io9 
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San Francisco, 2:11 AM
Sun Dec 6
12 posts in the last 24 hours
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11/17/09
Humanizing No. 2, however, I think was the right idea -- because while we might have been able, as a viewing audience, to feel entirely separate from the surveillance society portrayed in the original series, now we are all, to some extent or another, complicit in it. And thus, to see the internal lives of the wardens, as well as the prisoner, is important.
Also, it becomes more critical if you're going to try and play the idea of "There is nothing but the village", because then, unlike the original series, where No. 2 did not need to be divided against himself, here, he clearly is.
#5 -- My first comment to anyone about the show was "My gods, Patrick McGoohan's much butcher than Jim Cavaziel -- then again, McGoohan had creative control."
I think that the notion of Jason Bourne vs. the Village is precisely what the original series was -- McGoohan's character was the superspy. I think, though I may be giving the creators too much credit, that they were trying to make the new No. 6 someone easier for us to identify with in a "Hey, I could be that guy" level, rather than the hero-identification level.
I'm disappointed in the series, so far, but I'm going to keep watching. They just could have done so much better...
11/17/09
The only prisoner remake I was ever excited about was the one that was supposed to star Clive Owen several years ago. I think even McGoohan was cool with the idea, which surprised me.
Sadly, I think you can sum all six of those up under the single massive crime of "Not knowing exactly which direction to go, so attempting to find a middle ground on everything."
Watching these last 4 hours has been like watching a tug of war between one show that wants to remain faithful to the spirit of Patrick McGoohan, and one that wants to be Lost. The end result is a 'good idea one minute, terrible idea the next' trainwreck. #theprisoner
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But that means that the miniseries is filled with aesthetic elements which are very background-specific, in the sense that only those with the right background will understand them, and those without that background may be getting lost. It's like those "occult geometry" paintings from the Renaissance (or the Op-Art movement of the 20th century), which encode huge amounts of information that is not immediately apparent to those who don't understand occult geometry. For those who do understand it, though, simple things like the lead being known as "6" become very significant pieces of information (Google "tiphareth", for one piece of the puzzle), adding to the understanding of what is going on.
That's not to say that it is a bad thing to not understand the work from that perspective. In fact, it may be a weakness of the work as a whole that it loses the uninitiated. Whatever, I like it so far. #theprisoner
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Anyway, not all art needs to be narrative to be successful. It sometimes seems as though audiences have largely lost the ability to follow non-narrative art forms, but that's not a weakness of any particular work. #theprisoner
11/16/09
While the "numbering" scheme didn't make all that much sense in the original, in this one it is totally weird (which of course may be intentional). Why is he 6 when other people are 3 or even 4 digit numbers?
Why did 6 wake up with his memories mostly in tact in the middle of the desert instead of in a controlled environment?
Again, it could all be part of the plan but I'm not very confident in their ability to have the depth to have all of these "problems" be on purpose.
I didn't bother watching tonight so if they do anwer any of these I'll have to wait to read about it online #theprisoner
11/16/09
It's damn near impossible, and if you actually succeed, you may just end up accidentally summoning an Elder God from beyond the Void. #theprisoner
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Maybe I've just successfully detached this show from the original in all but the most basic premises. #theprisoner
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Stay jaded folks and enjoy the ride on the hate train.
11/16/09
Anyway, enjoy the love train and say hi to the O'Jays for me. #theprisoner
11/16/09
Hopefully they'll pull some of it together. Such a cast to work with, it would be a shame if it was that useless. #theprisoner
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6) No bicycle--remember that iconic, huge-front-wheeled bicycle? Yeah, it's gone. And replacement logo used on Village property is bland.
5) Rover--totally out of place in the new context. If the reboot wants to bring back an original element, let's try to ground it in something.
4) Flashback--really? Aren't we supposed to be void of anything from Six's previous life, short of the knowledge he resigned?
3) 313: Zzzzzz.
2) Evil government? What evil government?--there's always something to gripe about with the government. Shifting Six's resignation to a corporation is a cop-out.
1) This Village is no "Village"--the original Village was so unique, and this replacement couldn't be more bland. It's an Everytown, U.S.A.--identical houses in rows, devoid of the original wild colors, so spread out it couldn't feel remotely oppressive. What drew me in to the original has left me a little disappointed.
All that said, I'm liking it very much so far :) #theprisoner
11/16/09
Although it was suggested by various characters at times in the original series that the village was an international project, it was equally suggested that the village belonged to just one nation. If we assume that the village in the original series was a tangible place that number 6 was physically transported to (which I`m not entirely convinced of) it would make the village the ideal target for attack by an enemy nation. Even if all of the prisoners couldn`t be extracted, you've got your hands on a nice batch of state secrets in one strike.
Now the cold war has ended, nations could collaborate on a village. Each sends its "troublesome" individuals there and there is joint overwatch of the facility. The village becomes a concentrated melting pot of classified information (which has plot potential in and of itself) but the international oversight ensures that any one nation does not benefit (again, another possible plot point, conflict arising from attempting to circumvent this restriction). I'd even throw in some sort of failsafe mechanism, if x out of y nations agree the village gets nuked, just to rack up the tension a bit.
Or perhaps I`m just overanalysing all this... #theprisoner