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Highlander: The Series Season 1
Season 1
Highlander: The Series Season 1 DVD boxset
No. of episodes	22
Release
Original network	Broadcast syndication
Original release	October 3, 1992 – May 22, 1993
Season chronology
Next → 2
List of episodes

The first season of the international fantasy series Highlander: The Series, part of the Highlander franchise, consisted of 22 episodes produced between 1992 and 1993, and began airing on October 3, 1992 in broadcast syndication. Highlander: The Series follows the adventures of Duncan MacLeod, a 400-year-old Immortal who can only die if he is beheaded; conflict inevitably finds him because he is part of The Game, an ongoing battle in which all Immortals have to fight and behead each other until only one is left. The season was released on DVD as a nine-disc boxed set on November 12, 2002 by Anchor Bay Entertainment.

Production

French leading production company Gaumont Television bought the rights to the series to have it produced in syndication in America with a local crew, a ground-breaking move at the time. This was the first time a French company had an active creative part in a product-driven deal with an American partner. The show was co-produced in syndication by international partners including Gaumont, RTL Plus (Germany), Rysher Distribution (United States), Reteitalia Productions (Italy), Amuse Video (Japan) and TF1 (France). The budget of the first season was US$26.1 million. Keith Samples, president of Rysher, stated that "about 75% of the guaranteed budget came from overseas sales." The remaining 25% came from United States sales and the producers retained the distribution rights, which allowed the show to produce $800,000 per episode only from international income, believed to be the top result of the 1992-1993 season. To secure an adequate share of European content, and as a result of the co-production agreement, each season was divided into two segments, the first segment was filmed in Vancouver, Canada, the second in Paris, France. Although filmed in Vancouver, the first segment is set in the fictional location of Seacouver, United States and shooting began there in June 1992. The production of the second segment started in December 1992 in Paris and used the studios of French state production agency Société Française de Production (SFP) at Bry-sur-Marne near Paris.

The pilot episode "The Gathering" achieved a 3.4/7 rating, which The Hollywood Reporter qualified as a "solid performance" and of which Samples said it "more than met the company's expectations." Samples also estimated that "the first season averaged a healthy 4 rating in domestic syndication and was strong in both men and women demos 18–49," while Gaumont Television president Christian Charret felt the first season did "quite well." It has been released on DVD in Region 1 on November 12, 2002 by Anchor Bay Entertainment, and in Region 2 on December 7, 2004. The first season episodes are available at the online video on demand service Hulu, a joint venture between NBC and Fox Broadcasting Company.

The executive producers were Bill Panzer, Peter S. Davis, Gaumont Television president Christian Charret and Gaumont co-production chief Marla Ginsburg. Steven Maier, Sheryl Hardy and Guy Collins were co-executive producers. Kevin Droney and Philip John Taylor were supervising producers at the beginning of the season; from the seventh episode onwards, David Abramowitz became supervising producer instead of Taylor. The producers were Barry Rosen and Gary Goodman. Executives in charge of production were Marc du Pontavice and Denis Leroy. Scripts were contributed by both staff and freelance writers, Brian Clemens among the latter. Brent-Carl Clackson was line producer on the Vancouver segment, succeeded by Patrick Millet (with the title of production manager) on the Paris segment. The regular directors were Thomas J. Wright, Jorge Montesi and Ray Austin. The fencing coach was Bob Anderson, who coined for himself the title of Master of Swords. Peter Diamond became second unit director and stunt coordinator on the Paris segment. The opening theme is "Princes of the Universe" from the 1986 album A Kind of Magic by Queen; incidental music was composed by Roger Bellon.

Cast

Three roles had star billing: Adrian Paul played Duncan MacLeod, Alexandra Vandernoot acted as MacLeod's lover Tessa Noël, a mortal artist and sculptor, and Stan Kirsch portrayed young, quick-talking petty thief Richie Ryan. Amanda Wyss, who played ambitious and inquisitive journalist Randi McFarland, was only credited in the six episodes she appeared in. The first episode, "The Gathering", features a guest appearance of Christopher Lambert, reprising his role as Connor MacLeod from the Highlander movies. Several recurring characters were also introduced this season, including Werner Stocker as Darius, Roland Gift as Xavier St. Cloud, Elizabeth Gracen as Amanda, Roger Daltrey as Hugh Fitzcairn and Peter Hudson as James Horton, leader of the Hunters.

Episodes

The second season's episodes are altogether 1078 minutes in length.

DVD release

References

1. Highlander: The Series (season 1) (DVD, Davis-Panzer Productions, 2001)
2. ^ "Hulu - Highlander". Hulu. Retrieved 2008-04-26. (USA only)
3. "Highlander Cast and Details". TVGuide.com. Retrieved 2007-09-27.
4. Brennan, Steve (1992-04-23). "Euro players eye 'Highlander'". Hollywood Reporter. BPI Communications L.P. p. 10. ISSN 0018-3660. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
5. Farrell, Pia (1993-04-21). "French share co-prod'n 'credit' CBS: To jtly dev, produce & distribute telefilms w/ TF1, France". Hollywood Reporter. BPI Communications L.P. p. 7. ISSN 0018-3660. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
6. Levy, Hal (1992-07-14). "Reel Deals". Hollywood Reporter. BPI Communications L.P. pp. 1–4. ISSN 0018-3660. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
7. ^ Farrell, Pia (1992-12-22). "'Highlander' series flys to TV". Hollywood Reporter. BPI Communications L.P. p. 16. ISSN 0018-3660. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help) Cite error: The named reference "HR" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
8. Brennan, Steve (1992-06-05). "Syndie's new century: half of sales from overseas: Revenues will hit $13 billion, study says Almost 50% of all revenues for US TV syndication sector to be mined from foreign mkts by 2000". Hollywood Reporter. BPI Communications L.P. p. 1. ISSN 0018-3660. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
9. Marich, Robert (1993-04-16). "Signs of surging sales make for hopeful MIP-TV: New satellite channels heighten product demand". Hollywood Reporter. BPI Communications L.P. p. 1. ISSN 0018-3660. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
10. ^ Riddell, Edwin (1993-04-13). "At MIP, a study in Euro realism". Hollywood Reporter. BPI Communications L.P. p. 1. ISSN 0018-3660. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
11. Marich, Robert (1994-04-12). "In on the Action". Hollywood Reporter. BPI Communications L.P. p. S-3. ISSN 0018-3660. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
12. Russell, Maureen. Highlander: The Complete Watcher's Guide. New York: Warner Books. pp. p. 1. ISBN 0-446-67435-4. OCLC 38898097. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
13. Scott Thomas (1997). "Retrovision.com, Issue 1". Retrovision. Archived from the original on 1999-11-11. Retrieved 2008-04-26. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
14. Name from episode "Revenge Is Sweet". Highlander: The Series. Season 1. Episode 10. Syndication. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help), Final Shooting Script, p.1, in Highlander: The Series (season 1) (DVD, Davis-Panzer Productions, 2001), disk 9.
15. Bill Panzer, in episode "The Beast Below". Highlander: The Series. Season 1. Episode 16. Syndication. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help), Bonus Material, Bill Panzer's interview, in Highlander: The Series (season 1) (DVD, Davis-Panzer Productions, 2001), disk 6.
16. Brennan, Steve (1992-10-08). "Syndie audiences take action; 'Renegade,' 'Highlander' pull solid numbers as other new shows fall". Hollywood Reporter. BPI Communications L.P. p. 10. ISSN 0018-3660. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
17. Guider, Elizabeth (1993-08-12). "Rysher to handle Highlander distrib'n". Variety.com. Retrieved 2008-03-23.
18. ^ Farrell, Pia (1993-04-19). "'La Femme Nikita' series to TV via Gaumont, WB Gaumont: Signs co-production agreement w/ Warner Bros". Hollywood Reporter. BPI Communications L.P. p. 7. ISSN 0018-3660. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
19. ^ "Highlander: The Series - Season 1 (Anchor Bay)". TVShowsOnDVD.com. Retrieved 2008-04-28.
20. "Highlander la série (Coffret 10 DVD)" (in French). DVDcritiques.com. Retrieved 2008-04-28.
21. Adrian Paul, in Russell, Maureen. Highlander: The Complete Watcher's Guide. New York: Warner Books. pp. p. 90. ISBN 0-446-67435-4. OCLC 38898097. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
22. Sword Master F. Braun McAsh, in Russell, Maureen. Highlander: The Complete Watcher's Guide. New York: Warner Books. pp. p. 82. ISBN 0-446-67435-4. OCLC 38898097. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
23. Russell, Maureen. Highlander: The Complete Watcher's Guide. New York: Warner Books. pp. p. 150. ISBN 0-446-67435-4. OCLC 38898097. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
24. ^ "Season 1". Rysher.com. Archived from the original on 1998-05-20. Retrieved 2008-02-18.
25. ^ Russell, Maureen. Highlander: The Complete Watcher's Guide. New York: Warner Books. pp. p. 167-177. ISBN 0-446-67435-4. OCLC 38898097. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
26. Wyss was also credited in the eighteenth episode, "The Lady and the Tiger", although she did not appear in it.
27. ^ "Highlander Season 2 on DVD". Legendary Heroes. Retrieved 2008-10-06.

External links

• Highlander: The Series episode guide at TV.com
• Highlander: The Series episode list at Epguides
• Highlander: The Series episode list at the Internet Movie Database

• Highlander episodes
• Lists of fantasy television series episodes
• Television seasons