For those unfamiliar, some important background: In 1960, Ralph Smart, a producer at ITC, the British television production company headed by Lew Grade, created a half-hour, black-and-white series called Danger Man. Patrick McGoohan, born in Queens, New York City to Irish immigrants but raised in Ireland and later in England, starred as a murkily-defined, globe-trotting secret agent. As his opening narration for each episode notes, “Every government has its secret service branch. America, CIA; France, Deuxième Bureau; England, MI5. NATO also has its own. A messy job? Well that’s when they usually call on me or someone like me. Oh yes, my name is Drake, John Drake.” Compact and adult, the series has the flavor of Ian Fleming’s 1950s James Bond novels; Fleming himself reportedly assisted in the program’s development, though departed early on. McGoohan, a devout Catholic, himself helped shape the show, insisting that Drake would not use firearms and he refused to do love scenes in accordance with his strict religious beliefs. It’s a terrific series but, regrettably, was a hard-sell to American television, seemingly the ultimate goal of every Lew Grade/ITC program. With no American financing for a second season (“series” in Britain) forthcoming, Danger Man was canceled after 39 episodes.

Shot on color 35mm film, the 1.37:1 2K restorations look outstanding, the 17 episodes generously spread across six Region_Free Blu-ray discs. Partly this is to accommodate all the extra features accompanying specific episodes, but in any case, each episode is extraordinarily clean with excellent color and contrast. Audio is offered in LPCM 2.0 mono and DTS-HD 5.1 remixes (the latter on episodes of The Prisoner only, not the Danger Man shows). While the 5.1 remixes aren’t original to the initial broadcasts they do add enormous oomph and are well-mixed. Also included are original music & effects tracks. In English only, optional English subtitles are provided. It all comes in sturdy hardbox packaging limited to 1,500 copies.

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The extra features, much of it new, is practically endless. The fat booklet is loaded with great behind-the-scenes photos, an exhaustively researched making-of article by Andrew Pixley, material prepared by ITC to sell the show abroad, and an excellent episode guide with detailed credits.

Two feature-length documentaries are included: Don’t Knock Yourself Out, a 95-minute piece from 2007 about the making of the series, and In My Mind (2017), an 82-minute documentary about filmmaker Chris Rodley’s experiences trying to wrangle and interview with Patrick McGoohan. Patrick McGoohan 1983 is 30 minutes of outtakes of Rodley’s McGoohan interview. Catherine McGoohan 2017 features the actor’s daughter.

Seven episodes—Arrival, The Chimes of Big Ben, The Schizoid Man, The General, Dance of the Dead, A Change of Mind, and Fall Out—feature audio commentaries by various writers, directors, production managers and others that worked on the show. All 17 episodes offer text commentaries. These are, like everything else, very informative and exhaustively researched, though a little difficult to focus on in conjunction with the running of each episode.

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If you’re a fan of The Prisoner, British ‘60s television, or innovative television generally, you are going to want to have this. The shows look great and the extras are extremely worthwhile though it will take you weeks and weeks to go through everything. One of the year’s best TV releases.

    • xyzzy@lemm.ee
      5·
      4 months ago

      If you don’t have one already, I’d pick up this release. It’ll be about the same price as a preowned A&E set, and it comes in a neat box with a few Danger Man episodes in high def.

      I’m just saying there’s no reason to replace an existing copy of the A&E set.