1-5: Band of Brothers, For Evil's Sake, For Tomorrow We Die

[dubiousbystander]

Fitz was probably designed as a one appearance character like most of the immortals in the series but as you say he was taking Darius's lines, Roger Daltrey was unable to inject his character with any of his own personality like he did in most of his other appearances in the later shows!
JB

He was also new to the show at the time, so that might be a factor, too. The balance between lines Darius might have been supposed to say (about missing Immortals who were supposed to meet with him, maybe), and what they had to write for a new character.

[johnnybear]

Fitz was probably designed as a one appearance character like most of the immortals in the series but as you say he was taking Darius's lines, Roger Daltrey was unable to inject his character with any of his own personality like he did in most of his other appearances in the later shows!
JB

[dubiousbystander]

Okay, thanks for that dubious! Fitz in this episode isn't the Fitz we come to know and love later on I've always felt as here he seemed a little subdued!
JB

You would be too, if you were supposed to be Darius. (trying to be funny)

[johnnybear]

Okay, thanks for that dubious! Fitz in this episode isn't the Fitz we come to know and love later on I've always felt as here he seemed a little subdued!
JB

[dubiousbystander]

But would he have still died the same way if the actor hadn't of passed as well?
JB

Don't ask how I respond to such questions in person. The only thing I can say is that he might not have died offscreen. It looks like the storyline would have remained the same, as that episode was meant to introduce the Watchers. What we would not have had, if I understand correctly, is Fitz.

[johnnybear]

But would he have still died the same way if the actor hadn't of passed as well?
JB

[dubiousbystander]

Sadly Werner Stocker died so we don't know what the writers had planned for him...
JB

Yeah! Only rumors that there would have been flashback stories.

[dubiousbystander]

Besides, it began in about 1992. Duncan and Tessa have been together for 12 years that were so peaceful, she never had a clue about the Game.

[johnnybear]

Three excellent episodes and the introduction of four great new immortals! Darius who would become a semi regular character, Grayson his one time disciple who should have returned. Kuyler, who was creepy and playing the Joe Spinell role for all he could and Roland gift in his first of many appearances as the dangerous Xavier St.Cloud! Sadly Werner Stocker died so we don't know what the writers had planned for him...
JB

[Wilusa]

The Source is a badly made film, unbelievable re the future of the world, and has a plot I hate (Methos is going to die, MacLeod is going to become mortal). Nothing like that is required to deny the Gathering!

[Wilusa]

Actually, I wrote one fanfic in which I had some characters conclude that the Gathering in 1985 was real...but it only involved a small "subspecies" to which Connor belonged. Only they felt some otherwise abnormal "compulsion" to kill one another. But all Connor "won" was possession of the Quickenings of all members of that subspecies who hadn't already been killed by other Immortals. (The reason I invented the "subspecies" was to explain Connor's supposed ability to breathe under water!)

Just an additional thought: I'm guessing there are many Immortals unknown to the Watchers.

[Tootsie Bee]

But for some reason you don't like The Source, which is all about promoting that idea!

[Wilusa]

Tee hee - I guess I'm vehemently FOR that idea!

[Wilusa]

But there's no need to "reconcile" it, for the probable majority of fans who refuse to accept "The Source" as canon.

[Tootsie Bee]

Well, The Source more or less said that the Gathering and the Prize were nothing but a myth. At the very least, the Gathering was something completely different than what we saw in the first film. Instead of gathering to fight each other until only one remained, they were gathering to find the source of immortality, turning on each other along the way for the right to be the one who enters the Source and receives whatever prize it has to offer (which turned out to be a baby...whoop-de-doo). That's why I'd just as soon not count it as canon: I'm vehemently against the idea that the Gathering is a myth.

[Wilusa]

I'm still thinking of the "Source," etc. I'm guessing the majority of fans are like me in refusing to accept that - and, perhaps, anything other than HL:TS - as canon. I prefer to think the "Gathering" is nothing but a myth. And I'd guess there are thousands, at least, of Immortals alive at the turn of the millennium! With more than enough pre-Immortals being born to replace those being killed.

But in my fan fiction, I had it turn out that Connor was a member of a small subspecies - they actually did have a compulsion to kill one another - and for them, that "Gathering" in 1985 was real. Connor was the victor, but only briefly imagined he'd "become mortal"; the only "Prize" was having the Quickenings of all that subspecies.

[David McMurdo]

I know this is an unpopular opinion, but I'm not a huge fan of "Band of Brothers". I don't think it's bad—it just doesn't grab me for any reason. I think a part of that has to do with the reporter whose character I really don't like. I don't like any of the female reporter/agent characters that they tried to introduce at various points. Who the peace maker characters are exactly is also left pretty vague. Cool beheading though.

I like "For Evil's Sake". The antagonist is portrayed well and he drinks absinthe and so obviously has good taste. But yeah, I guess he's really just one more bad immortal. That French police character that they always dubbed horribly is in this one too, which is always a distraction.

I agree with Tootsie that we don't see Xavier at his best in "For Tomorrow We Die". There's just something not quite right about the idea of him using gas, not just in the larger context of the series, but even just with the way that his character is played in this episode alone. There also seems to be something of a contradiction here, because during the World War scene Xavier introduces himself to Macleod, but in later episodes we learn that they actually met long before that point.

[dubiousbystander]

Xavier in For Tomorrow We Die "No I kill them because... what's the difference? They all die anyway." So what happened before he was in danger of being guillotined, and after he left Darius. What was he going to say? How did he go from "I don't sleep with virgins and I don't kill children," to this?

[dubiousbystander]

Ah, if only! Ooh, there goes Xavier's hand! Two Immortals, in the river!

[Tootsie Bee]

You were going to talk about how you drive Roland Gift crazy?

[dubiousbystander]

My new theory is that The Source appeared because the last Immortals weren't killing each other. It's what happens when the Gathering is stymied! I'm watching For Tomorrow we Die right now, and came to this thread to comment. Except I forgot what I was going to say...

[Wilusa]

If anyone accepts the "Source" as canon! I certainly don't.

[Tootsie Bee]

And really, since the TV series presents a world with hundreds of immortals still alive in the present, it's unsurprising that a Gathering couldn't wrap up over a single week in NYC. Three decades may seem like a long time, but that's almost unavoidable unless they ALL show up at Madison Square Garden and book the place. Even then, the poor guy who wins the Prize is also stuck with a room full of dead bodies in a stadium that's suffering some major structural and electrical damage.

[Andrew NDB]

The TV series is set during the time of the Gathering.

The Gathering apparently lasts several decades, but it presumably begins in 1985 and continues until Duncan enters the Source.

That's really the only way to reconcile it.

[Tootsie Bee]

The TV series is set during the time of the Gathering.

The Gathering apparently lasts several decades, but it presumably begins in 1985 and continues until Duncan enters the Source.