The Prisoner
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I just watched the first episode of TYhe Prisoner (60’s cult show about’the village’) and was completely blown away.
Do you guys get that show in the rest of the world?
I can’t believe that the episode I saw was from 1967 !!!
I know there are no aliens in it, and it doesn’t have space travel, but you can’t get more cultish than this, waddaya reccon to a SadGeezers Guide to The Prisoner… would it fit in with YOUR impression of Cult TV Sci Fi?
[b]We Want
INFORMATION ![/b][b][img]/sad-images/prisoner.gif[/img][/b]
[i][b](it’s
hypnotising huh?!)[/b][/i]——————
[img]/sad-images/sad-sig.gif[/img]I suppose people will argue with me, but it’s [i]my[/i] personal opinion that [i]The Prisoner[/i] was the worst science fiction series in the history of television.
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Lee P. Sherman, code name DalekTek790
Whovian, Froudian, Lexxian, etc.OOOOHHHH!!! DalekTek90!! how can you say that about a show our dear sweet Sadgeezer enjoys?? Shame on you !! [img]http://www.sadgeezer.com/ubb/tongue.gif[/img] [img]http://www.sadgeezer.com/ubb/tongue.gif[/img] [img]http://www.sadgeezer.com/ubb/tongue.gif[/img] [img]http://www.sadgeezer.com/ubb/biggrin.gif[/img]
Lov ya all!Ps… Sorry Aleck I meant to say Dalektek90… [img]http://www.sadgeezer.com/ubb/frown.gif[/img]
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“to err is human” or is it “the air is human” ?? matt Gideon “Crusade”“Look for me by the moonlight-
Watch for me by moonlight-I’ll come to thee by the moonlight,
though Hell should bar the way”
——-The Highwayman
Excerpt from “Exquisite Corpse” by Poppy Brite
“Late in the year,New Orleans still has its hot days. In the slave quaters, Jay and Tran blossomed like the giant stinking carrion-flowers that grow in humid jungles. Their ravaged abdomens swelled and burst like red-petals, a jubliee of rot. Their putrescent fluids pooled on the concrete floor and in the hollows of their disintegrating bodies. …Their faces, c**** and B**** grew into shapeless masses of blackened flesh. Swollen tongues like ball gags forced their jaws wide. Organs tumbled out of their bodies like distended winebags. From their decomposition rose wisps of steam and soft wet sounds of gaseous intimacy….Tran fell out of his binding straps and melted slowly into Jay’s ribcage. A large, faintly iridescent stain ate up the concrete floor around them. Their eyes were black caverns.They gave birth to worms, generation after generation, until their bodies were covered as if in a living blanket. Soon they were picked clean, their bones an ivory sculpture-puzzle shining in the dark, waiting to tell their mute love story.
[This message has been edited by Christine Carroll (edited March 17, 2001).]
[This message has been edited by Christine Carroll (edited March 19, 2001).]
quote:
Originally posted by Christine Carroll:
[b]OOOOHHHH!!! Aleck !!! How can you say that about a show our dear sweet Sadgeezer enjoys?? Shame on you !! [img]http://www.sadgeezer.com/ubb/tongue.gif[/img] [img]http://www.sadgeezer.com/ubb/tongue.gif[/img] [img]http://www.sadgeezer.com/ubb/tongue.gif[/img] [img]http://www.sadgeezer.com/ubb/biggrin.gif[/img]
Lov ya all![/b]
‘Twasn’t me that said it. You’d NEVER see me saying anything like that about The Prisoner, which, while I wouldn’t say is Sci Fi in the strictest sense, is on my list of the Best Television Shows Ever Made. There are a few episodes I don’t particularly care for (on the strength of the first couple of episodes, star/writer/producer Patrick McGoohan was asked to essentially double the length of the series, and added several “stand-alone” episodes that didn’t further the overall plot of the series, and several of the episodes were broadcast out-of-order), but those that work, work WONDERS.
Sad, if you’re going to continue viewing this absolutely AMAZING show, keep us updated. I’m curious to see what your reaction will be to the final couple of episodes. Reaction was so strong against them that McGoohan had to flee the country. [img]http://www.sadgeezer.com/ubb/smile.gif[/img]
And Dalek, do you like *anything* that smacks of anti-establishment sentiment or subverts the “rules” of television/film? Kee-ripes…–Aleck
[quote=”DalekTek790″]I suppose people will argue with me, but it’s [i]my[/i] personal opinion that [i]The Prisoner[/i] was the worst science fiction series in the history of television.[/quote]
I was just looking through really old threads and came across this previously unseen one… Guess DalekTek790 stopped posting here a long time ago (I wonder why?), but I’m just so amazed to see anyone who thinks it’s the worst sci-fi series ever… I mean, sure it’s no Manimal “I am not a number, I am a free Manimal!” And sure, I can understand some people not liking it, but the worst EVER? I guess not every show can be up to the standards of Galactica 1980. 😀
In all fairness, the first complete episode I saw was the Girl Who Was Death, before that I saw part of Checkmate, and I didn’t watch it again for ten years. I also thought it was the worst Sci-Fi show ever because my expectations were so high.
Also, people into hard Sci-Fi don’t seem to like it much, because none of the tech is explained. Of course if they actually watched to the end and found out it isn’t really what it appears to be… well, you know. 😉
Mr. Pet didn’t get it at first; those 18 frames of Number One’s face passed right by him because “I don’t know; my mind couldn’t accept it from TV. That’s too advanced a concept to come out of that idiot box. Kind of the way no one sees werewolves in plain sight because the idea is so farfetched.”
(Ya gotta know him to get that, I suppose. He’s a genius, but slightly off…. 🙂 That’s why I love him!)
83
As you know, I love The Girl Who Was Death… imaginative I thought, but rather out of place.
The show denies expectation (to a point at least). And it doesn’t follow normal, hackneyed sci-fi genre conventions. Yeah, the show is not strictly sci-fi, meaning it’s not generic, and as you know, McGoohan claimed it wasn’t sci-fi. Plenty of [url=http://www.sadgeezer.com/html/modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=120&page=1&POSTNUKESID=c3270aadaf623bbc79da21b11ce6f988]science and technology[/url] which firmly puts it into the sci-fi universe for me, but, yes, thank goodness, they don’t bother to explain it. I do so hate the pseudo technobabble in the later Star Treks etc..
I find the ideas in The Prisoner intriguing and appealing. It is a very philosophical and psychological show, but if one’s strictly looking for action, and doesn’t want to have to think (plenty of room left open for individual interpretation, then it’s probably a show best avoided.
Too many shows try to explain everything, there’s no room left for your imagination/ your own creative input. It’s a multi-layered show. The Prisoner treats the viewer as an individual with a mind of his own up to a point. I’ve found it a very immersive show; the Prisoner’s dilemma is my own… On a basic level, we share the same questions as the Prisoner (and a few more) and I think that was a clever strategy. I don’t much care for it when the audience can figure things out/ know far more than the characters. I really like Stargate SG1 (especially for the Col. Jack humour), but get irritated because I usually figure out the connections faster than the protagonists (even the brainy ones) because they give us so many clues – I guess it’s done that way so the audience feels smart, but it van make the characters in the show seem dumb… I like to be surprised, and I like a sense of mystery, once I’m sure I know exactly is going to happen I lose interest. The Prisoner managed to keep me guessing at least when it came to many of the questions that are layed out for you from the beginning.
Still, I didn’t like that I always knew his escape attempts would fail, and it did really stretch credulity at times… No. 6 could have learned a thing or two from Homer Number 5 — now Homer knew how to effectively handle bouncy balls. But since in the end, as you said, everything isn’t what it appeared to be anyway…
I’m talking hermeneutics here: The way the show engages the audience echoes the Prisoner’s plight – the structure works well on an internal (The Village as the world) and external (we are witness to the Village) level.
Anyway, to each his own… Perhaps he couldn’t identify with No. 6, the concepts bored him, or he’s a hard sci-fi buff – my big love is arthouse and experimental works. The Village is so layered with artifice that I do think, generally, it would appeal more to people with more literary than literal minds.
By the way, think I’ll move employ some Village trickery, and move this thread to The Prisoner forum. It’s so old that it’s not showing up in General Sci-Fi Stuff.
EDIT: To obscurity and beyond… Still not showing up (I found this topic when doing a search, but it doesn’t show up on the forum pages)
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