'The Prisoner' is one of those things that inspires either absolute devotion or utter confusion. There are no halfway reactions to this TV series. Many consider it to be the most imaginative and original TV show ever, and I'm inclined to agree with them. Nothing until 'Twin Peaks' came close to competing with it. However unlike 'Twin Peaks', 'The Prisoner' knew when to stop. There is hardly a bad episode in the whole series, and the final show is perfect. Patrick McGoohan will always have an important place in not only television history, but pop culture as a whole, from his involvement with this stunning and unforgettable show. To me it gets better and better as the years go by. If you haven't ever seen it make sure you do so! You don't know what you're missing!
144 Reviews
Astonishingly Original and Intelligent
rlcsljo14 March 2000
When I saw the first episode of this series, my jaw dropped in amazement. Here was a TV series that was entertaining and actually made you think. Nothing was ever what it appeared, no one had a real name, you never knew who was the good guy or the bad guy (or if they were one in the same!). The "final" episode was what could only be described as PSYCHEDELIC.
This TV series was, and still is, way ahead of its time.
As a side note, there is a "lost" first episode that is wildly different than the first one generally aired that explains some of the symbolism used in the series.
I hope the movie remake is made and distributed.
This TV series was, and still is, way ahead of its time.
As a side note, there is a "lost" first episode that is wildly different than the first one generally aired that explains some of the symbolism used in the series.
I hope the movie remake is made and distributed.
"We're all pawns, you know!"
grendelkhan25 April 2003
Warning: Spoilers
The Prisoner is one of the greatest sci-fi and philosophical television series ever. Although it has genre trappings; it transcends the genre and becomes something else, altogether.
Spoliers:
What at first appeared to be a sequel to McGoohan's previous series, Danger Man, turned out to be the most unique idea, ever. A former government agent resigns his job, for whatever reason, and soon finds himself a prisoner in a surreal village. This village is a collage of architecture and holiday trappings, which hide a sinister purpose: to extract information from those who have it. Every resident finds his/her identity reduced to a number. Our hero, Number 6, refuses to give in to this situation. He rebels at every turn, seeking to gain his freedom, or at least throw a monkey wrench into the designs of the village chief, Number 2. Sometimes, he succeeds; at other times, he fails to escape, but he maintains his secrets. Eventually, he appears to escape the village, only to start the cycle anew.
The series was filled with bizarre icons, surreal images, intriguing characters, and witty dialogue. McGoohan had his fingers on every aspect of production, including the theme music! The acting is first rate and the stories equal or surpass the best of television. The series is part Le Carre and Deighton, part Kafka, part Twilight Zone, part Lewis Carroll, and wholely mindboggling.
This was a series that asked more questions than it answered. Why did Number 6 resign, who runs the village, does he escape in the end, what is rover, who is Number 1, is Number 6 actually spying on the village, what does the pennyfarthing bicycle represent, where is the village, are Number 6's former masters looking for him, is Number 6 John Drake? Few of these questions have ever been answered to anyone's satisfaction. McGoohan has stated that the show is an allegory of the struggle between the individual and society. He said the bicycle is an ironic symbol of progress. We know the village scenes were shot at Portmeirion; but, in the series, it is never clear if it is on an island or connected to land. In the final episode, Number 6 and friends escape via a truck. Did they really drive back to London, or were they really on another part of the island? The great thing about this series is you can draw your own conclusions and examine these and other questions to your heart's content.
My personal favorites among the 17 episodes are: Arrival; Chimes of Big Ben; A, B, and C; Schizoid Man; Many Happy Returns; Checkmate; Living in Harmony; Hammer into Anvil; Once Upon a Time; and Fallout. In fact, the first episode I ever saw was Fallout; so you can imagine how confused I was! Thankfully, I found the entire series at a local video store and was able to watch it in its entirety.
Leo McKern, Guy Doleman, Colin Gordon, Georgina Cookson, and Patrick Cargill were standouts as Number 2. Cookson's Mrs. Butterworth is particularly memorable. Alexis Kanner was another notable guest star.
There has long been a film version in development hell; but, I have mixed feelings about it. I seriously doubt Hollywood can do the series justice,even with McGoohan onboard. Still, you never know; the Matrix picked up some of the elements of the Prisoner. Maybe the Warchovsky brothers could lend a hand?
Now, how about a game of chess?
Spoliers:
What at first appeared to be a sequel to McGoohan's previous series, Danger Man, turned out to be the most unique idea, ever. A former government agent resigns his job, for whatever reason, and soon finds himself a prisoner in a surreal village. This village is a collage of architecture and holiday trappings, which hide a sinister purpose: to extract information from those who have it. Every resident finds his/her identity reduced to a number. Our hero, Number 6, refuses to give in to this situation. He rebels at every turn, seeking to gain his freedom, or at least throw a monkey wrench into the designs of the village chief, Number 2. Sometimes, he succeeds; at other times, he fails to escape, but he maintains his secrets. Eventually, he appears to escape the village, only to start the cycle anew.
The series was filled with bizarre icons, surreal images, intriguing characters, and witty dialogue. McGoohan had his fingers on every aspect of production, including the theme music! The acting is first rate and the stories equal or surpass the best of television. The series is part Le Carre and Deighton, part Kafka, part Twilight Zone, part Lewis Carroll, and wholely mindboggling.
This was a series that asked more questions than it answered. Why did Number 6 resign, who runs the village, does he escape in the end, what is rover, who is Number 1, is Number 6 actually spying on the village, what does the pennyfarthing bicycle represent, where is the village, are Number 6's former masters looking for him, is Number 6 John Drake? Few of these questions have ever been answered to anyone's satisfaction. McGoohan has stated that the show is an allegory of the struggle between the individual and society. He said the bicycle is an ironic symbol of progress. We know the village scenes were shot at Portmeirion; but, in the series, it is never clear if it is on an island or connected to land. In the final episode, Number 6 and friends escape via a truck. Did they really drive back to London, or were they really on another part of the island? The great thing about this series is you can draw your own conclusions and examine these and other questions to your heart's content.
My personal favorites among the 17 episodes are: Arrival; Chimes of Big Ben; A, B, and C; Schizoid Man; Many Happy Returns; Checkmate; Living in Harmony; Hammer into Anvil; Once Upon a Time; and Fallout. In fact, the first episode I ever saw was Fallout; so you can imagine how confused I was! Thankfully, I found the entire series at a local video store and was able to watch it in its entirety.
Leo McKern, Guy Doleman, Colin Gordon, Georgina Cookson, and Patrick Cargill were standouts as Number 2. Cookson's Mrs. Butterworth is particularly memorable. Alexis Kanner was another notable guest star.
There has long been a film version in development hell; but, I have mixed feelings about it. I seriously doubt Hollywood can do the series justice,even with McGoohan onboard. Still, you never know; the Matrix picked up some of the elements of the Prisoner. Maybe the Warchovsky brothers could lend a hand?
Now, how about a game of chess?
You MUST come prepared for this enigmatic classic
DHD9926 October 2003
Since its initial telecast, back in 1967, this enigmatic classic has evoked every reaction from awe to contempt. Given the amount of serious critical attention THE PRISONER has received, and given that a whole society has been created in its honor, I'd say the awe has won out, and I vehemently agree that THE PRISONER deserves to be honored as one of the truly artistic programs created for commercial television.
However, I can also understand the frustration many viewers have felt. Over the course of its seventeen episodes, this offbeat spy thriller becomes further and further offbeat until it ultimately transforms into surrealistic allegory. I confess I'm not sure whether this transformation was intended as a complete surprise, or whether you were supposed to know where the show was going, but in either case, I think you can better appreciate the series if you can see the earlier episodes as preparation for what's to come.
THE PRISONER's title character is a British secret agent (series creator Patrick McGoohan) who may or may not be SECRET AGENT's John Drake. The story begins with him suddenly and mysteriously resigning, then just as suddenly and mysteriously being rendered unconscious and transported to a place known only as The Village, the location of which is known only to those who run it. The Village is a prison camp, but with all of the amenities of a vacation resort,. Attractive dwellings, shops, restaurants, etc. exist side by side with high-tech methods of keeping order and extracting information from those who won't give it up willingly.
Those who try to escape get to meet Rover, a belligerent weather balloon capable of locomotion, and seemingly of independent thought. It appears (to me anyway) that the authorities can summon Rover, send it away, and give it instructions, but that it acts more or less on its own initiative. Rover deals with fugitives by plastering itself against their faces, rendering them either unconscious or dead, depending on how bad a mood it's in. Twice, we see it haul someone in from the ocean by sucking them up into a whirlpool it creates.
Citizens of The Village, including those in authority, are identified only by numbers. Our protagonist is known only as No. 6 throughout the entire series. The Village is run by No. 2, who in turn reports to an unseen and unidentified No. 1. No. 1 is apparently an unforgiving boss, because No. 2 is always being replaced.
Shortly after he arrives in in the Village, No. 6 is informed, by the reigning No. 2, that he should count on remaining there permanently. If he cooperates, life will be pleasant and he may even be given a position of authority. If he resists -- well, the only restriction they're under is not to damage him permanently. To satisfy his captors, No. 6 need only answer one question: `Why did you resign?' His question in turn is, `Who runs this place? Who is No. 1?'
Most of the episodes deal with No. 6's attempts to escape, and/or his captors' attempts to break him, although there are a few side trips. Several episodes suggest that No. 6's own people may be involved with running The Village. Some of the episodes are fairly straightforward, while others leave you with questions as to exactly what went on. It's important to note that several of the more obscure episodes -- for example, `Free for All' and `Dance of the Dead' -- are among the seven episodes that McGoohan considers essential to the series.
And then we come to the final episode, `Fall Out,' which promises to answer all the burning questions the viewers have been anguishing over for seventeen weeks -- and which so frustrated and angered those viewers back in 1967 that McGoohan had to go into hiding for awhile. Of course, I can't reveal any of the really important details, because, as No. 2 says in the recap that begins most of the episodes, `That would be telling,' and as all of us IMBD contributors know, `telling,' is frowned upon. However, to come back to the point with which I started, you should be prepared for a resolution of an entirely different nature than the one you'll probably be expecting -- a resolution that forces you to rethink your entire concept of the Village, and of the intention of the series. If you aren't ready, you'll be frustrated. If you are, you can accept THE PRISONER is the spirit in which it was offered.
However, I can also understand the frustration many viewers have felt. Over the course of its seventeen episodes, this offbeat spy thriller becomes further and further offbeat until it ultimately transforms into surrealistic allegory. I confess I'm not sure whether this transformation was intended as a complete surprise, or whether you were supposed to know where the show was going, but in either case, I think you can better appreciate the series if you can see the earlier episodes as preparation for what's to come.
THE PRISONER's title character is a British secret agent (series creator Patrick McGoohan) who may or may not be SECRET AGENT's John Drake. The story begins with him suddenly and mysteriously resigning, then just as suddenly and mysteriously being rendered unconscious and transported to a place known only as The Village, the location of which is known only to those who run it. The Village is a prison camp, but with all of the amenities of a vacation resort,. Attractive dwellings, shops, restaurants, etc. exist side by side with high-tech methods of keeping order and extracting information from those who won't give it up willingly.
Those who try to escape get to meet Rover, a belligerent weather balloon capable of locomotion, and seemingly of independent thought. It appears (to me anyway) that the authorities can summon Rover, send it away, and give it instructions, but that it acts more or less on its own initiative. Rover deals with fugitives by plastering itself against their faces, rendering them either unconscious or dead, depending on how bad a mood it's in. Twice, we see it haul someone in from the ocean by sucking them up into a whirlpool it creates.
Citizens of The Village, including those in authority, are identified only by numbers. Our protagonist is known only as No. 6 throughout the entire series. The Village is run by No. 2, who in turn reports to an unseen and unidentified No. 1. No. 1 is apparently an unforgiving boss, because No. 2 is always being replaced.
Shortly after he arrives in in the Village, No. 6 is informed, by the reigning No. 2, that he should count on remaining there permanently. If he cooperates, life will be pleasant and he may even be given a position of authority. If he resists -- well, the only restriction they're under is not to damage him permanently. To satisfy his captors, No. 6 need only answer one question: `Why did you resign?' His question in turn is, `Who runs this place? Who is No. 1?'
Most of the episodes deal with No. 6's attempts to escape, and/or his captors' attempts to break him, although there are a few side trips. Several episodes suggest that No. 6's own people may be involved with running The Village. Some of the episodes are fairly straightforward, while others leave you with questions as to exactly what went on. It's important to note that several of the more obscure episodes -- for example, `Free for All' and `Dance of the Dead' -- are among the seven episodes that McGoohan considers essential to the series.
And then we come to the final episode, `Fall Out,' which promises to answer all the burning questions the viewers have been anguishing over for seventeen weeks -- and which so frustrated and angered those viewers back in 1967 that McGoohan had to go into hiding for awhile. Of course, I can't reveal any of the really important details, because, as No. 2 says in the recap that begins most of the episodes, `That would be telling,' and as all of us IMBD contributors know, `telling,' is frowned upon. However, to come back to the point with which I started, you should be prepared for a resolution of an entirely different nature than the one you'll probably be expecting -- a resolution that forces you to rethink your entire concept of the Village, and of the intention of the series. If you aren't ready, you'll be frustrated. If you are, you can accept THE PRISONER is the spirit in which it was offered.
An all-time great
RNMorton15 June 2004
Geez I just did another Imdb review listing some of the top ten tv shows of all time (in my opinion) and I plum forgot this one. It qualifies. 18 hourly episodes about attempts to pry information from taciturn retired spy McGoohan, kidnapped and held in an isolated village peopled by, well, we're not sure who else. There's maybe one bad episode in the whole lot; many shows have you wondering who are the captors and who are the captives among the village's inhabitants. Not sure it's explicitly stated but McGoohan's character could be a carryover from his Secret Agent Man, an earlier series also starring him. McGoohan is exquisitely perfect in the role, a bit eccentric, sometimes almost precious, athletic when necessary, crisply precise and (understandably) paranoid. Occasionally things go over the top, particularly in the final two episodes, but you certainly can't accuse them of playing it safe. Unique, inspired, insightful, distinctive, unparalleled.
Still unique, alas.
roarshock2 July 2000
Unfortunately, when you see see The Prisoner for the first time at an early age it tends to spoil television for the rest of your life. I was thirteen when I saw it in 1968, and for more than thirty years I keep hoping to find TV shows (and movies and books) that will give me the same rush of seeing vast, unexpected and unexplained vistas for the very first time. Too, too rare. Virtually non-existent. For The Prisoner didn't just present a new 'twist' (rare enough), it was a whole new world, with a wildly different culture, environment and rules, only gradually comprehended, if at all. And yet, strangely, it is more like the "real" world than any other television program, even the news, because The Prisoner doesn't explain itself, it just happens. If YOU want to know what's going on, figure it out for yourself... if you can. You might be right, you might be wrong, but if simplistic explanations are your comfort, you almost certainly WILL be wrong. Just like explorers of old. Just like real life. Though with the increasing homogenization of the world, real life is becoming, alas, more like television.
Terrific and unique spy/action/drama satire.
fedor811 January 2007
The best non-comedic TV show I've ever seen, and certainly one of the most unique TV shows of any genre. A terrific blend of Kafka's drama/satire, fantasy, and spy action/thriller. There is also a healthy dose of humour in it, but nothing over-the-top like we have in today's TV shows. Although it consists of 17 episodes, I would consider the first 12 to be the core of the series. After those 12 we have mostly filler episodes, like the dull one in the Wild West, or the one in which McGoohan barely even appears. The last two episodes, the less-than-grand double-episode finale, are a bit too abstract and quite tiresome at times even. From the last 5 episodes I would only name "The Girl Who Was Death" as being quite good.
The best/most fun episodes are "Arrival", "Dance of the Dead", "ABC", "The General", "A Change Of Mind", and "Hammer Into Anvil". From the first 12, I would only single out "Schizoid Man" as being much weaker than the others.
Several things went into making this show so much fun. First of all, the location, the Welsh village. Secondly, having McGoohan in the lead; I cannot possible imagine any other actor playing Number 6 in the excellent, off-the-wall yet controlled manner in which he plays him. McGoohan hits all the right notes; his performance is just as eccentric as it needs to be. (For the uninitiated, he was among the 2 or 3 main candidates to be the first James Bond, but refused the role.) Thirdly, the highly unusual, original scripts. Fourthly, the series was filmed in the mid-60s, and the visual quality of TV shows from that decade is superior to anything that came before or after. And fifthly, the acting from all the others was on a high level.
The best/most fun episodes are "Arrival", "Dance of the Dead", "ABC", "The General", "A Change Of Mind", and "Hammer Into Anvil". From the first 12, I would only single out "Schizoid Man" as being much weaker than the others.
Several things went into making this show so much fun. First of all, the location, the Welsh village. Secondly, having McGoohan in the lead; I cannot possible imagine any other actor playing Number 6 in the excellent, off-the-wall yet controlled manner in which he plays him. McGoohan hits all the right notes; his performance is just as eccentric as it needs to be. (For the uninitiated, he was among the 2 or 3 main candidates to be the first James Bond, but refused the role.) Thirdly, the highly unusual, original scripts. Fourthly, the series was filmed in the mid-60s, and the visual quality of TV shows from that decade is superior to anything that came before or after. And fifthly, the acting from all the others was on a high level.
Not All Prisons Have Steel Bars!
Sylviastel7 September 2014
I assumed this show was about life in the British prison. Boy was I wrong? Patrick McGoohan who should have been knighted is delightful as number 6. The audience nor number 2 and the others don't why he resigned his top secret post. They are clever not to tell the audience rather using the intro montage of back history. We the audience don't know his name as well. He is transported to a self contained and controlled village by the sea. The village is very picturesque with concerts, lovely shops, parks, and culture. This prison doesn't seem so bad after all. The village inhabitants are quite friendly and pleasant. The village symbolizes an ideal utopia community that was tried in communal living during the time period. But 6 wants out ever since his arrival. He is a challenge to the controllers here. The show is beautiful with lovely art direction and costumes. You have to ask yourself what constitutes a prisoner.
Want answers? Take a number...
miloc17 August 2008
Montage: a secret agent (Patrick McGoohan) storms into his superior's office and angrily resigns his post, for reasons unknown. A machine files away his Xed-out photo; he speeds away to his home. He enters his house and begins packing for a journey. Outside, a hearse pulls up to the curb. A pallbearer strides to the door. Knockout gas comes pouring in through the keyhole. When our hero awakes the room is the same... but the world outside is not.
We are in the Village, a picturesque nightmare co-fashioned by Orwell, Kafka, and Carroll. The unnamed agent has become Number Six in a population of equally nameless, creepily cheerful residents, headed by a shifting, and shifty, Number Two. Who is Number One? Well, that's the question, isn't it... In one direction are impassable mountains, in the other the sea -- and on patrol is a bizarre, lethal white balloon that hunts down those unwise enough to dare them.
Viewed today, "The Prisoner" seems so strikingly ahead of its time that one can only regard it as either a visionary masterpiece or a dazzling failure. Either way it is compulsive viewing. Co-creators McGoohan and George Markstein were seemingly at odds about what to make of it all, with McGoohan eschewing conventional James Bondisms for a more surreal, allegorical approach. (He himself wrote and directed some of the series' best and most bewildering episodes.) And truly "The Prisoner" works best when at its least explanatory and most hallucinatory. Not until "Twin Peaks" would another television show dabble this heavily in the logic of dreams.
McGoohan also believed the premise would only hold up over a limited run, and his concern seems justified. A few of the later of the seventeen episodes show desperation: low points include the feebly whimsical "The Girl Who Was Death," the plodding "It's Your Funeral," and "The General," which might as well be -- and nearly is -- an episode of Star Trek.
Yet at its best, in episodes like "Arrival," "Free For All," "Dance of Death," "Many Happy Returns," and the finale (one of the most astonishing hours ever programmed for television), the series achieves something extraordinary. Its influence reaches beyond such obvious successors as "Lost" and "The League of Gentlemen" -- and could you imagine "Brazil" or "The Matrix" without it? "The Prisoner" catches at a thread in our subconscious and pulls it loose; it tells us that something is genuinely wrong somewhere with the Great Big Picture. Its true antecedents are Chesterton's "The Man Who Was Thursday" and O'Brien's "The Third Policeman": nonsense that bleeds into spiritual unease.
It's not hard to understand why the series has a cult following, or why, love it or hate it, it still packs a punch. We are in the Village. Be seeing you...
We are in the Village, a picturesque nightmare co-fashioned by Orwell, Kafka, and Carroll. The unnamed agent has become Number Six in a population of equally nameless, creepily cheerful residents, headed by a shifting, and shifty, Number Two. Who is Number One? Well, that's the question, isn't it... In one direction are impassable mountains, in the other the sea -- and on patrol is a bizarre, lethal white balloon that hunts down those unwise enough to dare them.
Viewed today, "The Prisoner" seems so strikingly ahead of its time that one can only regard it as either a visionary masterpiece or a dazzling failure. Either way it is compulsive viewing. Co-creators McGoohan and George Markstein were seemingly at odds about what to make of it all, with McGoohan eschewing conventional James Bondisms for a more surreal, allegorical approach. (He himself wrote and directed some of the series' best and most bewildering episodes.) And truly "The Prisoner" works best when at its least explanatory and most hallucinatory. Not until "Twin Peaks" would another television show dabble this heavily in the logic of dreams.
McGoohan also believed the premise would only hold up over a limited run, and his concern seems justified. A few of the later of the seventeen episodes show desperation: low points include the feebly whimsical "The Girl Who Was Death," the plodding "It's Your Funeral," and "The General," which might as well be -- and nearly is -- an episode of Star Trek.
Yet at its best, in episodes like "Arrival," "Free For All," "Dance of Death," "Many Happy Returns," and the finale (one of the most astonishing hours ever programmed for television), the series achieves something extraordinary. Its influence reaches beyond such obvious successors as "Lost" and "The League of Gentlemen" -- and could you imagine "Brazil" or "The Matrix" without it? "The Prisoner" catches at a thread in our subconscious and pulls it loose; it tells us that something is genuinely wrong somewhere with the Great Big Picture. Its true antecedents are Chesterton's "The Man Who Was Thursday" and O'Brien's "The Third Policeman": nonsense that bleeds into spiritual unease.
It's not hard to understand why the series has a cult following, or why, love it or hate it, it still packs a punch. We are in the Village. Be seeing you...
I find more in it, and it in more, every time I see it....
janemerrow29 April 2003
This has become by far my favorite series of all time, so much so I have given up watching television altogether and turned to DVD's instead. That's not to say it's the best show ever, but it's one of those things you can watch as fluff action-adventure entertainment one day, or chew down to its bones, if you like, the next. That is, it doesn't require intelligence and concentration or an easy day at the office to enjoy, but if you've read a few books or have philosophical leanings you can amuse yourself by wringing quite a bit out of it.
On that note, it's especially fun to watch this series in conjunction with Danger Man/ Secret Agent. Although it isn't uncommon to have the same actors work together on different series, there is a town full of spies in DM/SA
referred to as the Village in the episode "Colony Three" which is the center of a debate on whether Number 6 and John Drake are the same. (McGoohan categorically denies this, but Markstein says it's true. Perhaps there is a legal hurdle involved? We will probably never get that information.)
I recommend watching them in order, so you can see Number 6 gradually abandon his open desperation and anger ("Arrival" to "The Chimes of Big Ben") for a cool and calculated needling of the system from within ("A, B and C" to "Hammer Into Anvil"). They try drugs, brainwashing, torture, virtual reality, letting him escape, and even babysitting to get him to talk. Each episode will appeal to someone different, some funny, some aggravating, but they all fit together by "Fall Out"; I have never met anyone who was not surprised at the final episode. It's truly extraordinary!
You will find references to the Prisoner are made constantly in other shows and movies, especially Sci Fi. The character Bester uses the Village greeting on Babylon 5; I have seen Village interrogation methods on the Pretender, John Doe and Farscape (whose leading man has an acting style similar to McGoohan's and a character similar to Number 6, IMHO, especially if you watch "A, B and C"); Number 2's trademark sphere chair is used on everything from Austin Powers to ads for American Idol.
The Village itself has appeared in tribute episodes of the Invisible Man and, of all things, the Simpsons ("The Computer Wore Menace Shoes"). Rover has actually appeared on the Simpsons twice!
I believe it's a classic that shouldn't be missed for anyone who ever feels trapped by rules that make little sense. If you like quoting Brazil and Office Space you'll find plenty of quotes to add to your collection here. My friends and I have even started referring to each other by number at work!
Be Seeing You!
On that note, it's especially fun to watch this series in conjunction with Danger Man/ Secret Agent. Although it isn't uncommon to have the same actors work together on different series, there is a town full of spies in DM/SA
referred to as the Village in the episode "Colony Three" which is the center of a debate on whether Number 6 and John Drake are the same. (McGoohan categorically denies this, but Markstein says it's true. Perhaps there is a legal hurdle involved? We will probably never get that information.)
I recommend watching them in order, so you can see Number 6 gradually abandon his open desperation and anger ("Arrival" to "The Chimes of Big Ben") for a cool and calculated needling of the system from within ("A, B and C" to "Hammer Into Anvil"). They try drugs, brainwashing, torture, virtual reality, letting him escape, and even babysitting to get him to talk. Each episode will appeal to someone different, some funny, some aggravating, but they all fit together by "Fall Out"; I have never met anyone who was not surprised at the final episode. It's truly extraordinary!
You will find references to the Prisoner are made constantly in other shows and movies, especially Sci Fi. The character Bester uses the Village greeting on Babylon 5; I have seen Village interrogation methods on the Pretender, John Doe and Farscape (whose leading man has an acting style similar to McGoohan's and a character similar to Number 6, IMHO, especially if you watch "A, B and C"); Number 2's trademark sphere chair is used on everything from Austin Powers to ads for American Idol.
The Village itself has appeared in tribute episodes of the Invisible Man and, of all things, the Simpsons ("The Computer Wore Menace Shoes"). Rover has actually appeared on the Simpsons twice!
I believe it's a classic that shouldn't be missed for anyone who ever feels trapped by rules that make little sense. If you like quoting Brazil and Office Space you'll find plenty of quotes to add to your collection here. My friends and I have even started referring to each other by number at work!
Be Seeing You!
TV that made you think
lbliss31410 May 2005
When it premiered in the US as a CBS summer series, no less than Isaac Asimov wrote an article in TV Guide praising it. So I was primed. "Arrival" was every bit at interesting as I expected, from the jazzy music and rapid-edited credit sequence all the way to that strange bicycle that assembled itself in the closing credits. The Village was beautiful and charming and hellish, with doors that open for you and mandatory classical music on the radio. McGoohan was perfect--he kept his cool but never wavered from his determination to find out who ran the show.
However, the idiots who ran my local CBS affiliate must have gotten calls from perplexed viewers. Next week, I was all set for episode two... and instead saw some crappy conventional syndicated spy show. Grrr. Since this was before cable, I never saw the rest of the series till PBS ran it.
It's hard to believe that any television network would agree to air something this wild. To this day, I can hear "I am not a number! I am a free man!" followed by maniacal laughter....
I loved the humor, too. One time Number Six had a double. His name--Number Twelve, of course. The whole concept of being labelled "unmutual" was worthy of Douglas Adams's "Share and Enjoy".
However, the idiots who ran my local CBS affiliate must have gotten calls from perplexed viewers. Next week, I was all set for episode two... and instead saw some crappy conventional syndicated spy show. Grrr. Since this was before cable, I never saw the rest of the series till PBS ran it.
It's hard to believe that any television network would agree to air something this wild. To this day, I can hear "I am not a number! I am a free man!" followed by maniacal laughter....
I loved the humor, too. One time Number Six had a double. His name--Number Twelve, of course. The whole concept of being labelled "unmutual" was worthy of Douglas Adams's "Share and Enjoy".
The Great Escape
hellraiser725 November 2017
Prison it's always the last place we all want to be. However probably what makes the concept more discomforting are the prisons that come or attack our minds. Most of the time it has to due with a routine we are forced into or unintentionally build for ourselves, the wrong job occupation, not traveling away from home enough or far enough, just anything negative that makes us feel trapped. Which is part of why most to all of us constantly fight and exercise our freedom and rights to show that we're still people.
This is one of my favorite TV shows of all time. It is defiantly one of the most creative and weirdest shows I've ever seen and I love that which is what I expect from TV and the Sci-Fi/Fantasy genre to always have something new and different. It was definitely a revolutionary show because it dared to be different but also challenge our intellects in a good way while at the same time having fun. The whole show by it's nature is one big puzzle, it's one of those shows where you may have to watch it more than once to uncover more.
The theme song is great it's one of my favorite theme songs of all time, it really fits the show as it has a mysterious and almost adventurous vibe.
I even like the main protagonist No.6 whom is one of my favorite fictional protagonists, his character in a way represents ourselves sort of our speaker and representative for humanity and sanity. He's got a dry charisma and sarcastic wit making him a bit funny. And like MacGyver he has to use his wits, cunning to somehow find a way to outsmart his unknown enemies. But what I really love about him is that he never gives up no matter the outcome of his plan he always tries again, which I feel is a good message to show not quitting makes you stronger. But also how much we emphasize with him and participation as were in the same boat as he is, not just in constantly trying to find a way out but also asking the same questions as him wondering what the hell is going on.
There is also a feeling of isolation as we see the only person he can truly trust is himself, this increases the emphasize factor more as it looks like his the only sane person in a land gone insane. It's true that we never really know a whole lot about him, let alone his name but that's the point it just adds to the mystery of the show.
However what really drive the show is it's story line and suspense. The story line in a way is like a mix of Franz Kalfka and Lewis Caroll tale. The Village is a really daft looking place. This really gives the place a surreal feeling from the buildings and architecture which is odd because it feels and looks like nothing really goes together,but even odder are the people whom may or may not be prisoners themselves but they exhibit odd behavior, let alone dress weird as some of what their wearing is not just colorful but also inconsistent with it's time periods. And each have some sort of rituals and customs that aren't really consistent or have any clear purpose.
But this production really induces the unsettling feeling of total disorientation and paranoia throughout the show. Usually in the suspense thrillers this is something that would take place in the night but here it's in the day which increases the paranoia even more because here there is no place to hide and no one to trust.
What makes the place even more disorienting and dangerous is that fact that each interrogator for No.6 is always someone different which raises the bar even more for No.6 as each have different methodologies to try and break him to get what they need whatever the hell that is. The interrogations remind me of Kalfka's "The Trial" which was about a man being accused for unknown reasons. Also it means No.6 has no way to understand what his unknown enemy's true motives are which means he is unable to get a step ahead or vanquish them which is a disarming feeling.
But shows power is how it really leaves you to make your own interpretations. To this day I still have questions like "Is the Village some sort of shadow organization/secret society that hasn't been discovered yet or one we already know like the Men in Black?" , "Why the hell do they want to know why No.6 quit or not?", "Is the whole thing real or one big dream." whatever the case this just gives the show replay value to find more answers or more questions.
Though personally I feel in a way the show satires on cold war paranoia though by today's standards it could be our war on terrorism. But gets into issues of distrust, conformity, information denial and manipulation, human rights constantly attacked and importance of defending them, but most of all about the importance of maintaining individuality.
No.6 truly is the most human in the show and he is one with a real identity. Where we see the people in the village have no identities at all, from not having names but numbers but also each aren't entirely their own person as they've traded identity off for security from The Village which as put them in even more danger as they've sacrificed their freedom.
I know once again haven't said a whole lot but it's one of those shows you have to see for yourself to believe, but to give yourself the benefit of participating in a great enigma.
In the words of No.6 "I'm not a number, I'm a free man." so are we and should remain so.
Rating: 4 stars
This is one of my favorite TV shows of all time. It is defiantly one of the most creative and weirdest shows I've ever seen and I love that which is what I expect from TV and the Sci-Fi/Fantasy genre to always have something new and different. It was definitely a revolutionary show because it dared to be different but also challenge our intellects in a good way while at the same time having fun. The whole show by it's nature is one big puzzle, it's one of those shows where you may have to watch it more than once to uncover more.
The theme song is great it's one of my favorite theme songs of all time, it really fits the show as it has a mysterious and almost adventurous vibe.
I even like the main protagonist No.6 whom is one of my favorite fictional protagonists, his character in a way represents ourselves sort of our speaker and representative for humanity and sanity. He's got a dry charisma and sarcastic wit making him a bit funny. And like MacGyver he has to use his wits, cunning to somehow find a way to outsmart his unknown enemies. But what I really love about him is that he never gives up no matter the outcome of his plan he always tries again, which I feel is a good message to show not quitting makes you stronger. But also how much we emphasize with him and participation as were in the same boat as he is, not just in constantly trying to find a way out but also asking the same questions as him wondering what the hell is going on.
There is also a feeling of isolation as we see the only person he can truly trust is himself, this increases the emphasize factor more as it looks like his the only sane person in a land gone insane. It's true that we never really know a whole lot about him, let alone his name but that's the point it just adds to the mystery of the show.
However what really drive the show is it's story line and suspense. The story line in a way is like a mix of Franz Kalfka and Lewis Caroll tale. The Village is a really daft looking place. This really gives the place a surreal feeling from the buildings and architecture which is odd because it feels and looks like nothing really goes together,but even odder are the people whom may or may not be prisoners themselves but they exhibit odd behavior, let alone dress weird as some of what their wearing is not just colorful but also inconsistent with it's time periods. And each have some sort of rituals and customs that aren't really consistent or have any clear purpose.
But this production really induces the unsettling feeling of total disorientation and paranoia throughout the show. Usually in the suspense thrillers this is something that would take place in the night but here it's in the day which increases the paranoia even more because here there is no place to hide and no one to trust.
What makes the place even more disorienting and dangerous is that fact that each interrogator for No.6 is always someone different which raises the bar even more for No.6 as each have different methodologies to try and break him to get what they need whatever the hell that is. The interrogations remind me of Kalfka's "The Trial" which was about a man being accused for unknown reasons. Also it means No.6 has no way to understand what his unknown enemy's true motives are which means he is unable to get a step ahead or vanquish them which is a disarming feeling.
But shows power is how it really leaves you to make your own interpretations. To this day I still have questions like "Is the Village some sort of shadow organization/secret society that hasn't been discovered yet or one we already know like the Men in Black?" , "Why the hell do they want to know why No.6 quit or not?", "Is the whole thing real or one big dream." whatever the case this just gives the show replay value to find more answers or more questions.
Though personally I feel in a way the show satires on cold war paranoia though by today's standards it could be our war on terrorism. But gets into issues of distrust, conformity, information denial and manipulation, human rights constantly attacked and importance of defending them, but most of all about the importance of maintaining individuality.
No.6 truly is the most human in the show and he is one with a real identity. Where we see the people in the village have no identities at all, from not having names but numbers but also each aren't entirely their own person as they've traded identity off for security from The Village which as put them in even more danger as they've sacrificed their freedom.
I know once again haven't said a whole lot but it's one of those shows you have to see for yourself to believe, but to give yourself the benefit of participating in a great enigma.
In the words of No.6 "I'm not a number, I'm a free man." so are we and should remain so.
Rating: 4 stars
As Time Passes It Gets Better...Maybe The Best TV-Series Ever Made
AudioFileZ3 August 2019
Does a 1960's avant grade UK spy thriller have more legs in 2019? Absolutely as time has elevated the brilliance of this off-beat TV series. It must be remembered that TV was already maturing into pablum. There were good shows like 77 Sunset Strip that still tended toward the silly over the sublime, the trendy over the introspective. The Prisoner was an island. It carved a path of mysteriousness and paranoia never overtly and outright outing showing itself. I'd say it took a cue from 1984 and ran with it. It foretold what we now hear often referred to as "the shadow government". Someone or ones who beyond a veil have a kind of ultimate control. If they single you out is your life you believed in just a creation of their manipulation? This presents a larger question as to what their goal is and what, or who, do they fear? To present these things all in the strange indenture of No. 6 is a kind of masterstroke. To present it so surreal in a TV culture that resisted such is amazing in that it comes out so deep and arty rather than unwatchable. It has an excellent hook because it inspired many interpretations in spite of often being frustratingly obtuse. If you were in you simply must keep watching much like an addiction. As it went it becomes more so culminating with what I'll only call "a fitting finality" that still kept so much open to ponder. I do not think I've seen another series as off-center and able to attract a large audience. This proves to be, perhaps, more amazing today when we often hear people ruminate that the world we've created is an illusion ran by some invisible super powerful cabal. With the masses being controlled by central banks and all-watching electronic surveillance I sometimes ask if I'm living in "The Village"? That said I find the show one of the finest ever to air and watching it again, over and over, every few years makes it seem even better as time passes.
The coolest show of 2004
darienwerfhorst3 December 2004
Who would think that the coolest show of 2004 would have been the rebroadcast of this 1960's British classic?
When I lived in the U.K. I heard about this show a lot, and when I went to Wales was told about the town where it was filmed, but I had no idea why people were so durned excited about it.
It can be murky and deliberately obscure, but I'm not sure I've ever seen a show as creative and bizarre....and you have to love the fact that No. 6 always looks so dammed serious!
Seriously, it's worth watching, if only to remember how important good writing and unique ideas used to be in television!
When I lived in the U.K. I heard about this show a lot, and when I went to Wales was told about the town where it was filmed, but I had no idea why people were so durned excited about it.
It can be murky and deliberately obscure, but I'm not sure I've ever seen a show as creative and bizarre....and you have to love the fact that No. 6 always looks so dammed serious!
Seriously, it's worth watching, if only to remember how important good writing and unique ideas used to be in television!
Unique and Groundbreaking. Everyone should see this. Brilliant Stuff.
tobydale31 July 2012
I've resisted writing a review for The Prisoner for years. Why -? because even though I have watched this series end to end at least a dozen times in the last 45 years; I still don't know where to start.
Indeed - I was one of the lucky ones who as a 10 year old was allowed to stay up late to watch The Prisoner during it's first screening back in the 1960's. It was then and remains today some of the most remarkable and groundbreaking television ever made. It must be seen.
Even though I have started this review - I still don't know where to start! There is no point in looking at the detail over a 17 episode series, so perhaps the best place to start is with a big picture; The Prisoner deals with issues of Man-kind as a social creature in a complex age. In this age the concept of "the individual" who exercises 'real' choices is lost - subsumed by Education; what is taught and who decides its relevance. Subsumed by Politics; what are the interests of those you are asked to vote for. Subsumed by Technology; is the technology my tool, or am I the tool of technology. Subsumed by Society; who sets the norms, who behaves acceptably and who does not, what, indeed is 'acceptable'? Subsumed by Consumerism; what do I need, why do I have to buy this, or this? The Prisoner encounters and has to confront these themes and find his own way to escape from them. The Village is the location and epicenter for every aspect of the individual that is subsumed. The Prisoners' quest is to escape. We join and share in his quest.
There are many other deep themes going on in this wonderful and thought provoking series, but the deepest and most powerful of all is "Trust"; what and who can I trust? For the Prisoner, the ONLY person he can trust is HIMSELF, and there are times, for all his strength, when the Prisoner cannot even trust himself. The Village uses every muscle, stretches every sinew to separate the Prisoner from his own self-identity; to reduce him, actually and literally to a 'number'. It's brilliant stuff, because it causes US to question "who am I"?, "Where am I"? "By what definition am I free"? Brilliant stuff.
Only by constantly challenging, constantly questioning, constantly feeling for the boundary, constantly and consistently reasserting his individualism, does the Prisoner manage to retain his self-image. The Prisoner is a primer for Everyman living in the modern age - a set of sign-posts that say; "TAKE CARE"! Keep control of your own identity, think what you are doing - don't blithely accept everything you are told and you won't become a number....
Phew! I've done it! Encapsulated 45 years of reflection into 6 short paragraphs. Why 6 do you wonder?
Indeed - I was one of the lucky ones who as a 10 year old was allowed to stay up late to watch The Prisoner during it's first screening back in the 1960's. It was then and remains today some of the most remarkable and groundbreaking television ever made. It must be seen.
Even though I have started this review - I still don't know where to start! There is no point in looking at the detail over a 17 episode series, so perhaps the best place to start is with a big picture; The Prisoner deals with issues of Man-kind as a social creature in a complex age. In this age the concept of "the individual" who exercises 'real' choices is lost - subsumed by Education; what is taught and who decides its relevance. Subsumed by Politics; what are the interests of those you are asked to vote for. Subsumed by Technology; is the technology my tool, or am I the tool of technology. Subsumed by Society; who sets the norms, who behaves acceptably and who does not, what, indeed is 'acceptable'? Subsumed by Consumerism; what do I need, why do I have to buy this, or this? The Prisoner encounters and has to confront these themes and find his own way to escape from them. The Village is the location and epicenter for every aspect of the individual that is subsumed. The Prisoners' quest is to escape. We join and share in his quest.
There are many other deep themes going on in this wonderful and thought provoking series, but the deepest and most powerful of all is "Trust"; what and who can I trust? For the Prisoner, the ONLY person he can trust is HIMSELF, and there are times, for all his strength, when the Prisoner cannot even trust himself. The Village uses every muscle, stretches every sinew to separate the Prisoner from his own self-identity; to reduce him, actually and literally to a 'number'. It's brilliant stuff, because it causes US to question "who am I"?, "Where am I"? "By what definition am I free"? Brilliant stuff.
Only by constantly challenging, constantly questioning, constantly feeling for the boundary, constantly and consistently reasserting his individualism, does the Prisoner manage to retain his self-image. The Prisoner is a primer for Everyman living in the modern age - a set of sign-posts that say; "TAKE CARE"! Keep control of your own identity, think what you are doing - don't blithely accept everything you are told and you won't become a number....
Phew! I've done it! Encapsulated 45 years of reflection into 6 short paragraphs. Why 6 do you wonder?
A Masterpiece
c1mclaug2 August 2005
Just watched Once Upon A Time which for me is the best and most important episode in the series, the interplay between Patrick McGoohan and Leo McKern is quite simply brilliant. As for the series like many others I remember first seeing the show as a 10 year old, it left an indelible impression on me then and with time that impression hasn't faded one bit, I still consider it one of the finest television series ever created. I hope Hollywood nor anyone else attempt to remake it, it would be like a sad photocopy of the Mona Lisa, leave it alone please. To Patrick McGoohan and all those involved in creating it I'd just like to say 'THANK YOU'
For those who ask what the series is all about, I'd say watch it, and make your own mind up don't just accept my opinion on it, 'think' for yourself. Be seeing you.
For those who ask what the series is all about, I'd say watch it, and make your own mind up don't just accept my opinion on it, 'think' for yourself. Be seeing you.
#6 and The Village
domino100317 November 2003
Warning: Spoilers
I just wanted to put in my 2 cents in this cool show from the 60's that even the show "The Simpsons" had to spoof a few times (Even having Patrick McGoohan reprise his #6, being bugged by Homer Simpson!). The show really didn't have to make any sense, because a lot of what happened to #6 didn't make sense, either.
Resigning from the government, he is drugged. When he comes to, he realizes that he is being held at the mysterious Village, where they want INFORMATION. Why? Who exactly is #6 (You never know his name.) and what possible information does he have in his head that he had to be kidnapped for it? #6 spends the series being grilled by #2 (There's a different one every time). It's too bad that the series was so short. The ending is satisfactory, but still many questions remain unanswered. Great show to have in your collection and fun to have if you have a group of friends that debates the ins and outs of "The Prisoner."
Resigning from the government, he is drugged. When he comes to, he realizes that he is being held at the mysterious Village, where they want INFORMATION. Why? Who exactly is #6 (You never know his name.) and what possible information does he have in his head that he had to be kidnapped for it? #6 spends the series being grilled by #2 (There's a different one every time). It's too bad that the series was so short. The ending is satisfactory, but still many questions remain unanswered. Great show to have in your collection and fun to have if you have a group of friends that debates the ins and outs of "The Prisoner."
brilliant, disturbing, visionary
winner5523 September 2007
A number of reviewers have said that this series was "ahead of its time". Actually, as with any truly insightful art, it was entirely with it's time, it was all the other shows that were slightly backward.
Because of that, the series has dated in rather odd ways; the use of the Beatles' "All you need is love" in the final episode, for instance, really derives its power from the fact that Lennon and McCartney laced a lot of their songs with the same satirical venom this episode portrays, but much of this was lost on audiences (at least in America) until the release of the White Album. But now, 40 years later, only a handful of "Beatle-philes" remember this, so the edginess of the hallway sequence in which this is played has changed somewhat.
Too, the Theater of the Absurd that functions as backdrop to much of this show has been all but forgotten - Beckett's "Waiting for Godot" still gets revived now and again, but Albee's "Sandlot" never does; Brecht, once thought to be the Shakespeare of Left-wing theater, remains only as an inventive apologist for a failed Stalinism who wrote a few memorable set-pieces.
Yet "The Prisoner" survives, and likely will continue to survive, because it demonstrated both the potential power and the ultimate limitations of it's medium. There was never a show like this previous to it, and there has never been a show like it since, because the notion of a political/cultural satire extended for thirteen weeks for a mass audience is really unthinkable in television terms. How McGoohan came up with the idea therefore remains a mystery, but somehow he got it made. That there were millions willing to devote time and the effort of attention to it remains equally mysterious; but I think part of the answer is that at the time, many of us still weren't sure what the "television phenomenon" actually was. We didn't recognize it as mere audio-visual wall-paper, we thought it could be something else; and "The Prisoner" offered us a something else, something in keeping with what we had learned of great satire in letters, such as Swift and Voltaire.
Television as a medium has exhausted itself; it can never escape its economics, and so can never again be thought of a potentially liberating art-form. But there was a time when it was possible to imagine otherwise....
Not every episode is equally good, but "The Prisoner" remains brilliant, disturbing, visionary, and probably will for a long time to come.
Because of that, the series has dated in rather odd ways; the use of the Beatles' "All you need is love" in the final episode, for instance, really derives its power from the fact that Lennon and McCartney laced a lot of their songs with the same satirical venom this episode portrays, but much of this was lost on audiences (at least in America) until the release of the White Album. But now, 40 years later, only a handful of "Beatle-philes" remember this, so the edginess of the hallway sequence in which this is played has changed somewhat.
Too, the Theater of the Absurd that functions as backdrop to much of this show has been all but forgotten - Beckett's "Waiting for Godot" still gets revived now and again, but Albee's "Sandlot" never does; Brecht, once thought to be the Shakespeare of Left-wing theater, remains only as an inventive apologist for a failed Stalinism who wrote a few memorable set-pieces.
Yet "The Prisoner" survives, and likely will continue to survive, because it demonstrated both the potential power and the ultimate limitations of it's medium. There was never a show like this previous to it, and there has never been a show like it since, because the notion of a political/cultural satire extended for thirteen weeks for a mass audience is really unthinkable in television terms. How McGoohan came up with the idea therefore remains a mystery, but somehow he got it made. That there were millions willing to devote time and the effort of attention to it remains equally mysterious; but I think part of the answer is that at the time, many of us still weren't sure what the "television phenomenon" actually was. We didn't recognize it as mere audio-visual wall-paper, we thought it could be something else; and "The Prisoner" offered us a something else, something in keeping with what we had learned of great satire in letters, such as Swift and Voltaire.
Television as a medium has exhausted itself; it can never escape its economics, and so can never again be thought of a potentially liberating art-form. But there was a time when it was possible to imagine otherwise....
Not every episode is equally good, but "The Prisoner" remains brilliant, disturbing, visionary, and probably will for a long time to come.
Ahead Of Its Time - Then & Now.
AaronCapenBanner16 August 2013
Stunning achievement by actor, director & writer Patrick McGoohan about a recently-resigned British government operative kidnapped by either his government or a foreign one, imprisoned in a sinister "Village", where through the course of 17 episodes, various Number 2's(no citizen has a name, but only numbers) try to extract from him(re-named Number Six) the reason for his sudden resignation.
Episodes dealt with themes of the worth of the individual in society, and how he refuses to be broken by the Village, run by the mysterious Number 1. Government corruption, media collusion with government, and the nature of power and identity are key elements of this series, and are still with us today...
Final episode['Fallout'] is astonishing in its ambition and audacity, and is the single greatest episode of television drama ever, despite its controversial presentation and "resolution".
Original and startling; viewers who stayed with it from 'Arrival' will be rewarded, even liberated by the final fade-out...though is freedom an illusion after all?
Episodes dealt with themes of the worth of the individual in society, and how he refuses to be broken by the Village, run by the mysterious Number 1. Government corruption, media collusion with government, and the nature of power and identity are key elements of this series, and are still with us today...
Final episode['Fallout'] is astonishing in its ambition and audacity, and is the single greatest episode of television drama ever, despite its controversial presentation and "resolution".
Original and startling; viewers who stayed with it from 'Arrival' will be rewarded, even liberated by the final fade-out...though is freedom an illusion after all?
you had to be there...
A_Different_Drummer6 April 2014
Warning: Spoilers
I can't believe I just started a review with an excuse, with an apology, but that is the only way to explain this series. It was the 60s.(A smart reviewer would end the review after that simple 3-word sentence, but I can't, IMDb has minimums, and you don't mess with their rules.) The spy thing had more or less peaked by 67, but McGoohan's street cred was still amazingly high. Of all the spy guys, he was the only one that had insisted (Danger Man) that violence be kept to a minimum and guile to a maximum; he was the only one to have achieved such a strong international demand that a UK production actually was being repackaged (with a new name and theme song) for American audiences (Avengers notwithstanding, save that for another review!); and he even snagged a middling role in an international movie entirely on the basis of his spy "persona" -- ICE STATION ZEBRA. Well, against this backdrop of success (and, I repeat, IT WAS THE 60s!) Patrick pulled a "Tom Cruise" and put together his own production, based on on his own idea, and starring (surprise!) himself. It was quite successful. Never mind that no one completely understood whether the story was to be taken literally or allegorically - the last episode ended with the head of the village revealed to be a simian! -- and never mind that it was PAINFULLY obvious from day #1 that he was never going to escape (otherwise, what is the point?), the series snagged both a mainstream AND a cult following (wow) and remains both popular and enigmatic to this day. Now, if you have read my other reviews, you know that this is the point in the review where I usually explain why a series like this was so oddly successful, in spite of the terminal gloominess, the repetitive plot arcs, and the fact that even McGoohan's charisma has its limits...? Three 3 word answer? It was the 60s.
Be seeing you, indeed
mfisher4524 November 2008
Warning: Spoilers
The Cold War years of the 1960s were the "golden age" of James Bond and the espionage genre. On TV, there was "The Man From U.N.C.L.E.," "Mission: Impossible," even "Get Smart" and some other shows best forgotten, such as "Mr. Terrific" and "Captain Nice." I first saw Patrick McGoohan when he played the dour, grim spy John Drake in "Secret Agent," a slightly modified version of "Danger Man" from Lew Grade's ITC. Sometime in the late 1960s, we saw McGoohan again---even grimmer and more dour, if possible---in a bizarre British "spy" series: "The Prisoner," also from ITC.
We Americans didn't see the same show the Brits saw. In those days, a typical season ran 13 weeks. "The Prisoner" was 18 hours long (16 hour-long episodes and a final 2-parter). A run of "The Prisoner" would always omit several episodes. Neither did we see complete shows, because each episode's running time was longer than U.S. shows owing to shorter and less frequent commercial breaks in the UK, so the episodes that did air were trimmed. The entire series was broadcast in later years, most notably on commercial-free PBS stations in the early 1980s. Even then, we didn't see quite the same show: The British PAL broadcasting system, with its higher number of lines, has a sharper picture and cleaner colors than the U.S.'s NTSC system. With the advent of all-digital and high-def TV, this difference may disappear. But what about the show itself?
The plot: A high-ranking British secret agent, whose name is never revealed, barges into the agency offices. He is indignant. There is no audio, but he appears to be telling his superior why he is fed up or outraged before he slams a letter of resignation down on the desk. But no, he hasn't said why. He goes home and packs for a trip, presumably to get away from it all. However, he knows too much for his own good, and mysterious forces are at work: While packing, he is knocked out by gas. When he awakens, he finds himself a resident on an island inhabited by others like himself: They possess information that makes them too risky to allow to return to a normal life. What looks like a beautiful resort is actually an elaborate, Kafkaesque prison called simply "The Village." The inmates do not have names, only Numbers. The protagonist is Number 6. (We never meet Numbers 3, 4 or 5. I speculated that future Number 2s are brought in at Number 5 and advance to 4, 3 and then 2 as each successive Number 2 bites the dust from week to week.) Escape is nearly impossible. The administrator of The Village is Number 2. (The identity of Number 1 is revealed---after a fashion---only near the end of the final episode.) In every episode, Number 2 devises an intricate scheme to induce Number 6 to reveal why he resigned, and in every episode, he or she fails and is replaced with a new Number 2. Number 6 is The Village's most strong-willed, stiff-necked, recalcitrant inmate, foiling every episode's plot to get him to submit, outwitting his captors in every way except one: His every attempt at escape ultimately fails. Every episode's opening credits end with The Prisoner shouting defiantly at his warders: "I am not a number! I am a free man!"
This, of course, is the theme of the show. The Prisoner's reason for resigning, with which his captors are obsessed, is merely the "gimmick," or what Hitchcock liked to call The MacGuffin, i.e., a plot device that motivates the characters or advances the story, but the details of which are of little or no importance otherwise. Like the world of George Orwell's "1984," The Village was a vehicle for McGoohan's musings on the modern conflict between totalitarianism, soulless conformity and regimentation on one side and personal identity, freedom, democracy, and the uses of education, science, art and technology on the other. McGoohan succeeded in creating a watchable imaginary world, with Orwellian dialogue and a visual style slightly reminiscent of early Fellini, at the same time as the plots and plot devices were often sublimely silly verging on nonsensical. The main piece of silliness is that never once does The Prisoner say his own name. Nor does anyone else! There is even one episode where he manages to escape back to London (before being tricked back onto the island), and the script contortions that ensue so that none of the other character says his name either are truly ridiculous. In the 2-part final episode, Number 6's captors acknowledge that he has maintained his individuality despite all their attempts to wrest it from him, and grant him what he has sought from the beginning: To find out who is the true master of The Village; to meet Number 1. This episode abandons all pretense at realism and becomes an often nightmarish roller-coaster ride through a succession of images that leave the viewer wondering just what in the world is going on. In the end, "The Prisoner" lets the viewer down. McGoohan seems to have run out of ideas and could not figure out a way to end the series convincingly, so he resorted to surrealistic silliness and hoped that everyone would be so dazzled by it that they wouldn't turn off the TV at the end thinking, "Makes no sense at all."
Now that "The Prisoner" is available on DVD, I would recommend that if you're interested, you should watch it once just to see what all the fuss is about.
We Americans didn't see the same show the Brits saw. In those days, a typical season ran 13 weeks. "The Prisoner" was 18 hours long (16 hour-long episodes and a final 2-parter). A run of "The Prisoner" would always omit several episodes. Neither did we see complete shows, because each episode's running time was longer than U.S. shows owing to shorter and less frequent commercial breaks in the UK, so the episodes that did air were trimmed. The entire series was broadcast in later years, most notably on commercial-free PBS stations in the early 1980s. Even then, we didn't see quite the same show: The British PAL broadcasting system, with its higher number of lines, has a sharper picture and cleaner colors than the U.S.'s NTSC system. With the advent of all-digital and high-def TV, this difference may disappear. But what about the show itself?
The plot: A high-ranking British secret agent, whose name is never revealed, barges into the agency offices. He is indignant. There is no audio, but he appears to be telling his superior why he is fed up or outraged before he slams a letter of resignation down on the desk. But no, he hasn't said why. He goes home and packs for a trip, presumably to get away from it all. However, he knows too much for his own good, and mysterious forces are at work: While packing, he is knocked out by gas. When he awakens, he finds himself a resident on an island inhabited by others like himself: They possess information that makes them too risky to allow to return to a normal life. What looks like a beautiful resort is actually an elaborate, Kafkaesque prison called simply "The Village." The inmates do not have names, only Numbers. The protagonist is Number 6. (We never meet Numbers 3, 4 or 5. I speculated that future Number 2s are brought in at Number 5 and advance to 4, 3 and then 2 as each successive Number 2 bites the dust from week to week.) Escape is nearly impossible. The administrator of The Village is Number 2. (The identity of Number 1 is revealed---after a fashion---only near the end of the final episode.) In every episode, Number 2 devises an intricate scheme to induce Number 6 to reveal why he resigned, and in every episode, he or she fails and is replaced with a new Number 2. Number 6 is The Village's most strong-willed, stiff-necked, recalcitrant inmate, foiling every episode's plot to get him to submit, outwitting his captors in every way except one: His every attempt at escape ultimately fails. Every episode's opening credits end with The Prisoner shouting defiantly at his warders: "I am not a number! I am a free man!"
This, of course, is the theme of the show. The Prisoner's reason for resigning, with which his captors are obsessed, is merely the "gimmick," or what Hitchcock liked to call The MacGuffin, i.e., a plot device that motivates the characters or advances the story, but the details of which are of little or no importance otherwise. Like the world of George Orwell's "1984," The Village was a vehicle for McGoohan's musings on the modern conflict between totalitarianism, soulless conformity and regimentation on one side and personal identity, freedom, democracy, and the uses of education, science, art and technology on the other. McGoohan succeeded in creating a watchable imaginary world, with Orwellian dialogue and a visual style slightly reminiscent of early Fellini, at the same time as the plots and plot devices were often sublimely silly verging on nonsensical. The main piece of silliness is that never once does The Prisoner say his own name. Nor does anyone else! There is even one episode where he manages to escape back to London (before being tricked back onto the island), and the script contortions that ensue so that none of the other character says his name either are truly ridiculous. In the 2-part final episode, Number 6's captors acknowledge that he has maintained his individuality despite all their attempts to wrest it from him, and grant him what he has sought from the beginning: To find out who is the true master of The Village; to meet Number 1. This episode abandons all pretense at realism and becomes an often nightmarish roller-coaster ride through a succession of images that leave the viewer wondering just what in the world is going on. In the end, "The Prisoner" lets the viewer down. McGoohan seems to have run out of ideas and could not figure out a way to end the series convincingly, so he resorted to surrealistic silliness and hoped that everyone would be so dazzled by it that they wouldn't turn off the TV at the end thinking, "Makes no sense at all."
Now that "The Prisoner" is available on DVD, I would recommend that if you're interested, you should watch it once just to see what all the fuss is about.
Be seeing you
nickenchuggets4 May 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Those three words sound innocent enough on their own, but in the world of the prisoner, they are spoken because it implies a state of constant surveillance. The show focuses on renowned actor Patrick McGoohan, who plays some kind of secret agent retired from his life's work of espionage and spying. One day, he awakes in a strange village by the sea that has nice architecture and friendly inhabitants, but it has a dark side. He soon comes to realize nobody in this village has a name, and they're all reduced to numbers, his being 6. His captors will not allow him to leave until he tells them why he resigned from his job. 6 will have none of it and refuses to tell them what they want, and the village's leaders tighten their grip on his life, watching his every move through expertly hidden cameras and listening devices. The stories are thought provoking and interesting for what they are, but the competent storytelling runs out of steam on the very last episode, and the ending enraged so many people in fact that McGoohan was attacked in person for it afterwards. A common criticism of the show is that the prisoner doesn't tell you everything. The audience doesn't know the backstory of number 6, his job, why he gave up his job, or the village's history. But that's the whole appeal of it; that you have to use your imagination. A common theory among fans of McGoohan's past shows will say that the prisoner is an unofficial follow up series to Secret Agent (called Danger Man in the US) because he was a spy for nato in that. The connection between the two shows remains up for debate though and the prisoner neither confirms nor denies the similarities. What we do know however is that the prisoner is a good choice for avid viewers of spy shows and avant-garde things that don't make a lot of sense.
A sophisticated mix of wow! and wtf!
BeneCumb5 October 2015
This series was created years before I was even born, and somehow I had never heard about it before, but scrolling down the IMDb TV-list made me curious about its high ranking... So I watched all episodes, in sequence, and well... It was definitely ahead of time, using modern devices and ideas (apart from fighting scenes), but at present, having seen hundreds of films and series from 1960-70ies, I often felt that I was entering a world where Kubrick and James Bond creators were somewhere together and eating magic mushrooms :) I don't argue, it was all catchy to follow, in spite of a few predictabilities and trivial solutions, and the ideas behind and beyond were definitely worth pondering. Main male cast is distinct as well, beginning with Patrick McGoohan as The Prisoner / Number Six, females spend less time on screen and they are often typical beauty icons of that time.
Well, it is impossible to provide a uniform overview of The Prisoner, but I can imagine strong feelings it created at that time. I personally have always liked London and it was pleasant to watch hundreds, not thousands of cars in its streets... Life goes on, but the atmosphere has preserved.
Well, it is impossible to provide a uniform overview of The Prisoner, but I can imagine strong feelings it created at that time. I personally have always liked London and it was pleasant to watch hundreds, not thousands of cars in its streets... Life goes on, but the atmosphere has preserved.
Could have been brilliant but the quality drops off dramatically after the 12th episode
grantss30 April 2022
After resigning, a British secret agent is abducted by a mysterious organisation and relocated to a town known simply as The Village. The aim is to get him to provide secret information but he refuses. What follows is a battle of wits and wills as the agent seeks to escape and his captors try all sorts of means to obtain the information they want.
The Prisoner started in very intriguing fashion as we saw the agent being abducted and the extent of his predicament. The next few episodes built on this with some clever plots, either involving the agent attempting to escape or his captors trying to get information out of him. Highly original, intelligent, intense, intriguing and engaging.
However, this quality lasted for the first 12 episodes (out of a total of 17). The 13th had a weak plot and represented a sharp decline in the quality of the writing.
The 14th and 15th episodes were even worse, suddenly moving the setting to another time and place. Anytime a show suddenly is set in a new location and/or time period (especially) you know the writers have run out of ideas and this exactly what happened there. These two episodes weren't really The Prisoner but rather out-of-place, haphazard stories jammed into the show.
At this point I was hoping the final two episodes would return to the quality and general direction of the first 12 episodes, with the particular hope that the resolution would be something clever and original, in keeping with the earlier episodes.
No such luck. The writing in these two episodes is all over the place, with random detours, plot developments that make no sense, action scenes that seem very out of place and are there largely to consume time and all sorts of trippy images and scenes that are just there to paper over the lack of genuine plot.
Very disappointing especially as this was heading to be something great. The producers should really have wrapped this up sooner and with something more substantial. By allowing it to go on beyond his natural end the writers ran out of ideas and were forced to resort to style-over-substance tricks to keep the series going. So far down the rabbit hole were they that they ruined the ending too.
The Prisoner started in very intriguing fashion as we saw the agent being abducted and the extent of his predicament. The next few episodes built on this with some clever plots, either involving the agent attempting to escape or his captors trying to get information out of him. Highly original, intelligent, intense, intriguing and engaging.
However, this quality lasted for the first 12 episodes (out of a total of 17). The 13th had a weak plot and represented a sharp decline in the quality of the writing.
The 14th and 15th episodes were even worse, suddenly moving the setting to another time and place. Anytime a show suddenly is set in a new location and/or time period (especially) you know the writers have run out of ideas and this exactly what happened there. These two episodes weren't really The Prisoner but rather out-of-place, haphazard stories jammed into the show.
At this point I was hoping the final two episodes would return to the quality and general direction of the first 12 episodes, with the particular hope that the resolution would be something clever and original, in keeping with the earlier episodes.
No such luck. The writing in these two episodes is all over the place, with random detours, plot developments that make no sense, action scenes that seem very out of place and are there largely to consume time and all sorts of trippy images and scenes that are just there to paper over the lack of genuine plot.
Very disappointing especially as this was heading to be something great. The producers should really have wrapped this up sooner and with something more substantial. By allowing it to go on beyond his natural end the writers ran out of ideas and were forced to resort to style-over-substance tricks to keep the series going. So far down the rabbit hole were they that they ruined the ending too.
Groundbreaking TV
Mr-Fusion14 November 2013
Warning: Spoilers
There's a lot to say about "the Prisoner" - notably about how it challenges its audience and how it invites discussion and further exploration - but what charmed me (even on subsequent rewatches) is just how well it grabs you in the process. Could be due to a particular episode order (mine was the ITC order), but it was highly involving nonetheless. "Many Happy Returns", especially, is a nail-biter and you find yourself sticking around to see what happens. And I'd already seen the series twice.
Aside from that, it is wholly unique; a '60s spy-fi series with a distinct cool factor. One that asks questions of its audience without much in the way of immediate answers. The beauty of the show is that this is ultimately a fun, not frustrating venture. And after having seen a few episodes, you have to know that the finale won't be a clear-cut solution to the questions raised.
I don't know if I've gotten this much replay value out of such a convoluted show, but it remains one of my favorites.
9/10
Aside from that, it is wholly unique; a '60s spy-fi series with a distinct cool factor. One that asks questions of its audience without much in the way of immediate answers. The beauty of the show is that this is ultimately a fun, not frustrating venture. And after having seen a few episodes, you have to know that the finale won't be a clear-cut solution to the questions raised.
I don't know if I've gotten this much replay value out of such a convoluted show, but it remains one of my favorites.
9/10
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