The Prisoner

[Paul faplad Finch]

So this is starting on Saturday. Anyone looking forward to it?

I've purposely avoided any knowledge whatsoever, other than a bit of casting, cos I figure if any show is gonna thrive on mystery its this one. Of course, that means that I haven't heard any negative vibes that might have been going around.

Sort of optimistic, despite the fact that this is ITV we're talking about.

[James Stacey]

Is this the American one starring Gandalf and Jesus ?
I saw it a few months ago and enjoyed it for what it was. I'll say no more if you are wanting to remain totally unspoiled on it.

[Dark Jimbo]

Hmm... distinctly unimpressed by the trailer I've seen, but I'll hopefully be proved wrong.

[Radbacker]

As James said, enjoyable.  To my great shame i've never seen the original though.

Cu Radbacker

[James Stacey]

As James said, enjoyable.  To my great shame i've never seen the original though.

Cu Radbacker

[spoiler]Other than a few casual nods and the very general overall concept, it isn't really that similar. Certainly the payoff is very different and more cohesive. I don't think the original had any real concept of what any of the answers were at the beginning, unlike the remake which has #6 working towards that from the start.[/spoiler]

[Professor Bear]

It's exactly what you'd expect if someone walked into a tv producer's office today with the Prisoner concept, and when the producer says "well, you'll have to ditch the ambiguity because the audience might not all be college graduates, and you'll also need a co-producer or two, and they'll have some stuff they want to bring to the table..." and then Number 2 gets a tragic life to motivate his fascism (including - I shit you not - a grumpy teenage son and a terminally ill wife), Number 6 is doing it because of girl-related tragedy, there are backing cast members with soap opera storylines that add not a jot to proceedings, and Number 6 is a big, crying girl, substituting a reactive wide-eyed frustration for McGoohan's measured cunning and barely concealed outrage at his predicament.

Don't get me wrong, all of the above could be a massive, brilliant double bluff on the part of the writers, with twists and turns aplenty coming in the following episodes, but I didn't stick around for those because the first one was a competent realisation of the Prisoner concept in terms of where 'the bar' is currently set for tv fantasy/sci-fi, but no more than that when more was necessary given that the original was kinda well thought of.

[Peter Wolf]

Not sure about watching this as i have never seen the original plus i have just read the comment immediately before mine which mentions the remake falling in line with where the bar is set for TV/SciFi/fantasy given that i am not a fan of it in general.

Not to mention my general dislike of recycling films and TV and creative bankruptcy when its really not that difficult to come up with a totally new idea.Its lazy and i am sick of it all.

Its not like everyone rewrites books so i dont see why TV and film has to be subject to endless remakes.

Finally i find Ad breaks really annoying when trying to watch something.

[Adrian Bamforth]

I'm looking forward to this: I really don't mind what they do with it since the characters are (presumably) not meant to be the same, the Village isn't the same and the era isn't the same. Whether good or bad it won't spoil my view of the original. It'll be nice to see the premise explored again.

[mogzilla]

i'llgive it a go,despite seeing the first series (well, two episodes ) and feeling decidedly wtf?

[Paul faplad Finch]

See, I remember watching it on video - 2 episodes for 13 quid, how did we survive before dvd? - and I remember loving it to bits, but that was a decade ago and my memory of specifics, other than the obvious iconic moments, is a little hazy.

Willing to give it a go this time around because a) I'll watch anythng even vaguely culty and b) the premise was genius in it's seeming simplicity and as Adrian says it will be nice to see it get another airing.

[worldshown]

Watched the first episode last night, and although I had low expectations, I quite enjoyed it.

A couple of little nods to the original series with 93's brown jacket and the map shop.

I'm looking forward to how the rest of it turns out.

[Adrian Bamforth]

I thought it worked least well when it made the token nods to the original (e.g. laval lamps, English Number Two, though McKellern was great) and best when it did it's own thing. I would have thought the way was open to come up with interesting new 'Rovers". The Village architecture seems a bit too multicultural and modern and maybe something more 'Eerie Indiana'/'Pleasantville'/Disneyland would have given it a more sinister quality (it that's not been done too many times). Perhaps they could have filmed it in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celebration,_Florida

Still, looking forward to finding out more about the Towers.

[Albion]

I'm a big fan of the original and this was very different but with some refernces with the old man wearing the blazer, the design of 6's house had similarities to the original and the people saying "Be seeing you" was still in there. Good to see the rover is still a scary balloon but somewhat bigger this time.

It was very different in that the villagers don't seem to be aware of an outside world and there are kids in the village too. 6 does seem to be there because he resigned from something, as did the old 6.
I enjoyed it and I'm intrigued by what is going on so it will keep me watching.

[Paul faplad Finch]

I don't know, my  first reaction to this was "It was shit".  While I was watching it all I could see were the ways it differed from, and was inferior to, the original. I did not come away satisfied.

A reaction of which I am ashamed, especially since I posted on this very thread that I was gonna give it a fair shake and see how a new generation deals with the concept.

So, on further reflection, I reckon I can see a lot of potential for something quite special here. Caviezel didn't do much for me McKellan was very effective in his role and the new set up of the villagers not seeming to blieve in the outside world could lead things in an interesting new direction.

Not a masterpiece, but in the cool light of day, not totally shit either. I reckon I'll be watching next week because I want to and not just to tick it off my list.

[Dandontdare]

I quite enjoyed the opener, but I think this will be a rapidly diminishing pleasure. The ambiguity and confusion are central to the show. The first episode worked quite well because nobody knows what's going on, but if the backstory and the truth behind the village is gradually revealed bit by bit, it will become less and less interesting as we go along.

The original show wasn't interested in explaining anything (as demonstrated by that hilarious final episode), it was a merely an artifice to tell mind-bending stories of paranoia and authority.