The way in which The Prisoner has been told by the doctor in one scene that his clothes have been burnt, and in the next some other citizen undergoing treatment in the aversion therapy room is wearing them. And again they turn up in a dressing room in ‘Fall Out!’
The way fans miss seeing things, or simply just don't know. As in the case when the stranger, or man with no name as I prefer him to be known, is lying on his bunk in his cell in the Jailhouse in living In Harmony. The Kid while getting drunk fooling around first draws his gun and the man with no name while ignoring the Kid is rolling a cigar. The Kid draws his gun again and the man with no name continues to enjoy his cigar. But when the Kid draws his gun for a third time, we see the man with no name lighting up the cigar.... this must be a mistake. Yes on the part of the author of this. In the first place the author of this misconception has seen something slightly different to me, and secondly its not a cigar the man with no name is rolling, it is a cigarette. Not the usual white cigarette papers, but liquorice papers, which would account for the authors mistaking it for a cigar!
The way after No.2 in ‘Its Your Funeral' referring to Jamming. "Ah Jamming..." without moving his lips, don't tell me that ventriloquism is in it as well!
The way that in ‘Many Happy Returns’ No.6 tells the Colonel and Thorpe that The Tally Ho is issued daily at noon. Yet he is able to buy a copy at !
BCNU
At the end of "Harmony" Number Six wakes up lying on the Saloon floor with headphones on. It is all too obvious to that he was experiencing some hallucinatory (modern-day: virtual) action.
ReplyDeleteBut what the hell was he really doing, I mean physically, while we viewers were watching the episode until he is shot? Why would he be brought to a mock western village, apparently erected for this purpose only(?). Would he just be lying there and be fed with audio messages (from Number Two, Number 8 and Number 22, what about the other cowboys?), maybe having special (and unseen) goggles on, added with cardboard cut-out horses and characters like the Judge to enhance his hallucinatory trip? Would he have been padding around the western village?
One might think Number Six was imaginging everything we saw because of the use of some drugs. Thus, it also would have been easier to deal with I reckon. This ending leaves me unsatisfied and doesn't "make sense" in terms of intelligibility, quite practical. On the meta-level it's us, the viewers, the script plays with. - BCNU!
Hello Arno,
DeleteI've come to see that Number 6 was taking part in a role-playing Virtual-Reality game. What we see on the screen is obviously for the benefit of the television viewer, and that the town of harmony, and all the action could have simply have been played out in the mind of Number 6, as in 'A B and C,' but not in a laboratory, through the use of hallucinatory drugs.
Although it was a great extreme to build an American wild west frontier town, but which is also part of the Village, as we see in both 'The Chimes of Big Ben' and 'The Schizoid Man.' However it's much more fun to visualise Number 6, the Judge, Cathy, and the Kid as the only three people of the town. Which means when we see Number 6 fighting with Zeke and the rest of the Judges 'boys' he's actulaly fighting no-one, rolling about in the dust, throwing punches etc. And the same goes for the gun fight at the end. But the funniest part is when Number 6 would be riding a horse, which of course he wouldn't. He would be running about, slapping his thigh as children do when they are pretending to ride a horse.
Basically Number 6 is role-playing with Number, Number 22, and Number 8. But if Number 6 has had to be given hallucinatory drugs, so that what we see on the television screen is being played out in Number 6's mind, then how do the Judge, Number 22, and Number 8 interact with the role playing? I mean the Judge talks to members of the Towns people who do not really exist, as does Cathy, and the Kid even has a gun fight with one of them. Are they also using hallucinatory drugs?
The ending of 'Living In Harmony,' is played out that way, because of the effect it has had on Number 8. He strangles Number 22 just as the Kid had strangled Cathy, and commits suicide to escape the wrath of the Judge. I can't see how else the episode might have ended.
Regards
David
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>>What we see on the screen is obviously for the benefit of the television viewer, <<
DeleteI agree.
>>and that the town of harmony, and all the action could have simply have been played out in the mind of Number 6, as in 'A B and C,' but not in a laboratory, through the use of hallucinatory drugs.<<
Why then carry him to some real place and lay him down on the (dirty) floor?. He must have been capable of walking, seeing, listening, speaking.
>>But the funniest part is when Number 6 would be riding a horse, which of course he wouldn't. He would be running about, slapping his thigh as children do when they are pretending to ride a horse.<<
Reminds me of the Prisoner09 discussion we were having, in particular "Schizoid" where 6 fights against himself/the air.
>>But if Number 6 has had to be given hallucinatory drugs, so that what we see on the television screen is being played out in Number 6's mind, then how do the Judge, Number 22, and Number 8 interact with the role playing? I mean the Judge talks to members of the Towns people who do not really exist, as does Cathy, and the Kid even has a gun fight with one of them. Are they also using hallucinatory drugs?<<
Part of what leaves me unsatisfied. See above.
>>The ending of 'Living In Harmony,' is played out that way, because of the effect it has had on Number 8. <<
Agree. Quite obvious. Perhaps strongly implying that what we saw and what Number Six experienced was in fact acted out physically in this western environment, Number Six under the influence of some drug that enabled him to walk, speak and so on. But hampering his intellectual and cognitive capabilities to some degree.
>>I can't see how else the episode might have ended.<<
"Harmony" is one of my favourite episodes nonetheless. Yes, there had to be the parallel action/acting of the Kid/No. 8. But I often wondered what ending could have been more, well, appropriate or effective. I may find one, some day. - BCNU
I think the "Harmony" setup was achieved by using a more advanced version of the system that the Village used in "A, B & C". Both episodes required drugs to increase the feeling of reality to Number 6 and both required intervention by Village personnel to bring it closer to achieving the Village's ends.
DeleteI say "Harmony" is more advanced because there were 3 members of the Village giving their input, i.e. No.2, Kathy and the Kid. In "A, B & C" only the Doctor gave some direct input and at the time she wasn't even sure that her input (speech) would actually be incorporated into the virtual reality.
Both "Harmony" and "A, B & C" had minor characters who seemed to be automatic and not directly controlled by the Village, but the ones in Harmony are generally more malevolent, driven and violent and so more likely to contribute to creating a crisis for Number 6 than the comparatively genial party guests in "A, B & C".
However, I still can't resolve why the Village needed to build a physical replica Western town! After all, they didn't need to build a replica of Engadine's garden for "A, B & C".... but then in "The General" we do see something that looks suspiciously like Engadine's garden.
be seeing you
ZM72
Hello ZM72,
DeleteThe thing is, they didn't build a special American Wild West frontier town, it was there anyway, as part of the Village. You can see some of the buildings of the town of Harmony in both 'The Chimes of Big Ben,' and 'The Schizoid Man,' with people living there, passing through in taxis and on bicycles not to mention a public address as Number 6 makes his way from there to his own cottage. All they had to do was dress it up a little.
Regards
David
Be seeing you
Hello Arno,
Delete"Why then carry him to some real place and lay him on the {dirty} floor? He must have been capable of walking, seeing, listening, speaking."
Yes, but he wasn't carried to a real place and laid down on a dity floor, was he, Number 6 as the Sheriff, had been shot by the Judge. I was merely suggesting that the action of 'Living In Harmony' could have been conducted in a laboratory as in 'A B and C,' which of course it wasn't.
"Pretending to ride a horse"
Yes we were discussing Six fighting himself/the air in 'Schizoid' I remember. It just goes to show just how much of the original series is in THEPRIS6NER-09 series, yet reinterpreted.
'Living In Harmony' is the first episode in which we see children in the Village environment. Except for the fact that like the majority of the towns people, they do not actually exist!
Could 'Living In Harmony' be described as psychological warfare?
'Living In harmony' used to be my least favourite episodes, but it moved up one place in my esteem, one place above 'Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling.' I don't know why 'Living In Harmony' isn't more highly placed in my list of favourite episodes, as I am a keen fan of American Westerns, especially those starring Randolph Scott.
Kind Regards
David
Be seeing you