Diary of a Prisoner Virgin – White balloons are The Village’s smoke monster

(Episode 1 – “Arrival”)

I’ve had the complete series DVDs of The Prisoner starting at me for nearly a year now, and finally I’ve taken the plunge into the world known as “The Village.” I’ve heard so many incredible things about this show and how much it’s influenced some of the more recent TV programs and movies, so I’m glad I’ve got the chance to give this a shot.

The show wastes no time in getting the man we know only as Number Six into The Village, a place where he’s certainly not alone but is immediately desperate to leave. It’s no wonder he wants the hell out of there, as it reminds me a lot of New Hampshire’s Story Land park. If I had any idea I’d be stuck there, I’d want the hell out too.

Something that Story Land doesn’t have, thankfully, is giant white balloons that seemingly have a mind of their own and seek out to suck you in and carry you off. It’s not clear what the hell these things are yet, but there was something about them that seemed familiar to me, and I didn’t know what it was until I saw what was in Six’s kitchen pantry….

Those labels look a little familiar to you? The first thing that struck me about them was they looked an awful lot like the Dharma food from Lost. That’s when it occurred to me that the white balloons are The Prisoner‘s version of Lost‘s black smoke monster. Just as the smoke monster acted as a “security system” for the island and made everyone think “What. The. Fuck.” when they first saw it, these white balloons are basically a low-budget, early version of the same thing.

There are clearly a lot of themes Lost borrowed from The Prisoner, besides the “security system” and the custom-labeled food. There’s the isolated Village that no one can seem to escape, the hidden cameras throughout the confined area, the Namaste-like salute, the people who are seemingly part of the whole operation who may not want to be there, that people you’ve never met who seem to know everything about your entire life and, of course, the big mystery of what this place is and why these people are forced to be there.

The production value on this show is a little hard to get used to. Scenes cut in odd places, for example, like when Six is trying to escape along the beach and the command center people are tracking him down. This was made in the ’60s, so I’ll let it pass, but does McGoohan need to smirk all the time, even when he’s in danger? I guess he’s just that much of a badass.

So far the show has been successful in making me want to see what happens and why it is happening. I already know of the controversial ending, and I can’t wait to get to try to figure it all out when I get to the end.

Clacked by Keith McDuffee
on Jun 01, 2009 @ 11:00 EST5EDT