The Prisoner Appreciation thread

[bundy]

Any other fans of this classic and highly influential 60s series starring Patrick McGoohan?

This series is cited by many critics and fans alike as one of the greatest cult TV series ever made, and for good reason. It has inspired two Iron Maiden tracks (The Prisoner and Back in the Village) and the Devil Doll album The Girl Who Was Death (the title of one of the 17 episodes in the series). There are many online forums and sites dedicated to the discussion and appreciation of this show, however if you are not yet familiar with it, my advice is save your time and watch it first before exploring these sites. There are 17 one hour episodes. The ending is very enigmatic and raises far more questions than it answers and has been discussed and interpreted at length since it was first aired. The series is worth repeated watchings as there is just so much to digest and appreciate.

While it was a product of its time with its general feel of cold war paranoia, many of its themes are timeless; the individual vs the collective, perceptions of fantasy/reality, trust, etc. etc The location in Sir Clough Williams-Ellis Portmerion Wales, the costumes, the gorgeous colour, Ron Grainer's theme (the same composer who did the Doctor Who theme among many others) all contribute to making this a truly special and unique series.

Any other fans? Or if you're not familiar with the series and I've piqued your interest watch it and I'm interested to read your thoughts. IMHO  the last 3 episodes are among the best 3 hours of television ever made.

[hefdaddy42]

This is a show that I have read about and seen referenced countless times, but I've never actually watched it.

Is it available on any of the streaming services in the U.S.?

[ChuckSteak]

A masterpiece of TV-Series. Iron Maiden and Devil Doll used fragments of the show in one of their songs.

I'm not a number, I'm a free man!!

[bundy]

Sorry Hefdaddy, I don't know. I'm in Australia and don't use any streaming services by choice. Like my music, I prefer to have the physical copies of my movies and TV series (much to the rest of my family's annoyance as I keep needing more and more shelf space.) The series is available as a box set on DVD. Complete episodes are also available on Youtube.

Here's the URL for episode 1 which contains the classic exchange between No. 6 and No 2. that includes the often quoted lines 'I will not be pushed, filed, briefed, debriefed, indexed or numbered. My life is my own." Episode 1 however, is to my mind the least interesting of the series.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lo4HOmqd9fo

Be aware that the series was remade in 2009 as a 6 part miniseries starring Ian McKellan. I didn't bother watching this as it seemed to be a waste of time to me. i would rather spend the time watching six of the original episodes again.