The 17-episode series debuted on September 29, 1967 on British television. The Prisoner follows an unnamed British Secret Agent who is kidnapped and held against his will within a village surrounded by mountains. Knowing he is too valuable to let go his captors only want one question answered: Why Did He Resign? Just as the unnamed British Secret Agent now called Number Six asks: Who is Number 1?
The Prisoner became the foundation of pop culture as it explores the ideas between individualism and collectivism. The series was presented during the height of the Vietnam War and the assassinations of both Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. Each person on the island is given numbers which was used within the Battlestar Galactica series for the Cylons. The metaphor of the village was recently used in the popular series Lost which used the island to create a sense of tension and community.
EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
01 – Number 6 arrives at the secluded village with no means to escape
02 – Number 8 arrives and teams up with Number 6 to escape the village
03 – Drugs are used to predict what would have happen if he met three individuals
04 – Number 6 runs for the position of Number 2 however it is an elaborate plan
05 – Number 6 becomes Number 12 overnight to faces his exact Number Six double
06 – Number 2 takes Number 6 to meet the ‘General’ who uses subliminal messages
07 – Number 6 wakes up in an empty village then escapes out to sea on a raft
08 – Number 6 finds a dead man washed ashore and uses the body to send a message
09 – Number 6 plays a game of human chess working with both the Queen and the Rook
10 – Number 6 manipulates Number 2 into thinking a conspiracy exists within the village
11 – Number 6 discovers an assassination plot against Number 2 however finds the true target
12 – Number 6 is labeled an “Unmutual” and undergoes “instant social conversion”
13 – Number 6 mind is transferred to another man and he searches for only person who could help
14 – Number 6 becomes the Sheriff of a Western Town
15 – Number 6 tracks down a scientist designing a super-rocket aimed at London
16 – Number 2 and Number 6 mentally and physically battle each other to the death
17 – Series Finale: Number 6 escapes back to London
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED – 5 OUT OF 5
