Ian McKellen Rules in Remake of 'The Prisoner'

[jaskov1]

I have happened to watch the old Prisoner multiple times and this is rather equally good and well-produced.

[senseTUBE]

My argument is , that THE PRISONER doesnt need to be remade :)and i stand by that

[Ceremare]

The thing about the original is that it is free of the need to prove how well produced it is, how deep it is, how expensive it is. The original series was a combination of different philosphies; surrealism, human psychology, the force that creates consciousness, politics and power, tribalism, science as a governor of society, civilisation versus instict, the self versus the self molded for public display. With that much to work with, it did not need to be soft focus. The new one still has merit.

[iowa61]

Awful. Moronic next to the original.

[senseTUBE]

the dialogue is just disgusting and it doesnt hold a candle to the ORIGINAL series.. but then nothing does..

[senseTUBE]

yeh a REMAKE really needed to be made , honestly patrick would be turning in his grave :\

[DMSProduktions]

@senseTUBE No it wasnt that bad, the premise was basically the same. I wASNT a carbon copy! McGoohan was consultant on this show, and WAS going to play 93 in the opening sequence but was too ill and died not long after.

[senseTUBE]

this is so wrong to watch given the original show .. honestly its sickening to the stomach..

[ui1]

@senseTUBE

So true!

[loflyerz7]

i dont see why a well done movie, or tv program needs a remake. the prisoner, the producers and tomas crowne affair are three good examples.

[RedwoodTheElf]

Gee, let's take a series that was about overbearing over-controlling government controlling everything, and turn it into a marxist commentary about employers controlling everything...like no one ever gets a different job.

[LaGGeRAssassiN80]

DUDE IAN MCKELLEN CAME TO MY SCHOOL TODAY FOR PSHE DAY LOL HE SAID HIS GAY OMG MAN .. HIS A LEGEND

[DMSProduktions]

@LaGGeRAssassiN80 He's always been a raving old queen has Lady I mean Sir Ian!

Cool actor!

[elmolester]

As long as people are still taking acid, this will still be relevant. Without it the mainstream culture may miss the psychological insights of the series and instead just be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed and numbered like good tv consumers. It's still all about the ratings.

The only reason everyone makes a remake nowadays is because the soul of creativity has been drained by the vampire of money and numbers. Let's see them TRY and make anything as good as the original.

[adewolf]

@elmolester What you said.

[xblueicy88x]

The Reason "they" make remakes is to let the new generation know and appreciate the greatness of past films and series. People that did not grow up during the time period during an excellent shows production most often then not have not seen it. They stay in the current, present film/series production.

[flippinecc]

Without McKellan's sinister portrayal of 2, this would have definitely flopped.

He steals the show.

It's still watchable in its own right, although it lacks the depth of the original 60s

series.

[ccdg1066]

@flippinecc He was the only good thing. It flopped anyway, pedantic.

[frantic1971]

WHY did they have to get some pretty-boy American actor to play #6? He should have been British! Was the production company afraid that to have an English actor that it wouldn't "appeal" like it should? I suppose they based their decision on some idiotic "market targeting" research.

BTW---I'm American.

[ohauss]

@frantic1971

While I agree about the "pretty-boy", you DO realize that Patrick McGoohan, while raised in the UK, was American?

The REAL question here is: Why do people feel they have to remake old stuff so heavily of late? Are they really so short-sighted to believe that "The Prisoner" can't stand for itself? That it needs an update??? Alas, most of the time, they're simply using a remake as a trojan horse for their own comment, lacking the creativity to make their own vessel.

[egilssaga1]

@ohauss Actually, he was Irish. He became American later in life.

[Jorbz150]

@frantic1971 I believe Mcgoohan came from America.

I don't think I would like this series as much as the original.

What is Ian talking about... anti-capitalism?

[aversion2k]

The word "seems" doesn't sound like a real word to me anymore

[AtticusStount]

I am a huge Prisoner fan and loved this new series. Take a closer look: it's a SEQUEL not a remake.

[Aggie9921]

Is a new season coming up?

[JAYROX1969]

I bet dear old Patrick McGoohan is turning in his grave. Remake after fucking remake! tv and films are devoid of originality!

[leatherbruce]

pile of shit

[rshaddock]

Ian McKellen seems to say "seems" a lot.

[RosaLui]

McKellan was the only good thing about the remake.

[NinjaVsPredator]

I suppose it makes sense it terms of modern reality that the great "other" in the remake of the prisoner should have shifted from "government" to "business" - anyone who gets a sniff of this paradigm shift in modern times should check out any Adam Curtis documentary

[NinjaVsPredator]

why can't they ever pick leading men with the complexity of Ian Mckellen?

[L88BS]

Did they ask anyone who cared about this when re-hashing a TV milestone? Shame on you for making this.

[inexplicata]

As a huge fan of the original Prisoner concept, I view this re-make in the following way,

It's better than nothing and vaguely keeps the memory of the old series alive...the new music sucks...as a musician myself, I humbly consider that I could have made something far more in-keeping.

On the direction front, their is a major lack of imagination.

[inexplicata]

The new 'six' absolutely sucks, Jim Caviezel is totally lacking in charisma; he looks like a dummy having just stepped out of Burton's shop window, talk about wooden or should I say plastic!

Ian McKellen on the other hand, totally RULES!, a perfect choice as '2'....a class actor.

This miniseries needed a few more of his calibre to have made it work.

[inexplicata]

One bright point is the new Rover effect, which I thought was very good indeed, better and more realistic than the old meterological balloon efforts of the original.

[dragontamer007]

I think that I could tolerate this remake. It doesn't seem that bad. Sucks that it didn't play to the original themes and existential questionings of the first though. It lost some of the original campness of the original, too much for my tastes.

[niacin250]

This series was a major disappointment. Does anyone ever have an original idea any more? I'm sick of sequels and crappy remakes. Patrick McGoohan's series is a classic, what will they target next for destruction?

[hauskahirvi]

Eh? I have only seen this clip and I will say that I don't think I will even watch this remake. At least I will not buy the DVD or pay for it. They should have never touched this. Leave it to Patrick McGoohan's original. Now that was the proper prisoner series!

[doomcoda57]

i love this show so much!

[regusted]

I agree with most of the criticism here - AND the music was atrocious. It was like corny Hollywood "exotic" music that you hear in any movie set in Asia, the desert, the jungle, etc...

Ron Grainer did the original music and he was amazing.

[crhodes4382]

i had high hopesfor the remake but WELL I WAS DISAPOINTED WHAT A LOAD OF CRAP

[neodana]

As with many remakes the AMC remake of The Prisoner is a total disaster. It jumps all over the place, Jim Caviezel was the worst possible choice for Number 6, many of the main characters of the show are missing and The Village is much too vast. There is none of the level of paranoia that made the original so great. Number Six has been reduce to a passsive mess in stead of the strong willed, intelligent mastermind played brilliantly by Patrick McGoohan. All in all I would say don't bother.

[paullubliner]

NEODANA, Has gotten spot on for me. Bland is how it all seemed. The intensity and importance  of the original was completely lost with this thing. Caviezel was simply devoid of all screen presence. WHY 4 negatives to this comment, do speak your minds!

[cerasi209]

the ultimate battle ive been waiting for... magneto vs Jesus!!

the master of life,death and wine vs. the master of magnetism!!

[paullubliner]

VERNII; ARE YOU simply a brain dead dolt? It does appear to be so. Also you're obviously a sheep, too young to have developed the ability to critically think for yourself. I am being MOST kind.

[vernii]

ITT babies whine about their precious prequel.

[paullubliner]

This is called a "re-make." It is not. The essential premise of the original; "The Right of the Individual To Be Individual" and the warning clear as a bell by Mr. McGoohan, that technology run amok will destroy us was completely lost on the severley limited intellects involved with this production. Period.

[shatros]

I was a child when they broadcast the original in the US and I did not fully understand what I was watching but found it interesting none the less. I thought watching the remake would maybe be less confusing. I was wrong. I watched all three nights and I am all the more confused. Can anyone explain what this is about? My guess is the whole show is an halucination.

[paullubliner]

I will answer you: It is about MONEY. JUST MONEY. The people involved, bought a "franchise" so to speak, the cult classic name: "THE PRISONER." This guaranteed a relatively high minimum viewership, hence advertising revenue. Your watching all of it is proof. I shut it off after about the first 20-25 minutes and with my 17 Y/O son watched "Venture Brothers," a teenager's cartoon of significantly greater depth and complexity when compared with this tripe!

[shatros]

Yeah you're right. I should have known better but I let my curiosity get the best of me and I just wanted to figure out what the hell it was all about. I also had this naive thought that Ian McKellen might actually make it worth watching as I generally like his work. Of course the joke's on them, I don't remember any of the products or services advertised as I left the room every commercial break. I'm also going to read reviews on Youtube before I waste any more time watching AMC creations.

[nhbright]

I'm glad they tried- I don't see a popular hit here. I like the wife being bedridden taking a sedative, a helusinigen and something else. Are we all chosing this life too?

[iWedge]

Some things are better left alone. This series does no justice to the original and leaves nothing to the imagination.

[texaspride352]

I have tried my best to watch this mini-series of The Prisoner--but it is not true to the original tv series.I loved the original tv series and this new mini series does not do the original series justice.

[copernicus420]

Ruth Wilson in the same white pants for the entire miniseries is sofa king HOTTT!

[BacchusAdoneus]

Thanks for uploading, but this will be one almighty failure.

Dumbed-down is an overstatement -it seems like the remake is on a massive cerebral diet! it seems devoid of any artistic integrity, as well as actors with true prisoner-like quality.

I'll be sticking with the true prisoner series.

[davetileguy]

yaa wheres the bicycle? I hate when hollywood feels they have "artistic license" to change things.

[nhbright]

The bicycle is in the bar. Most of the music was too canned. The "wraps" were just goofy. I don't understand the old TV's

[theloniousMac]

I just watched the first episode. I don't have the vocabulary to express my disappointment.

[TheJomogogo]

I tried to watch the first episode and kept falling asleep until my wife turned it off and I came out of the coma it induced.

[DasaniDave]

Another Classic that Hollywood cant leave alone...just like The Italian Job you have to leave them alone ...there one off classics that you cant Americanise...or remake. You cant remake the "Spirit" of a production..it belonged to another time.

Wont be watching this one ..."Be Seeing You""

[tommylatube]

Show me the Rover

[MrUncleHenry]

Where is the bicycle?

That is the Iconic image of this series and it belongs in the remake!