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
Hi David,
ReplyDeleteLike you, I doubt that the Tally Ho could print what Number 6 REALLY thought about the Village and it's inhabitants...it would be quite shocking to them probably....after all, to them it's just a job to get that information out of Number 6. But to Number 6 it's his life...like he said in A, B and C to Number 2 when he handed him his "resignation" envelope full of travel brochures.
I just watched ARRIVAL again, and I am correct...I DID see his brown attache case ( the one he had his travel magazines packed in when he was gassed and kidnapped) laying on the table in front of the window where first opens the blinds and sees the Village for the first time.
I haven't been able to orient the room to see if the attache is there AFTER the maid comes to CLEAN his flat though...so she may have taken the briefcase to find out if he any information of interest...OR it may have been to eliminate any possible little spy "toys" he had lying around.
BCNU
Karen
Hallo Karen
DeleteI can see the two travel brochures packed in the brown attaché case, but I’ve often wondered what else he was taking with him. Some confidential files perhaps, sensitive information! In fact I’ve a piece of blog written and to be posted on this subject.
Yes the suitcase is there when he wakes up and looks out upon The Village for the first time, that is as it should be, after all when he wakes up the room has to be the same as when he was rendered unconscious. Yes the attaché case isn’t on the table when the Prisoner returns to his cottage and looks out of the window to see the maid hurrying away. But the maid didn’t take the attaché case, she is only holding her yellow duster. It might well be that when the Prisoner had been brought to The Village, that the attaché case had already been searched before it had been placed in the cottage, and anything of importance removed. Other than that, the attaché case, along with his suitcase, might well have been simply tidied away by the maid, putting them in the wardrobe in the bedroom! No that’s not right, at that times there’s a dividing wall between the study and the rest of the cottage! Someone else must have removed both suitcase and attaché case.
Be seeing you
David
Hi David,
ReplyDeleteYes, it's interesting to think that he would be taking a brief case with him after he had resigned...especially since he seemed to be taking a vacation...and it would not have been a working vacation if he had really resigned.
That little scene is reminiscent of John Drake's travel style...as he usually carried a brief case and a typewriter case.
Perhaps the briefcase held papers that he was going to expose? Expose to whom, and why?
Why was the lamp moving when the door slid open? Was someone hiding, who HAD the briefcase, and they left with it after Number 6 talked to the electrician and took a walk?
I love the musical touches...playing music that would usually be soothing and it makes Number 6 infuriated! So many opposites are seen in this show...it's not easy to catch them all.
I love all of the marches and "mood" music in this show.
BCNU
Karen
Hallo Karen,
DeleteThe thing about that attaché case is, we cannot be sure what’s in it. There is a leather folder, it could simply hold a note pad and pencil. There’s something underneath that but I cannot make it out. And something that looks like a cardboard box file, but other than that there are the two travel magazines or brochures. If he hadn’t resigned he could have been going on assignment! Perhaps the attaché case was filled with personal things and papers.
What I find interesting is, why is ZM73 in so much of a hurry to get away? Yes he had a plane to catch, but was there more to it? Was he expecting someone to come for him, but they arrived before they were expected, that’s why he didn’t get away in time!
Moving lamp? No, sorry I don’t get that one!
Yes the Prisoner is irritated by the music, perhaps that’s its purpose, that and the fact he cannot turn it off!
Sometimes music helps make the episode, especially in the case of ‘Do Not forsake Me Oh My Darling,’ in my opinion the music is the best part of that episode!
Music makes for a quiet mind, well not for the Prisoner is doesn’t!.
Be seeing you
David
Hi David ,
ReplyDeleteThe moving lamp is in the scene where the where the wall panel opens by sliding up...and the lamp is a silver hood on a long stalk.
This leads to the scene where he is pacing and the "soothing music " starts playing . ..and he gets angrier as he paces back and forth until he grabs the speaker and throws it down and stomps and kicks it.
The lamp is swaying when the wall panel raises up. I believe it was just after he told the maid to get out...the maid who tried to get him to tell her something so they would let her go.
BCNU
Karen
Hello Karen,
DeleteAha! That lamp! The movement of the lamp could be attributed to the movement of the wall sliding upwards, and cannot be attributed to anyone leaving the cottage with the Prisoners attaché case, as there is only one door to the cottage, and the maid had just left, clearly leaving the Prisoner on his own.
I’m more intrigued about that parting wall. When it rises up where does it go? Obviously into the roof section of the cottage, but that isn’t as high as the wall section, so perhaps the wall rolls itself up in the roof. That’s the only way I can account for it.
Be seeing you
David
Hi David ,
ReplyDeleteI don't think that the production people thought about the logistics of the height of the wall going up inside the outer wall...that it might be too tall to match the original ceiling height in the building in Portmeirion.
Maybe we are reading too much into some of the details . ..as I have always thought that the wall rising up and the "soothing" music starting to play , was another moment like the opening of the sliding doors to the control room where Number 2's office was located . ..a way to visually "stun or surprise " The Prisoner with the totally different look of the other rooms...or with the technology of "The Village . "
I can remember thinking about how strange it was that the speaker had no wires going to it.
I especially liked that they TRIED to calm him down by playing the music !
BCNU
Karen
Hello Karen,
DeleteYes there is a danger of reading too much into some details, that’s the trouble when people have an enquiring mind and you see something happen, you ask how did they do that? But yes, it might simply have been for effect, as you say, to stun and surprise. In many ways the Village is of its time, and in many others its futuristic, and ahead of its time! I used to wonder for years how the loudspeakers could work without wires. But now in modern times we have speakers which work without wires, they call it WI-FI!
Keeping the Prisoner calm with the use of music, well yes, do not forget the sign in the General Store in ‘Hammer Into Anvil,’ “Music makes for a quiet mind.”
Be seeing you
David
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ReplyDelete