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connielane at 01:22pm on 14/01/2009 under obits
connielane at 01:22pm on 14/01/2009 under obitsPatrick McGoohan died yesterday at the age of 80. He is most recognizable to me as King Edward "Longshanks" from Braveheart. Also Judge Noose from A Time to Kill. But he is probably best known to people slightly older than myself and people who know much more about sci-fi/fantasy than myself as Number Six from the hugely popular and influential cult classic British television series The Prisoner. He also had a fairly distinguished stage career as well.
After a bit of investigation, I can see that I have missed something spectacular by never having seen The Prisoner and must Netflix it immediately. Here are some comments McGoohan made in reference to it, back in 1977:
After a bit of investigation, I can see that I have missed something spectacular by never having seen The Prisoner and must Netflix it immediately. Here are some comments McGoohan made in reference to it, back in 1977:
I think progress is the biggest enemy on earth, apart from oneself… I think we're gonna take good care of this planet shortly… there's never been a weapon created yet on the face of the Earth that hadn't been used…
…We're run by the Pentagon, we're run by Madison Avenue, we're run by television, and as long as we accept those things and don't revolt we'll have to go along with the stream to the eventual avalanche… As long as we go out and buy stuff, we're at their mercy. We're at the mercy of the advertiser and of course there are certain things that we need, but a lot of the stuff that is bought is not needed…
…We all live in a little Village… Your village may be different from other people's villages but we are all prisoners.
(mystery)
The Prisoner wasn't simply ahead of it's time. It was breaking the mold. It wasn't groundbreaking. It is something else altogether and I cannot see it ever being matched again. It was the best use of the narrative television form ever conceived as far as I'm concerned.
Indeed, yes, you are missing something truly spectacular. I am happy to see you are rectifying that.
It is one of the few things that I own the entire collection of. The Prisoner, Buffy, Futurama and MST3K. I place Farscape second to The Prisoner and don't even own all of it (due to the forever fucking ridiculous pricing on it).