‘The Prisoner’ maintains storyline, loses flair

By: Casey O'Lear

Monday, November 23, 2009 - 8:49 PM

The American Movie Channel will host a “The Prisoner” marathon Wednesday beginning at midnight, playing all six episodes in the remade miniseries.

Last week, American Movie Channel premiered its new six-part miniseries, “The Prisoner,” a remake of the cult classic science fiction television show from the 1960s.

James Caviezel plays the part of Number Six, a man who awakens in the desert with the feeling that he is being chased and has no recollection of where he is or how he got there. He eventually makes his way into town to learn that he is in The Village, a town comprised of rows upon rows of quaint bungalows, contented residents who have numbers rather than names and loudspeakers trumpeting the news of The Village at every corner.

With brief flashbacks to his life in New York to motivate him, Number Six tries desperately to find a means of escape from The Village. Sir Ian McKellen is quite excellent as the sinister Number Two, who wants to prevent Number Six from escaping. This isn’t terribly difficult, since no matter how far one goes in any direction, there doesn’t seem to be anything in existence besides The Village and, aside from the memories held onto by various “prisoners” of The Village, there is no real evidence that an outside world exists.

The new miniseries is a rather faithful adaptation of the original “Prisoner.” The six episodes are directly inspired by similar episodes in the original series but are altered to fit a more concise timeline and more modern circumstances.

Many episodes of the original “Prisoner” series were extremely weird and metaphorical, in addition to being full of strange ‘60s science fiction and special effects, which was actually the main appeal. One of the best aspects of the show was Rover, a giant white bubble that would float about The Village premises and immobilize anyone who tried to escape. Rover also makes an appearance in the remake, but is far less goofy and a lot more symbolic.

By the end of the remade miniseries, it is clear that the writers are trying to focus on the allegory that is never fully realized by either series. The original deviates into very odd realms far too frequently to give the audience a firm grasp on the larger message, and the remake takes away much of the mystery and surrealism through its modernization.

While the 2009 version of “The Prisoner” is relatively quick to watch and makes it easier to absorb the basic storyline, I would still recommend watching the classic, with all its kitschy charm, instead.

Casey O’Lear can be reached at colear@nevadasagebrush.com.