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For decades, fans of the original Prisoner TV series have sung its phrases, calling it one of the greatest TV series ever made, and Patrick McGoohan was certainly hypnotic as the involuntary resident of a mysterious European-style village surrounded by mountains, sea and desert, with no means of escape. So the only possible way AMC could rival the original's legacy was by casting their re-interpretation with Gandalf and Jesus.
Ian McKellan and Jim Caviezel play 2 and 6, the men who have lost their names and been given numbers along with their homes in the village. But while 6 is desperate to escape, 2 is his warden, constantly reminding him of the impossibility of escape and punishing him when he tries. Luckily, the reinterpreted Village looks a lot less like Disney World and a lot more like a David Lynch movie, and the giant white ball that is sent to retrieve escapees is even bigger than it was before. Whether Caviezel's version of the classic line -- "I am not a number, I am a person!" -- will carry the same heft remains to be seen.
The Prisoner airs tonight, Monday and Tuesday at 8/7C on AMC.
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"Sung its phrases?" Who's copy editing here?
Maybe people were singing quotes from the show!
I hope there were kicklines.
Heh! to the singing of phrases. A bit on the poetic side, but it almost works, given how quotable the original is.
To "sing praises" is a legit phrase and if it happened in the past, "sung praises" would be correct.
The classic phrase was 'I am not a number -- I am a free man!'
Trace, I believe the problem is that the sentence doesn't say "praises", it says "phrases." ...I'm digging the picture of kicklines in my head right now...
This sort of lack of quality control has become endemic on this site. Not only has the quality of the writing gone drastically down-hill, but the editing is abysmal. From "singing phrases" to embarrassing "reign/rein" errors (witnessed more than once on these pages), I don't think I can take it anymore. This used to be one of my favorite sites, because it was clever and well-written, and a result I used to read practically everything on it. Not anymore; since the sale, quality has suffered tremendously.
After spending six hours wndering where THE PRISONER was headed, I haev come to the conclusion that the miniseries was a prophecy of things to come in the village we call America. Conformity, control [by 2], and socialism are what drives life in the village. Is this where our village is headed?
The Village exists inside the head of two's wife M2. Basically, inside her lower subconscious. How she controls the village, and the prisoners inside it is never explained. How can she control prisoners with her subconscious without any mechanical intervention between her and the prisoners? How can M2 provide reparative therapy and at the same time free will, all with an unattached subconscious to the collective?. How Summakor gained such a technology is not examined either. In that lies deep frustration with the series. The very mechanism or reason behind the "Village" left only to the viewers imagination. Which might be well and ok if this mysterious fact were explained earlier in the series rather than later.
You get to the sixth episode of the series "Checkmate" and are still left in a state of stasis. Much like the prisoners. This is mainly due to poor direction by Bill Gallagher. The flashback scenes lacked a sort of time stamp, leaving the viewer uncertain as to when, and where something was happening. The viewer is consistently left adrift like a ship sailing without a chronometer.
The only way to become remotely familiar with the storyline is to watch the videos on AMC website and click on the link , ”Inside the Prisoner”. In fact the Prison in this series is much like the world of the Matrix, but the difference is that the storyline provided by the Matrix explained what it is in the beginning. This helped the viewer understand the complexities of the plot in a manner that removed unnecessary confusion. Confusion was used a plotline in the Prisoner, but to it’s own detriment.