An Evening at Joe's

 

 

Foreword

Acknowledgements

Introduction
Letters from Viet Nam

Train from Bordeaux

The Star of Athena

Words to the Highlander

Pants

Consone's Diary

Down Towards the Outflow

The Methos Chronicles Part I

From The Grave

Postcards From Alexa

World Enough and Time

World Enough and Time II

World Enough and Time III

Natural Wonders

Holy Ground

The Man With No Name

Postcards From Athens

Night in Geneva

He Scores!

The Staircase

Death Shall Have no Dominion

A Time of Innocents

The Other Side of the Mirror

Ending Credits (or "The Back of the Book")

 

 

The creative atmosphere on Highlander was always very exciting. Everyone on the crew would read the script. Sounds logical, but isn't usual. Whenever we split a story between Vancouver and Paris, whoever wasn't filming the second half still wanted to read it. Very unusual!

But writing?

Everyone wants to; no one does.

So when Gillian first approached me about a collection of Immortal stories written by Highlander people, I told her, "Great idea, but you'll never get them to do it."

In your hands is yet further proof of my wisdom.

Bill Panzer

1 February 2000

London

Ginjer Buchanan had faith where others doubted. Without her, this book would not exist.

 

 

Amy Zoll is the muse. What I write is written to entertain her.

 

 

Larne, Melissa, Marni, Marian, Kathy, Rachel, Jesse, Jodi, and Pam shared the New Voyages with me. Lydia, Jal, MOS, Starlight, T'Pon, T'Ryn, Velia, and Phoenicia blazed the trail.

 

 

Donna Lettow never gave up on making this project a reality. As always, she made my job immeasurably easier.

 

 

Marty Greenberg and Larry Segriff at Tekno Books made it all possible with their experience and expertise.

 

 

Bill Panzer gave me a sacred trust. I hope to return the favor someday.

 

 

This book has its beginnings in a book I encountered in high school.
Star Trek: The New Voyages
and its sequel,
The New Voyages 2
, were published by Bantam Books in the late 1970s. "Eight original Star Trek Stories never seen on screen!" proclaimed the cover copy. It was the birth of the media tie-in book.

The stories in
The New Voyages
, which had been collected from fanzines by editors Sondra Marshak and Myrna Cullbreath, were each preceded by a short introduction by a
Star Trek
cast member.
New Voyages 2
went a step further; it contains a wonderful story, "Surprise," written by Nichelle Nichols, who played Lieutenant Uhura. It should come as no surprise that the character portrayals in "Surprise" are beautifully realized, full of the same warmth and humor that made the best moments in the series. Nichelle Nichols was not a professional writer, but she knew
Star Trek
.

The contributors to this volume include actors, a prop master, a composer, a director, and a producer, as well as a few writers. They may not all be professional wordsmiths, but they are each, in their way, storytellers.

And they have something else in common; they all know
Highlander
. They made
Highlander
.
On the surface,
Highlander: The Series
might seem like just another hour of action television, to be watched and soon forgotten. But once in a while, a television show makes a lasting impression. Even a lifetime impression. On the viewers, and on the people who were part of its making.

No one knows which shows will succeed, either in the ratings or in posterity. Thirty years ago, no one predicted the lasting impact
Star Trek
would have on our culture. Thirty years from now, which current shows will still be remembered? I like to think
Highlander
has a better chance than most.

Highlander: The Series
ran for six seasons, from 1992 to 1998. Creatively, the show was an unrivaled joy to work on. Story meetings under Head Writer David Abramowitz, frequently turned into Talmudic discussions on loyalty, friendship, and the nature of good and evil. And these questions became part of the scripts, part of Duncan MacLeod's world. Although we often lamented the lack of a big studio or major network to publicize our show, the fact is that
Highlander
thrived in obscurity. Big studios and networks often mean studio and network interference. Independent production, though struggling with lower budgets and lower profiles, creates the potential for a unique vision, undiluted in committee, to shine through.

On
Highlander
, Executive Producer Bill Panzer created an atmosphere where everyone was listened to and respected. This attitude was reflected throughout the production. As Producer Ken Gord always said, "The fish stinks from the head down." Or in this case, didn't stink. Everyone's contribution was valued—and everyone was expected to do everything in their power to make the best show they possibly could, without regard to ego, on-screen credit, or overtime. We used to joke in our office that "everyone thinks they're the damn Highlander." Meaning that everyone on our crew felt it was their personal responsibility to make sure
Highlander
was perfect, and if that meant that everybody down to the security guard has an opinion on every action of MacLeod's in every script, well, that was the price we paid for having a crew that actually cared what happened on their show. On many shows it's not unusual for on-set crew to film a script without really reading it—it's the director's job to care about the story, the crew is just trying to get the shot. On
Highlander
, the highest compliment I think the writing staff ever received was during season 5, when "Comes a Horseman" was filming in Vancouver and, because the second half of the two-parter was filming in France, only the script for the first hour was distributed to the Canadian crew. The next day we got the call—the crew wanted to read the script for the second half, even though they wouldn't be working on it. They wanted to know how the story ended!

I think a large part of
Highlander
's ability to inspire that interest in nearly everyone it reaches—crew, guest stars, our loyal viewers—comes from its central premise.
Who wants to live forever?
We all wonder, what would it be like to be immortal? To have more time to see things, and do things, to learn and to love? Wherever I went on the
Highlander
set, everyone, from script typists to caterers to production designers, was asking themselves the same question that the writers, directors, and actors considered every day: "What if it were me? How would my life change? Could I fight and kill to survive? Would I want to?"

When I invited our crew to participate in this project, I asked them to investigate those questions, any way they wanted. On the series, though we explored many stories in our 119 episodes, there were always stories we couldn't tell. Because there were things we couldn't show on television. Because there were ideas we couldn't afford to stage. Because not every story is exactly forty-eight minutes long. Because on a show called
Highlander
, every story was expected to focus on Duncan MacLeod, the Highlander.