The Prisoner: "Anvil" and "Darling" 11/16/09 - Grading & Discussion

[Aragorn]

A man known as Six (Jim Caviezel) finds himself trapped in a bizarre place called the "The Village" led by a man known as Two (Ian McKellen) with no memory of how he arrived. As he explores his environment, he discovers that his fellow inhabitants are identified by number instead of name, have no memory of any prior existence, and are under constant surveillance. Not knowing whom to trust, Six is driven by the need to discover the truth behind The Village, the reason for his being there, and most importantly -- how he can escape.

 

[Broccoli]

Re: The Prisoner: "Anvil" and "Darling" 11/16/09 - Grading & Discussio

I missed the first part. Anyone know if this will be posted online at the AMC website?

 

[Harvey]

Re: The Prisoner: "Anvil" and "Darling" 11/16/09 - Grading & Discussio

The first part is re-airing tonight at 6pm on AMC. So, if you'd like, you could make it a 4-hour viewing block tonight. I'm not sure if AMC will be streaming it on their website.

 

[Broccoli]

Re: The Prisoner: "Anvil" and "Darling" 11/16/09 - Grading & Discussio

^ Unfortunately, that doesn't help me much. Oh well, I'll wait for the DVD.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Re: The Prisoner: "Anvil" and "Darling" 11/16/09 - Grading & Discussio

I seriously did not understand how they could have made this from the original source material.

It's like the Prisoner had a threesome with The Island and the American Life on Mars, and this is what was squeezed out 9 months later.

Interesting, but not what I signed on for.

 

[Aragorn]

Re: The Prisoner: "Anvil" and "Darling" 11/16/09 - Grading & Discussio

^ Unfortunately, that doesn't help me much. Oh well, I'll wait for the DVD.

Why not just record them?

 

[Soar_Dude]

Re: The Prisoner: "Anvil" and "Darling" 11/16/09 - Grading & Discussio

Is my math wrong or are all the men in the villiage non primes and the women are primes?

 

[Anachronus]

Re: The Prisoner: "Anvil" and "Darling" 11/16/09 - Grading & Discussio

Liked the Penny farthing in the bar.

 

[MeanJoePhaser]

Re: The Prisoner: "Anvil" and "Darling" 11/16/09 - Grading & Discussio

What did I just watch?

No, really, I nodded off a few times during ANVIL, and DARLING was just strange, but not cool strange.

Why didn't Six just push 2 down that hole? Seriously. He's an old ass man...

 

[Guy Gardener]

Re: The Prisoner: "Anvil" and "Darling" 11/16/09 - Grading & Discussio

because then he wouldn't get any answers.

This miniseries is 6 episodes long, and each episode is a rough approximation of existing episodes of the original Prisoner, BUT they're heading towards their own version of Checkmate with full knowledge of how batshit the original checkmate still is, which is something that they didn't have in the original story...You'll notice the guys in the monkey faces from the pilot?

They're trying so hard to fuck with us that they're not telling that bright a story.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Re: The Prisoner: "Anvil" and "Darling" 11/16/09 - Grading & Discussio

Interesting that the closing credits showed Six's real name (Michael).

Also the narrator mentioned "two worlds collide". I wonder what THAT means.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Re: The Prisoner: "Anvil" and "Darling" 11/16/09 - Grading & Discussio

Didn't you see the last episode of Life on Mars?

That's what every one does when they think they're being original.

 

[Aragorn]

Re: The Prisoner: "Anvil" and "Darling" 11/16/09 - Grading & Discussio

Of course, committing suicide to remain in a fantasy world made so much more sense...

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Re: The Prisoner: "Anvil" and "Darling" 11/16/09 - Grading & Discussio

Didn't you see the last episode of Life on Mars?

The US version? Yes, I did. I didn't care for it much, although I suspect the only reason it was like that was because it was hastily written on the fly because the show was cancelled.

That being said, I think I prefer it to the UK version's ending.

Also, the US ending may not be as real as you think, for at least two reasons: 1) Notice how the interior of the space capsule has a 1970's motif in some places; 2) see the boot that is seen stepping out onto the Martian surface? It's Gene's! And by that I mean 1973 Gene, as he looked in New York. Think about it.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Re: The Prisoner: "Anvil" and "Darling" 11/16/09 - Grading & Discussio

How about the first few episodes of Charlie Jade when he's still trying to figure out why he's not still in his home reality after being shook cross dimensionally? Dude was a bit thick really thinking he was insane rather than he was dimension jumping.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Re: The Prisoner: "Anvil" and "Darling" 11/16/09 - Grading & Discussio

How about the first few episodes of Charlie Jade when he's still trying to figure out why he's not still in his home reality after being shook cross dimensionally? Dude was a bit thick really thinking he was insane rather than he was dimension jumping.

Fun fact: An actor from Charlie Jade was also in the Prisoner remake. No, it wasn't the guy who played Charlie himself. See if you recognize which one. (Hint: Remember when they blew up the diner?)

Another fun fact: Charlie Jade was a hell of a lot better series than this, I'll say that much.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Re: The Prisoner: "Anvil" and "Darling" 11/16/09 - Grading & Discussio

I gave up on Charlie Jade after episode 6 primarily because it was taking me almost a week to download each episode. I could probably acquire the entire series including the first six if I really put my mind to it now that I'm a little more savvy.

I'm in the wrong thread. I haven't even seen these episodes yet.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Re: The Prisoner: "Anvil" and "Darling" 11/16/09 - Grading & Discussio

I'm really interested in knowing what's going on with Number Two's wife. She seemed to know exactly what was happening to her (after she woke up). And that final scene, apparently in the real world, has her in it!

 

[Klaus]

Re: The Prisoner: "Anvil" and "Darling" 11/16/09 - Grading & Discussio

I'm pretty interested so far, and JC is growing on me slowly... I've never seen him before in anything, so I had no expectations. Ian is magnificent of course.

This is in some ways even more fundamental a "reimagining" than nBSG was... the basic plot structure of 6's efforts to figure out what the frak is going on, but the idea that the Village is a generational project and that many of the people in it have never known any other life is very different from the feel of the original. Many of the people in the original Village were fellow prisoners, but the others came off as just employees... in this version they're all prisoners except #2, and he's a prisoner of himself.

The wife has to be a dreamer, but he couldn't bring himself to off her. He wakes her up once in a while for company and to assuage his guilt -- or to punish himself.

 

[Agent Richard07]

Re: The Prisoner: "Anvil" and "Darling" 11/16/09 - Grading & Discussio

I didn't enjoy these episodes as much as I did the first two. They were less straightforward and more confusing. At least they asked one question I had last night... Who's Number One? I'm also wondering why Number Six is Number Six. He's got a pretty high number for someone who just arrived. I have other questions too and a few really vague ideas about what's going on, but I'm going to hold off on commenting. At least it'll all come down in the next two hours. Can't wait.