This scene from Schizoid with the dishevelled Un-Two in 147's house eating cherry cake, put me in mind of the Prisoner as a raggedy man who sits in Mrs. Butterworth's house eating sandwiches and cake during 'Many Happy Returns.' Just a minute, they changed the picture on the wall!
For the actual production of Schizoid, they changed the picture of the desert for one of Pink Flamingos!
The Village logo or emblem. It was a nice touch to have the logo on the base of Two's tea cup. When Two lifted it up to drink his tea, you see the logo on the base of the cup. I was reminded of the scene in 'A Change of Mind' when Number 6 tips away the drugged tea into a flower vase, you see the Portmeirion pottery mark on the base of the tea cup.
I was wondering that
if two times Six and Six are one and the same, how come Six has the cut on his
cheek? Obviously it's to help the viewer identify between the two, but all the
same Six would have had to cut himself. and it must have come as quite a shock
for Six to discover that he helped create The Village, that he is responsible
for sending all those people to The Village, even if it was inadvertently.
In the church when
Six discovers Two just sitting there, Two wants Six to kill him, No.6 couldn't
do it, and neither it seems could his predecessor! Because this scene is
obviously acknowledging the scene from 'Once Upon A Time' when Number 2 wanted Number 6
to kill him. And I liked the way Two looked up at the Penny Farthing hanging
from the ceiling in the Go Inside Bar, and gave a slight chuckle. Two paying
homage to the past, to what once was? I think so.
Two, or was it
un-Two, got a slice of his favourite cherry cake again. He enjoyed a cigarette
with the Shopkeeper, and told 147, the taxi driver that he had no number, that
he was a numberless traveller. This I think, was Two demonstrating the
eccentric side to his character, and he knew what he was going to do, as the
message regarding anyone going about impersonating Two, should be reported
immediately as they are a danger to The Village. And that's what the Shopkeeper did, both when Six came to see him
about the receipt, and after he had shared a cigarette with Two. On the
telephone immediately to report to Two at the Clinic. This is another homage
paid to the original series, as when the Shopkeeper in Hammer Into Anvil, reports the activities of No.6 to No.2. And since when was Two driven about
in a Bentley convertible? One of his Guardians was going to drive Two in the
car, but Two said "I'll walk today," Two riding in the Bentley
convertible, something we obviously haven't been privy to! And there are no
knives sold in The Village, such tools must still be against the law!
Homage continues to the original series in a couple of scenes, the church scene between Two and Six, and the times when the shopkeeper gets on the telephone to report the activity of Six, and later Two. But when the shopkeeper telephones the Clinic to report the man who is impersonating Two, whose voice does the shopkeeper hear? After all Two has just left his store..........probably a pre-recorded voice message made by Two before he left the clinic. The same way we see Two out and about The Village when Two is making his announcement about those who go about impersonating Two, that they are a danger to The Village!
So, if Six and Two
times Six can be one, they can defeat Two.........and that could have
been the case in the original series when I think about it. The two Six's
become one, and gain ultimate power over The Village......I wonder
how many Twos there have been since 1968, more then I've had hot dinners I shouldn't wonder!
You
know............even though Two has deathly cold eyes, there are times
when I look and see.......pain in Two's face. Pain? Yes, the pain he feels at
having to keep his wife in an hallucinating, sedated state of mind, and all for
the well being of the Village, and the community at large. Two must at times,
suffer for that, even though he rarely shows his pain. No-one gets close to
Two, unless Two wants them to!
When it became the
case that Six had a double, I predisposed that his name would be Curtis, I was
wrong.............And when it was said that Two had an alter ego, I thought
there would be Two Two's, Two and an un-Two as Two called himself. And that's
the point, there never was an un-Two, both Two's were one and the same,
"One of number Two's little games," it was once said. But then
when we had two shopkeepers, I thought it was being taken too far. But no, they
went one step further than one step too far.....the shopkeeper was existing in
two places at the same time. In the Store in The Village, and as the
"access man" in the basement of the Summakor building! Twins,
doubles, I'll just have a large one!
It is, as it is, as it should be
Be seeing you
It seems to me that when Ian McKellan was cast as Two he became the real hero and focal point of the remake rather than Jim Catweasle. So we get the idiocy of Two having to have a double in this episode, thus undercutting the story about the two Sixes.
ReplyDeleteBreathe in, hold nose, less remake.
Hello James,
DeleteThank you for taking time to comment, and judging by which you are an un-fan!
You are quite right of course, but then this reinterpretation, rather than a remake, was written for Two. Whereas 'the Prisoner' was written for Number 6.
Seeing as I am a fan of both series, that must make me a two-times fan!
Very kind regards
David
BCNU