Rating: 
Summary: Complete at last on DVDs--and with bonuses yet!
Review: <The Prisoner> It is a lovely day in the Village now that A&E has released the final episodes of "The Prisoner" on two DVDs as Set 5 of the complete collection. Here we have the wonderful spoof of all spy films, "The Girl Who Was Death," in which the ubiquitous villainess (Justine Lord) is always one step ahead of the beleaguered agent (McGoohan) and in which we have the cleverest of all twist endings in the series. But Prisoner-lovers will want this set especially for the final two episodes. There is "Once Upon a Time," in which an early Number 2 (Leo McKern) risks his very sanity to break down Number 6--and, we are told, the actor actually came close to or just into a nervous breakdown during the intense filming. And of course, the "resolution" to the series, "Fall Out," in which the elusive Number 1 is finally (and literally) unmasked and revealed as the only logical person it could have been. I have to admit to a slight dislike of the smugness in this last episode, especially that of the character of the young rebel (Alexis Kanner, who had been featured in the "Living in Harmony" episode earlier in the series). But since McGoohan himself, in all probability, wanted only to keep us mystified throughout 17 episodes--4 more than he had originally planned-- I strongly suspect never really had any concrete idea of what the ultimate "revelation" would be until most of them had been filmed. But who cares? It is a lot of fun, once you toss logic to the winds and take the whole thing as something out of Kafka and/or Beckett and/or Orwell.
The second DVD hold as two special bonuses a detailed overview of the series, "The Prisoner Video Companion" and an even more revealing 16 mm home movie taken by the Production Manager, showing how the scenes were actually shot around guests staying at the location that is now world-famous for being The Village. Be seeing you.
Rating:
Summary: And in the end...
Review: ...the madness we take is equal to the madness we make? "Once Upon A Time" and "Far Out", the final episodes of "The Prisoner", are the most surrealistic stories ever presented in television. McGoohan, who directed the two episodes, never wanted to explain anything. The main questions arised in the show -"What side in the cold war created the village?", "Who is Number One"?, "What Number Six knows that is so important to the Village rulers?" , "Where the island is located?" - receive no explanation or ambiguos answers. But that doesn't matter. In "The Prisoner", logic and plot were never so important as a weird atmosphere. And weirdness abound in the final chapters. There is a trial that rivalize in madness with Alice's in Lewis Carrol's classic, the chocking revelation of Number One's identity, a climax underlined by the Beatles' song "All You Need Is Love", and a symbolic epilogue. I think you won't find in DVD nothing more representative of the psichedelic sixties, maybe with the exception of The Monkees' "Head". A final warning: If you love "The Prisoner", don't miss this DVD. But if you don't like or don't know it yet, buy something else!
Rating:
Summary: And in the end...
Review: ...the madness we take is equal to the madness we make? "Once Upon A Time" and "Far Out", the final episodes of "The Prisoner", are the most surrealistic stories ever presented in television. McGoohan, who directed the two episodes, never wanted to explain anything. The main questions arised in the show -"What side in the cold war created the village?", "Who is Number One"?, "What Number Six knows that is so important to the Village rulers?" , "Where the island is located?" - receive no explanation or ambiguos answers. But that doesn't matter. In "The Prisoner", logic and plot were never so important as a weird atmosphere. And weirdness abound in the final chapters. There is a trial that rivalize in madness with Alice's in Lewis Carrol's classic, the chocking revelation of Number One's identity, a climax underlined by the Beatles' song "All You Need Is Love", and a symbolic epilogue. I think you won't find in DVD nothing more representative of the psichedelic sixties, maybe with the exception of The Monkees' "Head". A final warning: If you love "The Prisoner", don't miss this DVD. But if you don't like or don't know it yet, buy something else!
Rating:
Summary: Complete at last, and on DVD!
Review: Another classy A&E project is completed in style. (Now, when are we going to get the rest of the Honor Blackman Avengerses?)
But what's with the jacket notes? We are urged to study "the mind-numbing conclusion" in "laborious detail." After all, "viewers were confused, outraged, or puzzled. Which category will you fall into?" Entertained or Satisfied are not options, I guess. Is this just extreme carelessness with words, or last-minute sabotage by an employee who secretly despises the show and its fans? A final Prisoner mystery. Anyway, it's a wonderful series if you don't take it too seriously. A few episodes are dreadful clinkers, but the good ones are as good as TV gets. ...the best of these DVD sets for someone just sampling the series is Set 3--two of the very best and most coherent episodes, and one not-at-all bad; true, you don't get the first episode that way, but you don't have to sit through "Dance of the Dead" either, and the premise of the show is recapped at the beginning of every episode anyway. And don't take the order of episodes given in the DVD set too seriously either, even if some fan group did approve it. One of the pleasures of the series is deciding for yourself which order the episodes should go in--there's plenty of room for disagreement.
Rating:
Summary: Complete at last, and on DVD!
Review: Another classy A&E project is completed in style. (Now, when are we going to get the rest of the Honor Blackman Avengerses?)
But what's with the jacket notes? We are urged to study "the mind-numbing conclusion" in "laborious detail." After all, "viewers were confused, outraged, or puzzled. Which category will you fall into?" Entertained or Satisfied are not options, I guess. Is this just extreme carelessness with words, or last-minute sabotage by an employee who secretly despises the show and its fans? A final Prisoner mystery. Anyway, it's a wonderful series if you don't take it too seriously. A few episodes are dreadful clinkers, but the good ones are as good as TV gets. ...the best of these DVD sets for someone just sampling the series is Set 3--two of the very best and most coherent episodes, and one not-at-all bad; true, you don't get the first episode that way, but you don't have to sit through "Dance of the Dead" either, and the premise of the show is recapped at the beginning of every episode anyway. And don't take the order of episodes given in the DVD set too seriously either, even if some fan group did approve it. One of the pleasures of the series is deciding for yourself which order the episodes should go in--there's plenty of room for disagreement.
Rating:
Summary: "Them Bones, Them Bones, Them... Dry Bones!"
Review: 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 Girl Who Was Death," Number Six avoids a series of assassination attempts while "on duty" as a secret agent. An offbeat episode that was probably meant to parody the previous Danger Man series. In fact, one character from that series appears here as the same character, same actor... ... ah... now we get to the last TWO episodes of the series! Finally! How do they measure up you ask? Read on... In "Once Upon a Time," Number Six deals with the same Number Two from "Chimes of Big Ben" (played by Leo McKern, from "Candleshoe" and "Ladyhawke") as he undergoes Degree Absolute. It is a one-week, last-man-standing psychological struggle in which Number Two hopes to FINALLY break down Number Six. A STRANGE episode, filled with mindboggling clues is meant only to be viewed once you've viewed the others. TRUST ME. And finally, "Fall Out" has Number Two revived and Number Six placed before an underground court. They allow him the ability to leave whenever he wishes and to lead the Village as he sees fit. Alexis Kanner, who played The Kid in "Harmony," returns in a different role as Number 48. Both Number Two and 48 show signs of rebellion, and the Butler follows Number Six. Most likely represents how people automatically follow the strongest leader like blind sheep. The final episodes upset the fans... and for good reason! Where is the Village?! Who is Number One?! In the episode, he meets Number One, who is holding a glass ball. In it, it shows The Prisoner's face and suddenly, Number One is revealed to be... him?! How is he Number One, and why? That's never answered. My theory is that it's symbolism for every man's desire to be "Number One" in life, to be the top dog. After all, his address is 1 Buckingham Place. Not a coincidence. Even if you don't really know why he resigned, McGoohan almost plainly tells you... In "Chimes of Big Ben," he says he "resigned out of conscience." In "Once Upon a Time," he says he resigned "for peace. Peace of mind. I know too much." He probably felt the pressures of his job. Can you imagine the pain of being a secret agent and knowing EVERYTHING about someone, plus on top of that, people will always be out to get you?? This probably represented his feelings at the time. After all, he was fed up with "Secret Agent Man" and wanted to do something different, something surreal. With that theory in mind, I have no qualm about McGoohan revealing why. Of course, at the end, people think the cycle started over. I don't want to believe that; I prefer to believe that he actually escaped the Village, but he has a new "Village" to face... an even larger one. The song "Dry Bones" is actually taken from a Biblical passage in Ezekial. It talks of Jesus resurrecting skeletons in the desert and then they were covered with flesh and blood again, as if they were anew. When Number 48 sings the song, the underground society grows wild. The Prisoner Companion referred to this as The Prisoner being The Prophet, an unordinary man sent to make change in the world. Whoa, the Prisoner... the equivalent of Jesus? No joking. Oh man, this series is one of the most mind-warping series ever devised. It's a great allegory and impressively produced. I will never forget it and it's such an inspiration for me to write stories with hidden symbolism and overtures. Mr. McGoohan, I thank thee for such a fine show.
Rating: 
Summary: A&E Messed up...
Review: Don't get me wrong, the series is fantastic. One of the best paranoid fantasies I've ever seen. But A&E messed up when putting the show on DVD. First they used a debatable order for the episodes and now with Set 5 they have taken the final 2 episodes (which really NEED to be viewed back to back in a 2 hour sitting) and placed them on 2 separate discs. They should have either saved the alternate Chimes of Big Ben from the first disc and moved the order down by one, thus making set 5 the final 2 episodes plus a disc of bonus material OR taken the bonus material and added it to "The Girl Who Was Death", leaving the final 2 episodes alone on the final disc.
Rating: 
Summary: Difficult for younger audiences
Review: Having watched this DVD for one of my college classes, it really was quite confusing, especially when compared to modern, episodic TV (Friends, Law & Order, etc.). Once Upon a Time - This episode didn't have the bubble, but not being aware of what "absolute zero" was made the show hard to follow. When Number 2 abandons his method to find out why Number 6 resigned, he starts to develop a friendship of sorts, not realizing that Number 6 is really in charge. Number 2 dies and Number 6 wants to meet Number 1. Fall Out - This is probably the most bizarre episode of them all. With the trial of Number 48 and Number 2, the robed representatives have very strange reactions, maybe the proceedings annoying. When Number 2 gives his speech, they repeat "I" over and over again, making it impossible to understand him. I do like the way this one ends, it is silly, but it makes sense. We are all prisoners to society. Because of the class that I was in, we only watched "Arrival," "Once Upon a Time," and "Fall Out." Perhaps my opinion would have been different.
Rating:
Summary: Difficult for younger audiences
Review: Having watched this DVD for one of my college classes, it really was quite confusing, especially when compared to modern, episodic TV (Friends, Law & Order, etc.). Once Upon a Time - This episode didn't have the bubble, but not being aware of what "absolute zero" was made the show hard to follow. When Number 2 abandons his method to find out why Number 6 resigned, he starts to develop a friendship of sorts, not realizing that Number 6 is really in charge. Number 2 dies and Number 6 wants to meet Number 1. Fall Out - This is probably the most bizarre episode of them all. With the trial of Number 48 and Number 2, the robed representatives have very strange reactions, maybe the proceedings annoying. When Number 2 gives his speech, they repeat "I" over and over again, making it impossible to understand him. I do like the way this one ends, it is silly, but it makes sense. We are all prisoners to society. Because of the class that I was in, we only watched "Arrival," "Once Upon a Time," and "Fall Out." Perhaps my opinion would have been different.
Rating:
Summary: True fans will not be disappointed with Fall Out
Review: I remember watching the reruns of The Prisoner when I was a schoolboy, and I have had a fascination with the series (and the village of Portmeirion in Wales, where it was filmed) ever since. The excitement as the screening of the final episode, Fall Out, neared, was palpable. I remembered blitzing every store in my hometown with posters I had made myself, encouraging people to tune in to find out the identity of the mysterious Number One. I was not disappointed with the conclusion, and don't think any true fan would be. It is in keeping with the spirit of the entire series. Technically, Fall Out is rather a shambles; apparently the episode was put together in a rush, and edited at the eleventh hour; it certainly shows. The continuity is embarrassingly bad. As usual, the dialogue veers between inspired and pretentious. But that is all part and parcel of the unique Prisoner experience. This final episode is without doubt the most memorable. Kenneth Griffith (The Girl Who Was Death) and Alexis Kanner (Living in Harmony) both make return guest appearances, as does the greatest Number Two, Leo McKern. It is in this episode that Number Two emerges as an equal and fellow-prisoner with Number Six. The conclusion is deliberately ambiguous (perhaps why so many disliked it), and leaves the viewer exhilarated after a climax that is playful, euphoric and victorious at the same time as it is melancholy, foreboding and haunting. The London and Portmeirion locations are a further treat for those who got fed up with some of the studio-bound earlier episodes. The music, as ever, is an eclectic selection of tunes and effects, but is perhaps the most memorably and excitingly scored episode of the series. Also on this edition are Once Upon a Time (which segues into Fall Out, and follows the final, dramatic confrontation between Number Two and Number Six) and The Girl Who Was Death, an unusual episode which was never intended to be part of the original series, but which is fun nevertheless.
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