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"The Prisoner": What Happens When James Bond Goes John Galt
The Faster Times ^ | 11/4/09 | Richard Faulk

Posted on 11/04/2009 8:32:15 AM PST by steve-b

...Part spy adventure, part science fiction dystopia, and part counter-culture influenced social critique, The Prisoner was groundbreaking television when it debuted in the fall of 1967....

And now, after decades of speculation and anticipation, of deals struck and scrapped, the British cult classic is about to become the latest pop-cultural institution to submit itself to reinterpretation. On November 15, AMC will debut its own version of The Prisoner staring Jim Caviezel and Ian McKellen....

...The question we see playing out on cable news, in blogs, in town-hall meetings, and public demonstrations is "Who do we imagine ourselves to be? What is the soul of America?" As is the case with definitional questions, the answer is typically expressed as a negative: We are defined against the thing that we reject. And, as is the case with family squabbles, the tone is uniformly nasty and ad hominem. Our political lexicon is distended with a list of new terms of invective, Rabelaisian in its length and grotesquerie: We are a nation of wingnuts, moonbats, birthers, FReepers, libtards, Paultards, snow-billies, nObamans, Christianists, liberal fascists....

If Patrick McGoohan, the crusty, misanthropic creator of the original Prisoner, had lived to remake his series, I'm certain he would have recognized this knotted up state of affairs, so ripe for satire--and would have relished jabbing a finger into our aching collective pressure points, sparing the fragile sensibilities of neither right nor left....

(Excerpt) Read more at thefastertimes.com ...


TOPICS: Society; TV/Movies
KEYWORDS: caviezel; ianmckellen; jimcaviezel; mcgoohan; mckellen; patrickmcgoohan; prisoner; theprisoner
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1 posted on 11/04/2009 8:32:20 AM PST by steve-b
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To: steve-b

With Jim Caviezel in it, I might have more hope that it will be a decent one. Gandalf the Gay is an interesting choice as co-star.


2 posted on 11/04/2009 8:35:29 AM PST by BigEdLB (Now there ARE 1,000,000 regrets - but it may be too late.)
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To: steve-b

My favorite show of all time returns?!


3 posted on 11/04/2009 8:35:59 AM PST by Renah
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To: BigEdLB

So Gandalf the Gay is Number 2? That might be appropriate.


4 posted on 11/04/2009 8:38:07 AM PST by Ingtar (Asses far Left of me; Rinos to the Left; FReepin' on the Right with you.)
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To: steve-b

Jesus and Gandalf?


5 posted on 11/04/2009 8:38:53 AM PST by Sherman Logan ("The price of freedom is the toleration of imperfections." Thomas Sowell)
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To: steve-b

Britons today are watched by more “security” cameras than anyone could have imagined in 1967.

Many of them are even hooked to watchers and loudspeakers, so we even have that scene from The Prisoner, where “voices” order citizens not to break this or that law.

“You! Yes, you in the blue jacket! Pick up that litter!”


6 posted on 11/04/2009 8:44:06 AM PST by Travis McGee (---www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com---)
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To: steve-b

7 posted on 11/04/2009 8:44:47 AM PST by JoeProBono (A closed mouth gathers no feet)
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To: Renah

Be seeing you.


8 posted on 11/04/2009 8:44:58 AM PST by mgstarr ("Some of us drink because we're not poets." Arthur (1981))
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To: steve-b
Did you even read this drivel before you posted it? It utterly drips with derision towards conservativism.

On second thought, since most of what you post does just that, you probably did read it.

9 posted on 11/04/2009 8:45:29 AM PST by dirtboy
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To: steve-b
This article looks like it was typed by someone holding his breath while typing. At first it looks rational, then as the paragraphs flow by the oxygen deprivation takes over until the author finally passes out and his head hits "Enter" to post it.

Still, I look forward to watching the remake of the Prisoner. They better not change the theme music. It's a classic of television.

10 posted on 11/04/2009 8:52:50 AM PST by KarlInOhio (Any similarity between V and the Obama admin is just that of Obama and any other totalitarian regime)
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To: steve-b

i doubt if the author actually saw the series himself. but I still await the remake, as I have been every time it is announced.

Patrick MacGoohan is dead? that’s too bad.


11 posted on 11/04/2009 9:10:59 AM PST by camle (keep an open mind and someone will fill it full of something for you)
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To: steve-b

If the critic’s view is any perspective, Hollywood is again raping my childhood and turning something classic into revisionist political crap.

Another Manchurian Candidate redux?

Another antigun Planet of the Apes relaunch?

Give me a break.


12 posted on 11/04/2009 9:14:33 AM PST by a fool in paradise (I refuse to "reduce my carbon footprint" all while Lenin remains in an airconditioned shrine)
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To: a fool in paradise

It was a fictional tv show then, just as it is now.


13 posted on 11/04/2009 9:16:01 AM PST by stuartcr (If we are truly made in the image of God, why do we have faults?)
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To: stuartcr

It didn’t make widespread statements about the culture. It was a spy program with a twist. Now espionage has been ruled to be a violation of privacy rights and 007 agents’ licenses to kill are unethical examples of murder, torture, abuse, and violations of civil rights by Western Imperialist hegemony.

And besides, Communists, Seditious traitors, and Islamic Supremacists don’t mean any harm.


14 posted on 11/04/2009 9:25:15 AM PST by a fool in paradise (I refuse to "reduce my carbon footprint" all while Lenin remains in an airconditioned shrine)
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To: steve-b

My casting for the remake would have been to have McGoohan play No. 2.


15 posted on 11/04/2009 9:34:41 AM PST by isom35
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To: steve-b

THE problem with “The Prisoner” is this: He NEVER escapes, he can not escape, otherwise the series is over... depressing. Kind of like Gilligans Island (Although eventually the powers that be eventually had mercy and allowed Gilligan et al to escape.)... only without ANY joy.


16 posted on 11/04/2009 9:43:56 AM PST by Jmouse007 (God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, deliver us from evil, in Jesus name, amen.)
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To: a fool in paradise

So, it’s still just a fictional tv program.


17 posted on 11/04/2009 9:43:57 AM PST by stuartcr (If we are truly made in the image of God, why do we have faults?)
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To: steve-b

WHO IS NUMBER ONE????


18 posted on 11/04/2009 9:46:22 AM PST by Charlemagne on the Fox
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To: null and void

Thought youmight like to read this ping


19 posted on 11/04/2009 9:49:19 AM PST by Shimmer1 (Froggie sez water nice and warm)
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To: stuartcr

The Eternal Jew was a fictional film too but it served as propaganda.

Even the winners of the Oscar for best documentary have been fictional of late.


20 posted on 11/04/2009 9:51:21 AM PST by a fool in paradise (I refuse to "reduce my carbon footprint" all while Lenin remains in an airconditioned shrine)
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