The Professor's Lecture

    My lecture today ladies and gentlemen concerns the question of debate, to discuss, to question, and theorise over the matter of ‘the Prisoner.’ Does group or mass-debates really resolve any of the complexities of ‘the Prisoner’ series? I mean does it really matter that in one scene No.6 is wearing one coloured pair of socks, and in the next the socks are a completely different colour? That's simply a question of continuity isn't it? Or the lack of it I should say, and trivial at that.

   If a thousand people watch the Prisoner and you asked their opinion of the series, you would, in all probability, get one thousand different responses, and those one thousand responses would be right. But you will always get those people who shoot off into the realms of fantasy, coming up with outlandish theories about the Prisoner series, which is their democratic right, but does it make them right? Like when someone said that in the opening sequence the Prisoner was demonstrating his rebellious individuality by entering a building via a pair of doors marked "Way Out," thus demonstrating his rebellious nature. I suppose it comes down to one’s perception of that is happening on the screen. However in my book that’s gobbledygook, because the Prisoner is not entering a building, he is leaving the underground Car Park via the "Way Out." It is in another building in which the Prisoner hands in his resignation, perhaps somewhere in the Houses of Parliament, to that man sat behind the desk. The long dark tunnel is on the Prisoner’s way-out of the car park. You didn’t imagine that the office is in the Underground car park did you?

   Does the Prisoner have a rebellious nature? Does chucking up his job make him a rebel? He’s angry that’s for sure, probably because he could no longer stand his job, so he packed it in, and handed in his letter of resignation. And I don’t think his resignation was a spur of the moment thing. He’d been considering his options for some time. I bet rebellion was the last thing on the Prisoner’s mind. He wanted out for himself, so he chucked in his job and was clearing out. He had already bought an airline ticket before he’d handed in his resignation that much is clear. What's more we have a clue to where the Prisoner was going, Paris France, and a clue to his ultimate destination might be found indicated in the two holiday travel brochures, somewhere that has a tropical beach. It might be an island!

   Sometimes I think a clearer understanding of ‘the Prisoner’ can be gained through the cold light of reason, although there is plenty of room to discuss and debate the series, but not by going off half-cocked into the realms of fantasy!

The Professor