Best Prisoner Episode

Which one was the "unmutual!" one? That was my favourite.

http://www.prisoner-cellblockh.co.uk/profiles/t/lizziebirdsworth.gif

The "unmutual" one was Change Of Mind. I would have liked it better had it not been for John Sharp's rather hammy, rolling-eyes-at-camera Number 2.

Thanks! I voted for it. I should pick "The Prisoner" up on DVD, I haven't watched it for a long time.

On sale for £22 at Virgin at the moment. Absurdly I've yet to invest in a DVD player but I think I'll get one for this purpose.

gotta be one of the Leo McKern ones

oh man, what timing! I picked up the DVD set a couple months ago and just recently got enough free time to start working my way through it. I probably shouldn't vote, though, since A.) I've only seen like 5 episodes so far and B.) I'm usually obscenely stoned while I'm watching it

wait, which is the one where they let him think his escape works and is back in london, just to fuck with his head?

you really can't beat "Fall Out."

ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE

The episode where he actually does escape from an inexplicably empty Village and manages to return to London is Many Happy Returns, but of course it's not that simple. Notable for its virtually dialogue-free first half where McGoohan was clearly trying to stretch himself as a director. The sequence where he hooks up with the gypsy camp - they don't understand each other's language but they get along anyway - is quite moving; some beautiful shots of the English countryside.

"Du musst Amboss oder Hammer sein" is pretty awesome. I think the only ones I don't like are 'Do Not Forsake Me' and 'Living in Harmony' (despite the wonderful Alexis Kanner).

The real answer, of course, is that the last two together totally shit all over the rest of the series.

wait, which is the one where they let him think his escape works and is back in london, just to fuck with his head?

Many Happy Returns

Outside of the last two, "Hammer Into Anvil" is pretty brilliant. "Free For All" would be my next pick.

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You are, number six! (votes)

how the fuck did I miss this

I need to re-watch my box set. I wish this was still broadcast

just started watching this show on Netflix (only seen two episodes so far)

it's fuckin sweet

"Arrival" was on ITV4 this morning.

The kids enjoyed it, they've been to PMer back when they were small...

No votes for Hammer Into Anvil makes me sad.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gnxph4txMeI

Never mind all that, have some of this.

Having watched some of these recently - on London Live - "Dance of the Dead" and "A, B & C" are especially good. "Dance of the Dead" might have been my favourite of the entire series if they'd actually worked out an ending for it, admittedly a common issue in this series! Anyway, it has a wonderful creepy otherworldy feel to it, and the scene with McGoohan and Mary Morris on the beach is all time.

https://www.midnightonly.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Dance-of-the-Dead-02.jpg

0 votes for The Chimes of Big Ben WTF?

Mary Morris is one of the best #2s, for real.

0 votes for The Chimes of Big Ben WTF?

― the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length)

To be fair, there weren't many votes and they were mostly clustered around the last two episodes - maybe a re-poll without the last two as an option? They're clearly going to win every time.

(xp) Poll? Actually maybe not as not too many people voted in this one. Also too many good ones to choose from.

Yeah, I'm not sure if I could choose my very favourite #2. Morris, McKern and Wyngarde are the ones I remember standing out, but I know there are some other amazing performances as well.

Patrick Cargill is great, and I'm a fan of Derrin Nesbitt's slightly jovial, foggy turn in 'It's Your Funeral', he maintains the show's premise was never properly explained to him. McGoohan was having a mini nervous breakdown at that point so he just kind of floated through the episode using his enormous sixties glasses as an acting prop.

OTM on Patrick Cargill. I also really like Colin Gordon in "A, B & C" - one of those actors who was always good no matter what he was in. Also Anton Rodgers as an unusually perky and chummy No. 2 in whatever episode he was in. All of three of those quite comic actors interestingly,

yeah "chimes" is kind of the one to beat I think

I think of the General episode a fair amount actually -- in the context of popular podcasts and news shows where people learn the same specific details about a somewhat arcane topic

It's hard to pick a best one outside of "dem bones gonna walk around"

as in, emil.y otm about the final episodes being the best, but it's hard to pick among the rest because there are so many good ones

I linked to this before on ILX, but this early lockdown-era podcast with Steven Moffat about The Prisoner - he hates the last episode - is great fun

https://m.soundcloud.com/tv-cream/steven-moffat-watches-the-prisoner

Hard to listen to because because he has exactly the same irritatingly bumptiously over-enunciated manner of speaking (and anglicised accent) as David Tennant. In case anyone is wondering, that's not what people from Paisley generally sound like.

i find the four "season two" episodes really interesting... i know that's not really how it is but i feel like if the show had gone on to a second season alexis kanner would have played a _much_ larger role in the show. he was a fucking _find_.

showed the last two episodes to my GF a couple weeks ago. such an amazing one-two punch, such a stark contrast. i see something different in "fall out" every time i see it. there's this unfortunate streak of Catholic-style "protest" in a lot of mcgoohan's work but goddamn there's a whole lot more to it. my favorite moment in the latest episode - when a man with a placard labelled "anarchist" calls for order. there's so many ways to read that episode, and they all say more about me than they do about the show itself.

_hammer into anvil_ is actually one of my favorites. it's not really _about_ number six at all. it just appeals strongly to my sense of justice. i've been through this rather prolonged personal situation where i feel i've been done wrongly by, and it's hard, and when i watch that episode i realize that... i don't really have to do anything to make things right. i _can't_ do anything to make things right. i just sit there and watch while the people who have done me wrong blow themselves up and keep blaming me for it. i mean, i am... i have problems. sometimes i can be dishonest and manipulative. in this case... it's a moot point, because the worst thing i can do to them is smile and tell them - honestly - how awesome i think they are.

am i an awful person for _knowing_ that?

New seven-disc blu-ray box set with a ton of extras...

https://viavision.com.au/shop/the-prisoner-the-complete-series-1967-imprint-television-6/

Tempting!

'Hammer into Anvil' got robbed.

It's a great one, largely down to Patrick Cargill's performance.