Prisoner 2009 DVD announced

[23skidoo]

TV Shows on DVD is reporting that AMC's remake of The Prisoner is due for North American DVD release in March 2010. Apparently no Blu-Ray is planned at the moment because of the lack of interest in the show (a fact that should be a concern for people awaiting the release of obscure or short-lived TV series once DVD is retired).

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Prisoner-DVDs-Announced/13119

Apparently (according to a blog linked from the above), the AMC Prisoner bombed big-time. I guess it just went over the heads of the modern-day viewers. What people forget is the original was a huge flop, too (it was cancelled after the production of episode 16 and McGoohan was given one more episode to wrap everything up, ergo the written-in-48-hours Fall Out). And a lot of people hated it back then (as some apparently do today judging by some of the comments on the blog), and the response to Fall Out in 1968 was on par with the response to These Are the Voyages and the nuBSG finale. Nonetheless 40 years later the series - Fall Out included - is considered a classic.

I still say it'll be interesting to compare the UK ratings for this.

I'm not saying the remake comes close to the original, but I think it's a show that will enjoy renewed appreciation at a later date. For now, the 20 or 30 fans of the show will be able to watch it on DVD.

Alex

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Apparently no Blu-Ray is planned at the moment

Damn. Okay, well, forget it then.

 

[Harvey]

Well, if there's no Blu-Ray, I'll definitely pass. But I wasn't hugely impressed with the series, anyway, so it's not much of a bother. I prefer the original, which I already have in high def.

 

[23skidoo]

Damn. Okay, well, forget it then.

It's a shame people are cutting their noses off to spite their faces like this. If Blu-Ray players didn't play DVD I'd say fair enough, but a well-mastered DVD will still look great.

It's like all those people denying themselves things like classic Doctor Who or Babylon 5 or DS9 simply because it's not on Blu-Ray. Heck, there were people 8 years ago who refused to buy DVD because they wanted to wait till the Blu-Ray. Some of them are still waiting. I guess that's one way to save money.

Alex

 

[Harvey]

I've already got Babylon 5 and Deep Space Nine on DVD. Both classic series. This one was barely passable, a curiosity that's not worth picking up in a resoultion that's below what I saw on television.

 

[bigdaddy]

It was bad, it wasn't over anyone's head it was just bad.

 

[Professor Zoom]

It was bad, it wasn't over anyone's head it was just bad.

This.

 

[Kegg]

I still say it'll be interesting to compare the UK ratings for this.

I might give it a chance but given the lukewarm response I'm not too keen on it. More inclined to, say, that Caprica thing, I hear it's okay.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Damn. Okay, well, forget it then.

It's a shame people are cutting their noses off to spite their faces like this. If Blu-Ray players didn't play DVD I'd say fair enough, but a well-mastered DVD will still look great.

Not good enough.

It's like all those people denying themselves things like classic Doctor Who or Babylon 5 or DS9 simply because it's not on Blu-Ray.

The difference is, we KNOW that none of those shows can be released on Blu-Ray, because technical limitations will prevent it.

The Prisoner remake, on the other hand, was broadcast in HD, so we know it *can* theoretically be released on BR. And if it can, it will be, sooner or later. So why not wait? (Besides, the fact that the *original* series was released on BR does suggest that the remake also will be, one day.)

 

[Temis the Vorta]

It was bad, it wasn't over anyone's head it was just bad.

It was too padded. The first and last episodes told the whole damn story (and I thought it was an interesting and unexpected story). But the audience wasn't willing to wade through a lot of filler just to get there.

I think the problem was that the producers felt obligated to include all the window-dressing elements from the original series. They should have just appropriated the name and nothing else (in fact, it's a pretty generic title - why even assume it has anything to do with the 60's show?) That would have freed them up for a truly original approach that didn't take any more time to tell than the story needed.

 

[auntiehill]

Well, I'm finally getting around to watching it--I think we just saw 4 or 5. Hubby and I are big Prisoner fans, so we were excited about the remake.

So far, I find it a bit.....meh. It's not terribly exciting. I'm not rooting for 6 the way I should be. There's no passion here. I'll watch the whole thing before making a final judgment, but so far, I'm not digging it---so I doubt I'll ever be picking up the DVD.

 

[bigdaddy]

here's no passion here.

Exactly, I only watched the first 3 hours and the whole thing was just meh...

 

[Forbin]

^Yeah! That's it!

 

[AviTrek]

I nearly stopped at the same point, but I stuck with it. And I must say, the final episode made me very glad I did.

 

[watermelony2k]

My problem with the remake is that I found that an average episode of LOST is more gripping than almost the entirety of the prisoner 2009, with the exception of the last episode which I thought was a few steps up from the rest.