The Therapy Zone

Not All Penny Farthings Are So Formed!

    This is the completed penny farthing of the end credits of the Prisoner, although this is not an example of all the 17 penny farthings seen at the end of each episode. For example all begin with the spinning farthing wheel, and then slowly the penny farthing is built up section by section. frame and forks, white canopy with a quarter wheel section, the canopy colouring. Two more quarter wheel sections, the handlebars, gaining the wheel hub and pedals and finally the rear canopy supports, arriving at the completed penny farthing you see in the above picture.

    However this is not the whole story, because there are certain end credits of episodes which do not enjoy the above picture, and those that go beyond! ‘Arrival’ and ‘Once Upon A Time’ for example sees the frame and canopy disappear to leave only the penny and farthing wheels. ‘The Chimes of Big Ben’ does not received the rear canopy supports, yet the remaining episodes ‘Free For All’ through to ‘Fall Out’ sees the completed canopied penny farthing as pictured above. I can only imagine the fact that with Arrival that both canopy and frame disappear has something to do with ‘the alternative Chimes of Big Ben’ where in the end credits both frame and canopy disappear, the penny and farthing wheels spin and turn into the planet earth and solar system and finally the word POP appears. Perhaps this was the intended end for all the episodes. As for the missing rear canopy supports in the end credits of ‘The Chimes of Big Ben,’ I can only suggest that there is a missing frame of film which would account for that.

    Somewhat of a trivial topic perhaps, but an interesting one when you consider the end credits of ‘the alternative Chimes of Big Ben,’ and what might have been if that episode had stood as it was originally intended.

Double Night Time, Double Night Time.

    No.2 suddenly bursts into the control room during ‘Once Upon A Time’ "Decree absolute..... you're under orders" No.2 snaps descending the steps of the gantry, down to the control room floor.

    "What period?" asks the supervisor.

    "One week!" No.2 responds

    It seems that it has to be an emergency, the supervisor wants to check.

   "You check NOTHING!" No.2 growls as he patrols the control room floor.   

   "Release all subsidiary personnel"

   "First shift, early release" the supervisor orders "Time sheets as normal. Double night time, double night time."

    What remains a puzzlement is this. Does "double night time" refer to double time as in pay together with the reference to time sheets as being normal. Mind you one doesn't think of those working in the village as actually getting paid. If its work units they get paid in, then they don't!

      Yet somehow it feels that  there is possibly another interpretation to do with "double summer time" during the wartime years. This so that farmers would have longer daylight hours to work the farms. The latter is improbable, but then anything is possible in the village.

BCNU