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3-2: The Cross of St. Antoine, Rite of Passage, Courage

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  • 3-2: The Cross of St. Antoine, Rite of Passage, Courage

    Discuss these Season 3 episodes:

    The Cross of St. Antoine
    Rite of Passage
    Courage
    __________________________________________________

    "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
    Cinedigm has uploaded the series to YouTube.



    Episode 48: "The Cross of St. Antoine"

    A great villain with truly interesting character development, Joe getting to shine, Amanda joining in the fun, a great fight, a perfectly-rendered Quickening (complete with footage from Highlander II), and possibly the best cinematography in the show up to this point. Love it, love it, love it!
    __________________________________________________

    "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


    • #3


      Episode 49: "Rite of Passage"

      Lovely little episode. It had a little bit of Lost Boys and a little bit of Ghost, and I was quite satisfied with it, even if it's another Duncan Knows Best episode.
      __________________________________________________

      "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 50: "Courage"

        Good episode, even if Duncan kills a friend yet again. The final fight is nice and gritty, and this is another great-looking episode. The only downside is Dr. Anne, who manages to suck the life out of every scene that she's in. Oh, and I'm not quite sure why we went into a 2001-esque time warp when Cullen hit the bus.
        __________________________________________________

        "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
          Of course, I don't think we can ever forget the stories connected with "The Cross of St. Antoine"! In case anyone may read this who doesn't know...

          It was originally meant to be shot in France, and it would have aired in the previous season. But there was a contractual reason why a script by a Canadan author couldn't be shot in France. The producers had thought it would be OK because the man was actually living in L.A. But no, it couldn't be shot in France! And the plot required Amanda, but she couldn't - contractually - do another episode in Canada that season. So it had to be held back.

          Then, when they were filming, Jim Byrnes lost an argument with the producers. Joe Dawson was supposed to be telling Mac about a woman he'd begun seeing, and was really falling for. Jim wanted to say, "Her name is Lauren - she's an art historian." The producers insisted it be the other way around: "She's an art historian - her name is Lauren." Jim argued that for Joe, her name would have been more important than her profession. But hey, her profession was more important for the plot!

          Then...they weren't willing to pay for this Lauren's having a single line of dialogue. When Joe was seeing her being killed, she could scream, but not any actual word.

          Joe was supposed to be trying to break the glass in a door with his cane, so he could hopefully get to her. While it was intended he wouldn't get to her in time, the glass in the door was supposed to be a kind that would break when Jim hit it a certain way. But it didn't! (Picture him trying again and again to break the darn thing.) Turned out the special "breakaway glass" they'd ordered had broken in transit. And to pay for it, they'd had to give up the idea of using a horse in a procession!



          Comment


          • #6
            I find "The Cross of St. Antoine" to be a pretty average episode, and it's a great example of how too often the series would introduce a character (in this case Joe's girlfriend) out of nowhere and then try to make the audience care about their fate. Would have been nice to have been introduced to her earlier.

            "Rite of Passage" is pretty decent I think.

            I rather enjoy "Courage" (though I think the title is a little weird). I really like the performance of the actor who plays Brian Cullen. That makes the episode very enjoyable for me. I like seeing the antagonism between Brian and Richie too. Might have been nice to have had more relating to Richie's own former experience with the dark side of that kind of life. Maybe he shouldn't have been so unsympathetic towards Brian. After all, we know for a fact that he grew up around people who'd have had similar problems, some of whom he'd have no doubt have counted as friends at some point.
            Formerly known as "Quickening"

            My latest video in which I visit an ancient broch and cairns: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxY2hYR6GXw

            Comment


            • #7
              The Cross of St. Antoine - OK episode for me. Durgan seemed to be more content not to fight and would have ran had Duncan not pulled the swerve.

              Rite of Passage - Fun episode. Michelle gives us a glimpse of a newbie's life and what many have probably thought about if they were given immortality. Axel gave a good fight at the end.

              Courage - My favorite episode of the season. It tells a good story and the fight at the end is BRUTAL. Duncan gets sliced across the neck and this is one of the few times I feel we see genuine FEAR in his eyes.
              "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


              • #8
                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?


                3x04: The Cross of St. Antoine
                Most of the scenes dropped from the domestic cut for this episode I can’t say I miss. However, at the beginning of Act Four, a lot of Duncan and Amanda’s plot to keep Thorne from getting away with Lauren’s death is dropped, which makes a difference to the telling of the story. On the one hand, I like the suspense of not immediately knowing that Duncan and Amanda are planning something, but on the other, Joe gets his moment to confront Thorne. I had to think about this one for a while, but I’m choosing...

                Winner: Domestic cut!


                3x05:Rite of Passage
                The number of cuts in this episode borders on the ridiculous. TPTB obviously didn’t want to remove ANYTHING from the episode, so resorted to cutting tiny parts from every scene they could possibly cut a tiny part from. I really do have to agree with TPTB...

                Winner: DVD/European cut!


                3x06: Courage
                This is another episode wheremultiple small bits-of-scenes are removed from the domestic cut, but in this case, they mostly seem like filler worth losing. Except for Duncan and Cullen playing eye-spy and then talking about cuckoo clocks in the Switzerland flashback. I definitely prefer the DVD version of that scene. So... approximately 1 minute out of the 4 ½ minutes removed is worth watching. I’m going to be generous and pronounce this one a…

                Winner: Tie!


                Updated tally:
                Domestic = 16.5
                DVD/European = 11.5

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