Review of Prisoner, The: 35th Anniversary Companion

Introduction

It`s 35 years since The Prisoner started messing with the heads of UK fans (and being endlessly parodied, even by Simpsons writers), and so to mark this occasion (should that read "cash in on"?) there`s a new Prisoner DVD. The whole series is already available to buy and has been for a while. So what have they saved up for this anniversary edition?

There`s an alternate version of the first episode `Arrival` (with some different dialogue and effects - it`s not the much talked about 2 hour rough cut though), as well as the original version, a guide to the alternate version, an interview, various film sequences (foreign languages, credit sequences etc.), a couple of featurettes, galleries, production notes and a booklet (not included in the review copy).

Video

A standard full frame transfer for all of the material, but the quality varies widely. The original version of Arrival is great, as is most of the featurette footage. But the alternate version of the opening episode is very, very ropey (although this is partly explained by accompanying text). It`s almost unwatchable at times as you can`t work out what is going on on-screen, due to a massive lack of detail and clarity. Some of the other film material is a little on the dodgy side too. So a mixed bag, but not unexpected.

Audio

A DD2.0 stereo soundtrack, the original mono replayed over both channels. As with the picture, this varies from being good (for its age), to a bit hissy and nasty (alternate version of Arrival again). At least you get the opportunity to hear Ron Grainer`s famous theme in reasonable quality.

Features

Most of this disc is "extras", so here`s what you get.

A 250 word guide to alternate Arrival (screens of text, quite interesting), an interview with production manager Bernard Williams, which lasts about 30 minutes and is very interesting indeed (shame it had to be produced by the American company who released The Prisoner on DVD over there). There`s some good background and lots of trivia.

The other main extra is a 7 minute featurette about Prisoner memorabilia collectors - this is very annoying since it features a stupid voice-over man spouting Prisoner quotes at various points - e.g. if someone is asked a question, voice-over man then says "information, we want information". Childish and pointless.

The rest of the content is made up of film sequences (textless intro and outro sequences, bumpers - the bits before and after the ad break) and also a foreign language filing cabinet sequence. There`s also an old Renault 21 TV ad which was a Prisoner homage, plus a couple of galleries and biographies.

There is also appartently a collectors edition booklet, but this wasn`t in the review copy.

Conclusion

A cynical cash-in. I`m afraid that I can see no other reason for this disc. Almost all of the material is already available on DVD (largely on the region 1 discs of The Prisoner from A&E). All of this stuff could have been put on the region 2 releases of The Prisoner to save you from forking out for this. It`s almost like the missing extras disc from a box set.

The only new thing is the alternate version of the first episode Arrival, but that`s so unwatchable at times that it`s not worth buying the disc solely for the sake of seeing it.

If you`ve not yet started your Prisoner DVD collection, look carefully at both regions before making your decision. As for this disc, I can`t really recommend it because I hate cynical cash-ins.

Be seeing you.