Talk:The Prisoner

From RationalWiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search

The wild west episode got banned briefly, as I recall, because it was taken as critical of the Vietnam war, and there was a special closing that had the world blowing up. --Kels 22:13, 3 August 2007 (CDT)

You are correct. I adore my box set of DVDs. I first encountered the show in college, ca. '77. It's all, very wow, and taken together, even better wow. And, the last episode pissed everyone off. McGoohan got death threats! humanbe in 22:21, 3 August 2007 (CDT)
Funny part is, when I finally saw it (some years later, of course), I actually liked the ending. It was fun and allegorical, but it fit the rest of the series if you weren't insisting on trying to stuff it into a conventional mold.
Then, many years later, I watched the anime series Evangelion and got deja vu all over again. --Kels 05:47, 4 August 2007 (CDT)
What is this show you speak of? I've never heard mention of it..... Eye See You 06:23, 4 August 2007 (CDT)
Which one? The Prisoner was a show from a few decades ago, which was a follow-up to McGoohan's Secret Agent and involved a mysterious organization abducting a retired secret agent and psychologically manipulating him to find out why he quit. There were various unique and allegorical elements to the show, and it stands the test of time rather better than its progenitor.
Neon Genesis Evangelion, likewise, contained much that was allegorical and unique, except it set many concepts of God and humanity against a backdrop of animated giant robots. Like The Prisoner, it had a rather controversial ending, which is what reminded me of it. --Kels 12:16, 4 August 2007 (CDT)
Yes, The Prisoner is some of the best television ever made, especially the intended "original" eight or so episodes. And the ending only irritated those who wanted a traditional ending - one that wraps everything up and gives the viewer a nice little lesson they can drink to. One of the funnier aspects of some of the fans of the show is them dressing up like villagers or number 6. Buy or rent the dvd set, it's worth it. humanbe in 13:00, 4 August 2007 (CDT)

Go & see Portmeirion if you can it's scaled about 80% - doors tiny, ceilings low. Some apparent three storied buildings actually only two. and there's no rolling floppy balls pursuing anyone. Having said that, it's worth a visit by anyone into "The Prisoner"

No Rover, not sure if that makes it better or worse! I think I corrected your speling, too. I love the stories of the nightmares of getting from London to North Wales to do the filming, too. And the chessboard "shadows" left on the lawn from filming "Checkmate" before the opening titles. humanbe in 13:22, 4 August 2007 (CDT)
As I remember, the actual place isn't even an island in the first place, is it? Although I wonder if the original Rover is out there somewhere, beneath the waves... --Kels 14:33, 4 August 2007 (CDT)
No, it's just on the coast. WP has lots of info, of course. "Rover" was originally a mechanical thing, that failed to work, and they hit on using these weather balloons they saw. Making Rover far, far spookier because it was so abstract. They went through lots of them, by the way. And I'm sure they wash up on beaches sometimes, how creepy! Not as creepy as a huge jellyfish I saw once, though... humanbe in 17:42, 4 August 2007 (CDT)

http://www.portmeirion-village.com/ Keepon truckin' 14:41, 4 August 2007 (CDT)

As I recall, they did try the hovercraft version of Rover, and it promptly sank. I'm not sure they ever got it back again, it might still be there. --Kels 17:54, 4 August 2007 (CDT)

The prisoner was one of the few SF type tv/films I've enjoyed. Mostly I find them banal and over-reliant on violence & doomladen. Having said that ALIEN was grrreat - Ripley's my wannabeeeee. Keepon truckin' 14:53, 4 August 2007 (CDT)

So farewell then, Patrick McGoohan. The Prisoner was ahead of it's time. Number 6 15:33, 14 January 2009 (EST)

Actually the Prisoner wanted an all expenses paid extended holiday - otherwise 'X bet me I wouldn't resign'/'I turned 40 and decided to do a real job# - or any other 'prove this lunatic excuse wrong' line. — Unsigned, by: 212.85.6.26 / talk / contribs 16:13, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

Funspace[edit]

Flame war in 5,4,3... Evil fascistoh noez 16:43, 5 November 2012 (UTC)

Yup. Humorless fascistsociopath 14:44, 8 December 2012 (UTC)
Just delete it. It's not fun. It's not on mission. Kill it, kill it with fire. I know you want to, Ty. I know what you like. Do it.--"Shut up, Brx." 14:50, 8 December 2012 (UTC)
One of the all time great programmes deserves a good article. This isn't it, though. Rip it up and start again, in funspace. SophieWilder 15:25, 8 December 2012 (UTC)