The Therapy Zone

The Late Patrick McGoohan

    Someone who was unaware of the Prisoner at the time once met Patrick McGoohan wrote of him, "I found him to be genuinely bemused by all the facades. Extremely polite, and removed from all that surrounded him. Methinks he is equally bemused by the imaginations created. Can't help but compare with Shakespeare, still chuckling in his tomb over all interpreted into his writing."

    Well true to say that Patrick McGoohan was bemused by the things fans saw in the Prisoner series, things which were never meant to be there in the first place, and the many interpretations placed within the series, much of which I have done myself. But then Patrick only had himself to blame, in the way he made the series, and by the use of that word "Allegorical," a word which fans took to be quite literal. Sorry Patrick, but you have but yourself to blame for how things worked out with the Prisoner, and laid yourself wide open for all you got as far as the "cult" of the Prisoner is concerned.

The Sky At Night

   I was glancing through a free newspaper yesterday, The Mail  and came across the following article. My attention was immediately grabbed by the picture, and my imagination put the possibility of two and two together and came up with 1.

 

   The article concerns itself with astronomers who have captured a breathtaking new image of the Helix planetary Nebula, which is one of the most spectacular objects in the night sky. To me the above picture seems to be suggestive. You will recall how during the evacuation of the village in 'Fall Out,' how a rocket was launched with No.1 sealed in the nose cone. You will also recall the stainless steel eye located in the side of that said rocket, through which No.1 observed the proceedings of 'Fall Out.' Look at the picture again, does the picture not put you in mind of anything?

    Well to me that rocket launched in ‘Fall Out’ with No.1 aboard had to have gone somewhere, and seeing as the masks No.6 removes from No.1's face have been associated with the evolution of man by certain fans of the Prisoner - what about the evolution of No.1? Perhaps the rocket somehow made it's way into deep space, that No.1 has finally evolved into, into what - an all seeing eye in the night sky! Blimy, talk about imagination, but there you are, the picture to me is simply suggestive, and being so I could not stop my imagination from doing what it does best. And besides, fictionally, who's to say...........

Peter Smith

   They even deleted the Prisoner’s name from the log book of his car. They were certainly taking no chances!

    Smith in itself is a common enough name, John Smith might even be more common. But Peter Smith is the name that the Prisoner gave to Mrs. Butterworth, and should we doubt that that is his real name, or one given off the cuff so to speak at the time? Well the Prisoner would have to verify his name, and that would be done either by the name on the lease of the house, or the logbook of the car. But both bore the name of the new owner, which was lucky for the Prisoner - otherwise he just might have had to reveal his own name, and Pat McGoohan wouldn't have wanted that now, would he? Hence the name Peter Smith.

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