January 30, 2009

The Weird, Wonderful Music Of 'The Prisoner' (1967-68)

"The Prisoner, created by Patrick McGoohan and George Markstein, follows a former British Secret agent who is held captive in 'the Village' by mysterious authorities who want to know why he has resigned his position. The series ran for seventeen episodes, from 1967 to 1968, first on the BBC and, later, on Canada's CTV." Three volumes of incidental music from the show were released on CD in the early 90s. I've culled through them and posted the weirdest, the coolest, and the most iconic cues in the playlist above. AMC.com has been kind enough to post all 17 commercial-free, unedited episodes of The Prisoner HERE. Previously, you had to shell out around eighty bucks for the DVDs. Much of the series is an exercise in anti-television. The final episode ("Fall Out") "generated controversy when it was originally aired because the last third of the episode was designed to be very obscure, have no dialogue, and be open to interpretation. It forced McGoohan, who wrote and directed the episode, to go into hiding for a period of time because he was hounded at his own home by baffled viewers demanding explanations." (wikipedia) If you've never seen it before and you prefer your entertainment served up with a triple-helping of totally-fuckin'-bizarre, you're in for a treat. Start here.

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