SF Rock Music Stars: Queen

British rock band Queen has made significant contribution to science fiction by making music for two movie soundtracks: Flash Gordon (1980, DVD, CD) and Highlander (1986, DVD).

Both are great albums, even though not everybody thinks so. Concerning the later, Wikipedia notes:

The original movie had a well-regarded soundtrack by Queen, including "Princes of the Universe," which is also used in the Highlander television series title sequence. While an album specifically tied to the Highlander movie was never released, the Queen album "A Kind Of Magic" (a phrase spoken twice in the movie by Connor) featured most of the songs from the film, as well as other music on the same theme. Notably, Queen's version of "New York, New York" (playing while The Kurgan drives Brenda through New York) was never released by Queen. All the Queen songs in Highlander were purposely written for the movie, except the song "Hammer To Fall" which had been previously released on their album The Works in 1984. Queen saw an early screening of Highlander, and decided to compose music for the film's entire non-symphonic soundtrack. They wrote many of the songs specifically to match the mood of the scenes when the songs were played, notably Brian May's heart-rending "Who Wants To Live Forever" concerning the doomed love of Connor and his original, mortal Highland bride.

Higlander-related videos:

• Princes of the Universe - colage made by fans using scenes from the movie
• A Kind of Magic - official video
• Who Wants to Live Forever - ditto
  

Flash Gordon is mostly instrumental, and had one single "Flash's Theme," "notable for its pounding, repetitive bassline and the camp humour of the snippets of dialogue from the movie that it contains." The linked video clip features key scenes from the movie.

Update: 50 Queen videoclips.

Highlander, Amber Chronicles: common plots

A group of persons with a strong ability to evade death under circumstances which would kill an ordinary human being, have been waging a war for domination/survival/salvation for centuries, using mainly swords or other types of cold steel blades. In the beginning, the hero (viewpoint character) is clueless, but as the story progresses he pieces his hidden identity and reveals the secrets of the universe and his own heroic nature, especially in times of hardship and pain, helping humanity overcome great dangers.

These are the common plot elements of both the Chronicles of Amber (Corvin cycle, first published 1970-1978) by Roger Zelazny, and the Highlander movie franchise (1986+).

While the Zelazny books weave a fast-paced, intricate tale with considerable consistency, the storylines of Highlander franchise lack the later.

For instance, the Amber characters rely on swords because laws of physics work somewhat differently in their home world, in particular, gunpowder does not have the same effect as on Earth, so they can't use firearms.

In Highlander, the only reason given for having swords as weapons of choice is the premise that only decapitation can kill an 'immortal,' and all other wounds, even from hundreds of bullets, heal soon enough. If a body can regenerate internal organs in a flash, why not grow a new head, too?

Amber characters have strong regenerative powers and immune system, but can be killed through any sufficiently severe wound or disease, which sounds more plausible to anyone with even a shallowest knowledge of anatomy and physiology.

Latter Highlander movies and TV-series pile more inconsistencies. The second part represents McLeod (Christopher Lambert) and Ramirez (Sean Connery) as alien exiles sent to live on Earth as punishment "for leading a revolution" on their home world - where use of firearms is abundant. No explanation is offered about the origin of all the other 'immortals', especially the evil ones, which number in hundreds. This also contradicts Ramirez's explanation in the first part, who simply states that they are a force of nature, part of the order of things ("why does the Sun come out"). Probably playing on the appeal of Scotch-spiced anglophobia to the American audience (think of the effect of Bravehart and the Patriot, in sequence), latter works introduced more Scottish 'immortals,' such as Paul McLeod.

In general, even the primary casting contains a charming inconsistency: Frenchman Lambert plays a Scotsman with not much of a Scottish accent, while Connery, a Scottsman nationalist, plays an ancient Egyptian comming from Spain, speaking English with a strong Scottish accent.

• If you are Highlander fan, read Zelazny's books to see what your favorite movie should have grown into, and very possibly learn about its true origins.
• If you are Zelazny fan, see only the first Highlander movie and consider the possibility of Brad Pitt playing Corvin if anyone ever decides to mine the books for movie series, LOTR-style. Avoid grief by paying no attention to the execution of the later and lamer sequels of the Highlander franchise.