Existential Bars: 'The Prisoner' on Blu-Ray

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FORTY-TWO YEARS AFTER it first aired, "The Prisoner" remains one of the strangest and trippiest television dramas ever produced, blending the paranoia of "The Invaders," the fixed setting of "Gilligan's Island," the plot machinations of Kafka and the surrealist imagery of a painting by Dali or, more fittingly, De Chirico.

It has become a cult institution, its 17 episodes passed around on bootlegged VCR tapes, then finally released as one of the earliest DVD box sets in 2000, and finally given a polishing on A&E's new five-disc Blu-Ray set which will no doubt inspire media upgrades among diehard fans.

Playing off the success of James Bond and other romanticized Cold War spies, "The Prisoner" twists the concept by making the man of action into a victim of an organization that can neither be beaten nor outsmarted. Co-creator and lead actor Patrick McGoohan had played a spy on the immensely popular British "Danger Man" series in the mid-1960s, and he devised "The Prisoner" to play subtly and deviously off that role.

After abruptly resigning his job, McGoohan's unnamed secret agent is gassed and imprisoned on a remote island that acts as a sort of retirement center for other decommissioned agents. Number Six, as he becomes known, won't be so easily silenced, and each episode finds him devising some new means of resistance and escape. "I am not a number," he declares repeatedly, often to shocking derision or laughter from other characters.

He is, of course, outsmarted at every turn by an organization that stays several steps ahead. When he tries to swim off the island, he is dogged by a gigantic floating sphere that nearly drowns him. That white orb has become one of the show's most menacing and mysterious symbols (and was memorably spoofed on "The Simpsons"). Overseeing the island and continually frustrating Number Six is the shady Number Two, who is played by a different actor in each episode. It's inspired casting, constantly reshuffling the show's elements and keeping viewers as unsettled and off-guard as Number Six.

"The Prisoner" delves deep into the overriding paranoia of the 1960s, specifically the fears of conformity, assimilation and control — which are all themes that continues to resound today. So, of course, it's getting a remake. AMC will air a six-episode miniseries starring Jim Caviezel (Jesus in "The Passion of the Christ") and Ian McKellen (Gandalf in "The Lord of the Ring" movies). The casting of McKellen as the permanent Number Two suggests the show might not match the original in terms of impact and longevity, but if so, at least it gives occasion for this handsome Blu-Ray set.

In short, "The Prisoner" looks and sounds better than it ever has. The series was innovative in its use of counterculture imagery and music in a mainstream setting, and those elements benefit from the new restoration. The primary colors appear all the more brightly oppressive, the island architecture more intricately detailed and crowded, the white orb more threatening. And the wealth of bonus material, including a feature-length documentary, ably traces its origins and legacy and presents this inimitable series as more than mere escapism.

Written by Express contributor Stephen M. Deusner
Photos courtesy A&E