THEPRIS6NER

    Viewers of THEPRIS6NER are learning that the series has more in common with the original series than fans who do not like it might at first realise. A friend of mine doesn't like THEPRIS6NER series, yet his young son does like the series. Could it be, that like the original series, which is best viewed through the eyes of a child, is it possible that likewise the same can be said of THEPRIS6NER, my friends young son seeing something in the series which his father cannot?

   I tend to think that at the end THEPRIS6NER Six gave himself up for the greater good. That 313 agreed only to do what she did until Six could find a "better way," to find a new Two to pass The Village on to. Because at the end of ‘Checkmate,’ Six has reached the place where Two began.

   One can only speculate just how many Two's there have been up to the time of Six becoming the new Two. But as for The Village, it appears to be a second chance for people who are ill, have committed crimes of some kind, a place where people are taken, whether they want to be saved or not, while at the same time are living their lives in New York.....so The Village is in New York, but only in the mind!

    Two wants to give Six The Village, it's his way for escape. But what surprised me was, the ease with which Six finally accepted The Village. Each episode is a challenge set for Six by Two, this is much in the same way of the original series, each episode being an ordeal for No.6, to win or lose. In the original series No.2 did not always succeed in his challenge with No.6, and it's the same for Two in THEPRIS6NER. And ultimately Two will fail unless he has a challenge that will completely undermine Six through his own beliefs. Six only wants to do the right thing, and that is what will give Six to Two, and did. Because Six is the One!

    11-12 was astounded that anyone would have the audacity to watch him! "Who would do such a thing, and why? 11-12 was afraid that if he was being watched, then his father might find out about his relationship with 909, if he didn't know about it already. So one of them had to go, seeing as how it wasn't going to be 11-12, it had to be, rather selfishly on the part of 11-12 I thought, but it had to be 909, who I thought accepted his ultimate death rather well really..........unless 909 knew that to suffer a Village Death would mean his release from the Village back to that "Other Place." After all 909 was a dreamer, wasn't he?

    To finish I received a letter from a friend of mine who has had a bit of trouble with the mind, and with a psychiatrist by all accounts, but she actually likes THEPRIS6NER series, and can see the meaning behind it. She wrote "If only there was a real place like The Village, where broken people could be taken and fixed, how much happier I and many like me would be."  I found my friends letter most touching, and I only wish I could help her.

Be seeing you

Teabreak Teaser

    During 'The Schizoid Man,' how long did the conditioning of Number 6 take?

BCNU

Exhibition Of Arts And Crafts

From My Watercolour Period
                                    No.2's Office

BcNu

Caught On Camera

    We know who it is on the operating table on the left of the above picture, it's Patrick McGoohan as the Prisoner. This during the "reversal process" scene of the episode ‘Do Not forsake Me Oh My Darling.’ Sitting in the middle is Professor Jacob Seltzman, played by Hugo Schuster, but who the devil is this third fellow? Obviously the Colonel, but who is playing the Colonel? {see enlargement} Whoever he is, I’m not so sure that he’s Nigel Stock, who plays the role of the Colonel. And if he isn't, it wouldn’t be the first time someone has stood in for Nigel Stock, Patrick McGoohan for one, and another person in No.2’s office when the scene is shot from above, in long shot.

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The Prisoner Under The Spotlight.

     Arts And Crafts Exhibition. We all know about "Arts & Crafts" which were very popular at one time, and which has been making something of a comeback. Well here in the village we enjoy our own Arts & Crafts Exhibitions. However it would seem that the majority of citizens have all chosen No.2 as their subject, either in pencil, pen & ink, paint, or clay.

   It all seems rather crawly to me, that so many citizens would choose No.2 as their subject. However that was not always the case, as the general carved himself a new chess set, only somewhat disappointingly the General did make No.2 one of the kings!

   A true individual was No.6, and his sculpture, although no-one really understood what it was! Described as "Our very own Epstein" by No.2, the awards committee couldn't make anything of No.6's sculpture. In fact No.6 had to go as far as to explain his work, which had given the title of "Escape," to the Awards Committee. Of course he was making it up as he went through a quite elaborate explanation. Church door my foot! Although the more abstract piece, with holes in it, representing freedom or a barrier, depending on how you look at it, was rather clever.

    At the Awards ceremony it is a surprise to see that it was actually No.2's Butler who was handing out the awards. And that made him look more important than No.2!

    It was an even bigger surprise when No.6 having won a special merit award of 2,000 free work units, the "prize of prizes", then went and bought No.38's tapestry to hang in his own home. I thought that was a little rash of him at the time. But I suppose No.6 had his reasons, and No.38 left the Arts & Crafts Exhibition, a happier, and richer lady.

    A friend of mine once wrote that in ‘Fall Out’ Patrick McGoohan might have been more original. But really, I don't think that there was anywhere else McGoohan could have taken the Prisoner. My friend also wrote at one time that he thought that Fall Out is the logical ending to the surreal series. I wish he'd make up his mind!

    Patrick McGoohan is on record as saying he doesn't like private jokes in the Prisoner, and wouldn't have them. So what about that address on the envelope in Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling - Saltzman, 20 Portmeirion Road, Filey Clyde, Scotland.

   The handwriting of that address and that written in a diary by the Colonel, both belongs to Patrick McGoohan. So is it Seltzman, or Saltzman? Because having studied that envelope more closely, It can be seen that McGoohan has written Saltzman!

   But it is not only the word Saltzman which is the curiosity about the envelope, what about that stamp and frank mark? There's something not quite right there!

   Checkmate sees the searchlight crew in the tower attacked by No.6 and his conspirators. One of the crew is punched from the tower and lands with a splash of water. yet there isn't any such water anywhere around the tower. Mind you the average viewer who had not been to Portmeirion would not know that!

    The lighthouse at Beachy Head was actually manned at the time of the Prisoner. Today its an automatic lighthouse, and much nearer to the coast due to cliff erosion.

    Apart from trying to extract the reason behind No.6's resignation, each episode of ‘the prisoner’ has some kind of a sub plot. Such as education, the question of identity, freedom and servility are such examples which automatically come to mind.

Be seeing you

The Prisoner Betrayed!

    At the moment No.6 is all at sea somewhere, all along aboard his sea-going raft, in the Atlantic ocean as he tries desperately to get home. But I cannot help but wonder if No.6, having actually made it back home to London, would have been quite so keen as to go running back to his ex-colleagues in ‘Many Happy Returns?’ What I mean is, it might not have been the Colonel and Thorpe No.6 encountered in that country home. But instead it might have been the Colonel and Fotheringay as in ‘The Chimes of Big Ben,’ you will recall how No.6 had been betrayed by them. After all why be so keen to go running back to the people who had betrayed you? I have sometimes wondered how No.6 knew that it wouldn't be the former but rather the latter, who he would encounter in ‘Many Happy Returns?’ If it had been the former, then at least the Colonel and Fotheringay wouldn’t have taken any convincing about his report of the Village, because they’ve been there! The result being? Well I suspect it would have been very much the same, the Prisoner arriving back in the Village, one way or another!

Be seeing you

Collectors Corner

   The Channel 5 poster a real favourite item in my collection. This from 1986 when Channel 5 began to release 'the Prisoner' on video. The post arrived in a Six of One: The Prisoner Appreciation Society quarterly mailing in 1987, which were great value in those days. I couldn't believe it when I unfolded the poster. It's brilliant I thought and knew that the £10 subscription had been well spent. The poster went up on a wall straight away, no point having it folded up in the envelope it arrived in, or placed in a file where it couldn't be seen. I wonder if members of 6of1 get such items in thier mailings these days?

   BCNU

Pictorial Prisoner

     Number 6 has his comfortable cell, a "home from home" with all modcons. Number 2, well he has a room somewhere beneath the Village. We know this because in 'A B and C' Number 2 rises up in his chair through the floor into his office in the Green Dome. And in 'It's Your Funeral Number 2 is seen in his pyjamas and dressing gown in the Control Room. So if you have wondered where the butler, Number 2's personal gentleman lives, well it's pictured here, in the annex to the Green Dome. It makes sense for the butler to be on hand at any time of day, especially when he's had to cook breakfast for not only Number 2, but anyone who is invited to breakfast, or for coffee or tea.
   It's a strange situation, when the servant has more comfortable accommodation than the master. But then I suppose no-one knows just how long any Number 2 will be staying in the Village. That all depends on his or her success, the length of term of office.

BCNU

Top State Secret!

    Is that the reason behind the Prisoners resignation - is that a state secret? It seems improbable, but then most things are possible and cannot be ruled out.

    I suppose that is the most permanent question in the minds of fans around the globe "Why did he resign?" A question certainly on the lips of most No.2's who are brought to the village. Yet No.2 of ‘A B and C’ seemed somewhat sympathetic towards No.6's situation "If someone can't chuck up a job things have come to a pretty pass!"

   All No.2 wanted to know was why No.6 resigned, that's not so difficult is it? Ah, but No.6 realised early on, that if he gave away the reason behind his resignation that would simply be the tip of the iceberg, and then all the rest would follow!

    But if No.6's resignation did happen to be a state secret, then he wouldn't be able to tell anyone would he, not even his fiancé Janet Portland, and then of course working for her father, Sir Charles Portland, well then he wouldn't be able to tell his daughter anything either, under pain of treason perhaps! Ah, now that does begin to explain something, because Sir Charles did tell his daughter that he had not sent her fiancé on a mission, that even he doesn't know where her fiancé is. And even then Sir Charles was telling his daughter more then he should!

   Top state secret! And it is a singular fact is it not, that No.6 during his interrogation in the embryo room during Degree Absolute of ‘Once Upon A Time,’ that No.6 did admit that he was on a mission, after being caught for speeding, it was a mission of life and death, whose life or death No.6 was not willing to divulge. However it was secret business, top secret, state secret business of the highest order. And what's more No.6 could tell the judge what it was all about, because such business is above the law! And what's more you will recall how No.6 had been recruited into the banking business, but how it was a cover for secret work. A top secret and confidential job.

    If the village is run by those on the same side as that of No.6, "I'm on our side" No.6 informs the new No.2 during Arrival, who wants to know where No.6's loyalties lie ."You know where they lie!" No.6 tells him. So that being the case, given No.6's unusual qualities and the extent of his knowledge, it is not then at all surprising that his own people would wish to keep such a man on a short leash, and what better place to keep him, but in the village, and a prisoner for life. Because such a man as No.6 might very well be extremely dangerous to national security, another reason to keep him - confined, for his own good as well as the well being of the nation.

    Yet it was all a bit of a trial for No.6, and having survived he was acquitted at his final trial during Fall Out, and given the opportunity to go and leave the village! The only question you need to answer here, is "Was No.6 deserving of his acquittal?"

I'll be seeing you

The Man With No Name

     Fill him with hallucinatory drugs! Out him in a dangerous environment! talk to him through microphones. Give him love - take it away. Isolate him. Make him kill, then face him with death! For the man with no name it took the murder of Cathy, the saloon girl, to make him put on his gun and kill. This man who chucked in both his badge and gun at the beginning, then later refused to be hired, to wear the badge or gun offered to him by the Judge. But is man really his own master, the Captain of his soul? If you were in the man with no name's position, what would make you kill? Will there, and should there, still be things worth killing for in this world of ours? It would be a sad look out for the human race if ever there is not. Remember the Eloi in H.G. Wells The Time Machine.

Be seeing you

Quote For The Day

    "His car, is he back?"
                          {Janet Portland - Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling}
    Well he is in a way, and when the Prisoner in the guise of the Colonel, did explain his current predicament he would have to hope that Janet had faith in him, and believe his story, no matter how incredible she thought it was. I somehow think Janet would be easier to convince than her father had proved to be, but then Sir Charles had good reason to be doubtful.
   Janet said "His car." Yes the Prisoner's Lotus seven, and his house for that matter, both were being looked after while the Prisoner is in the Village, who would do that? Who would bother about the Prisoner's property in London? After all the Lotus had to be garaged, it couldn't have been left parked in the street on that single yellow line, it would have been
 eventually towed away! To look after both the Prisoner's car and his house suggests that one day he would be allowed to return to them.

Be seeing you
    

Village Life!

   "The boys in the band think you are very beautiful, and they do love you madly. This isn't what we put in!"
   "No sir. But it's what came out!!

BCNU

Feb 26th

    He's still out there somewhere in the Atlantic ocean, heading for the bay of biscay. He's wet, cold, eating cold food out of tins, and he's tired. For that past four days he's slept only four hours of each twenty-four, and he's still got another twenty days at sea to go.
   What does the Prisoner do about the raft when he's asleep? It has no sea anchor, and while the Prisoner is asleep for four hours the raft will probably be carried for miles off course by the current. And that could be disasterous if carried further out into the Atlantic!

Be seeing you

Meet Number 1

                                  
   “I take it that you now ready to meet Number One.”

    As the Prisoner is taken into that locker room by the Supervisor at the commencement of ‘Fall Out,’ I don’t think No.6 expected to meet with No.1 quite so soon, and certainly not in the less than salubrious surroundings of a locker room!

    The Prisoner makes to put a hand to the effigy's throat that is wearing his own suit of clothes. Sometimes when I watch this it appears that at one point the Prisoner wants to strangle the life out of it, lingering memories of Curtis perhaps, or to kill his own identity. But of course I'm wrong. the Prisoner has no such intention, as he calmly unbuttons the black polo shirt.

Be seeing you

He Gets My Vote!

    Well at least during his opening electoral speech these are actually No.6's own words.

    'In some place, at some time, all of you held positions of a secret nature, and had knowledge that was invaluable to an enemy. Like me you are here to have that knowledge protected or extracted. Unlike me, many of you have accepted the situation of your imprisonment and will die here like rotten cabbages. The rest of you have gone over to the side of our keepers. Which is which? How many of each? Who's standing beside you now? I intend to discover who are the prisoners and who the warders...I shall be running for office in this election." This distinctive speech is the only one spoken in the candidates own words, because his other two speeches are either induced via drugs, or have been written for him, as in the case of his speech delivered to the electorate from the stone boat. Talk about a "rotten borough!" That's a borough, in the distant past, before the "Great Reform" act of 1832, where very few people had the vote. They could choose their own candidate, and thereby they could have manipulation of the candidate to do whatever they wanted.

   Oh well. They say power corrupts, and No.6 himself said that everyone votes for a dictator. Perhaps that's why every citizen voted for him! "Obey me and be free" and you can't get more dictatorial than that, forcing something on the populace which they don't want!

Be seeing you

Village Life!

   "That morse, did you get it down?"
   "Yes sir."
   "Well, what does it say?"
   "The boys in the band think you are very beautiful, and they do love you madly!"

BCNU

Sir You Play A Fine Game

   That is either merely a pleasantry greeting from the chess champion-No.14 to No.6. Or a remark that he plays a fine game on the chessboard, where No.6 is merely a pawn, but sees his rebellious nature displayed on the chessboard in not moving instantly after the move has been given. Or he has seen No.6 in his game, as in his rebellion against the Village.

BCNU

Thought For The Day

   Ii is said that at the time, to have had both No.6's in 'The Schizoid Man' wearing identical piped blazers would have been too complicated for the television viewer. I thought Patrick McGoohan should have left it to the television viewer to make their own minds up about that. And in anycase I think McGoohan missed a trick here. In that there would have been a subtle way of distiinguishing between the two 6's. they could have worn identical blazers, but one could have worn the blazer with broken piping around the lapel, and the other 6 with continuous piping around the lapel! Because that does happen from time to time in other episodes of 'the Prisoner.'

BCNU

Exhibition Of Arts And Crafts

From My Watercolour Period

"A Tender Moment"

BcNu

Potter!

    In the episode ‘Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling’ neither the Colonel-No.6, nor Professor Seltzman must be taken by the man Potter! Is this a different Potter to that in ‘The Girl Who Was Death,’ or another Potter, or the same Potter but played by a different actor? Whichever it is, soon after Potter enters the barbers shop a fight breaks out between Potter and the Colonel-No.6 in the basement. Then while the fight is taking place, the tall, gaunt figure of the undertaker, in the guise of a chauffeur, uses his nerve gas gun to paralyse the two men fighting in the basement, and presumably he has done the same to Professor Seltzman up in his Barbers shop.

    The question here is, was Potter also brought to the Village along with Seltzman and the Colonel-No.6. Or was he left behind in the basement of the Barber’s shop? If not taken to the Village, then Potter would have gone back to his car in the street and radioed in to Sir Charles Portland, after which he would probably have been ordered to return to London. I should think that Potter's written report would make interesting reading, especially for Sir Charles Portland. And then there would be no mystery about that the man he saw as being his future son-in-law, the fact that he had been working against Potter must now mean he's working for the other side....whichever side that may be!

I’ll be seeing you

It’s Not As Difficult As You Might First Imagine

 It’s Not As Difficult As You Might First Imagine

    "Once we get started, even I won't be able to tell you apart."

                                        {No.2 The Schizoid Man}

    What the devils he talking about, this No.2? No.6 is the man in the black piped blazer, and No.12-Curtis is in the cream blazer. There's no confusion about this, no mistake can be made. But then perhaps the above line of text spoken by No.2 is from a time of the original script, when Curtis was originally going to wear the same dark blazer as No.6, then the line "Once we get started, even I won't be able to tell you apart" makes perfect sense. And that in my opinion would have been better, because you the viewer would not know until the very last line.

    One curious observation made of the episode ‘The Schizoid Man,’ this as No.6 is actually wearing his No.6 badge, Curtis that is, not No.6, although he does wear it for a short time during his impersonation of Curtis-No.12.

   It might be probable for No.6 to be seen by other members of the community to be seen wearing a different coloured piped blazer. But he has never before been seen to wear his numbered badge!

   If Curtis had been briefed properly as to the character of No.6, he should have known that the real No.6, who he was to take the place of, impersonate and become the character of the man, should have known that No.6 never wears his numbered badge! A mistake on the part of Curtis, perhaps he liked to wear the badge as a reminder as to who he was supposed to be! Or was it something quite deliberate, the reason for which we shall never know!

    Why does Curtis, when in the guise and persona of No.6, actually wear his Penny Farthing badge? Because it is widely known that No.6 never wears his numbered badge.Well perhaps it’s a case of Curtis liking the canopied Penny Farthing logo - I know I do!

BCNU

Caught On Camera!

  As you can see the General Store does sell postcards, and postcards of the Village, well of where else?

   This enlargement is a bit on the blurred side, but isn't that the Bell Tower in the top postcard? I'm not sure about the one below it.

BCNU



Village Life!

    Here is a message for Number Two, it is from Number one hundred and thriteen. "The boys in the band think you are very beautiful, and they do love you madly."

Be seeing you

A Favourite Scene In THEPRIS6NER

    “Look, see how the sun makes it all glow…..The kind of day that makes you glad to be alive.”

    “Why are you keeping me here?”
    “I see no locked doors.”

   “They were after me.”
   “Ooh, sounds terribly ominous.”
   “Why am I here? This is nothing to do with me, any of this. I’ve seen you before.”
   “Really. What were you doing in the mountains…Six?”

                              

   “What? I…I was….err lost. I mean I have no idea how I got here…What did you call me? Look something’s wrong here”
   “Yes, you are wrong Six.”
    “Do not call me that, I’m not Six.”

    “Show me your ID papers.”
   “I don’t have any papers.”

   Feeling in a pocket the Prisoner produces an identity card with his picture on it.

   “Well you just put them there.”

   “You were seen in the mountains. What have you done with Ninety-three?”
   “I don’t know anything about Ninety-three.”

   “Where is the old man?”

   “You can’t do this to me. I don’t care who you are…. do you hear me.”

   The Prisoner brings his open palm down on Two’s desk, slightly upsetting Two’s cup in its saucer.
    “Now I want to get back to New York.”

    “That’s not possible. There is no New York. There is only the Village!”

   The above takes place in ‘Arrival’ when the Prisoner is brought into Two’s office, sat in a wheelchair. This is one of those homages paid to the original series, when No.6 is brought into No.2’s office sat in a wheelchair in ‘Once Upon A Time.’

    The Prisoner may not be as forceful as his predecessor, but then the character isn’t meant to be, and the way the Prisoner brings his fist down onto Two’s desk is seen as something less strong, seeing as the Prisoner doesn’t completely upset two’s cup and saucer, unlike that in the original series. But then the Prisoner doesn’t bring his fist down on the desk, it’s an open hand!

    When Six said he wanted to get back to New York, and Two replied that’s not possible. There is no New York, there is only the Village. Seeing as the Village is in the desert, originally I thought that perhaps there had been a nuclear holocaust, and that the Village was perhaps populated by survivors of a nuclear war. And the scenes I saw of Michael in New York, merely memories.

Village is best for us

Be seeing you

ROVER – the Village Guardian

    Is it male or female, or both? How does it reproduce, if it is capable of reproduction. If it isn’t, then this would suggest that the Village Guardian is a single membranic organism, that doesn’t in fact reproduce, but divides and replicates itself either within its containment in much the same way as an organism, or whenever a segment of the host cell is released beyond its containment. In this case, the membranic matter of the Village Guardian, cannot only divide and replicate itself, but also it is capable of absorbing itself back into the host.

   Autonomous reproduction is ruled out, as there can only be passive replication by the machinery of the host. This in turn can only be brought about by the apparatus of the governing body, in this case, the Supervisor and the mechanics of containment. In this sense similar to inanimate matter.

Be seeing you

Number 6 - As A Friend?

   You can count the number of friendships No.6 cultivates in the Village on one hand. Nadia during ‘The Chimes of Big Ben’ was the first, or rather second if you count No.9 of ‘Arrival,’ supplied No.6 with the electro pass, but cannot really be counted as a friend to No.6. And the same can be said of Nadia, and yet there appeared to be the aspects of friendship between Nadia and No.6 although Nadia had been assigned to No.6 in much the same way as No.9. and No.6 was suing Nadia simply to escape the Village. But what about No.2, could he be a friend of No.6’s? There was certainly a rapport between the two, friendly banter and all that. Which of course was rekindled during their time together in the embryo room of ‘Once Upon A time,’ as No.2 was actually beginning to like No.6. And he did introduce No.6 to his new neighbour No.8, and she I think became close to No.6, as a friend, but possibly it could have been more than that. Well that's the feeling I get from her attitude she shows towards No.6. There's a warmth in her, especially when they are sealed inside that crate together!

   No.6 had other friends, such a 'A' and 'B' of the episode ‘A B and C,’ although such friendships as these had been cultivated outside the village and long before his abduction. No.24-Alison in ‘The Schizoid Man’ could have been a friend. Certainly they looked friendly towards one another. But of course we don't know, and can never know, just how this friendship between No.6 and Alison began to blossom, more on the part of Alison or No.6. A mutual friendship, based on a "mental link" or one purposely cultivated by Alison which in turn the idea originating at the door of No.2's office! At the beginning it might just have been another assignment, but at the end, unlike Nadia, Alison was ashamed of what she did, and wanted No.6 to know that given a second chance she wouldn't do it again! I suppose as well as not being able to say just when this friendship began to develop between Alison and No.6, we cannot say just how this "mental link" between them came about. As we observe No.6 helping Alison with her "mind reading" in his cottage, the "mental link" appears to be real enough. unlike the "stacked cards" during No.6's attempt to prove that he is No.6, there is no way that the cards used by No.6 in his cottage that evening could possibly be stacked against him in the same way as they were in No.2's office that time.

   So it would appear that there was something more than friendship between Alison and No.6. Which could, I suppose, be said of No.6 and the little watchmakers daughter No.51-Monique of ‘It’s Your Funeral.’ At first they had been brought together by the manipulation of No.2, in the assassination plot against No.2. But was this a friendship in the true sense, or was Monique simply using No.6 in order to save her father from a fate worse than a fate worse than death? Perhaps they were using each other for their own ends. Monique and No.6 certainly seemed at times to enjoy each others company over a cup of coffee on frequent occasions.

   No.8 of ‘Checkmate’ had a kind of friendship with No.6, even if it was all on-sided. And yet there were moments of kindness No.6 showed towards No.8.

    Cathy, the saloon girl of the Sliver Dollar Saloon in the Wild West town of Harmony, she was another to get close to the man with no name and a cosy little friendship was quietly developing between the pair. But of course almost anything and everything which occurred during the episode of ‘Living In Harmony’ was false. But even so, No.22 who played Cathy in No.8's "role playing game" had wished it had been real, and told No.6 so as she lay dying in his arms.

   The trouble with trying to build friendships in the Village, you can never quite find the friends who you can really trust and rely upon, not the Prisoners anyway. It could be different for those who arrived in the village of their own free will, the warders for example. And those citizens who work in and behind the scenes of the Village. People who maintain both it and its services. After all, you couldn't have an installation like the village where even those who work for it have no trust in one another, could you now?

    No, No.6 enjoys associations and acquaintances in the Village. And for him it will not get much better than that. How No.6 reacts to those who betray him, like Alison-No.24, who remain in the Village, is not known. But perhaps he won't be so hard on the girl. After all she was only carrying out No.2's instructions!

Be seeing you

The Schizoid Man!

   I have written of 'The Schizoid Man' before, but this time is does not concern the episode of the same title, simply the Prisoner himself. There are many symptoms of Schizophrenia and form two categories, possitive and negative. In this I happen to see the two piped blazers as worn by the two Six's in the episode 'The Schizoid Man' as being negative and positive. The dark blazer positive, and the cream blazer as negative. Hallucinations, No.6 does experience hallucinations during 'Living In Harmony,' and I am not so much concerned that the Village is a physical entity, but one created in the subconscious of the mind, that way I can let slip by the fact that the hallucinations were induced by the use of drugs. Delusions, perhaps in the Prisoner's mind he thinks he's Number One. If that were the case, then the Prisoner would be suffering from self-persecution complex as well. The subject may become paranoid, thinking that he may have been poisoned, as in 'The Girl Who Was Death.' He may describe his thoughts, his very words having been placed in his mind by someone else, as in 'A B and C,' when the doctor-No.14 puts words into the patients mind. And there is the possibility that the subject will become socially withdrawn, as No.6 was in 'A Change of Mind. And finally, the schizoprenic patient may become agitated and shout for no apparent reason, that would be when the Prisoner and No.1 met!

    Some of the symptoms of schizophrenia are represented in the dramatisation of 'the Prisoner,' The Schizoid Man, that would be the Prisoner!   

Be seeing you

Page 6

    You may not realise this, but in our experience of the Village, as far as we know, No.6 is the only prisoner who didn't give up any of the secret information inside his head. In fact when the attempt was made to extract any such information, the files he had seen, all the projects he had heard of, headings not details, this by using his ex-colleague Dutton as a medium, No.6 appeared to have an in-built safety device preventing him from giving such information. "You must not ask me that." He would rather die first!
   No matter that the Prisoner-No.6 had resigned his job. What is more important is, that in his previous life the Prisoner had signed the "official secrets act," and this still meant a great deal to him. And because of that no amount of coercion, conditioning of the mind, drugs, or trickery will make the Prisoner give anything away, thus breaking the official secrets act...he is still loyal.

Be seeing you

Exhibition of Arts and Crafts

From My Black and White Period
                           "Is Anyone At Home?"

BcNu

It Goes Against The Grain

       In the episode ‘Once Upon A Time,’ No.6 could not bring himself to kill his opponent No.2, who said that No.6 was afraid to kill because he was afraid to step over the threshold. At the beginning of ‘Living In Harmony,’ No.6 as a Sheriff, he hands in both his badge and gun, perhaps because he’s become sick of killing, tired of putting his life on the line every time a gunslinger comes into town looking to make a reputation for himself. Or when a gang come to town to rob the bank. As Sheriff of Harmony he refuses to wear a gun, against the coercion put against him by the Judge, the Judges men, and the towns people. Yet the Prisoner is capable of killing, he kills the Kid the Judges "boys," and the Judge in three gunfights all in the one day. It was the murder of Cathy which made the Prisoner kill, and we would all do it, kill that is, no matter how much you might deplore the use of violence. We are all capable of killing, all that is required is something to kill for! And as it turns out, the Prisoner is no different to anybody else.

BCNU

The Prisoner Under the Spotlight

    So Much Caution In A Man Like No.6 seems so wrong. But the village is prepared to handle No.6 with care, because he has a future with them. Doctors are reluctant to try unproven or dangerous drugs on No.6, as in the case of the doctors-No.14 and 86 of ‘A B  C’ and ‘A Change of Mind’ repeatedly. The new No.2 of Arrival states that the subject is proving exceptionally difficult, but in view of his importance no extreme measures are to be used yet. The conversation between No.2 and his assistant No.14 during ‘The Chimes of Big Ben:’

No.14 "There are methods which we haven't used yet."

No.2 "I want him with a whole heart, body and soul."

No.14 "He'll crack."

No.2 " Perhaps, one tiny piece at time. I don't want a man of fragments.

No.14 "He doesn't even bend a little."

No.2" That's why he'll break."

    During the election period of Free For All, No.2 is careful to remind his subordinates not to damage the tissue! And at the beginning of ‘Dance of the Dead’ No.2 orders the doctor-No.40 to "Get that man back to the hospital" referring to Dutton of course, not No.6, who the doctor thought was about to talk. But No.2 doesn't believe it. No.6 would have died first! The good doctor would have made No.6 talk, or so he ways "Everyman has his breaking point." Another doctor was obsessed with No.6's breaking point.... oh yes, the doctor in ‘Checkmate,’ No.22. But this almost elfin like No.2 of ‘Dance of the Dead’ doesn't want No.6 broken, she sees No.6 as having a future with the village and must be 'won over.'

   Back to the doctor-No.22, she like her male counterpart would see harm done to No.6, to curve his aggressive tendencies, by performing a Leucotomy, to knock out the aggressive centres of the brain. But No.2 soon puts a stop to any such ideas the doctor might hold, as being too risky "No, he's far too valuable to us." So No.6 is not only seen to have a future with the village, he is also have a value to them. And the fact that the operation known as Instant Social Conversion was not actually carried out on No.6 is suggestive wouldn't you say?

   But despite such caution being demonstrated against No.6, there are times when the information inside the subjects head, the reason behind his resignation, outweighs the risks. Well that's what No.2 of ‘A B and C’ thought, and if he gets it wrong, well he'll worry about that later! What is it Miguel de Cervantes Savedra wrote in Don Quixote? Oh yes, "Hay mas al en el aldea que se suena" - "There is more harm in the village than is dreamt." The various doctors who No.6 encounters might have little or no regard for him, his value, or possible future with the village. And the same can be said of a handful of No.2's. "The man's as strong as a bull!" No.2 bellowed to No.86 during ‘A Change of Mind,’ this at urging her to use another dose of the tranquilliser Mytol on the subject. Whether dangerous or not to the patient!

   And was it not a risk for the village in ‘Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling,’ to use No.6 in such a way, where is the caution here? Was it really so important for them to find Seltzman? If the experiment had gone pear-shaped, and they had lost No.6 - there would have been hell to pay! And of Living In Harmony the use of hallucinatory drugs against No.6, which had the effect of tripping No.6 out back to the American Wild West. Again, No.2, or rather No.8 in this case, has no regard for caution against No.6. His method has always worked, and would have worked if No.2 had not developed the crisis too soon! They've all got an excuse, haven't they, those who fail but not necessarily have to pay the price.

Be seeing you

Did The Prisoner Actually Resign?

      There is only one proper and correct way to resign, and that it do so in a letter. For all the Prisoner's ranting and raving he might just as well have kept his mouth shut that day he stormed into that office. But no doubt the thought that shouting and ranting at the man sat behind that desk would relieve the feelings. But at least the Prisoner had written a letter of resignation, placed it in an envelope marked "personal - by hand," which he slammed on the desk before he stormed out of the office.
   In the above picture there is a word in red RESIGN . Michael didn't rant and rave at anyone, he didn't write a letter of resignation, he simply sprayed the one word on the window of his office RESIGN, but at least he wrote something, even if it was simply one word, before he walked out. And yet it was just the one word, resign. He didn't write in spray paint "I resign" just "Resign," which isn't so much a statement as in "I resign because.....," but more in the way of a suggestion or instruction I would have thought, as in "why don't you resign?" So even with this one written word spray painted on the window of his office, it would not be accepted as a man having resigned from his job!

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Thought For The Day

    It has been said that the Village was destroyed by the rocket that lifted off during ‘Fall Out.’ Well I don’t see any physical evidence for that, in fact there is a shot of the Village completely intact soon after the rocket has lifted off. I would have thought the Village would have been at least “singed” a bit around the edges, even the Green Dome set on fire from the flames from the rockets exhausts. The cavern would have been filled with flames and smoke, and everything in it burned to a cinder, the walls of the cavern blackened and charred, with a segment of the Village Guardian affected by heat exhaustion from the searing heat of the flames.

    It might be that the Village is not harmed or damaged by the lifting off of the rocket, because the Village is eternal, it is always there. The somewhat chilling moment when the front door of No.1 Buckingham Place opens automatically, is a demonstration that the Village is all about us. That none of us need to be abducted and taken to the Village, because we are already there!

Be seeing you

Feb 22nd

   Today is the first day at sea for No.6. I cannot possibly imagine how he is feeling at this time. There was possibly the feeling if elation as he put to sea, along with some apprehension after having out to sea, all on his own. And yet No.6 will have realised what is he has to face, but the desire to escape the Village outweighs the dangers at sea.

  Certainly he's a resiliant man our No.6. he makes himself a compass using a jar, a round of cork, pencil, and two lengths of wood with indistinguisable markings on them.
   He keeps a rudimentary log, not too sure about the presence of a roll of Village film.

   And No.6 likes to maintain standards by shaving, but I promise you that will not last long, shaving with cold water, and being bobbed about by the waves. Besides when one is in isolation as the Prisoner is at this time, sooner or later the question of personal hygiene no longer comes into question!

   Tonight when you are sitting comfortably at home watching television, having a meal perhaps, spare a thought for No.6, as he's far from comfortable out there, all alone in the dark at sea.

Be seeing you

Village Life!

   "Who's that up there? Just a minute....................I know that face!"

    "Oh no he's seen me! I can't let him catch me, got to act fast!"

    "Pardon me madam!.............................How did he do that?"

BCNU

Prismatic Reflection

   “One egg or two?” It would appear that by this time Number 6 has had one of his privileges rescinded. The fact that he has to make his own breakfast means no more breakfasts brought to him in the mornings on a tray by his personal maid. But wait a minute! Oh look here’s Number 8 to boil his two eggs for him! But I’m jumping the gun slightly!
   The Prisoner isn’t bending, not even a little and that’s why he’ll break. Mind you there are methods they haven’t even used yet, but Number 2 doesn’t want a man of fragments. He wants Number 6 with a whole heart, body and soul. If Number 6 will answer just one simple question, then all the rest will follow, “Why did he resign?” Yes, that’s what one of his predecessors thought, when he got the Prisoner to bring his file up to date by giving the time of his birth. And that’s all he got, the time of the Prisoner’s birth, but then they knew that anyway!
    So an outsider is brought in, Nadia Rakovski she called herself, but I’ll call her Number 8, and what she was, was a plant in the Village. It was played that Number 8 would become a damsel in distress, and so being, Number 6 would become her protector. But Number 6 took some convincing. At the beginning he was suspicious of her, thinking that she was working for Number 2, which of course she was. But I’ll say this, Number 8 was good, a dedicated agent, who came to the Village with her eyes wide open. I’m sure she would have been well briefed on the Village, and yet nothing could have prepared her for her encounter with the Village Guardian. That was a risk for both Number 8 and Number 2, she could have been half drowned and suffocated to death.
   So Number 6 took Number 8 under his wing, he offered his protection for whatever that was worth. And he had a plan, a plan for escape by boat. You see if Number 6 knew where he was sailing from, he could calculate where he was sailing to, and that swung the game in Number 8’s favour, as she claimed to have seen a file on the Village, but for a few seconds only, but enough to know the location of the Village……..in Lithuania, on the Baltic, thirty miles from the Polish border. And for that piece of information, Number 6 had to enact a romantic scene with Number 8.
    Number 8 claimed to be an Estonian, she spoke with an eastern European accent, which she retained at the end of the episode. Her files claimed that she was a swimmer, an Olympic bronze medallist at the age of 17, I’ll leave it to yourself to figure out at which Olympic games that was.
   So, Number 6 and Number 8 shared a plan of escape. For his part he would construct a boat, for her she knew the location of the Village. She also has a contact man, and knows of a fishing village, whose people resist those of the Village. Do they? I wouldn’t have thought that the people behind the Village have much contact with outsiders!
    Number 2 wants Number 6 to settle down, and Number 6 promises to do some woodwork for him. It turns out as a three piece abstract sculpture which he enters into the Exhibition of Arts and Crafts. Members of the awards Committee have a problem, they don’t know what it is! I’ll let Number 6 explain. “It means what it is! This piece what does it represent to you? “A church door?” “Right first time.” “Think I see what he’s getting at.” “Now this other piece here, on the same general lines, somewhat more abstract as you’ll notice. Representing freedom or a barrier, depending how you look at it. The barrier’s down, the door is open, you’re free, free to go, free to escape, to escape to this, the symbol to human aspirations. Freedom, knowledge, escape.” But why the crosspiece? Well obviously he needs that to hang a sail from!
    And so now we know why the crosspiece! That night after curfew, Numbers 6 and 8 take the pieces of the abstract sculpture, and with the aid of a tarpaulin, and Number 38’s tapestry for a sail, they put to sea, on a course for the Polish coast.
   Having gone so far, there seemed nothing that could stop them now. In the Control Room the Supervisor has them on sonar, “They’re almost out of range.” Number 2 orders the Supervisor to contact Post five just in case, then to issue an Orange Alert, and the Village Guardian is despatched. Nadia can see the cave, but then she can soon see something else! “Look!” Number 8 shouts, behind them the white mass of the Village Guardian can be seen, just as they are within an ace of achieving this goal, and so are forced to abandon their craft, to swim for it!
    From the cliffs a man aims his rifle, he fires at the Village Guardian, once, twice, four times hitting the membranic Village Guardian, which appears to be impervious to bullets. The Guardian’s membrane would appear to be self-sealing!
    The Prisoner asks for a pencil and paper, he has a “delivery note” to send, it is in code, and must be transmitted to London immediately. Karel has the escape route mapped out, by sea Gdansk/Danzig, by air to Copenhagen, by air again to London. So the Prisoner can time the journey, he asks for Karel’s watch as his own is water logged, sea water, is no good. So Karel hands over his wrist watch, little knowing that this error will be the Colonel’s undoing!   “Quickly now please” it’s time to get into the crate, and start the next part of the journey to London, which will take some twelve hours.
   Of course what we see on the television screen isn’t what takes place. The crate containing the Prisoner and Number 8 is on it’s way back to the Village, and the twelve hour journey merely a simulation. Oh it works perfectly well when watched for the first time, but after that, well no-one is fooled.
    Good old Fotheringay, he’s looking forward to seeing his old friend and ex-colleague. He receives a telephone call “Fotheringay here, yes…I’ve seen a copy of the deciphered message….What time would you say?…..Good…….Yes I can’t wait to see him.”
    During the journey Nadia passes the time by interrogating the Prisoner, despite feeling a little sick. Where are we going to land in England? Doe he have a wife at home? This he denies. Is he engaged to someone? No response. I wonder why he didn’t tell her about Janet Portland?
    The crate together with it’s occupants arrives in the Colonel’s outer office. It is opened, and the Prisoner is confronted with the welcoming sight of his old friend and ex-colleague Fotheringay. They greet each other warmly, and Nadia is introduced. And then Nadia hears what she has been waiting to hear for a long time, the chimes of Big Ben. For Number 6 it means he’s home, for Nadia the assignment is over, as she is led away by two men.
   The Colonel is sceptical about Nadia, he asks the Prisoner what her name was before she left Peckham Rye and went off to train with the Bolshoi Ballet?
    There is a de-briefing session between the Colonel and Number 6. Number 6 tells the story of his abduction to the Village…….”The Village?” says the Colonel, “Where is this Village?”
    There isn’t much difference between the Colonel and Number 2. Number 6 risked his life and Nadia’s to go home, to go back there because he thought it was different, “It is isn’t it, Isn’t it different?” No Number 6 it isn’t different, except it’s the Colonel asking the question instead of Number 2! And it might have worked as well, had it not been for one small detail…..as Big Ben strikes eight…….Number 6 realises that his watch, given to him by a man in Poland says eight o’clock. Why should a man in Poland have a watch showing English time, when there’s one hour’s difference? The Colonel supposed he was slow. Yes, if it hadn’t been for Number 6’s waterlogged watch, and his wanting to time the journey to see that it tallied.
   So Number 6 had been back in the Village all the time! However he did learn some valuable things. Firstly that his own people are behind the Village, and it was they who had him abducted in the first place. Secondly that he is completely and utterly on his own now, and that there is no-one he can trust. He was betrayed by Nadia, and his own people. Number 6 has also learned that the Village is not in Lithuania on the Baltic, the time of the watch given to him by Post Five is proof of that. Wherever the Village is, it is in the same time zone as Great Britain!
   But in any case the game is up! No.6 leaves what was supposed to be the Colonel’s office, and out into the Village. On the steps of the Recreation Hall Fotheringay asks No.2 what his next assignment is, the Colonel will tell him when he returns to London. As for Fotheringay, he had better get back to London before any embarrassing questions are asked.
   As he passes by, he see No.2 with Fotheringay and Nadia, “Be seeing you” he salutes and makes his way back to his cottage. Now he realises who it is who abducted him, which side is behind the Village………his own!
    Poor old No.6, as he makes his way back through the Village to his cottage there is a public announcement about the Local Council having organised another exciting competition the subject this time Seascapes! There seems an expression in the female announcers voice that seems to be rubbing salt into No.6’s wounds when she says “Seascapes.”
   In the Control Room No.2 makes a brief report “File Number Six, section Forty-two, sub-section one, paragraph one, back to the beginning.” Nadia admits that No.2 was right about him. He did tell her. But don’t worry, he did his best, and perhaps he’ll do better next time in the Embryo Room of ‘Decree Absolute!’

Be seeing you

Feb 21st

    Today approximately, having looked for an escape route out of the Village, felling a number of small trees, emptying oil drums down a drain, the Prisoner finishes off the constructing of his sea-going raft.

Then sets about gathering provisions for the voyage. It’s just as well that the General Store had been left unlocked, unless of course No.6 had to use some of that old fashioned brute force he’s so keen on, and had to break in! Certainly No.6 provisioned his craft from the General Store, taking also a copy of The Tally Ho and the black loudspeaker, also a Canon Dial camera. But at least he signed for the items and provisions he took, on the counter top in the General Store and signing himself No.6?

 

   After stowing his provisions and barrel of fresh water, and a galvanised bucket, aboard his raft, No.6 set about taking a number of photographs of the Village. If he should be successful in his voyage, to eventually return home, he has the idea in his head to return to his ex-colleagues for their help with his problem, and so has photographic evidence of the Village.

 

   Finally, just as he is about to cast off, SMASH, the sound of a breaking crockery! No surely not, they could not be so cruel as to dash away his hopes at the final moment. The Prisoner slowly turns around expecting perhaps to see No.2 standing there. But no! It’s the Village cat, and with that the Prisoner's hopes restored he quickly casts off his raft and sets sail on a voyage of discovery. But are we, the television viewer really to be expected to think that it was the Village cat that smashed that cup and saucer? I suppose if the Prisoner accepted it, then, we, as the television viewer have to do likewise.

Be seeing you