In my time, I have thought many things about ‘the Prisoner’ series. The number of theories, ideas, interpretations, but finding that the simple explanations are quite often the best. And then from time to time my mind goes off in a tangent, and arriving at some fantastical ideas that can only work through the medium of fiction.
Since watching ‘the Prisoner’ as a boy, I first watched ‘Danger Man’ {oh no, he’s going to be waffling on about No.6 being John Drake again!} well you’re wrong, because I’m not, but it is a reasonable assumption for enthusiasts of my generation. But no, if the Prisoner is not John Drake, perhaps Curtis is! After all we don’t know where Curtis was recruited from, and for all we know Curtis might not even be his real name. John Drake could have infiltrated the Village by impersonating Curtis, it wouldn’t be the first time, as Drake had done that before, that time he impersonated Robert Fuller to infiltrate Colony 3, somewhere behind the Iron Curtain. And Drake has certainly gone by other names before, what’s more he’s a dead ringer for the Prisoner-No.6, he could even be No.1!
So if Drake had managed to infiltrate the Village in the guise of Curtis, who was it who died that night, suffocated by the Village Guardian? Suppose that wasn’t Curtis, but No.6. That would afford Drake, as an exact double of No.6, to take on his persona, to impersonate No.6. Would that be possible? How could Drake know enough about No.6 to go about impersonating him in the Village? But then had he not already done so as Curtis? He would have known all there is to know about No.6 for Drake to prolong that impersonation. And then that would make No.2 in ‘Hammer Into Anvil’ right, that No.6 had been sent to the Village by their masters, to spy on them…..Drake hadn’t infiltrated the Village at all, he’d been sent there to check on Village security, to check on No.2! As a boy I thought No.2 in ‘Hammer Into Anvil’ had got it right, well it might be the sort of thing Drake would have done. But of course it wasn’t, and he hadn‘t. But viewed through the eyes of a 12 year old boy at the time, it appeared that No.2 had got it right.
And through the years we’ve all shared the trials and tribulations of the Prisoner’s life in the Village. His successes, his failures. We’ve shared the friendships he has made, and we have learned a little bout him. Perhaps we see ourselves on the side of the Prisoner, because we see the injustice done to him. But what injustice might that be? The Prisoner has important information inside his head. He has become a valuable commodity on the open market, and people would pay a good deal for the information inside the Prisoner’s head. So should we really be surprised by the Prisoner’s abduction to the Village? Such a man as the Prisoner could not be allowed to resign his top secret, confidential job, then to simply be left to roam free at large. But even so people do still sympathise with the Prisoner, some even envy him for living in the Village, and wouldn’t mind if they lived there as well. Others, well they look upon the Prisoner’s predicament somewhat differently. That those behind the Village had every right to abduct the Prisoner to maintain the secrecy of the knowledge the Prisoner has in his procession. Indeed there are those who would see themselves in the Village, in a situation of power, if not as No.2, then someone close to him in Administration, a Supervisor perhaps. Yes and yet why not?
I would say that the Supervisor’s position is a relatively safe one, when compared to the position of No.2. Oh I know there was that time when No.26 was relieved of his position as Supervisor, but that was only down to No.2’s paranoia. It wasn’t long before No.26 was returned to his rightful position in the Control Room, where he was master of all he surveyed. Mind you it wasn’t so good for No.60, having been promoted to Supervisor, he was soon reduced in the ranks to Supervisor-assistant. Mind you I always saw No.26 as a very capable Supervisor, I never quite saw him as requiring an assistant, not like that No.56, or was it 54? He had an assistant. You will recall how together they made a radar sweep for the signal they had picked up that time from a dinghy somewhere out at sea. They picked up a distress call from transocean flight D for Delta two five Zero. Neither the Supervisor nor his assistant recognised the voice transmitting that mayday call. Well it may have fooled them, but No.6 didn’t fool me! And we never saw this Supervisor again, so perhaps the position of Supervisor isn’t so safe after all. And come to think about it there are now fewer than seven. Mind you there are daytime Supervisors and night-time Supervisors working a shift pattern, and there would be need for time off, so having that number of Supervisors can be accounted for. However there was one Supervisor who attained the position of No.2, if only for a week, that was No.26. And yet as it turned out No.26 was far more important than No.2, seeing as he had a seat on the Assembly in ‘Fall Out.’ Also when No.6 requested No.1, the Supervisor had no compunction about taking him. “I’ll take you” he said. I wonder if No.26 managed to get away on one of those helicopters during the evacuation of the Village. Or was he perhaps trampled under foot in the rush that took pace to get away?
Be seeing you
Since watching ‘the Prisoner’ as a boy, I first watched ‘Danger Man’ {oh no, he’s going to be waffling on about No.6 being John Drake again!} well you’re wrong, because I’m not, but it is a reasonable assumption for enthusiasts of my generation. But no, if the Prisoner is not John Drake, perhaps Curtis is! After all we don’t know where Curtis was recruited from, and for all we know Curtis might not even be his real name. John Drake could have infiltrated the Village by impersonating Curtis, it wouldn’t be the first time, as Drake had done that before, that time he impersonated Robert Fuller to infiltrate Colony 3, somewhere behind the Iron Curtain. And Drake has certainly gone by other names before, what’s more he’s a dead ringer for the Prisoner-No.6, he could even be No.1!
So if Drake had managed to infiltrate the Village in the guise of Curtis, who was it who died that night, suffocated by the Village Guardian? Suppose that wasn’t Curtis, but No.6. That would afford Drake, as an exact double of No.6, to take on his persona, to impersonate No.6. Would that be possible? How could Drake know enough about No.6 to go about impersonating him in the Village? But then had he not already done so as Curtis? He would have known all there is to know about No.6 for Drake to prolong that impersonation. And then that would make No.2 in ‘Hammer Into Anvil’ right, that No.6 had been sent to the Village by their masters, to spy on them…..Drake hadn’t infiltrated the Village at all, he’d been sent there to check on Village security, to check on No.2! As a boy I thought No.2 in ‘Hammer Into Anvil’ had got it right, well it might be the sort of thing Drake would have done. But of course it wasn’t, and he hadn‘t. But viewed through the eyes of a 12 year old boy at the time, it appeared that No.2 had got it right.
And through the years we’ve all shared the trials and tribulations of the Prisoner’s life in the Village. His successes, his failures. We’ve shared the friendships he has made, and we have learned a little bout him. Perhaps we see ourselves on the side of the Prisoner, because we see the injustice done to him. But what injustice might that be? The Prisoner has important information inside his head. He has become a valuable commodity on the open market, and people would pay a good deal for the information inside the Prisoner’s head. So should we really be surprised by the Prisoner’s abduction to the Village? Such a man as the Prisoner could not be allowed to resign his top secret, confidential job, then to simply be left to roam free at large. But even so people do still sympathise with the Prisoner, some even envy him for living in the Village, and wouldn’t mind if they lived there as well. Others, well they look upon the Prisoner’s predicament somewhat differently. That those behind the Village had every right to abduct the Prisoner to maintain the secrecy of the knowledge the Prisoner has in his procession. Indeed there are those who would see themselves in the Village, in a situation of power, if not as No.2, then someone close to him in Administration, a Supervisor perhaps. Yes and yet why not?
I would say that the Supervisor’s position is a relatively safe one, when compared to the position of No.2. Oh I know there was that time when No.26 was relieved of his position as Supervisor, but that was only down to No.2’s paranoia. It wasn’t long before No.26 was returned to his rightful position in the Control Room, where he was master of all he surveyed. Mind you it wasn’t so good for No.60, having been promoted to Supervisor, he was soon reduced in the ranks to Supervisor-assistant. Mind you I always saw No.26 as a very capable Supervisor, I never quite saw him as requiring an assistant, not like that No.56, or was it 54? He had an assistant. You will recall how together they made a radar sweep for the signal they had picked up that time from a dinghy somewhere out at sea. They picked up a distress call from transocean flight D for Delta two five Zero. Neither the Supervisor nor his assistant recognised the voice transmitting that mayday call. Well it may have fooled them, but No.6 didn’t fool me! And we never saw this Supervisor again, so perhaps the position of Supervisor isn’t so safe after all. And come to think about it there are now fewer than seven. Mind you there are daytime Supervisors and night-time Supervisors working a shift pattern, and there would be need for time off, so having that number of Supervisors can be accounted for. However there was one Supervisor who attained the position of No.2, if only for a week, that was No.26. And yet as it turned out No.26 was far more important than No.2, seeing as he had a seat on the Assembly in ‘Fall Out.’ Also when No.6 requested No.1, the Supervisor had no compunction about taking him. “I’ll take you” he said. I wonder if No.26 managed to get away on one of those helicopters during the evacuation of the Village. Or was he perhaps trampled under foot in the rush that took pace to get away?
Be seeing you
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