A Matter Of Life And Death
Was the date of a local BBC radio interview with Tony Wadsworth and Julie Mayer. There were three of us fans of the Prisoner who were due to be interviewed via telephone and "live on air." For myself I was asked such searching questions as "Do I own a mini-Moke?" "Do I ride a penny farthing?" and "Have I got a piped blazer?" It soon became apparent to me that I was to be treated as "the Prisoner anorak!," as my two fellow friends and fans interviewed before me had been treated with respect, little of the same was going to shown to me.
At one point I was being urged to "justify myself," and I didn't like that, because I felt that I didn't have to justify myself to anyone. I suppose what frightened me the most was, and I should have been because I knew the question was going to be asked, was the fact that I couldn't answer the question! My mind went a complete blank for a few seconds while I searched for an answer. I began to answer what it was about the Prisoner that had made me a fan of the series, but I found it hard going which was strange for me. And then Julie Mayer suggested that it might be "escapism." That was a life-line and I clung to it like a survivor of the stricken Titanic clung to a lifeboat. Yes, that was it, "escapism." But I knew it was much more than that.
At the time of the interview I was busy organising both re-enactments for the forthcoming prisoner convention at Portmeirion, and I had the Portmeirion shoot of ‘Village Day’ to organise, so really my "appreciation" for ‘the Prisoner’ was at it's lowest ebb that it had ever been. But having said that I was creating my own "Prisoner" based film, I was going to be doing what Patrick McGoohan had done, but on a smaller scale. I felt that I had "outgrown" my appreciation for the Prisoner, in the production of the film, and in my writing Prisoner based short stories, in putting Number 6 in new and varied situations.
It was a busy time for me back then, and really there wasn't time for me to appreciate the Prisoner, but since that time my appreciation for ‘the Prisoner’ has long since returned, and has remained constant ever since.
Escape Via Helicopter!
My wife and I sat watching the "first cut" of Arrival last night, and it was just as Number 6 was about to take off in the helicopter that I suddenly realised that Number 6 wasn't piloting the Alouette helicopter at all. That right from the take-off the helicopter was being flown by remote control from the control room.
Number 2 is pictured here with Cobb as they watch the screen together. And it is at this point that Number 2 nods to the observers sat watching their monitors, who at the nod from Number 2 three of the observers pull on a lever at the side of their monitors, and the Alouette helicopter takes off.
Giving both the viewer, and more importantly, Number 6, the impression that he is actually flying the helicopter, when in fact it is being flown remotely from the Control Room all the time.
It isn't until the episode of ’Fall Out,’ that we discover that there is more than one-way into the Village!
Why should Number 6, with his rebellious, and uncaring nature, concern himself with the welfare of the citizens who would have suffered mass reprisals at the assassination of Number 2? And yet, according to Number 2 in Arrival, he does understand that it was a matter of conscience. So is that what was behind Number 6' resignation, a matter of conscience, that he could no longer stand what he, or rather his alter ego - Number 1, was doing to the citizens of the Village?
Be seeing you
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