The Prisoner tv show (old)

And....40 some years later its still being discussed by many. Thats quite a feat in itself to be relevant to many 40 some years after it was made.

 

I've always equated this show as being in a bad dream you can't wake up from, hoping it was just that, a dream...

 

There was definitely very much a dreamlike,surrealistic quality to the show, making it unlike anything we'd ever seen up to 1968. I had no problem with the ending (the agent's actual London apartment door now opening and closing with an electronic motor, just like the Village). To me, that meant that no matter where he went, the world was now the Village, so there was no escape. Made sense to me.

 

Very true.

 

I tell you, the show really blew my mind back in 1968, because there was nothing like it on the American networks up to this point. I guess The Avengers came close, but that was a lot more whimsical and fun. Each episode of The Prisoner was like a chess game, where sometimes the lead character won, and sometimes he lost. Interpreting the bizarre plots was a huge discussion that summer for me and my geeky friends; I was haunted by the giant "guardian" balloons, and that's a nightmarish image: the balloon jumping on the escaped prisoner and smothering him to death, with the shot from the other side of the rubber wall. Scary.

 

I would have been happy if the only prisoner show ever produced was the episode "The Chimes of Big Ben". To me, that's the quintessential episode.

 

I agree -- "Chimes of Big Ben" was stunning (as is the alternate version). That led to my long-held theory that the Village was actually a consortium of a bunch of different countries, all of whom held their former spies in one place so they couldn't cause any trouble.

Some good stuff on Wikipedia on this show.

 

Yes, and this is foreshadowed in a conversation between Number 2 and Number 6 in "The Chimes of Big Ben".

 

The Prisoner is one of my favorite shows. However, I can empathize with folks who don't "get it." On one hand, it can be a very entertaining show on the surface, but often it's ponderous and opaque. Some of us like challenges, where we have to suss out the symbolism and references to culture, politics, etc. Some of us don't...

I don't watch it very often. When I do, I almost always get something new out of it, and I've been watching it for about 35 years now. Sometimes, though, I start to watch an episode, and turn it off in the middle. You have to be very alert and engaged with this show; you can't just sit back and watch it like an episode of Chuck. If I'm a little sleepy, I can't sit through it.

Doug

 

That was something that McGoohan and Markstein (George Markstein who essentially co-created the series with McGoohan and had worked with him on "Secret Agent Man". Markstein is the man at the beginning that No. 6 gives his resignation to).

Markstein has largely been forgotten but he came up with the initial premise that led to "The Prisoner" which McGoohan embellished considerably. Markstein left the series after conflicts with McGoohan over the direction of the show. While McGhoohan often denied that "The Prisoner" was the same chararcter as John Drake (although there were visual bits that stated it more or less) Markstein makes it clear that he WAS meant to be Drake. As story editor on the series he essentially worked on the overall tone of the show and kept the plots of the various episodes true to the original ethos of the series.

Markstein had considerably different feelings about the final episode (which he had nothing to do with). It's an interesting interview and a very different take on the show than Patrick McGhoohan's presentation over the years of the series in many respects.

Of course I always liked the initial delay in their conversation at the beginning of "The Prisoner" where No. 6 asks who No. 1 is and No. 2 states..."You are.....No. 6".

http://www.the-prisoner-6.freeserve.co.uk/markstein.htm

 

A great comment from the interview although one should put it in context (Markstein left because the show was no longer his show or a collaboration but McGoohan's show so there certainly could be an element of jealousy but, I suspect, it's more a writer's perspective as Markstein was also a novelist in addition to writing for TV and films).

"Q. What do you think about the fact that it was later discussed in universities?

A. Mmmm. ... yes ... amazing and ridiculous and a sad commentary on our day and age I would have thought, that a television series has been elevated apparently - by some people into a cult. What a pathetic thing. I mean, one is delighted that it amuses people, and one is delighted that it entertains people and it's a very satisfying thing to have originated something which has left such a mark and I'm very humble and very pleased about that. But having said that, when I hear that some benighted university in Canada is holding some sort of course for its students about the significance of THE PRISONER and when I hear people pontificating about its meaning ... the thing is a bizarre and unusual television series, no more, no less. It had some good things in it. It had some ridiculous things in it. It's fun! But the PRISONER "cult" is a terrific case of The Emperor's New Clothes quite honestly and if it gives people pleasure then so be it ... but it is the Emperor's clothes ... I mean ... how do cults grow? They're frightening, I think - they are really frightening. It shows how poverty-sicken people must be to have to cling to this kind of absurdity.

I think that in many ways THE PRISONER is a tragedy ... because McGoohan became a prisoner of the series and it's never nice to see that happen to a human being, the combination of ambition, frusation, wanting to be writer, director, actor - you name it. It was sad, it was very sad I think. It did something to him that wasn't very good and it was reflected in the series and that's why the series ended like that and that's why people have said "I don't understand the end". Of course they don't understand the end, because there is no end ... I don't think even McGoohan understood the end, or if he does, well, perhaps he does, but that is the biggest tragedy of THE PRISONER that Patrick McGoohan became a Prisoner himself. "

It should be noted that there is some truth in his comments as well.

 

That's "Secret Agent".

 

Yeah I know--blame the theme song which I listened to just before typing that post it had filtered into my brain. As we all know everything is Johnny Rivers fault.

 

Fascinating interview! I honestly didn't know of Markstein's importance in the creation of the show. I have heard that the reason why they didn't just say that "Number 6" was "John Drake" was because there were issues with copyrights and royalties. It was easier for him to just say that this was another secret agent very, very similar to John Drake... but then never say his name.

A heavy conversation during my college years, almost ten years after the show aired. The Prisoner was very popular throughout the 1970s on PBS stations.

 

That line was performed a bit differently depending on who was doing the opening-credits conversation. It changed from episode to episode depending on who that week's Number Two was. For many episodes, that week's Number Two did it - and for the others where Number Two's identity is unimportant or unknown, they had a standard recording from voice actor Robert Reitty.

So in that line mentioned, the inflection changes.

Harry

 

If any of you guys havent seen the lastest Blu Ray version, take it from me, its picture quality is leaps and bounds better than the old DVD version. Its honestly close to fantastic considering that its over 40 years old. Of course it was filmed on decent 35mm film elements. The sound suffers a bit from that old style of echoey sound on old tv shows, but picture wise you will marvel at the detail and how clean and clean it all looks.

 

I quite agree. It's a fine looking set and it offers hope to those that are looking forward to more A&E releases from the same era. The restoration was meticulous.

 

Resurrecting this 2+ year-old thread.

I bought this set on Blu-Ray after reading about it's concept. Thought it sounded interesting and gave it a shot. I made it through the first 5 episodes with my teenage daughter, and neither of us enjoyed it. I really wanted to like it, and the blu-ray picture quality was excellent.

Did anyone else make it 1/3 of the way through the series before dedciding it was enough?

Oh well, I guess it'll go to the Steve Hoffman classifed thread.....a good deal awaits you!

 

I don't think you're the first to bail on the series, nor will you likely be the last. It's not a show for everybody.

Harry

 

I initially caught it on PBS re-runs in the 80s and fell in love with it.

That Blu set looks great.

 

There was a lot of weird and whacky TV in the UK in the late 60s, so we took to it easily. I'm a huge fan. I watched it in the 60s as a kid and was just spellbound. I was already a McGoohan fan after the "Danger Man" series (in which the village was first used for an episode - it gave Patrick the idea for The Prisoner apparently). We didn't live far from Wales so we visited the village a couple of times. It's a beautiful place and is rendered all the more fascinating thanks to the series.

 

We use the phrase "jaw-dropping" a lot around here, but it was literally true when I first plopped in the first disc of the Blu-Ray set of THE PRISONER. My jaw actually dropped - it was that impressive to behold.

I was expecting maybe a slightly sharper edition of what had been released on DVD. Never in my wildest could I imagine such an incredible improvement.

In the past week or so, I sprang for the STAR TREK Original Series on Blu-Ray as Amazon had a special and it was enticing. Having my expectations built up by how good THE PRISONER looked, I have to say it was a notch below and thus my jaw didn't drop. It's good - but not as good as THE PRISONER.

And I have to agree with the appraisal of the sound. The attempt at 5.1 just sounds annoying to me. I prefer the mono, but it's the much weaker of the two in terms of "oomph." The audio did not improve as much as the video, IMHO.

Harry

 

Some simply dont get what the show was about. Its like saying a painting is just a picture of something or someones face. There is far far more to the message he was making and I can see how some are not able to understand it at all.

I consider the final episode one of the best things ever aired on TV EVER!