Patti Abbot is thinking about television today, and it's been on my mind lately, too. Ever since AMC started advertising its remake of one of my favorite TV shows, The Prisoner, I've had a yen to see the old series again. Of course, I watched the remake. (And, of course, I was disappointed--anyone else out there feel the same way?)
The series was originally produced in 1967 and is chock full of counter-culture attitudes. The plot revolves around a secret agent, played by the oh-so-sexy Patrick McGoohan (who, sadly, died in January of this year). The secret agent, who is unnamed, has been abducted and brought to a community called The Village, where people are held for various reasons. Each member of The Village has a number, rather than a name, and when the secret agent arrives, he is told he is Number Six. Thus the famous line from the show, "I am not a number, I am a free man!"
Number Six's nemesis is Number Two, who is always trying to get information about why Six was trying to retire from his mysterious job.
The Village is a forcibly happy place...extremely surreal. Six's dissatisfaction makes him an oddity and upsets the balance of The Village. Whoever runs The Village (the unseen Number One, whose identity Six wants to uncover) uses powerful but strange weapons to keep Six in The Village.
Luckily for me, the series lasted only 17 episodes, so it's cheap enough on iTunes for me to buy it, which I did just yesterday. Now I know what I will be doing for Thanksgiving!
Monday, November 23, 2009
I Am Not A Number, I Am A Free (Wo)Man!
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18 comments:
Thanks for taking us along on a retro journey of 60's television. I watched a lot, but I don't remember this one...I love the clip you provided. I didn't know that AMC remade it, either...thanks for the opportunity to learn something new today, Laura!
Enjoy your Thanksgiving!
It's available ON DEMAND on our comcast system. I think I will take a look and see how it holds up. I loved in way back when.
Did you ever watch Danger Man, McGoohan's show just before The Prisoner and, I think anyway, staring the same character.
We watched the new PRisoner. Was pretty interesting in a lot of ways.
Thanks for the tip. I was denied a television in my youth, so I'm totally unfamiliar with this show...thanks for alerting me and I'll see if I can get it from Netflix. (I watch all my television on Netflix dvds. Good television series are more fun than movies!
The half-hour versions of DANGER MAN were never broadcast in the US, but the hourlong episodes were, with the new title SECRET AGENT (and the stuttering Johnny Burnette theme song, where he had to cram "Secret Agent Man" into the space where he'd originally written "Danger Man" and made it _work_--even if, inspired by Chris Elliot, I tend to sing "Secret Agency Guy" to myself). John Drake of DANGER MAN/SECRET AGENT was pretty clearly who was kidnapped and relabeled Number 6, but THE PRISONER was cagy about that...McGoohan had walked away from DANGER MAN to do THE PRISONER, and ITC (the production company for UK's commercial television) wasn't too thrilled...though there are SECRET AGENT episodes, such as "It's Up to the Lady," which clearly lead up to THE PRISONER directly.
The new series is not good. But, then, a few of the episodes of the original series, such as "Hammer into Anvil," aren't good, either. But most of the better DM/SA/PRISONER episodes are as good anything done on television.
Cool one, Laura. I'm hearing definitely mixed reviews on the new version. I stumbled across this show as a kid and remember being totally captivated by the strangely designed sets and feel, and also being totally confused as to what the heck was happening.
Of course, I remember at 5-ish thinking that the newspeople were all being forced to sit in the cubes of school carrels (or something like the Brady Bunch title cubbies) and that's why their heads appeared so perfectly framed in the box of the screen. I hoped they'd be set free, and when the news transitioned to Hee Haw, I recognized the vast improvement in content!
Chad - As Todd says, I never saw Danger Man, but I did see Secret Agent or twice. I didn't catch The Prisoner until it was in reruns and for some reason, Secret Agent wasn't rerun the same way, or at least not at times it was available to me. I should see whether I can get hold of those to watch....
I did know the theme song, though, and now that Todd has reminded me of it, I am going to be humming it all day!
All of Danger Man is available on DVD. If you're attached to the Johnny River's song, I'm pretty sure, it's available as a special feature on the Series 2 episodes.
Indeed, Johnny Rivers. Thanks for the correction, Chad!
The original harpsichord theme, also audible in the opening credits of the hourlong episodes of SECRET AGENT/DANGER MAN, was also quite pleasant.
The original PRISONER was and always will be one of my favorite TV series. Since it (along with SECRET AGENT in reruns) was one of the first series I watched as a kid, it's a big part of the reason I love mysteries and thrillers today. I've got the new PRISONER recorded, and I'm anxious to watch it, but I don't expect it to match the quality of the original. As far as watching the original is concerned, I expect I'll be doing that right after Christmas because I think I'm getting the DVDs as a gift. :)
Wow, Chad, I didn't realize how many episodes of Danger Man/Secret Agent there were. Look at all those DVDs! I did download the Johnny Rivers song because after our discussion I needed to hear it again. Like the series, it, too holds up just fine.
Todd - I'll have to check that out. I don't remember it, but I foresee some Danger Man/Secret Agent in my future.
Elaine - I'll be interested to hear what you have to say about the new one.
You'll probably also enjoy the SECRET AGENT/DANGER MAN episode about the Soviet training facility which is very much like a Village, Laura. The worst thing about DANGER MAN: the rather clumsy attempt to have Brit Caucasian actors play East Asians of various sorts...next worst: the lesser episodes tended to run together much in same way that MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE episodes did (watch him/them overthrow yet another dictator). But the best, as noted...
We ordered them all from Netflix. I remember watching the show when it was 'new' and enjoying that it wasn't your basic formula, and that there were unanswered questions. A very different show than the usual "Man from U.N.C.L.E." spy show. And what was the other one with "Mr. Steed" and "Emma Peel?"
We've watched the first 2 hours of the new series and recorded the rest.
I remember Secret Agent, but not Danger Man.
The Emma Peel series was The Avengers. That was a good one, too! Danger Man wasn't released in the US, so that's probably why you never saw it!
Great show. I'm halfway through my tapes of the new one and not at all eager to see the rest.
I'd tell you it gets better, Evan, but I don't like to lie.
@Todd: No worries about the music. Though Johnny Burnette did sing my all time favorite rockabilly song, Lonesome Train (on a lonesome track).
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