The Prisoner (60's British show) Is this show good?
05-03-11, 11:33 AM
#1
DVD Talk Special Edition
Thread Starter
The Prisoner (60's British show) Is this show good?
The Blu Ray set is incredibly cheap on Amazon (33 bucks) and I always heard about it but I don't know anyone who has seen this show. Can anyone recommend it and give their personal opinion on it?
Last edited by Ringmaster; 05-03-11 at 11:52 AM. Reason: grammer
05-03-11, 11:43 AM
#2
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Re: The Prisoner (60's British show) Is this show good?
Doubt you'll find anyone who doesn't recommend it. The 2-part finale is a bit of a disapointment, there is a story behind that. Complex show. Books have been written about it.
05-03-11, 04:18 PM
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Re: The Prisoner (60's British show) Is this show good?
Yikes! I remember spending over $100 for the dvd set a long long time ago! I did end up selling it for a hundred bucks so now maybe I should buy the blu-ray...
05-03-11, 11:31 PM
#8
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Re: The Prisoner (60's British show) Is this show good?
It's been a long time since I've seen it, but I thought the series - ending included - was uniformly excellent.
05-04-11, 12:01 AM
#9
DVD Talk Hero
Re: The Prisoner (60's British show) Is this show good?
The greatest show ever, the writing was literally decades ahead of other television shows from its era. I wish I could discover the show again for the first time.
05-04-11, 01:27 AM
#10
DVD Talk Special Edition
Thread Starter
Re: The Prisoner (60's British show) Is this show good?
Thanks guys! It sounds like a no-brainer and Amazon is shipping my Set as we speak.
05-04-11, 07:48 AM
#11
Challenge Guru & Comic Nerd
Re: The Prisoner (60's British show) Is this show good?
Wish I had sold my unopened DVD set for good $ when I had the chance. Looking forward to seeing this for the first time someday.
05-12-11, 01:41 PM
#13
DVD Talk Legend
Re: The Prisoner (60's British show) Is this show good?
Note, however, that the order of the episodes on the discs in the set is not necessarily the order you should watch the show. From another thread on this show:
About watching the series for the first time:
The episode order for this series is somewhat controversial, as there isn't a single, official or agreed-upon order. I watched the series in the KTEH order, as that's the closet to definitive and was also the order the AVClub recently reviewed the series:
http://www.avclub.com/tvclub/tvshow/the-prisoner,84/
Here's a List from the FAQ, ordered according to KTEH:
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/tv/the-prisoner/part1/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...soner_episodes
The episode order for this series is somewhat controversial, as there isn't a single, official or agreed-upon order. I watched the series in the KTEH order, as that's the closet to definitive and was also the order the AVClub recently reviewed the series:
http://www.avclub.com/tvclub/tvshow/the-prisoner,84/
Here's a List from the FAQ, ordered according to KTEH:
Code:
KTEH 6o1 SciFi ITC 1st McG
*1* || 1 Arrival
2 3 2 || 8 8 || 3 Dance of the Dead
3 4 4 || 11 9 || 4 Checkmate
4 5 5 || 2 2 || 5 The Chimes of Big Ben
5 2 3 || 4 4 || 2 Free For All
6 9 9 || 7 7 || - Many Happy Returns
7 8 8 || 5 5 || - The Schizoid Man
8 7 6 || 6 6 || - The General
9 6 7 || 3 3 || - A, B, and C
10 14 14 || 12 14 || - Living in Harmony
11 10 10 || 10 11 || - It's Your Funeral
12 13 13 || 9 13 || - Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling
13 11 11 || 13 12 || - A Change of Mind
14 12 12 || 14 10 || - Hammer Into Anvil
15 || - The Girl Who Was Death
*16* || 6 Once Upon a Time
*17* || 7 Fall Out
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...soner_episodes
05-12-11, 09:59 PM
#14
DVD Talk Legend
Re: The Prisoner (60's British show) Is this show good?
I was thinking today of the best order to watch the episodes in, considering how they were placed on the Blu-rays (which is the order it originally aired, 5 episodes on each of the first 3 discs), while minimizing the number of disc swaps. If you try and watch it in KTEH order, you'd have to swap discs 10 times, often after only watching one episode.
Here's the order on the Discs:
Here's my proposed order:
Disc 1
Arrival
Disc 2
Dance of the Dead
Checkmate
Disc 1
The Chimes of Big Ben
Free For All
Disc 2
Many Happy Returns
Hammer into Anvil
The General
Disc 1
A, B, and C
Schizoid Man
Disc 3
It's Your Funeral
A Change of Mind
Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling
Living in Harmony
Girl who was Death
Disc 4
Once Upon a Time
Fall Out
This is only 7 disc swaps. Still more than the 4 swaps that you'd have to do if you just watched them in disc order, but not too bad.
Here's the order on the Discs:
Disc 1
Arrival
The Chimes of Big Ben
A, B, and C
Free For All
Schizoid Man
Disc 2
The General
Many Happy Returns
Dance of the Dead
Checkmate
Hammer into Anvil
Disc 3
It's Your Funeral
A Change of Mind
Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling
Living in Harmony
Girl who was Death
Disc 4
Once Upon a Time
Fall Out
Arrival
The Chimes of Big Ben
A, B, and C
Free For All
Schizoid Man
Disc 2
The General
Many Happy Returns
Dance of the Dead
Checkmate
Hammer into Anvil
Disc 3
It's Your Funeral
A Change of Mind
Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling
Living in Harmony
Girl who was Death
Disc 4
Once Upon a Time
Fall Out
Disc 1
Arrival
Disc 2
Dance of the Dead
Checkmate
Disc 1
The Chimes of Big Ben
Free For All
Disc 2
Many Happy Returns
Hammer into Anvil
The General
Disc 1
A, B, and C
Schizoid Man
Disc 3
It's Your Funeral
A Change of Mind
Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling
Living in Harmony
Girl who was Death
Disc 4
Once Upon a Time
Fall Out
This is only 7 disc swaps. Still more than the 4 swaps that you'd have to do if you just watched them in disc order, but not too bad.
05-21-11, 03:33 PM
#15
Member
Re: The Prisoner (60's British show) Is this show good?
After spending a year as a member of Six Of One (early '90s) and totally immersing myself into THE PRISONER, I studied the order debate and came up with my own order that I wrote down and used as a bookmark in a PRISONER COMPANION book.
Here is that order, with the US-aired order in parenthesis, with the appropriate Blu-Ray disc denoted. It's more disc swaps, but so be it:
Disc 1
Arrival (1)
Disc 2
Dance Of The Dead (8)
Checkmate (11)
Disc 1
The Chimes Of Big Ben (2)
Free For All (4)
Disc 2
Many Happy Returns (7)
Disc 1
The Schizoid Man (5)
Disc 2
The General (6)
Disc 1
A, B, & C (3)
Disc 3
Living In Harmony (12)
It's Your Funeral (10)
Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling (9)
A Change Of Mind (13)
Disc 2
Hammer Into Anvil (14)
Disc 3
The Girl Who Was Death (15)
Disc 4
Once Upon A Time (16)
Fall Out (17)
And I'm now just realizing that this is the SAME as the KTEH order!
Harry
Here is that order, with the US-aired order in parenthesis, with the appropriate Blu-Ray disc denoted. It's more disc swaps, but so be it:
Disc 1
Arrival (1)
Disc 2
Dance Of The Dead (8)
Checkmate (11)
Disc 1
The Chimes Of Big Ben (2)
Free For All (4)
Disc 2
Many Happy Returns (7)
Disc 1
The Schizoid Man (5)
Disc 2
The General (6)
Disc 1
A, B, & C (3)
Disc 3
Living In Harmony (12)
It's Your Funeral (10)
Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling (9)
A Change Of Mind (13)
Disc 2
Hammer Into Anvil (14)
Disc 3
The Girl Who Was Death (15)
Disc 4
Once Upon A Time (16)
Fall Out (17)
And I'm now just realizing that this is the SAME as the KTEH order!
Harry
05-21-11, 05:28 PM
#16
DVD Talk Legend
Re: The Prisoner (60's British show) Is this show good?
Just a note that Living in Harmony was not broadcast during the first two American broadcasts of the series on CBS, in 1968 and 1969.
It's funny that you and author D. Scott Apel arrived at the same order! 
And I'm now just realizing that this is the SAME as the KTEH order!
05-21-11, 07:10 PM
#17
Member
Re: The Prisoner (60's British show) Is this show good?
Scary even!
Harry
Last edited by HGN2001; 05-21-11 at 07:29 PM.
