Comments on: I’m A Prisoner Of Bad Science Fiction TV Shows

By: John M. Whalen

John M. Whalen — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:10:00 +0000

I certainly won’t try to defend The Prisoner remake, but most of the criticism I’m hearing is that it’s not like the original. What could be? Trying to imitate what Patrick McGoohan did would be impossible. You’d have to be a genius. I didn’t much like the first installment at all. It was totally disorienting, if you came to it expecting an update of the same story idea. But part two became more interesting with some audacious liberties brought into the story line. One of these was the fact that No. 2 not only has a wife, who he keeps sedated, but a son, who turns out to be gay. We find out by part three that the Village exists in some surreal level of the Unconcious mind, and was totally No. 2’s creation. As head of Summacorp he engineered the Village into existence so that he could have a son, which he and his wife were incapable of in the plane of reality. He also wante dto help people damaged by life in the real world. When he finds out his son has murdered his gay lover and committed suicide, it destroys No. 2 and he in turn kills himself, after first handing the village over to No. 6. This version of the Prisoner puts its focus on No. 2 and No. 6 is more of a lost, floundering character, totally bewildered by everything. Until the end, when he assumes No. 2’s chair in the control/board room at Summacorp.

Some critics have pointed out that the remake was heavily influenced by the Lost TV series, which is quite possible. The idea of a group of people not knowing where they are fits this idea. And the elliptical storytelling style was a real struggle to sit through. Many scenes had dialog that starts out with an intriguing question, but the questions are never fully answered, with No. 2’s response usually trailing off into unfinished sentences. But there was a payoff in the end with an explanation of what the Village was.

If I were to take a guess, I would say this probably originated as a two hour script that somehow got stretched into six, with a lot of unnecessary padding out without the necessary work by the writer to make the story more coherent. I thought the miniseries was defeated by the style and its length, but I give the writer some credit for trying to do something more original than a mere carbon copy remake. He made it No. 2’s story, instead of No. 6.

By: Walt

Walt — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:07:11 +0000

To be fair, it’s also boring.

By: Sharon E. Dreyer

Sharon E. Dreyer — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:18:55 +0000

You may be “crotchtey,” but you are exactly correct about the original Prisoner being so much better! The reason there are so very many LOUSY remakes isn’t drugs, it’s EGO. The powers that be in Hollywood and cableland believe that they are smarter and more talented. Unfortunately, they aren’t. And, I couldn’t stay awake either! Thanks for the great review!

By: hagelrat

hagelrat — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 18:47:47 +0000

we want information. I was a little young to really remember it, but it still made a huge impression on me and visiting the folly where it was all filmed was almost as surreal as the show itself.

By: Jerry

Jerry — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:58:11 +0000

This “re-imagining” has definitely abandoned the original’s sense of existential absurdity in favor of a gloomy pall of dread. But at least these remakes are giving acknowledgment to their source material rather than just shamelessly ripping it off the way Hollywood does most sf.

By: Fred Kiesche

Fred Kiesche — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 13:37:53 +0000

Yep. Looked bad. Skipped it. Read Harlan Ellison instead.

By: 'notheroldfart

'notheroldfart — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 11:01:39 +0000

we all got out numbered by lazy stupid people who just don’t like to think.