This, that, and HL nostalgia

[selenak]

Firstly, I squeed with the rest of them when discovering the Peacekeeper Wars trailer. Yay Farscape! May the power of the download be with certain friends of mine.*g*

Secondly, speaking of download, the spybot thing rid me of what was apparently the cause of most of my recent troubles. Phew.

Thirdly, I wrote the bulk of my second multiverse2004 story after having finished my original assignment last month and consequently have no sympathy for other people's moanings about their one and only contribution. Get to it, slackers, she said at her most dictatorial.

Fourthly, this pretty icon which kathyh made reminded me that one of the things I most appreciated about Highlander was Amanda, and the Duncan-Amanda relationship. Because it was unlike any other male/female TV relationship I can think of. Amanda was never the great, angsty star-crossed love (they did that with Tessa), nor was she the femme fatale leading the hero astray. She and Duncan could snark at each other one moment and laugh with each other the next, they were there for each other when it really counted, and you got the idea that even though they both enjoyed having sex with each other a lot, they also managed to remain friends during the times when sex was off the menu due to Duncan being committed to The Great Angsty Romance(s).

The scene which epitomizes the relationship for me remains the dance on the Eiffel Tower: Amanda gets Duncan to do something completely crazy, and they're having a blast doing it, but they also, quite seriously, tell each other at the end what they mean to each other.

Trivia I: When I went to a HL con I was amazed to find out, by virtue of seeing the footage, that they actually filmed that scene on the Eiffel Tower instead of in a studio, which is what I had assumed when watching it. Also, poor Elizabeth Gracen must be a real trooper because it was obviously icy cold up there and she was only wearing a miniskirt.

Trivia II: Certain fans who only watch the Methos episodes and afterwards claim MacLeod has no sense of humour ought to be forced to watch all of the Amanda episodes as well. (Sometimes the two overlap anyway.) (And while we're at it, what about the Fitz episodes?)

Comments

[kernezelda]

Fitz and Amanda were two wonderful forces in keeping MacLeod from descending into deep brooding every other decade, I imagine.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Absolutely they were. Which is why I loved Stone of Scone, the episode which demonstrated this very well.*g*

[kathyh]

the dance on the Eiffel Tower

That was the scene I actually wanted for the icon, but I never did find it. I've always loved Duncan and Amanda together and I think his little speech to her right at the end "You make my heart glad, and you always have" (quoting from memory here) is probably one of the greatest tributes he could pay here. Here was Duncan, who probably taught Angel how to brood, acknowledging how important Amanda's lightness and sense of fun was to him.

Glad I'm not the only one who's feeling nostalgic for Highlander at the moment. It may never quite have reached the heights of the Jossverse but it was a damn good show, made by people who tried their hardest to make it the best it could be (like EG and AP on the Eiffel Tower).

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Ditto about "you make my heart glad, and you always have". I thought that was one of the loveliest things one being could say to another. Must watch Amanda (and Duncan) vids by Killa now.

HL: the little show that could.*g*

[wychwood]

Because it was unlike any other male/female TV relationship I can think of. Amanda was never the great, angsty star-crossed love (they did that with Tessa), nor was she the femme fatale leading the hero astray. She and Duncan could snark at each other one moment and laugh with each other the next, they were there for each other when it really counted...

Actually, this sounds to me very much like most of the slash pairings I like :) That kind of equality, in a way, and the *friendship* that comes before, during, after and all through anything else...

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Good point about the equality and the importance of friendship - it is rather like a fannish slash pairing. And as I said, all the more rare to find this is a canon m/f relationship, mostly, but not exclusively, because of the bad writing for women for decades and because of the insistence of love having to be the romantic ideal (or destructive sex).

Though slash, too, can fall in to the trap of neglecting the friendship in favour of The Grand Romance sometimes, in which one party must declare - or realize - that he loves the other more than anyone else in their lives. As kathyh said, when Duncan told Amanda what she meant to him, it wasn't anything like this, it was: "You make my heart glad, and you always have." Which is one of the best things friends of any gender can tell each other.

[muffinmonster.livejournal.com]

Hah, multiverse2004! Sometimes being a canon whore really sucks, at least if you've got to write in a universe you barely know... Of the pairings I got I can only write two. Those two consist only of fandoms I've never written for, one of them being a fandom I'm not even that much of a fan of (which happens to appear in both pairings left). Right now I'm downloading episodes and researching like mad just to get a feel for the characters. Must. Not. Worry. About. Consistency. Well, at least there's a chance that this might convert me to a true fan of said show ;)

And... Trivia I: When I went to a HL con

There are (were?) Highlander conventions?! W00t! I really should've left my fannish closet a couple of years earlier ;)

I'm still keeping my fingers crossed in the hope that Peter Wingfield will be invited to next year's FedCon! *g*

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I rewatched some episodes for my second assignement as well. Which wasn't too hard a trial, since I was (and am) fond of the show in question, though I hadn't watched those old eps for some years.

Yes, there are and were Highlander conventions. And to drive you completely mad with jealousy, mine had Peter Wingfield, Valentine Pelka, and the other two Horsemen plus one of the headwriters of the show. (Oh yeah, and Stan Kirsch, but I was never a Richie fan, so I found the writer much more interesting.) It took place in Birmingham. kathyh was there, and bimo.

[muffinmonster.livejournal.com]

And to drive you completely mad with jealousy, mine had Peter Wingfield, Valentine Pelka, and the other two Horsemen plus one of the headwriters of the show.

Wah! So not fair. Don't care about Richie either, but the horsemen...! Hrm.

And now I want to watch a couple of Highlander eps. Nostalgia, here I come! ;)

Btw, do you still go to conventions?

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Basically no. I've had my share - it was fun, each one, in various fandoms, but I no longer feel the need. Of course if one took place in Munich, with a fandom I'm interested in, I'd probably go, but that's it.

[thesecondevil]

There's a trailer? Where?

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Check it out here (http://www.livejournal.com/users/ide_cyan/466844.html).

[thesecondevil]

Woohoo!

[skywaterblue.livejournal.com]

I do love Amanda. I almost wish Raven hadn't sucked. Sigh.

[illmantrim.livejournal.com]

the love shown between those two and the humor shown in Mac in those episodes was definitely one of the drawing points to the series for me.