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TwitterAMC's 'Prisoner' doesn't want to copy the original
AMC gave critics a (very) early look at its take on the sci-fi classic The Prisoner Thursday, and though the footage was still pretty rough, one thing was clear: The six-episode miniseries isn't going to be a carbon copy of the original.
"We're huge fans of the original, be we knew we couldn't copy it," producer Trevor Hopkins says. "Will it be as surprising as the original? We hope so."
AMC's take on The Prisoner stars Jim Caviezel as 6, who finds himself as the newest and most unwilling resident of the Village. Sir Ian McKellen plays 2, the man in charge who's bent on seeing that 6 takes to his new home.
The original series, which premiered in the United States in 1968, starred Patrick McGoohan as No. 6, and it concluded after 17 episodes with open questions about nearly every major story point -- "Hence the enduring fascination, I think," McKellen says. "People are still arguing as to what's the meaning of it all."
The new version, written by Bill Gallagher, won't leave so many things up in the air, McKellen says. "By episode six you'll know everything about the Village, where it came from, who created it and why, what it's like to actually live there."
It also won't look much like the original. Rather than the quaint, very English-looking setting of the '60s show, the new Prisoner places its Village in a desert (it was filmed in Namibia), with rows of identical A-frame structures sprouting up from the sand. The look, and the casting of the American Caviezel as 6, were part of an effort to give the show a more global feeling.
"It would have been a little parochial" to make a 21st-century version of the show so Brit-centric, director Nick Hurran says. McKellen adds that the more worldly vibe was part of what attracted to him, and that "to have an American at the center of it seems appropriate in a way that it wouldn't have been for the original."
Fans of the original, though, will see more than a few little homages to the McGoohan series. In one clip McKellen (who appears to be having a blast playing 2) intones, "Be seeing you," and Hurran says that Rover -- the giant orb that followed McGoohan around -- may make an appearance. The central themes also remain the same.
As Hurran puts it, "As in the original, [the Village] is an ideal world where everything is provided -- as long as you don't ask questions. 6 is the only one who questions."
The Prisoner is scheduled to premiere on AMC in November. Episodes of the original are available online at amctv.com.
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So why not make something totally different & call it something else?
ROTFL! Great point!
I'm willing to give this the benefit of the doubt because it's AMC and McKellen is involved (as is Jericho's Lennie James). But I agree that if you're just going to use the name, you'd be better off just creating something completely new. My hopes are low, so hopefully I'll be pleasantly surprised. Just as long as it isn't so bad it turns people off the original, which is always the risk with remakes if they flop (just ask fans of Wild Wild West).
"Very English-looking setting"? It is a village in Wales that is inspired by Italian architecture. Do you really think it looks English?
AS LONG AS SIR IAN KEEPS HIS PANTS ON ....I'LL WATCH
""By episode six you'll know everything about the Village, where it came from, who created it and why..."
Because that was one of the aspects of the original that really stunk...
Yes, I will watch it. Yes, I fully expect to be extremely angry throughout.
This is going to be another "David Soul in 'Casablanca.'"
The whole point of the Prisoner was its enigmatic setting; the show was an allegory for the human condition. To say that plot points were "left open" is to completely misunderstand the meaning of the original, and by saying that by episode six we will know "everything about the village" is to know that the new makers are totally out of their depth.
Not knowing who controls The Village is the fundamental essence of the series. You cannot know, you should not know, there is nothing to know.
The brilliance of The Prisoner is that if anything it is more resonant and relevant today than ever. The irony is that this new "version" will, by it's failure to grasp that meaning, demonstrate why.
"By episode six you'll know everything about the Village, where it came from, who created it and why, what it's like to actually live there."
I can hardly wait (sarcasm).
What's the point? Once it's over, no one will talk about it anymore. I agree it's likely to turn people off watching the original.
As Johnd said "So why not make something totally different & call it something else?" Answer - it's easier. By using the format of an already known film or TV, you're already guaranteed an audience and don't have to work so hard to set the story up. It's just lazy.
As for "quaint, very English-looking setting"...well I hardly think there is much that is quaint or English about the Welsh folly of Portmeirion. As Chris said -
the architechture is Italianate. Bizarre and anachronistic, yes - quaint and English, no.
Casting an American to give the show a more global feeling? C'mon - it's to sell it in America.
I'll be watching some paint dry instead, me thinks.
Be seeing you.
By episode six you'll know everything ...
That would be telling wouldn't it ?
By Episode 6 we will know everything?, That's disappointing. Biggest fans of the Prisoner have puzzled out their own answers to it. An official answer won't be as much fun. I'm rather perplexed by the need for recent TV series to explain everything.
It's similar to the new DR. Who rewriting the canon every episode.