Has anyone here seen the Prisoner? I just finished watching

yes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVHqTzyZ-oM

odd series

>>80494324
Twin peaks before twin peaks 2bh

it's a great show, but I understand it's off it's tits to the point it would put a lot of people off watching it.

the final episode pissed off so many people mcgoohan left the country, top kek.

>>80494486
Someone should make a list of "oh fuck we've built up a load of mysteries but we don't know how to end it so let's just go full abstract and tell the audience it's up to their interpretation" core.

I'm sure there's plenty of examples.

>>80494324
best tv show that ever existed (with the exception of the western episode)

>>80494324
Haven't seen the original, but the remake a&e did in the mid 00s was pretty good.
Gave the world the great reaction gif of ian mckellan with a grenade in his mouth.

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What the FUCK was its problem?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSI0HU6io7I
KTEH proposes a different episode order viewing.

>>80494551
I thought the ending just meant that they finally broke him and he went crazy

I men, it's not Evangelion's level of depth

Damn interesting show. Some of it is bad. The Girl Who Was Death is terrible. I was hoping for some meaningful wrap up to the mystery in the end and instead it went all dada, no complaints I guess. I need to rewatch it, been a while.

>>80494581
>the remake a&e did in the mid 00s was pretty good
no it wasn't, it was shit, watch the original.

>>80494324
I think it's even ahead of our times.
If only it didn't jump the shark in the last episode.

>>80494757
its funny how no one knows what "jump the shark" means but keeps using it, and uses it to describe instances where they personally stop understanding shows.

The prisoner is based but the last episode isn't that great to be honest

>>80494324

Best science fiction ever shown on TV.

The cinematography in some episodes is fantastic (pictured) and the music is consistently excellent.

It's more than way ahead of it's time - I don't think there's ever been anything else like it since.

I'm not sure why I'm able to forgive the final episode for being almost complete metaphor that makes almost zero narrative sense... Unlike, say, the ending of L O S T... But I just am.

>>80494823
I thought it was quite effective honestly. Would you rather it just ended by revealing all the mysteries? It would miss the point.

I watched it, enjoyed most of it, but I can't remember if I watched in the original order or the order that some guy recommended on the internet.

The last episode explained:

We are all prisoners of ourselves (literally shown by No. 1 bring No. 6). We can never be truly free of the prison we have made for ourselves (the "global village"). But if we maintain our integrity and identity (confront the cabal of white-hooded men who try to co-opt any resistance) we can at least escape some of the constraints placed on us, including overcoming our fears (destruction of "Rover") and possibly by using the same technology we also use to enslave ourselves (the rocket tower blasting off) and strive for something better... But it is a constantly repeating struggle (" be seeing you").

Any questions?

>>80495215
That doesn't explain shit

>>80495215
Source?

>>80495215
or they broke him completely and the only freedom he has is within his own mind.

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>>80494914

Shit forgot image

>>80495297
>the cinematoraphy is excellent!!

>aspect ratio'd image

I just want to die.

>>80495296
that was the explanation in the comic if I remember right

>>80495258
Problem Child 2

>>80495245
One of the points of the show is it doesn't matter if the enemy controlled the village or his old employers. Both were after something he couldn't give them because they didn't know what they were looking for. Whether the east or the west was in control, their tactics were going to be the same and their goals would be the same.

He was never going to find out so the viewer was never going to find out. They break him, he dies of old age, the end.

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>>80495258

I've got a book about it, with interviews with the writers and creators

>>80495326

It was all I could google at short notice, your Majesty

>>80495326
Kind of sad that everything made between a certain point was that terrible 4:3 aspect ratio. It truly sucks balls.

>>80495596
4:3 is the GOAT aspect.

Fantastic show and indeed way ahead of its time, totally different to so many shows that tried to make similar characters to that of number 6 (patrick mcgoohan is fantastic).

The show had its flaws, mainly lack of variaty and the direction at the end.

Worth a watch though. Also I saw a lotus 7 the other day in the same paint, cool car.

What's some other Britkino?

>>80494919
>>80495215

This and this.

Why should a show about mysteries explain them all? Why must you be told everything? Why must everything be explained? Or even have an explanation?

>>80495816

The English Premiership

Leicester's rise and fall with the redemption ark all in 4k is glorious viewing.

Make sure you start at the playoff semifinal vs Watford a few years back.

>>80494324
>very ahead of its time.
No, People just lost creativity
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2pC1JKwn0Bi2y4v6D6fkrf9roSDrEgcx

I AM NOT A NUMBER

>>80494687
>muh weeb shit is sooooo deeeeeeep

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Turns out... little monkey fella

Seriously post more Brit kino

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>>80497326
-Danger Man. Some see Drake as Number 6. Some episodes give reason for the resignation. FE: episode "Judgement day". Drake is ordered with incomplete instructions by the British government to rescue a former nazi war criminal (it isn't made immediately clear to him) and the two are marooned in the desert with 3 Israeli executioners.
-Sapphire and Steel; supernatural detective story. I like the writing and the tone.
-The Quatermass Experiment; the 1955 version, not the Hammer one.
-Most of what Gerry Anderson produced. Primarily for the models, set design etc.

>>80494687
The theme of the last episode is definitely madness, but what it actually means is definitely up to interpretation. My take on it is that he actually got away but was mentally scarred by the whole experience, so mentally he was still trapped on the island.

>>80495596
Get the fuck out of here, 16:9 is a meme ratio

>>80495596
aspect ratios are only as good as what is done with them

There are no bad aspect ratios, only bad cinematographers/directors.

Literally England's Evangelion

>>80494324
its essentially 24/7 mind-fuck

very aggressively inventive and futuristic from at cog-sci point of view, as if the writer were on acid periodically

you get a bit of that in the Avengers but not at full dose

>>80498548
Except it's good

>>80495469
Alain Cazarré is probably one of the most knowledgeable guys on TV shows. Worked for national tv channels for while, brought Star Trek: The Next Generation in France, etc. Dude just released a 1000 page book full of showrunners/producers/actors interviews over 40 years. I don't know if any of his stuff has been translated in English though.

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>>80499000
(you)

>you will never live in The Village

The Prisoner feels strangely timeless, the setting, writing even the direction it's not like it's contemporaries but you never see it now either

>>80499419
It's not filmed like something from that period.

>>80500285
Yep, That's what I said

>Almost fifty years old

>>80494324
I AM NOT CIA, I'M A BIG GUY!

>>80500589
Be ciaing you!

>tfw I really like the "be seeing you" gesture but would look autistic if I used it

>>80500847
I like this post. This is a good post.

>>80498065

Nope. He escaped "the Village" but he can't escape the "global village" - hence the door to his house in London making the same noise the doors in The Village made - in other words, you can't truly escape the surveillance and information technology world that we now live in - but you can at least stay true to yourself. This is the explanation given by the show's creators, McGoohan was passionate in his beliefs about the constraints of modern society.

>>80494551
Twin peaks
Carnivale
Millennium season 2
John from Cincinnati
The prisoner
The most patrician TV shows imo

Danger man is pretty cool albeit traditional. I think originally Fleming helped create it then worked on the man from uncle. 60s spy shows are very comfy. Original mission impossible is also more patrician than people give it credit for. What struck me the most while re-watching it is how little exposition it has, how it often has long silent scenes. Same with the prisoner. The episode where six escapes on a boat is basically silent. Thats why they feel so timeless. Whereas TV shows from the 80s and after tend to age like milk.

>>80494324
Yes. It's a great show. Good characters and visuals. Even Oda from One Piece used it for his manga.

ASK YOUR QUESTIONS

Who was the best Number 2?

>>80502377
Peter Pan

>>80495397
>They break him
They didn't

>>80502477
They might have. In the penultimate episode it may be that number two actually succeeded in his plan, or that number six just went mental.

>>80502319

>episode where six escapes on a boat

And here it is. Absolutely kino:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cOPB8bAFxGU

Note the ever-present circular motifs; the sound design; the awesome music and the superb editing

In addition, the final episode recontextualises the exchange in the opening sequence: the response to "Who is Number One?" is revealed to not be "You are Number Six", a deflection, but "You are, Number Six," a truthful answer.

>>80502582
My only issue with that episode is that it seemed to legitimately say that the location was around morocco. There's no way they could have faked that.

>>80502559
I doubt it. The last episode is actually the last trial, the village being not sure what to do anymore. The final reveal is more of a failure for the village, realising its own existence only depends of number 6, to the point he's actually number 1.

They put number 6 in trial along some "failures" as man, showing number 6 as the only one who managed to stand true to his faith and therefore "graduating" from the village.

It's extremely similar to the first ending of evangelion from this point of view.

>In Shrek (2001), the entrance of Shrek and Donkey at the seemingly deserted village of Duloc echoes Number 6's Arrival in the Village. The font on the village's signs in Shrek is the same as in The Prisoner's Village, and the architecture of the buildings is similar as well.

Wow

>>80502802
they also both have the congratulations scene

>>80502865
They should have made a scene of Shinji finding Adam's corpse, removing the mask and seeing a monkey mask.

I kind of want to visit Portmeirion now.

>>80502802
>>80502865
So that show is just a nip ripoff of the prisoner?

>>80503075
Yes. But the prisoner ending is much more complicated even if the subject (coming of age) is the same.

>>80503112
I'll assume weeaboos think it's the best thing ever written anyway.

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>>80497941
Speaking of Gerry Anderson, I always like UFO.

Loved that intro theme https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CvURidpkCY

Let's explain the ending. The REAL ending, not just the monkey mask stuff. The last 5 minutes are extremely clear of what you're supposed to get from this show.

They are 4 leaving the village: The young man (number 48), the man (number 6), the old man (the real number 2) and the dwarf (who's the village).

The young man is flawed, he is a rebel, he is a revolutionary and because of his strong will he can escape but he is doomed to be lost in society, unable to connect with anyone. That's why number 48 is left 20 miles from London, asking for some car to stop and bring him the rest of the way but nobody stop.

The old man is also a failure. He managed to get to the city (wisdom) but goes to the church because he has done too many things and need forgiveness.

The man manage to go to town and his first idea is get rid of the village by going to a cop. Of course the cop doesn't understand and the man, who has now wisdom, let go and goes back home with the village, accepting as part of his life, which was always the case as the door proves it. Number 6 finally accepted the village (himself) and can live as number 1.

>>80503699
>but goes to the church

You fucking idiot. He goes to the houses of parliament.

>>80503699

That's kind of interesting, a little stupid but interesting

>>80503765
Ah yeah sorry, guess it's more of a critic of politics then.

Stop building everything as a fucking gothic church

>>80503827
It's quite an iconic building.

>>80503668
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnaQZgZaOkg
The writers tortured Straker. Some of the episodes are good, like Timelash and Mindbender.

>>80503900
I'm a frog, I was raised to see english building as cheap ripoff of our architecture.

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Patrick McGoohan appeared in multiple episodes of Columbo including one episode(Identity Crisis) which is peppered with The Prisoner references

>>80503765
It's about the rebels becoming the leaders. Going to the parliament is becoming the establishment after trying to rebel.

Number 48 tries to rebels but realise he needs society, a.k.a the cars, the get anywhere.

Number 6 tried to rebel. That's why, despite being number 1 and by definition the establishment, he refused to cooperate as his alter ego number 6. The ending is number 6 accepting to conforms and becoming number 1 again.

I watched the shitty remake as it was airing but never got round to watching the original

>>80503964
You were raised incorrectly. Notre Dame is trash.

>>80504532
Kettle, there's a call for you. It's the pot. He says you're black.

>>80504024
What are some mcgohan kino?
Just downloaded ice station zebra

>>80502688
Are you sure they couldn't?

>>80503075
No, just thematically similar

>inb4 FUCK WEABOOS XD ANIMAY!

>>80494551
LOST
BSG (kinda)

I think The Red Spectacles has more in common with The Prisoner than EoE.

>>80504786

He's fantastic in Braveheart as Longshanks. He has a low key villain role in Scanners, too.

>>80494324
friend told me he liked it but didn't understand why you wouldn't just rape or kill everyone.

>>80504953
because of big white balls

>>80505123
Rover was kind of a dick

>>80497326
I, Claudius is peak britkino
The Trip might be too British but it's worth a watch
If you like conspiricy thrillers then watch Edge of Darkness, The Shadow Line, Utopia, The Honourable Woman and State of Play
It's an oversaturated genre but if you like police procedurals then watch Cracker and Prime Suspect

>>80505719

Utopia is pure kino

>>80505719
I forgot the Singing Detective and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Also, maybe Our Friends in the North although it's almost definitely too British

>>80500948
You can still say "be seeing you" as a goodbye. Some people get it, others don't and it sounds vaguely sinister which is a nice bonus.

>>80500948
It gets odd when you use the gesture.

I don't want this thread to die

Portmeirion is a lovely place. You should visit sometime.

Who is Number One?

>>80507479
Does it till look anything like the show?

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>>80507479
You are, Number six.

Prisoner OST, three 'files':
http://www81.zippyshare.com/v/9x7H3Cl1/file.html
http://www81.zippyshare.com/v/NKvICtX8/file.html
http://www81.zippyshare.com/v/5XBYupvo/file.html

>>80507599
Looks pretty much the same, yeah. The Green Dome is no longer green though due to the sea air, it's now a slate colour.

Also, the green where the helicopter landed in the show now has a swimming pool. Other than those two things, you could happily walk around Portmeirion and identify pretty much all the locations. Though, I think access to the Belltower is restricted to residents only.

>>80507640
I am not a number, I am a free man!

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>>80498065
>>80501994
Don't forget that it was revealed (and of course it was so obvious all the time, we just never realised) that number 6 is number 1 (number 1 often being used to mean 'me' ie. looking out for number 1). remember the opening credits?

>Who is number 1?
>....You are number 6.

so maybe it was trying to say we are all in self imposed prisons

btw so glad to see this being discussed on /tv/. not all hope is lost

>>80494324
Now its time to watch the remake OP! Its a 6 episode mini series. Shits fucked up son. Seen over half of the original; shits sweet!

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Ever wonder what the significance of the penny farthing logo is? I've always thought it was something to do with democracy. The big wheel (the "majority") steers - the little wheel (the "minority") has to follow behind.

No.6's bitter sarcasm throughout the pilot episode is 10/10

>>80507893
You could just as easily interpret it the other way around

>The Prisoner was airing at the same time other shows would have yellowface fu manchu villains or British """""""comedy"""""""""

Was everybody in the 60's except McGoohan retarded or something, how did they even pitch this show?

>>80508063
No you couldn't because that's not how penny farthings work.

>>80508242
>what is communism

>>80508242
Aren't they very hard to cycle? Maybe it shows that The Village has mastered the impossible.

>>80508191

It seems incredible that something as outre as The Prisoner could ever get made but it was coming off the back of Danger Man which was extremely successful and made McGoohan a household name. All TV execs knew was that the same team who made a hit show about a spy were going to make another hit show about a spy...

>>80507893
I thought it was tor the "out of time" feel of the village

>>80497326
A Perfect Spy is excellent

Is it the only sixties kino TV?

>>80507734
Number 6 goes home at the end and his home address on Buckingham Lane is #1.

This street number was actually revealed a few episodes earlier in "Many Happy Returns."

"Who is number 1?"
"You are, number 6."

To your point about "number one" as a euphemism for the self, the numeral one is orthographically similar to the word "I."

All of the magistrate's dialog in the trial confirms that what the prisoner has been really fighting all along is his own received notion of selfhood and the prescribed relationship to the world that modern selfhood imposes upon us all. Individualism is real but we live it in an illusory way through ideological and consumer identifiers. The prisoner's sense of personal freedom is ultimately co-opted during the trial to vindicate the limitations of the state apparatus.

>>80511706
During the trial, all of the jurors are anonymous masks identified only by their broad affiliation (revolutionary, reactionary, conservative, liberal, etc.). Only the magistrate and number six have unique faces. The magistrate is more an interlocutor than anything else. He functions as the voice of the state apparatus attempting to accommodate and assimilate these divergent ideologies. His real goal is to finally assimilate the voice of the prisoner into the faceless body politic.

When he praises the prisoner for vindicating the right of the individual to be individual and calls for him to lead the way it seems like a moment of breakthrough: the triumph of the individual man. But the way the magistrate frames it ultimately makes the prisoner the exception that proved the rule. Because the prisoner's genuine resistance is possible it proves that the system works even though the prisoner remains incredibly exceptional. The way in which the prisoner's voice is lost in mindless applause undercuts his triumph over the system because it shows that a free man still can be deprived of a voice if he doesn't simply adopt the masks of the crowd.

>>80512018
The prisoner has been prompted to explain himself for the entire series and his resistance is basically a refusal to speak. He doesn't have to tell anyone what he prefers to keep private for himself. When his speech to the assembly is drowned out in the finale we get an inversion of that silence. Yes: the prisoner is free to say nothing. But when he chooses to speak his voice can be easily cancelled out. This demonstrates the limitations of the modern man who tries to imagine himself free, for the moment he participated in society he is immediately constrained by the discourse of the mob, he may never understand him, may never even listen.

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>>80502377
>>80502394

Peter Pan is a close second (hah), but in this case the obvious answer is the correct one: Leo McKern.

The way the last two episodes reinvented him as the show's representation of the old British "Establishment" was a great way to bridge the abstraction of the village/prison into a way of understanding the mental prison of modern society.

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>>80494324
There's a series of radio plays too, apparently

>>80494559
Anon: the western episode basically explains the entire series........
This anon>>80494551 has no fucking clue what the Prisoner is about.

>>80494714
>>80494757
>>80494823
>>80494914
See >>80495215
Be seeing you....
How do you not understand the ending - it's all laid out plain.

>>80495397
THERE WAS NO VILLAGE!!!!!!!!
gawd, some people are more prisoner than others....

>>80494914
>Best science fiction ever shown on TV.
Sapphire and Steel + Tom Baker Doctor Who exist

>>80513538
Colonel Simmerson as Number 2?
That alone is worth checking out.

>"I wish I could say I'm happy to see you Number 6. But I don't. So there."

I remember reading once that The Prisoner was supposed to be an extension of Mcgoohan as Danger Man.

Danger Man actually proposed such as island as a place to retire spies who know too much in his youth as a spy (hence why he is number 1), and eventually learned that it was actually done. He quit as a means to verify if the island exists, as he knew he would be sent to it.

Once he confirmed its existence, he tried to escape and reveal it, so he wouldn't be trapped there (because he was going to be trapped there anyways)

Doesn't really explain the last episode though.

>>80512178
>This demonstrates the limitations of the modern man who tries to imagine himself free - for the moment he participates in society he is immediately constrained by the discourse of the mob
So, in other words: MEMES RULE US.

>>80514348
The show's similarities to Danger Man were played up on purpose but they're a big red herring.

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mfw this thread

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>>80503668
gaaaaaaaaaaaaaay