The Prisoner

: For the Australian television soap opera (1979), see Prisoner.

References in popular culture

Themes from The Prisoner are persistently referenced and parodied in popular culture, appearing in the songs of several bands, tabletop RPG and video games, movies, and television shows. Many references draw upon the shows unconventional technocratic fantasy prison, The Village. Also heavily referenced?oftentimes with humour?is the memorable robotic sphere arbiter of The Village, Rover.

Related Topics:
Popular culture - Tabletop RPG - Video games - Technocratic

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Among the most popular references to The Prisoner are The Simpsons, The Matrix, The Truman Show, and several Star Trek spinoffs.

Related Topics:
The Simpsons - The Matrix - The Truman Show - Star Trek

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• Babylon 5

:The Psi Corps in Babylon 5 used the phrase "Be Seeing You" and the accompanying Village salute in a deliberate homage to The Prisoner. The show's creator, J. Michael Straczynski, has admitted this is a Prisoner reference. In the episode "Signs and Portents", one of the rangers initiates radio contact to his ship with the phrase "Six to One", and in the episode "A Voice in the Wilderness" the phrase "EYE AM KNOT A NUMBER AYE AMA FREE MAN" appears on a computer screen in the background. The episode "Comes the Inquisitor" in the second season features an extremely Prisoner-like interrogation sequence, in which an archaically attired British man attempts to break Ambassador Delenn's personality.

Related Topics:
Psi Corps - Babylon 5 - J. Michael Straczynski - Signs and Portents - A Voice in the Wilderness - Comes the Inquisitor - British - Delenn

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• The Bionic Woman

:The final episode of the 1970s series The Bionic Woman, "On the Run", sees the title character resign from her job and have to elude government agents who want to imprison her in a compound for retired agents.

Related Topics:
1970s - The Bionic Woman

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• Brazil

:Several images from the final episode, "Fall Out", of which a house on a trailer bed is the most obvious example, appear in Terry Gilliam's 1984 film, Brazil.

Related Topics:
Fall Out - Terry Gilliam - 1984 - Brazil

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• Broken Saints

:In one of the animated comic book "covers" that served as bookends to Flash-animated chapters of this online comic, Rover can be seen chasing the character Oran.

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• Colossal Cave Adventure

:One of the most obscure pop culture references to Rover (see above) comes in David Platt's 1979 version of Crowther & Woods? computer game, Colossal Cave Adventure ? when a player attempts to enter a large vault without the correct password, Platt sics Rover on him/her. Platt's laconic prose correctly captures all the eldritch noises, shrieks heard in the distance and terrifying suspense as Rover is "born" from a glop of subterranean goo (like a blob in a Lava Lamp) and begins a chase which proceeds with the unerring ferocity of Nemesis to inevitable death. Mike Goetz? 1983 extension of this version also summoned Rover when a player pilfered a poster off the walls of the computer room (in Witt?s End).

Related Topics:
Crowther & Woods - Colossal Cave Adventure - Mike Goetz

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• Devil Doll

:The Italian/Slovenian progressive rock band/collective headed by the anonymous Mr. Doctor released their second album titled The Girl who was...Death, a concept album fully based on The Prisoner, from the album title, to the lyrics (which heavily quotes the show), to the track listing (Though the album is comprised of a single track, the track listing is simply the name of every single episode of the television show), to performing the theme song as a secret song at the end of the album.

Related Topics:
Italian - Slovenian - Progressive rock

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• Double Team

:In the 1997 Hollywood action film Double Team (also known as The Colony), protagonist Jack Quinn (Jean Claude Van Damme) finds himself held against his will on an island community reminiscent of The Village. The Colony, as it was called, was home to a large number of criminal experts thought dead to the outside world, and featured a high-tech anti-escape system that involved a laser perimeter.

Related Topics:
Hollywood - Double Team - Jean Claude Van Damme - Laser

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• GURPS

:Steve Jackson Games' popular role-playing game system GURPS released a (now out of print) world book for The Prisoner. It included maps, episode synopses, details of the Village and its inhabitants, and much other material.

Related Topics:
Steve Jackson Games - Role-playing game - GURPS - Out of print

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• The Invisible Man

:In the 2000 American television series The Invisible Man, the agency that he works for discovers that there are some former government agents that are still receiving paychecks. All but one of them have been dead for years. When the invisible man and his partner go to talk with the remaining agent, they get caught up in the faked death of this agent. They are rendered unconscious and wake up in a place very much like The Village. It is populated by former secret agents, and there is no escape. Except that the security measures didn't account for an invisible man.

Related Topics:
2000 - American - Television - Series - The Invisible Man

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• Iron Maiden

:The opening dialogue is sampled in the intro to the Iron Maiden song "The Prisoner", inspired by the series. The band has also recorded another song called "Back In The Village", also inspired by the series.

Related Topics:
Sampled - Iron Maiden

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• The Matrix

:The Matrix is very thematically similar to The Prisoner, with the protagonists struggling to maintain identity (represented by the fact that they give themselves new names, which the agents refuse to refer to them by) in a false simulation of the real world. The deja-vu black cat that Neo sees when "they change something inside The Matrix" is a reference to episode 7 of The Prisoner ("Dance of The Dead") where a black cat symbolizes a change in The Village. When Neo runs through an apartment in the final sequence, frame by frame scrolling reveals that an episode of The Prisoner is playing on the television.

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• Mystery Science Theater 3000

:Throughout its 11-year run, movie-mocking TV series MST3K made a number of references to The Prisoner and its characters, including occasional quips about Rover ("Laserblast", episode 706) and the show's obscurity ("Outlaw", episode 519).

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• NetHack

:After completing a game save in the computer game NetHack, the game displays the text "Be seeing you?".

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• Nineteen Eighty-Four

:Although George Orwell's 1948 novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four, predated The Prisoner by nearly 20 years and in fact is considered one of the show's inspirations, the Room 101 segment as presented in the 1984 film adaptation is handled in a similar fashion to the "Degree Absolute" encounter between Number 2 and Number 6 in "Once Upon a Time".

Related Topics:
George Orwell - 1948 - Nineteen Eighty-Four - Room 101 - 1984 film adaptation - Once Upon a Time

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• Nowhere Man

:The critically acclaimed, but short-lived 1995-1996 TV series Nowhere Man, produced and created by Lawrence Hertzog, was directly influenced by The Prisoner. The UPN series starred Bruce Greenwood as a man who finds his life "erased" and a secret government organization pursuing him. The episode that most closely paid homage to The Prisoner was "Paradise On Your Doorstep".

Related Topics:
Nowhere Man - UPN - Bruce Greenwood

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• ReBoot

:The digitally animated Canadian TV show referenced the series in general and the final episode "Fall Out" in a season 3 episode titled "Number 7." It referenced many elements, virtually the entire opening sequence (including synth version of the theme song and thunder strike), references to finding out who Number 1 is, the Xs over the picture, filing sequence, the phrase "I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, briefed, debriefed, or numbered, my life is my own!" They say "be seeing you" and do the salute, a character drinks tea (which doesn't happen in any other episode) out of a prisoner-style teacup, and also there is a scene with a literal Number 9 wearing the suit Number 6 had in the episodes "Dance of the Dead" and "A. B. and C." The episode ends with a jury of hooded, black-and-white-masked people who chant, along with a judge, Hack and Slash (former henchmen to the show's primary antagonist) singing Dem Bones as they are brought up for questioning, and a Rover suffocation sequence. In the end the main character learns he is Number 1.

Related Topics:
Canadian - Fall Out - Dance of the Dead - A. B. and C. - Henchmen - Dem Bones

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• Rocko's Modern Life

:An obscure reference to The Prisoner is in episode seven of season three, called "I See London, I See France." Rocko and Heffer visit France, and they sign up for a tour on a bus. All the passengers are numbered, Rocko being Number 11. He leaves the group while at a restaurant and then Heffer escapes, following which the tour guide starts chasing them relentlessly, screaming, "No one leaves during my tour! Never!"

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• The Simpsons

:The popular show The Simpsons had multiple references to The Prisoner. In the episode "The Joy of Sect", Marge tried to escape a cult and was pursued by Rover. Marge turned and Rover enveloped Hans Moleman. Another episode, "The Computer Wore Menace Shoes", had the final act completely based on The Prisoner. Homer became trapped on an island which was similar to the Village and Patrick McGoohan even reprised his role as Number 6 (Homer was Number 5). While on the island, some of the reasons for prisoners being there were revealed. Number 27 could turn water into gasoline, Number 12 knew the deadly secret behind Tic Tacs, and Number 6 invented the bottomless peanut bag. While trying to escape, Homer was pursued by Rover and easily popped it with a plastic fork. The episode ends with Homer returning to Springfield, only to be abducted again, this time with his family, but they find that life in The Island isn't that bad after all.

Related Topics:
The Simpsons - The Joy of Sect - The Computer Wore Menace Shoes - Patrick McGoohan - Tic Tacs

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• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

:Later seasons of ' introduced a shadowy organization within Starfleet called Section 31. The interaction between its leader, Mr. Sloane, and Dr. Julian Bashir is reminiscent of The Prisoner, particularly in Sloane's final appearance, which took place during a reality-bending trip inside Sloane's mind, in similar fashion to the Prisoner episode "A, B, and C". Section 31 also appeared in several episodes of '.

Related Topics:
Starfleet - Section 31 - Julian Bashir

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• Star Trek: The Next Generation

:Patrick McGoohan was scheduled to appear in a second-season episode of ' entitled "The Schizoid Man" which was named after a Prisoner episode. Although McGoohan ultimately pulled out of the episode, the title remained the same. A later episode, "Chain of Command", featured an interrogation sequence reminiscent of the "degree absolute" brainwashing method seen in "Once Upon a Time".

Related Topics:
The Schizoid Man - Chain of Command

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• The Suburban Jungle

:One of the characters in this popular webcomic, Yin the Panda, was kidnapped by "The Conspiracy", a group whose attire and mannerisms are taken from The Prisoner. She manages to "escape" (more than likely they let her), but no one believes her story.

Related Topics:
Webcomic - Yin the Panda

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• They Might Be Giants

:In They Might Be Giants' song "Damn Good Times" on their album The Spine, there is a line that is "When my friend got amnesia/She can't remember the show she saw/Like the one with the guy with amnesia/Who got off from the island on a helicopter." This may or may not be a reference to Number 6 in The Prisoner.

Related Topics:
They Might Be Giants - The Spine

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• The Truman Show

:When the main character of The Truman Show, Truman Burbank, a man whose entire life is filmed, goes to visit his friend Marlon at work, the outside view of the shop pays homage to The Prisoner, with the familiar red and white awnings of the village. Marlon's cart has the word "goodies" written on the side, in the village font, Albertus.

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• The Tube

:The Laughing Prisoner was a programme filmed as the last episode of the UK Channel 4 music series, The Tube. In the programme, presenter Jools Holland was abducted to The Village with British comedy actor Stephen Fry as No.2. Stanley Unwin was also in The Village. The video for the XTC song The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul, which was filmed entirely on location at Portmeirion and featured costumes and props similar to those used in the Prisoner series. XTC was also filmed in Portmeirion singing The Meeting Place. Other guests were Siouxsie & the Banshees, filmed playing The Passenger on the Hotel lawn, and Magnum, playing at night on the Bristol Collonade.

Related Topics:
The Tube - Jools Holland - Stephen Fry - Stanley Unwin - XTC - Portmeirion - Siouxsie & the Banshees - Magnum

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• 2point4 children

:The British sitcom 2point4 children featured an episode named "The Seventh Dial" where Ben, the main character is knocked unconscious and wakes up in the Village. It is in fact a practical joke set up by a rival of his, Jake Klinger who is a Prisoner fan. Ben wakes up and discovers a jacket similiar to Number 6's in the house, and he's in Portmeirion, inhabited by in-costume Prisoner fans, and Roller .

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• The Darkness

:The music video for British glam-revivalists the Darkness' hit "Growing On Me" features children dressed as band members Justin, Dan, Ed, and Frankie flying a helicopter and being attacked by Rovers.

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• Other references

:Brief references to The Prisoner appear in many TV shows and movies and comic books, such as Three's Company, the comic book series Crisis on Infinite Earths, The Invisibles and the 1986 documentary series The Celts. The Supergrass video "Alright" was filmed on location at Portmeirion. Popular Italian rapper Caparezza winked at the series in his video "Fuori dal Tunnel", featuring the aforementioned giant white balloon.

Related Topics:
Three's Company - Crisis on Infinite Earths - The Invisibles - 1986 - The Celts - Supergrass - Caparezza

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