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A real plesure to see one of my favorites (without commercials) from the 60s. Of course, some of the technical aspects are a little dated, but "The Prisoner" still remains among the finest series ever produced. Just sit back and enjoy it - psycho-analysis not required. As usual, Patrick McGoohan shines in his role as he always has in any TV or movie effort.
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I watched The Prisoner when it was first broadcast in the 60's and loved it then as a teen, it is even better now as a middel age adult! Timeless. Looking forward to comparing the original to the upcoming A&E version in November '09
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A cable channel has recently been broadcasting episodes of the original series on Friday nights. I tuned in wondering if, being older, the show would still hold up for me. It's been nearly 30 years since I saw it on KCET, the public broadcast station in Los Angeles. I thought that maybe it would be trite and embarrassing to watch now. But "The Prisoner" wasn't like that at all, if anything it looked sharper than ever. Yeah, it's a television show and you have to put up with some hamminess and over-the-top moments, but all the same, the core, ellusive ideas still delivered. It's still about consent, surveillance, security, identity, fear, without making themes too neat or morally simplistic. And nothing really comes across as a clunky, one-dimensional symbol--that rover thing with its growl sounding like it comes out of a forest is unnerving. I don't know what if anything it means, and I guess an obvious comparison for the times (even if not as powerfully imagined as Kubrick) is the monolith in "2001," also ineffable, ominous, suggestive. So I have to say, in spite of "The Prisoner" having a cult status now, it was a smart show. It still leaves me with things to think about. I found myself reading some commentary on Thomas Hobbes' "Leviathan" after watching an evening of episodes, thinking about the sacrifice of liberty we're presumed to volunteer for the benefit of living in society. I think the show really puts a twist on Hobbes and Locke. Anything that is both intelligent and a spy show and caught on with an audience would acquire a cult label. I'm at an age where I'm comfortable liking a few things that are popular. If it's good, it shouldn't matter how few or many people like it.
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One of the best series ever to have been on TV, complete now on DVD.
The set has a lot of nice additional features that viewers of The Prisoner will really appreciate.
A great blast from the past!
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I was barely 10 years old when 'The Prisoner' was first broadcast in the US, but, even then, I recongnized that it was nothing like the other TV espionage / action shows at the time. Life being what it was for a grade-schooler, I never got to see all the epsiodes, but it made an impression that has lasted.
Now, with 40 years of hindsight, the box set provides a fabulous way to experience all the details and nuances that escaped me the first time 'round.
As a plus, I get to introduce it to my teens -- fans of offbeat science / fantasy TV such as Joss Whedon's 'Firefly' series -- and they, too, feel that it's a unique example, of thoughtful, creative TV.
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