The September 2009 Issues - Standard and Deluxe
The 2017 '50th Anniversary Edition' Issues - Standard and 'Village Editions' Deluxe
The 2019 Reissue of the 2017 Standard '50th Anniversary Edition'
"…We Have A Citizen's Advice
Bureau Up There…They're Very Good Apparently…"
Enter into this volatile soup the cocky and
charismatic actor Patrick McGoohan fresh from his global TV success as John
Drake in "Danger Man". The distinctly voiced actor (born in New York,
but raised in Ireland and Britain) had a mind-bending idea for a new
"spy" TV series limited to only 7 episodes. "The Village"
would be a self-contained world where no one had a name but a number and
would act as a sort of containment home for retired secret agents that
big-brother Government wanted to control and keep an eye on. Each week would
see a new Number 2 trying to crack Number 6 (McGoohan) through ever more
elaborate means. Escape was curtailed by a moving floating blob called
"Rover" – this giant boob chased, cornered and then suffocated its
victims up against a wall or into the sand (nice). The futility of even
'trying' to escape was reinforced by the insidious repetition of phrases like
"be seeing you" - an early version of wordplay and spin-doctors playing
us. It was a brilliant pitch and Lew Grade (head of Independent Television)
thought it was "...crazy enough that it might just work...". But come
February 1968 when the 17th truly-out-there "Fall Out" episode was
finally aired (some saying it made little sense), McGoohan was on the defensive
and practically being run out of his own country by angry and confused fans...
How utterly cool! Now let's get to its transition on HD BLU RAY...
VERSIONS:
28 September 2009 saw TWO issues – the UK standard
version (Region B only) with Prison Bars artwork and a blue clip case is
Barcode 5027626700348 whilst their was also a Limited Edition in a Beautiful Box with Number 6's Kit-Car on the cover (the one I've reviewed) with an extra paperback book
inside. The problem/confusion for buyers arises because it has no barcode on
the rear so you can only differentiate by asking the seller or checking their
photos as to what issue you're buying. The Box Set variant (pictured above) as you will find out
is long deleted and has acquired something of a nasty price tag – but it is in
my mind the prettiest variant. There are of course US variants (there's was issued October 2009) with slightly altered artwork too and most tend to be REGION 1 only.
30 October 2017 saw 'The Complete Series' reissued as
a 50th Anniversary Edition and again in TWO variants. I'll deal
with the Standard Edition first because it's the one most people will see or
try to buy because of its cheap cost. In a Network Exclusive Digipak ("The
Complete Series starring Patrick McGoohan" is the title on the cover),
compared to that gorgeous 2009 issue, the artwork on the Standard Edition is
abysmal (Barcode 5027626804343). It has a treated profile face shot of McGoohan
against the backdrop of the village – just mostly white artwork. That in itself
has been reissued 29 July 2019 and it appeared again in October 2019 – same
artwork (Barcode 5027626830144).
You get a flimsy
card wrap on the outside that really is as unappetising as the artwork on Amazon
suggests. That same crap blurry cover picture is on the fold out card inner
which contains the discs and there's a foldout page that barely lists the
titles - and that's your lot. With the 2009 standard Blu Ray case version on
Amazon for £25 or less (with all 6-discs containing the beautifully remastered
programs from the 60s cult classic) - this is hugely disappointing and a poor
effort for forty quid. I couldn't stand to look at it and sent it back for a
refund immediately. What a downer...avoid.
But to annoy us
even further, also issued 30 October 2017, there is a Network UK '50th Anniversary
Limited Edition' that goes all bells and whistles. This variant is loosely
called 'Village Editions' (because of its artwork on the front cover). It comes
with a new documentary called "In My Mind" with footage from 1983
cobbled together with a reluctant Patrick McGoohan, 6CDs of Remastered Music
from the show called 'Village Recordings', the 6 restored BLU RAY discs now
labelled as 'Village Films', visual stuff called 'Village Books' which features
the hardback book 'An Illustrated History' by ANDREW PIXLEY – and all of this
is contained in an outer 'Village Editions' box (Barcode 5027626816346). They
come as boxes within boxes – so the ‘Village Films’ outer contains the shitty
looking standard edition BLU RAY set within. It was initially pitched at about
£70 but that is of course deleted and prices now vary hugely on the auction
market for this pretty looking set – somewhere between £150 and £260 at times.
But for the
purpose of this post, lets review the September 2009 Box Set...
UK-released on BLU RAY in September 2009 (Oct 2009 in
the USA with different packaging) - the UK packaging is a box-of-chocolates
shaped cardboard box with two compartments - the first contains a near-300 page
paperback book entitled "The Prisoner - A Complete Production Guide"
by ANDREW PIXLEY. It was originally produced exclusively for NETWORK and their
2007 remastered DVD box and is reprinted here; the second inset has a 6-disc
BLU RAY clip box (each disc features a different picture). Discs 1 to 4 contain
all 17 episodes - the complete series - and each episode with its own special
features. Discs 5 and 6 have staggering amounts of further extras including
input from those involved, previously unseen behind-the-scenes footage, a
different version of "Arrival" and several commentaries by the
production crew. It's exhaustive stuff. Only the BLU RAY set itself inside the
box has a Barcode - 5027626700348
While the paperback is fan-obsessed with details and a
truly informative account, it is completely devoid of any photographs, which I
feel is not just disappointing, but does this otherwise fantastic presentation
a major disservice. While there are loads of pictures on Disc 6 (in High Def)
and fabulous complimentary features too - it would have been nice to trawl over
a really good book featuring photos of those superb production values. No
disrespect to the author whose work here is incredible and must have taken
years of research, it's just that all words and no visual make it a very dry
read (it was probably too cost-prohibitive).
But that minor niggle quickly pales into
insignificance once your eyes see the frame-by-frame fully restored 35mm print.
Presented in 1:33:1 aspect and filling the full screen - it is ABSOLUTELY
GLORIOUS TO LOOK AT - and puts many a modern production to shame. I noticed
maybe only one or two occasions where the image had lines or some other stock
fault - for 98% of the time, the digitally restored high definition print is
faultless and a constant joy and revelation to look at.
Filmed in a real-life folly called Portmeirion in
Gwynedd in Wales (fans still visit the town in Prisoner regalia), the entire
seaside town was the dream of architect Clough Williams-Ellis who purchased the
peninsula in 1923 and began building his own Mediterranean village there
complete with an English twist. Portmeirion had in fact featured in previous
"Danger Man" episodes and McGoohan and his family had often holidayed
there. With a budget of £50,000-per-episode, a large uniquely clothed cast of
extras and an entire town bathed in summer sunshine to play with, the
extraordinary location and production values collided to produce a vision that
stuns to this day.
The clarity is AWESOME... There's a scene in Episode 1
"Arrival" where McGoohan is offered a chair in Number Two's lair - a
hole in the floor slides across and up pops a stool - but this time you can
clearly see that the hole is cardboard - and not steel. In Episode 2 "The
Chimes Of Big Ben" when Nadia Gray wakes up as Number 8, you can see her
hair is immaculate and her eyelids are heavily pasted in blue makeup... (the
episode also features Finlay Currie as the General who was Magwitch the Convict
in David Lean's masterpiece "Great Expectations") - and on
it goes!
In the 90-minute extra "Don't Knock Yourself
Out" actors, producers and editors describe McGoohan on set in 1967 as
charismatic, brilliant and a visionary - while others like Leo McKern and one
actress in particular loathed McGoohan the man to the point of distraction -
calling him monster, maniacal, brutish and a bully. Oddjob actor Patrick was
undoubtedly the whole lot.
And like William Shatner and his 'big role', Captain
Kirk from Star Trek, McGoohan had an equally spiky relationship with the
character and TV series that both defined and pigeonholed him for decades.
Still, you can't help but feel that Patrick is up there right now (whatever
mood he's in) beaming down at this wonderful box set.
Is "Number 1" that part of you that
capitulates - as McGoohan seems to suggest when one of the masks is unveiled in
"Fall Out"? I don't know. But that's what "The Prisoner" is
like - even after more than four decades, it's still thought provoking, wildly
imaginative and stunningly relevant - especially on the core subjects of
individual freedom and Governmental control. And now on BLU RAY it has the box
set it has always deserved, even if the paperback is a wee bit of a letdown.
I've reviewed quite a few superlative restorations
before this - "North By Northwest", "The Italian Job",
"Cool Hand Luke", "Saturday Night, Sunday Morning" and
"The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner" (see reviews for all),
but this takes the gong. "The Prisoner" on BLU RAY is bound to make
many fans go weak at the knees and will hopefully draw in a new generation of
lovers for one of the most extraordinary television programs ever made.
Downsides – crappy reissues - without doubt and in
March 2020 – it seems amazing to me that either the lovely-looking September
2009 box or the October 2017 '50th Anniversary Limited Edition' Box Sets aren't generally
available and instead we're left with that awful-looking 2017/2019 issue with its
crap white artwork and an almost complete lack of physical visuals.
Time for another reissue I think. We wait in hope.
Good hunting and be seeing you...
