What about the inevitable lifetime incarceration some of them must get when they get caught killing someone else, immortal or otherwise, and they never grow old and never die? Has there ever been an explanation for this?
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For the record there are more plotholes than universe in HL.... ;)
F-ck no I think its hilarious - The Comedian
Its like a dirty thought in a nice clean mind - PUV
they are really good at killing and they rarely get caught. and when they do they escape. and the watchers society is there to keep record and keep the game secret so more and likely they are a very powerful organization
shareSimple. They always just kill themselves to get out. Once they wake up in the morgue, they escape.
This is a TV SHOW for entertainment. You have to suspend your disbelief, if the writers/directors tried to close up all the 'loose-ends' in the show it would of taken away from its entertainment value and their creative abilities in the show.
There is a reason we have discussion boards...
There was one guy who spent 70 years in a mental institution that Duncan was responsible for putting him in during WWI. They never did explain why the staff did not realize he was not aging. He just said he was there for so long people forgot why he was there. And I guess they never looked at his commitment papers.
Bureaucrats--never bother to look at the paperwork :-)
shareHigh staff turnover, and the workers not caring enough to pay attention.
shareLike others have said, there are more plot holes in Highlander than you find holes in a colander but...
You can figure on several things happening:
1) they escape (not like they have to worry about getting shot)
2) they get taken out by a dishornable immortal while still in jail
3) they fake their death to get out
4) they get out with the help of another immortal (a la Kalas and Caspian)
So not really a plot hole when you think about it (not like the other Grand Canyons of plot holes there are).
Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.~Plato
Okay, now I'm curious. What do people see as plot holes? I own the series and am a major fan, so maybe I can fill some blanks in. Every series has its plot holes, though.
Some things to keep in mind (some of you at least should know some of this).
1. The movie and the tv series take place in different realities. (Remember in the movie Connor wins the Game in 1985). the animated series is in another.
2. Mistakes get made, so there are goofs.
actually they have since retconned that and have the movie and show in the same exact realities.
Conner won a micro gathering.
not the actual gathering. when there numbers deplete to a very low number a gathering happens it has been postulated that if someone is not fighting in the game such as someone who has been living on holy ground for that purpose. then they are not counted in the gathering
One of the biggest plot holes I can remember was when an egyptian woman locked away in a coffine for three thousand years awakes speaking modern day english.
i'm watching that egyptian woman episode right now.
share
It was a good episode.
There are many plot holes in the Highlander universe, but I don't think the one you mentioned is one of them.
An Immortal put in jail for life would either escape or "die" and get out.
Huge plot holes are:
1. You'd think people would see Quickenings more often.
2. What about Immortals who are executed by beheading, which is bound to happen. There would be reports of lightening at their executions?
3. With all the fighting in between Immortals there would have to be millions of Immortals or the Game would have ended long ago.
4. How come there aren't more reports of missing bodies through the ages or in the modern age?
5. How come Immortals who have gotten dozens or more Quickenings aren't super Human in strength? Aren't they supposed to get the strength of the Immortals they killed in the Quickening?
6. A question that could have several answers that hasn't been addressed: What about all the bodies? A couple episodes refer to the police mentioning a headless body being found, but come on, if they don't dispose of them most of the time it would bring the authorities in to find out what's going on.
In the end I don't worry about all that. It's fantasy, it's entertainment and I enjoy watching it.
1. You'd think people would see Quickening's more often.
Well if you see a quickening you would explain it with some reasonable thing like : kids playing with fireworks or a Russian wedding with fireworks , and they last up to a minute , so when you get closer they are over .
2. What about Immortals who are executed by beheading, which is bound to happen. There would be reports of lightening at their executions?
There was an episode like that , the rule was the closest immortal gets the quickening .
3. With all the fighting in between Immortals there would have to be millions of Immortals or the Game would have ended long ago.
You'd think so just Duncan killed every episode at least one guy (in some more then one in others none so in average one per episode )6 seasons with 22 episodes that is 132 average , but the series starts with the words " The Time for the Gathering is here" or something like that so they started the killings recently (1500-3000 immortals thru history would do the math , even up to 5000 would still be okay)
4. How come there aren't more reports of missing bodies through the ages or in the modern age? I think immortals would have devised a method of hiding decapitated body's in large populated areas by now (they had a cellar with acid barrels or something :)...)
5. How come Immortals who have gotten dozens or more Quickenings aren't super Human in strength? Aren't they supposed to get the strength of the Immortals they killed in the Quickening? They did not get strength , instead they got chi or life force (like in the episode Duncan got BAD and went to a spring for spiritual cleansing )
6. A question that could have several answers that hasn't been addressed: What about all the bodies? A couple episodes refer to the police mentioning a headless body being found, but come on, if they don't dispose of them most of the time it would bring the authorities in to find out what's going on.
If they are in a hurry or fall during the quickening from the bridge(it happened ) , they would refer to point 4 .
But plot holes like Conner learned to breath underwater and talk to animals ...
Or the nearly headless immortal in the movies with the tuckered neck...
ohhhh and so many other things that slip my mind at this moment
but you are right
In the end I don't worry about all that. It's fantasy, it's entertainment and I enjoy watching it.
Point 4 had to do with bodies disappearing from morgues, point 6 was about decapitated Immortals.
Also thought of a couple more:
7. How could Immortals that are not wearing really big overcoats hide their swords? Those things are huge.
8. In modern times wouldn't they worry about multiple fingerprint matches coming up if they are printed? From their recent past identities.
As to point five I remember more than one episode mentioning getting their strength, and in at least one episode knowledge and strength.
These are really good questions, it's fun to come up with explanations for them.
7. This is one of the most obvious questions for the TV show, lets just say they get REALLY good at covering them up over the centuries, and they are pulled out of the same place that the music comes from.
8. I wouldn't worry about fingerprints too much, unless they're arrested the fingerprints taken off crime scenes are usually partial or smudged, there would only be a few points of comparision, and if they are arrested and the police process them, turning up a result from a 40 yr old crime record with a guy who looks 35 would be dismissed out of hand as a coincidence, besides, see above prison escape explanations for when they're caught and charged with an old crime.
In general we should realize that every immortal would become something of an expert at disposing of bodies: setting them up as accidents, destroying them, or just cleaning of the scene so they don't leave any physical evidence. Even in reality you occasionally see an article about a body missing a head, it's common enough because headless corpses are harder to identify (same with missing hands). They would also be REALLY good at creating new identities and faking their deaths, I seem to recale Duncan complaining about how you used to be able to just ride over the next hill and change your name, and now you have to get new ID and papers every time. 400 years old, changing identity at least every 15 or 20 years to keep people from noticing, he's lead at least 25 lives over the centuries, in the movie Connor owned the same New York City building for a century under a dozen different names.
Some new questions,
1. Occasionally they have an immortal who is in law enforcement (specifically a Sheriff in Season 1 comes to mind) there's no way an immortal could pass even a local police application process, they have deep background checks for anyone who works in a police office, let alone the cops themselves.
2. We see new immortals created in the movies and TV show, how can there ever be only one? Highlander 2 should have had a really awkward scene where Connor decapitates a 10 year old because he's a new immortal and Connor loses the prize because there's more than one. Which leads to my next question:
3. Maybe I missed and episode, but immortals look the same after they're first killed, so has there ever been a child immortal? Interview With The Vampire addressed this idea, and so did the anime Cowboy Bebop. This would be a really interesting take, sometime somewhere a 500 year old who looks 12 was cutting peoples heads off! Or how about a talking 6 month old baby with a century of experiance-never mind, that would be way too creepy, I just scared myself.
Again, this is fun, remember the MST3K mantra and don't take this stuff to seriously: it's like trying to explain why the Death Star has such a huge design flaw, there's now real satisfying answer, but it's fun to talk about.
"3. Maybe I missed and episode, but immortals look the same after they're first killed, so has there ever been a child immortal? Interview With The Vampire addressed this idea, and so did the anime Cowboy Bebop. This would be a really interesting take, sometime somewhere a 500 year old who looks 12 was cutting peoples heads off! Or how about a talking 6 month old baby with a century of experiance-never mind, that would be way too creepy, I just scared myself."
There was a child Immortal in the 3rd season episode The Lamb, who also reappeared in the season 4 episode Reunion. They don't have the strength of adults and so they can't fight, so they usually don't last long.
that kid was very creepy and played with Duncan's soft points like a pro. that was a good ep.
ask the spokesperson, I don't have a brain
7. Lots and lots of lubricant. Like Deadpool.
share7.How could Immortals that are not wearing really big overcoats hide their swords? Those things are huge. I often laugh about this. There's a vid on the dvds which shows a guy coming out and handing Duncan the katana. There is no explanation for this at all, but it is entertaining. Hey, maybe they use magic.
8. In modern times wouldn't they worry about multiple fingerprint matches coming up if they are printed? From their recent past identities. I'm a criminal justice student, and I never thought about this. It brings up all kinds of other questions as well. What about DNA? What about facial recognition software? I think this is a big one. One that I don't have an answer for.
When I first got internet service, it was either season or season 5. I know I was around for the Season 5 finale but I don't remember how long I had been online at that time.
I wish to answer the following question:
7. How could Immortals that are not wearing really big overcoats hide their swords? Those things are huge.
According to the fans on the email lists I was on (and I think some of the Powers That Be that were on the old AOL Boards) at the time when I first got online, It's called "Katana Space" The swords are inside a pocket inside the coat that makes them invisible. The way it was explained to me by a friend was that it was sort of like in another dimension until it was needed.
In my own mind, I have since used this explanation for other shows as well, such as "Where did Buffy pull that stake from?" "Oh it's just Katana Space again."
Like someone else has said, I just enjoy the show. Highlander has a lot of plot holes. I imagine that is due to the fact that they had so many writers. I think some of them were even freelance writers. If a show has steady writers, chances are the plot holes will not be that big. I'm not saying that there won't be any plot holes, just not real huge or a lot of plot holes.
<i>2. What about Immortals who are executed by beheading, which is bound to happen. There would be reports of lightening at their executions?</i>
Well, up until about 100 years ago, most people probably would have just said "It's a good thing we killed that witch!"
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You'll have to speak up, I'm wearing a towel.
1. You'd think people would see Quickenings more often. Yes you would..
2. What about Immortals who are executed by beheading, which is bound to happen. There would be reports of lightening at their executions? It would depend if there was an Immortal around. Remember, when Darius died there was no sign of a Quickening. The way Bill Panzer explains it is that if there is no Immortal around there is no Quickening. (It just back to the source). That being said, there's still no explanation for what would happen if there is an Immortal around. So, still a plot hole.
3.With all the fighting in between Immortals there would have to be millions of Immortals or the Game would have ended long ago. Not with new Immortals coming around from time to time. You would think however, that sooner or later Immortals would stop being born.
4 . How come there aren't more reports of missing bodies through the ages or in the modern age? I don't know, this is one of the things that Highlander fans have wondered for years.
5. How come Immortals who have gotten dozens or more Quickenings aren't super Human in strength? Aren't they supposed to get the strength of the Immortals they killed in the Quickening? I don't know. I've always thought the knowledge part became instinctual but the power part, the strength, I don't know. It's never explained.
6. A question that could have several answers that hasn't been addressed: What about all the bodies? A couple episodes refer to the police mentioning a headless body being found, but come on, if they don't dispose of them most of the time it would bring the authorities in to find out what's going on. This has been mentioned before (in other threads). If the Immortal is smart, it would make sense for them to dispose of the body. Of course, the body could still be found anyway. But it's not really adressed. One theory is that the Watchers take care of it, but who the hell knows.
In the end I don't worry about it too. Like with most tv shows you have to suspend belief a little.
Since the Watchers have been around almost as long as Immortals, perhaps they dispose of the bodies in order to maintain the secrecy of the whole thing. Certainly many of them would think that it would be a serious mistake to allow the world to become aware that there are Immortals in it who would ultimately battle for the prize of ruling the world forever.
The Fabio Principle: Puffy shirts look best on men who look even better without them.
6. A question that could have several answers that hasn't been addressed: What about all the bodies? A couple episodes refer to the police mentioning a headless body being found, but come on, if they don't dispose of them most of the time it would bring the authorities in to find out what's going on.
Don't forget how incompetent police in the Highlander universe are. In the original movie the bodies and swords are found by the police and they think the killer is planting a sword with the bodies and even cover it up when they have a witness who tells them there was a sword fight. Missing the immortal part is easy, but they should at least figure out there's some sort of underground dueling ring and the corpses are the losers.
if there is no immortal near by there is no quickening
shareI just finished watching that episode about 20 minutes ago. :)
shareI have a problem with that to. It's one of the most common plotholes though. Like how all the aliens in Sci-Fi shows speak English even by themselves. Oh in the flashbacks they speak modern English as well. I think it's a matter of making understandable for the people watching it, even though it doesn't make since.
sharewhen they are showing the past if it is in a nation that didn't speak English they are not supposed to be speaking it. ie if they are in France they are speaking french they are simply transliterating it for us
shareThe Watchers clean up after them .
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Believe it or not, a life sentence does not necessarily mean life in prison. Most "life" sentences last for about 15 years. The people don't die in prison for these, and are released at the end of the term. Now, I'm guessing that there would be a fall back, such as if an immortal were to get such a sentence, or even and indefinite sentence (the real life sentence) I imagine they would do something like start a prison riot and fake their own deaths in the process. Some thing for those who get the death penalty. It is a plot hole, but not as big a one when you think it through.
sharethe watchers would get that immortal out of that situation.
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