Has anyone watched this show from 1967. I heard about it as it was discussed as a forerunner to shows like Twin Peaks and Lost.

I've recently started watching it and think it's really good, but having been confused at the changing of some of the characters between shows I looked it up on the internet (without seeing spoilers!) and found out that there is lots of debate about the correct episode orders, many which differ wildly from the airing order. Does anyone hav an opinion regarding which order is best?

I wrote down what I though about it here. Posts 695, 700, and 702

Yup, The Prisoner was excellent, very much ahead of its time!! Wouldnt mind getting a hold of it someday

I finally finished watching them.

Wow, I never suspected how surreal it would get in the last few episodes. I already new, from the direction it was going in, that there wouldn't be any proper answers, so I just sat back and really enojyed the last episode. It must have been ground-breaking all those years ago, just for how weird it was. I can imagine a lot of people would have been disappointed by the overall ending though.

I have the box set of the Prisoner, which is in the "fan-preferred" episode order, which goes like this:Arrival, Free For All, Dance of the Dead, Checkmate, The Chimes of Big Ben, A, B, &C, The General, The Schizoid man, Many Happy Returns, It's Your Funeral, A Change of Mind, Hammer into Anvil, Do Not Forsake me Oh My Darling, Living in Harmony, The Girl Who Was Death, Once Upon a Time, and Fallout. I watched this series when it first came out and it still mesmerizes.  The final episode, where No. 6 finally unmasks No. 1, is not unlike Cooper looking into the mirror and the end of TP.  There is a saying, "you are whatever disturbs you..."  More facing the dark twin.  Speaking of that, I've just recently gotten into Carnivale.  I've only seen season 1, and I know HBO cancelled it after two seasons, but I would think TP fans would enjoy Carnivale, which follows in the footsteps of TP and X-Files. Anyone care to discuss it?

That's actually the order I watched it in.

Carnivale is great. I finished it not too long ago. There is actually a Carnivale thread on the TP forum, but it's not too in-depth. I'd definitely be open to some Carnivale discussion...

Just re-watched one of my favorite Prisoner episodes, Dance of the Dead.  So much I enjoyed about it, first the female No. 2.  Very unusual forty years ago to see such a strong woman in a position of power.  And she is so completely at ease talking to No. 1 on the phone.  Most of the male No. 2s are intimidated by No. 1.  The details... the checkerboard sunglasses on a woman in the Village parade, the fantastic 60's furnishings and design, the amazingly quaint Welsh village of Portmeirion by the sea that serves as The Village, No. 2 trying to block out the t.v. with a pillow, but it screeches painfully until he stops.  The Village code: "Questions are a burden to others.  Answers are prison for oneself".  Then the carnival begins, and everyone is in costume except No. 6, who has been given his own suit back.  No. 6 "Why don't I have a costume?"  No. 2 "Perhaps because you don't exist."  The psychedelic set design for the ball is too much fun!  And the surreal trial with 3 judges, dressed as a queen, an emperor, and a general.  Who could ask for more?  And the end of the episode, with No. 6 tearing out the guts of a teletype machine, but it keeps typing on and on.  And again, the diminuitive woman No. 2 finished the show laughing.  Most of the male No. 2s suffer some nasty fate.  Other memorable lines"Self-denial ia a great sweetener of pleasure" and "There are treatments for people like you"... good old No. 6, so completely and totally rebellious!

I hope this peaks the interest of anyone who hasn't discovered The Prisoner and Patrick McGoohan as No. 6.  Truly a classic show...  I watched the first episode of season 2 of  Carnivale last night.  Fantastic!  though I am a bit confused on some points.  Plan to watch more today, collect my thoughts, and blabber some more!  

I recently watched the first 3 episodes of Carnivale and thought it was pretty boring. Does it get better?

I recently watched the first 3 episodes of Carnivale and thought it was pretty boring. Does it get better?

It does, although I loved even the first episodes so maybe you won't like the rest.

 On The Prisoner, do you think there is any point in watching episodes 1-15 thinking of No.1 as who we know it eventually turns out to be (for sake of spoilers), or is Fall Out purely an abstraction not totally in keeping with the more logical main episodes.

I'm not sure we ever really know who No. 1 turns out to be.  What we see is the face No. 1 wants No. 6 to see, the culminating mindf#*k of all the mindfu#*ks No. 6 has endured.  I see it as a message that "you are whatever disturbs you", we resist in others what we have not accepted in ourselves.  And I'm not sure that No. 6's ordeal is even over...are we to assume that No. 1 escapes in the rocket that blasts off out of the Village at the end of Fall Out?  Strange, that.  So I don't think that what we see in Fall Out in any way alters our viewing of the earlier episodes.

 Have you checked out www.ThePrisonerAppreciationSociety.com?  AMC is planning a six-part miniseries remake in 2009 with Jim Cavaziel as No. 6 and Ian McKellan as No. 2.  Be seeing you!

How do you feel about that new miniseries? It's good that they're keeping it short, but I'm not sure if we really need a remake. The original series has kept amazingly well seen as it is over 40 years old!

What do you think are the best and worst episodes of The Prisoner? It's gonna be hard to pick a best episode but I think the worst is The General. It's got some nice ideas in it, like what it says about education, how we're being fed information but not 'learning it'. But the ending is terrible. Very predictable who the General turns out to be, and then how it is destroyed is very corny.

I am also suspicious of a remake and feel it could never have the effect of the original, which was so much a product of its time.

You're right, it is hard to pick a best episode,  but I am partial to A, B, and C.  Delving into dreamland always gets me excited!  As to worst, I agree the General is a candidate, and I also thought The Girl Who Was Death was rather pointless.

When I first watched it I thought the pure wacked-out psychedelia of The Girl Who Was Death overcame the pointlessness of the story, but then they did that better in Fall Out (and maybe Once Upon a Time) so there was no need for it really. I think on my best episode shortlist would be Arrival, Free For All, A, B & C, The Schizoid Man and Dance of the Dead. I might have Living in Harmony on there just because I love the bad guy in it (the one who sings Dry Bones in Fall Out).

Is there a good Region 1 DVD release of this series The Prisoner?  I have heard nothing but good things about it and it seems to have been way ahead of its time, cerebral, and still doesn't feel dated.  What release should I get if one is available?

Sorry for my ignorance as to the meaning of Region 1, but I have a box set put out by A & E, the complete Prisoner, a 10 DVD set, complete, uncut, digitally remastered.  It looks great and has many fun features, including original footage of the 1966 location shooting.