Realmscapes: TV I Recommend

HIGHLANDER: THE SERIES (1992-98)
Duncan MacLeod: Adrian Paul (The Breed); Richie Ryan: Stan Kirsch; Joe Dawson: Jim Byrnes (Beast Wars-animation); Tessa Noël: Alexandra Vandernoot; Amanda: Elizabeth Gracen; Methos: Peter Wingfield (The Sin Eater, Holby City-UK TV), Charlie DeSalvo: Philip Akin (War of the Worlds-CA TV, The Sum of All Fears, S.W.A.T.), Dr Anne Lindsey: Lisa Howard (Earth: Final Conflict-TV)

Season 1 (A-): The principle characters of Duncan, Amanda, and Richie as well as "rules" of the Highlander mythos are established; like any debut season of a series, Highlander spends the majority of its initial episodes maintaining a specific formula of Duncan fighting the "Immortal of the Week", which allows viewers to tune in at any point without the risk of feeling lost within a story arc. The important characters, Darius, Amanda, Fitzcairn, Horton, and Xavier St Cloud make their debut in this season. My favorite episodes (in order of airing) are "The Gathering", "Family Tree", "Road Not Taken", "Innocent Man", "Revenge is Sweet", "Band of Brothers", "For Evil's Sake", "For Tomorrow We Die", "Lady and the Tiger", "Nowhere to Run", and "The Hunters".

Season 2 (A+): The series first major story arc begins with the season premier, which introduces the secret society, "The Watchers" (and with it the character of Joe Dawson), to the Highlander universe. I grew to loathe the growing involvement of The Watchers as the series progressed, but I loved the cameo they played in this season as it helped the series to get away from the "Immortal of the Week" formula. This season digs deeper into the concepts and ethics of "immortality" in this world: is it a blessing, or really a curse? The interaction between Duncan, Joe, and Horton is excellent episodic storytelling; Richie continues to grow into a strong character and the verbal sparring between newcomer, Charlie, and Mac is fun to watch. Top episodes for me are "The Watchers", "Studies in Light", "The Darkness", "Eye for an Eye", "Revenge of the Sword", "Run for Your Life", "Under Color of Authority", "Unholy Alliance I & II", "Warmonger", "Legacy", "Prodigal Son", and "Counterfeit I & II".

Season 3 (A): This season somewhat reverted back to its common formula, but at least the episodes explore and affect Mac's character on a deeper and more personal level, setting his character up for one of the series' best season finales. I was not a big fan of the evil "kid Immortal", Kenny, or of the ever-pushy, Dr Anne Lindsay, but the season more than made up for these characters with Kalas, one of the series' best Immortal villains (and my favourite). Once the show moves to Europe just after the first half of the season, things pick up quickly with the debut of the lovable, Maurice, and the brooding Immortal, Methos. Memorable episodes are "The Samurai", "The Revolutionary", "Shadows", "They Also Serve", "Blind Faith", "Song of the Executioner", "Star-Crossed", "Methos", "Testimony", "Mortal Sins", and "Finale I & II".

Season 4 (A+): This season recovers from season three's minor slip-slide by breaking new ground with the "dark quickening", and stretches the relationships of the primary cast, arguably making this the most dramatic of all the seasons. Mac and Joe's friendship is put through some serious strains as a result of the death of a character at the hands of an Immortal friend of Joe's--this freyed friendship plays on the backdrop of a brewing shadow war between the Immortals and Watchers. This is also the season that establishes Methos's character, and where Richie unarguably hits his stride as a great character; "The Innocent" is one of the toughest episodes in the entire series. Just about every episode in this season is quality storytelling, but the ones that stand out to me as favourites are "Homeland", "Brothers in Arms", "Reunion", "Reluctant Heroes", "The Wrath of Kali", "Chivalry", "Timeless", "Something Wicked", "Deliverance", "Promises", "Methuselah's Gift", "Double Jeopardy", "Judgment Day", and "One Minute to Midnight".

Season 5 (B): This was a season that spent most of the time trying to find its identity, making it hit-or-miss depending on the kind of Highlander fan you are. On the one hand, it seems the producers wanted to push the series more into a more supernatural direction, which I personally had mixed feelings about. At other times they appeared to want to lighten the mood after the tensions of season four, since there are more comedy-driven episodes than in any other season. Despite the identity crisis, some of the series most popular episodes can be found in season five, and with the controversial death of another major character the series delivers more than enough quality storytelling to make it worth watching. My favourite episodes are "The End of Innocence", "Manhunt", "Glory Days", "The Messenger", "Comes a Horseman", "Revelation 6:8", "Duende", "The Stone of Scone", "Forgive Us Our Trespasses", and "Archangel".

SEASON 6 (C-): Adrian Paul wanted to move on. The first head-scratcher is that the series only had thirteen episodes, a puzzler since much of the middle part of the season is spent auditioning other characters to take over when there were three viable candidates already. The show would eventually go to Elizabeth Gracen's "Amanda" the following year, and that decision may have been better made (and prepared for) if Amanda had taken over for the last half (or even the majority) of season six. Why was Peter Wingfield's "Methos" never given the oppurtunity to take over as the lead (most fan polls place him as the "should-have-been" heir)? What about Stan Kirch's "Richie", the series' "first-born" if you will?

All in all, the episodes reverted back to the season 1 formula, pushed Mac into a "super pacifist boy scout" mode (cue *eye-roll*), and danced with some Christian-fantasy undertones that really could have gone in some interesting directions if given half a chance. The fifth season was four to five episodes shy of a full season, so watch "Avatar", "Armageddon", "Indiscretions", To Be", and "Not to Be"--all of which are excellent episodes--and call it a day.

The series had many notable on-screen cameos of past and (then) future film and TV stars over the course of its run; many have also lended their voices to major animated and anime show franchises (which I have not listed here). I have highlighted major stars in blue. The cameos include:
[SSN1] Christopher Lambert (Highlander I-IV, Mortal Kombat, Druids), Richard Moll (The Sword and the Sorcerer, Night Court-TV, Hercules: The Legendary Journies-TV), Peter DeLuise (21 Jump Street-TV, SeaQuest DSV-TV, director/producer-Stargate SG-1 & Atlantis-TV), Soon-Tek Oh (The Man With the Golden Gun), Dustin Nguyen (21 Jump Street-TV, V.I.P.-TV), Vincent Schivelli (Ghost, Batman Returns, Tomorrow Never Dies), Joan Jett (rock musician), Andrew Divoff (Wishmaster, Lost-TV), Marc Singer (The Beastmaster), Wes Studi (The Last of the Mohicans), Joe Pantoliano (The Matrix), Denise "Vanity" Matthews (rock musician), Tim Reid (Simon & Simon-TV), John Hertzler (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine-TV), James Horan (Star Trek: Enterprise-TV), Peter Howitt (director-Johnny English), Vernon Dobtcheff (The Spy Who Loved Me, Indiana Jones III), Roland Gift (UK lead singer-Fine Young Cannibals), Dee Dee Bridgewater (jazz musician), Georges Corraface (The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles), Jason Isaacs (The Patriot, Peter Pan, Harry Potter), Nigel Terry (Excalibur), Martin Kemp (EastEnders-UK TV), Anthony Stewart Head (Buffy the Vampire Slayer-TV), Marion Cotillard (Big Fish), Roger Daltrey (recurring role; lead singer-The Who)
[SSN2] Geraint Wyn Davies (Forever Knight-TV), Sheena Easton (UK pop musician), Andrew Kavadas (Underworld: Evolution), Callum Keith Rennie (Battlestar Galactica-2004,TV), Michael Shanks (Stargate SG-1-TV), Lorena Gale (Battlestar Galactica-2003,TV, Smallville-TV), Don Davis (Stargate SG-1-TV), Robert Ito (Midway, Quincy, M.E.-TV), Bruce A. Young (The Sentinel-TV), Adrian Holmes (Smallville-TV), Rowdy Roddy Piper (WWE wrestler), Andrea Roth (Rescue Me-TV), Gabrielle Miller (Corner Gas-CA TV), Bruce Weitz (Hill Street Blues-TV), Nicholas Lea (The X-Files-TV), Jonathan Banks (48 Hrs, Beverly Hills Cop, Wiseguy-TV), Lochlyn Munro (Northwood-CA TV, Charmed-TV, Scary Movie), Gregory Smith (Everwood-TV), Ed Lauter (The Longest Yard-1974, The Rocketeer, The X-Files-TV), Peter Firth (The Picture of Dorian Gray-1976, UK TV, The Hunt For Red October, Spooks [aka MI5 in U.S.]-UK TV), Nia Peeples (Fame-TV, Walker Texas Ranger-TV), James Smillie (Return to Eden-AU TV), Martin Cummins (Dark Angel-TV)
[SSN3] Tamlyn Tomita (Karate Kid II, JAG-TV, 24-TV), Stephen McHattie (Seinfeld-TV, The X-Files-TV, Watchmen), Hiro Kanagawa (Smallville-TV), Randall Cobb (Uncommon Valor, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective), Chandra West (White Noise), Brion James (Blade Runner, The Fifth Element), Jason Gray-Stanford (Monk-TV), Rob Stewart (Painkiller Jane-TV), John Pyper-Ferguson (The Adventures of Brisco County Jr-TV), Laura Harris (24-TV, Dead Like Me-TV), Garwin Sanford (Stargate SG-1-TV, Painkiller Jane-TV), Anthony De Longis (Star Trek: Voyager-TV, Jet Li's Fearless), Stella Stevens (The Nutty Professor, The Poseidon Adventure), Barry Pepper (Saving Private Ryan, Battlefield Earth, 61*, We Were Soldiers, 3: The Dale Earnhardt Story), Mary Woronov (Knight Rider-TV), Vivian Wu (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III), Conrad Dunn (Stripes, Nero Wolfe-TV), Richard Lynch (The Sword and the Sorcerer, Star Trek: The Next Generation-TV), David Robb (I, Claudius-UK TV, Ivanhoe-1982, The Flame Trees of Thika), Lynda Boyd (Final Destination 2), George Harris (Indiana Jones I, Layer Cake, Harry Potter V)
[SSN4] Carsten Norgaard (D2: The Mighty Ducks), Laurie Holden (The X-Files-TV, The Majestic, Fantastic Four, Silent Hill, The Mist), Pruitt Taylor Vince (Constantine, Deadwood-TV), Justin Louis (24-TV), Venus Terzo (Da Vinci's Inquest & City Hall-CA TV), Nicholas Campbell (Da Vinci's Inquest & City Hall-CA TV), Peter Outerbridge (Millennium-TV, 24-TV, Lucky Number S7evin), Nicolas Cavendish (The X-Files-TV), Brent Strait (Andromeda-TV), Molly Parker (Deadwood-TV), Kabir Bedi (Octopussy), Emmanuelle Vaugier (Smallville-TV, One Tree Hill-TV, Two and a Half Men-TV, Need For Speed: Carbon-VG, CSI: NY-TV), Ron Halder (Stargate SG-1-TV), Rae Dawn Chong (Quest for Fire, Commando), Byron Chief-Moon (Walker Texas Ranger-TV), Michael J Jackson (Wish Me Luck-UK TV), Ricco Ross (Aliens), Vernon Dobtcheff (The Spy Who Loved Me, Indiana Jones III), Peta Wilson (La Femme Nikita-TV, The League of Extraordinary Gentleman), Dougray Scott (Mission Impossible II, The Ten Commandments-2006, Hitman-2007), Marc Warren (The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles-TV, Hustle-UK TV), Graham McTavish (Red Dwarf: Series VII-UK TV)
[SSN5] Tracy Scoggins (Lois & Clark-TV, Babylon 5-TV), Chris Humphreys (historical fiction authour-Jack Absolute series), Chris Martin (Tom Stone-CA TV), Gary Jones (Stargate SG-1 & Atlantis-TV), Eric McCormack (Will & Grace-TV), Ian Tracey (The X-Files-TV, Da Vinci's Inquest & City Hall-CA TV), Marcia Strassman (M*A*S*H*-TV, Welcome Back Kotter-TV, Honey I Shrunk the Kids I & II), Michael Kopsa (Smallville-TV, Fantastic Four), Sandra Berhnard (stand-up comic, Roseanne-TV), Kevin Conway (Gods & Generals, The Outer Limits-TV, The Bronx is Burning), Roger Cross (24-TV), Steve Bacic (Andromeda-TV, Smallville-TV, Flash Gordon-2007,TV), Ron Perlman (Beauty and the Beast-TV, The Adventures of Huck Finn, Alien: Resurrection, Blade II, Hellboy I & II), Musetta Vander (Buffy The Vampire Slayer-TV, Mortal Kombat II, Wild Wild West, Xena: Warrior Princess-TV), Fulvio Cecere (Dark Angel-TV, Nero Wolfe-TV, Tarzan-TV), Valentine Pelka (First Knight, Ivanhoe-1997, Queen of Swords-TV), Richard Ridings (The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles-TV, The Messenger, Lara Croft II, The Brothers Grimm), Chris Larkin (Hitler: The Rise of Evil), Barbara Keogh (Little Britain-UK TV), Jonathan Firth (Poirot-UK TV, Inspector Morse-UK TV, Middlemarch-1994, Midsomer Murders-UK TV, Luther)
[SSN6] Rachel Shelley (Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India, The Bone Snatcher, Ghost Whisperer-TV), Dudley Sutton (Lovejoy-UK TV), Ian Richardson (The Sign Four-1983, The Hound of the Baskervilles-1983), Anita Dobson (EastEnders-UK TV), Ed Bishop (UFO-UK TV), Alexis Denisof (Sharpe's...series-UK TV, Buffy the Vampire Slayer-TV, Angel-TV), Nicholas Clay (Excalibur), Justina Vail (Seven Days-TV), Sandra Hess (Encino Man, Mortal Kombat II, Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.), Brian Protheroe (Superman I, Midsomer Murders-UK TV, The Lord of the Rings-2007, stage UK), Claudia Christian (Babylon 5-TV), Jack Ellis (Prime Suspect-UK TV), Martin McDougall (The Fifth Element, Children of Dune)

SMALLVILLE (2001-)
Clark Kent: Tom Welling; Lana Lang: Kristin Kreuk (Edgemont-CA TV); Lex Luthor: Michael Rosenbaum (Justice League-animated); Chloe Sullivan: Allison Mack; Pete Ross: Sam Jones III (Glory Road); Martha Kent: Annette O'Toole (Superman III, The Huntress, Nash Bridges), Jonathan Kent: John Schneider (Dukes of Hazzard), Lionel Luthor: John Glover (Scrooged), Whitney Fordman: Eric Johnson (Flash Gordon-2007), Jason Teague: Jensen Ackles (Supernatural), Lois Lane: Erica Durance, Jimmy Olsen: Aaron Ashmore (Veronica Mars), Kara: Laura Vandervoort (Instant Star-CA TV), Oliver Queen: Justin Hartley (Passions)

Season 1 (A-): I have a love/hate relationship with Superman: I love the character, but I generally hate how the mythos is used in comics and live-action (although I did like Christopher Reeve Superman I & II, and I enjoyed reruns of the 50's Superman TV show). Part of the problem is Superman's fault. Since he's so indestructable it's hard to put him in a situation where he is in danger--unless he's facing an alien, and that's where I will almost always get off the train. Season 1 of Smallville quickly grounded the mythos and hammered home that despite his suprhuman abilities, Clark's weaknesses (either real or perceived) could be exploited to make him vulnerable. I also love how the production team has interpreted the early days of the Clark/Lex relationship, and that Clark is "Clark" before he is "Superman". Our favorite episodes (in order of airing) are "Pilot", "X-Ray", "Hourglass", "Jitters", "Rogue", "Leech", "Zero", "Stray", "Obscura", and "Tempest".

Season 2 (A): The "meteor freak" training wheels are removed as the show begins to peel off more emotional layers, revealing how destiny can often wreck personal wants--and not just for Clark. This season gets into establishing more of the Superman mythos from red kryptonite to heat vision to prophetic cave paintings, and also firmly puts Lionel on the road to being one of the best TV villains ever. Our favorites are "Vortex", "Heat", "Duplicity", "Red", "Ryan", "Insurgence", "Prodigal", "Fever", "Rosetta", "Calling", and "Exodus".

Season 3 (A+): In its third season, Smallville loses the remainder of its innocence. Lionel's obsession with power and his legacy puts Lex on his sacrifical altar, while Lex's obsession with Clark puts him on the edge of his moral knife; Pete is finding Clark's secret more than he can handle; Lana and Clark find themselves each at a crossroads; and "the caves" are revealed to be something far more sinister to all aware of them. This is a series-changing season. Tops are "Exile", "Phoenix", "Extinction", "Relic", "Shattered", "Asylum", "Velocity", "Obsession", "Legacy", "Memoria", "Forsaken", and "Covenant".

Season 4 (C): Smallville was ready to bring the show to the next level...but apparently the producers got stage fright. This season is a great study in what happens when you decide to take a creative leap, only to lose faith at the last second and then try to stop yourself in mid-push. In wrestling, this usually ends up with nasty injuries for the wrestler who does this. Season Four is pretty bad in the realm of creative "injuries". The season is all over the place from "freak of the week" to X-Files wannabe, with a dash of Charmed; we go from uber-campy ("Krypto") one week to over-the-top, artifact globe-trotting the next ("Sacred"). Oh: and the whole amnesia, "sorry...but I wasn't myself" thing is VERY done in terms of this show by the end of this season--especially for cheap pops like what was done in "Onyx". That said, the vital episodes are finely executed, and you can consider the season finale the show's way of saying "NOW we're ready...". Those episodes are "Crusade", "Gone", "Run", "Transference", "Pariah", "Blank", and "Commencement".

Season 5 (B+): Well, this wasn't exactly the return to form that we were hoping for, but by the end of the season, the series is firmly pointed in the right direction. There is plenty of well-handled references and cameos from Superman's gallery of allies and villains, and I like the slight alterations that are being made to the character's history. Unfortunately, as hard as she is trying, I am just not sold on the Lois Lane character. The whole "polar opposites attract" relationship is just lame given the obvious end-result down the line. On the other hand, Chloe has become a firm favourite in our book--a surprise for me anyway, given how much I did not like the character through the first three seaons. Favorites for us are "Arrival", "Mortal", "Splinter", "Solitude", "Lexmas", "Reckoning", "Cyborg", "Oracle", and "Vessel".

Season 6 (A-): We were conservative going into Season Six. This is the longest we have ever faithfully followed a series and we didn't know what to expect. One character that continues to keeps things fluid is Lionel Luthor. It is impossible to know who's side he is on at this point, or what his motives are. I am very happy that the writers are giving us a Lex who is firmly entrenched in villainy. I was concerned that they would have cheapened the character by making him some shade of grey. I must also give big props to the scribes for their adaptation of a DC Comics character that I have never liked on the pages of comics: Oliver Queen. The character development is proceeding nicely, but that annoying "Smallville amnesia" is still popping up... The episodes we really liked (or loved): "Zod", "Arrow", "Fallout", "Justice", "Crimson", "Promise", "Progeny", "Nemesis", and "Phantom".

The series had many notable on-screen cameos of past and current (and in some cases, future) film and TV stars; many have also lended their voices to major animated and anime show franchises (which I have not listed here). I have highlighted major stars in blue. The cameos include:
[SSN1] Gabrielle Rose (Dark Angel-TV, In the Name of the King), Dan Lauria (The Wonder Years-TV), Hiro Kanagawa (recurring role; Highlander-TV), Sarah-Jane Redmond (recurring role; Millennium-TV, Da Vinci's Inquest-CA TV, Kyle XY-TV), Mitchell Kosterman (recurring role; Stargate SG-1-TV), Tom O'Brien (The Big Easy), Lizzy Caplan (The Class-TV, Cloverfield), Tania Saulnier (In the Name of the King), Jackie Burroughs (Road to Avonlea-CA TV, Fever Pitch), Eric Christian Olsen (Not Another Teen Movie, The Loop-TV), George Murdock (Gunsmoke-TV, Battlestar Galactica-1978, TV, Barney Miller, Knight Rider-TV, Star Trek: TNG-TV, The X-Files-TV), Joe Morton (recurring role; Terminator 2, Equal Justice-TV, Eureka-TV), Amy Adams (Talladega Nights, Enchanted, Charlie Wilson's War)