Arrival
Sad news that Patrick McGoohan passed away. Mr. McGoohan was the creator and star of one of the terrific television series, The Prisoner.
McGoohan summed up the spirit of the series in a 1977 interview…
“We’re run by the Pentagon, we’re run by Madison Avenue, we’re run by television, and as long as we accept those things and don’t revolt we’ll have to go along with the stream to the eventual avalanche… As long as we go out and buy stuff, we’re at their mercy. We’re at the mercy of the advertiser and of course there are certain things that we need, but a lot of the stuff that is bought is not needed…
…We all live in a little Village… Your village may be different from other people’s villages but we are all prisoners.”
McGoohan was the highest-paid television star in U.K. in the lead role of John Drake in the series Danger Man. He abruptly quit the very popular show to create The Prisoner – the story of what happens to a Secret Agent who wants to quit. The never-named lead character in the prisoner is a person who no longer wants to be a part of the system.
The series suffers for having been stretched to thin. McGoohan said his initial outline called for seven episodes but the financiers wanted more for selling to the U.S. market. So the series was padded with some less than stellar installments. But the first episode of the series, Arrival, might be the best first episode of any series ever.
You can watch all 17 episodes of The Prisoner online on AMC’s web site here.
The New York Times obituary of Patrick McGoohan can be found here.
– Steve
Stumble it!
January 19th, 2009 at 7:35 am
The last episode is incredibly trippy. I liked The Prisoner but thought the show could use a modern face lift.
Be seeing you #6. Rest in peace.