Oh, it's not the British 60s TV show. That's too bad: it would have been an improvement on what we got.
The basic concept is that an antique leather bomber's jacket (from a Kamikaze from World War II?) turns the wearer temporarily invisible if a dead man's blood is smeared on the jacket. The jacket wearer doesn't have to kill anyone, but the prisoner with the jacket, Dayton Railsback, is soon on a killing spree anyway as he looks for the loot that his three partners abandoned him for during a robbery ten years ago.
That is a fairly interesting premise. But the production staff (and writer Jim Henshaw) decide to put most of the episode in a prison. And seem to think that the jacket also gives intangibility. Because the prisoner wearing the jacket meanders in and out, in a way that invisibility just wouldn't satisfy. Prisons are hard to break out of because of the walls and locked doors. Being invisible wouldn't let you get past those. At one point, Dayton gets back into his locked cell.
Yeah, it's "magic". I know.
All the invisibility tricks are there: people miming fighting with an invisible man, POV shots, and footprints appearing in soft dirt. Yes, 'F13' was a low budget show. But you get the impression they weren't even trying here. We also get most of the prison clichés, like the older prisoner who takes Johnny under his wing and has a way for Johnny to escape prison. While the prisoner himself, Awkwright, figures that he belongs in prison. Of course he does.
The plot doesn't make much sense. Johnny goes to prison without a trial. Dayton wanders in and out of the prison, including locked cell doors. Narrator voice: invisibility doesn't let you walk through walls. At the end, Dayton dies and Johnny is cleared of his father's murder. Even though as Jack notes earlier, they can't "prove" Johnny innocent. But since Johnny never had a trial in the first place, I guess it's not necessary to clear his name.
Conveniently, Johnny's father Vince works as a security guard at the storage locker where the loot is supposedly kept. Dayton kills him and frames Johnny for the crime. And boy is this scene ugly: not only does Monarque get to mime fighting an invisible, but then he does a Shatner-style scream of anguish as he cradles his character's dead father in his arms.
Oddly, Micki is very concerned about Johnny's fate. And Johnny calls Micki first thing when he's arrested, without ever calling a lawyer. I guess she really likes him now, because when we saw the end of "Wedding Bell Blues", Johnny's last appearance, Micki could barely stand Johnny.
You do get to see Johnny TV-naked in a prison shower (i.e, from the waist up). So a little something for the ladies. Or men. Or whoever.
Did we really need a Johnny "origin story"? I guess the production staff thought we did. We find out that Johnny has a father who loves him very very much. And then the father dies, although we'll see him again in the third season. So if you thought Johnny was a jerk after "Wedding Bell Blues, "The Prisoner" is here to redeem him.
Good parts are the final effect where Johnny sets Dayton on fire. And Larry Joshua's performance as the main bad guy, Dayton Railsback. It's a little over the top, but not as bad as the hysterics of, say, an early Denis Forest from "Cupid's Quiver". The plot holes in the episode are just too much for the episode's good qualities to overcome, though.
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?
The basic concept is that an antique leather bomber's jacket (from a Kamikaze from World War II?) turns the wearer temporarily invisible if a dead man's blood is smeared on the jacket. The jacket wearer doesn't have to kill anyone, but the prisoner with the jacket, Dayton Railsback, is soon on a killing spree anyway as he looks for the loot that his three partners abandoned him for during a robbery ten years ago.
That is a fairly interesting premise. But the production staff (and writer Jim Henshaw) decide to put most of the episode in a prison. And seem to think that the jacket also gives intangibility. Because the prisoner wearing the jacket meanders in and out, in a way that invisibility just wouldn't satisfy. Prisons are hard to break out of because of the walls and locked doors. Being invisible wouldn't let you get past those. At one point, Dayton gets back into his locked cell.
Yeah, it's "magic". I know.
All the invisibility tricks are there: people miming fighting with an invisible man, POV shots, and footprints appearing in soft dirt. Yes, 'F13' was a low budget show. But you get the impression they weren't even trying here. We also get most of the prison clichés, like the older prisoner who takes Johnny under his wing and has a way for Johnny to escape prison. While the prisoner himself, Awkwright, figures that he belongs in prison. Of course he does.
The plot doesn't make much sense. Johnny goes to prison without a trial. Dayton wanders in and out of the prison, including locked cell doors. Narrator voice: invisibility doesn't let you walk through walls. At the end, Dayton dies and Johnny is cleared of his father's murder. Even though as Jack notes earlier, they can't "prove" Johnny innocent. But since Johnny never had a trial in the first place, I guess it's not necessary to clear his name.
Conveniently, Johnny's father Vince works as a security guard at the storage locker where the loot is supposedly kept. Dayton kills him and frames Johnny for the crime. And boy is this scene ugly: not only does Monarque get to mime fighting an invisible, but then he does a Shatner-style scream of anguish as he cradles his character's dead father in his arms.
Oddly, Micki is very concerned about Johnny's fate. And Johnny calls Micki first thing when he's arrested, without ever calling a lawyer. I guess she really likes him now, because when we saw the end of "Wedding Bell Blues", Johnny's last appearance, Micki could barely stand Johnny.
You do get to see Johnny TV-naked in a prison shower (i.e, from the waist up). So a little something for the ladies. Or men. Or whoever.
Did we really need a Johnny "origin story"? I guess the production staff thought we did. We find out that Johnny has a father who loves him very very much. And then the father dies, although we'll see him again in the third season. So if you thought Johnny was a jerk after "Wedding Bell Blues, "The Prisoner" is here to redeem him.
Good parts are the final effect where Johnny sets Dayton on fire. And Larry Joshua's performance as the main bad guy, Dayton Railsback. It's a little over the top, but not as bad as the hysterics of, say, an early Denis Forest from "Cupid's Quiver". The plot holes in the episode are just too much for the episode's good qualities to overcome, though.
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?