Electropass!

    Number 6 needed that Electropass in order to bypass the alarm system of the helicopter. Number 9 had that Electropass, the device was secreted inside a wristwatch. Why put the device inside a wristwatch? Perhaps it was a matter of convenience. The date of the wristwatch was the 19th. This has given the impression that Number 6 had been abducted on the 18th, the day before his birthday. But of course we do not know the month, it could have been any month, including March. But personally I go for the month of September.
    So where did Number 9 get the Electropass? She told Number 6 that she knew the last pilot, presumably in the biblical sense. The way Number 9 tells it to Number 6 gives the impression that she gave her sexual favours in exchange for the Electro Pass. If that was the case poor Number 9 was used, and being used by everyone. The helicopter pilot, Cobb, Number 2, as well as Number 6. The impression is that Number 9 worked undercover in The Village, working for Number 2 she was assigned to Cobb, and later to Number 6. She didn’t know the last pilot in any sense of the word, because Number 2 gave her the Electropass just as Number 6 surmised. Number 9 was a pawn, everyone in The Village is a pawn, even Number 66 the ex-Admiral knew that much. It might be that Number 9 is an expendable pawn, although she had done nothing wrong, but we do not see her again. But if not expendable perhaps Number 9 was assigned to other citizens for reasons we as the viewer are not privy. Because there is much which takes place within The Village unbeknown to the viewer, that much must surely stand to reason. 

Be seeing you

Every Plan Has It’s Flaw!

    ‘Arrival’ has a flaw in its plot. Number 6 told Number 9 that he saw her leave Number 2’s residence. Well perhaps he did, perhaps that’s something to which we as the viewer is not privy. Number 9 suggested that he saw her going into Number 2’s residence. Well that would be more like it, seeing as he followed Number 9 after leaving the Brass Band concert. In fact Number 6 is seen looking up at the Green Dome, so he could have easily have watched Number 9 make her way there, and enter Number 2’s residence. So instead of confirming Number 9’s suspicions that he saw her go in, he chose to say he saw her leave. That must have meant Number 6 hung about the whole time Number 9 was being briefed by the new Number 2. Perhaps so that his suspicion of Number 9 was confirmed when he saw her leave. Perhaps not so much of a flaw in the plot after all as once thought. 

Be seeing you

Quote For The Day

    “Report on Number Six normal, classification, on arrival subject showed shock symptoms, followed by accepted behaviour pattern. Since then has been uncooperative, and distinctly aggressive. Attempted to escape, subject proving exceptionally difficult, but in view of his importance no extreme measures to be used yet.
                                                               {New Number 2 - Arrival}
    “No extreme measures to be used yet!” What extreme measures might they be? I’d say they soon changed their minds, as using an experimental drug on Number 6 was pretty extreme, just so they could get into, and manipulate his dreams. And worse, not only to alter the man’s appearance but to so condition him to be someone else. In this to take away the man’s very identity! But later there would be even worse, no, not putting him in a dangerous environment of Harmony, Number 6 was in a dangerous enough environment as it was. But to actually give him a change of mind, the act of mind transference with that of the Colonel’s. Whose idea was it to take such extreme measures, Number 1 no doubt. The new Number 2 said that no extreme measures were to be used yet. Number 2 during ‘The Chimes of Big Ben’ said of his assistant, who suggested that there were methods they haven’t used yet, that he didn’t want a man of fragments! But things soon changed after “Chimes” that’s for sure, even to the point that at least two Number 2’s were allowed to go so far as to break Number 6 in his mind. That’s pretty extreme, because if it had gone wrong, they could have lost Number 6. Not physically, but mentally!

Be seeing you

Caught On Camera!

    A one time member of the Arts and Crafts Award Committee, later becomes a medic who gives an envelope to someone whom she thinks is a doctor. Now what would a medic be doing coming out of a room in the Town Hall? And this scene wasn’t filmed all that well, because actress Lucy Griffths emerges not from a computer room, or medical examination room, but a plain electrical switch gear room!
   And who gave her the message in the first place, and how did she come by it? One can only imagine that the termination order against Roland Walter Dutton came from some higher authority, Number 1 in all probability. And not via that teleprinter either, perhaps it was faxed through! But why to a medic, and not to the Supervisor in the Control Room? It would have been as easy for the Supervisor to pass the termination order onto Number 2. But then that way Number 6 wouldn’t have been able to intercept the order. This scene seems contrived in a way, but I suppose its best not to think about it too much. One of those scenes we should really take at face value.

Be seeing you

No.6 And A Cuckoo Clock!

   In ‘Hammer Into Anvil’ Number 2 thought that there was a bomb in that Cuckoo clock. He was wrong of course, as the bomb disposal expert soon found out. Whilst Number 2 in ‘Dead of the Dead’ promised that she would warn the doctor-Number 40 the moment Number 6 puts a bomb into his lovely hospital. Where she thought Number 6 would get plastic explosive from can only be left to the imagination. Unless of course it was from the same place as Number 51-the Watchmaker of ‘It’s Your Funeral’ got his! Number 2 of ‘Hammer into Anvil’ no doubt thought the bomb hidden in the cuckoo clock was brought in with the special import of cuckoo clocks by the Intelligence agency Number 6 was working for.

    Exploding devices feature well in ‘the Prisoner,’ either through the possibility of such a device, imagined, or hidden in a replica of the Great Seal of Office. Colonel Hawke-Englishe was on the trail of The Girl Who Was Death. Why the Colonel himself was in “the field” is unknown, but perhaps he liked to have that “hands on” approach. That he wouldn’t be prepared to send an agent into a situation he wouldn’t enter into himself. But whatever the reason, it cost him his life. Blown to pieces at the wicket, one run short of his century, by an exploding cricket ball! “That certainly wasn’t cricket!” Imagine the horror for the spectators of the game after the bowler had made his delivery of the ball. With one bounce on the wicket, the ball makes contact with the Colonel’s cricket bat, then the loud report, smoke and flame, blood and guts all over the stumps and wicket-keeper. It must have been a terrible sight to look upon, for players and spectators alike. Almost as devastating, it might be imagined, as the bomb concealed in the replica of Great Seal of Office in the episode ‘It’s Your Funeral’ would have been if it had been detonated on the balcony during the Appreciation Day ceremony. As Number Six told the retiring Number 2 when he said in ‘It’s Your Funeral,”

   “I can think of better ways to die.”

   “And better causes to die for!”

   Number 6 was attempting to stop the assassination/execution of the retiring Number 2. And while the Great Seal of office was being taken from the head and shoulders of the out-going Number 2, then placed about he head and shoulders of the new Number 2, a desperate struggle was taking place. A fight between Number 6 who was by that time in possession of the remote radio detonator, and Number 100 who was desperate to retrieve that device. Imagine while in that struggle the button of the radio remote detonator have been depressed by accident. It would have been a hard lookout for the new Number 2, blown to pieces by the exploding Great Seal. His torn flesh, shattered bone, blood and gore, covering everyone in the confined space of that balcony. It’s more than likely that others might also have suffered injury, as well as being covered in blood and gore! Imagine if you will the horror of it, not only of those directly concerned, but of the onlookers also.

  

Be seeing you

Exhibition of Arts And Crafts

                                 “Mister X!”

 BcNu

Cycleology of The Prisoner

    That’s one thing which is clear at the end of ‘the Prisoner,’ that at the end of ‘Fall out’ ‘Arrival’ begins all over again, in a vicious circle. And yet if we consider the actuality of the situation, wouldn’t that be impossible? It’s alright for the Prisoner, in having resigned his job finding himself abducted to The Village. But what about everyone else who was originally in The Village, how easy would it be to have all those people all brought back to The Village in time for the Prisoner’s arrival? Physically it would be impossible. But in a dream, in the subconscious mind, that’s another matter. This “all in the Prisoner’s mind, the events in The Village having taken pace in his subconscious against the reality of The Village” has all been discussed many times before. Indeed it has been said that ‘the Prisoner’ can be both, in the mind and actuality depending on the situation. But if The Village is taking place in the Prisoner’s subconscious mind, while his mind is in The Village, what’s he physically doing all that time? Perhaps simply going about his everyday life, having resigned his job! Or that could simply be wishful thinking on ZM73’S part?

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Village Life!

    1st woman in background “What scene is this being filmed?”
    2nd woman in background “I heard that it’s for ‘The Chimes of Big Ben.”

    “The chimes of what?”

    “Big Ben.”

    “Are they filming that here as well?”
    “I heard someone say that this shot will do for The Chimes of Big Ben.”

    “But that’s Rosalie Crutchley down there.”
   “So it is.”

   “Then this must be for the episode they call Checkmate.”

   “But they filmed that scene yesterday, because I remember us standing here on
this balcony.”
    “Doing what?”
    “Well were adding a little life to the scene, as citizens of The Village.”

    “Who told you that?”
    “The director.”
    “So what’s Number Six doing?”

    “Well he’s just walking along isn’t he.”
    “Followed by Rosalie Crutchley.”
    “Yes, as Number eight.”

    “You must have made a mistake about that episode.”
    “Why?”
    “Is Rosalie Crutchley supposed to be in this Chimes of Big Ben?”
    “I don’t know, but it looks as though she’s going to be!”

    “What, as well as the Potrmeirion maid standing there watching!”

Be seeing you

Number 1’s The Boss!

   Number 6 is given the opportunity to “run for public office,” well he might as well while he’s waiting. Waiting for what, the next chance to escape? That next chance came a little later in the episode, this time by jet boat as Number 6 struck out for the open sea whilst at the same time fighting off two motor mechanics! Rather in the same way he attempts an escape in a Village taxi, fighting off two Guardians, and ending in much the same result!

   Having taken the bait, Number 6 asks Number 2 what physically happens if he wins.

    “You’re the boss” Number 2 tells him.

    “Number One’s the boss” Number 6 informs him.
    “Join me. If you win Number One may no longer be a mystery to you if you know what I mean.”

   This could be a productional indication that Number 6 is Number 1 on the part of Patrick McGoohan, since he wrote the script for ‘Free For All.’ How this would have been achieved is unknown, but perhaps if Number 6 had telephoned Number 1 he may have recognised the voice as being that of his own. On the other hand Number 2 could be suggesting that he is elected as the new Number 2, that eventually he will get to speak with Number 1 on the telephone. Just as both Number 2’s do during this episode!

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Bureau of Visual Records

   In ‘A Change of Mind,’ when it comes to Number 6’s complaints {not his own complaints of which he has several, but those and the charge which has been levelled against him} the accusation of Number 6’s disharmony stems not from Number 18-the Chairman of the Committee, but from a voice from a tape player! It’s the same voice which feeds Number 93 the words of his confession.

   “They’re right of course. Quite right. I’m inadequate, inadequate. Disharmonious, I’m truly grateful, believe me, believe me, believe me.”
   During Number 6’s interview with the Committee, although the tape player is switched on by the Chairman, it is suggested the voice emanates from the machine and seems to be independent. In other words the voice reacts to what Number 6 says, or is it the other way around, seeing as Number 6 appears to be speaking to the voice of the machine, rather than to the members of the Committee.
   No.6 “I take it you’ve checked my file…regarding hostility.”
   Voice on the tape “Your files are no concern to us. Any information is with Number Two.”
    “Really.”

    Number 18 Committee Chairman “It is the duty of this Committee to deal with complaints.”
    “Complaints?”
    Voice on the tape “Your complaints.”
    “Your complaints.”
    “Well done, I have several!”

    “You realise the serious charge has been levelled against you, particularly your attitude towards your fellow citizens. We deplore your spirit of disharmony”

    “That’s a common complaint around here isn’t it?”
    Chairman “I would council discretion Number Six!”
    Voice on the tape “You do appreciate that everything you say is being recorded.”
    “And may be used as evidence against me!”

    “This is a strictly impartial Committee.”
    Chairman “Number Six you are not called before this Committee to defend yourself.”

    “All we ask is for your complete confession.”
    Chairman “I’m sure you will co-operate Number Six. Gentlemen its time. I think we are more than ready for a tea break. The Group and medical reports will be considered in full at the resumed hearing of this Committee.”

   Just a minute, during part of this scene the striking of the bell in the Bell Tower can be heard. But the Committee Chamber is well below ground, so how is this possible? Unless its with the voice on the tape, which means the voice was recorded, if it is a recorded voice we hear, was recorded somewhere out of doors. And there’s one other small matter. At the outset of the interview with Number 6, the Chairman presses a button on a control panel effectively switching on the tape recorder. But the voice, which is suggested to come from the tape recorder is heard to speak before the tape recorder is switched on. So it’s a disembodied voice which emanates from another source. Because it’s impossible for a recorded voice to emanate from the tape and react to what Number 6 is saying. The tape recorder is simply doing what the disembodied voice said, recording everything Number 6 says. So from where is the voice coming? There is no black loudspeaker on display, but there must be one. Perhaps the voice is a live feed via a microphone, and because of the sound of the chiming of the bell, the man must be somewhere outside in The Village. But the question is, why the voice at all? After all the voice says nothing the Committee Chairman could not say!

Be seeing you

A Favourite Scene In The Prisoner

   In ‘Dance of the Dead,’ when Number 6 breaks curfew and goes out into The Village night. In her office Number 2 observes Number 6 on her wall screen, and presses a button on her control panel releasing the membranic Guardian. Then Number 6 finds himself on the beach with the Guardian, which does not attack him. Instead Number 6 begins to run, and it always seems to be that he is testing himself against the Guardian, perhaps in an attempt to outrun it. But the Guardian simply maintains pace with the Prisoner, until Number 6’s stamina finally gives out, and is on his knees. Having observed this on the wall screen in her office Number 2 presses another button and the Guardian moves away. I suppose the reason why the Guardian didn’t attack Number 6, thereby suffocating him into unconsciousness, is because Number 6 isn’t being of any great trouble. So seeing that Number 6 has nowhere else to go but back to his cottage Number 2 is happy to leave Number 6 where he is. A night spent on the beach will not harm him or The Village.

   Well that’s all well and good, Number 2 activating and deactivating the Guardian by the touch of a button. But how was it conveyed to the Guardian to just maintain pace with the running Number 6, and not to attack him?

Be seeing you

Exhibition of Arts And Crafts

                              “Be seeing you.”

                           “Not if I see you first!”

BcNu

The Tally Ho Press

   Number 113, was he simply wasting his time when he interviewed the local candidate Number 6 in the election?

    “This is red hot stuff you know, haven’t had a candidate of your calibre for ages.”
    “Congratulations.”
    “How are you going to handle your campaign?”
    “No comment.”
    “Intends to fight for freedom at all costs. What about your internal policy?”
    “No comment.”
    “Will tighten up on Village security. How about your external policy?”

    “No comment.”
    “Our exports will operate in every corner of the globe. How do you feel about life and death?”

   “Mind your own business.”
   “No comment.”

   The only thing is Number 113 doesn’t write down one single word of that interview. The page of his notebook remains blank, save for the printed lines upon it. This is perhaps because he, or someone else has already written the interview, and had already been printed in the broadsheet. What’s more the interview with the candidate printed in The Tally Ho newspaper does not contain one word of the above interview, as seen below.

   And Number 113b, photographer for The Tally Ho, was he simply wasting film in his camera by taking a number of photographs of Number 6 sat in the taxi? Was there actually film in his camera? Because not one of the supposed pictures taken by Number 113b appears with the article! Only this one.

Be seeing you

I’m New Here!

   The episode of ‘Dance of the Dead’ is the eighth episode in ‘the Prisoner,’ so it becomes curious what Number 6 says to the maid Number 54, "I'm new here." After Number 6's arrival in The Village, he's been duped into thinking he escaped The Village during ‘The Chimes of Big Ben, had the privacy of his dreams invaded in ‘A B and C,’ In ‘Free For All’ he ran for electoral office. After that he met his doppelganger The Schizoid Man, and destroyed the General by asking a question, supposedly insoluble to man or machine. Then one morning having found that he is the only inhabitant The Village, Number 6 made himself a sea-going raft and set out on a sea adventure. So to say "I'm new here"........just how long does a citizen of The Village have to be a resident so as no longer to be new? It may be supposed that by the time ‘Dance of the Dead’ came along, Number 6 would have been an old hand of The Village! He certainly sounded like an “old hand” in The Village when he was giving new arrival Nadia Rakovsky directions to the Green Dome, and explaining the local taxi service to her, during ‘The Chimes of Big Ben,’ and that was only the second episode of the series. Yet having only arrived in The Village in the previous episode. And there’s the crux of the matter, in the library or production order of ‘the Prisoner’ ‘Dance of the Dead’ is the second episode. In that scenario the line “I’m new here” holds water. And yet having said that, Number 6 did only arrive recently, in  the previous episode, at the end of ‘Many Happy Returns,’ so in a way Number 6 was new in The Village, only recently arrived!

Be seeing you

THEPRIS6NER

   Well ‘Arrival’ went by rather quickly last week! I could certainly have done with “More Village” that’s for certain. Tonight it's ‘Harmony,’ in which Two gives Six a brother 16. In fact this is not the first time the Prisoner has been given a brother, I did so for my film ‘Village Day.’

    Hamony begins where Arrival left off. The Guardian having attacked the Prisoner, leaving him lying on the sand unconscious.

   Two sees Six as having physiological problems, and sends him for a session of the ‘Talking Cure’ with 70, in an endeavour to find the “Six inside.” After Six storms out, Two decides that it might be a good idea to find the “Two inside.”
 "You don't think I believe this therapy babble do you?” Two tells 70. “My mother sat me side-ways on the potty when I was a toddler and now I want to sleep with her. Oh grow up man. Have you had sex with your mother Seventy?"
   "No, never."
   "Well don't!"

   "Two, if I might ask, if you don't believe in the value of the talking cure..."
  "It is not necessary for me to believe, it is necessary for Six to believe."
   For myself I think it's Two, Two was talking about here, and that its more likely that he's the one with psychological problems!

    The surrealness of The Village - not only has it been turned into a television soap opera in The Village, but its also been novelised! So not only can the good citizens experience The Village for themselves, but read about it as well!

    Six is the one shouting. The louder a man shouts, the more profoundly he's wrong.

And finally the Prisoner is not a number.........his name is Six. He is Six.

Be seeing you

Caught On Camera!

    Number 6 in the laboratory somewhere in the woods, or to be more precise, in Number 2’s office by the looks of it! Observe the purple walls, and the steel structure in the background. We have seen this before, with the gymnasium of ‘The Schizoid Man.’ The case of a set constructed on a set, no doubt designed to save time!

BCNU

Symbolism!

   On the day of his arrival in The Village, the Prisoner looks up to Hercules who bears the weight of the World upon his shoulders. Perhaps this is symbolic of the weight the Prisoner carries having resigned his job. On the other hand, perhaps the Prisoner sees himself as Atlas, having been relived of his burden because of his resignation!

Be seeing you

Once Upon A Time

   Number 2 said he is a good man, that he was a good man {Up until The Chimes of Big Ben perhaps} however it may be supposed that he was, in all probability, the best of all the Number 2’s. Perhaps the reason why he was brought back to The Village, much to the man’s disapproval. In fact this man feels much aggrieved at having been brought back to The Village, and shows it openly in the way he stands up to the voice on the other end of the telephone. He speaks out against the authority of Number 1 where others feared to tread.

    “And you can remove that thing too” Number 2 snarls “I’m not an inmate. You can say what you like. You brought me back here. I told you the last time you were using the wrong approach. I do it my way or you find someone else.” Number 2 is not afraid of giving Number 1 his opinion, and it would appear, judging by his words that this was not the first time he had spoken out.

    It could be supposed that if we set ‘Fall Out’ to one side for the time being, that ‘Once Upon A time’ is the true conclusion to ‘the Prisoner.’  After all Number 6 had beaten Number 2, even if he didn’t have the stomach for it. And as well as also, this episode was originally intended to have been the climax of series 1 of ‘the Prisoner.’ The two episodes ‘Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling,’ and ‘The Girl Who Was Death,’ could be said to belong to ‘the Prisoner’ second series, seeing as much of the action takes place in the outside World. The idea being that Number 6 would operate outside The Village, in the World beyond.

    ‘Once upon A Time’ is a psychological battle in a one on one situation. It has to be one or the other of them. If they get Number 6 then he will be a better man than Number 2.

   Number 6’s mind has been regressed back to the Prisoner’s childhood, to the age of five. This is achieved by the conditioning of the mind, and compounded by the use of nursery rhymes. Degree Absolute,’ the original tile of the episode, has its roots set firmly in Shakespeare’s ‘Seven Ages of Man.’ And in the time Number 2 plays many parts, the Prisoner’s father, a school Head Master, fencing instructor, boxing coach, Bank Manager, and Judge.

   Number 2 has been given a week in which to achieve the required result, presumably the reason behind the Prisoner’s resignation. Although this does seem a rather extreme measure in order to extract that one piece of information.

   The episode also contains autobiographical content referring to Patrick McGoohan’s earlier life. Number 6 is undoubtedly too young to have taken part in WWII, so perhaps the “bombing” scene refers to the RAF Station {No.6} which was situated right next to McGoohan’s school of Ratcliffe. Having left school he worked in a bank for a time. Having been recruited into the British Military Intelligence by the Bank Manager, could be symbolic of McGoohan taking on the role of John Drake in ‘Danger Man.’ As next we see the Prisoner enacting the role of an agent on secret and confidential business.
    The acting is tight, the mood is intense, because at the point when the pupil and Head Master are struggling on the floor, Leo McKern at one point actually thought McGoohan was going to kill him. And you can see that in the intense struggle between the two men. McKern isn’t acting, that’s real, he’s actually frightened or terrified!

   But the two men are hardly alone. There’s the Butler, who aids and serves, lingering in the background until called upon. And at times acting independently, as the time he subdues the Prisoner with a truncheon! The Butler is also the first in the Embryo Room, so he knows what is about to take place. But who switched the lights off? Because when Number 2 enters the Embryo Room, he has to switch on the lights, the Butler standing in the baby’s playpen toying with a baby’s rattle!

    ‘Degree Absolute’ does seem the better title for the episode, because it is absolute. It has to be either one of them, and it turns out to be Number 6, with Number 2 apparently dying. Poisoned by the drink, or a heart attack brought on the intensity of the physical and psychological struggle with the Prisoner? If it was the drink, then the Butler did it!

    Number 2 was a man who believed in the cause, the whole earth as The Village was his hope, and is prepared to give his life in order to further the cause. We may not wish to see the death of this once charming man, who had a rapport with Number 6.

   Eventually the week is up, the time-lock releases the door……enter the Supervisor, an indifferent, dispassionate man, perhaps somewhat disdainful or contemptuous of his fallen colleague. Although previously the Supervisor had expressed sadness at the possibility of losing his superior, “It’s a risk…..I’d hate to see you go.”

   The cage is sealed with the body in what has now effectively become an airtight container! As for Number 6, he wants what he has wanted from the very outset….Number 1. The supervisor will take him, just like that. No repercussions at the death of Number 2, no frustrations, no prevarications, he simply leads Number 6 out of the Embryo Room to a final falling out!

Be seeing you

Peter Howell R.I.P

    The sad news of the passing of actor Peter Howell reached me yesterday evening.
    Peter was born in London in 1919, and died on April 20^th of this month aged 95 after a short illness.
    He was a distinguished actor and regular in the 1950’s television hospital drama ‘Emergency Ward 10.’ His other many and varied appearences in television include 1960 The Man From Interpol, 1969 The Expert, 1966-69 Dr. Finley’s Casebook, 1972 Softly Softly Taskforce, 1978 BBC2 Play of The Week, 1982 Tales of the Unexpected, 1988 The One Game, 1992 Jeeves and Wooster, 1993 Shadowlands, and 2003 Silent Witness. In the early 1970’s Peter appeared in the highly regarded television play called ‘File on Harry Jordan,’ a Prisoneresque story which featured a mute dwarf butler which was scripted by Anthony Skene, also of ‘the Prisoner.’ However enthusiasts of ‘the Prisoner’ will best remember Peter for his role of the Professor in ‘The General.’
   Peter Howell will be greatly missed by his family and friends. Rest In Peace.

BCNU

Teabreak Teaser

   Considering Number 14’s {the doctor in A B and C} apparent delight at Number 6 having beaten Number 2. Is it possible that Number 14 knew that she was being followed by Number 6, and therefore led him to the laboratory in the woods?

BCNU

Exhibition of Arts And Crafts

“First Optimism!”

 “Then Later Pessimism!”

BcNu

THEPRIS6NER

    Two never once asked Six why he resigned! That’s simply because it isn’t about information, information, information. It’s about making Six change his mind. Two wants to hand The Village on to Six. He would hand it on to his son, and he hoped that there would be grandchildren to keep the Two dynasty going in the future. But his son, 11-12 is a homosexual! Plus he is born of The Village, so therefore he doesn’t physically exist, which doesn’t prove to be very conducive to Two’s plans. And so there is Six. But all Six wants to do is to escape!
   Michael is however, Six’s counterpart, his other self in New York. He’s been picked up by an agent working for Summakor. Lucy is de-briefing Michael in his apartment, and it is actually she who asks Michael why he resigned. But it’s only very briefly, and the question is soon brushed under the carpet. It’s not that important you see, because although Michael resigned, they are still controlling him. He may be in his New York apartment, but he’s already there, in The Village, he just doesn’t know it. In fact he was there the moment he resigned! Oh there was no hearse, no undertakers with a coffin. There wasn’t any need to take Michael physically to The Village.
   In the end Six accepts The Village, Two saw to it that he had no choice in the matter. Unlike the original series which just repeats itself in a vicious circle, whereas at the end of this series there is the opportunity to make a better Village, a moral Village. But looking at the material Michael has to work with, a mentally disturbed Sarah, I don’t reckon his chances that great.
    To be able to make a better Village one has to be pure in mind, and mentally strong. Also Two has to be fully dedicated to The Village, to believe in it with a passion like his predecessor who probably grew to hate it equally as much. Otherwise he wouldn’t have been looking to pass The Village on to Six. Once he had done that, he could achieve his own escape, with the aid of a hand grenade!
   Unlike in the original series where The Village is left abandoned after the evacuation, The Village at the end of this series simply vanishes, leaving Michael and Sarah to construct a new Village. With Michael taking up his position in The Control Room on the Purpose Floor of the Summakor building, and Six and 313 sitting in the desert, Sarah was already dreaming. A tear ran down 313’s cheek, perhaps she was crying because she knew what kind of Village Sarah, her other self back in New York would dream. 313 had been happy in The Village, but it would no longer be a sanctuary for her. Sarah had begun to impinge on her thoughts in The Village before, 313 had seen her in the mirror. But now Sarah is The Village, and a more nightmarish place could not be dreamt!

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

Quote For The Day

    “Turn that thing off.”
    “I beg your pardon?”
    “Turn it off I said!”
    “I’m listening. Music makes for a quiet mind.”                              
                               {Number 14 and Number 6 - Hammer Into Anvil}
    Music makes for a quiet mind, well not as far as Number 14 is concerned it doesn’t! Number 6 put the poison in alright! It’s a pity Number 14 wasn’t more forceful with Number 2. But then about the only thing 14 was good at, was obeying orders. He said he would really enjoy giving Number 6 a “good dusting” down. But he almost ended up being dunked in that tank of water after the bout of Kosho. I never could understand why Number 6 let him off like that.
   And then in a fit of rage, having Number 2 turn on him like that, and accusing him of being a traitor, when Number 14 was loyal. Well he went straight round to 6 Private to have it out with Number 6. A brawl was bound to ensue, and part of the interior of 6 Private got caught up in the fight. But no real damage was done, nothing was really broken. Apart from the French door which was closed when Number 6 threw 14 out of his cottage. Through the door, and taking the balcony railings with him as he went!
    It is not known whether or not 14 survived the fall, lying there on the ground, tangled up in the wrought iron railings. Number 14 wasn’t a very likeable man, he was Number 2’s right-hand man that‘s all. Well strong arm man, a henchman even. An ambitious man, always willing to please. A man who would do anything for Number 2. All Number 2 had to do was give him the word, and he’d see to it that Number 6 had an accident, and see to it that Number 2 couldn’t be tied to it. Organise an accident for Number 6 indeed, that man couldn’t organise a booze-up in the Cat and Mouse nightclub! It may be supposed that Number 14 perhaps saw himself filling Number 2’s deck shoes one day. Well as it turned out, he perhaps ended up filling something entirely different…………a coffin!

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It’s Inexplicable!

    Most Village signs have a clear meaning. They tell you where to go, what to do, even such a sign as “Walk on the Grass” seems to be inciting citizens to break the usual rule. This sign however, its sole reason is visually surreal, other than that it’s inexplicable! It has no apparent meaning, its only purpose is to point to the “Free Sea.” But it doesn’t point to the sea, its points to the pool and fountain. And even if it was the sea, the sea id free to everyone, therefore what exactly is the point of this sign? Unless it’s to state the blindingly obvious!

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Village Life!

    “You remind me of someone?”
    “Who?”
    “Is your name Fuller, Robert Fuller?”
    “Name? Names are not used here.”
    “What about Drake, John Drake?”
    “I’m One nine five five, always have been.”
    “You’re not John Drake working undercover?”
    “I’m a school teacher.”
    “I could have sworn.”
    “What about you Six, are you an Undercover?”
    “If I said no, would you believe me?”
    “Probably not.”
    “If you were John Drake I bet you could get us out of here!”
    “If I were this John Drake person you keep mentioning, I bet he wouldn’t have got himself in here in the first place!”
    “If he did, if he managed to infiltrate The Village, he’d have friends on the outside who could get him out.”
    “I’m just a school teacher.”
    “So am I.”
    “Well we’d better get to class.”
    “What do you teach?”
    “Village philosophy.”
    “And you?”
    “Surveillance techniques. I’m demonstrating the new “Roach-cams.”
    “Oh, I’ve heard about those. Tiny fibre-optic cameras.”
    “Who told you that? Now we use tiny cameras attached to cockroaches. The clue being in the title!”    

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Now Let’s Bring It All Up To Date!

    Number 2 didn’t get off to such a good start with the Prisoner. His first attempt was to get Number 6 to answer one simple question, then all the rest would follow…….it didn’t! His attempted plan to use the maid Number 66 to extract the reason behind the Prisoner’s resignation appears to be one off the cuff so to speak. That didn’t work either, and as we learn later on, a few tears won’t wash away Number 6’s doubt!
   So Number 2 was replaced by a new Number 2, effectively making Number 6 begin all over again. That was clever. But this Number 2 had a different approach, he demonstrated to Number 6 that escape from The Village is not possible, Number 2’s first success.
   The Next Number 2 thought to try what the first Number 2 tried, that if Number 6 would answer one simple question, all the rest would follow. He asked Number 6 whether he takes one lump of two. But Number 6 was no fool, he made Number 2 look it up in his file, and found out that Number 6 does not take sugar. 6 gave that up some four years and three months ago
    The next Number 2 really had no chance, and was up against time, and when that happens mistakes are bound to be made. He didn’t lose, Number 6 succeeded, what’s more the doctor-Number 14 seemed somewhat pleased about that.
    Elections, in The Village! Surely Number 6 didn’t think he stood a chance of being elected as the new Number 2? It could easily be a trap, but Number 6 couldn’t pass up the opportunity, even though he eventually knew that they knew exactly what he would try and do if successfully elected. One might think that would be enough to see Number 6 come to his senses. But no, that was the mind conditioning, just enough to carry him right through the election, without damaging the tissue….the brain!
    The incumbent Number 2 at the time is the perfect Statesman, while the even newer Number 2 has been in The Village all the while masquerading as the maid Number 58. And we as the viewer thought we were witnessing democracy in action. Witnessing how someone is appointed as a new Number 2. Corruption is everywhere, even in a dictatorship!
    The audacity of it, Number 6 attempting to escape The Village by impersonating Curtis! Number 2 soon saw through that little deception, the fact that Susan died a year ago, and that Number 6 couldn’t possibly know that, was this Number 2’s saving grace!
    We see something novel, a number 2 being brought back to the Village for a second term of office. That might be supposed to be fair enough, seeing as the failure of ‘A B and C’ wasn’t all his fault. And besides, this time he has no direct involvement with Number 6. So what’s to go wrong? Number 6 not trusted not to poke his nose into business which does not concern him! And for the first time Number 6 has an alley, Number 12 of Administration, whose final act was one of bravery, or suicide, depending on how you look at it.
    In this next episode Number 2 is something of a mystery, as we only get to meet her at the end of ‘Many Happy Returns,’ who turns out to be Mrs. Butterworth. So no mystery there then. The mystery about Mrs. Butterworth as Number 2 is, was she in The Village as Number 2 as Number 6 was busy constructing his sea-going raft? And did she then leave The Village for London sometime after, so that she was living No.1 Buckingham Place when ZM73 finally arrived home? Or wasn’t that the case at all? That Mrs. Butterworth’s only involvement was to be ensconced in ZM73’s house as an agent working for The Village. But that when the Police or Special Branch had called, she was then free to be taken to The Village as a new Number 2, in time to bake Number 6 a cake in time for his many happy returns there?
    Number 2 comes in many guises. We have seen 2’s feminine side, and now we’re about to see, well you can make your own minds up. But certainly this Number 2 is quite happy to use masculine phrases like “Then how very uncomfortable for you old chap.” Certainly she seems quite unembarrassed by using such a phrase. Well what can one expect with a woman playing the role of a boy who never grew up!
    The next prospect is a Number 2 who is the perfect Administrator, who is perfectly happy to let others get on with the task in hand. Confident in their abilities.
    The chain of command is only as strong as its weakest link, this next Number 2 is a weak link just waiting to be broken. What’s more Number 1 sits back and allows it to happen, he may even enjoy watching Number 6 bring this untrusting, paranoid sadistic Number 2 to his knees. It beggars belief how this person attained the position of Number 2 in the first place!
    Appreciation Day, the day when the good citizens of the community show their appreciation of those who govern them so wisely. So at long last we get to see how a new Number 2 is appointed. There is some ceremonial undertaking, in which the Great Seal of Office is worn by the out-going, or retiring Number 2, which is then passed onto the his successor. But this is supposed to be an annual event, so presumably the retiring Number 2 is the actual Number 2, and every Number 2 before or since have been interim Number 2’s. So subsequently might not the community have to suffer this particular Number 2 for a year, excluding interim Number 2’s, until the next Appreciation Day, when another is appointed? That would make the retiring Number 2 the once permanent Number 2!
    This next Number 2 has to be careful, otherwise they could lose Number 6, do you understand {tapping my temple with a finger} lose him! There’s not so much the danger of damaging the tissue, but losing the brain altogether if ‘A Change of Mind’ goes wrong! He is a delicate Number 2 nibbling on a shortcake biscuit, whose voice sends shivers down the spine “I’m not angry my dear friend. He also has a fondness for spouting sayings, as did Chairman Mao Tse-Tung “He who ploughs a straight furrow need hoe for nothing.”
   ‘A Change of Mind’ was the previous episode to ‘Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling,’ one in which both the Colonel and Number 6 go through a change of mind! Before, there was never any real danger of Number 6 losing his mind, after all he was merely sedated. But now there was the very grave danger of his having to live out the rest of his life in someone else’s body. And that would not have been good for Number 2, as he could very well have lost Number 6, well his mind at least. And if that had happened all he had to do was to persuade the Colonel to live out the rest of his life in The Village impersonating Number 6!
    ‘The Girl Who Was Death,’ such an inept, and incapable Number 2 you are ever to have the misfortune to meet! Mind you it’s easy to knock a man when he has such poor tools to work with. He said it himself, “He might drop his guard with children!” If this was the best idea they could come up with, well the plan didn’t deserve to succeed!
    Ah now what boys and girls cannot resist playing cowboys and Indians? Well actually there wasn’t a North American native in sight, just a bunch of cowboys. Well not even that, just a bad judge, the Kid who was a dumb psychotic killer, a Saloon girl, and a one time Sheriff who had become fed up having to face up to every two-bit gunslinger who came riding into town looking to make a name for himself! Besides which a shiny Sheriff’s badge makes too clear a target to hit! It all went wrong, the moment the Judge shot The Man With No Name, and he would have to pay for this latest failure, just like any number of his predecessors!
    A one-on-one situation between Number 2 and Number 6, and the quest for the missing link, why did Number 6 resign? And to think that this Number 2 actually achieved the missing link, that he had been told. The only trouble is he doesn’t appear to have been listening, because he asked Number 6 to tell him again. Only Number 6 wasn’t in the mood to repeat himself. “You’ve been told” he said, and so had we. But it cost Number 2 his life, but if it wasn’t that, what could it have been? Unless…… murder, or assassination, but most likely a heart attack brought on by the stress of the situation!
   ‘Fall Out,’ and another failed Number 2 brought back for the final, desperate manipulation of Number 6, and you’d think that they could have thought something a little more original, as facing Number 6 with himself had been tried before. It didn’t work then, and it didn’t work now!
    Any number of Number 2’s have been employed to deal with Number 6, that was so he could not develop a relationship or rapport with Number 2. Well there were a couple of occasions at least when a relationship developed between Number 6 and Number 2. In fact during their deliberations Number 2 was distinctly heard to say “I’m beginning to like him.” And Number 6 wasn’t exactly delirious over the death of Number 2. In fact he was angry about it!
    So then there is Two to deal with Six, a different Six admittedly, but nevertheless Six, and only one Two, who’s remit is to get Six to accept The Village, to make him realise that he is Village. This time it’s not just about Six wanting to escape, but also Two, and Two’s only way out is for Six to accept The Village so that Two can hand over The Village to Six, and then he can escape! This then has at least brought THEPRIS6NER up to date. But The Village? Yes its physical location may have been changed, in the middle of a desert with nothing but sand in all directions for hundreds and hundreds of miles. Yet it has the feel of the 1950’s. The Village brought up to date, more likely it’s been regressed about 60 years!




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Thought For The Day

    The Schizoid man, no I don’t mean Number 6, well I do, but the other Number 6, Curtis. When Number 6, who was by that time conditioned to be Number 12-Curtis, Number 2 said to him that they had to pull all the strings they could in order to get him seconded back to them. Does that mean Curtis had been with The Village before, and if so in what capacity? Perhaps he had been like so many others, brought to The Village as prisoners, who were made to talk, then turned to work within The Village. Or perhaps like Cobb, released back into the outside world, but as an agent working in the interest of The Village. But Curtis had a special attribute to bring to bear, his remarkable resemblance to Number 6, and was eventually returned to The Village in order to impersonate 6!
     There was another opportunity for The Village Administration, to send Curtis out into the world in order to impersonate ZM73. He could have spun a yarn saying he’d changed his mind about resigning, and if accepted back into the fold, could infiltrate the department for which ZM73 had previously worked within British intelligence, but working for The Village. And there would be no need for the use of the Seltzman machine in this case. Mind you, if it was ZM73’s previous employers who are behind The Village, well Curtis might well find himself back in The Village if they didn’t believe his story! No that wouldn’t work, because if it was ZM73’s own people behind The Village, then it was them who pulled all the strings they could in order to get him seconded back to them. But that would indicate that Curtis had been with them previously in The Village, wouldn’t it? Remembering Number 2’s own words that is, “We had to pull every string we could to get you seconded back to us!”

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Caught On Camera!

    Enthusiasts can theorise about ‘the Prisoner,’ come up with fresh ideas and interpretations as we all do on occasion. However there is another way of looking at the series, and visually I am always astonished by what can still be found by simply looking at the series, and from time to time putting “the Prisoner’ under the microscope” to coin a phrase from a friend of mine recently. Because visually ‘the Prisoner’ still has secrets to reveal, even after the past forty-eight years.

   It was while I was studying ‘The Schizoid Man,’ looking for a certain image, that I observed something which made me stop and look closer. I don’t know if anyone has spotted this before, but Number 6 seems to have found a new use for a then obsolete object from the previous episode of ‘Free for All.’

   Pictured here are the two ballot boxes used in the Polling Station in the Town Hall used by citizens to cast their votes. The next picture, was taken during the fight scene between Number 6 and Number 12 in ‘The Schizoid Man.’ As Number 12 is thrown over the breakfast counter, forced back against a kitchen cabinet in the grip of Number 6, a black box can be seen on the floor in the bottom right-hand corner, apparently marked “ballot box!”

    It would seem that Number 6 has laid his hands on the box and is now using it as a kitchen waste bin!

   Incidentally, the table upon which ballot boxes are set was once used by a landowner. The table has a number of drawers set in it in which the land leases of his tenant farmers would be kept. The drawers would be indexed with the letters of the alphabet, except for ‘X’ and ‘Z.’ Upon each quarter day, the tenant farmers would go to pay their rents. The landowner would take each land lease from the correct drawer and mark down that the quarterly rent hand been paid by each tenant farmer. 

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Exhibition of Arts and Crafts

                       “Terrible?”

                  “This is a dreamy Party!”
BcNu

Thought For The Day

   After handing in his letter of resignation, the Prisoner returned to his home to collect two suitcases, his passport, and an airline ticket. The question is, when did the Prisoner purchase that airline ticket? At least by the day before he resigned, which makes his act of resignation one of premeditation rather than a spur of the moment thing.
    In ‘Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling’ the Prisoner is returned to London the day before he was to have resigned his job, and sometime after, he was to have attended his fiancées birthday party, that of Janet Portland, which is what was supposed to have happened had the Prisoner not been abducted to The Village. But then would it? I don't think the Prisoner had any intention of attending his fiancée’s birthday party, simply because of what we witness in the opening sequence. The evidence of the Prisoner's passport and airline ticket is compelling, indicating that he was on his way to London Airport.
    It is highly unlikely that the Prisoner intended to go and see Janet Portland before he left, because the evidence suggests that he had not even told her about his resigning his job. Janet Portland had expected to see him at her birthday party. What’s more, he had cynically accompanied her the previous evening to her last dress fitting for the party, knowing very well that he was not going to be there. 

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