A quick “hello” to start out, since this is my first post, I’m Justin VanNingen. Looking at the list of geeks, it seems like I’ve worked with all of them so I at least have some idea of what I’m getting myself into. My geekery usually lies in the realms of music, travel, and anime — the last one being the subject of a series of posts I will later delve into.
Anyway, to tie all of this together I thought I would start with a post about something not really related to any of those topics: namely The Prisoner and the upcoming remake.
About 6 months ago I finally watched the 1967 series “The Prisoner” starring the recently deceased Patrick McGoohan. There are many, many synopses of the series out there so I won’t spend a lot of time giving it a thorough review. For a quick rundown: A British secret agent is seen resigning in a huff and driving to his house to hastily pack a suitcase. As he packs, smoke fills the room and he collapses on his couch. He awakens in a similar room, yet is in a different location only known as “The Village.” A man calling himself “Number 2″ re-christens the man “Number 6″ (everyone in The Village is known only by a number) and tells him he can earn his freedom by telling them why he resigned. Number 6 refuses, yet Number 2 promises “By Hook or By Crook” they will extract this information from him.
The series lasted only 17 episodes, yet was widely controversial and innovative — not just for its time but even by today’s standards. Contemporary series like Lost and Battlestar Galactica owe more than a small debt to this show. The final episode was so allegorical and confusing that McGoohan fled the UK to escape the throngs of people demanding explanations.
After watching the series, I realized why it was better that I rented it than bought it: the series was going on $35 per DVD — with usually 2-3 episodes each. Thankfully, AMC is now streaming the entire series on their website. Give it a chance when you can, and please avoid sites like Wikipedia until you finish it — their entry for the series is very spoiler heavy. While you’re at the AMC site, check out their information about the remake airing later this year starring Jim Caviezel and Ian McKellen.
EDIT: I just found a website for the new series. Give it a look, but don’t expect them to be very helpful on what it’s supposed to be about.
I have vague memories of this program from my childhood – understandably if they only aired 17 episodes. I remember it as being fairly eerie due mostly to Patrick McGoohan’s persona. I wonder if Jim Caviezel will be able to re-create that.