Bureau of Visual Records

    The above image and enlarged section were taken during 'The Chimes of Big Ben.' And if that is Number 14 in the background, an old lady in a wheel chair, she won't be there next week. Because next week Number 14 will be a doctor, and she'll one of them!

BCNU

Exhibition of Arts and Crafts

From My Watercolour Period
                                "A Portrait of Number 2"

                                       "Seeking Comfort"
BcNu

No.48

    Who exactly is Number 48? It has been said that he is representative of uncoordinated youth, rebelling against nothing it can define. Well that’s fine, but 48 is a physical person, and not simply a representation of something else. After all if youth is to be incarcerated, then The Village would soon be full to bursting!

   I used to think that 48 was the former Number 8, seeing as 48 was once with The Village, but then he went and gone. And yet Number 8 did commit suicide by throwing himself off the balcony in the Silver Dollar Saloon. And yet perhaps like the “late” Number 2 who was resurrected as a new man, Number 8 was resurrected as Number 48!

   I think the fashion photographer comes into this somewhere. Like in a dream Number 6 appears to have put people he’s met or simply seen into his fairy tale of ‘The Girl Who was Death.’ Such as Number 2 being Schnipps/Napoleon Bonaparte, and Number 10 Shnipps daughter. On that basis that would make the fashion photographer Number 8, who he saw in the Green Dome with Number 2 and Number 22 in 'Living In Harmony.' Well it’s the only explanation I can give, and if its wrong, Number 48 will simply have to remain a nameless entity like the Prisoner himself!

Be seeing you

Thought For The Day

    Number 6 navigated his way back to The Village in 'Many Happy Returns,' and in 'Checkmate' he confirms part of that knowledge when me makes that mayday call, Trans ocean flight D for Delta two five zero. Trans ocean being Transatlantic, flights from either north or south America to Europe or Africa, or vice versa. If only 'Dance of the Dead' had not been produced before 'Many Happy Returns,' Number 6 could have added the longitude and latitude of The Village to the map he drew in 'Dance of the Dead!

Be seeing you

More Village

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

In A Message An Old Friend Said

   I wonder how fans of the original series will take to the new series of THEPRIS6NER. I said it's more probably a case of how first-time fans to the new series of THEPRIS6NER will take to the original?

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

AMCtv Announces......

    New York The Premier of THEPRIS6NER A "Mini-Series", on Sunday November 15th at 8-10pm ET/PT, which features the first two episodes back to back. The reinterpretation of the classic series of the 1960's television series the Prisoner will air over three consecutive nights, two episodes per night 8-10pm.

    I wonder how Six of One: The prisoner Appreciation Society will react to the reinterpretation of THEPRIS6NER? What I mean is, that particular society once prided itself on supplying all manner of information on the Prisoner. But there is already a major supply of information about the new series out there on the World Wide Web!

Saturday, November 07, 2009

In a letter a close friend wrote "With the impending new series of THEPRIS6NER, you'll have enough material to keep you going for a few more decades to come."

  I believe he may very well be right. I hope he is proved to be right. In any case, I shall do my best.

THEPRIS6NER - The New Series 2009

   Readers of my blog may be wondering why I make no mention of the new series, the reinterpretation of THEPRIS6NER. Well the answer is a simple one - because I haven't seen it yet. I am waiting for the ITV1 premier on British television. Oh I suppose I could order a copy of the series on DVD from America, but I'm old fashioned, I like to wait until such a series appears on television here in Great Britain. But once I have seen the series, you may rest assured that I'll find plenty to say about it. The only question remains, when will ITV1 be screening the new series, and will my patience hold out?

First Impressions

    I have only seen Arrival of this series so far, however I plan to watch it a second time this evening. I wonder how ardent fans of the original series have taken, or not taken to this reinterpretation? Oh I know I've only seen the first episode, and you cannot judge a complete series on one episode. But I seem to have taken to THEPRIS6NER like a duck takes to water. I know that that's easy enough to say, although I was not overwhelmed by the first episode like I was as a young boy by the original series, but in a different way this time. Well it's a completely new series, and I am already hooked.

   I didn't even miss The Village not being Portmeirion. I never wished this reinterpretation to have been filmed in Portmeirion. Portmeirion would have been far too small for such a series as this. And that's strange in itself, that I didn't miss Portmeirion, and that must say something, possibly about me. I can think of several fans of ‘the Prisoner,’ whom I have known in the past, who could never dream of any place being used as The Village other than Portmeirion. Perhaps I have moved on. Perhaps like THEPRIS6NER and The Village, I have evolved. Can accept that everything Prisoner does not revolve around that Italianate Village in North Wales. Mind you, having written that, it seems highly unlikely that I will ever have the money to go and visit Swakopmund, in Namibia.

    And it was easy for me to accept the "Retro" Nissan Figaro as The Village taxi {later I was to discover it is actually a Renault Dauphine}. Because the Figaro is taxi for The Village in the same way that the Mini-Moke was in the original series. As for other old vehicles, well I had seen both the Black Bedford van, which stems from 1959, and the black Commer van {I was wrong again, but I cannot remember what the van actually is}, in video trailers for the series. But I was taken aback when I saw a Morris Minor pass by in the street of The Village, not one, but two, which also stem from the 1950's. You can tell this from the "split" windscreen. Later models of the Morris Minor had the "full" windscreen. There is a Morris Minor in the opening sequence of the original series of the Prisoner. You can see it just behind the Prisoner's Lotus Seven as he passes the Houses of Parliament, as he turns right. that Morris Minor has a "split" windscreen! That's not me drawing a comparison, although I realise it reads like that, but really I see it as an echo from the original series. I'm more interested to see such "retroism" used in The Village, which is set in contemporary times. Mind you, that's not to say that Morris Minors cannot be seen being driven today in the outside world. Yet you don't see so many 1950's Bedford's about do you?

   And that's the thing about this series, it looks to be set in contemporary times, but there is much within it that has been taken from the past. It's intriguing.

Arrival – a second impression April 2010.

     I must say that the episode was far more enjoyable the second time around. Perhaps because it is a new series I was trying to take it all in at once, the first time. I'm sure as the camera passes over the towers in the desert, that one makes the shadow of 1 on the sand!

   I am surprised by the amount of freedom the citizens enjoy in The Village, and the lack of surveillance. There doesn't appear to be any amount of surveillance cameras on display, or mounted in the eyes of stones busts and statues!

   Michael tells Lucy, back in New York, about his education, that his school teacher was Mrs Radcliffe. Now I wonder if that's an in-joke at the cost of Patrick McGoohan. Seeing that as a boy, he was later educated at Ratcliffe College in Leicestershire.

   But I made a mistake, an easy thing to do when seeing the first episode of a new series for the first time. The Morris Minor's are of the 1960's, and not 50's as I previously stated in another piece of blog. Because the windscreen is not divided in the centre, as with the 1950 model of the Morris Minor.

   Now I cannot wait for the next episode, unlike some of my fellow fans it has to be said. No-one is forced to like this new series. THEPRIS6NER is not there to replace the original series, but will stand on it's own merits, not to be compared with the original series, save for the observance of the echoes of that original series.

   At the time long seasoned fans of the original series made their comments on the new series to me. “One fan said to me that he doesn't like the series because it's not set in Portmeirion.” While others expected a remake. A friend said he didn't give Arrival ten minutes before he switched it off. Another viewer went a little longer, giving Arrival thirty minutes before he switched off! Because it wasn't like the original Arrival at all! “Well what the hell use would a remake be to anyone? You have the original.” And even if THEPRIS6NER had been filmed in Portmeirion, fans would still have to put up with the experience of a new No.6. Because Patrick McGoohan is reported to have wanted the role of Two. But that role had been cast to Ian McKellen.

    Speaking for myself, I never missed Portmeirion once last night while watching Arrival for a second time, I never missed the Italianate Village for the first time. A friend of mine on the telephone yesterday, said that I've moved on, he could tell that in my voice. and I have. I find I can appreciate both series.

     Those who do not like THEPRIS6NER still have that series to enjoy, but I will have both, which clearly puts me one-up I should say. As I enjoy both series for their own sakes, and not for the sakes of the other!

   As No.2 says in Free For All "Every citizen has a choice," and of course he is right. If fans of the Prisoner do not like the reinterpretation of that series, well that is their choice. For me, I cannot wait for the next episode. And yesterday I pre-ordered the DVD box set of the series.

It is, as it is, as it should be

Be seeing you

A Favourite Scene In The Prisoner

   In 'Hammer Into Anvil' when Number 6 goes to the General Store to buy a small notebook, seeing as I have a fascination with all things stationary myself.
    "Good day sir."
    " I'd err like a small notebook."
    "Very good sir."
    "There's a nice little selection there sir."
    "That's a nice one, I think I'll have that."
    "Will that be all sir?
    "No. I think I'd like mmm..one of these" Number says walking over to the cuckoo clocks.
    "Ah yes sir. Yes sir very good value, special import. What about this type?"
    "No. I'll have this one."
   Number 6 has dallied with the Shopkeeper-Number 112 before, and now does so again when he buys a cuckoo clock. He doesn't want the one the Shopkeeper suggested, who told Number 2 that he was looking for a specific one. Not so much a specific one, but a specific box!
   Having paid for his purchases Number 6 leaves the General Store and it doesn't take the Shopkeeper long before he's on the telephone to Number 2 in order to report Number 6's unusual activity again. He wasted Number 2's time the first time he reported Number 6's unusual activity, and now he was about to do it again. But then Number 2 only had himself to blame, asking for any unusual activity on the part of Number 6, to him personally. He was just asking for trouble!
   Finally I like the way one of the cuckoo clocks is "cuckooing" as Number 6 enters the General Store, in a way it seems suggestive.

BCNU

Caught On Camera!

   It would appear that this was not the only code written by Number 6, which was attached to the leg of a pigeon in 'Hammer Into Anvil.' Observe the indentations in the paper made by writing on the previous page in Number 6s notebook. The numbers look like 26 and 66.

   Originally the code was to have been in letters and not numbers, in other words a substitute code. It was also written in Patrick McGoohan's own hand. The trouble with breaking a code is, its a finite problem, especially if you don't know the basis of the code, or lack the code book itself. With a substitute code the letter which is used the most in the code must be "e" as "e" is the most frequently used letter of the alphabet. In this case its three letters S, R and P! But of course this code may be more complicated than that, as its possible that each letter stands for a word, there is simply no-way of knowing.

BCNU

Number 2 Finds It An Odeal!

    It has always seemed to me that at times ‘the Prisoner’ is as every bit of an ordeal for Number 2 as it is for Number 6. Admittedly it’s not every Number 2 who lays his life of the line for the cause, and some Number 2s appear to do little more than tend to their administrative details. Number 2 in ‘Checkmate’ is a prime example. He administers while others get their hands dirty carrying out medical experiments on subjects like Number 8. The first Number 2 was something of a gentleman, who first de-briefed the Prisoner, then briefed him on The Village. He did try to extract the reason behind the Prisoner’s resignation, but quickly realised that this had to be handled very differently, and no sooner had he said that than he was replaced, just when the Prisoner was getting familiar with him. But then that’s part of the game, replace Number 2, and force the Prisoner to begin all over again. But so far it’s not been so much of an ordeal for Number 2 I have to admit. The second Number 2 seems to have a remit in demonstrating to the Prisoner that escape is not possible, which he does, then before we know it he’s replaced.
    During ‘The Chimes of Big Ben’ we seem to be confronted with an able Number 2, one who knows his business, and yet all he does is oversee that Number 6 successfully manages to escape The Village, and maintain the deception for a further twelve hours after he‘d been brought back to it. The fault is not his, he is not to blame. It was a good plan, although Number 2 did advise that they were using the wrong approach. But never mind, Number 2 did his best, Nadia Rakovsky said she would stress that in her report.
    Why give a man only three days in which to gain the required information from Number 6? Surely it’s not a question of time already. Or perhaps it is. Perhaps this Number 2 took too long in researching and computing the Prisoner-Number 6’s whole life. But why did he need to research Number 6’s former life? I thought they knew everything about him already! Poor old Number 2, he was really put under pressure for the first time. Although the cause of the failure was not all his alone, he would have to ultimately pay the price. I wonder what they did to the doctor-Number 14?
    Two Number 2s appear at the same time in ‘Free For All.’ One, a statesman and master of manipulation. The other plays her part, to perfection, and after revealing herself in her true colours, gives the impression that she would do all kinds of nastiness to Number 6. Yet doesn’t want to damage him permanently! The former Two leaves The Village, leaving the former Number 58 to take office as the new Number 2. But how long her term of office was, is anyone’s guess.
    ‘The Schizoid Man,’ two Number 6’s in The Village, as if one wasn’t bad enough! Number 2 was in a dead panic when it was reported to him that Number 6 was dead, that Rover got him! His predecessor would have suffered for the failure of ‘A B and C,’ but to have Number 6 die, one could only imagine what the consequences for that might have been. But thankfully for a very much relieved Number 2, he saw through Number 6’s deception of trying to escape The Village in the guise of Curtis. If it hadn’t been for the fact that Susan, who had died a year ago, Number 6 may very well have made good his escape. Number 6’s ignorance of that fact saved Number 2’s bacon…this time!
     And just when one thought it couldn’t get any worse for Number 2, having been brought back to The Village for a second term of office, especially seeing as he was to have no direct involvement with Number 6 this time. But sadly for this Number 2, overseeing one of the most important human experiments ever to be conducted, he couldn’t stop Number 6 from poking his nose in where it had no concern! Number 2’s fault was his over confidence in the General. As well as underestimating Number 6 for a second time. This episode was one of the great disasters for Number 2. The destruction of the General, the deaths of both the Professor and Number 12 of Administration, and the ultimate failure of the educational experiment of Speedlearn. We would not be seeing this Number 2 again, his fate almost certainly sealed, and can only imagine what that fate might have been.
   ‘Many Happy Returns,’ a lesson in control and manipulation. The Prisoner escapes The Village, but is kept on a very long leash, and can be reeled in at any time. We only see Number 2-Mrs. Butterworth at the end of the episode, which can only be presumed to be at the beginning of her term of office. Again there is no way of knowing what became of this Number 2.
   ‘Dance of the Dead,’ an almost elfin looking Number 2, a Peter Pan in charge of “Never Never Land.” Who can see that it’s going to be very uncomfortable for Number 6! What eventually happens to this Number 2 is unknown. Seeing as she didn’t fail, the probability is that she was forced to grow up and had to leave The Village of “Never Never land,” and return to reality!
    “You have to be hammer or anvil,” that’s what this next Number 2 said, but instead of hammering Number 6, Number 6 turned the tables on Number 2 who in turn became the anvil. I can only imagine that life in The Village did not suit this Number 2 at all, and we can only guess when his paranoia began, and what the initial reason was. Number 6’s revenge for the death of Number 73 left Number 2 a broken man. Probably to spend a lengthy time on a psychiatric wing of a hospital somewhere.
   ‘It’s Your Funeral,’ a plot to assassinate/execute a retiring Number 2, and a simpering interim Number 2, who gives the impression of being of Aryan parentage. Number 2 is due to die by being blown up! But thanks to Number 6’s intervention, he has the chance to leave The Village. The only trouble is that no matter where he goes “they” will catch up with him eventually, it would only be a question of time. So instead he returns to The Village {the helicopter turning round mid flight and returning to the Village} it might be possible that this retiring Number 2 spent the rest of his days retired to the Old People’s home. As for the new Number 2 when his time comes, he could only hope to have a lesser fate than the one he had planned for his predecessor!
    The next Number 2 thought he could bring about a change of mind in Number 6. Trick him into thinking that he had undergone a full personality change through Instant Social Conversion. But all Number 86 did was keep Number 6 heavily tranquilised with doses of Mytol. The Community turned on Number 6, they effectively sent him to Coventry because of his unmutualism. But the community of The Village is a fickle thing, and easily turned, as Number 2 himself found out. Marched through The Village at the chant of the citizens “Unmutual, unmutual, unmutual.” And in the end Number 2 had to make a run for the relative safety of the Green Dome, with an angry mob giving chase. Whether or not the angry mob actually got to Number 2 is left to the imagination of the viewer!
   I’m not sure which Number 2 came off worse, the first candidate is from ’The General,’ and now we are faced with another. The death of the Colonel, the escape of Professor Seltzman doesn’t bode well for this Number 2’s future. However at least he managed to acquire the reversal process. But when you think about it, the reversal process wasn’t really needed anyway! You know my view on that, I shan’t repeat it.
   Living In Harmony, that’s a contradiction in terms isn’t it, I mean when you take ‘A Change of Mind’ into account. And here we have another prime candidate for a worse performing Number 2, on the death count an equal with Number 2 in ‘The General.’ The failure to break Number 6, even in his mind, plus the deaths of Number 8 and Number 22. This is certainly something Number 2 doesn’t look forward to paying for. He’s afraid!
    On the whole I think the worse performing Number 2 was that of ‘The General.’ After all he had been given a second chance. Given charge of the most important human experiment ever to be conducted. The General destroyed, the Professor and Number 12 dead and the experiment of Speedlearn ended in complete failure!
    It might make one wonder just how many of these blessed fairytales Number 2 had to listen to, hopefully not one thousand and one! But if this is what Number 2 has to resort to, things must be getting pretty desperate. But I suppose it was worth a try Number 2. But don’t go too far, your presence will be required to resolve the question of revolt! But before we come to that, another Number 2 is brought back to The Village and he’s not at all happy about it! He told them the last time that they were using the wrong approach. This time they’ll do it his way, because there is no other way. He was a good man, is a good man, and to prove that he puts his life on the line for the cause. Because if they manage to get Number 6 he will be a better man than Number 2, he will be the new Number 2! Well at least he might have been had it not been for the advent of ‘Fall Out,’ what’s more Number 2 would have been allowed to rest in peace! But then I dare say we, the viewer, would never have discovered who Number 1 was. I say was, because if things hadn’t gone the way of ’Fall Out,’ Number 6 would not have been given the opportunity of meeting Number 1.
   But this isn’t about Number 6 or Number 1 for that matter. It’s about Number 2 and his/her ordeal during ‘the Prisoner.’ It is difficult to tell just how long certain Number 2s had been in office. Some we might have liked to see more of, others we cannot see the back of soon enough. One, perhaps two we might even feel sorry for. I am aware, even known some fans whose loyalties lie with Number 2. Some Number 2s we even like, and can name a favourite if put to it.
    Each Number 2 was dedicated to each task in hand. It has been suggested over the years, that there was only one Number 2, and that each that we see is but one facet of Number 2’s character. That the two female Number 2s indicates that Number 2 is in touch with his feminine side! And we must not forget Number 2 who died for the cause. Degree Absolute was certainly as much an ordeal for him as it was for Number 6.
   And ‘Fall Out?’ Well they couldn’t let Number 2 even rest in peace could they? They couldn’t even resurrect him as he was. “I feel a new man” Number 2 said. He certainly looked a new man, reborn, regenerated, and rebellious with it, that’s because he’d seen the light. He certainly wouldn’t allow himself to be mesmerised or hypnotised by Number 1 any more. That if he was going to die again, he’d die with his own mind! However having finally escaped The Village and returning to London, he eventually returns to the fold of the Establishment, to lose himself in another The Village altogether………..The Village of Westminster!

Be seeing you

Teabreak Teaser

     If they had managed to get Number 6 in the way suggested by Number 2 in ‘Once Upon A time,’ what kind of Number 2 would Number 6 have made?

BCNU

Interview with No.202

    Number 202 is the leader of the Brass Band which holds its regular Brass Band concerts on the Bandstand opposite the chess lawn. On this particular day when Number 6 was taking his daily stroll around The Village, he just happened to find himself in the vicinity of the Bandstand. Mounting the steps and approaching the Bandstand just as the Band was coming to the end of one set, Number 6 spoke with the Band leader for a few seconds and then walked away. This resulted in the following interview with Number 202.

    "A request you say?"

    "Yes sir. That's all, he asked me to play the Farandole from L'Arlesienne suit" the Band leader confirmed.

    "What else?" Number 2 asked, sure that there was more to this than met the eye.

    "I don't understand sir."

    "What else did he say?"

    "Nothing sir."

    "Nothing" Number 2 repeated, linking his hands behind his back and pacing up and down the floor of his office "Number Six just asked you to play a tune... and then walked away."

    "Did he sir? I didn't notice" the innocent band leader replied.

    "Does that make any sense to you?"

    "No sir."

    "No, it doesn't, does it" Number 2 confirmed "I'll ask you once again... Did Number Six say anything else.... about me for example?"

    "About you sir?" Number 202 asked, this time answering with a question of his own.

    "Well did he?"

    "No sir" came the answer.

    Number 2 thought the band leader might have forgotten "Perhaps you've forgotten. Try to remember!"

   But after a moments thought he found he hadn't "He didn't sir."

  At this point Number 2 began to lose the plot "You're lying aren't you!" he screams. "There's something going on!"

    But of course the band leader wasn't lying, and there wasn't anything going on.

    "I don't know what you mean sir."

    "I don't know what you mean sir. I'm as much in the dark as you are" mocks Number 2      
    "You're all lying! Its a plot! Going behind my back. Who do they think they're dealing with? Pigmies!"

    By this time Number 2 had completely lost it. The innocent Number 202 wondered what it had all been about, and he was the next to be added to the growing list of citizens who were voicing their doubts about this current Number 2. There had already been the two laboratory assistants Number's 242 and 243, not to mention the head of psychiatrics-Number 249, and these numbers would surely be added to as the episode progresses!

    By this time No.2 had lost all patience with the Band leader-Number 202 and indicated with sweeping gestures of his arm to leave.

"Oh get out, get OUT!"

Be seeing you

Exhibition of Arts and Crafts

From My Black And White Period
                                   'The Cycle of Progress In The Village!'

BcNu

Thought For The Day

     It might not be simply a question of the manipulation of No.6's wristwatch, but of time itself. The Prisoner would have arrived in The Village with his wrist watch set at London time {unless it had been adjusted to Village time while he was unconscious} but if not, that means The Village would be in the same time-zone as Great Britain. So even if No.6's wrist watch had not become water logged {forcing him to take Karel's watch} No.6's wrist watch would still have said eight o'clock when Big Ben struck eight!

Be seeing you

I’d Like To Know His Breaking Point!

   “Well” said Number 6 “you could make that your life’s work!” What’s more it wasn’t only the doctor Number 22 who wanted to know Number 6’s breaking point. Her predecessor Number 40 also saw that everyman has his breaking point! And yet he would have gone further, and would have damaged the brain, just looked what happened to Roland Walter Dutton. But it was always thought Number 6 had to be handled very differently, seeing as how important he is. That was said as far back as the first Number 2. Even he knew that Number 6 had to be handled very differently. Although his successor did say that if Number 6 didn’t give them what they wanted, he’d take it. And didn’t Number 2 also say that he didn’t want Number 6 broken, that he didn’t want a man of fragments. More than that the tissue mustn’t be damaged, in other words no lasting brain damage! Number 2 also said of Number 6 that he’s not like the others, that there are other ways, he must be won over. And when it was suggested that a leucotomy should be performed on Number 6, to isolate the aggressive frontal lobes by the doctor-Number 22, to which Number 2 said he’s too valuable, and he’s sure they can help him adjust without such drastic treatment.
    So what changed by the time of ‘The Schizoid Man?’ It would seem that Number 2 was allowed to go as far as he needed, possibly given free reign. After all Number 6 was within an ace of breaking. Number 2 could tell that when he and Curtis were watching Number 6 in something of a mental turmoil on his bed. It seemed that he was having more than a nightmare! And sometime after, when Number 6 was feeling more like his old self, had exchanged places with Curtis, he told Number 2 that he wanted Number 6 broken, so he’d broken him. He wasn’t to know Number 6 would go berserk! Did Number 2’s brief really allow him to go so far, to have left Number 6 a broken man? When previously he’s been seen to be a man who had a future in The Village?
   Number 2 did threaten to “hammer” Number 6, and yet it was Number 2 who was broken in the end. And for a second time a leucotomy was threatened, and that’s all it was, simply a threat. I wonder if those watching {meaning the television viewers realised that?} after all if Number 6 was so important, why the leucotomy? If they had really chosen to see that operation through, they really could have lost Number 6!
    Another time Number 2 set out to break Number 6 was in ‘Living In Harmony,’ which is something of a misleading title. Number 6 is put in a dangerous environment. He’s given love, that love is taken away, he’s forced to kill, having first been fed hallucinatory drugs. Break him, even in his mind. Was this Number 2 really allowed to go so far? Perhaps the idea for ‘Living In Harmony’ was down to Number 8, after all he said it had always worked before. But as it happens its Number 2 who would have to pay for this failure. Not that any previous Number 2 has not had to pay for his or her failures, it wasn’t so much in what he said, but the way Number 2 said it, there was panic and fear in his voice. Anyway what did he think they would do to him, turn him into a brainwashed imbecile and put him on the Town Council?!
    Then came the fairytale! Well I suppose it was worth a try Number 2, and yet at the same time it seems that trying to get Number 6 to loosen his tongue with children by telling them a fairytale, well that they were running short on ideas in order to break Number 6. But then of course came the ultimate test, and that always struck me to mean that this was it, the last of the sixteen tests or ordeals. But even with Degree Absolute Number 2 warned that they don’t want to damage him. Well that was because they needed him as the new Number 2, and what a story that might have made………………..

Be seeing you

I Am The New Number 2!

   In 'It's Your Funeral,' we discover that a number of "interim" Number 2's have been in office while Number 2 has been on leave. Meaning that they have been there in the intervening time, on a temporary basis. There is even an interim, or rather Number 2's heir presumptive in The Village upon Number 2's return to office. I suppose seeing as this "interim" Number 2 is going to be the new Number 2, there seems little point in him leaving The Village only to be brought back. But thinking about it, how permanent are any of the Number 2s? We know the idea of so many Number 2s is to make it impossible for Number 6 to strike a relationship with any such Number 2. Which in turns means that each Number 2 that has ever served as Chairman of The Village, has to have been an "interim" Number 2, otherwise Number 2 would be permanent!

Be seeing you

That Morse Get It Down!

   Number 2 wanted to know who Number 6 was signalling to. He checked with radar, but there was nothing at sea, no ship. He's shocked and puzzled by that, but surely there must be an aircraft, helicopter, something. But there's nothing! Under the sea, submarine, try the sonar.............. "No sir, there's nothing coming through." But he must be signalling to someone. Well he was, and I'd have thought that was blindingly obvious........ to everyone but Number 2!

You, Number 2!

BCNU

Harmony Times

BCNU

You Are Free - Free - Free to Go!

    In his attempt to force freedom upon the people of The Village, we don't know how the Prisoner would act if he had not been drugged and his mind conditioned. When Number 58 slapped Number 6 it woke him from his conditioned state of mind, and only then did he realise that he had been manipulated every bit as much as the people. There was no time to think, there was one chance to achieve something, so he took it. However violent retribution was only a few moments away. And then faced with the new Number 2, he was about to be put firmly back in his place as a prisoner.
   We know that the Prisoner wanted to destroy The Village in one way or another . However if he had not been drugged and conditioned, surprised and shocked when he woke up, maybe he could have used another approach. He might have allowed the citizens to make their own choice whether to go or stay. He could have held a referendum! Or as the new Number 2 duly elected by the people, he could have attempted to dismantle The Village's bit by bit, not physically but by removing The Village's amenities. Dismantling the infrastructure bit by bit. Demolishing the health and welfare, closing the hospital. Dissolving the Town Council, and eroding the powers of administration, and public services, along with closing the Old People's Home. However that would have been a long and drawn out affair, and to do that Number 6 as the new Number 2 would have had to absorb more and more powers and authority, effectively becoming Number 1. If of course, as Chairman of The Village, he was allowed to get away with dismantling The Village infrastructure. As I feel Administration would block any such attempt, and Number 6 would be put back in his cell!

Be seeing you

Aversion Therapy Room or The panic Room?

    In the Aversion Therapy Room at the hospital, patients who show antipathy towards something or someone, perhaps arousing hatred, or repugnance, are treated much to their own discomfort. In this particular case Number 58 is being treated for his antipathy towards Number 2.

    As you can see a patient once placed in the Aversion Therapy Room is sat in front of a small screen and faced with images causing his fear, antipathy or phobia. In this case it is Number 2 himself, although it could easily have been that of the white membranic mass of The Village Guardian and even unmutuallity.

   Once faced with this over a course of treatment the patient will be relieved of any fear, antipathy, hatred or phobia they might hold against anything or anyone.

    However I should have thought that this was a negative effect upon the citizens of The Village. They should fear this particular Number 2, as he is possibly the most malevolent of all the Number 2's. Pretending to be your friend, but with the danger of being able to do you harm in any way whenever he may choose.

    But then again to counter this train of thought, there are those such Number 2s who wish citizens to be happy, settle down, to join in and become part of this our fine community. I suppose it all depends on your point of view, and which Number 2 is enjoying his or her term in office. They wanted Number 6 to settle down and join in, but he was seen to have a future in the village, unlike that poor soul Roland Walter Dutton in ‘Dance of the Dead.’ Or Number 73 forced into committing suicide by Number 2, this by jumping out of a hospital window.

    However we must not lose sight of the fact that ‘the Prisoner’ is nothing more than a work of fiction, based on a line of fact. Yet it is fact that has caught up with ‘the Prisoner’ on several fronts over the decades, credit cards, cordless telephones, identity cards, surveillance cameras are just a few examples. But another such example would be the Panic Room on television a few years ago. In this people were placed in a darkened room and placed in front of a small wall screen, similar to that in the above pictures. Once inside, a person is faced with his or her own fears, phobias and whatever they might be averse to. Anything from spiders to wriggling maggots. Heights, confined spaces and the great outdoors, to well, your worst nightmare I should think.

    To borrow one of Number 2's sayings "fact is stranger than fiction" and in this case fact has definitely caught up with fiction. But remember another of Number 2's says "There is nothing to fear but fear itself." But is that really the case? After all we are all afraid of something, averse to something else. And as for fear and phobias, there is always "something dark and dangerous" lurking in the dark recesses of our minds. After all in the case of Number 58 he is faced with his worst fear of all, whatever Rover might be symbolic of!

   But even then the film has been manipulated!

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Quote For The Day

    "She could ruin the whole thing!"
    "Maybe she's watching over Number Six."
    "Physically? Put out a general call for her."
    "Number Six as well?"
    "No, he's safe enough here for the time being, just the girl."
             {Number 2 and the Supervisor-Number 26 - A Change of Mind}
    It would seem that the Supervisor is psychic, seeing as Number 86 and Number 6 are together, but perhaps not in the same way he imagined. One thing that has always puzzled me, is where is Number 6 “safe enough for the time being?” It seems to imply that Number 2 knows where the Prisoner is, but where “here” is has always eluded me!

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Caught On Camera!

   "What's this?"
    I've always thought that Number 2 says that in somewhat of an unfeeling way when Number 8 is wheeled into the Observation Room. The doctor explains to Number 2 that this is a new experiment. If it works it will prove invaluable to Number 2.
   "What exactly is the experiment?"
   “A development on research using Dolphins, as a means of submarine detection, they planted transistors in their brains.”
   This doctor hasn’t got that far with humans, but the doctor thinks Number 2 may find this effective for their purposes. A reaction transmitter hidden in a locket which Number 8 will wear all the time. Poor Number 8, she has been hypnotised into thinking that she is in love with Number 6, and he with her. The use of Number 8 like this, and the fact that she told Number 6 that she has often helped others with their plans to escape, plans which of course all failed, makes me wonder how many other times she has been used in this particular way.
   Number 2 finds it all very ingenious. The fact that when Number 6 is out of Number 8’s sight she’ll be sighing. When she sees him her pulses will quicken, and if she thinks she’s going to lose him, if he attempts to escape, she’ll be frantic. And her overwhelming emotion will send an alarm to Control.
   “Good!” says Number 2 and leaves the Observation Room.
   The way Number 2 says “Good!” it always makes me think that he’s not at all he bothered about it. It seems that as long as this new device works, he’s unconcerned about it. This Number 2 strikes me as being an able administrator, and happy to let others get their hands dirty. With ‘Checkmate’ the only failure for Number 2 and The Village is the experiment employing Number 8 and the reaction transmitter. But even that worked for a while, until Number 6 discovered it by accident.

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A Circle Within A Circle

     'The Prisoner' is a vicious circle. As a man who having resigned is abducted to The Village. He is put through a number of tests, and having survived the ultimate test, is then given the opportunity to finally meet Number 1. After that meeting there is a violent revolution, the Village is evacuated and in the mayhem of that evacuation, the Prisoner escapes and eventually returns to his home in London. Effectively ending up back where he started!

   In ‘Many Happy Returns’ the Prisoner wakes to find The Village deserted. He sets about escaping The Village by building a sea-going raft, and setting off on a voyage into the unknown. Because he doesn’t know where he is sailing from, he doesn’t know where he is sailing to! However, the Prisoner does eventually make it home in London after an arduous journey. But because that’s not good enough for the Prisoner, seeing as he still has questions he needs answers to, he sets on a journey of discovery to find The Village, and ends up back where he started! Having come full circle. It seems to me that ‘Many Happy Returns,’ apart from being a story in its own right within ‘the Prisoner,’ also encompasses the whole ethos of ‘the Prisoner’ compressed into one episode.

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Hammer Into Anvil

    The other evening my wife and I watched 'Hammer Into Anvil,' the last of our favourite seven episodes. I always think Number 6's retribution is on the rough side. There has always been a question in the back of my mind, as to whether or not Number 2 actually caused 73's suicide. Yes he was interrogating her at the time, and that he threatened her with menacing behaviour cannot be denied, But watching the scene again, it is as I've thought before, 73 doesn't actually jump out of bed and through the window to her death until she sees Number 6 come busting in the room! I like the way Number 6 actually goes to the window to look down at the body on the ground. I like to think that when Number 6 does that, he's thinking of Cobb who was supposed to have jumped out of a hospital window. This time Number 6 is just making sure perhaps! Because Number 6 does that, my wife wondered if later Number 6 had discovered that Cobb was still alive? Now there’s a thought!

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Thought For The Day

    "Cobb!"
    "What we do here has to be done. Its the law of survival, its either them or us."
    "Imprison people, steal their minds, destroy them!"
    "Depends which side you're on doesn't it!"
    "I'm on our side!"
   So why Number 6's outrage about imprisoning people, stealing their minds, destroying them? Is the Prisoner's outrage simply because of what they did to Cobb? Or is it that he finds it inconceivable that the side that he is on could do such things?

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Exhibition Of Arts And Crafts

From My Seascape Period
                            "A Sign From The Prisoner's World!" 

BcNu

Bureau of Visual Records

   Its a nice touch that the hands of the Electro Pass, which synchronises with the alarm system of the helicopter, actually turns like the rotor blades of the helicopter. The date of the watch is suggestive, that the Prisoner arrived in The Village on the day before his birthday on March 18th, the following day being the 19th when Number 6 attempts to escape by helicopter. And in turn that is suggestive of 'Many Happy Returns,' when the Prisoner having escaped The Village to eventually return to his home in London on March 18th, again the day before the Prisoner's birthday only to be returned to The Village on the 19th! In this regard there seems to be a close relationship between 'Arrival' and 'Many Happy Returns.'

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Village Life!

    "Can I just say something."
    "Yes."
   "I preferred it when you took the risks!"

BCNU

Who Is Fotheringay Speaking To?

    Who is Fotheringay talking to on the telephone? He said he had seen a copy of the deciphered message {the Prisoner's delivery note} which Number 6 had written in the cave and had given to Karel for transmission to London. Did that include the radio transmission frequency? It has been suggested that he's talking to Karel, who would have had a telephone or radio transmitter in the cave, otherwise the Supervisor wouldn't have been able to contact Post 5 which was Karel's real identity, to tell him that Number 6 and Nadia were on their way to him.
    The elaborate plan which takes place during 'The Chimes of Big Ben' can only work properly the one time, after that it is perfectly clear to the television viewer that Nadia's contact man Karel is actually Post Five. That the 12 hour journey to London, parts of which are shown for the benefit of the viewer, never actually took place. The crate containing Number 6 and Nadia was put on a boat, perhaps M.S. Polotska, and taken back to The Village. And the physically written coded message would have been given to the Captain of the vessel, who would have taken it back with the crate to The Village. The message would have then been deciphered in the Computer Room. Fotheringay might well have seen a copy of the deciphered message, but it was never transmitted to London seeing as Fotheringay isn't in London, he's in The Village. So the question is, who is Fotheringay talking to on The Telephone? Seeing as he's in a reproduction of the Colonel's office, then Fotheringay is there simply to help set the scene for the arrival of his ex-colleague, window dressing if you like. To make it more plausible to Number 6 that he has arrived in an office in London, which is where he thinks he's supposed to be. It's quite on the cards that Fotheringay isn't speaking to anyone! That he speaks into the telephone simply for the benefit of the television viewer, in helping to maintain the illusion!

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I’m On Our Side!

    That’s all very well, but how does the Prisoner known as Number 6, know which side that is? When he says “I’m on our side,” how does Number 6 know that it's his side? What I mean is, how does he know its his own people who have incarcerated him in The Village? Perhaps he was anticipating such an eventuality, after all the Prisoner was going to do a runner. His passport was waiting on his desk, the airline ticket to Europe was proof enough that this was no spur of the moment thing. The Prisoner was clearly expecting to get away before they came for him. Perhaps they, the Undertakers, came for him before he was expecting them.
    As to which side has put the Prisoner in The Village, if he had any doubts, they were certainly confirmed during ‘The Chimes of Big Ben.’ More than that, he had been betrayed by both the Colonel and Fotheringay. And from that moment on, it should have been perfectly clear that no matter what, there is no-one the Prisoner can trust, or rely upon, he’s completely on his own. It wouldn’t have been much worse for the Prisoner-Number 6 had he been abducted by an Eastern power, abducted behind the Iron Curtain, or further behind the Bamboo Curtain. Where there wouldn’t have been any of the niceties’ of The Village, simply sleep deprivation, hour upon hours of non stop  interrogation, torture, and the possibility of the use of drugs, real mind-benders and truth drugs. But at least the Prisoner would have known where he stood, and not betrayed by his own side. Ah, but then they weren’t his side any more were they, he’d resigned............. remember!

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Page Six

    Town Council? Was the Prisoner a member? He could have been, it's democratically elected once a year. Democratically? That's what they say.  Such is the drift of part of the conversation between the Prisoner and his ex-colleagues of the Colonel and Thorpe.

    The Prisoner could have been a member of the Town Council. Has he forgotten his experience of ‘Free For All?’ After all as part of his role as the new No.2, No.6 was Chairman of the Town Council, if only for such a brief time! Otherwise to become a member of the Town Council would have meant him becoming one of those brainwashed imbeciles as he described that time. But at least by the time of ‘Many Happy Returns,’ the viewer knows that the Prisoner had not been in The Village a year, because he had witnessed from within, only one election - if we can believe anything we are told about The Village in the first place.

 Be seeing you.

Pictorial PRIS6NER

    When I first went through the discs of THEPRIS6NER DVD box set, I was struck by the control panel, or whatever it's called. It seems to me that its representative of the original 'ROVER' which failed during the production of the original series.

BCNU

Time And Tides Wait For No Man! by our own reporter

    The editor said to me, "Go forth my son and seek out a story, one that tells of the human side to life here in The Village." Well I was really struggling to find such a story. There was Number 2's cat getting stuck up a tree, Number 8's heart breaking story of a "woman spurned." There have been a number of thefts, a surveillance camera. A telephone from a kiosk, as well as a screwdriver and electrical equipment from an electrics truck. Not to mention an aerial having been broken off one of the taxis. All mundane and trivial acts in my book, which left me completely uninspired. So I decided to take a slow walk along the beach and think.

   It was just as I was making my way through a small camp of bathing tents, and it was from one of these bathing tents that No.6 and The Rook suddenly emerged, carrying between them a pair of rubber lios, a length of wood, and a radio set! This was my story! Luckily I had my camera with me to take this photograph. As it turned out, Number 6 had come up with a daring escape plan employing a small group of "reliable" men. The Rook was to have been cast adrift aboard the two rubber lilos to send out a distress signal using the radio transmitter he had built, this in order to bring a boat in-shore, to rescue them. This while Number 6 and the rest of his "reliable" men were to take charge of Number 2 in his office in his residence of the Green Dome. The only trouble with this escape plan, is that it was badly timed. Because as Number 6 and the Rook emerged together from their bathing tent, they did so only to discover that the tide was out!

   This for me is the perfect "human story," that such care was taken by Number 6 to discover his "reliable" men, to go about stealing pieces of Village equipment with the Rook in order to make a radio transmitter. It was a good plan, but Number 6 couldn't think of everything. It's just a pity he didn't think to check the times of the tides!

Our own reporter

60 Second Interview With No.8

    No.113 “I understand that you work in the Computer Room.”

    No.8 “What about it?”

    “Nothing, but it must be a very responsible job, you having a position of authority.”
    “It is, and I have, who did you say you are?”

    “I didn’t.”

    “You're not from time and motion are you?”

    “Should we be?”

    No.113b “Smile” {click goes the camera}

    “Who’s he?”
    “He’s a photographer Number One-one-three-b, and I’m Number One-one-three, we contribute to The Tally Ho don’t you know.”
    “No, I didn’t know.”
    “Well we do. Tell me Number Eight, do you have a sister?”

    “A sister?”
    “Yes.”

    “No.”

    “Oh!”

    “Why do you ask?”
    “Well myself and my colleague here have observed that there are a number of twins, or doppelgangers in The Village. Number One-one-three-b here has one himself, Number One-one-three-c”

    “What’s that got to do with me?”

    “Well myself and my colleague here couldn’t help but notice that woman who gave you that daily prognosis report on Number Six.”

    “You are from time and motion!”

    “You have to admit that there is a similarity between you both. Height, hairstyle and colour, even the facial features are similar.”

    “I don’t have to admit to anything!”

    “Tell us Number Eight, how do you get on with Number Two?”

    “That little pipsqueak!”

    “Annoying?”
    “Insufferable!”

    “Your expression didn’t go unnoticed.”

    “When?”
    “When Number Two put you down about the efficient prognosis programming must include a quantum permutation of the cause and effect of all supplementary elements. In other words, the computer calculated the old woman’s behaviour would change the behaviour pattern of Number Six. You didn’t like that did you?

   “Can I help you with anything else?”

   “Well might not it be better if instead of having a computer technician hand a prognosis report to someone else, for that person to simply hand it to you. He could simply to hand it to you  himself. Or that you yourself got out from behind that desk and collected any such sheet of paper yourself.”

    “You are from time and motion, get out of here! You’ve got a …………..”

    “Now calm down and remember you’re a lady.”

    “Oh get out!”
    “Don’t worry we’re going. And don’t think we haven't been thrown out of better offices than this!”

Reporter No.113

Photographer No.113b

Exhibition Of Arts And Crafts

From My Seascape Period
                                         "Sealed Cargo!"

BcNu

File No.6

    Just how many people did Number 6 kill while in The Village? Beginning from the end, there was a number of armed security guards cut down by machine gun fire. Number 6 wanted to kill Number 2, and might have done during the fight they had, had not the Butler hit him over the head with a truncheon! Another chance came during a fencing match, but he simply couldn't do it. However if it wasn't the drink, perhaps Number 6 did drive Number 2 to his death after all, by his refusal to talk. Its possible that Number 2 died of a heart attack, brought on by the stress of Degree Absolute. 
    I don't think Schnipps, the girl, and the French Marshals can be counted, as they didn't really exist, except in Number 6's fairytale. Nor the Kid and the three gunslingers gunned down by the Man With No Name in 'Living In Harmony,' because they didn't physically exist either. However I suppose you could count them in if you want to.
   Number 14 of 'Hammer Into Anvil' is definitely a candidate. At the end of a vicious fight in his cottage, Number 6 hurls Number 14 through the French door, who takes the balcony railings with him, as he falls, perhaps to his death, having broken his neck when he hit the ground!
    During 'Checkmate' there was a bold escape attempt made by Number 6 and his reliable men. During that attempt they attack the searchlight crew in the Bell Tower. During the desperate fight Number 6 punches a man from the Tower, who could easily have fallen to his death, if it were not for the sound of splashing water. But as everyone who has been to Portmeirion, or watched earlier episodes of 'the Prisoner' knows, there is no water at the base of the Bell Tower!
    Perhaps finally there is Number 12-Curtis, it might be said that Number 6 drove Curtis to his death, after that fight in '6 Private.' Yes Curtis ran out of the cottage, ill met in the moonlight by The Village Guardian, but he was running from Number 6, and met with a fate worse than at the hands of Number 6!
   There is one episode which had death at its core, that of 'Dance of the Dead,' but unfortunately Number 6 didn't kill anyone in that particular episode. The only one to die was Number 34. As for Roland Walter Dutton, he met with a fate worse than death!

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