The Prisoner

[Lone_Ranger]

This is an utterly misbegotten idea (like most remakes) - even if it's not terrible (which is unlikely), it's entirely unnecessary, and it will never amount to more than a footnote to the original.

A couple of nice sites on the original series:

http://www.the-prisoner-6.freeserve.co.uk/
http://www.retroweb.com/prisoner.html

Here, here. Don't get me started. They will ruin it. There isn't a contemporary actor that would come close to McGoohan. He will be missed.

 

[bendingoak]

It's a hard lose but the guy had a full long life. I'm a hugh fan of the show, so much so that I got one of these beauty's

 

[beaucaillou]

It's a genius show. I still watch it through each year and it never remotely becomes stale - - rare a show can maintain that much vitality and presence despite time's pesky habit of moving forward.

bendingoak, that is wonderful. I will have to keep an eye open for your mobile zooming about town!

 

[bendingoak]

We live very close. I'm in Hillsboro.

 

[Garrett]

It's a hard lose but the guy had a full long life. I'm a hugh fan of the show, so much so that I got one of these beauty's

Very nice, I'm jealous!

 

[Senator Jack]

Did anyone watch the excruciating remake? As though realizing how terrible it is, AMC aired the six episodes over three days just to get them out of the way. I caught the first two. It seemed the writer, director, nor composer had any feel for the source material. I was willing to give it a chance, despite the original being my favorite show, but it completely lacked any charm whatsoever. What a disaster. They should all resign from entertainment.

 

[Lexybeast]

It's a hard lose but the guy had a full long life. I'm a hugh fan of the show, so much so that I got one of these beauty's

Mmmm, Caterham. One day.

Too bad the remake isn't that great. But then, perhaps that's to be expected since the original's absolute brilliance was due in large part to Patrick McGoohan.

 

[Doctor Strange]

I slogged through all six episodes. Here and there, there was a moment where it nearly jelled into something interesting. But overall, it was hugely disappointing. Ian McKellen's performance as Two was fascinating, but everybody else was bland and generic. By the time it ended, its big reveals didn't make any sense (though that might just be a way of honoring the original!), and it all seemed a giant WTF?

They made an effort, and though there were some interesting new (half-baked) ideas as well as clever shout-outs to the original, the bottom line is:

Nobody is going to feel about this Prisioner 40 years from now the way that those of us who saw the original as impressionable kids in 1967/1968 feel! (Or, for that matter, most folks who first saw it a few years later on PBS/cable/VHS/DVD.)

 

[Falconetti]

Re-make... !!!! Blimey, I didn't know anything about it.. Has it aired in the UK ?

 

[Norumbega]

Gee..tons of water under the bridge since these first aired. I was glued to the original series-----more Avengers than The Prisoner though.
I still remember thinking the coolest episode was Steed diving off the stone bridge into the river to visit the underwater headquarters of "Mother", that british agency head who was wheel-chair bound.
I distinctly remember one of the latter episode when Mrs. Peel's husband is found in the jungles of the Amazon(?), and she decides to leave the agency. She and Steed have their well played goodbye scene, in which the newby Tara King (Peel's replacement), interrupts their difficult and understated adieu. Great scene and a sad one, as it didn't seem that anyone could replace Mrs Peel. I remember feeling that way only one other time when, after the third season of All Creatures Great and Small, Carolyn Drinkwater (the original Helen) was replaced. I detested her replacement, and still do. Crushing!

Then of course, there was The Man From U.N.C.L.E., (United Network Command for Law and Enforcement), with Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuraykin, which aired from1964-1968. This dynamic duo always received their marching orders from "Mr. Waverly", who in real life was Leo G. Carroll---a former british army soldier, seriously wounded during WWI.
At any road, I was in heaven. And, as I recall, we got to watch The Avengers and Man From U.N.C.L.E in the same night----after sitting through Lawrence Welk.

Very nice topic evoking pleasant memories......

 

[Doctor Strange]

A musical duo called Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling (the title of an episode of The Prisoner, of course) are replicating episodes of The Prisoner as music videos, but with the duo's front-babe as Number Six. They've already done the first one:

http://donotforsake.com/

The music sucks, but the level of detail in the recreation - shot composition, editing, props, typefaces - is quite remarkable!

Of course, I have *very* mixed feelings about this. Anything that brings The Prisoner to public's attention is good, and my inner 13-year-old geek is very excited. But my adult self sees this as another example of the regrettable trend for "artists" of dubious talent raiding past masterworks for no good reason... It's awfully well done, though.