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2-6: The Vampire, Warmonger, Pharoah's Daughter

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  • 2-6: The Vampire, Warmonger, Pharoah's Daughter

    Discuss these Season 2 episodes:

    The Vampire
    Warmonger
    Pharaoh's Daughter
    __________________________________________________

    "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 Vampire: Best episode ever!

    Warmonger is decent and Pharaoh's Daughter was entertaining although the premise was a bit silly.
    But a sickly jealous female immortal who has no trouble killing is fun to watch.
    May flights of Demons guide you to your final rest...

    Comment


    • #3
      Cinedigm hosts every episode on YouTube.



      Episode 38: "The Vampire"

      Not a fan of vampires in Highlander, even fake ones.
      __________________________________________________

      "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


      • #4


        Episode 39: "Warmonger"

        I couldn't identify with Duncan's ethical dilemma. I mean, just kill the guy already!
        __________________________________________________

        "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


        • #5


          Episode 40: "Pharaoh's Daughter"

          Probably sounded good on paper, but this precursor to the third movie's premise doesn't work for me.
          __________________________________________________

          "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


          • #6
            I think "Pharaoh's Daughter" is the worst episode in the entire series. An Immortal having been in a sarcophagus for a couple thousand years comes out of it understanding English, and speaking it fluently, without even a foreign accent? And yet, she apprently doesn't understand French? Ridiculous.

            Comment


            • #7
              Oh, come on. "Pharaoh's Daughter" is not half bad.I'll never understand the hate.

              Comment


              • #8
                I decided to reason that she was basically in a coma, and she um... subconsciously absorbed English for reasons as people speaking it outside of her sarcophagus. What I grasped better than, apparently, Duncan and Marcus, was that his betrayal of her and the suicide of Cleopatra all happened just a couple of days ago, from her viewpoint.

                Comment


                • #9
                  I think its simpler than that. Maybe Immortals, after extended Quickenings, can talk to Immortals regardless of their language. Sort of like having a universal translator from Star Trek, but between the Immortals, and only between those who either have lived very long (like Marcus) or had taken heads of ancients and had extensive head count in them (like Duncan). Hence why Nefertiri wouldn't know French, since its a language that flourished after her time.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    The Vampire - OK episode. I think it could use a different title. Ward definitely had sword and fighting skill. In the final fight, notice they took what was meant to be an obnoxiously high fall. Not only do they land on their feet, but somehow they land in a covered area. One other thing of note here. Usually, when two immortals are close to each other, they do the sound effect to let us know. In this episode, when Duncan enters the church, Nicholas looks around, but no sound effect. I notice weird shit.

                    Warmonger - Drakov has the distinction of being one of the few to disarm Duncan. I found the journalist to be annoying.

                    Pharaoh's Daughter - We get to meet a couple of ancient immortals, another renegade Watcher, and oddly, the second episode this season about an immortal being buried. I wish Nefritiri would have lived to show up on another episode or two. I got a kick out of her trying to deal with modern technology and she sure knew how to use a sword. As far as the language thing, if she hadn't understood what people were saying, it would have made for shitty TV. I would like to have seen Constantine in another episode as well.
                    "It's Rock & Roll. If you aren't breaking some sort of law, then you are doing it wrong." - me, answering a bandmate's question of what would happen if someone called the law on us for playing too loud at an outdoor show.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      I was watching Pharoah's Daughter recently, and another thought crossed my mind. When the truck carrying Nefertiri goes by, Duncan doesn't react as he normally does to coming in range of another Immortal. He seems puzzled, at first, by what he's sensed. So perhaps Nefertiri's signal at the time, as she's kind of sort of not quite dead, is weird. Or just stronger than a pre-Immortal and weaker than a live Immortal? So Duncan thinks he's going to help someone who just came into their immortality. The choice of sounds was a sort of pulsing, low snarl...

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Just finished going over the official domestic cut of these three episodes, kindly provided by the wonderful Gillian Horvath. I have converted them from their VHS tapes to mpg (m4v) format if anyone is interested in them. Also, the official 'Eurominutes' are now marked out on my transcript pages. [www.zzickle.com/tv/transcripts.html]

                        And now for the showdown: DVD/European cut vs Domestic cut - who wins?


                        2x16: The Vampire
                        The domestic cut loses Duncan and Jacom talking about the ill-fated archeology expedition to Transylvania, Baines looking at the sample of cloak fibers from Stillwell’s body, and shortens two of the interactions between Duncan and Ward. I think all of these add something to the overall episode, so...

                        Winner: DVD/European cut!


                        2x17:Warmonger
                        The domestic cut loses a lot of small snippets of different scenes. A few lines of the conversation in the hospital between Duncan and Eli about Drakov after Eli is shot, and the end of that same scene, between Duncan and Beth. The end of the next scene, where Drakov conspires with Bartov to kill the VP. The scene between Duncan and Maurice in the barge about everyone dying. A fair chunk of the scene in the embassy basement between Drakov and Beth. And lastly, the very end of the tag, where Beth kisses Duncan, then asks him if she’s coming on too strong. Most of these seem superfluous, but a few (Beth confirming for Duncan that Drakov killed Chescu, Drakov plotting to kill the VP) do add a little something to the story. I think this one is close, but not enough for a tie. I’m going with...

                        Winner: Domestic cut!


                        2x18: Pharaoh’s Daughter
                        The domestic cut basically loses every interaction between Nefertiri and Maurice. Actually, it loses every scene involving Maurice, period. It also loses the brief scenes of Nefertiri and Duncan discussing the fall of Rome (and start of the Dark Ages), and Nefertiri admiring a Renaissance painting. I think the scenes with Maurice are mostly just annoying and add absolutely NOTHING to the episode, and the other two small cuts are very minor, so...

                        Winner: Domestic cut!


                        Updated tally:
                        Domestic = 11
                        DVD/European = 7

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          I don't agree on the loss of scenes between Nefertiri and Maurice. At the very least, anything cutting the female character makes me unhappy.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Just re-watched these and I also say Pharaoh's Daughter is really the most senseless episode. Not only do we have the language thing, and no, she wasn't even in a museum where she could absorb a language, she was fresh from the tomb, we have the constant cycle of starving to death/dying of dehydration for a couple thousand years to drive her insane, and if that wasn't enough lets let a 2,000 year old woman out into the modern world wham bam. She would have gone nuts, catatonia would have been a best case scenario , the screaming heebie jeebies more likely from a person who believed in magic etc. But having said that, the character of Constantine is really good, and if he had deliberately dug up the silly woman, then he would have been smart enough to be there when the shipping container arrived so he could bring her into the modern era in easy stages, and tuck her away somewhere isolated and secure so she could adjust, and he could talk her around.
                            The other two episodes were of the okay but nothing to write home about variety.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Originally posted by Ceridwen View Post
                              we have the constant cycle of starving to death/dying of dehydration for a couple thousand years to drive her insane
                              I don't think she was dying again and again, either, though. As with Duncan face down in the water for The Samurai, I think they were going with the idea that she just remained in stasis that whole time.

                              Comment


                              • #16
                                I've never seen anything about Immortals going into stasis, not sure such an idea is canon. Where's it from? I always figured Duncan was just dead in that scene, killed during the wreck, and then revived.

                                Comment


                                • #17
                                  Originally posted by Ceridwen View Post
                                  I've never seen anything about Immortals going into stasis, not sure such an idea is canon. Where's it from? I always figured Duncan was just dead in that scene, killed during the wreck, and then revived.
                                  Stasis is just the word I chose. My theory (which is surely worth the price you paid for it hahah) is that as long as her body was in that airless sarcophagus, she stayed dead. The body was restored to intact condition, whatever form of mummifying had been done, even the brain gone out through the nose, the Quickening had put her back together. Then she stayed dead. There's no air, there's no water. (That's a reference to Connor in the Loch) There's nothing to breath. One of the things that seems to happen as Immortals revive is inhaling. My guess, when the sarcophagus is stolen, is the lid gets jarred, letting air in so she finally starts to revive.

                                  It seemed as though Duncan stayed dead until Sato turned him over.

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