Prisoner remake to air in November on AMC

[Candlelight]

As for re-creating the visual effects, as was done for TOS, I'm not sure The Prisoner had many (or any) visual effects that would need to be redone for an HD version.

CGI Rover.

Complete with walkie talkie.

 

[Pindar]

Ian McKellen good, everything else bad. The trailer looks like a Lost clone.

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

That is very true, and I'm glad you brought this up. So in some respects the new series could, theoretically be even closer to McGoohan's original vision. I remember reading in one of the books on the show that ITC even wanted to do a second season in which Number 6 basically returned to being a secret agent, only doing missions on behalf of the Village (the Do Not Forsake Me episode was a trial run of this idea).

Ya know, I remember reading about this in the excellent Titan books guide to The Prisoner, which I loaned out years ago and is now lost. However, iirc, the story was that ITC and, to an extent, McGoohan considered a second series (season, for us folks in the US) that would have followed Angelo Muscat and Alexis Kanner either on the run from the Villiage after "Fall Out" or doing, as you wrote, missions on their behalf while at the same time subverting it. I can't recall which, and I wish I still had the book.

 

[Candlelight]

That is very true, and I'm glad you brought this up. So in some respects the new series could, theoretically be even closer to McGoohan's original vision. I remember reading in one of the books on the show that ITC even wanted to do a second season in which Number 6 basically returned to being a secret agent, only doing missions on behalf of the Village (the Do Not Forsake Me episode was a trial run of this idea).

Ya know, I remember reading about this in the excellent Titan books guide to The Prisoner, which I loaned out years ago and is now lost. However, iirc, the story was that ITC and, to an extent, McGoohan considered a second series (season, for us folks in the US) that would have followed Angelo Muscat and Alexis Kanner either on the run from the Villiage after "Fall Out" or doing, as you wrote, missions on their behalf while at the same time subverting it. I can't recall which, and I wish I still had the book.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Prisoner_episodes

George Markstein's original ending
According to author James Follett, a protege of Prisoner co-creator George Markstein, Markstein had mapped out an explanation for the Village.

In George Markstein's mind, a young Number Six had once submitted a proposal for how to deal with retired secret agents who posed a security risk. Six's idea was to create a comfortable retirement centre where former agents could live out their final years, enduring firm but unintrusive surveillance.
Years later, Six discovered that his idea had been put into practice, and not as a benign means of retirement, but as an interrogation centre and a prison camp. Outraged, Six staged his own resignation, knowing he would be brought to the Village. He hoped to learn everything he could of how his idea had been implemented, and find a way to destroy it. However, due to the range of nationalities and agents present in the Village, Six realised he was not sure whose Village he was in – the one brought about by his own people, or by the other side. Six's conception of the Village would have been the foundation of declaring him to be 'Number One.' However, Markstein's falling out with McGoohan resulted in Markstein's departure, and his original intent was discarded.

According to Markstein: "The Prisoner was going to leave the Village and he was going to have adventures in many parts of the world, but ultimately he would always be a prisoner. By that I don't mean he would always go back to the Village. He would always be a prisoner of his circumstances, his situation, his secret, his background… and 'they' would always be there to ensure that his captivity continues."

 

[Peter the Younger]

Yeah, I had to stop about a third of the way through, they show waay too much. But I really only wanted confirmation on one thing:

Spoiler: Spoilers

Rover!

I can't see them doing the same ending, though; the last episode of the original was more about Patrick McGoohan than the show itself.

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

That is very true, and I'm glad you brought this up. So in some respects the new series could, theoretically be even closer to McGoohan's original vision. I remember reading in one of the books on the show that ITC even wanted to do a second season in which Number 6 basically returned to being a secret agent, only doing missions on behalf of the Village (the Do Not Forsake Me episode was a trial run of this idea).

Ya know, I remember reading about this in the excellent Titan books guide to The Prisoner, which I loaned out years ago and is now lost. However, iirc, the story was that ITC and, to an extent, McGoohan considered a second series (season, for us folks in the US) that would have followed Angelo Muscat and Alexis Kanner either on the run from the Villiage after "Fall Out" or doing, as you wrote, missions on their behalf while at the same time subverting it. I can't recall which, and I wish I still had the book.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Prisoner_episodes

George Markstein's original ending
According to author James Follett, a protege of Prisoner co-creator George Markstein, Markstein had mapped out an explanation for the Village.

In George Markstein's mind, a young Number Six had once submitted a proposal for how to deal with retired secret agents who posed a security risk. Six's idea was to create a comfortable retirement centre where former agents could live out their final years, enduring firm but unintrusive surveillance.
Years later, Six discovered that his idea had been put into practice, and not as a benign means of retirement, but as an interrogation centre and a prison camp. Outraged, Six staged his own resignation, knowing he would be brought to the Village. He hoped to learn everything he could of how his idea had been implemented, and find a way to destroy it. However, due to the range of nationalities and agents present in the Village, Six realised he was not sure whose Village he was in – the one brought about by his own people, or by the other side. Six's conception of the Village would have been the foundation of declaring him to be 'Number One.' However, Markstein's falling out with McGoohan resulted in Markstein's departure, and his original intent was discarded.

According to Markstein: "The Prisoner was going to leave the Village and he was going to have adventures in many parts of the world, but ultimately he would always be a prisoner. By that I don't mean he would always go back to the Village. He would always be a prisoner of his circumstances, his situation, his secret, his background… and 'they' would always be there to ensure that his captivity continues."

Thanks! Now I remember a bit more of it. Markstein's ending sounds intriguing and less esoteric than McGoohan's. If we'd gotten that, we wouldn't have as many fun arguments as we've had over what we got.