Dangerman, Secret Agent, and The Prisoner = Cool

As a young and impressionable lad, I once went to the local video store for a movie to watch and could find nothing of interest. As fate would have it, I happened to pass by the section in the store devoted to videos of old television shows, mostly those from the sixties (this being in pre-TV Land times). I noticed a few videos of a show called The Prisoner that seemed to suggest some sort of spy / thriller type show. I was with my father and showed him the box for one of The Prisoner episodes and asked if he had watched it and whether or not he liked it. All he said was “That was one weird show, let me tell you.” So, on that recommendation, I rented two of the shows and took them home.

After the episodes were over, I sat in the family room of my parents’ home and mulled over what I had seen. I was very perplexed. My father came through while I was watching and mentioned something about Patrick McGoohan having been the actor who had portrayed the secret agent in the series whose theme song was Secret Agent Man by Johnny Rivers (the series, Secret Agent, was originally known as Dangerman in the UK). And my father also put the bug in my mind that some viewers had thought that the Secret Agent character was the one who ended up in the village of The Prisoner.

Of course, that didn’t help me a whole lot, and I wasn’t able to understand The Prisoner any more than I had before I watched it! Now that I have a DVD player and The Prisoner has been re-released on this format, I have watched this show probably a hundred times and pondered its meaning (not that there necessarily is some deeper level to the show, but who knows). It has acquired a cult like status amongst those interested in it. It has spawned several related web sites. And it is just plain fun to watch (especially in slow motion so that you can analyze each individual frame (ha-ha)). Based on my watching of The Prisoner, I have attempted to answer THE central question that is asked nearly every episode of the main character: Why did he resign? My conclusions will come later...

(my apologies to those that either haven’t seen the show or are far more versed in it than myself)