"Arrived today, made very welcome."

Cult series THE PRISONER published on DVD in Germany as NUMMER 6

• All 13 German dubbed episodes that became legendary by the work of dialogue editor Joachim Brinkmann, for the first German transmission in 1969 on the station ZDF
• four missing episodes that were omitted then, original version with German subtitles
• a 36 pages booklet
• alternative version of "Arrival - Die Ankunft"
• alternative version von "The Chimes Of Big Ben - Die Glocken von Big Ben"
• each episode with a trailer
• Bernard Williams, production manager, interviewed
• featurette "For the Love of: Fans of the Prisoner"
• textless intro und outtro
• German credit sequence
• ad-bumpers
• a picture gallery showing scenes while producing THE PRISONER

Review by Arno Baumgärtel, collaboration by Michael Brüne

THE COVER
The box cover shows a perplexed looking man amid torrents of confetti, like he is unable to grasp what is happing to him. The image is a perfect match. The man we will come to know as Number Six, on the one hand, really is confused after being abducted from his London home and brought to a picturesque and strange spot. On the other hand, Koch-Media, the company that has released the first-ever complete German home video edition after about 40 years, was lucky to choose this particular image. Because it is taken fom the "Free For All" episode which was never shown on the initial and all subsequent TV screenings. And the image is somewhat symptomatical for the whole series as well: You don't know for sure what's it all about...

For many years those interested in NUMMER 6, as this is the German name for THE PRISONER, were dependant on English language videos or DVDs or they had to get third and fourth generation VHS-copies of the domestic TV broadcastings or those English-only episodes that weren't screened in Germany. Such copies would mostly be given from one hand to another. Eventually the series is available to the German audience in its entirety.

THE DESIGN
The basis of the DVD box design is the confetti rain from the "Free For All" episode which, fortunately, leaves out any embellishment or kitsch. The designers also avoided any resemblance to a "1960s design" (as with the German DANGER MAN DVD which was published stylistically in that way almost simultanously) which might be helpful for the DVD to become as timeless as the series itself. The hallmark of the show, the canopied Pennyfarthing, is shown prominently on the front cover.

THE BOOKLET
In the outer box the 7 DVDs are contained in a folding case. There is a 36 pages booklet written with competence and with no hype in his writing by Uwe Huber and which may even serve as a small reference book. In the episode descriptions the dates of the first German NUMMER 6 broadcast in 1969/70 are given as well as the production order which is a useful thing for people trying to come to terms with the order of the episodes.
The contents of each episode takes rather few space thereby allowing more of it for observations and remarks which might not be suitable for newcomers who may want to watch the series on their own and without knowing too much. Internet addresses are given at the end of the booklet but, unfortunately, The Prisoner Appreciation Society SIX OF ONE's" webaddress does not appear in the DVD credits themselves.

_

THE DVD MENUS
The look of the main and the submenus of the discs is refreshingly simple but beautiful in its striped style which is derived from and reminiscent of the Village canopies and umbrellas, too. Almost all menus are animated in the background with title or incidental music taken from the series playing. Viewers can thus choose between 4 displaying modes,
1. O img + G sound
2. O img + G sound + G subtitles
3. O img + G E sound,
4. O img + G E sound + G subtitles.

But watching the English version with English subtitles is impossible, probably due to legal restrictions. It would have been helpful for those with only little English knowlege. Both "alternate" episodes of "The Chimes Of Big Ben" and "Arrival" can be found on bonus disc 7, completely without any subtitles or dubbing.

Koch-Media uses the English credit sequences for all episodes, and not just the German opening scenes for the 13 German episodes. In doing so, the much more exhaustive credits are displayed instead of the few German details.
A little oddity is revealed on this occasion. Because the "Resigned" label, for some reason, did never appear on German screens. It is now subtitled "Rücktritte". Additionally, one bonus scene shows this particular take had been filmed for the German TV market, no translation was required - strange! The German intro can be found on disc 7 and here the image quality literally pales in comparison.

THE SUBTITLES
Uwe Huber, among others, was also in charge for the German subtitles. It's a pity that Koch-Media obviously tended towards a strict literal translation when, in some cases, it would have been better to consult Joachim Brinkmann's way of transferring not only the words but also the spirit on his dubbing job in 1969.
There are three instances which, one must say regrettably, are almost inexcusable because of their top position within the series.
Example 1) is the question from the famous prologue, "Where am I?" - "In the Village." Brinkmann wisely opts for "Wo bin ich?" - "Sie sind da." - "Where am I?" - "You are there." (or else "You are here."). Written on the DVD is: "Wo bin ich?" - "Im Dorf." Now, this is precisely the dictionary meaning: "Village" (older English "thorp").
Example 2), a bit more serious, when Number Six receives Number Two's reply to his question why he would be called "Number Six" and he maintains that he is a person, "Six of one, half a dozen of the other." This saying simply cannot be translated into the literal but rather cryptic "Sechs für den einen, ein halbes dutzend für den anderen." It just cannot. Here, Brinkmann paraphrased much more concurrently, "Das eine schließt das andere doch nicht aus." - In English this makes sense, too, not vice versa, "The one doesn't rule out the other."
Example 3) is taken from the series' prologue, the line "Whose side are you on?" - "That would be telling." which Brinkmann turns into, "Auf wessen seite sind sie?" - "Wir sind auf der richtigen seite." in English: "Whose side are you on?" - "We are on the right side." The subtitles, again, fall short in their literal spelling "Auf wessen seite sind sie?" - "Das würde uns verraten." thereby neglecting everything of the verbal ambiquity the German dub version is known for. All one can do here is to state that Brinkmann was right.

To put it right away, of course, listening to these dialogue lines isn't the same thing as reading them - thereby keeping the dubbing version in mind.
The English expression "village" certainly is "dorf" in German. But that doesn't mean it's a "thorp" in the germanic sense where, etymologically speaking, "acker" (= "field", "soil") and "haus" (= "hut", "cottage") mean a rural spot. Whereas latin "villa" is a "mansion" or "manor" owned by rather wealthy people, so an agglomeration of "villa"-type houses make up a "village". Conclusion: This is the real weak point of the DVD, the literal translation and the incoherence of its meaning which leads to somewhat strange, partly wrong and contradictory wording.
But this is not at all to downgrade Huber's work! He is very well aware of this problem, he even describes example 1) in his booklet entry. Apparently he wasn't able to carry out his point.

THE IMAGE AND SOUND QUALITY
The quality of image and sound in the case of the "alternate" versions is limited. A fact that should be quite clear regarding the origin of those episodes which were probably produced in an early stage for the press or as tests and later copied into super-8 or 16 mm film that was discovered lying in boxes for decades. Koch-Media put three, British and US editions put three and four episodes on one DVD. The result is an improved image quality by a higher bitrate. Without having used a hi-resolution screen the image quality in general is excellent. Especially with the colourful Portmeirion-based scenes this is very delightful to watch. And it isn't necessarily that a TFT screen is the best device for watching moving images, a fact that has been affirmed by tests.
As for the sound, in the 1960s there was nothing else for TV productions than mono sound. It is audible, so what! Dolbysourroundizing the sound would have been totally inapproriate. It's the German soundtrack that is even a bit more transparent that the original but clearly lacking much of the "atmo". But this, in turn, is characteristic of any dubbings.

THE EXTRAS
This is the second weakness of this edition - which is to say we are not complaining. Sure, there is the Bernard Williams interview, there are production stills (which could be even bigger-sized), the very charming English trailers which have never been seen in Germany. The bumpers, in contrast, are pretty unnecessary.
But compared to the Granada and/or E&A edition we are missing - at least - "The Prisoner Companion". And there could have been more domestic stuff like the mid-80s documentary "Rund um Big Ben" made by correspondent Wolf von Lojewski who visited Portmeirion during one of the Prisoner Conventions. But this feature was denied by the NDR TV station to be used on the DVD. We're glad it is stored safely. All in all, it is a wonderful edition considering the completeness of episodes, the box cover and on-screen design.

After all that we've received here, the very real sadness about this edition is that the envisaged "Six Into One: The Prisoner File" documentary could not be included in a last-minute action. It was to be a world premiere. The blame must go to no other than - Patrick McGoohan (more...). Because he objected to the feature to be used. Anyway, it doesn't matter if we like it or not. He certainly isn't the first artist to whom the word applies that sometimes a work of art proves wiser than its creator.