Wrightclairelouise The Prisoner (remake) loved it.... Sir Ian Mckellen was outstanding As in fact the whole cast was.Wonderful no words A real Snap short of humanity. Both heartbreaking and hopeful everyone should see. The writing was subtle and I found the actors them selfs, spoke volumes, When not a word was said. And the new character of 11-12 number 2 (Ian Mckellen) son, played by Jamie Campbell Bower ( this young talent, has such promise ) has indeed a true gift. Shows how this world they have created shapes and affects those who had no say in the matter.(humanity as a whole, if you will) And why they make the choices that will in fact define them. Utterly brilliant what TV should be like A journey

Kenneth Parsons Let me start by saying that I am 56 years old, and most certainly 'old school' when it comes to watching and collecting TV and movie material:I generally prefer productions which use the real, (and rapidly vanishing), art of model making, design, backdrops etc rather than the constant wham, bang, thank you man, cheap CGI stuff of today; (which, despite it's popularity, has no weight when it comes to objects such as spacecraft, dinosaurs etc...CGI simply cannot convey a sense of weight and to my eyes, those generated images are not detectable by a sharp brain as being really present, not as with a model for instance, and thus a generated image is little more than a 'good' piece of animation)...and note I prefixed this paragraph with 'generally...as I loved the movie Avatar...so there are a few exceptions to my 'rule'. So yes, I'm biased...I admit it, and am usually in favour of the 'good old' days'..but not when it came to this TV mini series: I was REALLY surprised how good it was. Certainly, I began watching with more than a little trepidation, believing that surely, nothing could match, let alone surpass the original Prisoner series..but I was wrong; how gob-smacked was I to find nothing over-the-top, nothing flashy about this production at all...just pure class through and through. Words alone cannot describe the stunning performances by Ian McKellen, Jim Caviezel and Co, or the great and often surreal storyline, (which was equally as good as the original, if not better, there was even a nod to Patrick McGoohan in the opening section of the first episode with a look-alike being used. Worth mentioning also are the breathtaking desert location shots, plenty of vintage vehicles, a giant and more realistic CG Rover, (now there was a sensible and tasteful use of CGI), I mean, the list just goes on and on. For those stick-in-the-mud's I say this: did you honestly believe that the unbreakable No6 would be forever kept in the old Village? or did you get the sneaking suspicion that one day he might be moved on somewhere else, to another, different type of 'Village'? (one that uses more harsher techniques to extract the truth), of which there were bound to be quite a few dotted around the world, for purposes of intelligence-gathering/interrogation, (or now, extraordinary rendition/detention as the process might be called)...well this new setting is simply one of those "other" villages, and is located at Swakopmund, Namibia...just open your mind a bit for heaven's sake! use your imagination! participate in the story as when you read a book...(you do read books don't you?), things have moved on since the 70's...and I am quite willing to do so when it comes to something good like this. To summarise, I think this was a superb effort...a wonderful production and I now proudly own the boxed set, (which has some neat extras on it too), and have watched it several times, learning something new on each subsequent viewing. Like the original, The Prisoner 2009 was simply ahead of it's time, hard to understand for some perhaps, (but those people who didn't 'get it' first time around, should watch the series again), and it is sure to become just as much of a cult classic as its forerunner; speaking to others I get the sense that many people are coming around to accepting that The Prisoner has simply moved into a new millennium, and with some style!PS: Check out this viral marketing website made specially for The Prisoner 2009: The amount of work and attention to detail here is absolutely phenomenal; and if you didn't believe in conspiracy theories regarding our Big Brother society, and/or the NWO - The New World Order, before this, then you might start thinking harder after visiting http://www.summakor.com/ because already, since the making of that site, many of these things have already come to pass.

clay-153 I came to this mini series without having seen more than a couple of episodes of the original series. If you're looking for an update of the original series, skip this mini series. That's not what it is and as you can see by the reviews, you'll only make yourself mad if you try to find it.As a free standing mini series, it's fantastic. An interesting idea well executed. Jim Caviezel does a good job of portraying the confusion and quest to rebuild his broken mind. Ian McKellan was a magnificent choice to play #2. He managed to play the terrifying totalitarian dictator and the benevolent father without any real change.If you like strange, cerebral science fiction, you'll enjoy this. If you're looking for a tale of cold war paranoia, this isn't your mini series.

John At first i was skeptical about this, i have seen a bit of the original series and didn't really like it, and the first couple of episodes of the new series i wasn't sure. However, the plot develops -in my opinion- very well, and actually there are some very nice lines in the script. In terms of acting, i don't know where everyone saying they're dreadful is sitting. The show has very little in the way of soundtrack so the acting is not quite as Hollywood-ized with melodramatic orchestral scores, meaning that the entire mood is set by pure acting ability, and i think it sets the mood very well. There are a few imperfections, but its a lot better than a lot of the rubbish on TV.I think its naive to compare this series to the old series, 40 years have passed since then and audiences are completely different. The plot is a little confusing but its stimulating, and confusing plots are good because it challenges your brain, engages, makes you think. Perhaps a lot of the reviewers aren't familiar with this idea.