Take that young man of ‘Arrival.’ He was running about the central Piazza, confused and afraid, and then the village guardian came along and saved him from himself!
No.8-Nadia during ‘The Chimes of Big Ben’ decided to swim away from the village, yet she could not swim so far, thirty miles in fact. So along came three Village guardians to save her from drowning, and taking her back to the beach.
And you will recall No.6 shared this same experience of being saved by the village guardian from drowning, the time he fell overboard during his boat trip in ‘Free For All.’
And it also seems that Rover doesn’t like anyone going about impersonating other citizens of the village. This in the case of No.12-Curtis, who tried his best to give the correct password, and in the right frame of voice, but Rover didn't believe he was in fact Curtis, but an impostor. All it was doing was distinguishing between No.6 and an impostor. Thereby protecting No.6!
And lastly, if not finally, there was the time when No.6 was stranded all at sea, when the steering gear of M.S. Polotsk jammed itself.
The Village Guardian came along to lend a hand by pushing the cruiser back to shore, and by this action, saving No.6 from a possible watery grave.
And after all, when the Village Guardian stops anyone from escaping from the village, it is only protecting the stability of the community. After all it wouldn't want anyone going away and telling the authorities in the outside world, who might very well come and find the village, and in time, take everyone away. Possibly even destroying Rover into the bargain. Now it wouldn't want that now, would it? A case of self preservation that would be. The Village guardian protecting it's own interests.
Three No.2's were returned to the Village for a second term of office, No.2 of ‘A B and C.’ He was returned for a second term of The General, who saw Speedlearn as being the most important human experiment. Well he made a right pigs ear of this, just as he had allowed No.6 to get the better of him in ‘A B and C.’ Such was this man's over confidence.
Another No.2 to be brought back to the village for a second term of office, was this No.2. He had to face the ultimate test, along with No.6 you will recall, how it had to be either one of them. No.2 having once been a good man, is still a good man, but if No.1 gets No.6 he will be better!
Well we can understand all this, it's plain and simple. But what of the third No.2 who was returned to the village, not for a second term of office, but in time to conduct the proceeding of ‘Fall Out,’ to oversee three trials. And another bout of the manipulation of No.6! What these three men have in common is that they are all failures, and having failed once, were given the opportunity to prove themselves a second time. But each were found to be wanting. And the third of these possibly the worst No.2 of them all. For lost control of the situation, which resulted in no.1 being launched into a low orbit in that rocket, and the village being completely evacuated! It could never get worse than this! Now there is a new village, no chances are being taken with such men as these, as there will be no new No.2's, just a permanent No.2, to deal with the new No.6.
Of the 17 episode ordeal of the Prisoner there are a number of episodes which are there simply to "pan out" the series, or series "fillers" if you prefer. Of those necessary to the series are;
Arrival which was originally designed to be the pilot for the series, at a length of 90 minutes.
‘The Chimes of Big Ben’ an escape episode, the script for which was comprised of the initial batch.
‘Free For All’ which takes a stab at the democratic process which the free world today likes to ram down the throat of those less democratic countries.
‘Dance of the Dead’ as Anthomny Skene once explained "If in doubt, do a trial."
‘Checkmate’ is one of the original four episodes.
‘Once Upon A Time’ because it is the penultimate episode, although this episode was not originally written as the penultimate episode leading into Fall Out. In fact the script for ‘Once Upon A Time’ was written early on by McGoohan under the name of Archibald Schwartz.
Fall Out of course, which simply has to be one of the essential episodes to the series, just as Arrival is.
The above is what Patrick McGoohan would keep as a 7 episode series of the Prisoner, but I feel that one further essential episode can be added to this 7, and that is The General as it appeared that the amount of rote information being squeezed into the pupils heads did very little for their imagination and even their intelligence. The rest ‘A B and C’ – ‘The Schizoid Man’ – ‘Many Happy Returns’ – ‘Hammer Into Anvil’ – ‘Its Your Funeral’ – ‘Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling’ – ‘A Change of Mind’ – ‘The Girl Who Was Death,’ and ‘Living In Harmony’ are all seen as non-essential episodes to the Prisoner series.
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