Prison Break: The Prisoner Without Patrick McGoohan
"Number Six?"
"I am not a number!"
If that call and response gets your attention, you're probably a fan of the short-lived but much-loved British TV series, The Prisoner.
Turns out AMC will be airing a six-part, three-night remake of the venerable original, starring Jim Caviezel (Passion of the Christ), cast in the bigger-than-life Number Six shoes once filled by the late Patrick McGoohan.
As deserves, any property that has transcended its numerological roots and achieved cult status and then remained there for decades, the Wikipedia entry for the original "Prisoner" is meticulously edited.
Check out a trailer for the show:
This is dangerous territory, no less treacherous than the first post-Connery James Bond, or the much-postponed remake of The Avengers featuring Jessica Simpson as Emma Peale and Adam Sandler as John Steed.
British co-producer ITC seems not to have informed writer Bill Gallagher of the alligators in these waters. In one interview, he professes due reverence for the original scripts, but seems to go blithely on to describe the theme of his project:
“What if the problem is mass individualism? What happens to us as a species if that becomes dangerous? If it’s so out of kilter that it begins to threaten our existence, for instance?”
In other words, let's suppose that the central thesis of the original Prisoner — the individual vs. the state — is about as fashionable as bell-bottom jeans. Right, we've pretty much exhausted everything that can be said on that subject, what with all those remakes of The Stranger.
The Rubik's Cube of TV and film funding is impenetrable as ever. The elements that came together to bring this project to the LCD screen nearest you are difficult to understand. But Ian McKellen as Number Two is satisfactorily authoritative, the general framework of the show seems to be somewhat intact,and the stature of the original series is such that I will give this project a try.
"Six" may refer to the number of remakes it will take to match the verve and quixotic crispness of the original — not to mention the hinted-at erudition in McGoohan's clipped sarcasm.
From all reports, stand down. No prison break here. This scaling of The Prisoner airs on AMC this Sunday (November 15) in the U.S.
