The Prisoner (1967). Why did you resign?
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- Опубликовано: 1 окт 2024
- #ThePrisoner #StamFine
Stam Fine looks at the mysterious 1967 thriller series, The Prisoner, which starred Patrick McGoohan as a retired spy who wakes up in a strange Village from which there is no escape and everyone is known only by their number. Number 6, as he's known in this place, is the subject of various plots to find out why he resigned from his government job. I mean, a quick exit interview might have saved a lot of time. That said, the series is anything but straightforward. It fact, it's downright loopy.
Just a note to the folks angered by an obscure reference to the comedy series Portlandia, I am aware of where The Prisoner was filmed, it something that's talked about and shown further along in the video if you keep watching. Be seeing you! 🕶
Have you watched "The League of Gentlemen". I'm sure they took a little inspiration from The Prisoner. You'll never leave!
The Prisoner was possibly one of the greatest TV shows ever. So far ahead of it's time and the fact that it's STILL being talked about to this day shows that it was something special.
Absolutely correct. My favorite TV show of all time. I had never seen anything like it before nor have I since with the exception of a few Twilight Zone episodes. And so much more relevant today. McGoohan does explain the meaning of the pennyfarthing (available in other videos) but it is not in anyway obvious without his explanation.
BTW, "Colony Three" of Dangerman might remind you of "The Prisoner."
Many shows, films and music are appreciated still many years later and have dedicated followers and societies so The Prisoner isn't unique in this respect. I think the only thing that makes it stand out is there really isn't anything to compare it with. Seeing it as the best show is subjective like most things in life.
Mostly because there was no resolution to what occured.
Yes. But WTF was going on!??
@@Nickelodeon81 Some government organization wanted information from #6. Specifically why did he resign? He didn't tell and they took him to "The Village". It's a place where people who know too much are forced to live.
It's practically spelled out every single episode.
Who is Number One? You are, No. 6. They told you at the start of every episode. Genius.
A comma between 'are' and 'No, 6' makes a big difference.
@@StamFine It certainly does. It really is a brilliant show.
@Stam Fine, also the stress, and subsequent pause, on "you".
"I am not a number, I am a free man!" "Mwahahaha...."
Just to add to that, in real life, the address of the Prisoner's flat in London is actually No. 1 Buckingham Place. If you look at Google maps street view of the front door of the building, it's there plain as day. If you notice that when the Prisoner enters the flat at the beginning, the number isn't shown. When the Prisoner returns in "Many Happy Returns", as he's now driving in KAR120C away from the flat, the front door is open, so the number can't be seen. So, it was right there in the opening scene.
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One of the best tv shows ever. I saw this as a little kid and it blew my mind, I still think about it often.
It's more than just a tv show. Arrived in the philippines islands 9 yrs ago, loads of ufo's, human hybrids who appear to be filipino and strange disappearing creatures in both day and night. Everyone here is like on a mental network, similar to the background ppl in the Prisoner. If you just visit this island then you will see and know nothing except fake smiles from the natives and colorful beaches. In reality its very similar to the Prisoner here but you have to live here to know it for sure.
A medida que a mis amigos les aburría, a mi más me apasionaba, hasta hoy lo recuerdo!!!
The intro is the absolute best part: the car, filing the ID card, the gassing, the music. Bravissimo 👏
The original car, KAR 120C, is still around, I think someone in America has it.
Best theme tune and intro ever
Best intro, in the running for best tv show music theme.
My hat is off to McGoohan, (RIP) Nothing like this series ever came close to the intellect and artfulness of both writing and visuals. (edit: yeah the music,too)
Answers in a finale from a show that gave us, "Questions are a burden to others, answers a prison for oneself."
Good point! Lol
Finally made my pilgrimage to Portmeirion. Stayed three days. Now rewatching with child’s eyes after the visit.
In the U.S., it was initially a summer replacement series for "The Avengers." The first episode I recall was "The Chimes of Big Ben," and I'd never seen anything like it.
Loved the Avengers and the Prisoner. Total mindphuq.
No, it wasn't. In the late sixties, "The Prisoner" ran on CBS and "The Avengers" ran on ABC. Both imported series were run as summer replacement series by their respective networks.
@@dngillikin Correct, "The Prisoner" was on CBS; "The Avengers" on ABC. As I recall, it ran in the summer of 1968 as a replacement for "The Jackie Gleason Show." I know for certain that it was broadcast on Saturday nights (a "slow night" for TV in the summer in the USA), at 8:00 PM. I was nine (9) at the time. I remembered McGoohan from "Secret Agent." Man, this was something really different! The episode I best remember, watching with my dad, was "The Girl Who Was Death."
The meaning of the Prisoner series: Every now and again someone wakes up and realizes we are all in the village. We are manipulated and shaped by selfish agendas set up by society. People are at various levels of denial and compliance in their attempts to cope with life. Most comply passively. Some try to join the system and rise to the top (No 2). They are aware of the corruption but co-operate anyway to have a better life, but they are still prisoners. No 6 is honest and doesn't give in and searches for people who think like he does. The system punishes those who try to resist, to death in some cases, so they have to conceal themselves. When No6 makes it to the top he realizes that the structure of the system is worthless and is run by faceless controlled automatons. Only at the end, when the system is dismantled, does No6 find out who his real associates are. Many of them appear like nut-cases to the casual observer, others have had to live a life of silent desperation (No2's the servant). No6 is by no means perfect. . No6 escapes to London and tries to tell his story. The final message comes when the door of his apartment opens automatically "We are all in the village". It seems the author of this video is a knowing or unaware enforcer. "He who leads into captivity goes into captivity."
Need to reply in the way Of describing a current 'REALITY APERTURE" understanding, in that we can only perceive things our flight or fight responses, (and vagus nerves) allow into the cerebellum to regulate responses to react appropriately. Some ppl totally respond w/ caution and context. Some respond w/ fear based response, or flight. 240p vs 4k visuals to the brain. Where it counts.Etc.
That's very good. Thank you for the effort you put into that analysis!
A great summary. My thoughts exactly. There are things I could tell you hat would make your toes curl about how society is run but I shall remain silent like the butler.
WHAT NUMBER ARE YOU. IM ZERO.
Plausible but not necessarily what the show runners were going for. Maybe it was, I don't know, and probably no-one else ever will. Good explanation though.
Number 2 said it best in Chimes of Big Ben. "The Village is a model for the world order".
Loved this series! Made TV weird before weird was cool.
yeah, 50 years later and few have done weird as well.
@@StamFine "I am not a number - I am a free man!" That line still cracks me up!
@@StamFine When you say Portland, in Tipperary or New Zealand, Wales? Sorry just curious. Thanks for the vid. Gonna check out your channel. I love stuff that makes people think and question everything.
Imagine if David Lynch had directed The Prisoner !
@@stefanomagaddino6868 Didn't he?
Weird and trippy, walks a thin line between brilliant and 'they may just be messing with us', visually unique and endlessly quotable.
"This is a dreamy party!!" is one of my favorites.
Great show.
In 1978 I tried to make a pilgrimage to Port Meirion. I got off the train, and found myself in the middle of nowhere with heavy luggage. No phones, no taxis, no highway, nothing. I was stranded! Unable to move, all I could do was wait until the next train -- SEVEN HOURS LATER! I never did get to see Port Meirion. Sorry #6.
That's a shame, it's a lovely place. But yeah, it's a slog to get there.
Sadly, you were only a few minutes car ride or so away.
My wife and I stayed 3 days in 2016, not much more expensive than a normal hotel and got a 2-room suite w/ kitch, full bath and 2 small balconies (in the pink/yellow house row next to the green dome!). Well worth the splurge!
We caught a taxi from Portmadog, but Portmeirion runs a guest shuttle to both train stations. I don't know about day visitor shuttles, but your own car can visit. Tourists are kicked out at 5pm and the grounds get quiet. Very nice. Getting up early and going out late, the place was practically all to ourselves despite their having a solid occupancy.
Things were distinctly different, many walkways have railings nowadays for example, but we could not have been happier to be there. Next time, we'll bring some more 'appropriate' attire. :D
So instead of not being able to get out of Port Meirion, you were actually unable to get in!
@@cowpercoles1194 Yep! I remember it like it was yesterday. Blew that one, didn't I?
It's off the beaten track, but remember it's not a traditional, ancient village, but a private estate, built by Clough Williams-Ellis on his own patch of land.
He never imagined it would attract visitors, nor was it designed to do so. Just a folly, like so many on English and Welsh estates, usually in fields in the middle of privates farms or estates
I love this show so much. It is genius.
The A&E version - like trying American chocolate - well said sir!
I loved this show when it was first broadcast in America. I was 8 or 9. I think it may have been my introduction to Science Fiction. The thing that first caught my eye was "Rover" ...
Recently I went to Number 6’s house in London and got a shedload of pictures.
It was a ridiculously sunny day so it looked exactly the same.
I don’t think I stopped smiling all day.
Did the same thing in 2008.
I used to work as a civil servant a short distance from it, and also right next to some of the roads The Prisoner drives down in the intro sequence before going into the underground car park. Frequently had the theme tune stuck in my head as I went into the office but obviously never actually slammed my fist on my boss's desk.
Isn't it behind Buckingham palace?
That is a great idea!
saw it as a kid; enjoyed it immensely, and was promptly bored by other tv offerings for the next thirty or so years...
Have to admit if I had written this show, the butler would have been Number 1.
only 106 subs with the quality of this video I thought you'd be well on your way, keep up the great work and more will come you defiantly deserve it
Thanks. Building an audience takes time. Things that help the channel: likes, subs and -probably most importantly- watching at least another video (anything on YT, not necessarily this channel) after watching one of ours.
No question: after the Cuban Missile Crisis, BOTH/ALL sides formed the Village to rid themselves of troublesome agents.
Anything is possible.
I know the cia tortured a Russian double agent for a couple of years because they thought he was a mole only to find out he wasn't...the cia either murdered troublesome agents or tortured them if they were that important... KGB likewise...a village full of resourceful agents?...think about it...not really viable in reality
I loved The Prisoner. Despite being over 50 years old, its themes mostly feel timeless and increasingly relevant. I was disappointed by the AMC miniseries and sequel fiction. I prefer as sequels, the 1990s UPN series, Nowhere Man, starring Bruce Greenwood, or The Truman Show movie, starring Jim Carey. While not direct sequels, these works were heavily inspired by, and more closely follow the feel, and spirit of the original.
Never understood what the hell was going on, but loved the show from the first episode I saw in the late 60s! Still rewatch it every few years, but no episode more than Many Happy Returns. The look on McGoohan’s face when the woman he’d seen back in London walks into his village apartment is priceless! Be seeing you!
I was not surprised or disappointed by the end reveal. My dad had a funny theory about Number One...though He thought it was the butler who often served tea and breakfast. lol
brillant! followed every episode back in the day, coolest thing on tv.
Loved the series , Patrick played this part absolutely fabulously, nothing will ever come close to the finale of such a great atmospheric series ever made . Be seeing you . Fabulous series . Iconic for show for that era, nothing can come close to the mind boggling games that he was put through to try and find out why he resigned. Great series even Greater actor .
I saw it as a kid - on our old black and white tv, was unimpressed, missed Danger Man with its' action-packed episodes, goodies, baddies. the former always winning. As an adult, watching the breathtaking, iconic imagery in colour, experiencing Kafkaesque constraints to freedom, I formed my own conclusions, I consider it unique and irrepressible. The Spice Girls talked of Girl Power, the Monkees sang 'We're the young generation
and we've got something to say" What girl power? What things to say? The Prisoner did have something to say - about freedom, conformity and control. 'I am not a number, I am a free man' says it all.
My dad watched this as a kid and I also watched it. Quality show!
It was also my Dad who got me watching when I was a young man and I thought he knew what it was all about. It was the same with 2001: A Space Odyssey which he took me to see at the cinema on it's release when I was 8 years old. ''What's it all about Dad?'' I would ask. ''No idea'' he'd reply. He's still alive and kicking at 85 and I'm beginning to think he was a bit of a bastard. I'm warped for life and obsessed with both The Prisoner and 2001. I have a horrible feeling there are more but I've blanked them out.
Back in the 1970's, here in the US, my local PBS* station played numerous British TV shows and movies. This station was instrumental in bringing Antique Roadshow to the US. As a kid The Prisioner made as much sense as some of the cartoons like Scobby-Doo.
*For those outside of the US, PBS is Public Broadcasting. It receives government funding and donations from the local community. It's a loose federation of stations across the US. Some stations are better funded than others.
The Individual versus the Collectivist mindset. More relevant than ever nowadays...
A place that seems like heaven but is actually hell that you can never leave. And yet Patrick McGoohan was happily married for over 50 years.
I went with three mates to Portmeirion, we all loved the series as kids. Fascinating place.
It's also a metaphor for the series. Nothing is quite as it seems, from the Stone Boat, which is exactly what it says, to the Green Dome (Number 2's residence) and other buildings which you can't enter because......spoilers!
They have, of course, a dedicated shop run by Six of One, the official fan club. As well as being the site of world famous pottery makers.
The comment about Hershey’s chocolate was a little mean.
Not inaccurate, but a little mean.
Anybody fancy a re-visit to this after the pandemic. That and with the 'social credit score' and '15 minute cities'.
The last two episodes of Evangelion make sense. The last two episodes of the Prisoner do not.
Star Trek, Outer Limits, Twilight Zone, The Prisoner. Top 4. Runners up: Galactica (remake), lost, xfiles, kolchak,fringe. It gets fuzzy after that.
I watched the entire series as it came out. There was never a doubt in my mind that No. 6 was Danger Man. But The Prisoner as a series? Incomparable. It started during the "summer of love", and the whole series was part of the acid culture of the late 60s that sparked things like Sgt Pepper. Fascinating, inscrutable, and psychedelic. I still remember the delight and awe with which I watched each episode.
Ron Grainer also did the soundtrack for The Omega Man with Charlton Heston. Good musical style.
Genius musical scores!
I always assumed it was meta-commentary. Patrick felt trapped by his success as Danger Man and realized his captors are captives too. His only real jailor is himself.
That is a brilliant take. He did want out.
My parents let me stop up to watch this , and since then it has become my trusted mentor , whenever my moral compass needs checking I refer constantly to it . Challenge everything told to you, trust nobody and be suspicious of everybody and everything. We are all prisoners , we are all pawns in the game .. Who are the prisoners and who are the guards .
"Challenge everything told to you, trust nobody and be suspicious of everybody and everything."
What a way to live your life, lol.
@razmatazz9310 still feel that way after all that has taken place the past few years?
This is a great review, giving it its due for how revolutionary it was/is, while also acknowledging how batshit crazy it was/is. So basically it sums up the series to a "t." Damn fine, Stam Fine!
Number 6 isn't a dick, he's a free man. This series reminds me of when I worked as a cook in a kid's nursery. That isn't as fun as it sounds. When I went for a job interview, I'd changed out of my uniform and put a suit on. The manager (number 4 since I started) laughed at me, and when I got the new job I slammed my letter down like at the start of the Prisoner. The show is about having a shit job. Join a union.
I'm so old I saw this "live" as a 12 year old. As kids we loved the surrealism of it all, regular TV was so dull & predictable. Our parents hated it. That last episode..."Dem Bones"....whoa!
I'd love to see a crossover between The Prisoner and Office Space.
"I don't like my job and I don't think I'm going to go anymore."
My theory is that John Drake (from Danger man) had a mental breakdown, and the show is his mental ability coping with his conscience which may explain the confusement. just my opinion.
I would've liked to see Diana Rigg or Helen Mirren join McGoohan in "The Prisoner."
Patrick was the first person the producers asked to play "Bond".
Back in the early 1970's I watched The Prisoner while on acid, the only advice I can give about that is - DON'T!
I really enjoyed this overview/teaser and how you compare it to today
and the relevanc, I laughed out hopefully at the right places, I've just
clicked the subscribe button
I just can't help but feel that the show was more so autobiographical than anything...
I equate this show like listening to Frank Zappa music. Quirky, intricate, obsure, brilliant. I partake of The Prisoner and Zappa music in small doses widely spaced apart. I admire and appreciate both, and they both drive me crazy....Zappa has taught me a life lesson which I will pass along..."Watch out where the huskies go, and dont you eat that yellow snow."
Carry On Stam! Hu Ha Ha Ha. Bless this Village. Couldn't resign, I mean resist. Anyway, a very good video, damm fine.
Btw, I was 6 yrs old when they produced this series (1966/8) I'm now 60. BCNU
Haha!
I was about the same age as you and couldn't get enough of it
Shame Sid James was never featured as No. 2, actually. I would love to have heard his distinctive laugh in response to "I am not a number, I am a free man!"
I never get tired of The Prisoner. On again, started tonight on Horror Channel.
My theory? The village is a retirement community for spies.
I remember watching The Prisoner when I was just a puppy... I remember my Boys underwear size was 6. I'm proud to say that I resigned from all my duties and I'm living the life of an old dog. I still don't understand it but Love the music.
TVOntario many years ago re-ran the series, with commentary by joiurnalist Warner Troyer; Patrick McGoohan appeared in a Q & A after the last episode, with some distinctive characters in the audience; so taken with the series, that a friend & I journeyed to Portmeirion soon after this re-run & luckily managed to stay there; the general manager took a liking to us, buying some rounds in a local pub; bought the cherished badges from the Prisoner Shop which I shared with friends upon returning home; subscribed to the Six of One Club newsletter, which at that time was a quarterly mailout. Great experience visiting there. You singled out Ron Grainer's dynamic theme music which I think was one of the key appealing elements of the series. Have the epsiodes on VHS. What to do with 'em? lol Be Seeing You.
The first (and probably still only) TV series to have its own typeface, called Village.
I would’ve accepted the last episode if they’d just added one more scene: where he wakes up back at the office he left his resignation at and some clerk simply takes it and rubber stamps it RESIGNATION ACCEPTED.
He knows too much, they'd never let him resign.
@@DavidThomas-fb8bq
Resignation accepted would mean TERMINATION, permanently.
That would be nice but, don't you think, a little too tidy? Ambiguity - the lady or the tiger - is always more satisfactory to me.
Disagree.
The fact the door to his old London house opens automatically as he approaches it is all you need to know. To realise he hasn't actually escaped. He's still a prisoner. Just as he was before he resigned...
I've heard a rumor over the years, that the way the series was made, you can watch the pilot episode, then any episodes you like, in any order, just so long as Fallout is the last episode, and it will make just as much sense as you would watching them as listed. 😂
Absolutely. Its a lot of masonic nwo symbolism.
Yes and no. Even forgetting the one immediately before fallout, there is a sense of logical continuation, with previous episodes sometimes mentioned. Nonetheless, many of the episodes are largely self-contained most have different number 2s, different plot lines etc.
@@JohnSmith-cs4sk patrick has a list of 7 episodes that he says are "what really counts"
@@beyondz55 Arrival, Free For All, Dance of the Dead, Checkmate, Chimes of Big Ben, Once Upon a Time, Fall Out. that's the "arc" such as it is (Chimes of Big Ben leads directly into Once Upon a Time leads directly into Fall Out). he considered the rest of the episodes "filler" you could take or leave - some were still quite good (The Schizoid Man, A Change of Mind, Hammer Into Anvil), others were just so random: Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling was to give him time off to shoot Ice Station Zebra, Living in Harmony was because he had "always wanted to do a western", The Girl Who Was Death was a throwaway spoof. he stated in an interview that he felt the concept could only sustain for 7 episodes (6+1), Lew Grade wanted a full 26 episodes for syndication, so McGoohan compromised with 17. but yeah, only those 7 are the meat, the rest are the empty carbs.
The first proper re-run of the show in the UK was in 1983 on Channel 4 and they showed it in a different order to the original airing (apart from the first episode and the last two). Having never seen it before I had no idea until some years later.
please can you reveiw more itc series like department s, jason king and randall and hopkirk ??? i love these and love seeing your views on these series
Fantastic show! Time for a rewatch... I recall in the 90s "Nowhere Man", which had to have been influenced by it - but more in plot content rather than looks. I gotta find and revisit that show too...
this show only makes sense when you watch it stoned
Shows like this and The Champions informed who we were as a generation. There has been nothing to match them in recent years, well Fringe had its moments but really nothing else.
Pretty damn good, accurate and insightful series encapsulation for someone who admittedly didn't REALLY love it and doesn't really know quite what to make of it all (does ANYONE actually KNOW anything more than anyone else about it's meaning, and more to the point, does it even really matter in the slightest bit?!)
I will not share; link; like; dislike; subscribe or unsubscribe...
I will not even reply in the comments section
Yes, No. 6 *is* everyman. Thanks for the videos!!! 📺📺📺
I was going to like and subscribe till you slandered American chocolate!! Hahaha.
I was a teenager when i saw this series, i remember the last episode getting more lunatic and then realising sadly that he'd been a prisoner of his own mind the entire time.
Well, that is your answer...
You're quoting an urban myth when you say McGoohan ran away from the UK to avoid the angry backlash over Fallout. Quite the contrary, McGoohan loved getting a big reaction to his scriptwork, even a reaction of confusion and bewilderment.
The reason McGoohan spent the next 25 years in the USA and doing nothing in Britain was largely financial; he also didn't want to play Dangerman anymore, and the Prisoner couldn't continue due to going way over budget. But the bottom line was that US TV could offer McGoohan vastly more cash for his work than the BBC or ITV could hope to compete with.
born in america, so he was an american citizen
i saw an interview right after his death, that i cannot find now, where the interviewee said that mcgoohan became one of the top scrpt doctors in the biz, to the point that he didnt have to work as an actor. it's why he ended up being pretty choosy in the roles he took
he fell in love with columbo and did tons of writing, directing and acting on that show
Rover was a weather balloon from RAF Llanbedr.
I think Patrick McGoohan’s focus was reminding viewers to stay individualistic amid growing technology no one can hope to fully understand. And make an entertaining series. Be seeing you!
I think the last two episodes are works of art
The Ian McKellen remake was a total disaster.
I worked in North Wales many years ago. I had a few hours to kill before I needed to teach. So I visited Portmeirion, North Wales where the outside shots were filmed. It was very small but the views over the sea were spectacular. I re-enacted stuff in my head as a young kid. My parents were fab and let me watch it.
I remember watching it with my dad.
@@noneofurbusiness5223That's awesome.
To be fair I would be a grumpy asshole too if I was held against my will and not told why.
The episode with the fake number 6 was really well done or the chimes of big ben...the ending with the Beatles song was weird but somehow it seems to work in the grand scheme of things....it gets you thinking and if it gets you thinking it's rewatchable in my opinion
Excellent review. You are right about how it is a (nearly) timeless series. Other than the obvious antiquated technologies in electronics, there are only a few dated references, like when No.6 wishes to be the first man on the moon, or Estonia being a soviet satellite state.
If you were in "the village" you would be grumpy too! I watched this when it was first on TV and I was 11 years old. One thing that people who have not watched much of it miss is "the village" is not a benign place. Several "inmates" who did not give up the secrets they knew fast enough were killed, lobotomized or "went missing". #6 is suspected to harbor significant information, and as such his resistance is tolerated much longer. The other thing is that many of the things the show "foresaw" are now VERY real. Remember, this was the 1960's, and surveillance cameras were unheard of in the real world. The ending was bizarre, but #6 escapes just like he said he would AND the village is destroyed , or is it? also, McGoohan only wanted to make 7 episodes, but management insisted they could not sell a show that short to the US.
Thanks for this, I think I now feel inspired to watch this show! You've mentioned The Champions, could you please do a video on them as well? That would be great, I feel they never got the exposure they deserved... But they had a nice mix of sci-fi and espionage, all the ESP and so on, which none of the other shows had...
I watched The Prisoner in the middle of the night here in Canada, in the 80s. TV had JUST gone 24 hrs here, and a character named Chuck the Security Guard would play old shows all night. I didn't sleep much. I was too young and too Canadian to catch all the allusions and ideas, but I liked a lot of them My fave was the ep where McGoohan enlists some cronies and they all figure out that they can find out who the Moles are, because Moles can't be pushed around. Then his cronies turn on him, because McGoohan ALSO can't be pushed around.
The critiques of number 6 being a prick with others is amusingly telling of how "we" think we should all behave. Number 6's short dry witt made the show much more watchable and in total alignment with his counter conformity. When we peel back the layers of our social control, you may find that your stuck acting like and doing something you'd rather not because your afraid to be perceived as a jerk, which in reality makes you a prisoner.
I needed to watch the series 3 times to finally learn to appreciate it. I tell you my personal oppinion: I think this whole situation is pretty much in "Number 1"'s head. Number 1 is the person who got mad by doing this constan rat-race called life. In buddhist terms "Samsara". Number 6 is the free self of Number 1, the one who wants to break free from this rat-race, and be who he wants to be, thus resign from his life. However Number 2, the logical sense of the main character, must find out why did himself wants to resign from life and try to keep this urge of freedom inprisoned. "Questions are a burden and answers are prison for oneself."
So yes, story wise, I think the last few episodes are weaker, however, it was done in purpose. This is the point, where the serial actually starts making it obvious, what is it about with consant symbolism.
I also really like that arguably the series has quite some buddhist reference. The number: 6 yet alone is related to buddhism. Why 6? Possible beause it represents the 6 states of the Samsara. But this can be just my imagionation, only Patric McGoohan knows what he had in mind.
Never the less, my mind can rest now in peace, because I think I managed to answer to most imporant questions:
1. Who is number 1? --> "You are number six", to me that meant "Who's in charge of this body?" "Definitly not you". Number one is the main protagonist alternate self, whom the world is constantly making a fool, and who is stuck in this constant ratrace.
2. What is the village? --> It is a place for all the thoughts, even those that could lead number one to escape from the ratrace, governed by Num. 2 who is the rational sense of Num 1.
3. Why did Num 6 resign? --> Because at some point he got fed up with this vicious-cycle of ratrace and wanted to be free.
just the phrase in the title; I'm not a number, I'm a freeman! that haunted me ever since I was a kid and I'm 63 now!
When was The Simpsons EVER good??
Patrick only wanted to make 7 episodes but was talked into doing 13, then, they kinda bullied him into doing 17.
The Prisoner is sort of like The Monkees movie, "Head". You have to watch it several times to understand it. I've seen both of them quite a few times and still keep discovering things in them I never noticed before.
First heard of this show through the Iron Maiden song and saw it on Bravo in the UK.
As endings go, I enjoyed it. I can at least appreciate McGoohan deciding to mess with his audience, as opposed to Galactica, Lost, GoT, etc. where they just write themselves into a corner through bad planning.
Although, had I seen Fall Out at the time, I'd probably be mega-pissed off 😆
It's actually quite obvious what The Prisoner is about - We all live in The Village. It's the society we live in. Now it's The Global Village. It's about resigning from the constructed society; and who else would know how false a civilized society truly is except an employee involved in the security of a state? Ultimately number one is the self: 1 = I and I = 1. Six of one, half a dozen of the other, hence the protagonist is numbered number six. Even he can only truly recognize his own automobile for sure as it bears the registration tag KAR-120-C. We are all conditioned into society from birth; our identification is that which others tell us we are, our name, our birth-date, our social security number, etc. The anger of number six is the rebellion against the falsehood of any civilized society, and the white balloon represents the men-in-white-coats that will come-and-take-us-away because it appears we have gone mad. It is only the I that can inwardly deal with it or not, hence why number six is made to realize that in the true scheme of seeming hierarchy that the only number one is the individual. It's existencialism throughout, and about how to remain sane in an otherwise organized insane society, Franz Kafka wrote similarly of how mad human society can be.
OK, I laughed a few times. 😆
Fucking brilliant, attaching the balloon via the handy pin!
The costumes of "varsity" scarfs and Chanel piped yacht club jackets strongly suggest the Village is controlled by the British (or western) powers❤️
I'd hardly describe either the Avengers or the Champions as ''standard'', they both have more in common with the Prisoner than with mind-numbing snooze fests like the Saint, the Adventurer, Mission Impossible etc.
I think the Rovers were second only to the Daleks as " hide behind the couch cushion" moments. Loved The Prisoner - always thought 'at last he escaped and this can all be explained' but it really never was. So 60's.
This is one of the best things I've seen for a long time, and I grew up with the Prisoner, AND I follow Samtime too. ps I am not a free man, I am a number (which I put into an App every so often)!
i am a huge fan of the prisoner. i have visited Portmerian, Wales, which is the real life location of the village. i visited the Prisoner's home in London. I hope you were kidding about the meaning of the penny farthing bicycle - rotate 90 degrees and the bicycle becomes the number 6.
10:04 So, you’ve worked with Franklin? I knew him as just Franklin Farquar, before he married his Martha.
One thing to note are the various viewing orders fans have come up with over the years in trying to make sense of the thing. It makes you think, but if you think about it too much, you'll just go in circles. I think the answer is there are no real answers, except maybe "Don't give up your identity".
Not Portland, . . . Port Merion, North Wales. I went there in the early 60s as a kid.
The village is a sort of architectural folly implemented in mock Italianate style.
Here may be a damn fine channel, but if you're looking for any kind of thoughtful analysis of The Prisoner, this isn't it. Still pretty entertaining though.