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Prisoner: Set 2, The
List Price: Unknown [Buy now and save at Amazon]
"I am not a number! I am a free man!"
A nameless spy resigns from his secret agent position in the British government, but because of the knowledge he possesses, he is kidnapped and held in the world's loveliest prison, The Village, where everyone is identified by number. The strong-willed agent, now known only as Number 6, is determined to escape from this prison, refusing to provide any information about his resignation to his captors, especially the constantly-rotating Number 2. Yes, this is the cult British series with the floating giant balloon/retriever and the extremely surreal final episode you've probably heard someone talk about at some time or another, and if you knew that, then you're probably a fan, you own these sets, and you find my summary laughable. Sorry. :)
The second 2-disc set of "The Prisoner", not presented in the original airing order (but rationale for the episode placement is provided on each case), has the following episodes:
Audio: Half the episodes on these discs have perfectly serviceable mono tracks, but two episodes, "The Chimes of Big Ben" on disc 1 and "The General" on disc 2, have some extremely distracting flanging sounds in a number of scenes. A&E is supposedly making new discs available sometime in December. Flanging aside, some of the dialogue sounded a little muffled, but for all I know, it's always been that way. The effects and music come through well and don't suffer from the tinny, flat sound so typical in all-too-many mono tracks.
Supplements: There are trailers (but I think A&E is tossing around the word 'trailer' a little loosely here) and stills for the episodes on each disc. The trivia games were a nice addition, and it's nice to see a trivia game that actually centers around 'trivia', not simple questions about character names or plot points so often seen on other discs. Each disc also contains an interactive map of "Your Village".
Conclusion: I picked up "The Prisoner" purely because of the hype I've heard surrounding the series over the past few years. More often than not, net.hype turns out to be entirely unsubstantiated ("The Matrix" springs to mind immediately), but "The Prisoner" impressed me enough that I definitely plan on snagging the remaining sets next Spring. Ten dollars for each of the four episodes on this set seems excessive, although this collection can be easily found online for under $30, shipped. At a lower price, I'd have given both sets a Collectors' Series rating, but as it is, 'Highly Recommended' is the best I can do... It would probably be worth waiting till closer to the release of the next two sets to get these four episodes if you'd like to avoid the faulty audio.
A nameless spy resigns from his secret agent position in the British government, but because of the knowledge he possesses, he is kidnapped and held in the world's loveliest prison, The Village, where everyone is identified by number. The strong-willed agent, now known only as Number 6, is determined to escape from this prison, refusing to provide any information about his resignation to his captors, especially the constantly-rotating Number 2. Yes, this is the cult British series with the floating giant balloon/retriever and the extremely surreal final episode you've probably heard someone talk about at some time or another, and if you knew that, then you're probably a fan, you own these sets, and you find my summary laughable. Sorry. :)
The second 2-disc set of "The Prisoner", not presented in the original airing order (but rationale for the episode placement is provided on each case), has the following episodes:
- Checkmate: On the backdrop of a chess game played with human pieces, Number 6 learns how to use other residents of The Village as his pawns, but this discovery is used against him...
- The Chimes of Big Ben: Number 6's entry in the Arts & Crafts exhibition, 'Escape', may hold just that for our prisoner and the new addition to the village, Number 8.
- A, B, and C: Since traditional methods have failed, Number 2 uses drugs to insert images of three suspects into Number 6's dreams to learn which of them, if any, were the reason for his resignation.
- The General: A supercomputer known as the General teaches Villagers using "Speed Learn", and Number 6, recognizing its potential use for brainwashing, decides to put a stop to it, with the help of Number 12, a cog in the machine...
Audio: Half the episodes on these discs have perfectly serviceable mono tracks, but two episodes, "The Chimes of Big Ben" on disc 1 and "The General" on disc 2, have some extremely distracting flanging sounds in a number of scenes. A&E is supposedly making new discs available sometime in December. Flanging aside, some of the dialogue sounded a little muffled, but for all I know, it's always been that way. The effects and music come through well and don't suffer from the tinny, flat sound so typical in all-too-many mono tracks.
Supplements: There are trailers (but I think A&E is tossing around the word 'trailer' a little loosely here) and stills for the episodes on each disc. The trivia games were a nice addition, and it's nice to see a trivia game that actually centers around 'trivia', not simple questions about character names or plot points so often seen on other discs. Each disc also contains an interactive map of "Your Village".
Conclusion: I picked up "The Prisoner" purely because of the hype I've heard surrounding the series over the past few years. More often than not, net.hype turns out to be entirely unsubstantiated ("The Matrix" springs to mind immediately), but "The Prisoner" impressed me enough that I definitely plan on snagging the remaining sets next Spring. Ten dollars for each of the four episodes on this set seems excessive, although this collection can be easily found online for under $30, shipped. At a lower price, I'd have given both sets a Collectors' Series rating, but as it is, 'Highly Recommended' is the best I can do... It would probably be worth waiting till closer to the release of the next two sets to get these four episodes if you'd like to avoid the faulty audio.
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