With all due respect to The Prisoner, I'll always remember McGoohan as Dr. Syn, aka The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh. He was terrifically creepy as the Scarecrow with a raspy voice that puts Christian Bale's Batman growl to shame!
@MinervaAlpaca: Wow, I haven't thought of that in a while! I remember playing Scarecrow & Smugglers with my little pals when I was six (!) years old. I'm sure my local viddy store has the DVD for that. [grabs coat]
Gods, how I loved The Prisoner. To this day, the "Prisoner font" lives on my computer and is used as the default system font for a reason.
I also have a sample of Number X (can't remember his number; been a while since I watched the show) shouting: "Information! We want information!" It's a great error sound.
I could see him as Bond but not The Saint. Of course I've never liked any of The Saint shows or movies. As Bond you're one of many, and I have a feeling he'll always be the only "Prisoner." (Unless I'm pleasantly surprised with the remake, I think it will turn out to be very forgettable.)
@diverguy: When I first saw that I had to wrack my brain to figure out who he was. The voice finally told me, and I couldn't believe I hadn't seen it earlier.
I also remember seeing him a junior high school film were he played a crooked jockey with a son who was trying to go straight. In both Scanners and in the film I saw he seemed to be type cast as the eccentric who stood apart and bucked the rules.
I don't know what his feelings were about the current Prisoner remake. I don't know what his feelings were about the Prisoner graphic novels that came out a couple decades ago--I never read them, maybe one day I will.
The point is he left a body of work that affected generations of science fiction fans and the mainstream. I guess that's as much as anyone can hope for.
@corpore-metal: The radio show host movie was called 'Kings and Desperate Men' and contained several very Prisoner-eque moments. I have an old beat-up VHS copy somewhere, but to my knowledge, it's never been released on R1 DVD.
The Prisoner graphic novel 'Shattered Visage' was... interesting. It would have been much better without the introduction of new young characters we didn't give a crap about, but I can sort of see an old worn-out and crazy #6 returning to the crumbling ruins of The Village because he's discovered the rest of the world is just as much of a prison.
I was really hoping that one day, McGoohan would actually sit down and write his memoires or agree to record special commentary tracks for "his" episodes of The Prisoner. Sadly, that day will never come.
It's been a while since I watched the alternate version of 'Chimes of Big Ben' but while nobody in the village actually rode the penny-farthing, it was supposed to be extremely symbolic of #6's role in The Village... As was the mysterious phrase 'POP,' which was originally supposed to be used as the final shot during the closing credits sequence. A few snippets of dialogue from the alternate version of 'Chimes of Big Ben' reveal it stands for "Protect Other People" (or possibly "Prisoners of Power"?)
@Hotscot: The Prisoner was one of the first genre shows to embrace complex issues and surrealism, instead of fairly straightforward action-adventure cliches. Every TV show that stretches beyond simple five-act adventures benefits from The Prisoner's experimentation hugely.
@Hotscot: Let's not forget both feature important characters named No.6 who challenge others' perceptions of identity . . . only to have their own ideas about self broken.
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Whatta shitty day.
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I also have a sample of Number X (can't remember his number; been a while since I watched the show) shouting: "Information! We want information!" It's a great error sound.
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Okay, it already looks more like Edward Gorey but you get the idea.
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and it seems we've lost Ricardo Montalban as well..
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I also remember seeing him a junior high school film were he played a crooked jockey with a son who was trying to go straight. In both Scanners and in the film I saw he seemed to be type cast as the eccentric who stood apart and bucked the rules.
I don't know what his feelings were about the current Prisoner remake. I don't know what his feelings were about the Prisoner graphic novels that came out a couple decades ago--I never read them, maybe one day I will.
The point is he left a body of work that affected generations of science fiction fans and the mainstream. I guess that's as much as anyone can hope for.
01/14/09
The Prisoner graphic novel 'Shattered Visage' was... interesting. It would have been much better without the introduction of new young characters we didn't give a crap about, but I can sort of see an old worn-out and crazy #6 returning to the crumbling ruins of The Village because he's discovered the rest of the world is just as much of a prison.
I was really hoping that one day, McGoohan would actually sit down and write his memoires or agree to record special commentary tracks for "his" episodes of The Prisoner. Sadly, that day will never come.
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The penny-farthing you mean.
It's been a while since I watched the alternate version of 'Chimes of Big Ben' but while nobody in the village actually rode the penny-farthing, it was supposed to be extremely symbolic of #6's role in The Village... As was the mysterious phrase 'POP,' which was originally supposed to be used as the final shot during the closing credits sequence. A few snippets of dialogue from the alternate version of 'Chimes of Big Ben' reveal it stands for "Protect Other People" (or possibly "Prisoners of Power"?)
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Patrick, you were never unmutual in my books.
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He will always be The Free Man.
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Good for you for ignoring the dumbassed trolling.
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You have been declared Unmutual.
Please report to the Green Dome for immediate social conversion.
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