Product Description

Though it ran for a mere 17 episodes the British sci-fi spy drama THE PRISONER is one of television's biggest cult hits. The brainchild of star Patrick McGoohan the series followed the adventures of No. 6 (McGoohan) a former secret agent who is being held captive in a highly secured village the location of which remains a mystery throughout the series. This groundbreaking and innovative show reached an unfortunate end when British TV bosses got cold feet following low ratings and increasingly strange story lines. But McGoohan himself took control and steered the show to an ending that continues to cause great debate among THE PRISONER's faithful fans. This release includes the entire series of the show.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS UPC: 733961758580 Manufacturer No: AAE-75858

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2401 in DVD
• Brand: A&E
• Released on: 2006-07-25
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Box set, Closed-captioned, Collector's Edition, Color, Original recording remastered, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 10
• Dimensions: 2.35 pounds
• Running time: 884 minutes

Amazon.com essential video
If a top-level spy decided he didn't want to be a spy anymore, could he just walk into HQ and hand in his resignation? With all that classified knowledge in his head, would he be allowed to become a civilian again, free to go about his life? The answer, according to the stylish, brilliantly conceived 1960s British TV series The Prisoner, is a resounding no. In fact, instead of receiving a gold watch for his years of faithful service, our hero (played by Patrick McGoohan) is followed home to his London flat and knocked unconscious. When he awakens, he finds himself in a picturesque village where everyone is known by a number. Where is it? Why was he brought here? And, most important, how does he leave?

As we learn in Episode 1, Number 6 can't leave. The Village's "citizens" might dress colorfully and stroll around its manicured gardens while a band plays bouncy Strauss marches, but the place is actually a prison. Surveillance is near total, and if all else fails, there's always the large, mysterious white ball that subdues potential escapees by temporarily smothering them. Who runs the Village? An ever-changing Number 2, who wants to know why Number 6 resigned. If he'd only cooperate, he's told, life can be made very pleasant. "I've resigned," he fumes. "I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or numbered. My life is my own." So sets the stage for the ultimate battle of wills: Number 6's struggle to retain his privacy, sanity, and individuality against the array of psychological and physical methods the Village uses to break him.

So does he ever escape? And does he ever find out who Number 1 is? "Questions are a burden to others," the Village saying goes. "Answers, a prison for oneself." Within this complete 17-episode set (which contains the entire series), all is revealed. Or is it? --Steve Landau

On the DVD
The new elements of The Prisoner's 40th Anniversary Collector's Edition are a 60-page episode guide by Roger Langley and a fold-out map Langley created in 2000. The guide collects a lot of helpful information for Prisoner novices, including synopses, trivia, and "hidden mysteries" from each episode. Prisoner devotees are probably well-versed in series lore, and Langley is a somewhat controversial figure among the fan base, so for them the chief attraction might be the 10-Thinpak packaging, which takes up about half the shelf space of the 2001 megaset. The DVD content is the same on both sets. --David Horiuchi

Customer Reviews

Very Good but the Network UK set is far superior
I concur with those that have stated that this is NOT the restored versions released last Oct in the UK from the original 35MM tapes. So it gets a strike against it for that. However I have purchased this set and it is acceptable to the average consumer. However the UK set is markedly superior. You would need a region-free player to play the UK set, and the set is more expensive than this version, but I believe it is worth it as I have seen the difference.

Who's Your Number Two?
Just a typical day...you slam your fists on your boss' desk in a rage.You feel like passing out, like you're just a number and there's no escape. You wake up in the morning and it's the same thing all over again. The piped-in music everyplace is driving you crazy, and where did all these people in striped outfits come from? Just when you make a run for it, this giant white ball stops you. I grew up watching this with my parents on Saturday morning. Not cartoons? Yeah, we're still a weird family. Our local PBS station showed it a decade and a half after its original airing in the sixties. This series made a big impression on my eight-year old brain. I bought the set a few years ago and watched it again, this time in color! It still makes an impression. Fantastic production values, great acting, paranoia-inducing with fabulous scripts. Patrick McGoohan plays a secret agent who is shipped off to a deprogramming facility by helicopter when he questions his superiors. (It's actually a real village in Wales called Portmeiron created by an eccentric in the 19th century ). Thought-provoking is the way agent number 6's (McGoohan) dilemma is reflected back into the society we live in. Society vs. individual identity, groupthink, power of suggestion...it's heady stuff and a pschoanalyst could spend hours trying to uncover the layers. I suggest you enjoy it and expect all your expectations to be turned upside down. Bravo! An instant classic. People in Hollywood should be strapped to their chairs and try to learn something from this.

BCNU
I'm a long time fan of this series - I seen it as a kid when it ran as a summer series on CBS in '68 then again when my old hometown PBS station aired it. All 17 episodes are included put in the order in which they were aired (although there is some debate in fandom about this item). Video quality is quite good except for the opening sequence which is a bit dark - this may be due to how it was originally shot so remastering couldn't improve it much.