HAPPY NEW YEAR

    No blog will be posted tomorrow, because as it's New Years Day, I'm giving myself the day off. However I will be back on Wednesday. In the meantime I wish all my readers a very
                             Happy and Prosperous New Year.

Be seeing you in 2013

What's That No.6 Up To?

    First gunslinger "Watch him Frank, he's armed with a stick!"

    Frank "It's worse than that, he's got a log!"

    So what's The Man With No Name's next move? He might be fast enough to beat the first gunslinger, but not to get the better of Frank. Frank will gun him down like a dog in the street. A man isn't safe if he's not wearing a gun!

   “Did you hear about the gunslinger who walked into a 'fish & chip' shop...... he was battered to death!”

   “No, I reckon Zeke will drop that log, and go quietly, for to borrow one of No.2's sayings "He who drops a log of wood and walks away, lives to pick it up another day, and bash someone's brains out with it!"

BCNU

Thought For The Day

   I received an email the other day from an old friend who shows the desire to visit me in the very near furture. We were talking about 'the Prisoner' and Patrick McGoohan. He said that he had been watching his 'Colombo' DVDs 'Dawns Early Lght' and 'Identity Crisis.' He made the remark that McGoohan can only act in one character. He may have seen them so many times, but he seemed to always play the same angry man. McGoohan plays characters like an angry man who has an issue with everything.
    My friend was thinking of when his character in MAGIC NUMBER 6 joked that Roger Moore should have voiced Captain Scarlet because he would give a wooden performance. Pots and kettles. If you think about it, he never ever played anything but an angry man who treated everyone as if they were stupid and got on his nerves.
    Quote: "He played it very well though and made 'Danger Man' and 'The Prisoner,' and I think 'Kings and Desperate Men' very enjoyable. I think an actor should be judged not by how well he delivers a Shakespearian line  or how varied he can be, it is simply after watching or listening to a performance, did you enjoy it, and with McGoohan I always did."
   For myself I have only watched 'Kings and Desperate Men' once, I've no desire to watch it again!

BCNU

Caught On Camera

  Here is the Colonel arriving in the Village during 'Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling.' No it's not, it's the Prisoner on the day of his arrival in the Village, having just been given an aerial tour of the Village. It is a real pity that later episodes in 'the Prisoner' suffer from the use of stock footage from other episodes. Perhaps at the time they thought no-one would notice, and used film stock footage from other episodes to fit in with particular scenes in the script.

BCNU

The Professors Lecture

     My lecture today ladies and gentlemen concerns the question of debate, to discuss, to question, and theorise over the matter of ‘the Prisoner.’ Does group or mass-debates really resolve any of the complexities of ‘the Prisoner’ series? I mean does it really matter that in one scene No.6 is wearing one coloured pair of socks, and in the next the socks are a completely different colour? I mean that's simply a question of continuity isn't it? Or the lack of it I should say, and trivial at that.

   If a thousand people watch ‘the Prisoner’ and you asked their opinion of the series, you would, in all probability, get one thousand different responses, and those one thousand responses would be right. But you will always get those people who shoot off into the realms of fantasy, coming up with outlandish theories about the Prisoner series. Like when someone said that in the opening sequence the Prisoner was demonstrating his rebellious individuality by entering a building via a pair of doors marked "Way Out." Well this is gobbledygook, because the Prisoner is not entering a building, he is simply leaving the underground Car Park via the "Way Out." You see it's a question of perception, this person perceived, wrongly as it turns out, that the Prisoner was demonstrating his rebellious nature, well nor was the Prisoner rebellious. He was about to hand in his resignation, there's nothing rebellious in that action. There might well have been a good reason behind the Prisoner's resignation, and no doubt he had much on his mind that morning. But I bet you a pound to a penny rebellion wasn't one of them. What's more the Prisoner's resignation wasn't a spur of the moment thing, it was planned. After all the Prisoner returned home to collect two ready packed suitcases, his passport and airline ticket, he'd bought that airline ticket in advance! That's where the understanding of the Prisoner comes, not going off half-cocked into the realms of fantasy, but by looking at the series in the cold light of reason.

The Professor

The Therapy Zone

    “Many Happy Returns - the new Number 2 wears a badge with a black background, upon which is a white penny farthing and a white number 2. Previously we have seen citizens wear such a badge, but with a red number 2. No reason is ever given for there are "positive" and "negative" badges.

   This new Number Two-Mrs Butterworth, is the only Number Two in the series to wear the "negative" badge.

    ‘The General’ - The Professor is a tragic figure, a man with a conscience and genius who is manipulated ruthlessly by the village authorities. It again shows McGoohan's great respect and sympathy for men of science and his scorn for the manipulation and perversion of that science. This is a constant theme within the Prisoner and is best realised in the episode Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling.

   ‘The Schizoid Man’ - While Number six does attempt to escape at the end of this episode, it is important to note that the focus of this episode is not escape, but on survival as an individual. Number Six is charged with maintaining his identity, and does this, victoriously. The boundaries of the struggle have changed. Escape is no longer the main issue with Number Six, as the focus is on the maintenance of his identity, his self.

    ‘A B & C/The General’ - Number two drinks a good deal of milk in both these episodes, which gives colour to the theory that Number Two is suffering from a stomach ulcer. It's certainly in keeping with his nervous state of mind, and probably why he didn't have a good night that one time in ‘A B & C.’

   "A B & C explores flaws within the characters of the authorities. Number two, artfully played by Colin Gordon, is assigned the task of extracting information from Number Six. Number Two is painfully aware that if his attempts are not successful, his job-perhaps his life-is on the line. It's a bureaucratic problem. Number two must answer to a hierarchical system that has little patience for failure. Number two understands all too well the tentative nature of his situation and is willing to take extreme measure in the protection of his job. Although we will meet several Number twos who are "afraid of their master," this is one of the few who appear willing to risk Number Six's life in order to extract information."

A Change Of Number 2

   This is No.2 of ‘The Schizoid Man,’ but shouldn't No.2 have been a woman, this woman?

  This is the new No.2 of Free For All, she said that this is only the beginning. That they do not wish to damage him permanently. So what exactly happened to this No.2? Because the next No.2 we see is the one at the top of the page. Surely it should have been this female No.2 of ‘The Schizoid Man’, and if not that, then there is a gap between the two episodes which we know absolutely nothing about! It would have been interesting to see this new No.2 at work, how she would have handled ‘The Schizoid Man,’ or any given situation against No.6. What would she have in mind for our No.6?

  I tried to access records so as to try and ascertain what happened to this No.2, but there is no record of her after her promotion to the position of No.2. It would appear that very soon after reaching this lofty position, she left The Village.

Be seeing you

Exhibition of Arts and Crafts

    The Campanile in watercolour

BcNu

Spotlight On The Prisoner

    In 'Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling' for the first time No.6 needs the Village! It's just as well that the Undertaker, an agent of the Village in the guise of a chauffeur, turned up when he did, otherwise Potter would have taken the Prisoner and Professor Seltzman back to England. And what price then the Prisoner getting his mind properly re-housed in his body?
   And if not for the Undertaker arriving on the scene when he had, and the Prisoner and Seltzman had been able to evade Potter, how would the Prisoner have got them back to the Village? Because I don't think the Prisoner would have been able to accept himself as he is.

Be seeing you

Teabreak Teaser

    In 'Hammer Into Anvil,' who was it do you think, who placed daffodils upon 73's grave?

BCNU

60 Second Interview With - The Man With No Name

  No.113 "Howdy stranger."

The Man with No Name "What do you want?"

"Oh don't be like that mister, we all got our job to do."

No.113b "Smile" {click goes the camera}

"What do you want?"

"Well you've got the whole town riled up."

"How I manage that?"

"We've got a Sheriff who don't wear no gun."

"I don't need a gun."

"Well you'd better tell that to the Judge. Word is some of his boys are gonna dust you down!"

"The Kid?"

"He's fast on the draw."

"I've seen faster."

"You?"

"Maybe."

"There are some who say you was a Sheriff in Witchita, but that you hung up your badge and gun."

"People always talk about something they know nothing about."

"But why?"

"Because I got fed up with being a moving target for any two bit gunslinger looking to make a reputation for himself. For putting my life on the line every single day for twenty dollars a month!"

"Blimey, as much as that! So what you gonna do Sheriff?"

"I don't have much choice...do I!"

"No Sheriff, I guess you don't."

No.113b "Smile" {click goes the camera}

Reporter 113

Photographer No.113b

The Therapy Zone

    "Never trust a woman, not even the four legged variety!"

    That's what No.6 told No.2 anyway. And of course the proof of the pudding is in the eating, and so it is here in the Village.

  First that maid, No.66 tried to trick some sort of information out of me. Well a few tears never washes away my doubts, and I soon sent her packing. Her services were no longer required! Then there was No.9, she'd been assigned to me in the same way as she'd been assigned to Cobb. And she would betray me just as she betrayed Cobb. I thought No.9 would have jumped at the chance to escape with me, but no. Apparently she never intended to, not without Cobb!

   Nadia Rokovsky, she told me that she had seen a secret file on the village, for only a few seconds, yet long enough to see the location of the village. And all the time she was reporting back to No.2 on exactly what I was doing in the woods - carving myself a boat! I suppose I'm something of a sucker when it comes to a damsel in distress, the way they were torturing here in the Interrogation room. So I took Nadia under my wing. I even went so far as to pretend to get close to her, and all the time Nadia was a plant!

    ‘A B & C’ saw a female doctor trying to get into my dreams with the aid of a new drug.

    ‘Free For All’ saw No.58 assigned to me as my personal driver for the election period, another female set to look after me, I don't think! No.58 turned out to be the new No.2, and probably the nastiest of them all!

    But the worst kind of woman is the kind who you help, like Alison-No.24 who I helped with her mind reading act ready for the Village Festival. And she turned on me, stabbed me in the back she did, well as good as. Like most of the women I've encountered here in the village, they are all good at the act of betrayal! It's no good saying that if she had another chance she wouldn't do it again, its too late then!

    No.2, Number bloody 2, she kept her promise though - baked me a birthday cake she did! More like rubbing my nose in it. Well there was only 6 candles on that blessed cake!

    ‘Dance of the Dead,’ a pretty masculine No.2, and Little Bo-Peep who always knows where to find her sheep - meaning the observer-No.240. I was put on trial during the Ball that evening, No.2 was my defender, and No.240, my observer, as my prosecutor! At the end No.2 seemed to take great pleasure in telling me that its going to be very uncomfortable for me. But it was my personal maid who first introduced me to the "rules." "Animals are not allowed, it's the rules!"

   At least with those females of Dance of the Dead you knew where you stood, unlike with the white Queen-No.8, who quite openly spoke to me of love. She'd somehow got it into her head that we could be happy together! No.8 offered to help me escape, if it is a good plan. But how could I possibly trust here, when she openly admitted that she'd often helped others with their escape plans, but that none of them had ever succeeded! But she was kind, that time No.8 came long that evening to make me my night cap of hot chocolate, a task normally performed by my night-time maid - I did wonder about that night cap, I did get a sound nights sleep that night, drugged by god...... no, by No.8 but the effect is much the same!

    ‘A Change of Mind’ saw the ladies sub-Appeal Committee trying to help me, but No.42 was the hard faced bitch who was so accusing of me! Later the ladies of the ladies Sub-appeal Committee physically attacked me outside my very own cottage!

   I felt sorry for Cathy, the Saloon girl of the Silver Dollar Saloon in the American Wild West town of Harmony. But she, No.22, turned out to be no better than her predecessors, helping to break me. Pretending to be in love with me! Poor girl, she didn't deserve to be strangled to death like that!

   ‘The Girl who was Death’ really had it in for me. First an exploding cricket ball whilst at the wicket, then poisoned beer at my local, being cooked alive in a steam box at the Turkish Baths. Life didn't get any easier at the Butchers, th3 bakers, and the Candle stick makers - being shot at, death by possible electrocution, or blown to atoms by exploding landmines. But having survived, I had to face machine gun fire, German stick grenades, an rockets! And finally I was going to be blown to smithereens in that rocket when it hit London!

   Yet No.6 survived them all, and am now free to write of them, and possibly hold one or too in mind.

Be seeing you

Tonight On The Video Channel

  Regular readers of my blog will know my views on this particular episode, I shan't repeat them. And yet this is an episode of 'the Prisoner' and should not be ignored because of it's many failings and imponderables! Can I find anything positive about this episode? Well Patrick McGoohan actually appears more in this episode that one might think, when behind the wheel of KAR 120C, in stock footage from 'Arrival.' Also I enjoy the incidental music which pervades this episode. In fact it enjoys some of the best music in all the series, which I feel is it's one saving grace.

BCNU

The Man Out There

   No.6 told No.2 that he wanted to be the first man on the Moon. Did he really value his privacy so much? Would No.6 really have gone to such exteme lengths to be alone? Well No.6 may not have been the first man on the Moon, but Patrick McGoohan was the first man in space in the 1961 'Armchair Theatre' play 'The Man Out There.' McGoohan plays Nicholai Soloviov  the Russian cosmonaut, indeed the first man, to venture out of the earth's atmosphere.

  Although the Soloviov achieves orbit, the success of the mission is jeopardised by a mechanical failure, in that the escape tower did not eject after launch, thus preventing the dispersal of the space capsules parachute after re-entry. There is a communications breakdown due to sunspot activity, yet by a freak of radio reception Soloviov is able to make contact with Marie the wife of a trapper living in the rugged, blizzard - swept North-West of Canada. The two people who desperately need help, are cut off from the rest of the world, and need to help each other.
   I wonder if No.1 shared the same fate as Nicholai Soloviov, who after blasting off out of a silo in the Village aboard the red one rocket, No.1 became stranded in a rocket orbiting the Earth, cut off from the world with but a few hours to live, before his rocket burns up on an uncontrolled re-entry!

Be seeing you

Caught On Camera

   This is the moment that No.2 realises that it's all gone pear shaped! Not only is the Colonel dead, but No.2 allowed himself to be hoodwinked by Seltzman who escaped the Village, apparently free to continue his experiments in peace. The only saving grace for this No.2 is that the Village Administration is now in possession of the reversal process, which actually isn't really necessary!
  Be seeing you, which is more than can be said of this No.2!

The Professor's Lecture

      I have never seen the point in those so call "Astro" lamps, but I suppose you would know them better as "Lava" lamps. I mean just what is the point of wax being heated in hot oil by a bulb and electricity. Originally they were created by a gentleman by the name of Craven Walker in the late 1950's, inspired by something he saw in a public house. He asked if he could have this lamp which was filled with heated oil and wax. Craven Walker improved the device and patented it, and eventually after becoming a success, he eventually sold his company which today trades under the name of Mathmos. But I still don't see the point, unless it is to relax one, and that would account for the image of the "Lava" Lamp on No.2's wall screen in his office, the sight of slowly rising and falling globules of wax in hot oil must calm and soothing in times of stress!

The Professor

The Therapy Zone

Map Of Your Village

   “I'd like a map of this area" I said "Colour or black and white?" Well I wasn't much bothered, and here is the selection of MAPS OF YOUR VILLAGE I was given.

   First a black and white map, which also contains text about the Prisoner series and Portmeirion. Second up was another, more simple black and white map, and nothing else. It looks on the outside to be the same as it's predecessor, but it's not. Originally this black and white map of your Village came with a ordinance survey map of Portmeiron, the woods, and peninsular. This is the most authentic black and white reproduced map of your village

   The first colour Map of Your Village, with text and colour photographs of Portmeirion and MGM film studios at Borehamwood, but which has the hospital marked on it. Whereas the original Map of Your Village doesn't!

   Another black and white map of your village, smaller this time, and with both episode synopsis and complete cast and credits.

  At last! The first correctly produced replica of a colour Map of Your Village, okay it's not perfect with leather effect front cover, but not on the back, and the map itself - painted in water colour!!!!! Not only that, but there is a great quantity of text. Text regarding the original colour map of you village, and not only that, the text goes into long a full detailed account on how this map was produced!!! WHY????????????????

   And now we come to the most recent of Maps of Your Village, produced by De Agostini as part of their Prisoner part-work. A leather effect full cover, with authentically reproduced colour Map of Your Village. The best ever colour Village map reproduced I feel.

   So having all these Maps of Your Village at my disposal, I'm still not clear as to where I am. The village is still just the village. The mountains are just the same on any map, as is the sea, cliffs and caves.

  So where am I? Well your guess is as good as mine. But I have a sneaking suspicion that it might very well be the Italianate Village of Portmeirion.

Be seeing you

Caught On Camera

   Have you observed how one of the taxi’s parading around to pool and fountain in ‘Free For All’ has a balloon attached to it, and that balloon is but a single word “VOTE,” yet the word has been printed on the balloons upside down! Although you cannot tell that in the first picture, perhaps the second makes it a little clearer. 

   Also some of the crowd scenes of citizens parading round the central piazza is actually made up from the crowd scenes filmed for ‘Dance of the Dead.’ Look carefully at the third picture taken from ‘Free For All,’ and you can see the town Crier.

BCNU

If It Isn't the Prisner - Then What Is It?

    If you look at the two images you will see that the second is simply a reinterpretation of the first, and that is how it is with THEPRIS6NER series itself. It is not a remake, and was never intended to be a remake, yet that is how many members of the press fraternity have seen it. Even the opening scene of Arrival when the Prisoner is waking up in the desert is a reworking of the scene when the Prisoner wakes up in what he thinks is his own home, but finds that it isn't. The disorientation of the subject is the same, even in different environments. On the one hand an Italianate Village, on the other a desert and mountains!

    Throughout the series there are echoes of the original series with reinterpretations of certain scenes of the original series, and homage is paid to McGoohan's creation. But time has moved on since McGoohan's series, and it's reflected in THEPRIS6NER, yet the Village is a retro place, has the feel of the 1950's and 60's about it. Cars and vans from both Great Britain and America stem from the 50's and 60's, as do television sets, and peoples decorations in their homes.

    I'm not at all sure that THEPRIS6NER has left an indelible mark in the minds of fans of the original series, and I'm sure that the majority of fans will not grieve for it's passing. But in my book, as it is with the minority of fans, who like and have enjoyed THEPRIS6NER, and continue to do so through the DVD box set, will tell you THEPRIS6NER has something, even if that "something" cannot be truly defined. But wasn't that the way with the original series of it's time? As for the question first posed in the headline "If it isn't THEPRIS6NER - Then What is It? Well it's called THEPRIS6NER, so that's clearly what it is, whether fans of the original like it or not.

Breathe in….breathe out….more….Village.

Teabreak Teaser

    Village Television - what types of programmes might be produced?

    Village Cinema - What films might be screened?

BCNU

What's That No.6 Up To?

   It’s Karaoke night at the Cat & Mouse!

    I was spending a quiet evening in the Cat & Mouse nightclub. No.6 was there in the company of Number Fifty-Eight and they, like me, had been steadily drinking. Suddenly Number Six began to make a disturbance. He got angry, and shouted at the waitress when he demanded an alcoholic drink. He bet the waitress that she couldn't get him tiddly. But the waitress said that no alcohol was served in the Cat & Mouse nigtclub, and I can vouch for that! So I wonder where Six had been getting it? Perhaps Number Fifty-Eight was keeping him supplied. I vowed to ask Fifty-Eight when I get the chance.

   Then Six got ratty with Fifty-Eight, demanding she get him a drink. So it would seem that Fifty Eight was keeping Number Six supplied! Fifty Eight said something to Six in that incomprehensible language of hers, and then they both got up from the table to leave. But then, Number Six, apparently three sheets to the wind, got a microphone from somewhere and treated us to a song or two. "I'll be seeing you in all those old familiar places"...................."I,I,I,I,I,I,I,I, like you very much"..............."Born free, as free as the wind blows," "Please release me let me go........" are just a few lines of what Number Six was singing.

   After Number Six's drunken singing, Fifty-Eight finally ushered Six outside and the nightclub returned to its calm, quiet self as I drained my glass. "Same again sir?" the waitress asked. "Yes, no. I'll have what Number Six was having." "What do you mean sir?" "I'll have a double! An alcoholic drink that got him in that state!" "No alcohol is served here sir! Gin, Whiskey, Vodka, looks the same, tastes the same........" "Yes, yes. But I'll still have a double!"

BCNU

The Therapy Zone

    Interesting are the props requested for the episode ‘Dance of the Dead’ which included "Three breakfast trays; coffee; cups; etc. Silverware, village scroll for Town Crier, old fashioned hand bell, transistor radio - no named markings {this radio is wet from the body in the sea}. Tubs of village ice cream wrapped in polythene bags, flags of all nationalities. Soggy plain lifebelt and rope, clipboard, stopwatch, pen, pipe, soggy wet tobacco pouch. Billfold type of wallet containing photograph of the dead young man and pretty girl. Paper, invitation cards for carnival. Black surgical bag and walking stick for Jack the Ripper. Dummy body to float in sea, cafe dressing, paintbrushes, paint, shovels, spades."

No.7's It Doesn't Really Mean Anything!

    Some episodes such as ‘Arrival,’ ‘The Chimes of Big Ben,’ ‘Hammer Into Anvil’ are logical stories which people accept at face value. However, others, like ‘Free For All,’ ‘Dance of the Dead,’ and ‘Fall Out’ are subject to bewilderment. We are told we cannot view them on the surface, that we must go deeper. I find it astonishing that this is accepted as the truth with which no-one seems to argue!

    ‘Living In Harmon’ - there is no standard title sequence in this episode, but a parody in the style of the western story {although the 1984 Channel 4 screening of the Prisoner the standard opening sequence had been inserted into the episode, possibly by someone who did not know the series at all, and thought that with Living In Harmony the standard opening sequence had been left out}. Five sequences hit censorship problems when the episode was originally screened and was either deleted or edited prior to transmission, a hanging, a fight with Zeke, the Prisoner being dragged back to Harmony and a pair of sequences where Cathy is attacked. The episode marks the only credited appearance of Frank Maher {as third gunman}.

    The Harmony Township was a Borehamwood backlot, redressed and re-used several times in the series. It has been claimed that the episode was because it promotes mind-altering drugs! Well what about the previous 15 episodes, do they not also promote mind altering drugs, and many other forms of dug? Actor Alexis Kanner said that in his role as the Kid, he was faster on the draw than McGoohan during the end gunfight. The episode does not give the audience any confirmation that this is a Prisoner episode. It is not until the very end that the familiar scene returns.

I’ll be seeing you

Prismatic Reflection

    What if…….the Prisoner got away before the two undertakers came for him?  That would seem to have been extremely unlikely, seeing as they had followed the Prisoner’s car from the underground car park, and through the busy London streets. Yet, the two undertakers had not followed him all the way to his home of No.1 Buckingham Place, because as the Prisoner parked his car outside the house, the hearse is already parked in Buckingham Place, with the pair of undertakers sat inside waiting for him to arrive home!
   So what about if No.6 that time in the cave during ’The Chimes of Big Ben,’ had taken his time and thought it out, asking himself how was it possible for Nadia to have been able to contact the man in the cave from the Village. He might have seen Nadia for what she was….a plant! Ah, but then what good would that have done him? Having over powered Post 5 and Nadia, just how far would No.6 have managed to get before either ‘they’ or ‘it’ {meaning the Village Guardian} caught up with him? Had the doctor in A B and C told No.2 that No.6 had opened his eyes and seen her, then things for No.2 might have turned out differently.
    The election period of ‘Free For All.’ There he was No. 6 elected by the people as the new No.2, and what did he do? He tried to organise a mass break out, he just couldn’t help himself. Not a man our No.6 to keep calm, play the game, no matter whose game he might be playing at the time, and try to bring the system down from within. No, he had to go for it while he could, not that ‘they‘ would have allowed him to remain the new No.2. Such was his desire for escape, which incidentally was the driving force behind him during ‘The Chimes of Big Ben’ which made him believe Nadia Rakovsky’s story, if indeed that was her name in the first place!
    You are free to go he said. He had command, he would immobilise all electronic controls, obey me and be free. Do you think No.6 wanted the people to be free? Not a bit of it. All he wanted was to create mass confusion, and then with any luck No.6 would escape amid all the confusion! No.6 cares only for one person, himself. He looks after No.1, and as it turned out, No.1 had been looking out for No.6 all along. We mustn’t damage the tissue let me remind you. No.2 didn’t want No.6 damaged, not a man of fragments. He wanted No.6 with a whole heart, body and soul! Only later did something change, that No.2 was actually allowed to try and break No.6, as in the affair of ‘The Schizoid Man.’
    Now there are two No.6’s in the Village, except one isn’t No.6, he’s No.12 who is impersonating No.6, who had been conditioned to be No.12. Then as No.12 he undergoes certain changes to make him look like No.6 because No.2 wants No.12 to impersonate No.6. So that now we have No.6 impersonating himself, twice! What luck it was that No.6 did not know that Susan had died a year ago.
   ‘Dance of the Dead,’ the only “what if” I can think of here, is what if the mob screaming for No.6’s blood had actually caught up with him, they would have ripped him apart!
    “Checkmate,” No.6 learns how to tell the blacks from the whites, in other words the pieces on the chessboard, the Guardians from the warders. So desperate for escape was No.6, that down on the beach that night he had to make a choice. To go back to the Green Dome, or to put to sea aboard the pair of rubber lilos in order to bring the boat in-shore to the Village so as to effect an escape. Sadly for No.6 he chose the latter, had he chosen the former, well anything was possible.
    I could go on, but I think the point has been made that ‘the Prisoner’ series is full of choices, “what if’s?” And yet, even before ‘the Prisoner’ went into production, you see there is a serious side to this. If Patrick McGoohan had not gone filming scenes for ’Danger Man’ at Portmeirion. Had he accepted the role which had been offered to him of James Bond, he may very well not have produced ‘the Prisoner.’ So no show, no Appreciation Society. And that would have meant that many friendships through that society would not have been made. People would not have come together, not met and eventually married, as they did because of their appreciation for ‘the Prisoner.’ And of course their children would not have been born.
   ‘The Prisoner’ is but a television series, and aficionados of the series have discussed and debated the meaning of ‘the Prisoner’ for the passed 45 years. And yet, such a television series does still attract new fans as well as maintaining life time fans as myself. In fact there is a serious side of ‘the Prisoner,‘ which enjoys a fan base which extends all around the globe, people of varying nations, of faith, of colour, of ethnic background. ‘The Prisoner’ has brought all kinds of people together over the years and decades, from all walks of life, and social backgrounds, but people who have one thing in common…….’the Prisoner.’

I’ll be seeing you

THEPRIS6NER

    One might think, and several fans of the original series have said so, that there is absolutely nothing whatsoever to discuss about the 2009 series. Well that's all well and good, but it's generally people who have not bothered to watch the series who say that. But then if they haven't watched the series, how do they know?
   Take the situation towards the end of 'Checkmate' when the Village is being handed over to Six and 313. 313 is chosen because she is in love with Six, and Six is chosen by Two as being the ideal man to take the Village experiment forward, to make a better Village, moral Village.
   The mixture of pills is given to 313 in the Village......but isn't that wrong? But surely it should be that the pills are given to Sarah back in New York? Not in the Village!

    After all it's going to be Sarah who is to dream the Village, not 313. Perhaps what we see in the Village, 313 having been given the pills to take, is a mental reflection of what is taking place in New York to Sarah. You see, certain situations in THEPRIS6NER are far from being cut and dried, as myself and other aficianados of the series have found.
   The new Two, the former Six dreams of finding a way of making a better Village. Well I think that's going to prove unlkely, looking at the basic biulding material he has chosen to work with. Sarah is mentally unstable from having suffered both mental and physical abuse as a child. I should dread to think what kind of Village Six is able to come up with in the mind of Sarah!

Breathe in.....breathe out......more......Village.

Thought For The Day

   In a scene in 'The Schizoid Man' No.24-Alison tells No.2 that there is an easy way to prove which one of the two 6's is the real No.6, as No.6 has a mole on his left wrist. The only problem being, No.6's mole has been removed! There is a precident set for this, and it takes place in the 1963 film ‘Carry On Jack.' Is the tale of Albert Poop-Decker, a newly commissioned Midshipman. The story starts with the death of Nelson who has said that Britain needs a bigger navy with more men. Anton Rodgers played Hardy. Poop-Decker (Bernard Cribbins) has taken 8½ years and still not qualified as midshipman but is promoted by the First Sea Lord as England needs officers. He is to join the frigate Venus at Plymouth. Arriving to find the crew all celebrating as they are sailing tomorrow, he takes a sedan chair with no bottom (so he has to walk) to Dirty Dick's Tavern. Jim Dale and Ian Wilson who plays his father carry the sedan chair.
    Mobbed by women in the tavern as he is holding a sovereign aloft as advised by the men carrying the sedan chair, he is rescued by serving maid, Sally. She wants to go to sea to find boyfriend Roger but landlord Ned  has let her down. She finds that Poop-Decker has not reported to the ship yet and is unknown to them so in a room upstairs, she knocks him out and takes his midshipman's uniform.
    Poop-Decker wakes and dons a dress to cover his long johns and downstairs is shanghaied by a press gang, along with a cess pit cleaner named Walter Sweetly run by First Officer, Lieutenant Jonathan Howett  and his bosun, Mr Angel They come to when at sea and are introduced to Captain Fearless who is anything but fearless. Poop-Decker makes himself known but there is already a Midshipman Poop-Decker aboard - Sally, in disguise. In attempting to prove his identity Poopdecker tells Captain Fearless he has a mole on his "whatsir!" Sally turns the table by declaring the man cannot be Midshipman Poop-decker because Midshipman Poop-decker doesn't have a mole on his "Whatsir!"
   Okay, it's not a 100 pecent parallel, but the use of a mole to prove one's identity does set a precident, unless of course you the reader know of an earlier one.

I'll be seeing you

Exhibition of Arts And Crafts

    From my Watercolour period entitled "The Price is cheap"

BcNu

The Professors Lecture

   My lecture today ladies and gentlemen concerns technology and transport. One piece of equipment used as a prop is the Olivetti Summa Prima adding machine {dual decimal} which is used by the doctor in Arrival, and by the Supervisor in the Control Room, during the episode 'Checkmate.'

   One other machine which particularly springs to mind is the Creed teleprinter used in ‘Dance of the Dead,’ which Number Six fails to sabotage in the closing moments of the episode. This effect was achieved by lacing an unconnected loom of wires and terminal blocks across the access door to the space below the printer, where it's roll of paper

was housed, suspended from chains attached to each end of a bar that ran through its centre core, there being no electrical connection in this part of the unit.

   All the electrician had to do was isolate the mains switch whilst Number Six was ripping out the wiring and paper, and restore power after the delivery of Number Two's immortal line "Then how very uncomfortable for you old chap!"

    During 'The Chimes of Big Ben' Number 2 records a report on number 6 upon a small recoding device, which contains, either two tiny spools and magnetic tape. Or it is possible that it is an early form of a Digital recording device with a restricted recording time of say 40 seconds.

   Gas guns containing nerve gas “one squirt you’re paralyzed, two squirts you dead.”  Which in turn means either the development of nerve gas, or it’s acquisition from one source of supply or anther. 

    Inside cottages and various buildings of the village there are internal speakers  have no wires  no Arial and

no on/off switch. This then is the village advancement in the technology of wireless communication. Where you

 have a method of data transport, wireless technology appears very simple to wired technology. You have a

piece of hardware, a method of transmission , and communications on both ends that transform data.

    You can’t move you laptop 15 feet from the wall jack when depending on a 10-feet cable. Similarly, you

can’t go out for a jog and expect your in-home cordless telephone to keep a connection five miles away from

 its receiver. This in the same way that in the evening of The Chimes of Big Ben No.6 could not have taken

that speaker outside if it were on the end of a cable. Which means all building in the village are “wireless ready.”
    The methods of connection and ranges of services available vary in wireless technology. Different types of

wireless solutions can communicate ten feet, ten miles, or with  satellite in orbit.
    When on the morning of The Chimes of Big Ben No.6 irritated by the programme of early morning music

placed his speaker in the refrigerator. Thus rendering silence to his cottage, the refrigerator had effectively cut

the speaker off from receiving its wireless signal.

 

    Have you ever been in London and taken a ride on the AEC {Associated Equipment Company} Routemaster bus? Like the one on route 59 which Number Six and the Butler chase over Westminster Bridge for example. This is the only tangible indication that the closing scenes of the final episode were filmed on a Sunday, as route 59 ran only on that day of the week, the weekday equivalent being numbered

59A!

The Professor

The Therapy Zone

    “Hammer Into Anvil - In the original script Number Six visits the grave of Number Seventy-Three at the end of the episode. This was omitted from the final version. It may have put too much emphasis on Number Six's sympathies {but it would have been a nice touch}. But even with no final grave visit, it is becoming apparent the Number Six is taking on a role within the community. He is protecting the people from the abuses of society or at least enacting revenge against wrongs. This is most evident in episodes like ‘It's Your Funeral,’ in which he saves The Village from cruel and inevitable punishment.

  In ‘Free for All’ Number Six is flatly defeated at the end of the episode. They might not have been able to "damage the tissue," but they gave it a damned good bruising! Number Six gained nothing for his pains. He is made vulnerable to the authorities because he entertains the idea of gaining power {being elevated to the new Number Two}. Much of this episode, then can be seen as the study of a candidate's motivations. Although his motivations are suspect once he has been conditioned, he does enter the race with a clear mind. Some observers have noted that Number Six's ego trips him up - that his desire for power is some type of character flaw subject to exploitation. But there's probably something more political going on here - Number Six's flaw is more likely the belief {however tentative} that the possibility exists for change within the system. The system is portrayed here, is inflexible - totalitarian. There is no room for change.

    It should be noted that there is no clear evidence that Number Six actually decided to run for office, he simply couldn't resist the challenge when given the opportunity to run for electoral office. Number Six had no sights set on the position of Number Two, he simply wanted to take advantage of an opportunity provided, to make his thoughts known to the citizens of The Village, to shake them up, to organise a mass escape!

    On the day of the Prisoner's arrival in The Village, No.2 intimated that the Prisoner may even be given a position of authority, but I suspect that that would be only on the grounds of the Prisoner's co-operation!

Number 7's It Doesn't Really Mean Anything

    That moment during the opening sequence, after the Prisoner has driven into the underground car park, he alights from his Lotus 7 and pushes open a pair of doors marked "Way Out." Do you know some fans of the Prisoner series see this as him entering a building via the "Way Out." Well that's ridiculous isn't it. After all the Prisoner has just driven into an underground car park, and now he is leaving the said underground car park via the "Way Out."

  You see, an ordinary, everyday occurrence like this, which doesn't really mean anything, so why look for a more complicated explanation, or interpretation, when there's a simpler one at hand?

No.7

Be seeing you

Merry Christmas

  It's Christmas Eve, and so I'm giving myself two days off, so no blog will be witten on either Christmas Day of Boxing Day. However, I will return on Thursday. So I wish you one and all a
                                         very merry Christmas

Be yuling you

Postcard From The Village

    The Lion that roared! A handsome beast wouldn't you argree? And our paths have crossed many times on my visits and stays at Portmeirion.

    The 17th statue of the Lion was a 90th birthday present to Clough Williams-Ellis by his friends in 1973. The Lion was unveiled by Lord Harlech, who in his speech welcomed the whole of Portmeirion set-up as a 'Good thing.'

                Be seeing you

Caught On Camera

They say confession is good for the soul, and after confessing that he's inadequate and disharmonious, I should think 93 feels much better for getting it off his chest. He certainly looks better for it as he leaves the podium in the foyer of the Town Hall.

BCNU

60 Second Interview with No.2

   No.113 "Thank you for taking the time to speak with me Number Two.

No.2 "Not at all."

"Tell me, why do you need Professor Seltzman and his reversal process, when you seem to be going along quite nicely as it is."

No.113b "Smile" {click goes the camera}.

"I don't quite understand your question."

"Well you say you need Seltzman's reversal process."

"I never said anything of the kind."

"Didn't you?"

"No."

"Well you don't need Seltzman to operate your "Seltzman machine," nor do you require the reversal process."

"Why not?"

"Well you simply put the two subjects who originally exchanged minds, through the exact same process."

"............Ah, I see."

"Well it's hardly rocket science is it?"

"No, no I suppose it's not."

"Tell me Number Two, how did you acquire the "Seltzman machine" in the first place?"

"Oh I couldn't possibly tell you that."

"Why not?

"Because I don't bloody well know that why!"

"Thank you Number Two."

"A pleasure I'm sure."

Reporter No.113

Photographer No.113b

The Prisoner Under The Spotlight

   Why didn't No.6 try and escape during ‘Hammer Into Anvil,’ ‘Its Your Funeral’ and ‘A Change of Mind?’

    Well taking ‘Hammer Into Anvil’ first, how was an escape possible in this episode? Escape was not on No.6's mind, nor to try and bring down the system from within, as some fans of the series think, but solely concerning himself with bringing down the sadistic No.2, an avenging for driving poor No.73 to commit suicide! There was no possible chance of escape during this episode, however there might have been half a chance at the end of ‘It’s Your Funeral.’

    The assassination/execution plot of ‘It’s your Funeral’ might have given No.6 the chance to escape, after all he had managed to get the explosive detonator away from the Watchmaker-No.50. The explosive hidden in the "Seal of Office" was still hanging around the new No.2's neck, a perfect opportunity you might think. But ask yourself this, if No.6 was to do a runner to the waiting helicopter, with the explosive detonator in his grasp, who would No.6 be able to trust in stopping the new No.2 from removing the "Seal of Office" from about his shoulders in the way No.6 had for the escaping - outgoing - No.2? There was only one person, the retiring No.2, but how effective he would have been against the new No.2 is doubtful.

    And as for any possible escape during ‘A Change of Mind’ is also questionable, even at the end after bringing down another No.2, with the help of No.86 who denounced No.2 for being an unmutual! And don't forget, even as No.2 was being chased back to the Green Dome by certain citizens of the community after being denounced as an unmutual, No.2 would have gained the security of his office within the Green Dome, to resume control over the village and its community. If only until his replacement arrived, making any escape impossible for No.6. And even if No.2 had been chased down by the ladies of the appeals sub-committee and taken off for "Instant Social Conversion" at the hospital, there was always the Supervisor in the control room to look after things until a new No.2 arrived in the Village. Just look to the week of ‘Once Upon A Time’ for such evidence.

BCNU