The Therapy Zone

    ‘The Prisoner,’ it hasn’t varied one jot these past 50 years, it remains constant, it does not change. Well let’s face it, it’s hardly likely to, and yet in some ways ‘the Prisoner’ has changed, in appearance at any rate. Visually it’s been re-mastered, put in High Definition, and given more clarity in Blu-ray. So much so it looks as though the series was made yesterday! In some respects all that has helped enthusiasts like myself make observations within the series which were never possible before. And yet there are those who chose to improve ‘the Prisoner’ visually, and at the same time enhance all its shortcomings. But then we knew those shortcomings were there in the first place, it’s just that they were less noticeable then.
    I am reliably informed that ‘the Prisoner’ is once again to be released in a box set for the 50^th anniversary. I wonder if enthusiasts can be encouraged to purchase ‘the Prisoner’ yet again? After all I myself, and no doubt many like me, already have the series several times over, both on VHS tape and DVD, and lest we forget, ‘the Prisoner’ has already been released in what was termed to be the “ultimate” box set. So how can the “ultimate,” meaning last, most significant, most extreme example of its kind, not to be improved upon, be surpassed? I Think the 50^th anniversary box set would have to contain something really, really special to encourage enthusiasts to part with their credit units to buy it, but what that could possibly be I’ve absolutely no idea. I should have thought that all and any material appertaining to ‘the Prisoner’ had been all used up. Once upon a time I used to collect anything and everything to do with ‘the Prisoner’ memorabilia, and merchandise. But in more recent years I have been more selective. I’m even going to watch ‘the Prisoner’ for the 50^th anniversary in black and white, and via good old fashioned VHS tape, so re-mastering, and digitizing of the series won’t matter one jot.
   So perhaps for me ‘the Prisoner will have changed this time next year, for me at any rate, from colour to good old fashioned black and white. Television companies no longer screen programmes made in black and white, with the exception of black and white films. In producing ‘the Prisoner’ in colour, when people in Britain only had black and white television sets showed a great deal of forethought, and secured the series for the future. Yes ‘the Prisoner’ has endured over the years and decades because of the television series it is. But had the series been filmed in black and white it might never have been repeated on television the number of times it has, especially that in more recent years black and white television series have fallen out of favour. ‘The Prisoner’ may well have been completely forgotten by television companies. Only to be viewed via VHS tape, DVD, or YouTube! Mind you having written that, when was ‘the Prisoner’ last screened by a television company so that it could be viewed here in Britain? It was screened ITV4 and that was a good number of years ago now. And even then they didn’t use the original animated Penny Farthing commercial bumpers!

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