Happy New Year

Wishing all my readers

 Happiness and good health

                     in the
                   New Year

Be seeing you in 2016

Quote For The Day

    “I’m not one of them, you are!”
                              {The Rook-Number 58 - Checkmate}
    There had been a slight misunderstanding. The Rook had put Number 6 to his own test, and convinced himself that he was one of them, a guardian. Then having made his way back to shore aboard the pair of rubber lilos, he went to the Green Dome and convinced the others. And they released Number 2. But the Rook wasn’t the only person to profess their innocence in this way. Monique told Number 6 that she wasn’t one of them, to which he replied “No, no-one is.”
    That’s the trouble in The Village, you don’t know who anyone is. Who is anyone in The Village? Number 6 attempted to at least discover who the Prisoners and who the warders, what little good it did him. That was something he vowed to do in ‘Free For All,’ but it took him another five episodes until he succeeded. But even then it didn’t do him any good, because having put to Number 6 his own test the Rook had convinced himself that Number 6 was one of them!

Be seeing you

The Pulses!

    Supervisor-Number 56 “Now we’re picking up her impulses.”
    Doctor-Number 23 “Good, when she sees him you should get a sharp increase in the pulses.”

    What’s all this about the pulses? Its not agriculture again is it? A report on a sharp increase in the pulses meaning it’s been a good year for peas and beans on The Village farm, and that a bumper crop is expected! Perhaps this doctor has something to do with crop genetic modification!

Be seeing you

Caught On Camera!

    In ‘A B and C’ Number 6 first realised that something was going on, when standing at the door to his cottage, he saw Number 14 who was buying flowers from a flower seller. Then he suddenly looked at his right wrist and saw the needle puncture mark. Later, on the lawn of the Old People’s home Number 6 approached Number 14, asking her enigmatically “How does one talk to someone who that one has met in a dream? After that he pays a call on Number 2, perhaps to try and confirm his suspicions. There he pours Number 2 a glass of milk deliberately showing the bruised needle mark on his right wrist. “Anyone who had nothing to hide would ask where I got it.” “Where did you get it Number Six?” “In my sleep.” “Oh you must have been restless. Perhaps you need a check-up.” “I have a favourite doctor.” “Really.” “Number Fourteen.”
    Then one morning Number 6 wakes up, he lies in bed looking at the cup and saucer on the bedside table, realising that he had been sedated by having drunk his nightcap of hot chocolate. He sits up on the edge of the bed, it’s been another rough night, perhaps an after effect of the doctor’s drug, or the simple fact that he’s had another over active dream. He looks at his right wrist again….there’s a second puncture mark!

   Number 6 is only able to arrive at an understanding of what the doctor-Number 14 and Number 2 have been doing to him, by having followed the doctor through The Village, and through the woods to the laboratory. Why Number 6 wasn’t picked up by the Observers via the surveillance cameras is another question. But if they had picked up on Number 6 following Number 14, and had they informed Number 2, he would have been able to stop Number 6 from discovering the laboratory, and thereby from gaining entry. But Number 6 was able to follow Number 14, and he did manage to gain entry into the laboratory after the doctor had left. And he was able to put things together in order to come to understand what it was they had been doing to him. The fact that they had not only got into his dreams, but were able to manipulate them, and at the same time was able to dilute the third dose of the drug.
   For me the laboratory in the woods seems to have been a contrivance on the part of scriptwriter Anthony Skene. Because had the experiment using the doctor’s new drug taken place at the hospital that would have made it far more difficult, if not impossible, for Number 6 to gain access and discover, as he had in the laboratory, what it was that had been taking place.

   On the other hand, as it stands, Number 6 was only able to discover the laboratory hidden away in the woods, because he was able to follow Number 14. But what if Number 14 had not gone to the laboratory that time? Number 6 would have remained in the dark, the third dose of the drug wouldn’t have been diluted, and the experiment would have run its true course. But whether or not Number 2 would have discovered the reason behind the Prisoner’s resignation is extremely doubtful. Because whatever it was, he wasn’t selling out!
   What were Number 14’s reasons for going to the laboratory at that time? After all she didn’t seem to do anything of any great importance while she was there. But perhaps that was a ruse. As a friend of mine recently suggested to me, perhaps Number 14 wanted Number 6 to know about the laboratory. That she wanted him to break into the laboratory, to confirm his suspicions about the experiment being conducted on him. So Number 14 may have realised that she was being followed by Number 6, through The Village, through the woods, and so purposely led Number 6 to the laboratory. And upon making the discovery he did, he would in some way attempt to sabotage said experiment. What might Number 14’s reasons be? To use Number 6 against Number 2 so as to exact her revenge upon him, because of the way Number 2 had forced her to use an untested drug on Number 6, and if not, threatening to have the drug proved on her. As the doctor saw it, her drug had not failed, Number 6 had succeeded {a fact she seemed to be pleased with} with possibly a little help from her.

Be seeing you

The Therapy Zone

    Why the need for anonymity? What I mean is, why the need for the white robes and black and white masks? They are not in the theatre, it’s not a meeting for the Ku Klux Klan. Is the need for the masks so that each of the delegates do not know who the others are? If so why? Each delegate is responsible for different aspects of society, our society, but why the need for such strong anonymity amongst themselves? The fact is that these are the faceless men who are supposed to run our society so wisely. These are the so termed men and women of officialdom! Well we know the identity of at least two delegates, one is the Supervisor-Number 26. The other the bearded Number 93. A man who was forced to declare himself to be disharmonious, and inadequate. Are these the attributes of a delegate of the Assembly? Is this Assembly the power behind The Village, or does it seep out further afield, into our one very society? There are two Villages, The Village where this assembly oversees everything to do with its running. Then there is The Village of Westminster, the political Village, which is much like the Assembly in The Village, in which people are responsible for varying section of society. In his former life Number 6 lived in the City of Westminster, he could have been a member of the political Village of Westminster. Certainly we witness a former Number 2 returning to the Houses of Parliament, which is at the very heart of The Village of Westminster. And remember it was his lot, in the past, to wield a not inconsiderable power. Nay he had the ears of Statesmen, Kings, and Princes of many lands. Governments had been swayed, politics defined, and revolutions nipped in the bud, at a word from him, in the right place, and at a propitious time, which is an indication that he had possible connections with the Foreign Office. And begs the question why wasn’t a place found for him on the assembly? None of which actually answers why the white robes and masks. Perhaps they are part of some fraternity, or Freemason-ship. Not that these fellow look like they are capable of doing good deeds for their fellow man. Mind you they did give the former Number 6 a pretty good compensation package. The key to his house, which was being prepared for him, and looked to have been purchased on his behalf. A passport valid for anywhere. Travellers cheques worth a million, and a leather drawstring purse full of petty cash.
   So why the anonymity? Is that directed against each other, if so why? After all they are all colleagues sitting on the assembly. Why shouldn’t they show their faces? But perhaps its all secret, no-one is to know who the others are for whatever secret cult reason! The truth of the matter is we simply do not know, nor are we likely to know. All we can do is interpret the situation and not only arrive at our conclusion, but also be content with it. Otherwise leave well alone and simply accept the fact that after almost fifty years after the event, if we don’t know the actual answer to something within ‘the Prisoner’ perhaps we never will.

Be seeing you

Exhibition of Arts And Crafts

                             “What No 7?”

BCNU

Quote For The Day

    “You of all people.”
                 {Roland Walter Dutton - Dance of The Dead}
   Why was Dutton so surprised to see someone he knew? Perhaps he thought the man standing before him, Number 6, would be the last person he would meet In The Village. He might well have thought ZM73 was too quick witted to be caught. But Dutton doesn’t know that ZM73 had handed in his resignation, and so no longer works for British Intelligence. But even so, the Prisoner having resigned his job, went home to pack, but something happened. And when he woke up he was in the Village. Perhaps Dutton wasn’t sure of his former colleague, that he was perhaps assisting Number 2. But then even if he was, what possible difference could it have made? Dutton had told that doctor everything he knew, he never had access to the vital stuff. The only thing is the doctor didn’t believe Dutton, and thought he was simply reluctant to go further. But Dutton had no more information to give, and in all probability was not trained in anti interrogation techniques. Not even Number 6 could help Dutton, and was resigned to the fact that there was a termination order against Number 42, Dutton. But in the end it was worse, the doctor had gone too far with Roland Walter Dutton, such was his enthusiasm for human experimentation. But then why issue the termination order? Even Number 2 knew that Dutton was expendable, that’s why she allowed the doctor to go as far as he did. But perhaps the person who issued that termination order against Dutton, hadn’t expected the doctor to go too as far as he had with his experiments in order to extract information from Dutton.

Be seeing you

Special Export!

    I received several Christmas presents which are of a deskanalia nature. This “Special Export” being one of them. On the face of it, it seems to have come from The Village.

Be seeing you

A Favourite Scene In The Prisoner

   In ‘The General’ it seems everybody, says the Television anchorman, who does mean everybody, is falling over themselves to enjoy the fruits of Speedlearn. It would seem that Speedlearn has exceeded everyone expectations. Well everyone except Number 12!
   It’s just like Carnival with everyone out to enjoy themselves, some people are even wearing carnival masks. I must say that there is more of an air of enthusiasm and enjoyment here than there is at Carnival in ‘Dance of The Dead.’ Everyone at that Carnival looks as miserable as sin, all they do is simply go through the motions. There’s not one smiling happy face amongst them, well save for one, Number 54 the personal maid to Number 6. He told her that everyone is having a good time outside. I wonder where he’d been looking, they don’t appear to be having anything approaching like a good time. Even the joyous sounds of the cheering people is provided via the tannoy system! At least because of Speedlearn people are out for a good time, and no wonder. Learning with Speedlearn means no homework for the students. I could have done with that when I was at school!

Be seeing you

Bureau of Visual Records

    Number 2 is pictured here wearing the Great Seal of Office. According to Monique, when she and Number 6 discovered the replica of the Great Seal, having been made by her father, she said that it was always worn at ceremonies. Then why wasn’t Number 2 wearing the Great Seal at the Exhibition of Arts And Crafts when he was presenting the prize awards? Perhaps that wasn’t recognised as an “official” ceremony. But I would have thought at the very least Number 2 should have been wearing the Great Seal of Office during the election period of ‘Free For All,’ and having lost the election, should have passed the Great Seal on to the new Number 2, that being Number 6. Then the real new Number 2, the former Number 58 could have taken the Great Seal from Number 6. But I expect the problem was, the Great Seal of Office didn’t come into existence until later in the series production, when the script was written for ‘It’s Your funeral!’

Be seeing you

Thought For The Day

    On the day of his arrival in The Village Number 2 told the Prisoner that he might even meet people he knew. Well that seemed to happen to Number 6 more often than not. Cobb was the first, but I’m not so sure that was meant to happen, the Prisoner’s encounter with an old colleague on the hospital ward. I should imagine that Cobb had to die, so his death was suggested yet never proved to the Prisoner, who took it that Cobb had committed suicide by having jumped out of the window. So then to the Prisoner Cobb would be dead. But why the need for that is another of those mysteries. Even if the Prisoner never saw Cobb again, thy didn’t have to explain where he had gone or why!
    Then came two ex-colleagues, Fotheringay and the Colonel. Colleagues yes, friends no, seeing as they betrayed Number 6. Fotheringay appears friendly enough on the surface, and at first glance appears quite likeable. At least Number 6 liked him, and was genuinely pleased to see him. That “being pleased to see him” on Fotherigay’s part was feigned! He’s nothing more than a backstabbing little creep, who obeys orders but has absolutely no feeling towards Number 6 whatsoever. As for the Colonel, for his part he failed to extract the reason behind the Prisoner’s resignation. If that had been Number 2 he’d have had to pay for that failure. I wonder what might have happened once the Colonel had returned to London? And what about Number 2? We meet him again in ‘Once Upon A Time,’ when Number 6 claims to know Number 2. Or at least that’s what Number 6 told him. But where could Number 6 have known Number 2 before? Somewhere in the depths of the Houses of Parliament, or simply by Number 2’s former reputation as a diplomat perhaps.
    During his incarceration in The Village, Number 6 encountered other old friends, or rather people who were in the same game as Number 6 during his former life, ‘A’ ‘B’ and Engadine! Although technically speaking these three were not in The Village, only in Number 6’s subconscious mind. Although I expect had Number 2 brought Engadine to The Village he would have physically met her there.
    And then one day Number 6 met another man he knew very well indeed, only he was the spitting image of himself! He came in through the door of the cottage whistling to himself, and wearing his number 6 badge! That proved that this 6 impersonator was no good at it. Number 6 never wears his badge, and since when did Number 6 go about The Village whistling to himself?! It could have been double jeopardy for Number 2 had he got it wrong, and the same could have been said of Rover when it made the wrong decision that night.
    Roland Walter Dutton, another of Number 6’s former colleagues to be met with in The Village. Dutton seemed surprised to see his former colleague, perhaps he thought that ZM73 would be the last person he would meet in The Village. Thinking that ZM73 would be far too clever to allow himself to be taken and brought to such a place as The Village.
    But there’s one more person who Number 6 knew, Chambers who became late of the Foreign Office, and brought to The Village. We know that because during the Prisoner’s de-briefing on the day of his arrival, Number 2 said of Chambers that he was a nice guy, and so talkative. He’s also the one person Number 6 knew but whom he did not meet in The Village. It might have been better, for continuity, had it been Chambers lying in that hospital bed instead of Cobb, seeing as Number 2 had made mention of Chambers to the Prisoner. Then it would have made better sense for the Prisoner to have met Chambers on that hospital ward instead of Cobb.
   I wonder if Cobb was supposed to have been Chambers, and they simply forgot. Because on the script for ‘Arrival’ the Prisoner is “P”, so perhaps Chambers was “C.”
Be seeing you

The Professor - What Does He Profess?

    That he was introduced to the General, well there’s nothing much wrong in that. If there is one fault, then perhaps it lies with Number 2’s contradiction, that the Professor gave birth to the General that he loves it with a passion. However Number 2 is right that the Professor probably hates it even more, because of that recorded message he had for his students.  Saying that the General must be destroyed if the students wish to be free, and as for Speedlearn it’s an abomination!
    The Professor may well be just who he professes to be. A lovely man with a kindly image, just the man to be the face of Speedlearn, because the students will then take anything from him. He may well have been a retired academic in his former life, not necessarily a Professor but a simple school master, who had been selected to work in The Village on a very select educational experiment. Selected and forced to write lectures, hence the need for Madam Professor, the one being essential for the other. Madam coaxes her husband to keep working, while the Professor keeps working in order to see that no harm befalls his wife.
    On the other hand, the Professor might not be who Number 2 professes him to be. He could just be an ordinary school teacher retired from his former life, who was then brought to The Village in order to create and type up lectures for the Speedlearn experiment. His wife invited to accompany him so that Number 2 could play the one off against the other. His wife could have been an art teacher, hence Madam Professor’s art seminars. However, maybe the title of Professor was bestowed upon him as an honorary title after he arrived in The Village, along with a very impressive house, with elaborate decorations, furnishings, paintings and books. And as long as he co-operated, both himself, wife and house were secure. Just as long as he co-operated………

Be seeing you

Bureau of Visual Records

    Why is it that the Girl wears a crash helmet, but Mr. X does not? Is it that he’s afraid of nothing, or is it that he simply likes to feel the wind in his hair? Maybe the Girl was just being careful, after all her E-type Jaguar has no roll bar. If either car was to crash and roll over the consequences would be near fatal, if not actually fatal. Of course this is before the wearing of crash helmets became compulsory in Britain, to be worn my motor cyclists in 1973, but not car drivers.
   The Girl drove the Jaguar expertly, good enough for a racing driver. As did Mr. X. Mind you it got a bit hairy when the Girl pointed her finger, and he and his Lotus Elan began to spin this way and that, then right around. He did well to keep the car on the road at that point in the chase around Borehamwood.
    I wonder why Patrick McGoohan gave himself the Lotus Elan in the story? After all it was the car offered to him by Lotus for the Prisoner’s car, which McGoohan rejected. So really, to make it right, Mr. X should have been driving KAR 120C seeing as he’s the Prisoner!

Be seeing you

Thought For The Day

    The Tally Ho is, according to Number 6, issued daily at noon. Well at least that’s what he told the Colonel during his de-briefing session about The Village. And yet when it comes to ‘It’s Your Funeral’ Number 6 goes to the kiosk to buy a copy of the broadsheet and a bar of soap at ten in the morning. More than that, in the following episode there appears to be two issues of The Tally Ho during the same day, unless we are to take it Number 6’s second encounter with the Committee took place on a different day. And during a much earlier episode Number 6 goes to the Town Hall in order to witness the disillusionment of the out-going Council, and outside the Town Hall he is presented with a copy of the broadsheet, which contained an interview with the local candidate Number 6, which never even took place. And I think we can consider the time to be about mid morning. I wonder what time The Tally Ho was delivered during the episode of ’The Schizoid Man?’ Mind you that was a one off issue, as a matter of fact the only issue to have a date printed on it. Except when that very same issue is used in ’A B and C,’ the same issue doing different jobs in two different episodes. I suppose it saved time! It’s a nice idea about The Tally Ho broadsheet being issued daily at noon, it’s just a pity that the idea isn’t carried on into later episodes. But perhaps the later script writers were not made aware of that fact!

Be seeing you

Seasons Greetings

   Well Christmas is nearly upon us, and here is an advanced notice. After Christmas Eve there will be no blog posted on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, or Christmas Sunday. But fear ye not, I shall return posting blog on Monday December 28^th.

                Wishing all my readers

                         a very

                Merry Christmas

BSEENU

Exploding Lighthouse!

   We are all aware that the lighthouse in ‘The Girl Who was Death’ is the rocket. Also that Mr. X having sabotaged the countdown, the rocket {lighthouse} explodes. Yesterday Arno sent me the following link 'Bond And Beyond.'

http://beyond2490.rssing.com/chan-36863747/all_p5.html 



   To watch some film footage you may never have seen before, click on the link. The website is in German, scroll down until you arrive at a video player of Beachy Head lighthouse. Or click on the link below for the same video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-r8Bt5mioCA



Be seeing you

Village Life!

    What’s all this, another bad night, a bad dream more like. It’s not enough that you’re living a nightmare, you have to dream about it as well!

   Now how do you think that happened? Perhaps you were restless, more likely they have got into your dreams! Number 2 wants to know why you resigned, he thinks you were going to sell out. He wants to know what it was you had to sell and to whom you were going to sell it. Did you know he’s had your whole life researched and computed, but he hasn’t read your file. You were utterly devoted and loyal, you are still loyal, nothing will make you talk. But dreams are a funny thing, and for Number 2 you woke up at the most inconvenient time. You want to be careful, he’ll be using Inception next to control your dreams, to manipulate them, to place an idea into your subconscious and then he’ll make you believe that the idea originated from you. Oh and how do you know you are awake now, and are not still in the dream? Ah, the puncture marks on your wrist, that’s a dead giveaway, and just as well for you. But isn’t The Village a dream dreamt up by you? You know if you keep living this dream you just might be taken for mad. Why don’t you simply wake up and give everyone, including yourself a break? You’ve been in this dream for fifty years now, that’s when it all began, with an idea. Your idea, about a man in isolation, a man who resigned his job but won’t give the reason why. But you did tell someone, you wrote your reason down in a letter. And what was it you were ranting and raving about in that office? If I were Number 2, I’d forget about ‘A B and C,’ I’d take you back in your subconscious to that morning you handed in your letter of resignation. I’d stand and watch the screen as you stormed into that office, that petty bureaucrat sitting passively behind his oak desk, as you pace up and down shouting your head off. And while you were doing that, I’d have a tape recorder ready as I turned up the sound so that I could hear and record what it was you were shouting about.
   So you really were going on holiday. You handed in your letter of resignation, went home, collected your passport, airline ticket, two suitcases, and yet here you are living the dream!

Be seeing you

Exhibition of Arts And Crafts

                                              “Re-United”

BSEENU

ZM73

    I’ll have to call you Zed Em Seventy-three because we don’t have a name for you, unless you would prefer to be known as John Drake…..No? Oh well fair enough. So you’re going to do it are you, you’re going to step over the threshold and do it? Have you really thought this through? Stupid question, of course you have. But consider the consequences. Once you’ve handed in that letter of resignation there will be no going back. And then what, do you really think they will let you go just like that? A man of your worth and calibre, of course they wont. They will keep you under the closest possible surveillance, or worse. Well they’re not sure what you intend to do afterwards, perhaps they expect you to go the same way as Chambers who is now late of the Foreign Office! Either him, or Cobb, yes Cobb’s gone, he was supposed to be in Germany, but he’s not there now. And then there’s Dutton, I don’t know why he’s gone, all they want is for you to go and everyone will be happy. No, I didn’t mean that. But I can see you’re hell bent on taking the action you’ve been planning, so I’ll be on my way and let you get on with it old boy. But you’ll only have yourself to blame if they crucify you. They don’t like people walking out, sorry I mean resigning. I say, you’re not going to defect? Although as I recall that business with Seltzman didn’t go at all well in your favour, but at least he’s safe, and his invention is safe and free from perversion. I understand what it is you are about to do, but I cannot altogether think it a wise action. Oh well, if you are hell bent on taking this current course of action, good luck old boy.

I’ll be seeing you.

The 2016 Prisoner Calendar

    With my compliments. Please feel free to save and print the calendar.

Be seeing you

The Schizoid Episode!

    There is something quite unique about ‘The Schizoid Man,’ it’s the only episode which is supposed to take place in The Village yet only contains some stock film footage of Portmeirion at the end! What the episode does rely on is interior sets of buildings, sets of Portmeirion, and sets which are supposed to be in The Village, as well as a back-lot at MGM film studios. I think the only rival to ‘The Schizoid Man’ would be ‘The Girl Who Was Death’ which has one shot of the beach and cliffs at Portmeirion, but that episode isn’t supposed to be filmed anywhere near The Village! ‘The Schizoid Man’ has a good plot, however the change in the colour of one blazer lets the plot down, even more than the lack of Portmeirion content.

Be seeing you

Arthur And The Colonel

   Poor dear Arthur! The picture on the mantelpiece in her London home, is of a man in Naval officer’s uniform, Arthur, Mrs. Butterworth’s dead husband. Men in British Intelligence were recruited from the armed forces, and more often than not from the Royal Navy. In ‘Dance of The Dead,’ Dutton made reference to Arthur, Arthur, the Colonel. I’m not suggesting that Arthur was the Colonel, but he could have been in a position as Fotheringay, or Thorpe. And that Arthur could have been Mrs. Butterworth’s late husband! Ah, but when did Arthur die? It appears before ‘Dance of The Dead,’ so that idea doesn’t hold water. Unless of course ‘Dance of the Dead’ assumes its rightful position in the screening order, that being second and well  before ‘Many Happy returns, then it could be made to fit, fictionally speaking that is.
   I suppose one must ask the question did poor dear Arthur, Mrs Butterworth's late husband really exist? It is not normal for a widow, when moving home, to bring her dead husbands clothes with her and then hang them in a wardrobe let alone to keep his shaving things. Usually if the possessions were kept by the widow they would be carefully stored away. I know she made the excuse that it made her feel there was a man about, but it doesn't ring true somehow. It's also a strange coincidence that dear Arthur took exactly the same size clothes and shoes as Number Six, seeing as they fitted him perfectly!

Be seeing you

Well It Was Worth A Try Number Two.

    Number 6 must have had, if not encounters, then an encounter with Number 2 and his assistant Number 10, otherwise how would he have been able to weave his fairytale around them. To make Number 2 and Number 10 the two main protagonists? Of course Number 10 is quite unique to this episode, a male Number 2 has never has a female assistant before. Yes there was Nadia that’s true, but she wasn’t Number 2’s assistant, not in the true sense of the word. Nadia didn’t live in The Village, she had been assigned to it.
    Was it really worth a try? It may be supposed that anything is worth a try once, and if you notice they never try anything more than once. I don’t really know why they even bothered with such an episode as ‘The Girl Who Was Death.’ Nor do we know who it was who came up with the idea, I can’t see it being Number 2, “Might drop his guard with children. That one wouldn’t drop his guard with his own grandmother!” That only leaves Number 1, and one can only suspect that he knew what he was doing. But to all intents and purposes it may be wondered why they even bothered, but instead to bring back Number 2 at an earlier date for ‘Degree Absolute.’ But I suppose ‘The Girl Who Was Death’ provided a little light relief from what had taken place before, and what was still yet to come. As for Number 2, well he’ll be brought back, if he ever left The Village that is, when its disclosed that his predecessor faired no better than he. Because there is but a week between ‘Once upon A Time’ and ‘Fall Out,’ hardly enough time to allow a defeated Number 2 to leave The Village only to bring him back for a second bite of the apple. After all when all is said and done, ‘Fall Out’ is the final throw of the dice, the final desperate manipulation of Number 6 by a failing power.

Be seeing you

Questions, Questions, You Don’t Expect Answers Do You

    I read somewhere, or heard somewhere, that people who are interrogated always talk on the third day. Well Number 6 must be an exception to the rule, because on the third day he managed to turn the tables on Number 2.
    Why is it that the most simple options are never employed with Number 6 when they are attempting to extract the reason behind his resignation, but instead they choose the most elaborate plans? True the doctor Number 40 did once take a more direct approach in extracting information from Number 6, buy using Roland Walter Dutton as a communications medium. But they could simply have really got Number 6 drunk that time in the Therapy zone, and being intoxicated with hard liquor, Number 6 would have talked his head off. That instead of going on wasting time with a local election, which didn’t seem to achieve very much at all. Will Number 6 never learn? Doesn’t seem like it. And if Number 6 had talked, had told them the reason why he resigned, what then? Was all the rest expected to follow? And what of Number 6? He would have become a most boring fellow, no longer of any importance whatsoever to either Number 2 or to the plot of ‘the Prisoner.’ Just an ordinary citizen living out his life incarcerated in The Village. Eventually to be retired into the Old People’s Home.

Be seeing you

Exhibition of Arts And Crafts

                       “A Change of Minds!”

BSEENU

ZM73

   ZM73 might have found Professor Seltzman, but little good it would have done him had it not been for the undertaker, who was at the time masquerading as a chauffeur. Because if he had not turned up when he did, ZM73 and Professor Seltzman might well have found themselves in the clutches of British Military Intelligence. And that wouldn’t have been any good for ZM73 at all, because that would have left his mind still wrongly housed in the body of the Colonel. What’s more he might well have had to get used to that body, even though it wouldn’t have been at all to his liking. No, ZM73 would have had to get back to The Village in order to put things right, but how? If Sir Charles Portland did have anything to do with The Village, then he could have sent both Seltzman and ZM73 back there. If not, then ZM73 would have to rely upon the knowledge he gained in ‘Many Happy Returns,’ of the location of The Village. Because it can be argued that having escaped The Village, he could have navigated his way back there. And if not, then ZM73 was well and truly stuffed, and would have to settle for his appearance as the Colonel, which would have made life very difficult for him. Regarding his identity for example, his fingerprints, birthmarks, dental records etc, etc. Although to him he’s ZM73, to the World he’s the Colonel. And what of the Colonel back in The Village? His fate would be going about The Village as Number 6. I’m not at all sure, under those circumstances, which of the two would have the worse fate!

Be seeing you

Bettine Le Beau

   Bettine Le Beau who sadly passed away in September {as far as can be can be said} this year at the age of 82. She played the French maid Lucette in ‘the Prisoner’ episode ‘A B and C.’

   A survivor of the Holocaust, Bettine became a skilful actress, she was also a model, and writer. She enjoyed many varied acting roles, appearing in ‘No Hiding Place,’ ‘The Wednesday Play,’ ‘Benny Hill,’ ‘Mrs Thursday,’ ‘Dr. No,’ ‘That Riviera Touch,’ amongst many other films and television series. Also appearing regularly on radio panel games such as ‘Just A Minute, and ‘Petticoat Line.’

  Rest in peace Bettine, you will be remembered by all who knew you.

BCNU

A Favourite Scene In The Prisoner

    Number 6 pays a call on Number 2, after he had received a visit from Number 14 telling him that he’s finished, and accusing Number 6 of putting the poison in.

   Number 2 asks Number 6 what he’s doing there, he’s come to keep him company. He’s heard that all of Number 2’s friends have deserted him {not that he had many friends to begin with} that he can’t trust anyone any more {well he never did} pity. All that power at Number 2’s disposal, and yet there he is all alone. In fact Number 2 has never felt

so alone as he grips hard onto the Penny Farthing seemingly for comfort.
   Number 2 asks what Number 6 wants? He’s come to talk, to listen. But Number 2 has nothing to say. But that’s not like the old Number 2, where is the strong man, the hammer. You have to be hammer or anvil, Number 2 saw himself as the hammer, but hammers break more than anvils. Number 2 claimed to know who the Prisoner is, who freely admits that he’s Number 6 {he can’t be feeling well} but not in Number 2’s eyes, he’s D6, who was sent to The Village by their masters to spy on Number 2. He had been onto him right from the very beginning, he knew what D6 had been doing, so he can stop acting now. All those messages he sent, all the people he recruited, Number 2 knew Number 6 was a plant, he didn’t fool him. {Number 2 fooled me almost 50 years ago, because I thought he had got it right, that Number 6 had been a plant} the only trouble was, Number 2 fooled himself! Supposing for a moment that Number 2 had been right, that Number 6 had been planted in The Village by XO4, in order to check on Village security, to check on Number 2. But then Number 2’s first duty as a loyal citizen should have been not to interfere, but he did interfere, he admitted that much himself. There’s a name for that, sabotage! Who is Number 2 working for? For the power behind The Village, he protests. But he could be working for the enemy, or he could simply be a blunderer who has lost his head, either way Number 2 had failed! And they do not like failure here {that’s funny, I thought they never failed}. Number 2 saw it as Number 6 having destroyed him, but no, Number 2 destroyed himself, it was a character flaw, a weak link in the chain of command waiting to be broken. And any chain of command is only as strong as its weakest link. Number 2 begs Number 6 not to report him {I should imagine that Number 1 knows already considering that first scene in Number 2’s office} but Number 2 is to report himself. Had Number 6 picked up that oversized curved red telephone and reported Number 2 himself that game he had been playing would have been up for Number 6. Hence Number 2 having to report a breakdown in control to Number 1, breakdown being the optimum word.

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Village Life!

    Here we are then, in the village, oh not the Village, but that of Witchwood, or to go by the correct spelling Wychwood. But there is a Bell Tower, and the Girl having taken the high ground, has made it her sniper position. There you are, having given heavy machine gun fire and now you’re throwing stick grenades at Mr. X. Look at him down there, struggling with the controls of that caterpillar loader, you don’t really want to kill him do you? If you kill him, what would be left for you? Better to marry the man, then he’d be a constant challenge to you, him being a born survivor and you a born killer. You said you just realised that you didn’t want to kill him. But that was a lie of course, you simply cannot help yourself. Oh well I’ll leave you to it. Mind you I’ve never seen death look quite as attractive as you, and that Prussian pickelhaube helmet you’re wearing looks very fetching.

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Resignation!

   ZM73, for want of a better name, hands in his letter of resignation to a bureaucrat sat behind a desk. He paces the floor shouting at the seated man who remains passive, before slamming down his letter of resignation upon the desk. But why hand his resignation to this man? That would suggest that the bald-headed bespectacled man is the boss. But Sir Charles Portland is the boss, and it is he to whom ZM73 should have handed in his letter of resignation. After all by the time of ‘Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling the bureaucrat who received that letter and the venom of ZM73 has been replaced by Jonathon Peregrine Danvers.

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KAR 120C

    Except it isn’t, this is a Lotus Seven impersonating KAR 120C. Because by the time the original was called for, for filming scenes for ‘Fall Out,’ it had been sold. So a look-a-like was called for. Never mind, the Prisoner never knew the difference, he climbed in behind the wheel of the car and drove off.  At the end it was just like it had been at the beginning, a green Lotus Seven with a yellow nose hurtling towards the camera from out of the distance along a long and deserted runway. But then that is the original KAR 120C, the impersonator’s moment of glory had come and gone in an instant!  

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Exhibition of Arts And Crafts

                      “Death And Destruction!”

BCNU

My Name’s Six, Number Six!

    At least I have a name now, Six Number Six. Somehow it sounds impressive saying it like that, it’s a bit like saying my names Bond, James Bond. I didn’t have a name before, well I did, but that all depended upon which country I was in at the time. Duval in France, Schmitt in Germany, and ZM73 when I was amongst colleagues!
   Mister Number Six that’s me now, doesn’t sound so bad does it? I am not a number, I am a free man. Well I am a number and I’m not a free man, but I am still a person, I will not allow myself to be reduced by numbers. But at least I have an identity, something I didn’t have before I arrived here in The Village. Before that I was a non entity, a man with no name, which suited my time in Harmony quite well.
   Once they tried to take my number, my very identity away from me. But I know who I am, I’m Number Six, I told them, and no I didn’t need a badge to remind me that I am their Number Six. Not that that’s what numbered badges are for. They are to tell other people who you are, it’s like a calling card you wear on the lapel of your blazer. Mind you one time I wasn’t Number 6 at all, I was Number 12, I suppose that made me two times 6 seeing as I was supposed to go about The Village impersonating myself! There’s a saying used in The Village, six of one and half a dozen of the other. If my number wasn’t Six that phrase would have less meaning here, six of one, that’s me, half a dozen of the other that’s the other Six. Well it was until Rover got him, put the fear of God into Number 2 that time I did. He thought it was Number 6 who was dead! Just as well it wasn’t, otherwise it would have been Curtis who attempted to escape The Village by impersonating me. As it was, it was me trying to escape the Village by impersonating Curtis as though he had been impersonating me………….I think.

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Village Life!

    I’m not the only one to have lived with ‘the Prisoner’ for almost fifty years, in fact there are a great many fans such as myself. I wonder what Patrick McGoohan would have said? What the hell are you doing wasting your life on a damned television show? Get out there and live your life before its too late! Well I shouldn’t think it would be in those exact words, but the meaning is there. And if it isn’t I’d be very much surprised. But it is all too late now. For me ‘the Prisoner’ has been a forty-nine year obsession, soon to be made fifty. So I may as well see out the remainder of the years I have left immersed in my obsession. I freely admit that I do not watch the series anywhere near as much as I used to, but that’s because its been indelibly imprinted on the cortex of my brain, similar to that of Speedlearn as it has with other students of ‘the Prisoner.’ But I do keep writing my daily blog, not everyone agrees with what I write, however many, many readers around the World read my blog everyday and thoroughly enjoy doing so, and that’s all that matters. But no matter what, when the time comes, enthusiasts for ’the Prisoner,’ no matter where they are, no matter who they are, or what differences they may have, will all come together one way or another in celebration of fifty years of what is still today, a remarkable television series. One which unlike so many others has withstood the test of time, even more so since the re-mastering of the film.

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A Favourite Scene In The Prisoner

    Watching with Number 2 is Number 6, as Nadia Rakovaky wakes up in what she believes is her own home, wherever that might be. After watching ’The Chimes of Big Ben for the first time, the innocence of this woman has gone, I can’t believe in her any more. “Thank God I’m home” she says to herself, knowing full well that she’s not anywhere near her home. But admittedly she has not seen The Village before, so perhaps the shock of looking out of the window was genuine shock. That she couldn’t believe she was in such a picturesque place. Perhaps she thought being assigned to an internment camp, as she must have been, she might have thought she was going to wake up in something akin to a Russian Gulag in Siberia. I bet she didn’t expect anything like The Village!

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Caught On Camera!

    No.2 “Who are you, and what are you doing here?”
    “We’re Pathe News.”
    “Pathe News, who gave you authority to film here?”
   “The Supervisor.”
    “The Supervisor, what you mean him?”
    “No, the other one, you know the bald-headed chap.”
    “Well he’s not the Supervisor, not now he isn’t”
    “He told us he was.”
    “Well what are you doing here?”
    “We’re making a film about concentration camps, and Gulags.”
    “Does the Village look like a concentration camp or Gulag?”
    “Well not typically, no.”
    “Well there you are then.”
    “But then again it is basically an internment camp!”
    “I’m not here to bandy words with the likes of you. What brought you here?”
    “The helicopter.”
    “Well you can just pack up your equipment and get out of here. In fact you can get out of The Village by the helicopter that brought you here.”
    “Look we were told we could come and film here.”
    “Who was it, who told you, you could come and film here?”
    “Number One.”
    “Did he………..well try not to be intrusive.”
    “Intrusive, have you seen the size of this camera?”
    “You can hardly miss it!”
    “Well seeing as you’re here keep that camera on my best side.”
    “Okay guv. How was that for you Sid?”
    “Sound levels are spot on.”
    “Tom?”
    “No go I’m afraid, hair in the gate!”
    “Oh damn it! We’ll have to go again!”
    No.2 “This is your fault!”
    Supervisor-No.60 “My fault? I like that. I didn’t want this job you know. Anyway it was my predecessor who let them in, he’s the one to blame!”
    “Well get them out of here as soon as you can. What’s that Number 6 doing?”
    “He’s on camera heading through the mangrove walk. He could be heading for the hills or the shore. Apparently the second unit wants to film him trying to escape.”
    “He wants what?”
    Cameraman “Well someone’s got to try and escape. All we’ve done so far is film Number Six putting a white envelope in that stone boat thing, and putting a Cuckoo clock by your front door!”
    Supervisor “Well we have him on the screen heliographing!”
    Number 2 “Get that message down, get it down.”
    “This is more like it Sid, okay to film?”
    “Yes turn over, action.!
    Number 2 turning to an observer “Did you get that message down?”
    Observer “Yes sir.”
    “Well what did it say?”
    “Hello Colonel, having a hell of a time. Wish you were here!”

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All We Want For Christmas Is Two

   On BBC at the moment there is the Christmas ident as seen below, and comes with a number of listed programmes, no doubt viewers of the BBC will have seen it. Well the moment I first saw this, and heard the announcer say “All we want for Christmas is Two,” my mind turned instantly to the image of Two, and does so every time I see  and hear the announcer say these words.

A very merry Village Christmas to you all. 

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