AMC's re-do of the classic British TV series "The Prisoner" gets under way Sunday night, following the conclusion of "Mad Men"'s third season last week. The new version stars Jim Caviezel as Number Six and Ian McKellen as Number Two. (The great Leo McKern played Number Two a couple times in the original series, and there were some other repeats as I recall, but generally there was a new Number Two each week.)
From the teasers it appears that the new version (tagline: "You Only Think You're Free") takes place in a desert suburb of Dubai rather than a quaint seaside village. (Actually, the new "Prisoner" was shot in Cape Town, South Africa, and Swakopmund, Namibia.) The big white bouncy billowy security devices are back. But I'm most interested in the opening credits sequence, because I became so enamored with the ritualistic nature of the earlier one, as you can see from the following obsessive video analysis originally published in 2008:
(Rescued and reposted months after the death of iKlipz caused all my video essays to disappear from the web. Originally published -- with more on "The Prisoner" here.)
It's funny that you posted this tonight as I just got done watching "The Simpson's" episode that parodies "The Prisoner", written by the great John Swartzwelder. On the audio commentary track the creators of the episode (sans the hermit Swartzwelder, of course) talk about how McGoohan always said that "The Prisoner" was an unofficial sequel (or continuation) of "Secret Agent Man".
Also, I'm glad you talked about the opening credits for the show, because I don't think we'll ever see something like that again -- a 2 1/2 minute back story, essentially -- because there just isn't time on television for something like that. I really hope this new version of "The Prisoner" does the whole extended opening credits thing.
Anyway...not much to add here...I just found it funny that I watched that episode tonight and set the DVR to record "The Prisoner" for Sunday. Great video essay, Jim. I especially loved this line:
"Ladies and Gentlemen welcome to the world of the late 1960's."
Brilliant.
JE: Danke. I used to hope for John Swartzwelder's name (and Jon Vitti's -- and, of course, Jay Kogen's and Wally Wolodarsky's) at the beginning of "Simpsons" episodes because they always promised greatness.
That Simpsons episode was actually my introduction to The Prisoner. My father explained to me what the hell it was all about. Speaking of The Simpsons, the continually decreasing length of its own fabulous opening sequence preaches to the ever-decreasing ratio of show to commercials.
For those with OnDemand, AMC has made the original series available through the end of the month to promote its remake. There's a short ad for the new version in front of each episode, but no commercials otherwise.
Here are some thoughts:
* A show like TWIN PEAKS might have benefited from being executed as a close-ended mini-series the way THE PRISONER ultimately was. One can still choose to see it that way, but PEAKS was perfect up until the episode in which Maddie was killed, and I've always thought that the atypical ending credit sequence of Coop's head half-dissolved into the red curtains of the Black Lodge with Julee Cruise's music playing over it seemed to signal an ending of sorts. That shot also echos the closing shot of McGoohan with the bars over his face, the folds of the curtains causing a similar effect on Coop's face as if he were a prisoner of his inability to solve Laura Palmer's murder.
* One of the generally unsung benefits of television is that afforded to the filmmaker by the repetition factor. For instance, as you mentioned, THE PRISONER opening was ritualistic in its repetition over the course of the series. But it was jarring to see it absent from certain episodes. Specifically, I believe the Western episode, "Living in Harmony," and maybe the last one or two episodes decided to skip the credits altogether to go for a desired effect, signaling that one should pay special attention to these.
* THE PRISONER has just been released on Blu-ray and looks phenomenal. If one is a fan, there are also a load of new extras to recommend.
"Nifty," indeed! If you'd told me that I'd be thoroughly entertained by a 12-minute analysis of the opening credits sequence for a show I've never seen, I'd have told you that someone had sprayed gas through your keyhole. (Wait, that sounds dirty...)
Glad you resurrected this. Good stuff.
Jeremy:
You're right. I remember on one of the DVD commentary tracks current show runner Al Jean mentioned that they've lost almost three or four minutes off the show since the early 90's when he and Mike Reiss were running the show. And I think that was in 2007 (It's amazing to think of a show going from 24 minutes to 20 minutes)...so I can't imagine what that length is now. It's just ridiculous how that show has been lessened because of the need for ad space (the writing, of course, has declines somewhat, but I still blame the majority of it on the fact that they have to so quickly move through the story).
Thanks for the heads up on "The Prisoner" being OnDemand. I think I'll go watch some of them right now.
The entire 17-episode classic series is also on amctv.com. I don't know if that expires in a month also. 51-minute episodes! Those were the days.
Just got back from your 2008 Prisoner video essay (linked above), with its thoughtful comment thread. Lots of intriguing theories there, but for each there is seems to be an unresolvable contradiction.
Given the popularity of Eastern philosophies in the 60's, I have often wondered if the whole series might have been intended as a Zen "koan."
(Wikipedia defines this as "a story, dialogue, question, or statement ... containing aspects that are inaccessible to rational understanding, yet may be accessible to intuition.")
In other words, whether there is an answer or explanation is irrelevent; the point is what happens to your mind in the process of thinking about it. Or to be more Zen-like, reflecting on it.
Great analysis! I always loved that opening. The contrast between the hero's race to escape and the stately pursuit by the villains (?) is rarely used to such good effect. Talk about rushing to your own funeral.