What’s That No.6 Up To?

    I thought the waitress couldn’t get Number 6 tiddly? Yet Number 6 gives every impression that he is inebriated!

   Its night time, but not quite "chucking out time," although Number 6 does seem to have had enough for one night! But hang on a minute, Number 58 seems to want to take him on somewhere, as she is seen here helping Number 6 out of the "Cat & Mouse" nightclub and into a taxi. She cannot be taking him home, as Number 6 only lives a couple of steps away from the Cat and Mouse nightclub. There was once the question would Number 6 join a club? We know that Sir Charles Portland took ZM73 to his club, and it would appear that Number 6 is a member of the Cat and Mouse nightclub, “members only” as the sign says! Unless of course 58 was the member and signed 6 in as a guest!

Be seeing you

Exhibition of Arts And Crafts

                     “The Eccentric Villager!”

BcNu

Collectors Corner

     On December 7th 2007, 6 original ‘Prisoner’ boxed Dinky Mini-Mokes sealed together in cellophane, No.106 sold for £1,100 at Toovey’s Antique and Fine Arts Auctioneer in Washington, West Sussex. I remembered an item in an old Number Six magazine, issue 26 from 1991. So after a little research, I found the article about 6 boxed ‘Prisoner Mini-Mokes No.106 sealed in cellophane. Back in the early 1990’s Simon Holmes made the astonishing discovery of the six original Dinky ‘Prisoner’ Mini-Mokes in a catalogue for a then recent toy auction in London.

Simon put a bid in for the six models, and it was accepted. His plan was to then offer them individually to members of six of One. It is unknown if Simon was successful or not. If not, I did wonder whether the six models sold in 2007 were the same six models purchased by Simon Holmes in 1991. After all what are the chances of more than one set of six original Dinky ‘Prisoner’ MiniMokes sealed in cellophane turning up? Simon Holmes thought the chances of another “six pack” turning up as pretty slim. 

 

BCNU

The General

   Number 6 once made a deal with Number 2. For in exchange for the Girl Nadia, he said he would settle down, join in, and he might even do some woodwork for him! Such was the deal. And here in ‘The General’ there is the possibility of another deal. Number 2 asks Number 6 if he’s still as keen as ever to leave them. He further suggests that a compromise could be done in exchange for the Professor’s recorder. But Number 6 knows that the offered deal hasn’t got the legs to run. And queries Number 2 as to who has it? Because Number 6 is committed to a course of action that excludes the possibility for escape, once he has heard the full extent of the Professor’s message and comprehends its meaning, he sets himself against both the General and Speedlearn. He believes that Speedlearn is to be resisted as an intrusion into people's minds.

   This is the first episode in which Number 6 has a genuine ally, Number 12 of Administration. Number 6 is prepared to work with 12, not that he trusts him completely, Number 6 trusts only himself, and yet Number 12 says much the same. They seem to be members of an exclusive club, in that they are both committed to resisting Speedlearn. And yet 12 appears to be one step ahead of 6 in understanding how Speedlearn works.
    “What was the treaty of Adrianople?
    “September eighteen twenty nine.” Number 6 replies.
    “Wrong. I said what not when. You need some special coaching.”
    Number 6 may have the desire to bring Speedlearn down and the General with it. But it is Number 12 who provides Number 6 with the capability, and access to do it. The Professor’s real lecture micro reduced, and two security pass discs. Now he is in a position to at least wreck the educational experiment of Speedlearn.
   It has been said that ‘The General’ is not without holes, one of those holes being when Number 6 manages to infiltrate the Town Hall dressed in black suit, overcoat, tie, top hat, and dark glasses. How does Number 6 know what to wear? Although it is clear that Number 12 furnished Number 6 with a micro reduced lecture of the Professor’s, along with the two security pass discs. Where did Number 6 get the suit of clothes from? Well that’s not a hole in the storyline, in fact it couldn’t be more simple to understand. All it takes is an ounce of imagination. It was when he reported to Number 12’s office in Administration the next morning, that Number 6 would have been supplied with the set of clothes worn by Top Hat officials of Administration, by Number 12 in the morning of the following day!

    The fact that Number 6 was able to destroy the General was a bonus, derived from the desire to maintain Number 12’s anonymity against Number 2, who was close to discovering that it was 12 who provided Number 6 with two security pass discs. In fact it was very ingenious and quick witted on Number 6’s part to come up with such an apparent question which was insoluble to both man and machine, yet only because the General wasn’t programmed with the basic facts concerning WHY?

    Number 12 was desperate to save the Professor’s life. He wanted Speedlearn stopped, was happy with the destruction of the General, but he seemed to draw the line at the Professor’s death. It could be said, and this calls into question Number 12’s final action in attempting to save the Professor, that with the Professor Speedlearn could have carried on. That if it was the Professor who built the supercomputer called the General, he could build another. But then so could any anyone involved in computer science, just as long as they had the plans. And its not only computers which are replaceable, so too are kindly Professors

   The only hole in ‘The General’s’ storyline as far as I can see, appears in the opening at the café. This is when students taking the three part history course are requested by an announcer, over the public address system, to return to their dwellings immediately, in time for the Professor’s next lecture. Number 6 appears to be completely unaware of what is gong on until that moment. In fact on the face of it, this is nothing more than a contrivance which gives the opportunity to explain to the television viewer what is taking place! It is illogical to think that Number 6 could be in The Village and not know about Speedlearn, when every citizen/student would be talking about the exams they have been taking {do students of Speedlearn have to take exams?}, certainly they would be talking about the lectures. But perhaps Number 6 has been out of circulation for a while, fictionally speaking that would explain Number 6’s lack of knowledge when it comes to Speedlearn. After all there is much which takes place in The Village {between the episodes} to which the viewer is not privy!

  The Magic Box which accepts security pass discs, basically it is a money box, a Japanese produced toy of the period. When a coin is put in the slot, the mechanism is activated, and a little hand comes out of the box, collects the coin and disappears back into the box, along with the coin. The "Magic Box" was adapted at once, and made part of the security system in the Town Hall, to collect "Security Pass Discs." It has been written that this money box toy was instigated as a prop by Patrick McGoohan himself. The fact that the toy is cute cannot be denied. In fact so much emphasis is placed on the device, that it appears in close-up twice in the same scene of the episode. I myself happen to have one of those “magic money” boxes, exact to the one used in the episode. The Prisoner in the guise of Number 56 has to tap the Security Pass disc a second time in order to make the gadget work. That is absolutely correct, as I have to do just the same in order to make mine work!

Be seeing you

Caught On Camera!

    Cuckoo, Cuckoo is the gesture made towards Number 2, and we know what is meant by that! I'm surprised that the bomb disposal man Number 243 was allowed to get away with his gesture without comeback from Number 2. But he marched off without making comment, which isn't like Number 2 at all!

   Also number 243, that's the number of one of the laboratory technicians, the one given the task of testing those blank sheets of paper for whatever was written on them, words figures...... So perhaps the laboratory technician was finished {like the Supervisor-Number 26} by Number 2 for not having found anything written on those blank sheets of paper. But that wouldn't account for why the Bomb disposal man is wearing the number 243. Perhaps with the number 243 having become vacant, he was promoted to that number, if the previous 243 had been relieved from his post. Other than that, its more likely there's been another cock-up on the continuity front. Once again two people in the same episode, but in different scenes, wearing the same number! And that hard-hat worm by 243, that's an American design.

BCNU

Bureau Of Visual Records

   During ‘It’s Your Funeral,' once Monique has convinced Number 6 about the planned assassination of Number 2, all they seem to do together is drink coffee. Well perhaps on three occasions isn’t that often, twice at the new café facilities, and once at the Old People’s Home, but it seemed a lot at the time! What’s more Number 6 appears to have forgotten that he gave up sugar on medical advice. That’s the thing about the production of ‘the Prisoner,’ parameters once set at either the outset, or at an early stage into the production, are found to be somewhat lax later in the series, or have been forgotten about altogether!

Be seeing you

Quote For The Day

    “See how the sun makes it all glow. The kind of day that makes you feel good to be alive.”
                             {Two - Arrival THEPRIS6NER}
    I suppose it does, make it all glow. But I’m not so sure that it makes one glad to be alive in The Village. But then I suppose the opposite to being alive in The Village, would be dead in The Village!
    Everyone in The Village is a prisoner, yet it would seem that only Six knows this. People are brought to The Village, people who are broken mentally, to be made better. But there was nothing g broken about Six, all he had done was to resign. But Curtis-Two couldn't have that, because he had better things in mind for Michael Six. He was to be Curtis-Two’s successor, someone to hand The Village over to, and Two could not escape until he had achieved that goal. Mind you, in having escaped The Village, both Curtis and Helen lost their son. A son who physically did not exist. What heartache they must have felt after having gone to so much trouble so that they could have a son 11-12. Who grew up to be a disappointment to his father, because he grew up to be a homosexual, when Two was expecting 11-12 to provide an heir to The Village. And worse, 11-12 suffocated his mother to death! Well the woman who he thought was his mother M2, and then 11-12 hanged himself in the ‘Go-Inside’ bar. Somethings never change in The Village, suicide still rates pretty highly. Before that there was 1955, a school teacher, who in an act of despair slit his own throat! Not forgetting 4-15, the woman who was going to marry Six. She committed Village death {suicide} by throwing herself into one of those holes which kept opening up in The Village.
    The Prisoner witnessed Village death soon after his arrival in The Village, when the Solar café was blown up, and the waitress 455 was killed in the explosion.
    Sometimes when I step outside into the sunshine during the summer months, and think to myself, see how the sun makes it all glow, the kind of day that makes you feel good to be alive. It is not just quotes from the original series that I can appreciate.

Breathe in, breathe out, Village life goes on.
Be seeing you

The Prisoner In Lucks Way!

    It was the Polaroid picture this time. If it had not been for Number 24-Alison, having entered the photographic competition for The Village Festival, she wouldn’t have knocked over that soda syphon and bruised Number 6’s fingernail! It was that which kicked off Number 6’s remembrances of what had happened to him after the night of February tenth after he’d gone to sleep. He recalled the conditioning he had been put through to alter his appearance, to turn him into Number 12. Why the number 12? Well  its obviously 2 times 6, as well as six of one, half a dozen of the other! They removed Number 6’s mole, and gave 12 a false mole. But they missed the bruised fingernail, if it were not for that…………… well Number 6 was just in lucks way once more!

Be seeing you

Teabreak Teaser

   Who are the people who make up the members of the Local Town Council of The Village?

BESEEINU

All Our Convention Yesterdays

   This video entitled “Half a Dozen of the Other….” was filmed during the 1996 Prisoner convention at Portmeirion. That year special guests were actress Norma West, Camera Operator Jack Lowen, Production secretary Tina Davis, and special guest appearance {because no-one at the convention knew he was coming} Alexis Kanner. Also present, as he was at conventions in the mid 1990’s, was Frank Ratcliff, a representative of Polygram Television Ltd, who were copyright holders of ‘the Prisoner’ at that time. I used to feel sorry for Frank, because he first informed those at one convention that there was to be a Hollywood production of ‘the Prisoner,’ and at another that the cameras were set to role on the production. But of course they never did, but that wasn’t Frank Ratcliff’s fault, as he could only inform us what he had been told.

   1996 was also the year of the gun runners scene from ‘Many Happy Return’s’ re-enactment aboard the stoneboat. The re-enactment was officially cancelled because an event was to take place in the Hercules Hall at that time. Well I thought to hell with that! So much work had gone into producing the re-enactment and I wasn’t about to let it be cancelled just like that, so we performed the re-enactment anyway, and to a very large, and appreciative audience.

   Since the 1994 Prisoner convention my wife and I would perform a re-enactment for the enjoyment of the audience during the Friday evening in the Hercules Hall. 1996 was the turn for the night cap scene from ‘Checkmate.’

   I was interested and amused, to read in the 1996 Convention report, that editor of the report wrote of the Touring Village Theatre {a series of re-enactments performed around The Village}  “Two highlights stand out to me, for different reasons. The first, when Dave Stimpson finally mutated into Patrick McGoohan on the Belvedere Outlook.”

  

  Here are a couple of links for the 1996 Prisoner convention.

 http://youtu.be/6ClX6TUwcDU

The Interview with Alexis Kanner

 http://youtu.be/9anUF_9mBRo

And aslo a BBC Documentary filmed during the 1995 Priosner convention.       http://youtu.be/6ClX6TUwcDU

Be seeing you

Exhibition of Arts And Crafts

                    “The Shame-faced Villager!”

BcNu

All The Fun At The Carnival

    Number 1 must have expressed his disappointment that he could not attend the Carnival, or if not that, then the Ball in the evening. We know this by what Number 2 said to Number 1 whilst on the telephone to him.
    “Yes I wish you could come too!”
    But then how do we know if the man behind the big door wasn’t there at either the Carnival or the Ball that evening, after all, everyone was in fancy dress costume. Well everyone but Number 6 and the Butler! And that Butler, he’s always got to be at the centre of things. Taking that scroll, and handing one of the Judges that black cloth. Who does that Butler think he is? He’s number 2’s Butler and personal gentleman’s gentleman, anything else that takes place in The Village should be of little concern to him. Unless the Butler’s Number 1. There are those who were once of the opinion, and perhaps still are of that opinion, that the butler is Number 1, simply on the grounds that he was the one the door to Number 1 Buckingham Place opened for, and that he was the only one to have stepped through that door into the house!
    Of course with hindsight, it could be said that the man behind the big door , Number 1, was at both the Carnival and the Ball, because Number 1 and Number 6 are one and the same person. But seeing as how ‘Dance of the Dead’ was produced long before the advent of ‘Fall Out,’ and was supposed to have been the second episode in the screening order {according to the library order for the series} then there was no-way anyone at that time could have realised who Number 1 was.
    So, if Number 2 was speaking to Number 1 on the telephone, who was she reporting to, and receiving instructions from via that teleprinter? An outside source obviously. Perhaps Number 1 is but a figurehead in The Village, someone who wields a certain amount of power within its confines, but no more than that. After all it is Number 2, and not Number 1, who gives reports and receives instructions via that teleprinter, from a source beyond The Village. Instructions given, and reports received by someone, or some committee in a government department back in the homeland, as mentioned by the new Number 2 in ‘Free For All’ to the departing Number 2.

Be seeing you

The Village

   The original Village has two types of Guardian. The membranic balloon sort, and Villagers who go about as gardeners, or some, like the security men aboard ‘Star Trek’s’ USS Enterprise, wear red jerseys! In the new Village of THEPRIS6NER the Guardians wear black. They have vicious dogs, and are armed with semi-automatic machine guns! However there are some things that never change, there is still the membranic balloon, even though it is now been upgraded by the use of CGI.
    The Shopkeeper-No.112 in ‘Hammer Into Anvil.’ When after Number 6’s unusual activity with the six records, and questioning the word “security” on the font page of The Tally Ho {in other words Jamming}, he leaves the General Store. The moment he has gone, the shopkeeper is on the telephone to Number 2. And later, after Number 6 has bought a small notebook, along with a Cuckoo clock, the shopkeeper is again on the telephone to Number 2, reporting Number 6’s unusual activity. While in ‘Anvil’ of THEPRIS6NER, the Shopkeeper-37927 is on the telephone to the Clinic {Two}, reporting Six and his unusual activity concerning a receipt and the purchase of a knife, this after Six has left The Village shop. Later when Un-Two goes to The Village Shop, he enjoys an illicit cigarette with the Shopkeeper, who once again telephones the Clinic {Two} to report a Two impersonator! So no matter what The Village, some things just never change!

Be seeing you

Bureau of Visual Records

   The above image is taken of course from a scene in ‘The General.’ The Professor and Madam Professor went to The Village of their own free will. By that they were probably recruited. The Professor to be the face of Speedlearn, a kindly man, from whom the students will take anything. It’s not so much a direct teaching job, as to why the Professor is needed, just someone to type up the lectures. Madam Professor was simply there to make sure her husband co-operated, and if the Professor didn’t Co-operate, then something nasty would happen to his wife. In this way the one being essential for the others survival! As for Madam Professor’s art seminars, well they kept her occupied. I think that having gone to The Village of their own free will, the Professor and his wife soon found out that The Village wasn’t what they might have been given to think it was. Certainly the Professor had soon lost belief in both the General and Speedlearn.
   When it comes to the Professor and the General there is something of a contradiction. On the one hand it is said by Number 2 that the Professor gave birth to the General, suggesting he created it, and loves it with a passion, probably he hates it even more. And yet the Professor said he was introduced to the General!
   One other thing…..we barely see the Professor {Peter Howell} and Madam Professor {Betty McDowell} in the same scene together. Only once, here with the figure of the Professor lying in the bed, until seconds later, it isn’t!

Be seeing you

World Cameras Catch Up With Number Six!

    It was on the chessboard that World Cameras finally caught up with Number 6 who granted an on the spur of the moment interview.

    “What's it all about Number Six?”

    “You tell me!”

    “Oh that's very good Number Six. But really, the people out there want to know why you're here, what The Village is all about, and why you resigned.”

    “Then they'll have to figure it all out by themselves, won't they?

    “Tell me, this episode is called Checkmate.”

    “You've just told me!”

    “Yes, well we understand that there's a human chess match in it.”

    “Yes.”

    “Why?”

    “That was in the General!”

    “What was?”

    “WHY?”

    “Well Number Six, perhaps you would like to tell the viewers if the Prisoner ever escapes.”

    “I don't know, we haven't got that far in filming yet, and the script hasn't been written yet.”

    “Does Number Six escape at the end of Checkmate?”

    “I don't know yet, we haven't filmed that bit yet.”

    “But surely you've read the script?

    “Yes.”

    “You're not giving much away are you Number Six?”

    “No, and I don't intend to.”

    “But the people who will watch this interview want to know. We the media want to know.”

     “Look, I'll be holding a press conference when this is all over. Any media people, members of the press will get an exclusive screening. Then and only then will I attend to your questions. Now if you don't mind we've got filming to do...... so why don't you take your camera and shove it…..”

BCNU

Once Upon A Time – The Fan Club!

    I was wondering the other day, purely out of curiosity, what became of ‘Once Upon A Time’ formally ‘the Sussex Group’ based in Britain, who called themselves friends of ‘the Prisoner,’ which was a breakaway group from Six of One: The Prisoner Appreciation Society in the early 1980’s, and as I understand it, gradually evolved into ‘Once Upon A Time’ an American based fan club for ‘the Prisoner.’ I came across a link to ‘Once Upon A Time,’ but the link wouldn’t work. Neither could I find a site for ‘the Prisoner related ‘Once Upon A time’ fan club, to which I was once a member. I can only imagine that the fan club no longer exists. Perhaps someone reading this has knowledge of what became of ‘Once Upon A Time,’ and was he or she a member at one time or another, and knows what happened to the fan club.
    Regular readers of my blog will possibly recall the above article. Now as it happens I recently received news of what happened to Once Upon A time, from an old friend of mine, Rick Davy. Rick kindly wrote the following in an email.
    “One last thing to chat about is I was interested to see on your blog recently a mention of the "Once Upon a Time" fan club. You're correct that this club was borne out of the "Sussex Friends of the Prisoner" and was headed by a lovely chap called David Lawrence. He subsequently moved to America (hence why the club then seemed to shift to a USA-stance) and he married a lady called Marsha McCurley. She went on to create and run a website called "Virtual Portmeirion" whilst at the same time (late 1990s) the Once Upon a Time club became online only. Sadly, Marsha died in around 2004 (somewhere on the Unmutual site in the news archive there is a news piece about it as she has had a plaque put up in her memory in the woods) and the news hit David very badly and he closed down all his "Prisoner" interests as he didn't want to carry on with any of it without his wife. Very sad.”

   My thanks to Rick for supplying this information, although I did feel at first feel it was very personal information to David Lawrence, and perhaps it was impersonal for me to publish it on my blog. However more recently I received an email from Rick, who had received an email/notification from a rarely used "Yahoo e-group" called "Number Six" which is run by an American former Six of One member called Kipp Teague. This was informing the group members/subscribers that David Lawrence had sadly passed away a couple of years ago. As such I felt more comfortable about posting this up-date regarding ‘Once Upon A time.’ All round it is very sad news.

Be seeing you

ESCAPE!

    During ‘The Chimes of Big Ben,’ Number 6 and Nadia set sail in a boat they had built from the pieces of Number 6’s abstract sculpture. They were supposed to have been sailing 30 miles from Lithuania on the Baltic to the Polish coast. However later in the series we discover that this is impossible, seeing as The Village is nowhere near the Baltic Sea, let alone Lithuania. So where exactly was Number 6 and Nadia sailing? For myself The Village is somewhere along the coast of Portugal, and that is where they were sailing, along the coast of Portugal.
   Let me ask you what’s wrong with this picture.

   the boat is facing the wrong way! Even if Number 6 and Nadia were sailing along the coast of Kaliningrad to the Polish coast, they are travelling in the wrong direction! They should be travelling in a southerly direction, when in fact they are sailing in a northerly direction. And if they carried on that course, it would have been the coast of Latvia which they were sailing along!
   However this is purely academic, seeing the reality is, that when Nadia points out the cave to Number 6,  it is the Warren near the Battle of Britain memorial, near Folkestone.

BCNU

Exhibition of Arts And Crafts

                                “The Optimistic Villager!”

BcNu

The Prisoner

    When considering the 17 episodes of Prisoner, it is found that they fall into three broad categories: Escape, Revolt, and Resistance.

ESCAPE;

Arrival

The Chimes of Big Ben

Free For All

The Schizoid Man

Many Happy Returns

Checkmate

Fall Out

REVOLT;

The General

Hammer Into Anvil

It’s Your Funeral

A Change of Mind

RESISTENCE:

Arrival

A B and C

Hammer Into Anvil

A Change of Mind

Once Upon A time

    Although a number of episodes could fit into more than one category, there are three episodes which do not fall into any of the above categories. ‘Dance of the Dead,’ which although has nods towards revolt and resistance, contains no plan, by either Number Six or Number Two, no enterprise formed or denied. There is a plan in ‘Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling,’ yet resistance is thin on the ground, and what they did to Number 6 was revolting. And really that’s as far as this episode gets to any of the three broad categories.

  ‘Living In harmony,’ although there is a plan, resistance is only found in The Man with No Name as he resists the Judges efforts to make him work for him as Sheriff, to wear a sheriff’s badge, and a gun. And later perhaps escape, when The Man With No Name and Cathy plan to leave Harmony together. Yet again these are only vague nods towards to of the three categories.

   It is possible to add a forth category, that of Survival, which would include; Many Happy Returns, Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling, and The Girl Who Was Death. The Prisoner, and his survival against the elements, as he sails on his voyage of discovery. ZM73, surviving as himself. And finally Mr. X, who fights to survive against the attacks of The Girl, who is trying to kill him.

Be seeing you

Thought For The Day

   It's interesting that most numbers which are frequently used in The Village, are even numbers, or have something to do with the numbers 2, 6 or 8. 8 is the first Number "allowed" after Number 6, 10 is near 8, and 6 added to 2 times 2. 12 is 2 times 6, 14 is 2 times 7. Even Number 93, maybe was chosen because 9 less 3 equals 6. But perhaps too much is being read into this, after all it’s the simplest thing to make something represent what we wish it to represent. And yet on the other hand , perhaps the scriptwriters looked for patterns in the numbers. Unless the numbers were chosen purely at random!
  Number 48. I have sometimes wondered why, like the former Number 6, he was allowed to wear his own clothes, feeling happier as himself. Perhaps he had arrived at ‘Fall Out’ but by a different means to that of Number 6! I wonder what 48’s equivalent Number 1 might have been like, someone sensible perhaps, not a hippy that’s “dropped out!”
    Number 48 is more like the Court Jester, who was the only person at Court who told things the way there were. The only person allowed to criticise the King and get away with it. Although 48 doesn’t say that much, he does amuse and entertain. Which is more that Roland Walter Dutton does! Ah, back to Dutton as a Jester. Now at the court of trial against the Prisoner, he was the only person considered fit to say the things that needed to be said! Yes 48 is allowed to state his case, but he’s more the Court Jester, there simply for the purpose of entertainment!

Be seeing you

There’s Not An Ounce Of Truth In It!

    After the local electoral candidate had witnessed the dissolution of the out-going Town Council, he found himself in the Labour Exchange Manager's office, and was put through the “Truth Test. This was to find the real reason why Number 6 had decided to run for electoral office. The thing was they knew all the time what Number 6 would do if elected to the position of Number 2. He thought that if won the election, took over The Village, that he would be able to control an organised breakout, as stated by the Manager-Number 20. So this was not so much a "truth test," which to all appearances it is, but also acts as the conditioning of Number 6’s mind. And yet he must be careful not to damage the brain tissue, and is advised by Number 2, and is confirmed by Number 20, First stage only, clearly understood."
   Number 2 was heard in the control room to comment "A very good technique." Which is confirmed to have been adapted from the Civil Service.
   Number 6 collapses in the chair, and when he awakens he is clearly ready, and refreshed for the next part of the election. "You'll be voting for me of course, be seeing you" he salutes.

    And what about Number 6 being restrained in that chair? Clearly they didn't want Number 6 to get up out of that chair and storm out whilst undergoing the truth test/conditioning. No leather strapping, or any kind of restraints were required. Number 6 was clearly held in his chair by a simple current of electricity....the chair having been electrified!

Be seeing you

Caught On Camera!

   A car with a rebellious nature. A car for the Individual.

   They thought Number 6 would feel happier with his own transport in The Village! And it seems that Number 2's generosity knows no bounds in having KAR 120C brought to The Village. Pity there's no petrol in the tank. But at least Number 6 can sit in it, polish it, tinker with the mechanics. In a way it’s somewhat rather like the Stoneboat, great on any road, but it don't go nowhere!

   In fact David McDaniel, in his 1969 novel ‘The Prisoner – Who Is Number Two?’ had Number 2 bring the Prisoner Lotus Seven to The Village, which Number 6 eventually converted into a amphibious car. And uses it in a daring escape attempt.

BESEEINU

Names – Numbers – Titles!

    It is very interesting that at the end of ‘Fall Out’ the word ‘Prisoner’ is shown on screen, indicating that the Prisoner is still just that. Had that single word not appeared on the screen, then viewers may very well have accepted that Number 6 had finally managed to escape The Village, and that would have been the end of the story. The idea that ‘the Prisoner’ begins all over again might never have entered the enthusiasts mind.
    At the outset we only know the Prisoner by that name, if “the Prisoner” can be considered to be a name rather than a title, and yet name and title can be the same. Yet “the Prisoner” is a meaningless designation like The Village, the Mountains, and the sea, they tell us what they are, but does not tell us anything about them. Later of course the Prisoner uses the name Peter Smith, which is somewhat nondescript, and only slightly better than John Smith or Peter Jones. And even later, while in the guise of The Colonel, the Prisoner uses the code name ZM73 which doesn’t tell us anything, and yet is better than calling the Prisoner “the Prisoner!”
   Names are not used in The Village, well only on occasion, when there is a relationship between two characters. Best to reduce everyone to a number, for official purposes, even to –dehumanise the citizens, because really there in The Village there is no need to call anyone else except by their number. Everyone in The Village is a “prisoner,” so that is a general term for everyone. Everyone is given a number, and each number is used only once, unless someone dies, or is permitted to leave The Village. So you will only meet one Number 8 in The Village at one time. Yes, there were two 6’s in The Village at the one and same time, but that was under extreme circumstances. A couple of times there were two Number 2’s in The Village at the same time, but one was Number 58 before she was promoted to the position of Number 2. While another was only interim, until he was made permanent. But that permanency wasn’t to last.
   Number 6 rejected his number, why? Was he afraid of being known simply by a number? He shouldn’t have been, is he forgetting his code name ZM73? Numbers in The Village are individual, even when there is the reporter for The Tally Ho, Number 113, there is his photographic colleague Number 113b. So in this instance there are two people who do share the same number, but one is distinguishable by having been sub-divided by the letter of the alphabet. In this instance b. Number 113b has a twin in The Village who operates the Tally Ho newspaper dispenser. Like his twin he wears no badge, but possibly his number might be 113c. So, if there is 113, 113b, and possibly 113c, might there not be a 113a? The twelve members of the Town Council are all sub-divided Number 2s from a-l.
   Like Number 6, to give the Prisoner his correct name in The Village, the Butler doesn’t wear his number either. Seeing as how 2 is second only to one, although 3 might dispute that statement, the Butler might be Number 3, 4, or indeed 5. But whichever the number, a number doesn’t tell you everything about the person who bears it. However a number can give an address of the person or individual, as in ‘6 Private,’ or denote one’s position in The Village hierarchy.
    Having been given a number can take away your anonymity, which gives one no meaning, no character. And yet because of that, in a way, it preserves one's anonymity. Because who is anyone in The Village?
     Numbers in The Village most frequently used, apart from 2, are 8, 10, 12, 14, 22, and 113.
    Number 93 who confesses that he’s both disharmonious and inadequate in ‘A Change of Mind,’ whilst in ‘The General’ he used to be a Guardian with the number 250. So according to the hierarchy of the number system in The Village, the man {if fictionally speaking 250 and 93 are the same character} was promoted from 250 to 93, but then became disharmonious. However it would seem that confession is good for one, because the next time we encounter 93 he is a delegate of the Assembly in ‘Fall Out!’ He’s easily recognisable by the grey bushy beard poking out from under his black and white mask. He reads out the charge against the Prisoner-No.48. He is charged with a most serious breach of social etiquette, total defiance of the elementary rules which sustain the community of The Village. Questioning the decisions of those voted to govern them, unhealthy aspects of speech and dress, not in accordance with general practise. And the refusal to observe, wear or respond to his number! So 93 having been disharmonious, who having made his confession, is then brought back into the fold, if fictionally speaking, the delegate is the same character as Number 93.

Be seeing you

Village Life!

   “Who have you comes as?”
   “Take a look in the mirror!”
   “Haven’t you got it a bit wrong?”
   “How do you mean?”
   “You’re wearing the wrong blazer!”
   “How do you make that out?”
   “Take a look in the mirror!”
   “Well I fancied a bit of a change. And you know what they say.”
   “No, what do they say?”
   “A change is as good as a rest.”
   “Well at least we know who’s who.”
   “Yes, I’m me, I mean you!”
   “But I’m me, I’ve no idea who you are!”
   “Your twin or doppelganger perhaps.”
   “You mean the gardener and electrician?”
   “Not to mention the photographer and the operator of The Tally Ho dispenser!”
  “Number 2’s assistants 14 and 22 look pretty much alike.”
   “Because they’re dressed identically!”
   “Yes.”
   “So it might have helped if we were dressed identically.”
   “You think so? Think of all those who are watching.”
   “ Who, the Observers?”
   “The television viewers.”
   “What about them?”
   “Well they would have got into a right old muddle if we’d have been dressed identically!”
    “You don’t think we’ve made it a little too easy for them to distinguish between us?”
    “Well perhaps. But we’re stuck with it now.”
    “I can’t help but think we’ve missed something along the way. But I can’t put my finger on it for the moment.”
    “Don’t worry, I’m sure if you remember you’ll put me in the picture!”

Be seeing you

The Prisoner Comment

     ‘The Chimes of Big Ben’ guest-starred Australian actor Leo McKern as the new Number Two. It has to be said that McKern and McGoohan did not get on well together. In fact McGoohan's first remark to Mckern was an extremely offensive one “You’re a funny little f***er aren’t you!” And indeed McKern was very critical of his co-actor on set. Watch the scene in ‘Once Upon A Time’ when McGoohan and Mckern were struggling together on the floor as pupil and teacher, Mckern thought McGoohan was going to kill him! And yet on-screen there was a chemistry between them which is obvious. Their scenes together are battles of both will and charm. And there is a mutual respect between Number 2 and Number 6. As opponents they are worth each other’s time, underlined with every word. The idea of so many different Number 2.s is so that Number 6 can never strike up a relationship with Number 2. And yet that is precisely what Number 6 has been able to do in this case. In ‘Once Upon A Time,’ did not Number 2 say “I’m beginning to like him.”

Be seeing you

Exhibition of Arts And Crafts

                        “A Broken Cog In The Machine!”

BcNu

Thought For The Day

   Its ironic, as a friend of mine recently pointed out to me, that the charge against Number 48, as a prisoner he has been charged with the most serious breach of social etiquette. A total defiance of the elementary laws which sustain their community. Questioning the decisions of those voted to govern them. Unhealthy aspects of speech and dress not in accordance with general practise, and the refusal to observe, wear, or respond to his number, is read out by a delegate of the Assembly who represents anarchy!

BSEEINU

Bureau of Visual Records

    Number 2 as Peter Pan, all grown up and adult, having been rid of all that “childishness,” who eventually ended up as a stubborn, rigid official, hungry for power in the never, never land of The Village!

BCNU

A B And C

   With the absence of Portmeirion scenes, together with the emphasis placed on Number Fourteen’s laboratory, this goes to make ‘A B and C’ a somewhat  claustrophobic episode. We are introduced to the laboratory at night, when a storm rages outside. Lightening with torrential rain, the only instance of bad weather in the entire series of ‘the Prisoner.’
    Even in Number 6’s three dreams there is a sense of release, seeing that a portion of the action takes place at Engadine’s celebrated parties in Paris. In other words, “outside” of The Village. As Number 14 says, “I’m sure he’ll welcome the change of environment.” Back in the real world, other than the surreal world of The Village!
    A play in three acts; A is a conventional spy episode, in which ZM73 encounters an old colleague, with whom he was once friends, and had good deal in common. But that’s in the past. “A” made world news when he defected about 6 years previously. They did the same job, they still do the same job, but for different sides! Later A attempts to abduct ZM73, and we are to believe that this is what would have happened if The Village administration had not got to ZM73 first.
   B is also a spy working for the other side. The other side supposedly opposite to both ZM73 and A. ZM73 appears to be friends with B, and yet he keeps her at arms length even when dancing! He has encountered B before. The last time when she was hiking across the mountains to Switzerland…..she got sore feet! Trying to escape from someone, or to somewhere where she thought she might be safe. Unlike A being the direct approach and with the aid of force, B is more of a semi-seductive approach, more indirect, and set on an emotional basis. Number 14 attempts a spot of emotional blackmail. They want B to make a deal with ZM73, they want to know why he resigned. If he would just talk about it, they would let her off the hook. Emotional blackmail has been used before against the Prisoner, on the day of his arrival in The Village, by the maid-Number 66. The trouble here is, it’s all taking too long with B, and Number 2 wants to hurry things up a little, by Number 14 putting words in B’s mouth. That was a mistake, because as soon as B speaks 14’s words, ZM73 is put on the alert, he becomes suspicious, and resists direction. The second mistake is that they don’t know about B’s son……and yet is that a bluff on ZM73’s part, perhaps there really is no son?
    C, and here we enter the world of fantasy which is both complete and enthralling. Number 6 has diluted the third dose of Number 14’s drug, and because of that the veneer of the real-world is stripped away as represented in both A and B, whereby he demonstrates his capability of being not only able to enter his own surreal dream, but to control it, direct it according to his own will. In this Number 6 creates a completely misleading story line designed to overturn Number 2’s expectations, and uses his enemies own device and drug against themselves, in order to defeat Number 2, and ultimately deny him the proper result of his examination.
   There has been some pitiful research into C, but can anyone really expect anything else when C hides behind a cloak of anonymity! C exists, but not in the terms of which A and B are defined. C is C because C is not A or B. C is more important than either A and B, the man who resides behind the “big door” as Number 6 might have put it.
    The episode transcends into an almost “out of body” experience, taking place in Number 6’s subconscious, as Number 2’s plan is completely overcome. His deep belief that Number 6 resigned because he was going to sell out is left unfulfilled. Number 6 is brutal in his retribution against Number 2. He delivers in person the information that he really was going on holiday. That he wasn’t selling out, that’s not why he resigned. This leaves Number 2 a broken man. As the over-sized curved red telephone bleeps, we can only imagine what fate lay ahead for this pathetic failure of a Number 2!
   With the scenario that Number 6 builds in his surreal subconscious, and the suggestion that there is a fourth that Number 2 had no idea about, “D,” then we are to suppose that “C” was Engadine. To suggest that Number 2 is C and not D, would depend on what Number 6 says when he turns the man dressed as the “Sandeman” of Sandeman Port to face the camera. That would be “C” as in the letter c, or as the word “See!”

Be seeing you

Thought For The Day

    A correspondent of mine wrote, why didn’t Number 6 take the opportunity to escape when he was in possession of the detonator for the plastic explosive in the Great Seal of Office? Well it wasn’t the fact that Number 6 was feeling generous when he handed that detonator to the retired Number 2, “Take it and go” he said, “No-one will question its authority.“ So the retired Number 2 took the detonator and went, leaving Number 6 to stop the new Number 2 from removing the Great Seal of Office from his shoulders. Had the canvas deck shoe been on the other foot, and Number 6 had taken advantage of the detonator to attempt to escape The Village, who was there that Number 6 could trust to stop Number 2 from removing that Great Seal of office?  Then ordering the capture of Number 6, even before he reached the helicopter? No-one, except for perhaps Monique!

Be seeing you

Free for Nothing!

   Just what did The Village administration achieve with the elections of ‘Free For All?’ It would appear that The Village administration has gone to an awful lot of trouble for the sake of one man, when seemingly it can gain nothing from the venture, and that goes for Number 6 as well. A form of stalemate one might presume to say. The only reason they might have had was that of a bribe - work with us, and this could all be yours. But this idea falls flat on it's face within the last moments of the episode, when Number 6 has attained the position of Number 2. He tries to organise a mass breakout, yet no-one is taking the slightest bit of notice of him, as the new Number 2's voice booms out across The Village "You are free, free, free to go. I have command, obey me and be free." So Number 6 has nothing to gain, although he does try. He also tries to escape, but the attempt is futile.
   The election is rigged, there is no reason for it, because the new Number 2 is already ensconced in The Village, as a plant - a maid-Number 58 assigned to Number 6. So all there is to do, is to simply 'play the game.' At the end, Number 6 is taught a lesson, that this is only the beginning. That they have many ways and means, but they don't wish to damage him permanently. Surely ‘Free For All’ was never simply to teach No.6 a lesson! But I hope No.6 was listening, because at least he learned something from this experience. ‘Free for All’ may appear to have no reason behind it. It raises many questions, but for all that, it is simply a joy to watch.

Be seeing you

The Prisoner

    Is ‘the Prisoner’ so difficult to follow, or too subversive as to make some people dislike or even loathe the series when it was originally screened in Britain? You either love ‘the Prisoner’ series, take to it like a duck to water, or you loathe it with a passion. But love and hate are just opposite sides of the same coin, are they not? Perhaps those who hate or loathe ‘the Prisoner’ see it as being subversive. Do they see something in ‘the Prisoner’ to be afraid of. Or in simpler terms, do they simply not understand it and that makes them afraid. But do they try to understand the Prisoner - well no, and make no attempt to do so. It is enough for them not to like the series, and nothing will make them change their minds. But then it's a free country.
   I recall a radio interview carried out on-air, but over the telephone with three fans of ‘the Prisoner.’ I make no comment regarding the first two interviews, but during mine, the interviewer did his best to try and make me out to be some sort of "over the top" Prisoner fanatic, who he tried to make fun of. But like ‘the Prisoner,’ I was having none of it, I wouldn't play the game and gave back as good as I got. Why do members of the media have to do that? But then that's been part and parcel of ‘Prisoner’ appreciation over the past 45 years. The media see something strange about fans of the Prisoner. But there's nothing so different between fans of the Prisoner and Star Trek. I mean if you want weird..... who had the idea of writing a Klingon dictionary? I knew someone who had a Klingon dictionary, I asked her could she read it, she said “No,” so what the hell was the point? But I did once know of an enthusiast for ‘the Prisoner’ who spake universally in ‘Prisoner’ dialogue!

Be seeing you