Be seeing you…

Updated on January 15, 2009 By Ken Begg 16 Comments

1928-2009.  Not a number, but a free man.

Pin It

  • Charles Goodwin

    He will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or numbered. He will, however, be greatly missed.

  • Plissken79

    The Prisoner was one of the best works in any medium to study the reality of totalitarianism. Patrick McGoohan had more to do with the Show than almost anyone else, and he did a brilliant job.

  • Sandy Petersen

    It wasn’t just totalitarianism, though. He asked many hard questions. Is it possible to have justice in a system which muust cater to many different people? Are fair elections ever possible, considering that both candidates say things specifically to get your vote? Where does my right to swing my arm end, really?

    Best TV show by a huge margin in my opinion.

  • See, even communists like The Prisoner.

    McGoohan’s Disney production of Scarecrow of Romney Marsh finally came out recently (Peter Cushing played the same role in the–surprise–harder edged Hammer version of the tale, available on DVD as Night Creatures), although it’s already getting quite hard to find. Danger Man is a terrific show, and a must see for anyone interested in spy stuff. The entire run is out on DVD.

    Scanners, Braveheart, Ice Station Zero…lot of good work.

  • rizzo

    I’m watching The Prisoner over again this weekend in tribute. It’s definitely my favorite non comedy series of all time.

  • KeithB

    I read on Pharyngula that Ricardo Montalban has also died.

  • David Fullam

    Feel free to drop by my blog here http://davidfullam.livejournal.com/127221.html

    It’s my tribute to Patrick and also Ricardo Montalban.

  • sardu

    The Prisoner: first TV show to be worthy of being called Art? Discuss.

  • Pip

    I’ve never seen it. I take it that it is still worth watching even if one is (fashionably) late for the party?

  • ProfessorKettlewell

    To answer Pip: yes, very worth watching. It’s pretty much my encyclopoedia definition of a TV series that ‘tries to make you think’ but not ‘tries to tell you what to think’ (and that’s all the difference in world, in my book). Sure, it’s political, but not polemical: I guess the ‘feel’ is overall left-leaning, but not remotely naive or utopian: Rebellion is necessary, but it’s no use advocating cholera just because Mussolini supported public sanitation. The Revolution is not the end of the struggle, it’s the beginning. Sweeping away the existing order will not automatically create paradise. Being a rebel is easier than being a leader.

    It’s actually possible to almost completely ignore the sociopoliical and catholic allegories and just watch it as a cracking action-adventure series; I don’t think UK TV ever bettered those production values. Just get the box-set and watch it cold, before reading any of the ‘scholarship’ on the show. Actually, Pip, I really envy you that you can do that!!

  • Petoht

    Certainly still worth watching. Watch out for giant… um… balloon thingies…

  • Chad R.

    I believe the balloon thingies were called “Rovers.”

  • BeckoningChasm

    Rover was awesome. That something so innocuous, even ridiculous, could be so menacing…and as a last-minute replacement for the original, too.

    So long, Patrick.

  • The Rev. D.D.

    I may have to follow Pip. I was interested in watching it back when the Sci-Fi Channel was running various older series all the time but it was on during a time of day I was never able to catch it. Plus I’d heard enough good things that I was afraid I’d never catch the series in order, so I never did. Now perhaps I can rectify that…

  • Sandy Petersen

    left-leaning? I thought it was obviously anti-socialist to an extreme extent. I guess different people read different things into it.

    Anyone who has not seen the Prisoner owes it to thsmselves to see it. I will in fact argue that if you only ever watched one tv show in your entire life, this should be it. Not that that’s likely to happen.

    And McGoohan breaks so many lame conventions of television. He doesn’t tell you stuff, he shows you. He doesn’t bother to explain what happened. He lets you figure it out. The dialogue is witty and incisive. The action scenes, while not always convincing (in common with many British actorsa, McGoohan doesn’t throw a convincing punch) are always fun.

    With 17 episodes there are a few clinkers, but even the weaker shows (The General has not aged gracefully, for instance) still stand tall above literally every other tv show ever made.

  • Pip

    Thank you Petoht, Professor, and Mr. Petersen. I’ll look into it.