Product Details

• Actors: Patrick McGoohan
• Format: Box set, Collector's Edition, Color, Subtitled, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 10
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: A&E Home Video
• DVD Release Date: October 27, 2009
• Run Time: 840 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (299 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B002NB421C
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #22,609 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

If a top-level spy decided he didn't want to be a spy anymore, could he just walk into HQ and hand in his resignation? With all that classified knowledge in his head, would he be allowed to become a civilian again, free to go about his life? The answer, according to the stylish, brilliantly conceived 1960s British TV series The Prisoner, is a resounding no. In fact, instead of receiving a gold watch for his years of faithful service, our hero (played by Patrick McGoohan) is followed home to his London flat and knocked unconscious. When he awakens, he finds himself in a picturesque village where everyone is known by a number. Where is it? Why was he brought here? And, most important, how does he leave?

As we learn in Episode 1, Number 6 can't leave. The Village's "citizens" might dress colorfully and stroll around its manicured gardens while a band plays bouncy Strauss marches, but the place is actually a prison. Surveillance is near total, and if all else fails, there's always the large, mysterious white ball that subdues potential escapees by temporarily smothering them. Who runs the Village? An ever-changing Number 2, who wants to know why Number 6 resigned. If he'd only cooperate, he's told, life can be made very pleasant. "I've resigned," he fumes. "I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or numbered. My life is my own." So sets the stage for the ultimate battle of wills: Number 6's struggle to retain his privacy, sanity, and individuality against the array of psychological and physical methods the Village uses to break him.

So does he ever escape? And does he ever find out who Number 1 is? "Questions are a burden to others," the Village saying goes. "Answers, a prison for oneself." Within this complete 17-episode set, all is revealed. Or is it? --Steve Landau

Also on the discs
The 2009 Collector's Edition has the same video content as the 2006 40th Anniversary Edition, but does not include the booklet or paper map. The principal other difference is that the 10 discs are packaged in five Thinpaks instead of 10. For an improved video transfer and new supplemental features, try the 2009 Blu-ray release. --David Horiuchi

Product Description

Since its CBS debut in the summer of 1968, the masterful British TV series THE PRISONER has captivated American audiences. Now A&E presents a definitive collector's edition of the cult classic which is considered one of the most innovative TV series ever filmed.

After resigning from a top-secret position, a man (McGoohan) is abducted and spirited from his London home to a mysterious place known only as 'The Village.' Village Residents, known only by numbers, are held captive because each possesses valuable knowledge. The Prisoner, now known as Number Six, battles to protect his mind -- and his humanity -- while struggling to discover the identity of Number One and escape captivity.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

344 of 362 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars I AM NOT A NUMBER, I AM A BOX SET OF DVDs August 3, 2001

By Eric Pregosin

Format:DVD

Well not exactly Patrick McGoohan's opening from The Prisoner, but it did catch your attention :-). Seriously here they are, all 17 episodes plus the Prisoner Video Companion originally offered on MCI Home Video now on DVD compliments of our good friends at A&E. What's nicer is the episodes are arranged in what the fans believe to be the chronological order of the episodes in terms of Number 6's time in the Village rather than order of original airdate (although some of them are in airdate order). As a hint at this look carefully at "The General" and "A, B and C". Both star Colin Gordon as Number 2, but in the opening for "A, B and C" he says "I am number 2" rather than "The new number 2". Also this set contains something released on video previously but only in England, a special edition of the 5th episode of the series, "The Chimes of Big Ben". Definitely the best of McGoohan's 3 British Secret Agent types series, but also the quintessential scifi series as well. By the way, a special debt of gratitude to A&E Homevideo. When this series first came out on VHS on MPI Homevideo in 1990, they made a muff in the episode "Checkmate". In the "Where am I" segment of the opening sequence it started with McGoohan doing it with the fore mentioned Colin Gordon even though Peter Wyngarde played Number 2 in this episode. By the third line "That would be telling" the tape was ok. I can't speak for the new A&E VHS copy, but on these DVDs the muff has NOT recurred. Which means either A&E acquired a better copy of the episode to restore on DVD or someone told them about the flub from 11 years ago. So kudos to A&E Video for to repairing this decade old "blooper".... This 10 pack is much better buy than the 5 sets of 2 DVDs individually. Get it now, return to the Village and escape at your own pace. Read more ›

138 of 142 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing quality, a must buy for any fan of The Prisoner. October 28, 2009

By Brother Bish

Format:Blu-ray

I bought The Prisoner on Blu-ray yesterday. Contrary to the one star reviews that were written before the Blu-ray release by people that had not seen the Blu-ray set yet, I can definitively say the picture and sound quality is top notch and is 100x better than the previous US dvd releases. (which I also own and compared it too.)

There really is no comparison here. The previous dvd's were muddy and the picture quality was severely lacking. The image on the Blu-ray release is crisp, clear and looks absolutely amazing. It looks like it could have been filmed yesterday.

I think if I had one complaint it would be that the fifth disc that contains many of the extras is a regular DVD and not in HD. However knowing that I would still have bought this set and been completely happy with my purchase.

The Prisoner has never looked or sounded better.

228 of 243 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A must for Prisoner fans June 4, 2002

By Alexander E. Paulsen

Format:DVD

I myself did not think the transfer was all that bad. In fact I think it looks good on my 61" Sony and Sony DVD.
I started watching the Prisoner when it first released in the US as summer replacement. I have been hooked ever since.
Yes it is about a spy or "Secret Agent" who resigns in obvious disgust and is kidnapped, taken to a very mysterious, secret and very secure place known as "The Village". It is also about his attempts at escape and other intrigues. Leading edge spy stuff for its time.
To appreciate The Prisoner you must go beneath the surface at what The Prisoner really means. The series is full of symbolism and social commentary while The Vilage is referred to as "The model for a new world order" by one of the constantly changing #2's.
The series blew everyones mind in the late 60's when it aired. I knew many people who could not get it and never watched more than one or two episodes. The die-hard fans hung in there and got our own minds blown in "Fall Out" the final episode.
After years and careful noticeof the world and politics and social upheavals The Prisoner now makes sense immediately to people who are just now seeing it for the first time - like my 22 year old daughter. she had it figured out (correctly) by the 3rd DVD.
Anyway, this is an important series and TV's first true masterpiece. It is a work or art, it is a social commentary and it is very prophetic and more relevant than ever.
I love this set. I enjoyed the bonus tracks. To those who think the bonus tracks are lacking, remember this is a TV show produced in 1967. This is a veritable gold mine of bonus material.
After seeing all 17 episodes again in order, sharing them with my daughter had brought me to even new revelations about the series and the genius behind them....
My daughter thinks the special effects and action sequences are not realistic - BUT be reminded again, this is a TV series from 1967.
Could The Prisoner be remade and updated? Perhaps, but I would have a fear of losing the message. This series was created in an era of relative innocence when most people trusted the government. This is one of the things thsat made the series so remarkable.
Here we are 37 years after production and we are STILL discussing it;s significance. While I might agree with my daughter that modern production values and updated special effects woulc be a good spice to the series I would fear destroying the essence and the uniqueness.
Mc Goohan had a degree of freedom when producing the series. Any newer production would most likely be polluted by attempts to make it more mass-market acceptable.
The Prisoner is a sensitive work and a work of genius. Buy the DVD set and enjoy. Read more ›

48 of 49 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Everything a fan of THE PRISONER could have hoped for! October 28, 2009

By Robert Moore HALL OF FAMETOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Blu-ray

I put the first disc of the new Blu-ray of THE PRISONER on with some nervousness. Not all shows from the sixties do well in high def. For one thing, they were usually filmed with the knowledge that much of the detail was going to be lost when shown on the tube televisions of the time. Others have not been preserved well. But if there was a series from the sixties that seemed likely to survive translation to Blu-ray, it was THE PRISONER. Putting it on I worried that it might be merely an updating of the previous DVD, with a bit of surround sound thrown in for good measure.

I was ecstatic from the very first moment the famous opening credits started. I simply can't rave enough about this. I watched the first episode from my DVD set shortly before trying out the Blu-ray and the improvement of the picture is enormous. The increase of definition is amazing, as details as any show you will watch today in high def. The sound is bright and vibrant, with the option of listening either in 5.1 stereo or in the original mono (though I much prefer the surround sound -- it leads to a much more immersive experience, and I'm sure that they would have made it in surround sound had the technology existed at the time). But perhaps the biggest improvement is in the color. All of the colors are much deeper than in the older DVD. The total improvement is so extreme that it is almost like seeing the series anew, which is not all that easy to do since this is about the 8th or 9th time that I've watched the series. I saw the whole thing as a child when it first came out on American TV in the summer of 1968. I had never seen anything like this in my life (well, there wasn't anything like this). Then a few years later, in the mid-1970s, I caught it again on a PBS station.... At Yale in the spring of 1977 I saw it on the big screen at Berkley College's film society. Then around 1984 I saw it on one of the cable stations (I don't remember which). Next, I saw it on VHS with a woman I was dating in 1989. Then I watched it a couple of times on DVD, once on my own and then with my daughter. But I have to say that I've never enjoyed watching it as much as I have in this new edition. Never, ever has it sounded this good or looked so spectacular.

One reason the show looks so great on high def is that few TV series have ever taken so much care with the way they look. I would be willing to bet that the show has more set ups per minute than any show in the history of TV, including miniseries. There are an astonishing number of shots during the course of each episode. The show is almost profligate in the number of shots. For instance, in a 20 second sequence showing Number Six walking across the village we might get 7 or 8 set ups. This simply is not done on television, where the emphasis is on shooting quickly and economically.

If I have a disappointment, it is that there are not as many special features as I would have liked. For instance, while there are commentaries galore, there are not some things that I would have liked. For instance, how about a two-hour documentary on the making of THE PRISONER. Few TV shows demand a feature like that, but if THE PRISONER doesn't demand that kind of treatment, what show does?

Another mild disappointment is that Patrick McGoohan did not live to see this edition of his masterpiece. I'm sure he would be enormously delighted to know that new generations of fans of his great series will see it in in ways that no one ever has before (even the big screen version I saw had a scratched print).

The series is, of course, one of the greatest things ever made for television. On the off chance that the reader of this review is unaware of the story, Patrick McGoohan (who not only created and starred in this series, but wrote and directed most of the episodes, frequently using fake names to disguise just how complete his involvement in the show was) had been the star of the highly successful British TV series DANGER MAN, released in the United States as SECRET AGENT MAN, and with the finest theme song in the history of TV, Johnny Rivers's hit single of the same name (originally Rivers had only a verse and the chorus, but when radio DJs wanted the "complete" song to play on the airwaves, he returned to the studio and added more verses). McGoohan's show was a huge hit but he bowed out and made this series. It is easy to read into THE PRISONER his experience in leaving DANGER MAN, especially given that Number Six clearly seems to be John Drake from DANGER MAN. Similarly it is easy to tie the show into all kinds of issues of the sixties. Embracing the liberal themes of the sixties, McGoohan clearly wanted to deal with issues of the individual of conscience in a time when governments were pressuring individuals to conform to specific ideologies. Number Six's resistance is across the board, but is focused on a single thing: his refusal to explain why he resigned from the secret service. Interestingly, the series does not proceed in serial fashion, but instead is largely episodic. Luckily, some of the individual episodes are spectacular. The series has only one lamentable aspect: the series finale is a let down, descending into near incoherence. But ignore the ending. The show as a whole is unforgettable. Once you have seen it you never quiet let go of it. References to is permeate our culture. For instance, in naming the memorable Cylon in the red dress, BATTLESTAR GALACTICA's Ron Moore gave a nod to THE PRISONER by dubbing her Number Six.

And now the show, always brilliant, can now be seen in this glorious new version. If you are a fan of THE PRISONER and have a Blu-ray player, you simply must get this. If you have never seen THE PRISONER, you also must get this, simply to experience one of the greatest series in the history of television. Read more ›