Wednesday, 21 November 2012

The Colonel

  What can take place in the Village can have an effect on the outside world. Take the Colonel here. He was brought to the Village in order to take part in the finding of Professor Jacob Seltzman. He was completely aware of what he was letting himself in for, as he said to No.2 "I'd appreciate knowing my duties as soon as possible." All he knew is that he was sent to the Village by the highest authority.
   The Colonel did leave the Village, if only in body and not mind. So really the Colonel died in the Village, his mind wrongly housed in the body of Seltzman. And the effect on the outside world? Well obviously his death would have to be explained to the department for which the Colonel worked. And was he married? If he was, what would they tell his widow? But it doesn't quite end there, because out there, somewhere, is the Colonel who to all intents and purposes is alive and well, even if he's not in his right mind!

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2 comments:

  1. Arthur Butterworth22 November 2012 at 11:50

    I must admit that I find the whole body-swapping theme troublesome. What is a person's true identity: the image they see in the mirror or the mind behind it? I once heard someone say that a man is the sum of his memories ... but if that is so then am I more me than the me of, say, twenty years ago who had 20 years less experience than the current me?

    As for the episode itself it is my least favourite of the series. There is a certain cheapness and cutting-of-corners that did not look good at the time and holds up even less well today. Like The Colonel's mind, this episode seems wrongly housed in The Prisoner.

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  2. David Stimpson23 November 2012 at 08:36

    Hello Arthur,

    Good to hear from you, and you've been busy commenting, excellent.

    That is a very very interesting thought, the fact that the image we see in the mirror or the mind behind it, is not the same person of say twenty years ago. Certainly I'm not the man I was twenty or thirty years ago. I think, and it was my wife who said this really, I am the man I am now. The man I was twenty years ago is deceased, he no longer exists. And the man I am today will, in all probability, no longer exists five years from now. In effect you are the person you are at the time.

    Yes I agree, 'Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling' is my least favourite episode, there are far too many ponderables about it for my liking, too many holes that do not link up and make a whole!
    Vincent Tilsley who wrote the episode is ashamed of it. Oh not for the original script that he wrote, but for what they did with it afterwards. He said that they turned a very bad script into an incomprehensible bad script!

    Have a good day
    Regards
    David
    BCNU

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