For clarity of expressions and names, on this website the series
is referred to as NUMMER 6 or THE PRISONER, written in capital letters.
The principal character, played by Patrick McGoohan, is referred to as
"Number Six" or "Nummer Sechs" and somtimes as "The
Prisoner". German language texts are marked (D).
In retrospect, what is most astonishing about it is that it was commerical TV
entertainment. That's what made it a flop at first. THE PRISONER
series is a torso basically, unfinished or arbitrarily brought to an end. Hardly
anyone working in the TV business before had been endowed with such
an amount of money per episode to work with and, at the same time,
been given carte blanche regarding freedom for his artistic
decisions. There is lots of mysterious stuff in it, some of it made
enigmatic intentionally, some strange things mixed up with contemporary
citicism of the media and society. Which must also have been at
odds with late 60s tastes and feelings. At the centre of it all
it's the role of individualism in the age of information. An good
deal of Kafka was also inserted in some of the scripts.
The space
craze and cold war phenomena made up the main ingredients of some adventureous,
utopic stuff. Intelligence duo Emma Peel and John Steed british-elegantly
saved the day in MIT SCHIRM, CHARME UND MELONE (THE AVENGERS) and
won the hearts of millions of viewers as did Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin
in SOLO FÜR O.N.C.E.L. (THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.) on the other
side of the Atlantic ocean. Because of their sympathetic kinkyness and
futuristic looking weaponry these shows scored the big points.
David Vincent fared harder, though, because nobody would believe that he'd actually
seen the INVASION VON DER WEGA (THE INVADERS). This series was
rather formulaic and faded away rather quickly. But creator Larry Cohen
provided some furor in 1974 releasing a fang-fitted killer baby from the WIEGE
DES BÖSEN (IT'S ALIVE!).
Let's
not forget RAUMPATROUILLE ("Space Patrol"), German pearl
from the age of flat-iron
technology. Dietmar Schönherr played Commander Cliff Alister
McLane. He commanded the fast space cruiser Orion with a barely hidden smile on his
face against the orders always delivered by the Supreme
Space Authority in a creaky tone. This mini series of seven parts was much more
popular than STAR TREK would ever be in this country. One of the
actresses provided the German voice of Nadia in PRISONER episode "The Chimes Of Big
Ben".
Shortly after
the first walk on the moon one British show came across the Channel under
the equally vague as well as vaguely significant title: NUMMER 6.
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