The Prisoner - A Timeless Series

     It has been said of the Prisoner that it is a 'timeless' series, that it still looks as fresh today as it did when it was produced way back in the 1960's, so that it could have happened only yesterday. Perhaps even today, and god forbid......tomorrow. Well I expect that's got something to do with the repeated restoring process the film has been put through in recent times, that makes the series look so good. The Prisoner was never intended to be seen with such clarity which the television viewer enjoys today.
   It is true, that the Village could be anywhere, and at any time, with it's mixture of architecture. Yet three episodes of the series do date the Prisoner, those of Many Happy Returns, Do Not forsake Me Oh My Darling, and Fall Out, these epsidoes date the Prisoner precisely. By the cars and lorries seen on the streets and roads, and by the RouteMaster Bus in London, because the Route Master bus no longer runs in London, save for on one tourist route.
    Also helping to date the Prisoner, is the face of comedian/actor Bob Monkhouse on a poster on the door of World Cameras, the shop into which No.6 went to collect his transparencies in Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling. There is also a billboard just off Trafalgar Square advertising a particular film of the time. But nevertheless, the Prisoner does still give off this timeless feel, the 17 episode series has worn well it has to be said. And had not the outside world impinged on the series, then truly timeless it would have remained.
    There has been nothing like the Prisoner before or since, well I would have said that, that perhaps there are not men like Patrick McGoohan, single minded, determined, and bullying his way to get his creation produced, and men like Sir Lew Grade who are prepared to back men like McGoohan anymore. But then along came THEPRISONER 2009 series, and it was a long wait, because there has been talk of a remake, or follow-on series of the Prisoner since 1968, and personally speaking I think it was well worth the decades of waiting.
   There are certain similarieties between the two series, because THEPRISONER is a reinvention of the original series, a reinterpretation. What's more, like the time of the original series, there was and still is today, so much rubbish on the television which viewers simply watch like they are brianwashed to do. Such as reality television type programmes, all of which are ten a penny, like cookery programmes, grimes busters, programmes about filth, dirty houses and the like!!!!!!!! However, just now and again, there is a chink in the television armour, and a television series is born which is able to capture the viewers imagination, so it is with THEPRISONER........although I know that there are many fans of the original series who would not agree with me. But is the 2009 series quite as timeless as the original? Well only time will tell on that one. As for time, the 2009 series, the Village, is certainly given the look and feel of both the American and British 1950's.
I'll be seeing you