"The Prisoner" Remake [Spoilers].

[Big Orange]

Has anybody seen the well produced and competent but pretty blah remake of The Prisoner?



A ton of money and artistic creativity was poured into The Prisoner, and Ian McKellen is an excellent choice for Number 2, but that doesn't stop the series from feeling rather incoherent, derivative, and soulless. The lead character, Number 6, seems too young and a lot like a Ken doll, he hasn't got much charisma and presence like the late McGoohan. The last three episodes seem to be played out of order (when main characters are captured) and the episode formula seems to be very mechanical (Number 6 meets another Village citizen, they go on frolicks, find out more about the Village, and then the assigned citizen dies).

I really think The Prisoner would've been enlivened somewhat if Dominic Monaghan was Number Six (instead of that Jimmy fella) to play off against Number Two (funny LotR injokes abound). I'm four episodes in and might as well finish off watching the mini-series, as listless and incoherent as it so-far is, and as with Star Trek: The Motion Picture, the setting and places seem more interesting than most of the characters and events.

[Crossroads Inc.]

Dude it has the bubble in it, It has the Bubble! Kick ass!

Looks awesome, defiantly has the feel of the originally, Perhaps quite a bit toned down from the 70's version (which was REALLY freaky) but defiantly looks good.

[Admiral Valdemar]

The "bubble" is Rover.

It's "definitely", most assuredly.

The original was a '60s show.

Other than that, I've not caught any of this remake, but heard bad things. I've not bothered with it.

[Minischoles]

I caught the first episode, and was very sorely disappointed in pretty much the entire show. There is one redeeming feature of this, and that is Mckellan portraying Number 2 - apart from that the rest of it is almost universally shit. Avoid it unless you can ignore most of the show and enjoy Mckellan's performance.

[Patrick Degan]

Gotten through four episodes so far. This miniseries is not attempting to be a remake or even a "reimagining" of the original, per-se, and references the original not only in the form of certain icons but also in the scene in one episode in which schoolchildren are being taught the history of The Village. McKellan has made a very suave and sinister Number 2, while Caviezel's Number 6 strikes me as the sort of everyman who'd get dumped into that sort of setup and is trying his best to cope with what he's capable of —a considerable challenge considering that he was not an experienced field espionage agent and war veteran as the original Number 6 was and doesn't have the equivalent skillset, either physically or mentally. The administration of this Village doesn't care what the new Number 6's secrets were, they seem to be using him primarily to test their defences and also their methods of reconditioning.

[Starglider]

I watched the first three episodes of this. I was literally falling asleep. The characters, story and setting are all flat, boring and turgid. Nothing of interest seems to happen, there is absolutely none of the sharp characterisation, surrealism or mind screws that made the original great.

[Admiral Valdemar]

Plus, much as I adore McKellan, I liked the concept of Number 6 driving the Number 2 of the week out after each attempt they made anew to get the secret out of him. He was literally going through an army of experts in every field, with only Leo McKern's Number 2 being worthy of having a second shot at it with Degree Absolute (although now I think about it, Colin Gordon had that privilege too).

If they could've gotten a load of big names for a new Number 2 each episode, it may have added some variety, perhaps.

[Temujin]

Even with the always awesome Ian McKellan, I can't be arsed to even bother with it. It just seems flat and has no appeal to it for some reason.

[Big Orange]

I've seen the penultimate episode of this mini-series, I might as well see it through - Ian McKellen is mesmerising as always as the grandfatherly tyrant, while the plot gets ever more cryptic and muddled (so the Village is some kind of computer simulation now?). And Lennie James would've been a better choice for a more rugged and engaing Number 6.

I'd say this remake is much like Star Trek: The Motion Picture, David Lynch's Dune, and PotC: At World's End in that it's not a terrible and unentertaining production on principle, but little about it really "clicks".

[Patrick Degan]

I liked the concept of Number 6 driving the Number 2 of the week out after each attempt they made anew to get the secret out of him. He was literally going through an army of experts in every field, with only Leo McKern's Number 2 being worthy of having a second shot at it with Degree Absolute (although now I think about it, Colin Gordon had that privilege too).

I've rather thought that the only thing that saved that Number 2 (Gordon) from being immediately disappeared was his involvement in the Speedlearn project. However, after that got fucked up by the man he was also supposed to be trying to break, that's when he would've wound up as compost in a landfill somewhere.

[Big Orange]

Wow, what in the fuck was that all about?! The last two episodes did not make a lick of sense, as universally awsome as Ian McKellen is. Ashes to Ashes' ending made more sense 'fer Satan's sake.