Arrival

First episode of the classic British series that stars Patrick McGoohan as a mysterious British secret agent who, as the opening credits show, angrily resigns from service for undisclosed reasons, but it because of those reasons that he finds himself knocked out by a gas, then taken to a remote and regimented place called the village, where he is told by number two(who can change without notice...) no one has names, but numbers, and he is assigned the number six, which he utterly rejects, and vows to escape from this "prison", but that will prove to be most difficult indeed... Solid way to begin the series establishes "Six" quite well indeed, with fine acting and atmosphere throughout, creating true viewer interest in what this is all about.

I've always recognize Patrick McGoohan as a great British actor, even he quite often playing bad guys, in this new series ( at least for me) that I've never hear before, I've bought by Box-set for the main character, my first impression has a bit disappoint in this opening episode, when he as British secret agent is fed up with something and offers his dismissal, afterwards he was kidnapped to an unknown place called simply by the Village, where supposedly is impossible to escape, he was taken to be interviewed about their exactly reasons to let him drop out of the secret service, however the number six as they re-named him, didn't want give any information and trying run away from there, many them failed attempts, there he meets a former secret agent at hospital in the same condition , later he found dead, suddenly appears a widow's agent that has an unerring scheme to leave there, acceptable introducing series, what's coming up next, thus we can say more!!!

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First watch: 2019 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD/ Rating: 7.25

They do not make them like this anymore. You would never get a series with such a long opening title sequence for a start.

I watched The Prisoner in the early 1980s. I was determined that I would understand it all. Some hope, even its main creative force, star and producer Patrick McGoohan could not figure it all by the end. McGoohan did give an interview on television cryptically stating it was all in No 6's mind. A prisoner of the mind is the best it gets as far as an explanation goes.

McGoohan made his name on British television as John Drake in Dangerman. Here, we see McGoohan play an unnamed operative who quits British Intelligence. It is fair to assume he is Drake.

After he arrives home, he is gassed and he wakes up in the Village. It is like a self contained Butlins holiday camp. The Prisoner is assigned a number, the Number 6. He is controlled by Number 2, who explains the rules of the Village. Number 6 is a valuable commodity with the things he knows. Number 2 wants to know why he quit.

Number 6 just wants to escape and live a normal life. He is not a number but a free man. It is not possible, the Village is controlled. The inhabitants cannot be trusted and there are barriers in place to prevent any escape, especially the giant balloon, a rover that could disable you.

This is a mysterious, unnerving, even a psychedelic thriller. It is a one of a kind type of series. It was shot in an Italian style village in Portmeirion, North Wales.

Innovative, expensive to make and so well realised. There have been degree modules examining this series.

The opening episode just bolts out of the blocks. Number 6 is a pawn, friends who he knew are playing him. Even Number 2 changes midway because Number 6 is so determined to escape.

A classic opening to a television great.

Patrick McGoohan plays Number Six. We don't know his real name, just that he is high profile spy who has chosen to "resign." Whatever the reason, he is drugged and placed in a kind of Club Med resort area which is actually a prison. There is a control center where Number Two watches over him with his cohorts. Being kind of a James Bond type, Number Six does what he can to escape but is unable to break the barriers. Everything is local and any conveyance for getting beyond the property is under the thumb of the authorities. We don't know their true motives, other than they want to know why he retired. He does everything any self-respecting Type A personality would do. He wrecks things, runs away, abuses people, but to no avail. The perimeter is patrolled by a gigantic white beach ball that has deadly capabilities. At one point he is captured by the thing and ends up in the hospital where he meets up with a former colleague. We are introduced to the participants in this drama which only ran for a single season. I watched it faithfully in the sixties and am excited to have another look.

Love how the title sequence with that terrific Ron Grainer theme welling up behind it encapsulates in three minutes the who!e premise for what was to follow.

A top-level secret agent (possibly John Drake- a case of art imitating life imitating art?) angrily resigns his position but is then kidnapped and placed in an apparently sleepy but ultra-modern village in an unknown location where he is expected to acclimate himself to the mundane unchanging way of life and also to give up information as to why he resigned. This brings him into contact with the ever changing Number 2, the village controller tasked with breaking the new Number 6 as the new arrival is termed and what follows is a succession of episodes where the individual puts himself against the system, not only asserting his own free-will but resisting the constant intrusion into his own privacy.

This classic scene-setter introduces Patrick McGoohan as the blazered, scowling, fiercely resistant Number 6 determined to beat every new Number 2 and eventually escape the Village. He tries every conventional method in this first chapter to get away only to be thwarted every time especially when he learns of the existence of "Rover" an absorbent roaring sci-fi bubble which acts as a sort of guard dog for the premises.

McGoohan is magnificent in the lead role in one of those rare TV shows which comes along and is completely unlike anything which has gone before. It baffled much of the public when first broadcast but makes more sense in today's more enlightened times.

Give it a chance and it will imprison your interest for all 17 episodes.