Prismatic Reflection

    I generally watch ‘the Prisoner’ once a year, so far this year I have not watched the series, not the original series that is. In fact I’ve only watched two episodes, the one being ‘Checkmate,’ and the other the first cut of ‘The Chimes of Big Ben.’ And as it happens I have watched THEPRIS6NER-09 series twice this year, and as a matter of fact I’m listening to the soundtrack of that particular series as I type these words. I suppose there is the danger that watching ‘the Prisoner’ too much gives rise to over familiarity, and that in turn can breed contempt. There is also the danger that ‘the Prisoner’ can stagnate, that is why for me THEPRIS6NER came along like a breath of fresh air.
    I know there are plenty of fans of the original series who will not agree with me, not like me for saying so. I am as much a fan of ‘the Prisoner’ as you who are reading this. And yet for some time I felt that the 1960’s series of ‘the Prisoner’ has not moved on. It is said that ‘the Prisoner’ is timeless, inside the Village perhaps, it could be almost any time. And yet there are aspects outside of the Village which do date the series. ‘The Prisoner’ is like any other television series, stuck in time.
    Writing these words it feels as though I am biting the hand that feeds, as writing about ‘the Prisoner’ is what I do. ‘The Prisoner’ has been my passion since I was twelve years of age, and writing about it is what I do best. It is me, it is has become my life. Patrick McGoohan made me a prisoner of ‘the Prisoner,’ but then perhaps I was not strong enough in mind to resist. On the other hand it might be that as a twelve year old boy I was watching something quite remarkable. Something so strong and powerful that ‘the Prisoner’ draws you into the Village, making you just as much a prisoner as any citizen you see on the television screen. There are moments when things are happening on the television screen which are aimed directly at the viewer. That the Prisoner-No.6 isn’t just addressing those citizens in the Village, but those beyond the Village through the television screen, because through ’the Prisoner’ Patrick McGoohan has a message for us all. Whether or not you got the message all depends on whether or not people were paying attention at the time.
    ’The Prisoner’ is not just a television series, it was predicting certain aspects of the future, such as man allowing himself to run away with technology. Also it is a warning, against the use of surveillance. Of what happens when we allow people to take charge, the dehumanisation, the loss of identity. Of people being detained against their will without a charge being laid upon them. Showing how easy it is for people to simply disappear, something which happens each and every day. It is a future we have been living in for several decades now. It’s social commentary. It was a warning that was not heeded. As ‘the Prisoner’ was ahead of it’s time, so THEPRIS6NER is of its time.
    I know why I was able to accept THEPRIS6NER, because somehow it’s what I expected the series to be. And yet I had no preconception of what a new series of the Prisoner might be, but I knew it would not be like that of the original series. And so I had an open mind about it long before the series went into production, and that helped.
    I fully understand that there will be those reading this that have a strong dislike for THEPRIS6NER, and cannot see it’s worth, well that’s fine. I am reminded of a phrase a friend had written to me recently, she said perhaps the series was not made for everyone. There had been a number of Prisoneresque television series in recent times before THEPRIS6NER came along, ‘Cape Wrath,’ ‘Jekyll,’ and ‘The Last Enemy,’ all containing ‘Prisoner’ connotations of, and that are parallel to that of ’the Prisoner.’ When one begins to draw parallels between modern day television series and ‘the Prisoner,’ it can mean only one thing, there was a desire for a new series of ‘The Prisoner.’ Perhaps not in every enthusiasts eyes, because for years many fans were saying that there should not be a re-make of ‘the Prisoner.‘ Well they were not to be disappointed, as there was no remake, but a reinterpretation, a reinvention, but not it would seem, made for everyone.

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