The Prisoner - A Discussion (Page 2 of 2)

BUMP!!

I just picked up the complete Secret Agent aka Danger Man box set, hope nobody minds me discussing it in the Prisoner thread

I've never seen this show before! the episodes are awesome, the tone is so different from The Prisoner, they are globetrotting spy stories played straight. In fact, had Fleming got his teevee series made in 1958 that evolved into For Your Eyes Only, I imagine it would have looked much like this.

In one episode, both Lois Maxwell and Donald Pleasance costar, two years before Dr No. Maxwell gets a lot of lines, as a local agent actively helping Drake on his case, much more screentime than she ever got in a BondFilm. One could choose to imagine that she is the same character, and this is the original Moneypenny's field agent days before switching to a desk job, like we watched 21st century Moneypenny choose to do!

McGoohan also says "oh me? my name is Drake. John Drake" two years before Connery says "Bond. James Bond"

The stories are very good, short but complex with moral ambiguities. Drake's manipulations of innocent people aren't always nice but get the job done (I'm thinking of what is done to Pleasance's character in that same episode). And he uses lots of gadgets, and talks in funny voices when he goes undercover.

Good use of scenery too, as he travels from Italy to the Middle East to Latin America to the north coast of Scotland. I imagine that's all creative location shooting within a days drive of London, but persuasive. The Italian set for the first episode is the same Welsh holiday village that we all know and love from The Prisoner, that's how he discovered that legendary set!

I'm still midway through season 1, the half hour episodes, so I'm wondering... did the tone evolve gradually towards the trippy mindphuk of McGoohan's later series, or was Secret Agent always played straight til the end then McGoohan all of a sudden blew everyone's minds when he debuted his next series?
no don't tell me, I'll wait and see. But I know the Avengers changed tone from season to season and became almost as surreal as the Prisoner by Rigg's second season.

I was and AM the target audience of the Simpsons...

it's the most recent Prisoner/Danger Man/McGoohan thread I could find, and there's some swell discussion on the first page

according to Wikipedia, Fleming had some involvement in the creation of Danger Man.
I never heard that before, I knew he was involved in the Man from UNCLE, but this is news to me. Anyone know more?

this fan site says

but when McGoohan signed on, he changed much of that, as he did not approve of Bond's attitude.

I'm now on to the second season of Danger Man, which is in many ways quite different from the first.

the first season of half hour episodes ran from Sept 1960 to Feb 1962 (39 total), then for some reason no more were made. Does any body know why they stopped?

then the series began again in Oct 1964, in a more standard one hour format … almost three years later.
I would have to assume the success of our James Bond films was responsible for its revival.

the opening credits and music are completely different … the new theme sounds harpsichord based!
No more ominous tones and explanatory voiceover.

Drake is no longer an American agent working for NATO, but is now working for M9 out of London (same precisely clipped midAmerican accent though, except for when he's doing all those funny voices while undercover)

The full length episodes offer more time for plot complexity and characterization.
We get to know each episodes supporting characters very well, which is important to the flavour of this particular show.
We also get a mission briefing in a London office at the start of each episode (following cold opening teaser and main credits), as with Bond and M, except here neither Drake nor his bosses seem to like each other very much.
Drake seems to resent a lot of the missions he is sent on, which is why it is so important time is spent to explore the characters of the people he meets, as he often decides to "re-interpret" his orders once in the field to protect those he realises are innocent.

also Ralph Smart's name starts to disappear from the writing credits. As does Brian Clemens (who presumably was busy with the Avengers by now). The two of them wrote almost all the first season, now there are many other writers. The rare Smart written episodes so far are amongst the best.

Best episode I think I've seen yet is No Marks for Servility, where Drake is forced to go undercover as the butler to a corrupt and abusive government official. I see some foreshadowing of the Prisoner in that one, especially when you consider who was the one character aside from McGoohan to appear in every episode of the later show.

warning: the deuced dvd set I have (pictured above) I now realise has these 2nd season episodes in the wrong order. This fansite lists them in production order, and wikipedia in broadcast order. oh well, I'm too lazy/confused to try to watch them in the right order, but I trust they would make more sense, as Drake's attitude to his bosses is obviously a developing theme.

I do miss the concision of those first season episodes. There is an art to packing that much plot into twentytwo minutes, having it all make sense, and keeping each one unique and memorable. It often reminded me of Will Eisner's The Spirit comic, in that sense, if you know your comics history.