Just watching re-runs of the Prisoner on The Horror Channel now & thrilled to find how relevant the series still is, and it's extraordinary how prescient Patrick McGoohan's creation was.
The scariest part of the Village for me was, who were the prisoners and who were wardens? You couldn't really trust anybody cause never knew who was trustworthy.
An amusing thought occurs. Now, I'm a fan from the very start. I have watched it several times through. I have sat on televised panels. Now, in my elder age, after having read a bit I notice (thanks to Stephen Fry of all people) the significance of the numbers. The Prisoner is Number Six. He is always asking who is Number One. Six is Biblically the number of a man, it is the number of incompletion of not being where one is meant to be nor being who one is supposed to be according to God's intention. So Stephen Fry casually has his parody have the Prisoner be Number Seven, but of course, they miss the point. Seven is the number of completion, of being the man one is supposed to be. And in Fry's little game, his Number Seven is trying to tell him what he wants to know (because he is complete and has no more fears or paranoia) but Stephen won't listen. So what do we see? I suggest McGoohan might well not have know this (but as an Irishman and very possibly a cradle Roman Catholic) he may well have known the numerological significance of the numbers he was using. Even if he didn't, the game fits: If Number Six ever realizes he is actually Number One, then he is Six plus One = Seven. Free. No longer bound by fears and paranoia. And then all the Bible sing song in Fall Out mean exactly what they say and are in no way nonsense.
As a kid in the 70's I caught one TV episode ( Checkmate ) late one night and I could not sleep because of the rush of paranoia...I literally did not know how to find this series again until I was in my 20's and was instantly hooked...This series speaks to people on a whole other level that no other show ever has or even allowed to. I am still trying to decide if this show was predictive programming, warning or both...It was certainly a early influence in the age of conspiracy theory.
It was a warning to Humanity. There is no such things a a conspiracy theory (term coined by the CIA to debunk those who knew more than they should). Hopefully, three years on from your own comment, and what has transpired in the at time, you are now awake.
2020 times - Constant surveillance. Advanced commercials to steer one's mind and thinking. Computers that log, track and sell what sites you visit. Technology is advancing so fast we own it, but don't even know how it works. The allegory of the 1960s series, "The Prisoner," has come true. Thank you, Patrick McGoohan and his team. Be seeing you.
Terrible really how relevant this series has become in the 2020s. It was a homage to The Prisoner in an episode of ReBoot that got me intrigued about the series and look up what it was when i was a kid.
@@noelmccomb7577 I lived near the place..use to do taxis to that place. small village is Portmeirion ( Near Porthmadog -, the main village of this 'Italian' village is Penrhyndeudraeth ) N,Wales Gwynedd. i'm welsh
I watched it also in 1977, though I saw the original run also in 1966-7. I joined Six of One at that time. The problem is that everyone knows the questions raised in The Prisoner. Once they are discussed. It got repetitious going round in circles over these same questions.
This must be a long time ago. Bruce Bruce looks still has dark hair. I discovered this show on YT a few weeks back and watching it in lockdown. Now that’s surreal :) Obviously I knew the Iron Maiden song but just thought it was a TV show from before I was born so never paid it any attention. Also noticed unlike many programmes like Rumpole with Leo McKern I have not seen the Prisoner repeated. I heard him mention Bond but no one could have been Bond in the 60’s except Sean Connery. Also with regards film the casting would have to be right otherwise you end up with Jack Reacher played by Tom Cruise one of the biggest miscasting choices of all time to anyone who has read a Reacher novel.
In the DC comics four part mini series, The Prisoner, there's a funeral in which everybody plays Secret Service agent appears, The Avengers, Men from Uncle, almost every show except Wild wild West.
21:08 It would have been difficult for The Prisoner to have influenced The Outer Limits, as the latter ran from 1963 to 1965, ending three years before the broadcast of The Prisoner.
The basic idea of 'The Prisoner' came from McGoohan's discussions with WWII veterans who had been involved in the places set up for high-value enemy prisoners back then. The Village also appears in a few episodes of 'The Avengers', the 1960s TV series, and even a 1970s TV series 'The Champions' touches on similar ideas.
Amazing how many times 666 was highlighted.. when addressing no:6.He would Shout, six.........six...six...wan't just to repeat the number like someone would say be quiet,be quiet, be quiet..but it was there for a purpose.
Yes, the face of Number one is revealed in the final episode. But is also cryptically answered throughout the series, every time number six asks the question "who is Number one?" The reply is always YOU!......... are No. 6.
Conformity and control by the State. Strange how much more like the Village American society has become. Except they didn't predict more drug addicted homeless people. Or that money would have Zero value...
The 2009 version of 'The Prisoner' made by AMC was, despite its award nominations, *h*t and not worth your time watching; completely missed the point of 'The Prisoner' original story.
An amusing thought occurs. Now, I'm a fan from the very start. I have watched it several times through. I have sat on televised panels. Now, in my elder age, after having read a bit I notice (thanks to Stephen Fry of all people) the significance of the numbers. The Prisoner is Number Six. He is always asked who is Number One. Six is Biblically the number of a man, it is the number of incompletion of not being where one is meant to be nor being who one is supposed to be according to God's intention. So Stephen Fry casually has his parody have the Prisoner be Number Seven, but of course, they miss the point. Seven is the number of completion, of being the man one is supposed to be. And in Fry's little game, his Number Seven is trying to tell him what he wants to know (because he is complete and has no more fears or paranoia) but Stephen won't listen. So what do we see? I suggest McGoohan might well not have know this (but as an Irishman and very possibly a cradle Roman Catholic) he may well have known the numerological significance of the numbers he was using. Even if he didn't, the game fits: If Number Six ever realizes he is actually Number One, then he is Six plus One = Seven. Free. No longer bound by fears and paranoia. And then all the Bible sing song in Fall Out mean exactly what they say and are in no way nonsense.
@William Dryden True. I guess they were trying to bring in a new audience. Never stray from the original formula. After all, what if they changed the design of the Enterprise when remaking Star Trek?
Most people have covered the platitudes. (So I won't add anymore.) Subject matter also, bar 1..... Covid-19. Plus Perhaps some thought could be given, to the parallels between the Illuminati; and those outfits worn in Dem Bones 🎹🎤🥁🎺🎸
The group of masked men around a table is a trope that goes back a way, to the Inquisition at least, and represents a council that doesn't even know who are members of that council. It happens in a TinTin book as well.
