“I will not make any deals with you. I've resigned. I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own. I resign.”
It might be telling, but I’ll say that the Prisoner is one fantastic television show. Patrick McGoohan will eternally be known as a number and in some ways a prisoner by the success of the 1967 show. However, we can revel in the beautiful high definition premiere of the classic series.
A spy tenders his resignation and goes home to pack. A knockout gas pours through his keyhole and renders him unconscious. When he awakens he finds himself in a seaside resort referred to as The Village. He’s told that he’s Number Six (Patrick McGoohan) as no one is given names and is only known by numbers.
The chief administrator of The Village is Number Two (George Baker, David Bauer, Patrick Cargill, Georgina Cookson, Guy Doleman, Clifford Evans, Colin Gordon, Kenneth Griffith, Rachael Herbert, Mary Morris, Derren Nesbitt, Eric Portman, Anton Rodgers, John Sharpe, Andre Van Gyseghem, Peter Wyngarde, and the brilliant Leo McKern would play the changing numeric).
The cagey Number Six doesn’t take kindly to his confinement but when he tries to escape a balloon-like entity called a ROVER brings him back to The Village. There is no escape from this resort until you spill your secrets.
It has been forty-two years since the show aired and it’s still being discovered, re-discovered, and talked about. It’s a fantastic show thanks to the intense McGoohan and the oddity of The Village. The constant menace and mystery is the identity of Number One and the series takes an interesting slant in answering that.
Supposedly the phone lines were abuzz with disappointment over how that was wrapped up, but in my opinion it’s the perfect topper to the show and is open to discussion and interpretation. It’s why I think the series continues to enthrall after all these years, in addition to the performances and oddity of the concept. It’s nice to have a series that makes you think or rethink perhaps. In some ways the Prisoner may predate our current reality television.
We’re watching a show where a person has been kidnapped, taken to a seemingly benevolent environment that has sinister undertones, and the audiences of Number Ones watch his every move.
Maybe more frightening in England with their closed circuit televisions, but security cameras watch every move in the States too but more private security cameras instead of a governmental entity. Scary stuff when you think of it. I’m going to start dressing as Number Two to show that I’m a figure of authority. So maybe the show is not too odd a concept after all.
The content is excellent, but I wish they would’ve sprung to put those excellent documentaries in high def. Disc one has a commentary on “Arrival” with production manager Bernie Williams and film librarian Tony Sloman. The “Chimes of Big Ben” has a commentary with writer Vincent Tilsley and “Schizoid Man” has director Pat Jackson. Next is a 19 minute “Episodic Image Gallery” that uses a suite of music from the show and images from the episodes on the disc.
There are also 1 minute trailers (aka commercials for the next episode) for each of the episodes. Disc two has a commentary on “The General” with director Peter Graham Scott. “Dance of the Dead” has a commentary with Williams, Sloman, and adds editor John S. Smith. Next is a 12 minute “Episodic Image Gallery” and 1 minute trailers for each of the episodes. Disc three has a commentary on “A Change of Mind” with writer Roger Parkes, an 18 minute “Episodic image gallery,” and 1 minute trailers for the episodes. Disc four has a commentary on “Fall Out” with music editor Eric Mival and editor Noreen Ackland and a 12 minute “Episodic image gallery.”
There are also 1 minute trailers for the shows, but also a 1 minute generic and a 90 second generic trailer that promotes the show. We also get the original edit of “Arrival” (50 minutes), a version of “Arrival” with music only, a 4 minute restoration comparison, and 10 minutes of “textless title sequences.” Disc five (again, a DVD) offers a “Play All” option that will play the following.
It features the delightful 94 minute “Don’t Knock Yourself Out” that interviews many people about the show (the insert says 400, but it doesn’t seem like that many) save for McGoohan who provides a title card basically saying I said it with the show and don’t want to talk about it (this was done in 2007 when he was still alive). The 9 minute “You Make Sure it Fits” is an interview with music editor Mival. The 9 minute “Pink Prisoner” is a comedic interview with Wyngarde.
Next is a 10 minute “Exposure Strip Gallery,” and 15 seconds of “Ad Bumpers.” The next feature is very interesting, you get the 3 minute “Textless Titles” with three different attempts at the theme tune by Ron Grainger, Wilfred Josephs, and Robert Farnon. Next is 2 minutes of mute “Filing Cabinet Footage” that shows different languages for “resigned,” 25 seconds of mute “Rover footage,” and a mute 50 second “McGoohan photo montage from Arrival.”
You also get the original edit for the “Chimes of Big Ben, a promotional image gallery, 1967 press conference gallery, production designs gallery, and a 32 second promo for AMC’s upcoming Prisoner miniseries. This disc also is a DVD-ROM with a production paper archive that features scripts and rarely seen production documentation.
The Prisoner is captivating and will continue to be so. This new set offers the episodes in beautiful high definition transfers. It’s a memorable show and this set adds some delightful special features that make it well worth the purchase. Be seeing you.
The Prisoner: The Complete Series [Blu-ray] is now available at Amazon . Visit the DVD database for more information.
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