Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Headcanon III: The Fanon Dimension

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Headcanon III: The Fanon Dimension

    In your personal reckoning, what is the best way to reconcile the third film within the larger franchise?


    - Do you stick with the film's original intent and view it as the one and only true sequel to the first film?
    This option technically doesn't rule out the first film's novelization, The Element of Fire, The Way of the Sword, or The American Dream, but it does reject any stories set after the Gathering in 1985. Basically, no Shield Corporation, no Seacouver, no Search for Vengeance, and no "Seven centuries have passed since the Earth plunged into darkness."


    - Do you take a page from the Dynamite comics run and treat it as a retroactive chapter of the TV series continuity?
    Basically, in this case, you do exactly what you do with the first movie: you plug your ears every time it says that the Game is over and pretend that it makes sense alongside the adventures of Duncan MacLeod. It doesn't reaaaally fit all that well with Connor's Sanctuary sojourn in Endgame, but neither does "The Gathering," so it's in good company.


    - Do you try to fit it in the world(s) presented in the post-apocalyptic animated Highlander media of your choice?
    This choice probably won't get many takers, but for those who have no problem ignoring the Prize talk but can't reconcile it with Endgame, there's always Option 3. Technically, it's two options, since The Animated Series and The Search for Vengeance don't really gel together, but either way, it gives Connor something to do before civilization crumbles.


    - Do you write it off as some weird figment of Connor's imagination? (Or Duncan's, for that matter? Anyone's?)
    The final option is basically, "It doesn't count." It never really happened in any timeline. Hey, maybe Connor needed a way to pass the time in the Sanctuary and started daydreaming. Or maybe he wrote bad fan fiction for himself while working out that whole Shield thing. Perhaps his Watcher was concocting false rumors. Who knows? Who cares? Not canon.
    9
    Standalone sequel
    44.44%
    4
    TV series universe
    44.44%
    4
    Animated universe
    11.11%
    1
    It was all a dream!
    0%
    0
    __________________________________________________

    "Really? We are trapped in a room with a machine that can cut off my head. Now that's a longshot."
    --Connor MacLeod in Peter Bellwood's original Highlander II script

  • #2
    The Series-verse is the only realistic option. And really, they could have so easily edited it in post to make it fit with the show, too. The sequel-to-original concept didn't work, despite the noble intent behind it. It just doesn't make a LICK of sense, and I'm not gonna waste time explaining why.

    I've seen rumor about a legendary Unofficial Renegade Version that was floating around and basically did just that. I tell you, they also removed of the lame humor from it. I wish I could've seen it now!

    Comment


    • #3
      It may not work, but that is what is was meant to be. Frankly, I think they could have done with The Quickening, if only it had been STILL Zeist, but properly in order. And bloody heck if they'd given our men their own names!! And so on, and so on.

      Comment


      • Tootsie Bee
        Tootsie Bee commented
        Editing a comment
        I skimmed over this post again, and I couldn't figure out what you meant by it. Could you clarify your point?

    • #4
      TV Series universe is how I roll -- for years after it came out, I always simply assumed that the same continuity-handwavium that applied to H1 also applied to H3, and had zero problems with it fitting in that way. Then, of course, we got the excellent Dynamite comic book series (which made several references to the film within the Duncan-verse), culminating with The Kurgan: Origins miniseries, which actually gave us Kane along with the Four Horsemen and other TV universe characters.

      None of the producers' attempts to shoehorn in additional Immortals following the first movie's "one-and-done" approach were especially organic (and I say this as a HUGE lover of the Planet Zeist), so simply taking it as having occurred within the TV series universe gives us all the justification we need at the end of the day...and is certainly the easiest approach, IMHO.

      Comment


      • #5
        I'd argue that, unlike HL1, you can just ignore the Gathering/Prize references and the story wouldn't be directly affected one iota. Its obvious that the producers were having doubts to making it a direct sequel to the first, but its ultimately idiotic in the way that they did.

        Comment


        • #6
          Originally posted by Aleander View Post
          I'd argue that, unlike HL1, you can just ignore the Gathering/Prize references and the story wouldn't be directly affected one iota. Its obvious that the producers were having doubts to making it a direct sequel to the first, but its ultimately idiotic in the way that they did.
          Yup, plus, of course, there are at least a couple of TV series references in the film, such as Detective Stenn's description of Brenda's death in Scotland, and how Connor basically just walks away totally unscathed. As you say, if one just ignores the couple of references to the Gathering in the movie, the whole entire thing fits splendidly well into the TV universe.

          Comment


          • #7
            Which begs the question, why didn't they do so to begin with. Why not try and promote the franchise as one united front, by having it related to the show but still have Connor headline it. It boggles the mind. They could have tied Endgame to it that much easier, this way.

            Comment


            • #8
              Yeah, and I think I've read that it was basically because, at that point in time, the film franchise had gotten picked up by Miramax/Dimension, and the studio was keen on having at least the third film still be its "own," standalone thing, untethered to the TV universe, due to condescending "prestige" issues (movies vs. TV), along with perhaps more realistic concerns over casual audience-members being unfamiliar with the TV show, etc.

              Although, in a subsequent Cinefantastique interview, Bill Panzer mentioned that they were able to sneak one or two "stealth references" into the film, but nothing direct or overt.

              Comment


              • dubiousbystander
                dubiousbystander commented
                Editing a comment
                As in what the coroner said! "Besides having his head cut off, he's in perfect health. No broken bones. No cavities. No organ deterioration. Like a newborn baby." And: "What's this guy doin' in New York City?" to which he responded: "What's he doin' on the PLANET?" And the detective glares and says resentfully, "Thanks, Howard." To which Howard gives what might be a hurt look. Or an impulse to stick out his tongue. Heh.

            • #9
              I miss Bill, and his nonsensical remarks. I really wonder how he would've, or if he even could've defended The Source upon release.

              Comment


              • #10
                Originally posted by Aleander View Post
                I miss Bill, and his nonsensical remarks. I really wonder how he would've, or if he even could've defended The Source upon release.
                Ha, definitely -- it would be a sight to behold.

                Comment


                • #11
                  I tend to reconcile it with the series in the same way that I reconcile the original film -- by ignoring the original film's ending, and all references thereto.

                  Comment


                  • #12
                    I maintain that that practice is A LOT more difficult with the original. To the point that the film loses its charm as a result.

                    Comment


                    • #13
                      Yeah, well, it's pretty much exactly what the series does with the movie (as per Joe's line referencing the Kurgan, saying that Connor did everyone a big favor by taking him out), so it's always been my go to for reconciling the original ending.

                      Comment


                      • #14
                        I think what Al's trying to say is that Highlander III doesn't lose anything by surrendering its standalone status. And I have to agree. Compare the endings of the first and third movies. The original Highlander ends with Connor shouting, "I know everything! I am everything!" and then musing about his power to read everyone's minds and experience a mortal life. The third film ends with Connor talking up Scotland, celebrating that he's moving there with his surrogate family, and finding little more than "peace...It's finally over." No mention of ESP. No mention of ultimate knowledge. No mention of mortality and the ability to sire offspring. I guess the Prize in that movie is a full retirement from a life of dealing with Kurgan wannabes? The only part of the film that makes the lack of other immortals a plot point is the compulsion that Connor has to return to New York for the Gathering. Otherwise, Kane could have just as easily emerged from that cave into a world crawling with people who cannot die without a single difference in the plot structure.
                        __________________________________________________

                        "Really? We are trapped in a room with a machine that can cut off my head. Now that's a longshot."
                        --Connor MacLeod in Peter Bellwood's original Highlander II script

                        Comment


                        • #15
                          Exactly what the bee said. And the film improves with that practice, too, since its plot is its own enemy.

                          Comment


                          • #16
                            Originally posted by Takk View Post
                            Yeah, well, it's pretty much exactly what the series does with the movie (as per Joe's line referencing the Kurgan, saying that Connor did everyone a big favor by taking him out), so it's always been my go to for reconciling the original ending.
                            Yup, same here -- I mean, you're already having to perform handwavium to reconcile the first movie's ending with the TV show, so the precedent has already been set. By the time the third film was released, it was basically taken for granted that you can easily ignore a couple of lines in the picture, and still have it work with the Duncan-verse continuity.

                            Comment


                            • Aleander
                              Aleander commented
                              Editing a comment
                              Not the same. The first film does not gel with the show in subtle ways. You can't recommend it to a friend and say "watch the show after that". He'll be confused as all hell.

                            • Leto II
                              Leto II commented
                              Editing a comment
                              Neither does the third film, and both it and the first movie contradict the TV show in more or less exactly the same ways -- if we're giving that free pass to H1, we pretty much have to give it to H3, as well (and vice versa). Mostly I just tell new viewers that there's gonna be a couple of lines from the first movie that the TV show totally ignores, and if you do the same, you're golden.

                            • Aleander
                              Aleander commented
                              Editing a comment
                              Like I said already, I disagree. Its far easier to ignore the Gathering references in 3 than they are in 1, because they are not as relevant to the characterization or plot. Again, as said. And I don't tell viewers anything - if they like a film they just do.

                          • #17
                            It still bugs me that those lines were present in the first place. I mean, I get that they were already working on the movie in 1992*, before the series had established itself as a success. But by the time they actually got around to filming it, the series had already proven popular. There was no excuse anymore.

                            * Exhibit A, from December 1992: http://variety.com/1992/film/news/mu...er-iii-101723/
                            __________________________________________________

                            "Really? We are trapped in a room with a machine that can cut off my head. Now that's a longshot."
                            --Connor MacLeod in Peter Bellwood's original Highlander II script

                            Comment


                            • #18
                              Originally posted by Tootsie Bee View Post
                              It still bugs me that those lines were present in the first place. I mean, I get that they were already working on the movie in 1992*, before the series had established itself as a success. But by the time they actually got around to filming it, the series had already proven popular. There was no excuse anymore.

                              * Exhibit A, from December 1992: http://variety.com/1992/film/news/mu...er-iii-101723/
                              This article is amazing -- I'd actually had no idea Davis and Panzer ever sued Mulcahy over H3; although it's clear that the hatchet was pretty well buried by the time work began on the Renegade Version of Highlander 2 in 1994, since he got the money to go and shoot the brand-new footage seen in that version, plus he did the two Laserdisc commentary-tracks together with Bill and Peter around that same time, as well.

                              Still, great find, Tootsie.

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X