Customer Reviews

Prisoner #3, the:Schizoid Man/

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In real PAtrick McGoohan is married to a lady (Joan Drummond). Fine but he is definitely afraid and/or despising of most women. THis carries right over into his Number 6 character in THe Prisoner. nearly anytime he had to do anything even vaguely romantic with girls on the show he plays really hard against it. He also write a dozen or more times when he touches men. Other problems in characters and technology the show has is it's dated feeling and the ending to the whole show is a non-payoff ripoff. I think producer George Markstein once said that of The Prisoner something like the Prisoner was the biggest bunch of nothing ever compiled.

Back in 1967, an allegorical television show emerged that has yet to be topped by any other English television series. The show: The Prisoner. Starring Patrick McGoohan, he plays the role of No. 6, a former secret service agent who resigned for unknown reasons and then finds himself knocked unconscious and trapped in a seemingly peaceful place called "the Village." Each episode features a new No. 2 (with a few exceptions), who watches his every move and strives to find out why he resigned. The only superior is the unseen No. 1, the supposed ruler of the Village. The only other characters that reoccur are The Supervisor (also called Controller), played by Peter Stanwick, and The Butler, played by Angelo Muscat.

In "The Schizoid Man," Number 6's behavorial patterns are altered and he's convinced that he's Number 12 impersonating as Number 6. An interesting story that tests Number 6's individuality is among the best in the series. My favorite part: Number 2 tells him the "password" is Gemini. When he's confronted by street thugs and they ask for the password, he defiantly tells them "Jiminy."

In "Many Happy Returns," the Village is seemingly deserted. He escapes, only to find that his superiors don't trust his motives. Still, a surprising plot twist makes his escape seem irrelevant... ah well, watch it and see for yourself.

In "It's Your Funeral," Number 6 learns of a plot to assassinate a former Number 2. He doesn't believe it, thinking they're at him again as to why he resigned. Is it a trap, or the work of "jammers"? This one's pretty complex when it comes to the murder plot, but it unravels nicely in the end.

The DVDs include an interview with Bernie Williams, the series' production manager and line producer. It's pretty insightful, as he stated that Patrick McGoohan had total control of the show (just because the show got weirder as it went along DOES NOT mean he had little control to begin with...) and it's comforting to know that most people involved with the show didn't even know what it was all about (Bernie said that it was "all in Patrick's head.").

Here is where I agreed with A&E's episode placement. You can tell the Village administration growing desperate overtime and since the two aforementioned episodes are back to back episodes, it would only seem logical. Also, we're halfway through the series and the original airdate had "Many Happy Returns" BEFORE "Checkmate," which in the episode, Number 2 says "the early recruit." EARLY EPISODE, peoples.

When Number 6 escaped from the Village, the world that we know that exists outside of the Village seemed not all that different... which goes to show you that the Village could be ANYWHERE, even the place that you live in. Perhaps this was to instill the idea into Number 6's head that he might be better off in the Village? Nevertheless, his individuality remained intact and still yearned to be free.

Many people have compared Number 6 to John Drake (Secret Agent Man). Sure, they're both played by Patrick McGoohan and act similar, but are they the same? I don't believe so. As I have stated in my review for Set 1, I believe McGoohan meant for us to "fill Number 6's shoes." In other words, we too are prisoners in society, caught in a social order that we can't break from.

I give every episode a 5 star rating, but I HIGHLY recommend you get the megaset instead of the individual volumes. This show is one that must be seen to believe.

I am a great fan of Patrick McGoohan and particularly of this seiries. This seiries is not for the faint of heart - what happens when a top secret agent decides to retire? Does he just move to the English equivalent of Florida and grow roses? Would his employer even allow him to do such a thing? And of course, WHY did he resign?

These issues are explored in this seiries and it's a paranoid surrealistic view of the answers. The shows are well written and self contained and Patrick McGoohan shines as the man who yells "I am not a number! I am a free man!"

I recommend this dvd highly, as well as the other dvds in this seiries.

This set contains Episodes 7, 8, and 9 (although there is some debate about the "true" order of the episdoes). The first two episodes are excellent but frustrating: in both, Number 6 has an opportunity to escape but (of course) is defeated in the end. In the third episode of this series, however, Number 6 scores a small victory against his captors, but despite this, I found the episode to be more slow-moving and not enjoyable as the others. Overall, however, this is a good addition to The Prisoner collection.

...Set 3, containing "Schizoid Man," "Many Happy Returns," and "It's Your Funeral" is perhaps the darkest (and best) of the lot.
"Schizoid Man" takes Number 6 into a confrontation with his own identity, now seemingly usurped by an exact duplicate. An elaborate mind game ensues, and both the Village wardens and the Prisoner come close to losing at key moments of the episode...
"Many Happy Returns" is my personal favorite. Number 6 awakens one morning to find the entire Village deserted. He escapes by hand-made raft, making it back to an England shrouded by dark clouds and hinting at an oppressive environment. His return home would be victory enough, but...well, watch the episode. What I love about this episode is its' camerawork, as during the first half of the episode there's little or no dialogue, and we have to rely on the Prisoner's facial reactions and body language to guess what he's thinking.
"It's Your Funeral" is perhaps the most confusing of episodes in that an elaborate assassination attempt is being planned, and Number 6 is dragged into its web. The confusing aspect is that the "wardens" are planning to assassinate one of their own, and yet will also act out retribution against the unwitting Villagers under the excuse of "deterring" future assassinations(which is why Number 6 tries to foil the plot). Just recognize the episode for what it is, a thinly veiled conspiracy-themed recreation of JFK some 20 years before Oliver Stone got his hooks into it (keep an eye out for a grassy knoll!...).
As middle-of-the-pack episodes go, these are some of the best. The only qualms I have with this set cover essentially the whole DVD series in that there aren't a lot of extras added (a commentary track from McGoohan would have ruled!, plus any deleted scenes, bloopers, et al.). Video quality and sound quality on the discs I got were excellent. If you have to select certain sets before any others, go for Sets 1,3 and 5.
Be seeing you!

Aside from the new interview with production manager Bernie Williams who reveals lots of tidbits about the show and some neat video footage, there are a couple of great episodes in this set.

"The Schizoid Man" is an extremely clever and delightful episode centering around a double that has been brought in to confuse #6 and ultimately us, the viewers. No matter. It's fun to sometimes be confused by this one and to see how #6 will once again outsmart his enemies. "Many Happy Returns" is another crafty episode with absolutely no dialogue coming for several minutes into the show. With a deserted village is this now #6's chance to escape? Finally, "It's Your Funeral" has #6 ironically on the side of #2 after he learns of a conspiracy to assassinate his top nemesis in the village. But is it legit or is #6 the one being outsmarted? As usual, it's fun to watch every little detail unfold. On video, it just wouldn't be the same. Enjoy.

Alas, if you are looking at this to buy, you must be familiar with the show, The Prisoner. If not you are in for a real treat, but you should be starting with volume one. This incredible show still holds up so well after 30 years. The writing is excellent, and can not be missed. This one contains my favorite episodes The Schizoid Man and Many Happy Returns. Its a shame writing for most shows in TV isn't this good. This DVD copy it very good with no color fading. The extra material is a bit limited, but it will provide you with some very challenging triva.

If you love The Prisoner, you can't go wrong with the DVD set. While this set has only three episodes instead of four, and they're not the most outstanding episodes of the series, they're all solid ones and they stand up to repeated viewing. And, while the interview with Bernie Williams is no substitute for a fourth episode, it's fascinating - and it's great to see someone connected with the show still talking about it with such enthusiasm.

Set Three of A&E's The Prisoner series features three episodes of the television program and an interesting interview with the production manager for the show, Bernie Williams. I won't spend too much time talking about the individual episodes. If you've seen the series before, then you know exactly how good they are. If you haven't seen them, then you owe it to yourself to view them. The transfer to DVD was very well done with nice little touches added in the menu pages. The video is excellent and the sound is superb; Number Six has never looked better.

The three episodes here are a great representation of the series. In THE SCHIZOID MAN, the Prisoner is confronted by an agent sent to test his own sense of identity. This episode is excellent and mind-bending; it definitely deserves several viewings on its own.

The interview with Bernie Williams may be a bit light for the hardcore fanatics, but as a casual fan of the series I found it to be quite enlightening and interesting. Williams goes over the creation of some of the classic show elements such as Rover and the various Number Twos.

You had best watch the second offering on the first DVD of Set 3 of <The Prisoner> to get the shocking news that none of us original fans could figure out what was going on because Patrick McGoohan himself began filming before he could figure it all out! Still what fun we had back in the 1960s when this Kafka-cum-Orwell series first came to our US tellies. All this and more is revealed in an all too short interview with Bernie Williams, the Production Manager for the series. Thank you, A&E, for including that.

The first section of that DVD treats us to the popular episode titled "The Schizoid Man" in which Number 6 gets to fight with himself in several excellently handled sequences as the nasty Number 2 (Anton Rodgers) tries to convince him the other Prisoner is really Number 6 while he is the specially prepared Number 12 (double six, get it?). Even the Rovers are confused at this one. Good fun all around here.

"Many Happy Returns" has no logic whatsoever. The Village is deserted entirely solely to let Number 6 escape by raft. He is nearly murdered by two Germans who find him after 18 days of exposure (are they part of the plan? and if not why did the Village risk his being killed?), gets back to London and finds his house there occupied and car driven by a very friendly middle-aged woman (Georgina Cookson). The twist ending makes no sense whatsoever because we are never told the purpose of the exercise other than the usual "You see once again you can never escape us."

"It's Your Funeral" actually involves two Number 2s, one of whom is planning to assassinate the outgoing one, thereby putting Number 6 in the strange situation of trying to save the latter to prevent punishment being dealt out to the innocent Villagers. One of the more interesting episodes.

Set 4 begins with "A Change of Mind" with a particularly revolting Number 2 (John Sharpe), a most attractive Bad Girl (Angela Browne), and an all too pat reaction from the Villagers at the end that is simply out of touch with what has gone before it. In "Hammer into Anvil," we have a Number 2 (Patrick Garghill) who is so paranoid that he cannot see through the very obvious reign of terror that Number 6 perpetuates--and again the script stretches our credulity too far.

The next two episodes, however, are both the most clever and completely different ones before "The Girl Who Was Death," which holds its own special place in the series. In "Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling," we have our star appear only in flashbacks and at the very end. In order to find a Scientist who has perfected a mind-transfer device right out of the old sci fi flicks of the 30s (not to mention an exceptional entry in "The Avengers" series), they put Number 6's mind into the body of a Bad One (Nigel Stock). Therefore it is Stock who plays the main character here--but with The Prisoner's mind, mind you--who eventually leads Number 2 and company to the scientist. (This plot was made necessary when McGoohan had to be away to film "Ice Station Zebra.")

Possibly the most talked-about episode (with the possible exception of the last two) is "Living in Harmony." Here Number 6 has been translated into a sheriff resigning his position at the beginning in an alternate-universe version of the expected opening, and turns to violence only to save a beautiful woman. In short, his virtue is turned into a vice by his Wardens. This episode contains the first of two appearances by Alexis Kanner, who will share star billing in the very last episode. However the western sequences end too soon and the ending is too sudden and too pat for us to believe in it. This is a shame, since what goes before is really marvelous on several levels.

So all we can do now is look forward to the final sets while we enjoy over and over the first four from A&E.