More Village

    I like THEPRISONER because it's different, because for me it refreshes the Prisoner concept. In fact because THEPRIS6NER is more psychological, it's far more intriguing than the original series, and therefore I have always been eager to know what happens in the next episode. True I did find it difficult to come to terms with when I first watched Arrival, that is because there was so much going on, the Prisoner was meeting so many different characters, and there were the flashbacks, or was it flash forwards, to contend with. But a second screening soon helped, and I have to say it was the same with the episode Harmony, seeing as how Six and Michael, or should that be Michael Six, is living two existences at the one and same time. I have never deliberately tried to compare this reinterpretation to that of the original series. However one cannot but fail to observe the echoes from the original series, which I feel helps with the adjustment from the one series to the other, as well as linking them. The atmosphere of The Village being 1950's and 60's, and not of contemporary times in many ways. Yet a good many years have passed, when you think that 93, the former No.6 as an old man, about 82 I should say, give or take a year or two, if my calculations are correct.

  Speaking for myself, I feel that THEPRIS6NER has breathed new life into the Prisoner enigma, not that the Prisoner can become stale, not even after these past 47 years or so. I still enjoy watching the original series,although as a friend once said "The Prisone ris in my head, and I don't have to watch it all the time." And unlike many fans of my time, I can appreciate both series, and am happy to say that I've recently heard from others, by post, who like me, have an appreciation for this reinterpretation of THEPRIS6NER. They have yet to enlarge on why they like THEPRIS6NER, in the same way as I've heard from fans of the original series who have not taken to this reinterpretation at all, they hate it, think it's awful. But yet THEPRIS6NER has this in common with the original series, in the fact that you either love it, or hate it. People have written to me, or spoken on the phone saying that it's not like the original series, well why should it be? It’s not a remake they say, well it was never intended to be. And it's not been filmed in Portmeirion, well why should it have been? THEPRIS6NER was never intended to be like the original, but does pay a number of homages to the original series, and one cannot help but notice them. And by doing that I suppose one can compare both series. And at one point the two series cross over. How do they do this? With the character of the old man 93, who is a representation of the former No.6.

   I am perfectly aware that there remains a large number of fans of the original series who have a dislike of, or hatred for THEPRIS6NER, and I understand that. Perhaps this series was not made for them. I know of one person who didn’t know of the original series, but came to THEPRIS6NER first. It was after that that she watched the original series. It was that which made me think that what if THEPRIS6NER had been the original series, and McGoohan had then later come along with his series. It might have been that THEPRIS6NER would be the favourite series, and fans would have hated McGoohan's series!

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