I Have Nothing Interesting to Say Today
June 14th, 2011
March 3, 2021
March 19, 2021
March 23, 2021
March 31, 2021
April 6-8, 2021
April 21 & May 26, 2021
July 23, 2021
September 18, 2021
October 28, 2021
January 12-15, 2022
March 12-13, 2022
April 19, 2022
February 9, 2023
I have no interesting comment to add except:
McGoohan \o/
“I think progress is the greatest enemy on Earth… next to oneself.”
Patrick McGoohan
Last year I introduced The Prisoner series to my kids and my wife who had only seen one or two episodes. I also watched 1 episode of the new series, the remake. It made for sad viewing.
I still haven’t seen the remake. Just never got around to it.
Re:Remake…I may be wrong, but, from what I could tell, you are missing nothing Scott.
I feel funny giving advice to one of the best cartoonists of the century, but, yeah, don’t see the remake, it’s terrible.
For a piece of pop art which was as crystal-clear in it’s intent and it’s thesis as the McGoohan ‘Prisoner’ was (yes, even the last episode,) how did the remake become such a muddy, confused mess which apparently said nothing? Worse, it was an unpleasant chore to watch. That screenwriter has a lot to answer for.
The Prisoner advanced a lot of ideas (things we take for granted now) that were far fetched at the time. I read a review of the new Prisoner series that asked (similar to Ken Cohen has here) why the new series didn’t try and push itself into the future, step forward, as the old series had. I’ve said it before but Lost, Twin Peaks…they all owe a debt to Pat McGoohan, and this article pointed this out and concluded that the opposite was true of the new series, it was backward. BTW…I have a car enthusiast friend who’s built 3 Lotus 7 no less!
I still remember those saturday evenings watching consecutive episodes of “The Prisoner” with you, Ivy and other friends and so SURE that I would be able to ‘get’ that last episode. Nope.
I *love* the last episode.
I do too. But do I completely “get” it? Not so sure!
The final episode is one of the McGoohan-scripted episodes. I think what he wanted to do was to lay bare the basic themes of the show by switching to an experimental narrative mode. He stripped off the chassis and exposed the dramatic engine and the irresolvable conflicts that drove the whole thing.
“The Prisoner” is the best TV show ever. In my opinion, the only good TV show ever. “Hammer Into Anvil” is great, “The Schizoid Man” is greater, but “Fall Out” transcends everything.
The only bad side:
“Alright! I’ve got the best idea for the next strip! Time to draw it!”
“… Right after I finish ‘It’s Your Funeral’!”
“… Right after I finish ‘A Change of Mind’!”