THE PRISONER
Television Series (1967 - 1968)
"I am not a number. I am a free man".
The Prisoner ran for 17 episodes and is one of the trippiest cult TV shows you will ever see.
It stars Patrick McGoohan as a secret British agent who quits for some mysterious reason. As shown in the opening of each episode, he storms out of the agency office, speeds home, and as he is packing for a trip, someone pumps gas into his apartment. He passes out and wakes up sometime later in The Village.
The Village is a beautifully clean, colorful resort, filled with friendly, impeccably dressed people. They are awakened by an announcement every morning in their individual bungalows and are offered a wide variety of activities to fill their days. They finish their conversations lots of times with a cryptic salute and "Be seeing you".
They are, however...prisoners. The Village is cut off by
mountains on one side and the ocean on the other. it's citizens are
highly monitored by the shadowy forces in charge using listening devices, video cameras and strange 6' weather balloons, call "Rovers" which chase people down and capture them.
All the Villagers have numbers instead of name, and Patrick's character is called number 6.
Throughout the run of the show, he is interrogated by several "Number 2's", each one using various mental and physical techniques to try to find out why he quit the agency.
He tries, unsuccessfully to escape every few episodes, and plays a cat and mouse game with the authorities, outwitting them at every turn.
The show is a metaphor for many different ideas such as individualism and covers several counter-culture topics in a surreal and unique way.
You should watch this program if you enjoy different types of strange cult television.
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