Like a Cold War Kafka character, the man known only as 6 (a relentlessly angry Patrick McGoohan) awakens in unfamiliar surroundings, captive to a conspiracy bewildering in extent. 6 was the protagonist of “The Prisoner,” the 1967 British television series that drew an avid, unusually intelligent cult following for its modish style, jarring camera angles and sound, surreal blend of the banal and the bizarre, and its prophesy of a brave new world where comfort, conformity and surveillance are the soft tools of repression. Who needs jails when society itself is the prison?
Several early episodes of “The Prisoner” (along with bonus material) are the bait for “The Spy Collection,” a 14-disc doorstop of a DVD set. 6’s determination too escape his confinement occupies only a small portion. Most of “The Spy Collection” is devoted to three largely forgotten cloak-and-dagger series from the late ‘60s/early ‘70s. “The Champions” (1968) is a U.K. production concerning a trio of agents (working for the international concern Nemesis) with supernatural powers acquired while stealing secrets from the Chinese in Tibet. “The Protectors” (1972) stars Robert Vaughn (late of “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.”) as a London-based private investigator with a flair for foreign intrigue. “The Persuaders” (1971) is an odd-couple story of a self-made American (Tony Curtis) and a lordly Brit (Roger Moore) brought together in Monte Carlo by a retired judge employing them as a hit squad against criminals who eluded justice.
With its wiggy plots and Swinging London setting, the popular British series “The Avengers” may have been the model for “The Champions” and “The Protectors.” The most aggressively juvenile (and hence the most American) of the three lesser-knowns, “The Persuaders,” is leavened by Curtis’ streetwise humor and push-the-edge visuals (some scenes are shown in four screens). All are products of the International Jet Set era, featuring PanAm passenger liners cruising from capital to capital, skydiving, cool sports cars and a peek into the imagined lives of the rich and infamous. “The Protectors” has the best musical score—all cool pulse under silky threads. One discotheque scene features a jazzy instrumental take on Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love.”
The trio of more obscure shows serves notice that Bond villains didn’t spring from a vacuum but were part of some wider pop culture trend of well-healed heroes battling increasingly fantastic wrongdoers in cosmopolitan settings. Apparently, these programs are not entirely forgotten. Rumor has it that Guillermo del Toro (Pan’sLabyrinth) is directing a film adaptation of “The Champions.”
