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.
My favorite show of all time returns?!
Jesus and Gandalf?
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!”
On second thought, since most of what you post does just that, you probably did read 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.
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.
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.
My casting for the remake would have been to have McGoohan play No. 2.
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.
WHO IS NUMBER ONE????
Thought youmight like to read this ping
It’s important to look at the Prisoner with respect to the McGoohan spy series that preceded it, that made McGoohan the dominant TV actor in Britain at the time, and were both groundbreaking and unique that they could not be dramatically copied.
Danger Man (1960-’62), presented the Cold War as a life or death, ruthless struggle between East and West. Originally a half-hour show, it was expanded to a full hour (1964-’66) and retitled in the US as Secret Agent. (Available on Netflix, and worth it).
McGoohan portrayed spy John Drake, and even after The Prisoner, was brought back, as “David Jones”, in essentially the same role, in the movie Ice Station Zebra.
While utterly ruthless, he avoided guns if at all possible, using the same sensibility as the Cold War of, “I’ll kill you, but I won’t shoot you.” Communists were utterly blatant about it, full of dialectic and proud of proclaiming what they were, unlike today, when they will no longer admit to being communists.
At the same time, surrealism was penetrating British culture, with pseudo-spy shows like The Avengers, that were far more glib and less interested in politics.
With the blow up set of The Prisoner, the whole genre was smashed in British TV, leaving only James Bond, who had to leave England for a couple of decades. The serious, dramatic spy TV then migrated to the US, with Mission: Impossible, before American culture changed as well.
So The Prisoner went after several competing premises. To start with, that the Cold War enemies had become identical in their means, if not their ends. That is, nobody actually knew who ran The Village. It was even more likely to be run by the “good guys” as the “bad guys”.
Another premise was found all over both British and US culture at the time: the fear of technology overwhelming humanity. This still exists, but then, there was the idea that technology could be entertaining at the same time it was dehumanizing. People could fantasize about “Rover”, yet realize that it was an injurious, sometimes lethal killing machine.
One episode had the same concept as several original Star Trek episodes, of the super intelligent computer being bested by simple, human paradox. This was very emotionally gratifying to those who felt intimidated by IBM card using computers, with their “near human” intelligence, though nowhere near as powerful as a Commodore 64.
Finally, an undercurrent of The Prisoner is that even this super human, super spy, is quickly being worn down by the efforts of The New Number 2, and his minions. At first, the episodes are serious, but you can tell that perhaps his mind is slipping. The last few episodes are farcical. Perhaps they are just in his mind. Perhaps they finally did discover why he resigned, but in the process leaving behind just a shell of once was.
Why are you posting this? It would be one thing if it were thought-provoking, but it isn’t.
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Every day there's another distraction. I wish BHO could stay over there in Asia where he's more at home.
Sir Ian’s sexual politics aside, I think he might make a good Number Two. The warden of the Village, not the other. Actually, the image of Sir Ian making the other Number Two is one I’d just as soon not have rattling around in my head.
I live in Minnesota, am I considered a snow-billie?