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Title: Highlander: The TV Series: Season Three 9-Disc DVD Box Set
Region: One
Genre: Action Adventure Fantasy
Episodes Disc One: Samurai,
Line Of Fire, The Revolutionary
Episodes Disc Two: The Cross
Of St. Antoine, Rite Of Passage, Courage
Episodes Disc Three: The
Lamb, Obsession, Shadows
Episodes Disc Four: Blackmail,
Vendetta, They Also Serve
Episodes Disc Five: Blind
Faith, Song Of The Executioner, Star-Crossed
Episodes Disc Six: Methos,
Take Back The Night, Testimony
Episodes Disc Seven: Mortal Sins, Reasonable Doubt
Episodes Disc Eight: Finale
I, Finale II
Stars: Adrian Paul, Stan Kirsch, and Jim Bynes
Guest
Stars: Philip Akins, Cameron Bankroft, Randall Tex Cobb, Roger Daltry, Elizabeth
Gracen, Robert Ito, Brion James, Richard Lynch, Barry Pepper, Tamlyn Tomita,
Stephen McHattie, and Peter Wingfield
Writers:
Alan Swayze, Jim Makichuk, David Tynan, Marie Ruvinsky, and Naomi Janzen,
Based
On Characters Created By: Gregory Widen
Directors:
Mario Azzopardi, Paolo Barzam, Dennis Berry, and Charles Wilkenson
Producer:
Ken Cord
Co-Executive
Producers: Steven Maier, Sheryl Hardy, Guy Collins, and Nicolas Clermont
Creative
Consultant: David Abramowitz
Executive
Producers: Peter S. Davis, William Panzer, Christian Charret, and Marla Ginsburg
Feature
length: 1060 minutes
Chapter
Stops: 6 Per Episode
Extras:
Adrian Paul Audio And Video Commentary,
Gillian Horvath And Donna Lettow, Audio And Video Commentary By Charles
Wilkenson, Audio And Video Commentary By Anthony Delongis, Audio And Video
Commentary By Ken Cord, Audio And Video Commentary By Stan Kirsch And Peter
Wingfield, Interviews With Cast And Crew, Blooper Reel, Production Sketches,
Finale Backstage Teaser, Series Promo Reel, Bonus CD-ROM With Actor, Director
And Writer Bio’s, Series Trivia, Scripts, Call Sheets, Fight Scripts
Languages:
English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Subtitles:
English Closed Captions
Packaging:
Eight-Disc Digipack Gatefold Within A Half Sized Slip Case
Sound:
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Year
of Television Broadcast: 1994-1995/DVD Release: 2003
Home
Video Distributor: Anchor Bay Entertainment
MPAA
Rating: Not Rated
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
For
many fans, the third season of “Highlander” is when the series really began
to take off with a distinct identity of its own that ultimately would make it
more popular than the feature film counterparts “Highlander II: The
Quickening” and “Highlander III: The Final Battle” although I think the
original feature film will always be the definitive “Highlander” legend at
least for myself. In season three we are introduced to some of the series’
most interesting characters like the oldest living known immortal Methos “Peter
Wingfield” who turns out to look younger than Duncan MacLeod (Adrian Paul) and
we see the return of Guest Actors like Roger Daltry reprising his role as “Fitzcairn,”
an immortal that he portrayed in the first season. We also learn who taught
Duncan about honor and responsibility as well as gave him the signature
Dragon’s Head Katana and perhaps not surprisingly the person was not an
immortal either. As with previous seasons, through history and around the world,
we follow the adventures of the Highlander and gain a deeper sympathy for his
plight perhaps more than ever before in season three.
Of
all of the “Highlander: The TV Series” DVD box sets to be distributed by
Anchor Bay Entertainment, Season Three is by far the most broad with tons of
behind-the-scenes footage and much more. The picture quality is also the best of
the three sets so far although there is still a bit of video noise apparent in
certain scenes throughout the entire series because of the nature of TV shows
being filmed and then edited on video. So we do get the best video masters
available for these transfers, but they are not always as sharp as one might
hope. All 22 episodes are presented in their original broadcast (1.33:1) aspect
ratio with am English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack mix that is clear,
but not quite discrete in the use of the various home theater speaker channels.
English Closed Captions for the hearing impaired are encoded for all 22 episodes
on DVD too.
In
addition to the onscreen text “Watcher Chronicles,” which are better
organized in this DVD set than on previous sets and details the mortal and
immortal characters as well as the weapons for each episode, there are at least
one episode length audio commentary along with a companion video commentary,
which is essentially an abridged version of the audio recording where we get to
see the speaker as well as hear him, on the first eight discs. There are also
mini featurettes containing interview clips with cast and crewmembers like
Writer David Tynan, Creative Consultant David Abramowitz, Executive Producer
William Panzer as well as various series Sword Masters, Production Designers,
Costume Designers and more for each episode in the set. There is also lots of
recently discovered behind-the-scenes film and video that fans might find of
interest too for nearly every episode in the set. Thus in my opinion
“Highlander: The TV Series: Season Three 9-Disc DVD Box Set” is by far the
most comprehensive in the collection yet. Whether it is reading chronicles of
various characters in different timelines or simply watching the hours of
behind-the-scenes materials, I think there may be more extra value materials
here than in the first two sets combined.
In
terms of episode commentaries, Actor Adrian Paul provides audio and video
commentary (20:28) for the season opener “Samurai” and season finale
appropriately entitled “Finale II” with video commentary that also runs for
approximately 20 minutes. Actor Stan Kirsch participates in audio and video
commentary (15:08) for “Methos,” which he shares with Actor Peter Wingfield.
Creative Consultants Gillian Horvath and Donna Lettow participate in audio and
video commentaries for “The Cross Of St. Antoine” and “Mortal Sins” with
a bit of humor. There is a
Director’s commentary with Charles Wilkenson for the episode “Shadows” and
a Sword Master’s commentary for “Blackmail” while Producer Ken Cord
provides straightforward audio and video commentary (15:08) for
“Star-Crossed.”
On
disc one there is a slide show style gallery of season three production photos
and a set design sketch gallery on disc eight. A credit roll of the third season
production staff is also provided on disc one (1:29). An expanded blooper reel
(9:48) is presented on disc seven with a quick introduction by Executive
Producer Bill Panzer while the balance of the DVD-Video extra value features are
found on disc eight with a behind-the-scenes teaser for “Finale,” a
collection of season three promos with Adrian Paul (2:39) and some humorous
outtakes too. A web link to www.highlander-official.com
wraps up the DVD-Video extra features, but there is a bonus ninth disc that
comes within an envelope, which is a CD-ROM that contains scripts for all 22
episodes, call sheets, fight scripts, Actor, Writer, and Director bios, and a
season three trivia game. The interactive menus are well organized and easy to
navigate.
Overall,
this is the best “Highlander” DVD set yet and must for all fans of the
series to consider. “Highlander: The TV Series: Season Three 9-Disc DVD Box
Set” is available now at retailers on and offline from Anchor Bay
Entertainment.
©
Copyright 2003 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
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