The blue summer nights Posted November 14, 2013 Posted November 14, 2013 Hello everyone. I'm curious if anyone has seen this show. Briefly stated, it's a show that was known to be a one season show even before it came out. The first episode's opening scene, which remains the same for all shows, gives a great intro as to what the show is about. A man works for MI5 or the equivalent of. He's driving to work looking pretty pissed. He storms into his boss' office and demands his resignation. With a gleeful look on his face he goes back to his flat to pack his bags and, presumably, go on vacation. He is followed by a suspicious looking fellow on his way home. As he is packing, a thick cloud of smoke engulfs his flat. He realizes something is amiss, looks up at the window at the overlooking skyscrapers and passes out. When he wakes up, he finds himself inside a place that looks like his flat - only it isn't. He is trapped in an island where he knows no one. He is now referred to by a number (was it 6?). The show is about someone trying to find out why he's quit his job and him resisting at every point. I first heard about this show while listening to The Howard Stern Show. They were discussing shows that were cool but did not seem to have a clear cut premise about themselves. They agreed they loved it but did not know what it was about at all. Having finished the entire show, i thought it was an amazing commentary on 'the system,' the state and it forecasts the coming intellectual decline that was to come in the 70s and thereafter. I'd love to discuss episodes in detail but it'll only be fun if more people have watched the show. If you have, please share your opinions on it. If anyone is interested, i can setup a dropbox and share episodes through it but I haven't look at the board's rules on that sort of activity so if it's a no-no just pretend you didn't read this part. Thanks for your time!
Alan C. Posted November 15, 2013 Posted November 15, 2013 I first heard about this show in the late 1980s when I was in my teens. A friend told me about it and had the show on VHS. It's among my favorite shows. The first episode I ever watched was The Girl Who Was Death (with the famous pub scene). There are some fascinating interviews of Patrick McGoohan on YouTube in which he discusses the show and its meaning. The 2009 miniseries was garbage.
Jiminy Vishnu Posted November 29, 2013 Posted November 29, 2013 Patrick McGoohan's "The Prisoner" is a bona fide classic of the literary/tv genre. I would love to hear the insights of the good folks who frequent around the FDR board who would like to talk specific details of episodes and wax about over arching themes. And, Alan Chapman, I could't agree with you more about the 2009 series. My biggest complaint about the reboot is that at no point does Jim Caviezel's #6 outwit and especially outsmart Ian Mckellen's #2's in any heroic way Deflating the the fallacious propaganda of the Village and Number 2 is what makes 6 such a great character. Like Spock's logic under pressure or Han Solo's sarcasm this character essence was missing from the new portrayal and suffered because of it. Unmutual!
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