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    Highlander 101

    Take out your notebooks, class. It's time for beginner's Highlander. Pay attention; there may be a quiz later on.

    Highlander: the Series is a television show made by the fine folks at Rysher Entertainment. They also have assisted on the development of TV shows like FX: the Series, Robocop: the Series, The Hitchhiker, Nash Bridges, One West Waikiki, and feature films like The Saint with Val Kilmer and Howard Stern's Private Parts.

    The principle character of the show is Duncan MacLeod, a Scotsman (hence the title "Highlander") who was born in 1592 and killed in 1622. Never mind how. The point is that he's still alive today because he is Immortal -- a member of a secret and select race of people who never age and can only die if they're beheaded.

    Because of this, he and every Immortal must learn how to use a sword: the most important thing to know is that in the end, there can be only one. MacLeod must face Immortals who are hundreds and occasionally thousands of years older than he is. All the Immortals are in a sort of competition known as the Gathering. During the Gathering, the last few remaining Immortals will battle until only one remains. This "Last Immortal" will receive the Prize -- some unspecified (or at least unagreed-upon) mystical power or ability which will allow him or her to rule the planet for all eternity.

    The 1997-1998 season was the sixth and final for the show, and we have met many, many Immortals in that time.

    Needless to say, the Gathering has been postponed.

    Other characters on the show include Richie Ryan, Duncan's student. Richie lived with Duncan and Duncan's girlfriend, Tessa, for the entire first season. In the early second season, both Richie and Tessa were shot and killed by a mugger in a display of senseless street crime. Richie, though, was an Immortal, and he learned the art of the sword and took heads like a pro until the fifth season, when an eternal entity of pure evil drove Duncan into a series of psychotic episodes (pun intended) which ultimately resulted in him accidentally beheading Richie.
    Tessa met Duncan when he jumped ship -- literally. She was working as a guide on a boat tour along the Seine River when he decided to use the departing ferry as a quick getaway from the police. She decided to ignore his "enthusiasm" at first, but when he corrected her knowledge of the architectural history of Notre Dame in front of all the other tourists, it drove her bonkers. In other words, it was love at first sight.
    Joe Dawson is a Watcher. He belongs to a society of mortals who follow the Immortals and keep track of them. His current assignment is -- you guessed it -- Duncan MacLeod. He is Duncan's friend and ally, and even though he has sworn not to interfere, he has done so many times over. Don't give him a hard time. He's just doing what he thinks is right.
    Adam Pierson is also a Watcher, assigned to research the Methos Chronicles. Methos is the oldest Immortal alive -- over 5,000 years old. No one's heard from Methos for so long that many people think it's just a myth. What nobody knows is that Pierson is Methos. Well, almost nobody. Duncan, Richie, Joe, and Amanda know about him. But they're not telling.
    Amanda is Duncan's on-again, off-again girlfriend. By "on-again, off-again" I mean that they run into each other every 60 years or so. She is a professional thief and seductress, and with 1,000 years experience under her belt, she's very good at what she does. Her outlook on life is that men are like Kleenex: soft, strong, and disposable. She's recently gone on the straight and narrow at the urging of Duncan. Even so, she still likes an occasional jewel heist or armed robbery to brighten her day.
    Darius was, arguably, the world's greatest general. He led his armies across entire continents, which you wouldn't expect to be on the résumé of a priest. Darius eventually turned against his bloodthirsty conquering and became an emissary of peace and healing. He is the man who taught Duncan that life is more important than war and that some things just aren't worth dying for.
    Hugh Fitzcairn loves women, and women love Hugh Fitzcairn. Quick with a sword, quick with a joke, and quick to put the moves on your wife if you're not careful, Fitz has been leaning on Duncan to get him out of tight spots for nearly three hundred years.



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