The Prisoner

    I was right, Arrival was better for a second screening. I seem to have taken to THEPRISONER like a duck to water, so too my wife Morag, which is more than can be said of the majority of fans of the original series. Oh I knew you would not be able to judge a series of six episodes just by watching one episode, but then I was prepared for something which would not be like the original series.
   I didn't miss the Italianate village of Portmeirion, replaced by Swakopmund in Namibia. The Mini-Moke taxis replaced by the Renault Dauphine. The Canopied Penny Farthing logo now long gone, to be replaced by something which I have heard described as a 'jelly mould!" Many of my contemporaries cannot imagine the village without Portmeirion. I like to think that like THEPRISONER, I have evolved beyond McGoohan's creation. And can see that not everyting to do with the Prisoner has to revolve around Portmeirion. I have not compared the two series, because I feel that way lies disaster. But I can see major elements of the original series, reinvented and reinterpreted in the new series, and there's no harm in that. I have not rejected, I have accepted, and have appreciation for both series.
    I can see in Arrival how 'retro' the village is, but with a hint of Portmeirion in some architectural designs. Yet there is modern day technology, and beyond. All you have to do is look at Two's lap top for that, with it's glass screen which you can see through, as Two watches something on the screen. Many vehicles of the late 1950's into the 1960's which you see in the London scenes that appear in the original series, you can see in THEPRISONER, and that includes a yellow nosed Caterham/Lotus 7, which puts in a cameo appearance in the series.
    The Prisoner is an enigma, an allegory in places, although I detest the use of that word allegory, as it means you can just about get away with anything, and McGoohan did! While THEPRISONER is action and adventure. A mystery which is in need of solving. It is a series which leaves clues throughout the series. The first clue can be seen in the very first opening seconds of Arrival.
    Six doesn't want to be a citizen of the village, he want's out. But as Two informs Six, "There is no out. There is only in."
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