Search - The Prisoner: The Complete Series (40th Anniversary Collector's Edition) on DVD

What's it all about?

landru141 | Planet Houston | 08/19/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"DVD - overview. Well, they are excellent transfers. Visually its as clear as it will ever be. The sound is a bit thin and could have used the detailed thought that went into the Original Star Trek series. The miracle would have been to actually interview or have McGoohan himself do a commentary. Since he's notoriously closed mouthed about this series, don't expect it. Ever.

The Show - What's it all about? There are at least 3 ways to view this series, which is at least 2 more ways than almost anything generated by popular culture in the last 50 years. However deeply you decide to invest your thoughts, it will not go unrewarded. The Prisoner is simply the best television show ever made and one of the few that actually attempts to make the disposable medium "art." The fact that I'm writing about it nearly 40s years later is a testament to the achievement of the singularly minded force behind it: the star, Patrick McGoohan.

McGoohan had come off a second 2-year run of his popular "Danger Man" series. The first series ran from 1960-62, the second from 1964-66 ... look them up on this site for further info ... and were hugely successful both in the UK and in the US. He had already turned down the role of 007 before it was offered to Sean Connery for various "moral reasons" which still seem vague to this day. He seemed to find the character of Bond's habit of killing and womanizing distasteful. In 1962, this wasn't such a big deal. James Bond had been a popular series of novels and the first movie was considered a modest undertaking at best. (Future Bond and current star of "The Saint" Roger Moore was approached and also turned it down.) Fast-forward to 1966, as McGoohan's own show was now going into its 5th year, he was offered the role again. It had gone from a cult possibility in 1962 to international icon status in just 5 years. It would have made McGoohan an international superstar. He turned it down again. There are rumors that he was even offered the role a third time, though I can't figure out when that would have been. Also, by this time, McGoohan was growing tired of the spy format and decided to start a new show, despite the fact that filming had already begun on the next series. What was needed was a concept that would continue to utilize his popular public image of good-looking leading man hero and his Bond-like secret agent character, while twisting them up in psychedelia and strange psychological concepts. McGoohan was, although there appear to have been no consciously stated thoughts on the subject, about to turn the world inside out.

The obvious angle to understand The Prisoner is the literal interpretation: A secret agent, most likely McGoohan's character from "Danger Man" (called "Secret Agent" in the US), resigns from his job. We never know why and in the opening his dialogue is covered by thunder clapping and music. We know he's mad and he slams his resignation on the desk. He is then drugged, kidnapped, and wakes up in the Village, which is like a resort hotel (it is in real life). Its a place he can never leave. He doesn't even know who's running it; East or West. All they want to know is why he resigned, but he's a stubborn man and an expert spy. Only the most sophisticated methods could get him to talk. He is not called a name. No one has names, only numbers. He is Number 6. Each week he is continually tortured, etc, by a revolving set of Number 2's, the seeming master of the Village. But, there is a Number 1 ... always unseen, always watching. Throughout the remainder of the episodes, the Prisoner is forced to undergo mind-altering experiments, some subtle, some not, all the while attempting to escape. He never does. Or does he?

The second way to view the series is as an allegory for the plight of the Everyman against the machine-like nature of society. This is the stated aim of the program's bizarre, seemingly undecipherable ending. The revelation of the identity of Number 1 was awaited with such anticipation in Europe that the actual event itself caused McGoohan to return to his birthplace (the US) for good.

However, the Everyman allegory doesn't quite fit all the facts. It seems more personal and, as the series went on, McGoohan seemed more and more determined to ditch the original "espionage prison camp" idea, much to the annoyance of his co-producer and the TV executives. They couldn't do anything, as McGoohan had complete control. The subconscious underpinnings of the years leading up to the Prisoner seem to emerge as pieces of a twisted media mind-game. Is he messing with us because we messed with him? The show very quickly became about McGoohan's fight against his public image (how a good-looking face becomes associated with so many positive concepts, whether or not its true of the person), the constant pressure of fame, loss of privacy, and continual nagging demand to know his "reasons" for his decisions (for not doing Bond, for not continuing Secret Agent, etc.), and the subconscious hypnotism/supplication each of us must fight everyday.

When a person is literally "in the spotlight" they see the world from within a bubble. It is, therefore, no coincidence that the concept of the "eye" is so important to the world of The Village. The eye is a ball that perceives objects upside down and backwards. Our brains then translate these images automatically and we percieve them as normal ... but does our subconscious mind fully understand what is happening? Since, one question that seems to be central to the piece is the psychological concept of authority, is it not unreasonable to ask "why do we allow people into our heads and assume they are our betters?" The Butler who never speaks, but answers to the "authority" of the moment. He is the real "everyman." Number 2 is always different, but always the authority figure (only answerable to an unseen Number 1.) He or she is seated in a half-circle chair, generally facing away from Number 6, which then rotates back to face him. This could represent the mind's way of percieving another human being and accepting that person as mentally superior. The Boss. The message is obvious and yet completely subtle: everyday the mind subconsciously let's go of personal individuality by believing that another human being is in anyway superior. The person in question can range anywhere from a parent, school teacher, boss, politician, King, or even Pope. Sometimes they are merely "emotionally" manipulative, as in "The Girl Who was Death." The point seem to be the moment the individual loses control to another human being. And, worse, it isn't the obvious acts that are the most dangerous. The world is conditioning the mind to behave.

The eye percieves all of this and the brain translates it. If you accept this, you'll find that it is no coincidence that the revelation of Number 1 should come through the a crystal ball. (no spoilers.)

In short, this show will force you to think. If you refuse to think, you will probably still find it a wild ride. Only the few, the weak, will dislike it because they are too mentally lazy to work out the finer points. But, then again, "One must either be hammer or anvil."
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