The PrisonerCon2017

    September 29^th to October 1^st 2017 sees a weekend of special events celebrating the 50^th anniversary of ‘the Prisoner’ to be held in Seattle, WA
    The event includes special guests, discussions, and screenings of the series.
   The event is officially sanctioned by ITV Studios.
   Further details are to be found on the
http://www.theprisonercon2017.com/    website.

Be seeing you

Citizen No.236

    So, you’re one of the Committee members are you? What nothing to say for yourself, oh no of course not, only the Chairman of the Committee is permitted a voice. All the rest of you…….well to use another’s words, can you laugh? Can you cry? Can you think? Or are you no better than those brainwashed imbeciles of the Town Council? You know I realize you’re within Administration, but really, does that black Top Hat go with that striped jersey, me’ thinks not. You should be wearing a black, suit, overcoat, white shirt and black tie. Unless of course you and your fellow Committee members, including the Chairman, are not that far up within the administration section that you don’t get the full Administration uniform, being only a Committee member! And don’t look at me like that, I’m not here to be put under scrutiny by the Committee!

Be seeing you

Exhibition of Arts And Crafts

                      “The New Arrival!”

BcNu

The Pri50ner

    Well that’s another piece of history gone linked to ‘the Prisoner,’ that of the Coliseum cinema at Porthmadog. I was wondering what happened to the plaque which was on the wall indicating that the daily film rushes of ‘the Prisoner’ were screened at the cinema? It either ended up amongst the rubble, in a skip, or maybe someone saw the value in the plaque, saved it, and one day it will appear for sale somewhere like ebay. Mind you I can think of a few fellow enthusiasts of ‘the Prisoner’ who might have gone to Porthmadog and asked someone if they could have the plaque. But the memories of queuing outside the Coliseum on a Saturday night waiting for the evening feature film to end at ten o’clock, this in order the we Conventioneers should go inside and watch 2 episodes of ‘the Prisoner’ on the big screen. That was during Prisoner Conventions of the 1990’s.         So ‘the Prisoner’ is 50 years of age. I don’t know of any other television series whose anniversary spans three years, 1966-68. Mind you I do know that even after 50 years, there are aspects of the series which can never be resolved, and will forever remain a mystery to us. I have been assessing my likes and dislikes about ‘the Prisoner.’ My four favourite episodes are ‘Arrival,’ ‘Free For All,’ Dance of the Dead,’ and ‘Checkmate.’ Why? Well because they each contain the most film footage of Portmeirion I suppose. Although I’m a fan of the series as a whole, I’m less keen on the episodes which rely on film stock footage, sets, and large painted back-drops of Portmeirion. My favourite No.2 is still Leo Mckern, followed by Colin Gordon. Favourite actress Nadia Gray of course. Favourite character the Supervisor-No.26, because he’s a capable man who runs the Control Room like clockwork. What’s more he appears to be in a more secure position than No. 2. Yes he was once removed from his position as Supervisor, but that was a mistake on the part of No.2, and No.26 was soon reinstated to his position.

   And then there’s the question of No.1. Yes I know what McGoohan said about No.1 being the alter ego of No.6 who he was trying to beat, but that was after the event. I was not aware of that at the time, when I first watched the series at the tender age of nine. What was it Cobb said as he was about to leave The Village, “Mustn’t keep my new masters waiting!” That doesn’t sound like No.1 to me. And in ‘The Schizoid Man’ No.2 told No.6, who was as No.12 at the time, “Our prize prisoner, the one we call Number Six. Toughest case I’ve ever handled, I could crack him of course, but I can’t use the normal techniques. He’s too valuable, mustn’t damage him permanently say our masters.” That “Our masters” doesn’t sound like No.1 to me, does it to you? There has to be a No.1 of course, but in The Village, these “masters” sound as if they are beyond The Village, back in London presumably.

    There are a number of characters I feel sorry for. No.2 of both ‘A B and C’ and ‘The General.’ Twice he underestimated No.6, you’d have expected him to have learned his lesson the first time! Madam Professor, she was left a widow, living out the rest of her life in grief and in The Village, alone and without friends. No doubt in time she would carry on with her art seminars, what else had she got left? Then there’s No.2 of ‘Hammer Into Anvil,’ not a strong character at all, who is left a broken man forced to report himself as a breakdown in control. I imagine his sad end as being a patient on the psychiatric ward of the hospital! Then there’s No.36 who cannot go a day without her sweets. Originally it was to have been cigarettes 36 couldn’t go a day without, the nicotine you see being addictive. But as it is No.36 is now addicted to sugar, unless of course she has recently given up smoking, and uses the sweets as a substitute for cigarettes To pacify the craving for nicotine!
   I suppose my least favourite episode is ‘Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling,’ because there’s so much in the episode which doesn’t really make any sense. I can see the reason for Sir Charles Portland, because this time No.6 is effectively the Colonel, and he has to go running back to someone from the department he once worked for. As for Janet Portland, she seems to be quite superfluous to the episode! And even after 50 years I still cannot make my mind up if there is just Sir Charles Portland and British Intelligence who want to know where Seltzman is, or The Village as well, or if both are one and the same! As for The Village, No.2 might not know where doctor Seltzman is, but that didn’t stop them from acquiring the Seltzman machine! I mean where did they get that from, if they didn’t know where Seltzman was? I suppose if they had been looking for Seltzman, they might have got close on his heels, so close in fact that at one point he may have been forced to abandoned his experiments, and his machine in order to evade capture. At the end of ‘Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling,’ No.6 said “the good doctor’s mind now inhabits a body perhaps not to his liking, the Colonel’s. Doctor Seltzman had progressed more than any of us had anticipated, he can, and did, change three  minds at the same time. He’s now free to continue his experiments in peace.” Experiments, does that mean doctor Seltzman has previously left a trail of subjects, or victims, with their minds wrongly housed in other people’s bodies, and now he’s free to continue that trail? After all, he’ll need at least one subject if he’s to change the Colonel’s body for that of someone else!

   Another anomaly is referenced by Piet Hein in his column in regard to the fault in the dates used in ‘The Schizoid man,’ which I shall not repeat here, as he has gone into it in-depth already.

    However despite its faults ‘the Prisoner’ is a remarkable television series which has held me captive for the past 50 years, and looks most likely to do so for many years to come. It has a powerful opening sequence which held me spellbound when I first saw it back in 1967. As a boy I was excited by the series, it captured my imagination. It was action and adventure, the undertones of the political commentaries about education, politics, surveillance, the question of information etcetera didn’t bother me at the time. In fact I didn’t think too deeply about ‘the Prisoner’ until several years later. Oh I had questions of course, as for ‘Fall Out,’ that left me totally bemused at the time. It might have been better if I could have watched the episode again, but that was an option not open to me of course, not until the mid 1970’s in fact!

    I’ve collected ‘the Prisoner’ on video and DVD. I’ve read the books, worn the badge and blazer, collected the memorabilia, and merchandise produced over the years. Been a member of Six of One, attended Prisoner Conventions at Portmeirion. Have I got Patrick McGoohan’s signature? I think I have, on a photograph, but I’m not sure if McGoohan actually signed it himself or not! But I do have other signatures of actors and actresses who appeared in the series, as well as one or two members of the production crew which I’ve been lucky enough to collect. Many of them written in my presence so I know they are genuine.

    What next for me? Well I’m going to have a nice cup of tea with lemon, and nibble on a short cake biscuit! I’m suddenly feeling a little nostalgic, and have the desire to go through my collection, perhaps to take time to read some fanzines about ‘the Prisoner’ produced as far back as the late 1970’s, some of which I have been fortunate enough to have collected. I think also to play ‘the Prisoner’ LP record produced in the mid 1980’s by BAMCARUSCO for Six of One: The Prisoner Appreciation Society. Larry Hall of the society at that time was involved in that as I recall.         

Be seeing you

More Village!

    This is 11-12 spending a little time getting to know his mother M2. He is the reason why Helen and Curtis volunteered for The Village project, because they simply wanted a child. It would seem that for whatever reason, this was impossible for them in the outside world, that other place, that is New York.

   But 11-12 isn’t like any other son, he was born of The Village. Not physically, M2 did not physically give birth to 11-12, he was created within his mother’s subconscious. Which bodes the questions, at what age was 11-12 born in ‘The Village, and how did he first appear? Perhaps one day 11-12 wasn’t there, and the next he was, as though he had been with Two all the time. It cannot be written that 11-12 was with his mother M2 all the time, because he wasn’t, M2 spent the majority of her time sedated in her bed. Being woken up only occasionally when Two wanted to spend a little time with his wife. To reassure himself that it was still possible to do so.
   It is highly unlikely that 11-12 had a childhood, because he has no memories of his childhood. In the cellar of Palais 2 there are 11-12’s toys, a red lorry that Two said his son loved. But 11-12 has no memory of the red lorry, his other toys, or indeed any part of his so called childhood. He doesn’t even know his mother, that’s why in ‘Schizoid’ Two allows 11-12 to spend time with his mother, M2, in order to get to know her. And that works both ways, she does not know her son! At one point when M2 is spending a little time awake with her husband, Two, she has to ask him how their son is.
   11-12 might be born of The Village, but he has an enquiring mind, he has a want to know more about the “other place,” it’s as though he is beginning to outgrow The Village. And tells his mother that he wants to go to the “other place.” “Oh I don’t think so” his mother tells him “Village is best for us.” Is it possible to go there 11-12 asks, well yeah it is, for some people, just not for him. But then why would he want to, when he has The Village? But 11-12 persists, especially regarding the holes that appear in The Village when M2 is awake. “Why don’t we leave?” he asks. Only some people can go there, to the “other place,” people who exist there, people that were brought o The Village, people that weren’t born in The Village, like 11-12. M2 sees The Village is enough, but for 11-12 Village is not enough! M2 is losing control of her son, if 11-12 leaves The Village, to try and go to the “other place” she will lose him forever. 11-12 would cease to exist. So perhaps that is how he simply appeared one day in The Village, as an adolescent teenager.

   

Village is best for us!
Be seeing you

Persecution of The Prisoner-No.6!

    The understanding is, that Number 1 and Number 6 are the alter ego of the other, or their other self, or ‘Second self,” being so close to each other that each is an essential part of the one.

    The alter ego could be another side of oneself, a second self, another aspect of one’s personality. Or it could be an intimate friend, or a constant and intimate companion. On the other hand an inseparable friend, a perfect substitute or deputy. I like the idea of Number 6 being a perfect deputy or substitute for Number 1, and not the other self. Because one cannot physically meet one’s other self. Perhaps Number 6 was chosen as a perfect substitute or deputy for Number 1. It might be that the President, together with those white robed delegates of the Assembly were going to usurp Number 1, by putting Number 6 in his place. Something like ‘The Man In The Iron Mask,’ in which the cruel King Louis the 16^th is replaced by his secret twin brother Philippe. That would explain the physical meeting between Number 1 and Number 6.
   Perhaps Number 6 and Number 1 are secret identical twin brothers, separated at birth. Number 1 having been incarcerated in The Village, somehow brings Number 6 there and sets about persecuting him by constantly putting him to the test. But not so much as to damage the tissue, after all there is such a thing called brotherly love!

Be seeing you

The Tally Ho

The Return of The Native  
                                                  by our own reporter

So he’s back in The Village! The Tally Ho wondered where Number 6 had been for almost a month. And so your own reporter hopped along to ‘6 Private’ in order to get an interview with the man. Unfortunately I found Number 6 in a most un-co-operative mood {when isn’t he} and he slammed the door in my face! However that has never stopped me from writing a good story before! I contacted the Bureau of Visual Records, the people there were most helpful in allowing me to view the recorded surveillance film footage between February 20th to 22nd. As I understand it Number 6 woke up one morning, around Feb 20th to find The Village deserted {I find that difficult to believe}. He carried out a search, found a number of buildings locked to him, all except the Green Dome, but that too was uninhabited, there being no sign of Number 2, or of his diminutive butler.
   He found an abandoned taxi in the street, the key was in the ignition, turning the key the engine fired into life. Having raided the workman's shed, Number 6 chopped down several small, yet stout trees. From a workshop he emptied the contents of a number of oil barrels down a drain. Also from the workshop he took rope, and with these materials Number 6 built himself a Kon-Tiki style sea-going raft. This does appear to fit, because a number of oil drums, lengths of tree trunks, and rope had to be cleared away by street cleaners from the quayside before the citizens woke up. What’s more Number 19 the shopkeeper reported that the General Store had been broken into. I asked the shopkeeper what items had been taken. 19 had taken an inventory, and found a copy of The Tally Ho, a black loudspeaker, a Cannon Dial 35mm camera had also been taken. Along with a number of tins of Village Food. Tins of corned beef, baked beans, and tinned fruit. As well as a packet of Village darning needles and a jar of cooking oil. What’s more the burglar had left his calling card “I. O. U. 964 No.6?” had been written in chalk on the counter! So with his provisions packed in crates, a barrel filled with tap water, and a bucket, he stowed these aboard his raft. Then Number 6 set about The Village taking pictures with the camera he took from the General Store. Why? Well your guess is as good as mine. I did ask Number 6, but he shouted for me to mind my own business, from the other side of his cottage door! So Number 6 sailed his raft to the mouth of the estuary and out into the Atlantic Ocean. What happened after that? Well it smacks of escape, daring do, and adventure. One can only imagine the perils of putting out to sea aboard an open raft, because Number 6 wasn’t prepared to tell me when I tried to ask him. In short he refused to open his cottage door to me, and shouted to me to buzz off! And then one day, Number 6 returned to the Village. Oh not in the conventional way by helicopter, as surveillance film footage shows, but by jumping out of an aircraft and descending to the beach on the end of a  parachute.
   There seemed to be no-one about, only The Village Cat, as Number 6 crossed the beach, walked up the hill into The Village, along the cobbled street, and back to his cottage. Well it was the only place he could ever go. I suppose Number 6 in having left The Village, and coming back the way he did, it’s rather like the local taxi service. You can go as far as you like, just as long as you arrive back here in The Village, in the end! Although there was no fatted calf for the return of this prodigal son, there was however a cake, the symbolism of which had not escaped me. The  cake, upon which were six lighted candles, having been baked and presented to Number 6 by Number 2 herself. 

Be seeing you

ESCAPE!

    Number 2 once said he’ll eventually go back to his room, it’s the only place he can ever go. Well there he is, standing roughly where he stood on the morning he woke up to find The Village deserted, and now he’s back there, where he started from! All that time and effort, for what? Escape? Escape to where? Back there! He might have saved himself the trouble. Didn’t Number 2 once say that they’ll get him sooner or later wherever he goes. Well Number 6 made it easy for them. And it looks like Number 2 was right, his room is the only place he can ever go! Strange as it seems, The Village is the only place now where he fits in!

Be seeing you

Exhibition of Arts And Crafts

                   “Sculpture of Number 1!”

BcNu

Quote For The Day

    “You’ll make yourself sick sir!”

  {Doris the barmaid at the Thatched Barn - The Girl Who Was Death}

    And she was right, having drunk a cocktail of drinks, imagining Mister X with his head in the toilet is not a pretty picture to conjure up! I’ve never been able to make my mind up whether Mister X’s pint of beer had actually been laced with poison or not. If it had been, then the barmaid Doris, is guilty of attempted murder. A poisoner no less! Of course the Girl had obviously put Doris up to it, and she must have agreed to use that beer glass with the words YOU HAVE JUST BEEN POISONED, etched on the bottom of it when Mister X asked for a pint of his usual. Perhaps the Girl told her that it was a joke between friends. But somehow I don’t think poison was ever used, I cannot really see Doris actually putting poison into a customers drink. The message etched on the bottom of the glass would be enough to achieve the same result, as we witnessed.

   I recall how I had purchased a number of “You have just been poisoned” stickers from the Prisoner shop in Portmeirion in 1988. I gave one to the Landlord of my local public house, and asked him to stick it on the bottom of a pint glass. He didn’t mind, and having stuck said sticker on the bottom of a straight beer glass, placed it on the shelf with all the other glasses. As it happened my Uncle Stan was given that glass, purely at random, but the result was hilarious as I remember. In fact I didn’t think it would work as well as it did. He didn’t automatically demand a cocktail of drinks to make himself sick or anything. But he was confused, wanting to know what the hell was going on!

Be seeing you

The Therapy Zone

    The thing about ‘the Prisoner’ is, it’s all about the Prisoner! After all Number 2 doesn’t keep asking other prisoners why they resigned. In fact the only other prisoner Number 2 interrogates personally is Number 73 in ‘Hammer Into Anvil.’ Number 8 in ‘The Chimes of Big Ben’ is questioned why she was swimming away from The Village, asked if she was attempting suicide. But that doesn’t really count, as Nadia isn’t really an inmate of The Village. Roland Walter Dutton is also interrogated, but it’s the doctor-Number 40 who is conducting the experiments to try and extract all the information Dutton knows. Cobb would be another interrogatee, seeing as he said they wanted to know all about him. But it’s Number 6 who is put to the test, but not by the usual methods, why not, what’s so special about Number 6?

   It’s always Number 6 who tries to escape, no other prisoner attempts to escape. No-one tries to escape by helicopter, or sail away on a small homemade boat, or by jet boat for that matter. The Professor did try to run away once, but I suppose that doesn’t really count, seeing as he couldn’t have got very far. The fact of the matter is, we never see anyone one else trying to escape when Number 6 is about! The reason for that might be that everyone else is too busy Jamming. Not really trying to escape at all. But then wouldn’t that have been an ideal time for a known Jammer to escape? After all if say Number 77 was a known Jammer and the Observers knew he was a Jammer, and so let ride anything he did, then surely he or some other Jammer would be afforded the perfect chance to escape! And you’ll notice it was Number 6 who Number 2 got involved with Plan Division Q, because it was thought that Number 6 would give the assassination plan credibility, a man to be believed, and without whom the plan might fail. But Plan Division Q did fail, so what price Number 6’s involvement then?

   Its Number 6’s dream they get into. It’s Number 6 who is just the kind of candidate they need to stand for election! It’s Number 6 who comes face to face with himself. Its up to him to destroy the General. Number 6 is the cabaret at the Ball in ‘Dance of the Dead,’ who also leads a group of so called reliable men in a daring escape attempt, as well as giving the orders! Why is it that it’s Number 6 who has to avenge the death of Number 73? Perhaps because he’s Johnny on the spot! Just like it was when he was put on trial for the possession of a radio! Thankfully it’s not Number 6 undergoing a leucotomy, the operation known as Instant Social Conversion. That delight is left to another citizen. Number 6 being too valuable, the brain tissue mustn’t be damaged, well not permanently! And who turns up living in Harmony? Number 6! Why can’t they let someone else have a go for a change? But in ‘The Girl Who Was Death,’ at least we get to see part of Number 6’s life, the kind of work he used to do…………a bit like John Drake really! And ‘Once Upon A Time,’ well who else could survive both the physical and mental ordeal of Degree Absolute? It had to be Number 6. And then in ‘Fall Out’ he got his just reward, compensation for what he had been put through, as well as meeting Number 1, and that had to be Number 6, damn the man! But if that wasn’t enough, he has to put himself through it all over again, trust him to want to continue to be the centre of attention.

Be seeing you

Bureau of Visual Records

    On the evening Number 6 and Nadia set sail on their escape route, their activity went unnoticed by the Observers. Number 2 must have instructed the night time Supervisor to tell the Observers to wink a blind surveillance eye at Numbers 6 and 8’s activity. Seeing that no-one missed either Number 6 or Number 8 until well into the following morning. Otherwise had an Observer observed them taking the pieces of sculpture, as well as 38’s tapestry out of there Recreation Hall down to the beach, the game would have been up. And Number 2 couldn’t have had that now, could he?

Be seeing you

Thought For The Day

    Who was Nadia Rakovsky going to give her report to? Somehow I don’t think it was Number 1, seeing as she was dressed for leaving The Village. So it must have been some authority outside The Village, those masters whom both Cobb in ’Arrival,’ and Number 2 of ‘The Schizoid Man’ mentioned. Masters within British Intelligence, certainly not the Colonel. He happens to have first hand knowledge about how the plan failed, so there‘s no need to report to him. And who is to say that the Colonel and Nadia were working for the same department? Don’t forget Fotheringay had to get back to London before any embarrassing questions were asked, that might also be said of the Colonel. That would suggest a different department altogether, yet possibly within British Intelligence. Secondment is a word which springs to mind where both the Colonel and Fotheringay are concerned, seconded from another department. In the same way Curtis was seconded to The Village. You’ll recall how Number 2 had to pull strings to get Curtis seconded back to The Village. Which in turns suggests Curtis had worked for The Village before! Curtis and Nadia had one thing in common, they were both field agents, seconded to The Village regarding Number 6. Also they both encountered the Guardian. However unlike Nadia’s experience, Curtis found his to have been fatal! But then it might be expected that unlike Nadia, Curtis might not have been briefed about the Guardian. Whereas Nadia’s experience with the Guardian had been planned, and so it may be expected in her case she had been briefed on the Guardian. But I expect that even that would not have fully prepared her for what to expect. A gutsy lady Nadia Rakovsky, a good agent in the field, who unlike Curtis survived in order to report to her masters, whoever they may have been!

Be seeing you

The Prisoner 50th Anniversary

   News on the 50th anniversary of 'the Prisoner.' September 29th 2017 marks the anniversary of the British screening of 'the Prisoner,’ and Network DVD will be hosting the official 50th anniversary celebrations in Portmeirion. At the moment I have no further details other than this. I became aware of this event yesterday via The Unmutual website.

http://www.theunmutual.co.uk/

   More details will be announced on The Unmutual Events Page closer to the time.  http://www.theunmutual.co.uk/events.htm

Be seeing you

60 Second Interview With A Gardener

    “We’d like a word with you.”
    “Then you’ll have to wait. I’ve no time to bandy word with the likes of you!”
    “Do you know who we are?”
    “No, who are you?”
    “I am Number One-one-three, and this is my photographic colleague Number One-one-three-b. We contribute to The Tally Ho.”
   “Smile.” {click goes the camera}
   “Oh, it’s for the gardening section is it?”
   “Gardening section?”
   “The reason you want to interview me.”
   “There is no garden section in The Tally Ho.”
   “Then why are you trying to talk to me under false pretences? You’re not interested in gardening!”
    “We never said we were. We’re just looking to a have a word with you.”
    “Well I haven’t got all day, even if you have. I’ve this border to sort out, and then there’s the lawn to cut, bedding plants to plant, and the roses need dead-heading. Its all go being a gardener you know. Not like so called journalists who sit about typing up a few words for a broadsheet. You want the editor to get a garden section put into The Tally Ho, or better still, a glossy insert about gardening. I could write an interesting article about lawn mower maintenance. Or about roses, and when it’s the best time to prune them, and how to deal with green fly. Snails and slugs can be a problem, there are several different way to deal with them. And then there’s compost, I could give a lecture on how to go about making the best compost…….”
    “Well it’s actually that bald-headed gardener we wanted to talk to you about. We don’t know his number, but perhaps you know him?”
    “Yes I know him, he gave up being a gardener, and went to be an electrician.”
    “So you both still have a great deal in common.”
    “How do you make that out?”

    “You both work with bulbs!”
    “Are you trying to be funny?
   “Apparently not!”

Reporter No.113

Photographer No.113b

Exhibition of Arts And Crafts

     “Rook To Queen’s Pawn Six Check!”

BCNU

The Tally Ho

   No.6 speaks his mind! You wouldn’t expect The Tally Ho to be able to print that, would you? And as it happens, what is written in the accompanying article to that photograph isn’t what he said to the newspaper reporter Number 113. Nor is the article what the newspaper reporter wrote in his notebook during an interview with the candidate Number 6, how could it have been? Seeing that only a few minutes after speaking with the reporter Number 6 was handed a copy of The Tally Ho by Number 113c outside the Town Hall containing an already written interview with Number 6! The security of the community will be his primary objective, that’s not Number 6 talking, its Number 2!  The author of the article is unknown, but goes under the title of “Our Own Reporter” who could be anyone. That’s because we don’t know who produces The Tally Ho, whether or not it’s an independent newspaper, or one controlled by The Village Administration. But largely speaking, it’s rather likely to be the latter rather than the former. And why use that particular picture of Number 6? It would have been more seemly if a photograph of Number 6 in Village attire had been used, complete with him wearing his number 6 rosette. But that’s the thing about The Tally Ho, no-one pictured on the front page, not even when its Number 2, are pictured wearing Village costume. But then only two people ever appear on the front page of The Tally Ho, Number 6 and Number 2! And mentioning Number 2, its quite surprising that The Tally Ho was allowed to print that article sub-headed “Security of The Community,” what amounted to be the ravings of a delusional paranoid! Or was he? After all there were dissidents in The Village, Jammers, and in the following episode an interim Number 6 had a list of malcontents, top of that list was Number 6!

Be seeing you

The Colonel Did His Duty!

    “Tell Number One I did my duty.”

    Yes Professor Jacob Seltzman’s mind escaped The Village, or at least we assume he escaped the Village, in a body perhaps not to his liking, the Colonel’s. Why assume? Well we can only go by what Number 6 said, that the Professor is now free to continue with his experiments in peace. For all we know Seltzman could have been brought back in the helicopter, the pilot ordered to do so over the radio. Or even flown back in the helicopter by remote control, just as the Prisoner was when he tried to escape The Village in ‘Arrival.’

   But what of the Colonel? He was another traitor, or turncoat just like two of his predecessors. Well one that we know of, and another possible. The Colonel, worked for The Village when called upon. Perhaps he had once been a prisoner, and had been turned like Cobb, Fotheringay, and his Colonel. His mind died in the Seltzman’s body, therefore he couldn’t be retuned to the department of British intelligence from whence he came. If he was married he certainly couldn’t’t be returned to his wife and family. So no doubt he was buried in The Village cemetery, in an unmarked grave, seeing as he had no number!

    I always felt sorry for this particular Colonel, because he had been seconded to The Village, no matter how gratified he was at being sent there by the highest authority, but without being told why. Its no wonder he looked nervous! Did he take it like a man when they told him he was to undergo a mind transference with Number 6? Or did he go kicking and screaming, before they sedated him I wonder? But he did his duty, and an old soldier can do no more than his duty.

Be seeing you

The Therapy Zone

    I sit here typing these words with The Village in my mind’s eye. Even though it has been several years since I was there, I can still walk its streets and cobbled paths. Passed familiar buildings, walking in the footsteps of Number 6. It’s a sunny day, there’s the regular Brass Band concert, but no human chess match today. People in brightly coloured clothes are promenading in the Piazza, around the pool and fountain. A vendor is dispensing The Tally Ho, the headline reads “What Are Facts Behind Town Hall?” As if they would tell the general citizens that, do me a favour! Enough was learned about Town Hall and its workings in both ‘Free For All’ and ‘Dance of The Dead. In the latter we learned that democracy in The Village had been dispensed with, seeing as even at best, free democracy is remarkably inefficient. But just a minute, originally ‘Dance of the Dead’ was to have been the second episode in the series, and ‘Free For All’ third. So if that had actually been the case in the screening order of the series, and if we are to believe what Number 2 told Number 6 in ‘Dance of The Dead,’ about democracy having been dispensed with in The Village. Then the democratic process of local “free” elections of ’Free For All’ might well have been reinstated just for the benefit of Number 6!

Be seeing you

Caught On Camera!

    Number 6 is helped ashore after he successfully escapes The Village on a raft made from two rubber lilos, after the Rook chickened out! This is his third attempt to escape by raft, so its third time lucky for Number 6!

   “Where, where is this place?”
    “Ireland Paddy me’ boyo. You’ve come home!”
    “That’s right Paddy, the first man to cross the Irish Sea on a raft!”

    “Why is he wearing his old school blazer?”

    “He’ll be thinking its Regatta week!”

    “Well he’s certainly come dressed for it!”

Be seeing you

ESCAPE!

   Have you noticed, but when Number 6 attempts to escape by land, either driving a Mini-Moke in ‘Arrival’……………….               

Or by sea behind the helm of a jet boat in ‘Free For All,’ the end result is very much the same!

    In ‘Arrival,’ when Number 6 attempts to Escape The Village for the first time, he does so driving a Mini-Moke along the beach, having fought off two Guardians. Soon after which, as the vehicle heads towards the outer zone, it impacts with something in the sand which causes the Prisoner to be thrown out of the Mini-Moke, leaving him sprawling on the sand. Then in a later episode, ‘Fall Out,’ Number 6 again attempts to escape The Village, this time by sea. Having fought off two motor mechanics aboard the Jet boat, Number 6 heads for the open sea, but pursued by Number 2 in the helicopter. Number 2 instructs the Prisoner to turn back before it’s too late. Ahead the membranic Guardian appears on the water, skimming across the waves on a course straight for the boat. Number 6 turns the helm this way and that, but to no effect! As the Guardian gets closer and closer Number 6 abandons the boat and dives into the water. This in similar way when Number 6 parted company with the Mini-Moke. Both actions cause a confrontation with the membranic Guardian. The one time he is rendered unconscious, the other he is taken in tow by three Guardians. As for the jet boat, it was taken under remote control by an operative in the Control Room, in the same way M. S. Polotska was sailed back to The Village at the end of ‘Checkmate.’ And in ‘Arrival,’ when Number 6 loses control of the helicopter, it was taken under control by an operative in the Control Room, and flown back to The Village remotely when Number 6 attempted his second escape. All of this makes the Mini-Moke the odd vehicle out, not having remote control capability!

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Exhibition of Arts And Crafts

                          “Portrait of No.6”

BCNU

Village Interiors

 The Board of Education chamber with its purple and orange wall. The large disc with its canopied Penny Farthing {a variation on the design} attached to the chamber wall, or suspended from the ceiling. The chair, with its “dazzled” paintwork, appears to be a nod to German expressionist films of the 1920's. Then there’s the circle of green baize topped tables. The chamber is entered through a pair of steel doors, much the same with Number 2’s office.

   The Board of Education chamber in ‘The General’ looks as though it could double up for the Committee chamber in ‘A Change of Mind,’ except there doesn’t appear to be the tall steps which lead down from the foyer of the Town Hall as there are in both the Committee Council chamber and the Council chamber. However if we take these three as separate underground chambers, then three large pits much have been excavated under the Town Hall during the construction of The Village. A fourth, if you include the underground chamber below the Labour Exchange!

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He Was Not A Number He Was A Free Man!

'Versailles' 
   Is a new BBC drama which commences on BBC Two at 9:30, Wednesday, June 1^st 2016. Below is a photocopied extract from The Times Saturday Review of ‘Versailles,’ which my wife drew my attention to a few moments ago.

  You may be interested to read the following enlarged section from the above extract.

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