 The writing below tells about what "The Prize" means in Highlander as interpreted by Peter Bellwood and Larry Ferguson:
As part of our continuing effort to create a dialog on the above, we feel it might be constructive to review
the origin and development.
We have never perceived the Prize as an isolated event, independent of the back-story, but as a special
effect integral to, and a logical extension of, prior plot points.
It's linked to the fact that MacLeod feels ill when he first lays
eyes on the Kurgan, and later on meets Ramirez.
"The Prize" is a logical extension of "The Quickening".
It's the highlight of "The Gathering". It is the climax of our story. It's the reason why
Ramirez seeks out MacLeod to begin with. As he says in SHOT 76:
"If he (the Kurgan) wins the prize, mortal man will suffer an eternity of darkness and
slavery beneath his boot".
In any fantasy, there are certain givens which the audience is asked to accept without question.
The more precise and less numerous these givens are, the less chance for the audience to be confused.
In HIGHLANDER, the givens are as follows:
Nature has created an indeterminate number of immortals. These immortals are not the result of extra-
terrestrial influences -- like gods meddling in the affairs of men .
They are a natural phenomenon, the result of genetic misfunction. (Ramirez and the squirrels).
These immortals can all be killed by a sword chopping off their heads, and each possesses a "sixth sense"
called "The Quickening".
"The Quickening".
is a TELEPATHIC PHENOMENON, dramatized by the scene with the stag and
Ramirez's words:
"We are at one with all living things."
We put these words in his mouth because they conform to a 16th-century sensibility, not out of any desire
to be vague, or to hint at at a meaning greater than we implied.
If Ramirez was describing "The Prize" today, he would say something like:
"We immortals have extra-sensory perception.We are telepathically connected to each other, and to all living things."
The fact that "The Quickening".
is a telepathic power is futher indicated by each immortal's capacity to
sense the other's existence.
For example, MacLeod feels ill when first confronted by the Kurgan. He experiences a similar sensation when he meets Ramirez.
The telepathic power in "The Quickening".
is limited, however, by 2 factors:
First, Nature has not divided the "pie" into equal cuts. Some, like the Kurgan and MacLeod are born with
more.
The 2nd factor has been reshuffled in the various drafts of the script, and may have been obscured by
special effects considerations.
We have all tended to focus on how the arc of energy looks, as opposed to what causes it, and what it
means.
Each immortal, at the moment of his death, surrenders all his Quickening to his opponent.
It is this transfer of telepathic Quickening that is dramatized in the energy-exchange between a decapitated
immortal and the victor.
It is logically consistent that each transfer is more spectacular. Not only the power of the fallen immortal is
released, but that of his dead opponents down through the centuries.
It's like a chain reaction. It gets bigger and bigger as the numbers dwindle.
It is not logically consistent that an unexplained creature should appear from the Kurgan's headless torso, in
order, either to scare the audience, or avoid delivering "The Prize". We expressed our feelings about this in
the April 8th telex.
"The Gathering" is another given in HIGHLANDER. It is a time when the chain-reaction reaches critical
mass.
Six immortals remain. Each possesses the combined telepathic power of all their fallen adversaries.
They are drawn to each other to fight for the last given --- "The Prize".
"THE PRIZE" IS 100% OF THE TELEPATHIC PIE --- 100% OF "The Quickening".
At the climax of HIGHLANDER, only the Kurgan and MacLeod remain. Each possesses approximately
one half of the pie.
Each has within him the combined Quickening of all his fallen opponents, and their fallen opponents, and
their fallen opponents, and so on.
When MacLeod kills the Kurgan, he gets 100%. He gets it all. He gets "The Prize".
It doesn't come in manageable portions. It overwhelms him in one, mind-bending blast:
TOTAL TELEPATHIC AWARENESS
Billions upon billions of thoughts, feelings, instincts, wishes, dreams, secret desires, all jumbled and
tumbling and boiling over in one great ROAR!
MacLeod is like a drowning man, gasping for breath. He's instantly at one with all living things.
He struggles to maintain his own identity within the vortex of generations being born and dying.
Suddenly, he's connected to the whole screwing-screaming-laughing-plotting-psychotic-roiling mass of
human experience.
He is the night air. He can't control the rush -- lost in a thundering Niagara of total awareness.
He's got "The Prize".
It's the final given in HIGHLANDER, and as such, should not confuse the audience.
They should understand it, anticipate it and enjoy it when it happens.
By the end of the battle with the Kurgan, they should wonder if MacLeod will survive what is happening to
him. Will "The Prize" overwhelm him?
By the final scene, he's managed to get some kind of control over it, yet still it seethes and bubbles.
Thoughts rise to the surface, exploding in random, arbitrary perceptions -- a potential coup in Honduras.
Unrequited lovers in Paris.
Once they realize MacLeod has prevailed, the audience can breathe a collective sigh of relief.
Ramirez may have been wrong about love, but he sure-as-hell was right about "The Prize."
Thank God he sought MacLeod out all those ages ago. If it hadn't been for Jaun Ramirez, things could
have been very bad indeed.
With the kind of power MacLeod now possesses, the Kurgan would surely have been able to drive mortal
man into an endless darkness of despair and slavery.
The problem is, how do you dramatize "The Prize"? We have some thoughts on ways this could be done.
But first we should make sure we're all on the same freeway, or at least heading in the same direction.
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