ALL SCI-FI

[Eadie]

What? Nothing on this great series?

The Prisoner is 50!

http://www.bbc.com/news/in-pictures-37232329?SThisFB

[Bud Brewster]

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Thanks for starting a discussion about this popular show, Eadie!

I never quite got into it myself, and when I bought the box set of Secret Agent (aka Danger Man, the other Patrick McGoohan series), I discovered I didn't enjoy it as much as I did when I was spy-crazy teenager in the 1960s.

But I'll bet we've got fans the two series around here just itchin' to talk about them!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[ralfy]

Fascinating series, especially the ending!

[scotpens]

[Bud Brewster]

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Hate to say it, but that's pretty much the whole series for me. Too trendy, too psychedelic, too wacka-doodle from the get-go.

Not my kind of series.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Eadie]

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prisoner#Filming

Filming for the series began on 5 September 1966, primarily in Portmeirion village near Porthmadog, North Wales. This location partially inspired the show. At the request of Portmeirion's architect Clough Williams-Ellis, the main location for the series was not disclosed until the opening credits of the last episode. Many extras on the set were recruited from the local residents. The Village setting was further augmented by the use of the backlot facilities at MGM-British Studios in Borehamwood.

Additionally, filming of a key sequence of the opening credits, and exterior location filming for three episodes, took place at 1 Buckingham Place in London, which at the time was a private residence and doubled as No. 6's home. The building still exists today as a highlight of Prisoner location tours and currently houses the headquarters of the Royal Warrant Holders Association. The episodes Many Happy Returns, The Girl Who Was Death (the cricket match for which was filmed at four different locations, with the main sequences filmed at Eltisley in Cambridgeshire), and Fall Out also made use of extensive location shooting in London and other locations.

Alternative Ending

According to author James Follett, a protégé of Prisoner co-creator George Markstein, Markstein had mapped out an explanation for the Village. In George Markstein's mind, a young John Drake, the lead character in the television series Danger Man, had once submitted a proposal for how to deal with retired secret agents who posed a security risk. Drake's idea was to create a comfortable retirement home where former agents could live out their final years, enduring firm but unintrusive surveillance.

Years later, Drake discovered that his idea had been put into practice, and not as a benign means of retirement, but instead as an interrogation centre and a prison camp. Outraged, Drake staged his own resignation, knowing he would be brought to the Village. He hoped to learn everything he could of how his idea had been implemented and find a way to destroy it. However, due to the range of nationalities and agents present in the Village, Drake realised he was not sure whose Village he was in — the one brought about by his own people or by the other side. Drake's conception of the Village would have been the foundation of declaring him to be "Number One".

According to Markstein: "'Who is Number Six?' is no mystery — he was a secret agent called Drake who quit." In the episodes Arrival, Once Upon a Time and The Chimes of Big Ben, Number Six declares his resignation to be "a matter of conscience," that he left his job "for peace of mind -- because too many people know too much. I know too much" and that the concerns he alludes to had weighed on his mind "for a very long time," all of which takes on greater meaning with Markstein's intention to reveal that Number Six had long ago created a proposal for how to protect elderly intelligence agents with too much secret information to go unsupervised.

Markstein added:

"The prisoner was going to leave the Village and he was going to have adventures in many parts of the world, but ultimately he would always be a prisoner. By that I don't mean he would always go back to the Village. He would always be a prisoner of his circumstances, his situation, his secret, his background ... and 'they' would always be there to ensure that his captivity continues."

However, Markstein's falling out with McGoohan resulted in Markstein's departure, and his story arc was discarded.

[ralfy]

[johnnybear]

I loved the series but was not impressed with the final episode which I first saw way back in 1984 on Channel 4 in the UK! What a waste of an ending it truly was...
JB

[Krel.]

I read an interview with Patric McGoohan that was a transcript of a TV interview he did in Canada. He said that the show was intended to be a 5 or 6 episode series. He was talked into doing more episodes, so it could be sold to the U.S. market as a summer series (a common thing in the 60s). Because of the added number of episodes, he had to pad the series out, so he did shows on subjects he always wanted to do.

Three I remember.

"Living in Harmony" was done, because he always wanted to be in a western.

"The Girl Who Was Death" was his parody of spy films and the indestructible Secret Agent.

"Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling", where Number 6 had his mind switched with another man, and had to find the Scientist who developed the technique to help him. This episode was done because he was filming "Ice Station Zebra".

He said that when the final episode was broadcast, he had to go into hiding in the hills in Ireland, because people wanted to lynch him. It was a very popular show, and people were expecting a Blofeld type villain, and they didn't get one.

David.

[Pow]

Big fan of Patrick. However, never could warm up to this series even with the marvelous looking village location filming & nifty looking sets.

Love Disney's ''The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh''with Patrick as the lead. He also did a great spy in the terrific epic film ''Ice Station Zebra.''

[Bud Brewster]

[johnnybear]

Sadly I wasn't that keen on Ice Station Zebra! Not sure why to be honest! Fake Arctic snow for one perhaps...
JB

[Bud Brewster]

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The interplay between submarine captain Rock Hudson and British intelligence operative Patrick McGoohan was the highlight of that movie!

There are several submarine adventures I'm fond of, and Ice Station Zebra is one of them. Other films on my list of favorites are —
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Crash Dive (1943)

Destination Tokyo (1943)

Operation Pacific (1951)

Hell and High Water (1954)

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954)

Up Periscope (1959)

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961)
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Submarines are like starships that cruise around in "fluidic space", a concept presented in Star Trek: Voyager.

If your interested in seeing some of my speculations on the future of mankind's oceanic endeavors, try the threads below.

Tethered Undersea Cities

SeaQuest DSV (1993-1996)

City Beneath the Sea (1971 TV movie)

They all feature some JPEG-modified artwork I created with Paint.net that I think helps present my concepts pretty well, like this water-powered generator that would be towed on a long cable behind a tether undersea city located in the powerful Antarctic Circumpolar Current which circles the South Pole.



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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[johnnybear]

20,000 Leagues is in a league of it's own, Bud!

Interesting fact, the guy who made the squid for the attack on the Nautilus also helped out with the making of the Shark in Jaws 20 years later!
JB

[Bud Brewster]

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Enjoy this excellent 90-minute documentary.
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____________ The Prisoner - behind the scenes


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)