(E05) So I'm feeling a little more confident as the fifth installment wraps that The Village isn't as real a construct as perhaps the original was. At the same time, I have a hard time in a show like this just taking something that I'm told to be the truth and accepting it. Maybe I'm like Six in that way.

In this episode, both Two and Six experience time outside themselves, while 1112 learns more about himself than any of us realized. And if what he learns is anything close to the truth, it can do a lot to explain much of what has happened, and how the Village can be as comprehensive as it appears to be.

In every episode of The Prisoner, the heroic Number SIx would shout, "I am not a number. I am a free man!" Thanks to AMC's booth promoting the new updated Prisoner, everyone at Comic-Con can be a number.

Convention visitors can visit AMC's costumed staffers to obtain their own fictional identity and join the world of The Prisoner.

Fans become official residents of The Village (the show's mysterious city) and receive a photo ID badge identifying them by number only.

It's going to be hard to remake a series as famous and specific as The Prisoner. It was so weird and of its time that they're going to have to do something really different with it. Purists will probably immediately hate it, while people who have never seen the original will wonder what all of the fuss is about.

After the jump is some behind the scenes footage from the six-part miniseries. It features interviews with stars Jim Caviezel, Ian McKellan, Jamie Campbell-Bower, as well as several behind-the-camera people. I didn't realize that the show was filmed in Namibia and in Cape Town, South Africa, which is going to stand-in for New York City (gah).

I'm not the kind of person who gets her panties in a twist over a favorite book being brought to the screen, a movie being turned into a television series or Shakespeare getting a modern revamp. Different mediums. Different stories. Different times. In the hands of the right artist, you get an equally exciting cultural product to hug, love, squeeze and call "George." Even crappy re-tellings don't have to denigrate the original. They're not necessary - High Fidelity didn't need to be a Broadway musical; Gus Van Sant didn't need to remake Psycho shot-for-shot; and no one needs to see The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. But, for the most part, these things come and go. They haven't bothered me any... until now.

Do not adjust your web browser. You are now entering the Retro Squad, where we are reviewing past episodes of your favorite shows, in order, every week.

(S01E01) "I am not a number. I am a free man!"

You can't get much more "retro" than The Prisoner, which first appeared on British television in the fall of 1967 and then in the U.S. about a year later. It starred Patrick McGoohan, who also served as the 17-episode show's executive producer. (You may remember him as the warden of Alcatraz in Escape from Alcatraz starring Clint Eastwood.)

When you watch this show, it seems other-worldly. Granted, it's nearly 40 years old, but it also was ahead of it's time, especially in the blending of technology into the stories. (Dig those cool cordless phones!) It also has influenced many television shows and movies (just do a Google search and you'll see what I mean). It's very difficult to talk about a show you've seen many times and have enjoyed for just as long without giving away too much, but let me set you up with the basic premise and take off from there.

Our fellow blogger and The Prisoner fan Michael Sciannamea will be happy to hear this!

The British satellite channel Sky One is giving a green light for a remake of the cult-classic The Prisoner, which aired on ITV from 1967 until early 1968. The new series would run for six episodes to be aired next year, which would be the 40th anniversary of the series.

There are unconfirmed reports that Number 6, the main character that was played by Patrick McGoohan, will be played by Christopher Eccleston. Eccleston is currently portraying The Doctor in the new series of Doctor Who episodes being broadcast in America on the Sci-Fi Channel. Eccleston lasted only one season on the show and was replaced by David Tennant in the series currently running on the BBC.

The remake of The Prisoner will stick to the original concept of the series: a government agent is drugged and sent to a prison called The Village after he resigns from service. While in prison people are referred to by their numbers rather than their names. This version of the series will probably have a modern shine to it. Perhaps it will take place in one of those secret CIA prisons we aren't supposed to know about.