Patrick McGoohan escapes (1928-2009)

He will be missed. :( Be seeing you, Patrick.

It's too bad he didn't live to see the remake of the Prisoner.

As an aside, I would love to see you and Andy Ihnatko (who has some strong opinions on the subject) together on a CWA panel about The Prisoner.

Nice essay, Jim. I've been interested in The Prisoner for a while (I first became aware of it when I saw a Simpsons parody of it when I was younger), but couldn't get ahold of the series. I've been meaning to watch it since it came out on DVD. This made me want to watch it even more!

Very sad to see him go. While I always loved The Prisoner and Danger Man, his numerous turns on Columbo were what I enjoyed most. The cat and mouse games between McGoohan and Falk can be watched again and again. The interplay between the two is that good.

I got the first box set of The Prisoner years ago. I must have been in middle school, and now I'm graduating from high school. I loved it then, but the sets were so expensive, and only about three episodes per set, I never saw past those first ones. I was most interested in the continuing story line and haven't take a look at them since around the time that I got them. Now, I can appreciate them much more for their craftsmanship than I could then. I know exactly where those DVDs are.

The passing of a boyhood icon. There is a hole in my soul...... I cannot tell you the thrill it was waiting every week for John Drake to show up on our family black-and-white. He was the definition of Continental Cool, the thinking man, and --vitally important -- a feeling man to boot. James Bond was plastic by comparison. I was barely in my teens, and when The Prisoner appeared that one summer, it became my addiction. I am proud to say I was THERE to witness the series, first episode to the last. You could say it was a marking experience: Besides teaching me how to be a principled yet cool guy, the two series had another effect: Good storytelling has always absorbed me, and now I am a journalist. I thank Patrick McGoohan for his contributions to my development along the way. Like John Lennon, one of my other muses, his creativity came along at just the right time in my life. Thanks for the tips, Patrick...
One trivia point to share among many about "Danger Man"....If you watch the episode called "Sting In the Tail" from 1964, you'll notice that singer "Marie Valedon" (sp?) sings a song called "Quand tu n'est pas l'a"...and it has the same melody, note for note, as The Zombies' much later hit, I think it's called "She's Not There"....it seems no end to the "firsts".....again, thanks, Patrick for all that class...

R.I.P. Number 6.

And yes--you were always number 1.

Jim, you do know that Christopher Nolan is developing The Prisoner into a feature film, right? And that this is a completely separate thing from the new TV series. Nolan will probably do an excellent job of it, making it less hokey and more real. More about extreme rendition, secret prisons, black sites and less about goofy mod art design. Much as I wanted to like the series, it was hard to get past the overwrought production values. I'm looking forward to the big screen version, even if there's a couple cheating crane shots in it.

He will be missed. However, it's a good thing he died before they butchered The Prisoner.

I always loved The Prisoner. And for me Leo McKern was the best #2. For me the next to last episode - the battle between #2 and #6 was really an astounding play for the stage. Patrick seemed to always do outstanding roles after that. I think he won an emmy each time he did a Columbo episode. So he says "Be seeing you." in a Columbo...wonderful! So is the Prisoner also Secret Agent man? Then there is Ice Station Zebra where he is maybe again the same person? The Prisoner was his baby and I think they say that he had everything he wanted to say in the first 7 episodes but they made him do more. That he possibly even helped come up with the theme music. Then the last episode was a real 60's trip with an ending that left you wondering if he was going to be captured again which caused a lot of confusion and anger with all those hopeing he would end happily ever after. We just recently saw "A Time To Kill" - Patrick was the judge - didn't say much but again was special. And Braveheart! What a sad thing that some folks can't stay young and continue to make great art/film.

This video essay is amazing! I just finished the series finale of "The Prisoner" a few weeks ago, having watched the DVD collection throughout 2008. By the end, I was utterly mesmerized by the opening sequences, but couldn't quite figure out why, and I was hoping that some astute person had figured out a way to explain the weird magic at work here. Thanks for making my wish come true!

"The Prisoner" is such an interesting mutation in the evolution of film and television. Jay P is right to note that the penultimate episode, "Once Upon a Time," seems more like a filmed stage play (or the fascinating filmed version of Dustin Hoffman in "Death of a Salesman"), but then there's episodes like "Many Happy Returns" which play incredibly cinematic - the first half hour of that episode has almost no dialogue.

Have you done any other writings on "The Prisoner," Jim? Or know of any interesting ones?

In film school, our theory professor taught a semester-long seminar on The Prisoner, in which he showed every episode. Talk about heaven.

I've loved McGoohan in everything I've seen him in. RIP

The use of the "Secret Agent Man" theme song is really annoying. As someone who's never seen The Prisoner, I was confused at first and then angry because I didn't get to see the extended credits sequence in its original form. It took something from the experience. It was a bad idea, dude...

Great study, Jim. I will share it with my students. I've also linked this with my McGoohan tribute on my website, SPY VIBE, dedicated to 1960s spy style: cinema, tv, fashion, music, art and design. Best, -Jason Whiton