and only German dubbing.
Hoping that third time would be the charm, the film got another version in the mid 90s. The boom of special editions and director’s cuts appearing on laserdisc at the time prompted the producers and Mulcahy to try and tackle all the Zeist hate that hung over the film. By this time things were gearing up for Highlander 3 as well as the TV series. And the first sequel stuck out like a sore thumb compared to the lore of the rest. So they decided to remove Zeist altogether and change those scenes to taking place in a long forgotten past on Earth. Albeit one with advanced hover technology and machine guns! This change now introduces time travel to the proceedings as instead of being aliens exiled to Earth, the rebels are immortals exiled into the future. Their crime this time is not rebellion against a dictatorship but rebellion against a society that views their immortality as unholy. This actually fixes something that didn’t really make sense in the Zeist versions - the rule about never fighting on holy ground. Why do aliens care so much about human religions? But if they come from a society that persecutes them for being unholy, then making that a rule of their exile fits better. The knock on effect of all this is that the rebels in the Zeist scenes are now already immortal rather than gaining it when they are sent to Earth. It also makes General Katana an immortal. Which now seems strange that he’d be allowed to rise to such a high rank in a society that should spurn him. Luckily for the filmmakers (and myself later) the entire trial of MacLeod and Ramirez was conducted by an omnipresent voice over representing the judge in charge. This allowed them to easily swap the VO dialogue during this crucial scene to remove the Zeist references and insert the new time travel elements. Most of the rest of the cut plays out largely the same as the EURO structure. There are trims throughout to remove mentions of Zeist. And the fairytale ending was reworked into a version that is halfway between the too abrupt US cut and the longer EURO. But keeping both characters firmly on Earth by the end. It wasn’t all deletions though. They went back to finish a jeep chase scene that was never completed in Argentina. Getting Christopher Lambert and (I think just a stunt double for) Michael Ironside to film the missing parts. This version was released as the Renegade Cut (REN) on widescreen laserdisc and later non-anamorphic DVD.
But it’s never been released in high definition. In fact none of the previously discussed cuts of Highlander 2 have been released in anything better than Standard Def on home video. When it came time to put out a blu-ray there was another opportunity to tinker with things. In fairness all the work that had been done to make the Renegade version was completed in SD. And would have to be redone in HD anyway. The cut itself would stay largely the same as the Renegade version - except for inexplicably removing a gunfight between MacLeod and the Shield control guards just before MacLeod heads for the final confrontation with Katana. I have no idea why they took it out. As once again it gave Louise something proactive to do as she tries to hold the guards off herself while Connor goes for the Shield. But the big change was the VFX and colour grade. If you remember, the effects shots were fairly rushed out the door when making the initial US cut. And they have largely stayed the same in all subsequent versions. The Renegade cut did some extra colour grading to enhance the redness of those old Shield effects but that was all. It seems they didn’t really know what the shield would look like when they were originally shooting. It’s an orangey/yellow colour in most of the VFX shots. But the on set cinematography pushes towards more neutral tones and most windows have blueish light coming through them. It really doesn’t feel like there’s a big red dome hanging over the entire planet. So for the new HD Special Edition (SPEC) they decided to double down on the blue. If there’s lighting already going that way, let’s redo all the shield VFX with modern CGI and make it a blue shield rather than a red one! These don’t gel well with a movie from the era of practical effects and optical compositing. And in my opinion have now dated more than the old effects have. On top of this, a blue shield really spoils the thematic beats of Louise’s story. She talks of dreaming about being able to see a blue sky as she was born after the Shield was created. Her eco-terrorism group is even named Cobalt after this goal of getting the blue sky back by taking down the redundant Shield. This is now undercut by the majority of the film being regraded with a very extreme blue tint. There are also rumours that they ran out of money to complete this version in true high definition. During several scenes the picture quality of the Blu-Ray takes a very noticeable dip. Displaying all the hallmarks of being poorly deinterlaced video rather than scanned film. There are jagged diagonal lines and lots of dot crawl. The theory being that they plugged the missing gaps in the actual HD sections with upscaled video from the old Renegade Cut master tapes.
There should have been only one…
A joke that basically wrote itself over the years when looking at the sprawling Highlander series. At this point it has ballooned into a franchise encompassing 5 movies, a syndicated TV show, an anime OVA as well as a Saturday morning cartoon. All of varying quality but none reaching the level of the original film.
Highlander was a relatively low budget, independently financed film released in 1986. But with flashy direction from up & coming director Russell Mulcahy, multiple hit songs from Queen and a genuinely original premise; Highlander had all the ingredients to become a hit.
Unfortunately its US distribution rights were picked up by 20th Century Fox. Who had no idea how to market a film with such a high concept - an immortal warrior, living, loving and fighting throughout the centuries. Their poor marketing campaign (with a bafflingly ugly poster) didn’t help it find an audience in America. The film came and went without making much of a dent at the US box office. But across the pond, things were a different story. The international distributors knew what they had on their hands and went full out to support the release. In star Christopher Lambert’s home country of France the film was a smash hit. This extended to the UK and across the rest of Europe.
With this success, the producers found themselves repeatedly being asked by those very same distributors, when the sequel was coming. But of course there were no plans for a sequel. The producers tried to explain that the story was all tied up at the end of the film. There were no more immortals left to fight. In fact the one immortal who was still alive, wasn’t even an immortal any more! But those requests kept on coming. With the distributors confident they would somehow figure it out. And as long as the producers could come up with a Highlander 2, starring both Christopher Lambert and Sean Connery, there would be plenty of people willing to release it. So with the gauntlet thrown down the producers tried the think of how to get both the now mortal Lambert and the very much dead Connery back. Along with new immortals to battle. And so begins the creation of Highlander 2 - The Quickening. Once described as the worst sequel of all time.
For better or worse the decision was made to retcon the origin of the immortals to being aliens from another planet. The planet Zeist to be exact! The new lore was that all the immortals shown in the first film had previously been exiled from Zeist as punishment for trying to overthrow the dictatorial regime in charge there. Similar to how Superman only has powers when he’s near the yellow sun of Earth; on Zeist everyone is mortal. The immortality only kicks in as a byproduct of Zeistians being on Earth. Now why do they exile the rebels in this elaborate way, rather than just executing them on Zeist…? Never really explained other than saying it’s the tradition. Anyway, rebel leader Connor MacLeod and his Merlin-esque advisor Ramirez were captured and exiled to Earth 100s of years ago. Where they and their fellow immortal prisoners must compete in “The Game” of combat from the first film. With the final survivor gaining “The Prize”. Which is either to remain on Earth as a mortal or (unmentioned in the first film) return to Zeist as a free man. With this bat-shit crazy explanation in place, the story is free to conjure up as many new immortals as it needs just by beaming more Zeistians to Earth. Another crutch the sequel leans heavily on is the loosely defined but pretty coolly named power called The Quickening. The first film didn’t really explain what this was. What it wasn’t meant to be however, was the release of lightning and explosions that follows an immortal being beheaded. But in Highlander 2 it is changed to not only refer specifically to that but also the transfer of energy from a vanquished immortal to another. As well as any other mystical plot contrivance the script needs. One such example is how they got around Sean Connery’s death in the first film. They show him and MacLeod taking part in a blood-brothers like ceremony before being captured on Zeist. During which, the power of the Quickening apparently bonds their souls together. Ramirez promises that if MacLeod ever needs him that he only has to call out Ramirez’ name he’ll come running. This name calling coupled with the power released from a decapitated immortal is enough to just magic Ramirez back to life. So armed with these new retcons the stage is set for a confrontation between rebel leader MacLeod and the despot who wants to make sure he never returns to Zeist to finish overthrowing him - General Katana. Who I must say is played very entertainingly by the legendary Michael Ironside. Acting as if he’ll be fined by the production if any of the scenery is left unchewed!
But seemingly this wasn’t enough of a plot for the producers. And as it was the early 90s, they had something else more topical on their minds - the hole in the Ozone layer. If you weren’t around back then you may not know how big a news item this was at the time. A widening gap in the protective layer that stops excessive UV radiation reaching the Earth’s surface had developed over Australia. I’m not sure when the discovery was made public that our rampant use of CFC gases was the main culprit. But this led to their widespread ban. The Producers of Highlander 2 wanted to include the Ozone layer crisis of the time as a major plot point. They extrapolated a near future where the hole continued to widen unabated, leading to the Ozone layer totally disappearing and a worldwide death toll in the millions. Into this comes Connor Macload. Who uses the vague psychic abilities granted to him at the end of the first film, to help unite the world’s leaders behind the creation of The Shield. An electromagnetic force field that surrounds the entire planet and blocks the deadly UV radiation. Unfortunately it also blocks out all light from the Sun. So humanity was saved, but it has been living in perpetual darkness for decades by the time the main story begins in 2024. A general malaise hangs over the world as society slowly crumbles. And hope for a better tomorrow dwindles as time goes by…
If you’ve never seen the film I hope you can tell that Highlander 2 pivots genres hard from the historical fantasy of the first movie to pure science fiction. Featuring aliens, force fields, hoverboards and more! I feel this is the main issue people have with it and why it has such a poor reputation within the fandom. It undoes so much of the mystique that people love about the first one. And whats worse it goes about it in a way that doesn’t even make sense within its new internal logic. Why do they exile the prisoners to Earth rather than killing them on Zeist? How come MacLeod and Ramirez have the same names on Zeist as they do on Earth? How is MacLeod sent to Earth as an adult when we know he was born in Scotland to the clan MacLeod in the 15th century. Why does General Katana wait until it’s 2024 before trying to kill MacLeod? The list goes on.
But on top of the choices made when writing the screenplay; the actual production itself was riddled with problems. Those that have done their own damage to its reputation, and have resulted in multiple attempts over the years to course correct its original release.
As with the first film, the financing for the production was independent from a major studio. So in an industry where you want as much of the budget to show on screen the decision was made to shoot in Argentina. The budget went much further there than in the US or Europe. This allowed for the creation of the vast sets designed to show the crumbling world of the future. The government was also very accommodating in allowing the use of several impressive locations as set. Such as the opera house and the hydroelectric dam that doubled as Shield Control. Unfortunately Argentina’s economy went spiralling out of control, making it impossible to keep the film on budget as rapid inflation increased local costs on a daily basis. The deal that had been struck with the insurance company was that if the production went over budget, they would step in to complete the film in the most economical way possible. And that’s exactly what happened. The shoot was abruptly cut short without completing everything. Mulcahy was kicked out of the editing room, leading to some scenes being structured out of their intended order. And the VFX shots were completed as cheaply as possible. This gave birth to what will be referred to as the US Theatrical Cut (US). This is the one that was first released in cinemas in 1991. And the one that garnered all the critical backlash at the time. People didn’t like the Zeist retcons to begin with. But this cut also removed scenes that helped clarify character motivations, it combined two separate sword fights into a single long one (despite Lambert wearing different clothes in each) and it ends very abruptly right after the destruction of the shield with an awkward freeze frame on MacLeod.
In a move I’ve not heard of on other films, the British distributor was able to reject releasing the US cut and somehow had the right to create their own version. This one I’ll refer to as the European cut (EURO) since it also screened across the rest of the continent. They brought Mulcahy and the Producers back to try and salvage as much of their original vision as they could. I suspect this is really the workprint that Mulcahy had already gotten pretty far with before the Insurance company vetoed it and made their changes for the US release. The editing is pretty much frame for frame identical in scenes both versions share, implying they must have been far along the editing process by the time they were removed from the cutting room. Anyway this version puts the film into the intended non-chronological order which was designed to mirror the flashback heavy style of the first film. It expands Virgina Madsen’s contributions to the plot and gives her character of ecoterrorist Louise Marcus more of a journey. It also included the original ending, who’s removal accounts for that abrupt freeze frame in the US cut. Here MacLeod chooses to return to Zeist and takes Louise with him. Disappearing into the stars in what is known as the Fairytale ending. Overall the film is certainly more complete and works better than the US cut. Unfortunately it is not widely known about. As although it was the Theatrical release across Europe it’s not been widely released there on home video. For example all UK video and DVD releases so far have just been the butchered US cut. It is available on DVD in Germany. But with very poor picture quality and only German dubbing.
Hoping that third time would be the charm, the film got another version in the mid 90s. The boom of special editions and director’s cuts appearing on laserdisc at the time prompted the producers and Mulcahy to try and tackle all the Zeist hate that hung over the film. By this time things were gearing up for Highlander 3 as well as the TV series. And the first sequel stuck out like a sore thumb compared to the lore of the rest. So they decided to remove Zeist altogether and change those scenes to taking place in a long forgotten past on Earth. Albeit one with advanced hover technology and machine guns! This change now introduces time travel to the proceedings as instead of being aliens exiled to Earth, the rebels are immortals exiled into the future. Their crime this time is not rebellion against a dictatorship but rebellion against a society that views their immortality as unholy. This actually fixes something that didn’t really make sense in the Zeist versions - the rule about never fighting on holy ground. Why do aliens care so much about human religions? But if they come from a society that persecutes them for being unholy, then making that a rule of their exile fits better. The knock on effect of all this is that the rebels in the Zeist scenes are now already immortal rather than gaining it when they are sent to Earth. It also makes General Katana an immortal. Which now seems strange that he’d be allowed to rise to such a high rank in a society that should spurn him. Luckily for the filmmakers (and myself later) the entire trial of MacLeod and Ramirez was conducted by an omnipresent voice over representing the judge in charge. This allowed them to easily swap the VO dialogue during this crucial scene to remove the Zeist references and insert the new time travel elements. Most of the rest of the cut plays out largely the same as the EURO structure. There are trims throughout to remove mentions of Zeist. And the fairytale ending was reworked into a version that is halfway between the too abrupt US cut and the longer EURO. But keeping both characters firmly on Earth by the end. It wasn’t all deletions though. They went back to finish a jeep chase scene that was never completed in Argentina. Getting Christopher Lambert and (I think just a stunt double for) Michael Ironside to film the missing parts. This version was released as the Renegade Cut (REN) on widescreen laserdisc and later non-anamorphic DVD.
But it’s never been released in high definition. In fact none of the previously discussed cuts of Highlander 2 have been released in anything better than Standard Def on home video. When it came time to put out a blu-ray there was another opportunity to tinker with things. In fairness all the work that had been done to make the Renegade version was completed in SD. And would have to be redone in HD anyway. The cut itself would stay largely the same as the Renegade version - except for inexplicably removing a gunfight between MacLeod and the Shield control guards just before MacLeod heads for the final confrontation with Katana. I have no idea why they took it out. As once again it gave Louise something proactive to do as she tries to hold the guards off herself while Connor goes for the Shield. But the big change was the VFX and colour grade. If you remember, the effects shots were fairly rushed out the door when making the initial US cut. And they have largely stayed the same in all subsequent versions. The Renegade cut did some extra colour grading to enhance the redness of those old Shield effects but that was all. It seems they didn’t really know what the shield would look like when they were originally shooting. It’s an orangey/yellow colour in most of the VFX shots. But the on set cinematography pushes towards more neutral tones and most windows have blueish light coming through them. It really doesn’t feel like there’s a big red dome hanging over the entire planet. So for the new HD Special Edition (SPEC) they decided to double down on the blue. If there’s lighting already going that way, let’s redo all the shield VFX with modern CGI and make it a blue shield rather than a red one! These don’t gel well with a movie from the era of practical effects and optical compositing. And in my opinion have now dated more than the old effects have. On top of this, a blue shield really spoils the thematic beats of Louise’s story. She talks of dreaming about being able to see a blue sky as she was born after the Shield was created. Her eco-terrorism group is even named Cobalt after this goal of getting the blue sky back by taking down the redundant Shield. This is now undercut by the majority of the film being regraded with a very extreme blue tint. There are also rumours that they ran out of money to complete this version in true high definition. During several scenes the picture quality of the Blu-Ray takes a very noticeable dip. Displaying all the hallmarks of being poorly deinterlaced video rather than scanned film. There are jagged diagonal lines and lots of dot crawl. The theory being that they plugged the missing gaps in the actual HD sections with upscaled video from the old Renegade Cut master tapes.
