The Prisoner on AMC

[logan82]

Is anybody going to watch this? It is a miniseries on AMC starting on Sunday November 15th. I am not sure how much is taken from the original series. I am to young to know much about the original and probably wouldn't be interested if not for the Iron Maiden song.

[RobertR]

I'm going to watch it. I'm a big fan of the original show. I don't have too high of expectations for the new version, but Ian McKellan should be good and I'm glad they're not trying to slavishly duplicate the original.

 

FYI, you can watch the original series at AMC's website.

 

Robert

[Katuluu]

The original is awesome. It should be a must see for any fan of Lost.

 

That being said, I'm totally watching the remake. If it can be half as good I'll be satisfied.

[pitchleague]

well, Entertainment Weekly gave it a solid "C", so I guess it will be half as good as the original.

 

I'm not sure if I'm going to check it out or not. Why do they always have to remake things that were so brilliant the first time around? I'm surprised some brash director hasn't come out and said they were going to remake "Gone With the Wind" or something.

[endaround]

Because the Prisoner is dated. That doesn't means its bad but it clearly was done of a time and place.

[drezdn]

I'll watch it, but it looks like some of the things I liked about the original are missing (like the design of the village... plus it looks like it won't be an island anymore).

[RobertR]

Well, so far, I'd say it's a long way from half as good as the original.

 

Two big issues so far. The first being that Patrick McGoohan is truly missed. The original prisoner was a tiger in a cage. He may have had keepers, but they knew that he'd bite if they were careless. Jim Caviezel's a big nothing in comparison. He's a charisma vacuum and the writing doesn't even make him an interesting character.

 

It's a pale rehash of the original as far as writing goes. I don't know exactly where it's going, but virual reality seems likely. Regardless, the original series featured strong central premises and clear plotting to offset the trippy ideas. This one gets plain messy and sometimes you can't tell what's reality and what's hallucination and what exactly is happening in the plot. And I get little sense that the ultimate payoff will be worth the frustration engendered.

 

I'll probably stick it out, but seriously, the Prisoner episodes at AMC's site are more worth your time.

 

Robert

[RobertR]

The second night was better, but still this is a pale shadow of the original. It lacks the moral outrage embodied in McGoohan's character and it mistakes incoherence for challenging. The original was quite trippy at times, but it embedded that trippiness in solid arguments / parables.

 

Ian McKellan is quite good and there are some solid visuals in the new version. There's nothing there that leads me to believe that there will be a solid payoff for this, but I'll stick through to the end regardless. I'll probably regret it in the morning though.

 

Robert