Product Description

Since its CBS debut in the summer of 1968, the masterful British TV series THE PRISONER has captivated American audiences. Now A&E presents a definitive aficionado's edition of the cult classic which is considered one of the most innovative TV series ever filmed, for the first time in breathtaking Blu-Ray. Fully restored from the original film elements with newly remixed 5.1 surround sound and featuring hours of bonus material never released in North America, THE PRISONER: BLU-RAY EDITION is a fitting tribute to the creative vision of the late Executive Producer and Star Patrick McGoohan.

After resigning from a top-secret position, a man (McGoohan) is abducted and spirited from his London home to a mysterious place known only as 'The Village.' Village Residents, known only by numbers, are held captive because each possesses valuable knowledge. The Prisoner, now known as Number Six, battles to protect his mind -- and his humanity -- while struggling to discover the identity of Number One and escape captivity.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #851 in DVD
• Released on: 2009-10-27
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Color, Full Screen, Subtitled
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 5
• Running time: 884 minutes

Amazon.com
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, all is revealed. Or is it? --Steve Landau

Also on the disc
The 17 episodes are contained on four Blu-ray discs, and they look fantastic. This is older footage (1968) that really shows a marked improvement in high definition. Audio can be played in either Dolby Digital 5.1 or the original mono. Bonus features are included on the episode discs and on a fifth disc, which is a standard-definition DVD rather than a Blu-ray disc. Don't Knock Yourself Out is a 95-minute documentary from 2007 about the history of The Prisoner, including the early career of Patrick McGoohan and how a trip to Wales for Danger Man helped him discover Portmerion. New interviews with the original cast and crew are complemented by archive footage. There are two new featurettes--"The Pink Prisoner" and "You Make Sure It Fits!"--as well as production-crew commentaries on seven episodes, archive textless materials, extensive images and production archives, and a 30-second promo for the 2009 AMC miniseries. --David Horiuchi

Customer Reviews

Amazing quality, a must buy for any fan of The Prisoner.
I bought The Prisoner on Blu-ray yesterday. Contrary to the one star reviews that were written before the Blu-ray release by people that had not seen the Blu-ray set yet, I can definitively say the picture and sound quality is top notch and is 100x better than the previous US dvd releases. (which I also own and compared it too.)

There really is no comparison here. The previous dvd's were muddy and the picture quality was severely lacking. The image on the Blu-ray release is crisp, clear and looks absolutely amazing. It looks like it could have been filmed yesterday.

I think if I had one complaint it would be that the fifth disc that contains many of the extras is a regular DVD and not in HD. However knowing that I would still have bought this set and been completely happy with my purchase.

The Prisoner has never looked or sounded better.

Everything a fan of THE PRISONER could have hoped for!
I put the first disc of the new Blu-ray of THE PRISONER on with some nervousness. Not all shows from the sixties do well in high def. For one thing, they were usually filmed with the knowledge that much of the detail was going to be lost when shown on the tube televisions of the time. Others have not been preserved well. But if there was a series from the sixties that seemed likely to survive translation to Blu-ray, it was THE PRISONER. Putting it on I worried that it might be merely an updating of the previous DVD, with a bit of surround sound thrown in for good measure.

I was ecstatic from the very first moment the famous opening credits started. I simply can't rave enough about this. I watched the first episode from my DVD set shortly before trying out the Blu-ray and the improvement of the picture is enormous. The increase of definition is amazing, as details as any show you will watch today in high def. The sound is bright and vibrant, with the option of listening either in 5.1 stereo or in the original mono (though I much prefer the surround sound -- it leads to a much more immersive experience, and I'm sure that they would have made it in surround sound had the technology existed at the time). But perhaps the biggest improvement is in the color. All of the colors are much deeper than in the older DVD. The total improvement is so extreme that it is almost like seeing the series anew, which is not all that easy to do since this is about the 8th or 9th time that I've watched the series. I saw the whole thing as a child when it first came out on American TV in the summer of 1968. I had never seen anything like this in my life (well, there wasn't anything like this). Then a few years later, in the mid-1970s, I caught it again on a PBS station. At Yale in the spring of 1977 I saw it on the big screen at Berkley College's film society. Then around 1984 I saw it on one of the cable stations (I don't remember which). Next, I saw it on VHS with a woman I was dating in 1989. Then I watched it a couple of times on DVD, once on my own and then with my daughter. But I have to say that I've never enjoyed watching it as much as I have in this new edition. Never, ever has it sounded this good or looked so spectacular.

One reason the show looks so great on high def is that few TV series have ever taken so much care with the way they look. I would be willing to bet that the show has more set ups per minute than any show in the history of TV, including miniseries. There are an astonishing number of shots during the course of each episode. The show is almost profligate in the number of shots. For instance, in a 20 second sequence showing Number Six walking across the village we might get 7 or 8 set ups. This simply is not done on television, where the emphasis is on shooting quickly and economically.

If I have a disappointment, it is that there are not as many special features as I would have liked. For instance, while there are commentaries galore, there are not some things that I would have liked. For instance, how about a two-hour documentary on the making of THE PRISONER. Few TV shows demand a feature like that, but if THE PRISONER doesn't demand that kind of treatment, what show does?

Another mild disappointment is that Patrick McGoohan did not live to see this edition of his masterpiece. I'm sure he would be enormously delighted to know that new generations of fans of his great series will see it in in ways that no one ever has before (even the big screen version I saw had a scratched print).

The series is, of course, one of the greatest things ever made for television. On the off chance that the reader of this review is unaware of the story, Patrick McGoohan (who not only created and starred in this series, but wrote and directed most of the episodes, frequently using fake names to disguise just how complete his involvement in the show was) had been the star of the highly successful British TV series DANGER MAN, released in the United States as SECRET AGENT MAN, and with the finest theme song in the history of TV, Johnny Rivers's hit single of the same name (originally Rivers had only a verse and the chorus, but when radio DJs wanted the "complete" song to play on the airwaves, he returned to the studio and added more verses). McGoohan's show was a huge hit but he bowed out and made this series. It is easy to read into THE PRISONER his experience in leaving DANGER MAN, especially given that Number Six clearly seems to be John Drake from DANGER MAN. Similarly it is easy to tie the show into all kinds of issues of the sixties. Embracing the liberal themes of the sixties, McGoohan clearly wanted to deal with issues of the individual of conscience in a time when governments were pressuring individuals to conform to specific ideologies. Number Six's resistance is across the board, but is focused on a single thing: his refusal to explain why he resigned from the secret service. Interestingly, the series does not proceed in serial fashion, but instead is largely episodic. Luckily, some of the individual episodes are spectacular. The series has only one lamentable aspect: the series finale is a let down, descending into near incoherence. But ignore the ending. The show as a whole is unforgettable. Once you have seen it you never quiet let go of it. References to is permeate our culture. For instance, in naming the memorable Cylon in the red dress, BATTLESTAR GALACTICA's Ron Moore gave a nod to THE PRISONER by dubbing her Number Six.

And now the show, always brilliant, can now be seen in this glorious new version. If you are a fan of THE PRISONER and have a Blu-ray player, you simply must get this. If you have never seen THE PRISONER, you also must get this, simply to experience one of the greatest series in the history of television.

The specs are out, and it's a good one!
1080p24 video for all 17 episodes, plus 5.1 audio.

* "Don't Knock Yourself Out": this exclusive, feature-length documentary is the definitive look at the production of THE PRISONER, told by those involved in its creation. It includes a combination of archive and newly-filmed interviews with nearly 400 people, including Amette Andre, Bernard Williams, David Tomblin, Derren Nesbitt, Peter Wyngarde, Anton Rodgers, Michael Grade, George Baker and Peter Bowles.
* Additional featurettes:
o "The Pink Prisoner:": Peter Wyngarde pays tribute to the series in this unique cross between an interview and comedy sketch
o "You Make Sure it Fits": music editor Eric Mival discusses his role behind the scenes in making 'The Prisoner' and provides a unique look at the Music Bible for the show
* Newly restored original edit of "Arrival" with an optional music-only soundtrack featuring Wilfred Josephs' complete and abandoned score
* Original edit of the episode "The Chimes of Big Ben"
* Production crew audio commentaries on seven episodes
* Image Archive: individual galleries of over 1,200 stills are featured throughout this set, including episodic shots, generic/PR Photos, coverage of the original press conference in 1967 and Jack Shampan's designs.
* Archive material, including textless titles with clean themes by Ron Grainer, Wilfred Josephs, and Robert Farnon, as well as material from Rover, Foreign 'Filing Cabinet' title footage and the McGoohan photo montage from "Arrival."
* Production Paperwork Archive: original scripts for each episode, along with other rarely-seen production documentation, press releases, call sheets and other memorabilia. This unique collection is sourced from the personal archives of Tony Sloman, Steven Ricks, and Simon Coward and is reproduced here with their permission and assistance. (DVD-ROM Feature)
* Exposure strips gallery
* Commercial break bumpers
* Trailers for all episodes
* Preview of AMC's 'The Prisoner' mini-series remake