Jade Jaguar
Regular
Tomorrow, Friday, the original Prisoner will begin a run on The Independent Film Channel. They will show three eps in a row, starting at 8pm, EST., and continue the following Friday. If you've got the IFC, check it out!
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The Prisoner on IFC
- Thread starter Jade Jaguar
- Start date
Jade Jaguar
Regular
I hadn't watched The Prisoner in some time, and never on a HD set. It looked really good, crisp and bright. I even noted a few things I had forgotten, or never noticed. It's still quite a good show.
GKarsEye
Regular
Bump, because of this show's awesomeness.
Here's a list of the Prisoner episodes and the various assembled viewing orders:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Prisoner_episodes
Apparently there's no "official" order. Also there are a few skippable eps, IMO. Sure they're fun in the way the lesser original Trek eps are, but IMO this series can, when viewed in a certain order, include a specific character/story arc.
This is best done with the KTEH order (and you can skip Living In Harmony, Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling, and The Girl Who Was Death). This way, the show begins with #6 trying to physically escape the Village and being played. This would end with Many Happy Returns, where he actually does get out, gets home, and of course it was all set up. This shows him that physical escape is meaningless- the battle is more about state of mind. So then he starts to hunker down and fight other battles, like in A. B and C where he outwits their chemical mind games. In Hammer Into Anvil, he actually targets #2 first and takes him down, which, in the KTEH order, would lead the authorities to the final showdown.
IFC is not airing it this way, so if there are still any Prisoner virgins looking to take the plunge, I recommend watching it in this order.
Here's a list of the Prisoner episodes and the various assembled viewing orders:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Prisoner_episodes
Apparently there's no "official" order. Also there are a few skippable eps, IMO. Sure they're fun in the way the lesser original Trek eps are, but IMO this series can, when viewed in a certain order, include a specific character/story arc.
This is best done with the KTEH order (and you can skip Living In Harmony, Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling, and The Girl Who Was Death). This way, the show begins with #6 trying to physically escape the Village and being played. This would end with Many Happy Returns, where he actually does get out, gets home, and of course it was all set up. This shows him that physical escape is meaningless- the battle is more about state of mind. So then he starts to hunker down and fight other battles, like in A. B and C where he outwits their chemical mind games. In Hammer Into Anvil, he actually targets #2 first and takes him down, which, in the KTEH order, would lead the authorities to the final showdown.
IFC is not airing it this way, so if there are still any Prisoner virgins looking to take the plunge, I recommend watching it in this order.
Jade Jaguar
Regular
I've long thought that the order might be better, but I've only seen them in the original broadcast order. I will look over "KETH" and the others.
Okay, Living In Harmony is probably the weakest ep, but still worth a look.
I couldn't disagree with you more about skipping Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling. It is one of my favorite eps, even though McGoohan was in it only briefly. #6 is placed in another body, so that he will try and find the scientist who can put him back in his own body. This is very much part of the theme of the series, what is identity? In the other body, he is out of the Village, and roaming Europe. But, part of what makes this such an important ep is that while in that other body, he meets his fiance. By kissing her in his special way, he convinces her that he really is '#6,' even though he is in a different body. Then, for the only time in the series, she calls him by his name... John. This is the only tiny link to him in Danger Man, where his name was John Drake.
The Girl Who Was Death is a fairytale Xmas ep, and not important to the series, but lots of fun. I particularly like how #6 deals with the poison cocktail, after he has drunk it!
Okay, Living In Harmony is probably the weakest ep, but still worth a look.
I couldn't disagree with you more about skipping Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling. It is one of my favorite eps, even though McGoohan was in it only briefly. #6 is placed in another body, so that he will try and find the scientist who can put him back in his own body. This is very much part of the theme of the series, what is identity? In the other body, he is out of the Village, and roaming Europe. But, part of what makes this such an important ep is that while in that other body, he meets his fiance. By kissing her in his special way, he convinces her that he really is '#6,' even though he is in a different body. Then, for the only time in the series, she calls him by his name... John. This is the only tiny link to him in Danger Man, where his name was John Drake.
The Girl Who Was Death is a fairytale Xmas ep, and not important to the series, but lots of fun. I particularly like how #6 deals with the poison cocktail, after he has drunk it!
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KoshFan
Regular
Hah, I just watched "Living in Harmony" as part of my first pass through the series. I figured out quickly enough that it could be skipped, once I pieced together all the parallels. So I skipped chapters to the conclusion, and that was good enough.
At present I'm just watching them in the order Netflix sends to me, which I think is the original showing order. On the whole I put most weight on McGoohan's sequence, which simply ignores ten of the eps, but I like the GKE/KTEH plan. Makes sense. Maybe on the rewatch.
At present I'm just watching them in the order Netflix sends to me, which I think is the original showing order. On the whole I put most weight on McGoohan's sequence, which simply ignores ten of the eps, but I like the GKE/KTEH plan. Makes sense. Maybe on the rewatch.
Jade Jaguar
Regular
After looking it over, I like the KTEH order too. But, I agree with Hypatia, why skip any?
Here's what you needed to get out of Living In Harmony to contribute to your understanding of the series: "The Kid," who you will see in the final ep, (IMO playing the same character,) is Number 2's right-hand man. He is sort of a younger version of Number 6, defiantly individualistic, very strong willed. In the final ep more similarities will become apparent. But, that would be telling...
GKarsEye
Regular
Well you don't "need" to skip any, I'm just saying there a few you can, because the show was extended past McGoohan's original story ideas. He only thought of 7, originally, then they added a more but then it was cut short (so the finale, which everyone pours over in great detail and argument, was mostly off-the-cuff, as I understand it).
Although one of my favorite episodes, and the lynch-pin of my whole "arc" theory is Manny Happy Returns, which was not one of the originally planned episodes.
Although one of my favorite episodes, and the lynch-pin of my whole "arc" theory is Manny Happy Returns, which was not one of the originally planned episodes.
KoshFan
Regular
Here's what you needed to get out of Living In Harmony to contribute to your understanding of the series: "The Kid," who you will see in the final ep, (IMO playing the same character,) is Number 2's right-hand man. He is sort of a younger version of Number 6, defiantly individualistic, very strong willed. In the final ep more similarities will become apparent. But, that would be telling...
I read the Kid's silence as tracking to the Guardian. But that may be a bit simplistic.
I felt that was a bit of a retread of "The Chimes of Big Ben," though.
Jade Jaguar
Regular
Jade Jaguar
Regular
But that would not have produced the immediate dilution, which minimized absorption.
GKarsEye
Regular
I felt that was a bit of a retread of "The Chimes of Big Ben," though.[/QUOTE]
In the sense that he's tricked into "leaving" the island, yes. But in Chimes he doesn't actually get to London, he's really just brought back to the island where he's led to believe is London. But in Happy Returns he actually gets home, is in his apartment, drives his car, wears his clothes, etc. Plus, in Chimes, when he's in the fake London office, they ask him why he resigned. In Happpy Returns, she never asks anything of him. She just wants him to know that physical escape is meaningless.
Jade Jaguar
Regular
Ouch! I watched it, then watched the pertinent scenes again, and never heard her call him "John." Yet, I could swear I had heard her do so on previous viewing. There is no obvious place where it was cut, but a possibility that it was, at one spot. Perhaps for legal purposes? Well, something I need to research... Still a good ep, though. Very sorry to see that IFC is going to show the final two-parter, one part one week, the last the next week...
hypatia
Regular
It is also fairly common for people to "hear" lines that aren't quite in a movie. I wonder if something simply makes sense to us, and we mentally "hear" a word or phrase that wasn't there, just as if it was spoken out loud. Since you've put that information into your memory, how could you tell it was kind of your inner voice rather than the voice of the actor.
A lot of lines that weren't quite phrased that way later came to be trademark quotes for big stars. The lines always make sense, and often are very close to what actually was spoken. But the memory fools us sometimes.
It reminds me of what a psychology professor said once. He told us in class that we don't really "see" or "hear" the real world, we basically halucinate it based on what we've pieced together mentally very rapidly and put together on our own. It seems like he was saying the eye doesn't actually see every detail around you, it seems bits and pieces and kind of puts them together for you.
Interesting stuff.
A lot of lines that weren't quite phrased that way later came to be trademark quotes for big stars. The lines always make sense, and often are very close to what actually was spoken. But the memory fools us sometimes.
It reminds me of what a psychology professor said once. He told us in class that we don't really "see" or "hear" the real world, we basically halucinate it based on what we've pieced together mentally very rapidly and put together on our own. It seems like he was saying the eye doesn't actually see every detail around you, it seems bits and pieces and kind of puts them together for you.
Interesting stuff.