prisonerdvd

If you've never seen or heard of "The Prisoner", you're missing out on something special. As soon as the series finished it's initial transmission in 1968, it was regarded as one of the finest, most revolutionary science fiction series ever. If none of this is making sense, ask your parents, who will undoubtedly refer to it as "that weird programme". My parents did. The basic premise of the series is that of an un-named secret agent (McGoohan) who, returning from resigning from his top secret job apparently without motive, is drugged and kidnapped. When he awakens, he has been relocated to a beautifully picturesque, quaint village in an unknown location. Renamed 'Number Six' (all the village's inhabitants are numbers, not people), McGoohan leads the show for an unparalleled journey of adventure, psychedelia and paranoia as each in each episode, his captors attempt to extract the reason for his resignation, whilst Number Six attempts an escape plan, always failing and being brought back to the place that has become his "home away from home". There are some fantastic plot twists throughout the seventeen episodes here, and some really intricate storylines that sometimes require a couple of viewings to understand them. You'll want to watch the series more than twice though, and chances are you'll keep coming back again and again. The last episode "Fall Out" will keep fans and devotees talking for months, if not years. If, however, surrealism, brain washing and general strangeness are not your thing, this boxed set might not be your cup of tea. The whole thing DOES look dated, though in a curiously vintage way that only adds to it's appeal. Basically, this is over 14 hours of pure top quality sixties oddness gloriously presented for your viewing pleasure, and all at under �60. Programmes like this come along once in a blue moon, so you'd be mad not to give it a chance at least.

EXTRA FEATURES
The extras in this box set, while not being amazing, are still enough for the average fan of the series to wade through. Disc 5 carries the bulk of this material, including a 50 minute American documentary entitled "The Prisoner Companion", which seeks to answer some of the questions raised by the series, and an alternative version of Episode 2 "The Chimes Of Big Ben", with different scenes, title music and epilogue. Both of these are fun, although the alternative episode has pretty poor picture quality. Also on disc 5 are a photo/artwork gallery, original promo trailers for the series, and a trailer for the one episode on disc 5 (the fantastic end to the series "Fall Out"). The rest of the discs in the box feature individual episode trailers, profiles of each actor who played the role of Number Two in the series (who changed in each episode!), and "Prisoner" facts, trivia that may not be known from merely watching the series. There is room for improvement with these extras though. McGoohan was not included in the material at all, not even an interview. Some episode commentaries from directors or even McGoohan would have been spectacular. As it goes though, the documentary is fairly hefty and there is little padding. Discs 1-4 carry mostly text based extras, which are fine, although a location feature would have been nice, perhaps looking at how Portmeirion (site of the real life 'Village') used to look compared to nowadays. Overall though, a fine box set that treats a very important series with due respect.