About Quink Expertise I can answer most questions about the show, the actors and characters. I also run a collection of over 1600 highlander links and I`ve carefully gone through all of them. If I don`t know something off the top of my head, I usually know where to find it. I`ve watched Highlander since 1992 when it started, and I`ve been on the internet for a year and a half. In that time I`ve visited many of the HL pages out there. As for the show, I`ve watched every episode several times and I belong to a trivia group that over the past year has covered even the most obscure facts about the show
Question I`ve recently been sucked into the Highlander fandom -- particularly HL slash (quit the snickering!) -- and I`ve been taping the episodes on scifi channel. My question regards fan fiction vis a vis the undying (heh!) question: Where the heck do they keep the swords? There`s a phrase bandied about fan sites: "katana space". What does it mean, where does it come from, who coined it, and where can I find the source documents?
Thanks for satisfying my curiosity!
Answer Hi, I don't know how much I'll be able to satisfy your curiosity, but I'll give it my best shot. Katana space refers to that imaginary sword pocket where Duncan seems to keep his sword at all times, despite what he's wearing. Duncan must be a pretty talented guy if he can run around, jump over fences and basically move a lot while he's got a very long sword stuffed in a short leather jacket (Or a longer coat, but it's more fun when he's wearing something shorter than the sword). The best way to explain it is as a place in an immortal's clothing where things conveniently disappear when they're put in there. 'Katana Space' is like a bottomless secret pocket, and I've heard people joke that that's where they hide all the headless bodies the police never notice. It's one of those Highlander inconsistencies we all notice but choose to cheerfully ignore (Similar to the discussion about where the bullets go when an immortal is shot)... In the Highlander universe, it's possible to sit down on a bench with a broadsword hidden in your coat and not have it show. Katana space isn't limited to Duncan, either, even though it's named after his sword. Two of the best examples I can think of are Amanda and Annie Devlin, who both managed to pull full size swords out of tight leather outfits.
As for the origin of the term, all I can say is it's been around the fandom long than I have. I can't think of any 'official' person coming up with it, and most likely it started on one of the forums, possibly Rysher, or on the highlander mailing list. I checked a site where a fan has explained some of the odd sayings and in-jokes from the Rysher forum (http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Academy/8799/acronyms.html), but I couldn't find anything about Katana space. It seems likely that a fan came up with it several years ago, and it's just been used and passed around by other fans ever since.
An alternative to this endless black hole that seems to exist in an immortal's coat is the Sword Fairy. This is another term you may see in a few places. Instead of a magic space in the clothing, the sword is brought to the immortal by a kind fairy who shows up just in the nick of time :-) There's evidence for this one on one of the Highlander blooper tapes... they show a wonderful shot of Adrian stopping before a fight scene. A stage hand runs up, hands him a sword which he stuffs in his coat and then whips out. Anyway, I'm sorry I can't help you with the origin of the term... as wonderful as the internet is, it's very easy for things like that to be lost. If you're interested in other terms used in the highlander fandom, I'd recommend visiting a few pages. Patches Friendly family forum FAQ is a good one (http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/j/j/jjs191/familyfaq.html) as well as the one I gave you above. Both of these are related to the Rysher forum (http://www.rysher.com/highlander/forum), a great place for any fan to go to discuss the show.
Finally, I did manage to dig up a reference to the sword debate in a survey put out by a fan. While it doesn't mention Katana space, it does mention the Sword Fairy as well as mentioning the 'Where do they keep the swords' discussion and several others. If you want to have a look, visit the The Slightly Biased Highlander Survey (http://www.modernartist.com/highlander/survey/index.html). I hope this has helped you with your question. If you have any other questions about the fandom or the show, feel free to ask.
