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prisoner no more
Jan. 15th, 2009 07:02 amOn the passing of Patrick McGoohan, its co-creator and star (and sometime writer and director), a few words on The Prisoner.
I watched a lot of crappy TV in those days, but The Prisoner was the only show that I felt surpassed my childhood ability to understand it. Consequently it was the only one I dearly wished to see again when older, but in those pre-VCR days I didn't get the chance until midnight screenings appeared in the film archive theatre of my college. I attended with alacrity, and so did many others.
Other excellent series dramas have appeared on TV since its time - I agree with Steven Johnson: the best of TV has greatly improved over the years - but the DVD blurb calling it "TV's first masterpiece," at least of its kind, might not be an exaggeration. It wasn't exactly a continuing series: what McGoohan wanted to create was a mini-series, but the form hadn't quite been invented yet. (Rather as the coeval Sgt. Pepper was intended to be a concept album, but that form hadn't quite been invented yet either.)
The unique quality of The Prisoner came from its being both a symbolic allegory of social and political relevance (McGoohan's desire) and an exciting, mysterious spy thriller (the intention of George Markstein, the script editor). Their creative tension - they argued constantly - produced excellence. If either alone had had his way, it would have been a far lesser work.
I watched a lot of crappy TV in those days, but The Prisoner was the only show that I felt surpassed my childhood ability to understand it. Consequently it was the only one I dearly wished to see again when older, but in those pre-VCR days I didn't get the chance until midnight screenings appeared in the film archive theatre of my college. I attended with alacrity, and so did many others.
Other excellent series dramas have appeared on TV since its time - I agree with Steven Johnson: the best of TV has greatly improved over the years - but the DVD blurb calling it "TV's first masterpiece," at least of its kind, might not be an exaggeration. It wasn't exactly a continuing series: what McGoohan wanted to create was a mini-series, but the form hadn't quite been invented yet. (Rather as the coeval Sgt. Pepper was intended to be a concept album, but that form hadn't quite been invented yet either.)
The unique quality of The Prisoner came from its being both a symbolic allegory of social and political relevance (McGoohan's desire) and an exciting, mysterious spy thriller (the intention of George Markstein, the script editor). Their creative tension - they argued constantly - produced excellence. If either alone had had his way, it would have been a far lesser work.
