Village Life!

    “We’re late!”
    “How do you work that out?”
    “That’s the Colonel just arriving.”
    “What’s he doing here?”
    “He’s been seconded to The Village.”
    “What like that Curtis chappie?”
    “Curtis?”
    “Didn’t you read the report?”
    “No.”
    “Well it was marked “eyes only” Number Two.”
    “What were you doing reading it then?”
    “The file mistakenly passed across my desk.”
    “Doesn’t mean you had to read it.”
    “Well what would you have done?”
    “Passed it back to Number Two…….after having read it first. What did it say?”
    “It was about Rover suffocating this Curtis chappie to death! It was covered up of course.”
    “Why?”
    “Well there was the rumour that he looked the spitting image of Number Six!”
    “Sounds like dirty work to me!”
    “Yes, I only hope this Colonel knows what he’s getting himself into!”
    “Perhaps he’ll have a change of mind!”
    “Yes, I’m afraid that’s just what he will have!”

Be seeing you

In The Village!

    Number 6 once told Number 2 that he likes his dream, after she had told him that if he continues his dream he may be taken for mad! But Number 6 isn’t mad, at least not according to the doctor’s records, he’s simply suffering from a split personality! He thinks he’s Number 1, he thinks he’s the boss, but really he’s a prisoner just like any other prisoner who needs to be kept tucked away for his own good. After all he is his own worst enemy. But then two 6’s appear in The Village, which is which? One makes a better Number 6 than Number 6! One resolution would be to put one of them in an iron mask, well it’s been done before. But then it was Philippe who donned the mask, while his evil twin ruled France, and then in time the roles were reversed and it was all the better for France. But would such a thing be all the better for The Village? Which 6 to be hidden away in a darkened cell, his face never to be looked on again? But having a split personality isn’t quite the same as having a twin. Number 6 and Number 1 need each other they are all the weaker.

Be seeing you

Quote For The Day

    “Where is Marshall O’Rourke, find him at once all of you.”

                           {Napoleon Bonaparte - The Girl Who Was Death}

    As Napoleon Bonaparte he was against Britain, so he gathered about him a number of Marshall’s who were also against Britain. The Scottish Marshall wanted Wembley Stadium. The Welsh Marshall thought it was a great day for the Nationalists, so if it was to carry on like that the Irish Marshall was most likely a member of the IRA. And Shnipps had gathered about him a ruthless gang of anti-British mercenaries. Except originally the Irish Marshall was meant to have been a Yorkshire man, which doesn’t really fit the rest of the criteria. Unless he was gunning for Yorkshires independence from the United Kingdom!

Be seeing you

Life Outside The Village!

    "You never could take a hint!"

    "I don't want a hint, I want you. Besides, I'm saving myself money!"

                                                        {No.6 and 'A' - A B and C}

    No.2's idea to get into No.6's dream was to find out what would have happened had 'they' not got to him first. Well after resigning his job the Prisoner was going somewhere abroad, so why not Paris, to begin with anyway, as he's not quite yet sure where he's going on holiday. But in any case, had the Village Administration not got to the Prisoner first,  and the events played themselves out, there is the possibility that he could have found himself abducted behind the Iron Curtain, had 'A' played his hand better! Also, how is ‘A’ saving himself money?

Be seeing you

Who’s That On The Telephono?

    “Number Two here……..yes sir I am doing my best he’s very difficult……………..I know its important sir…………………he’s no other person sir, but if I had a free hand………………………………I know sir yes…….......I know I’m not indispensable, but just before you go sir……..this telephone…….is it another experiment?........Well it’s just I’ve never seen a telephone like it, it looks ridiculous!....Really sir, designed especially for me…………………………..to make me look ridiculous, I see sir!

   “One of theses days I’m going to tell that swine where to get off!”

Be seeing you

In The Village!

   The Therapy is a place where you can be an alcoholic in perfect privacy, just as long as you return to The Flock in good time. Well that’s what Number 2 told us. But its a bit strong to believe they allow a chemist to live in the cave like a hermit, brewing his brew while playing with his chalk on numerous formulas. Well that cannot be right, after all when Number 6 returns to the cave in ‘Dance of The Dead {forget the cave’s location} the chemist no loner resides in what is laughing called The Therapy Zone. It’s quite on the cards that the Therapy Zone soon ceased to exist once the drug had been administered to Number 6, and had been returned to his cottage that night. It’s the same with the Cat and Mouse nightclub. There is suddenly is one evening during the election period, and yet there was no sign of it as Number 2 took Number 6 from his cottage to assess the madding crowd, and it’s never seen again!

Be seeing you

I Didn’t Come Here For An Argument!

    “Look I didn’t come here for an argument!”
    “Well where do you usually go?”
    “I don’t want to be here!”
    “But you are. Perhaps you don’t realize, we’re all lifers here.”
    “You mean no-one leaves The Village?”
    “There are a few exceptions, you I have to say are not one of them!”
    “You have no right to keep me here.”
    “I assure you we do Eleven sixty seven.”
    “Number what?”
    “Eleven sixty seven. For official purposes everyone has a number.”
    “What’s your number?”
    “I ask the questions here old boy.”
    “I am not a number old boy!”
    “Just for a moment I thought you were going to say free man.”
    “What if I had?”
    “It’s been said so many times before, it’s high time someone came up with something original!”
    “If its originality you want.......”
    “Well let’s get down to business shall we?”
    “That’s a question.”
    “No, it’s a suggestion.”
    “You asked me, now let’s get down to business shall we?”
    “I suggested we get down to business.”
    “No you didn’t.”
    “Yes I did.”
    “Look I know the difference between a question and a suggestion.”
    “Go on then.”
    “Go on what?”
    “Tell me.”
    “Tell you what?
    “The difference between a question and a suggestion.”
    “Well if you don’t know I’m not going to tell you.”
    “A suggestion is something you put forward as an idea, a question is something you ask, where are the plans for the new rocket guidance system?”
    “What?”
    “You will learn that I do not ask questions twice.”
    “I don’t have them.”
    “We know you do not have them, that’s why I asked you where they are.”
    “If I told you will you let me go?”
    “No.”
    “Then I’m not going to tell you.”
    “You are new here Eleven seventy two,”
    “No, it’s Eleven sixty seven.”
    “Well at least you know your number, that’s one thing. Cooperate and this can be a very nice place, prove to be uncooperative and The Village can be a very unforgiving place. The last occupant of your cottage suffered terribly with rough music, day and night it went on.....until he talked.”
    “Rough music, what’s that?”
    “Its like rough justice, only louder, and its dispensed by the citizens of The Village.”
    “I still won’t talk.”
    “We’ll see.”
    “Oh you’ll see alright, but I won’t, because I won’t be here!”
    “There’s no escape.”
    “I bet there is, only no-one’s found the way out yet that’s all.”
    “There is no way out.”
    “I bet there is.”
    “I bet you there isn’t.”
    “Bet you there is!”
    “Isn’t.”
    “Is.”
    “Isn’t.”
    A bell tolls once.
    “What’s that?”
    “Your time is up!”
    “What?”
    “Your time is up.”
    “No it isn’t!”
    “I can’t sit here arguing with you all day, my time is valuable even if yours isn’t.”
    “Who are you?”
    “Number Two. But I’ll probably be gone in the morning, and there’ll be a new Number Two. So you’ll have to begin all over again with him!”
    “Where will you go?”
    “Back where I came from....”
    The pair of blast proof doors slide open, two men in white coats enter.
    “There he is”
    A chase ensues, and a mad cackling laugh echoes around the interior of the domed office. A song begins to play “And they're coming to take me away ha-haaa.
They're coming to take me away ho-ho hee-hee ha-haaa
To the funny farm
Where life is beautiful all the time
And I'll be happy to see those nice young men
In their clean white coats
And they're coming to take me away ha-haaa……………”

Be seeing you

Village Life!

    There are several strange and eccentric activities which take place in The Village. But what makes a chap sit in a dinghy in the Free Sea? Perhaps he thinks he’s at The Village boating regatta, he like others is certainly dressed for the part! I say, that’s not Number 6 sitting in that dinghy is it?

BCNU

The Prisoner Dinky Mini-Moke Restoration

    Remember this?

http://david-stimpson.blogspot.com/2018/07/a-prisoner-mini-moke-dinky-diecast-model.html

   Since purchasing the Prisoner Mini-Moke most of the spare parts have now been sourced, purchased, and the full restoration is under way. The white canopy, and steering wheel fitted.

      The red and white stripes stuck to the canopy.

  All that remains is the cover for the spare wheel, which will soon be acquired. The taxi looks magnificent, and transports me back to my childhood, I am12 years old again. For at that age I was the proud owner of such a Village taxi. Now it stands on display in pride of place amongst a number of vehicle models from both the Prisoner and THEPRIS6NER.

Be seeing you

60 Seconds With No.42

    “Dutton isn’t it?”
    “Yes.”

    “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.
    “We haven’t seen you out and about The Village before, if indeed at all.”
    “I’ve been in hospital.”
    “Oh I’m sorry, nothing too serious I hope.”
    “Not if you call being fed mind-bending drugs, truth serums, have buckets of water thrown over you then prodded with live electrodes, then no nothing too series!”
    “You talked?”
    “What do you think? I told them everything I knew, and something’s I didn’t think I knew.”
    “So what are you doing here?”
    “I’ve been allowed out into the……peaceful atmosphere of The Village for Seventy-two hours.”
    “Why?”
    “So that I can reconsider.”
    “Reconsider?”
    “The trouble is, although I’ve told them everything they don’t believe me.”
    “And after Seventy-two hours?”
    “They’ll take me back to the hospital, and by the time they find I’m telling the truth……well soon Roland Walter Dutton will cease to exist!”
    “Smile!” click goes the camera.
    “Do you know Dutton sixty seconds with you, and I realize how fortunate I am!”

Be seeing you

Teabreak Teaser b

    We have been here before, or at least we would have been had it not been for a cock-up on the posting front and it would have been again hence the orange cloured text! Anyway this is a slightly extended stay!

    Not only was Curtis a doppelganger for Number 6, but he would also be a doppelganger for Number 1 {although we didn’t know that at the time} but not until he was given a make-over to look like Number 6. And had things worked out differently, meaning that it was with that in mind, had it really been Curtis who was to leave The Village {not Number 6} would Number 2 have allowed him to leave looking like Number 6? Might Curtis have had to undergo another make-over in order to make him look like himself before departing The Village? And in turn would that not have applied to Number 6 who was impersonating Curtis? After all they couldn’t have Curtis leaving The Village looking like Number 6, could they now?

   “I don’t mind telling you we had to pull every string we could in order to get you seconded back to us,” Number 2’s words suggest Curtis has been in The Village before the events of ‘The Schizoid Man.’ As for leaving The Village, they allowed both the Colonel and Fotheringay to leave. Yes they did also allow Number 6 to leave or escape would be a better word in ‘Many Happy Returns,’ but then 6 was 6 and not his look-a-like! In Curtis’ case it’s perhaps just as well Susan had died a year ago, otherwise there might well have been some embarrassing questions to answer, there might anyway because of Curtis’ death! As for Curtis, had he lived, and being permitted to leave The Village and return to whatever department he worked for, and in his altered appearance, how then would he have explained that to his boss, work colleagues, as well as friends?

Be seeing you

A Favourite Scene In A B And C

    It’s an uncomplicated little scene, there’s Number 2 having not long got out of bed in a room somewhere in the labyrinth under The Village. He had a bad night, he said he couldn’t sleep, perhaps he hadn’t drunk his nightcap! He wanted to know what that Number 6 was doing. It’s nice to know that Number 2’s first waking thought is of Number 6, well much of Number 6 depends upon Number 2’s future.
    Unlike Number 2, Number 6 has been up for some hours, presumably he did drink his nightcap, and has been on his early morning walk around The Village. He knows he’s under close surveillance, but it doesn’t worry him, in fact he pauses to salute into a camera knowing full well that Number 2 is watching.
    “Irritating man, he’s always walking.”
    “Be seeing you.”
    “No,” Number 2 replies “I’ll be seeing you!”
    I think this is mere coincidence, Number 6 did once accuse Number 2 of spending his time spying, as all his predecessors did. But no, Number 2 doesn’t spend all his time spying. He’s very much preoccupied with the idea of extracting the reason behind Number 6’s resignation, and he’s running out of time!

Be seeing you

The Rocket!

    The Village Administration needed a rocket. Why the need for The Village to go ballistic is unknown. Perhaps they wished to make Number 6’s dream of being the first man on the Moon a reality! But certainly they would need a rocket scientist, and laboratory technicians versed in rocket science. And where better to look, than amongst the German scientists of World War II. If that was good enough for the Americans and Russians, it was good enough for The Village. And they found a right one in Professor Schinipps! After all if he was clever enough to construct a rocket inside a lighthouse, he could certainly build one in an underground silo beneath The Village. 
   However the rocket was a rocket. The fact of the Blue Streak which appears blasting off out of the silo during the fall out is incidental, because it’s a missile, not a rocket, and is there to be suggestive, {perhaps the only piece of film they could find}. That was just for effect. Remember the rocket in which the former Number 6 confronted Number 1, was supposed to carry people. Hence the life support Orbit Tubes, 2, 48, presumably 6, and one other in the Control Room aboard the rocket for Number 1. And the destination of the rocket? Who can say. A space station orbiting the Earth, the Moon, to infinity and beyond!
    But then why make Professor Schnipps Number 2? Well it was supposed to be a fairytale that Number 6 told the children. He could have made Schnipps look like anyone. So why not make Number 2 Professor Schnipps, and his assistant-Number 10 The Girl? While the real Professor Schnipps is somewhere beneath The Village working on his rocket in his laboratory. So perhaps not so much a fairytale after all!

Be seeing you

In The Village!

    In The Village everyone knows everyone, well that’s not exactly from this series ‘the Prisoner,’ it’s from THEPRIS6NER. But that’s the thing about ‘the Prisoner,’ hardly anyone lasts for more than one episode, even Number 2 lasts for no more than one episodes. There are three constants within the series, Number 6, the Supervisor-Number 26, and of course the Butler. Oh and I was almost forgetting the almost ever presence of a few select citizens, and members of the medical staff, oh yes and Number 66-the ex-Admiral he can be seen in at least two episodes. People like the Rook, the Professor’s widow, Number 14 the ex-Count, the electrician and gardener in ‘Arrival’ we do not see again. And there are those who seem to be extraneous personnel, like the doctor-Number 23, there’s no real need for her, as the previous doctor-Number 40 who would have done just as well in ‘checkmate’ as he did in ‘Dance of the Dead.’ And Number 14 could have done just as well in ‘It’s Your Funeral’ if he hadn’t died in ‘Hammer Into Anvil.” Well I expect he died, although there’s no proof of this. But it was a particularly nasty fall through the French window of 6 Private, and taking the railings of the balcony with him as he fell to the ground below.
   There are a number of dress-a-likes in The Village, I could have sworn that was Number 14 the ex-Count attending one of Madam Professor’s art seminars. It’s difficult to tell as we do not see his face.
   In such a small village one would think to be seeing all the familiar faces all the time, at least in the background, but we do not. So what happens to them, where do they go? Because once seen they are not to be seen in The Village again!

Be seeing you

Teabreak Teaser

    Not only was Curtis a doppelganger for Number 6, but he would also be a doppelganger for Number 1 {although we didn’t know that at the time} but not until he was given a make-over to look like Number 6. And had things worked out differently, meaning that it was with that in mind, had it really been Curtis who was to leave The Village {not Number 6} would Number 2 have allowed him to leave looking like Number 6? Might Curtis have had to undergo another make-over in order to make him look like himself before departing The Village? And in turn would that not have applied to Number 6 who was impersonating Curtis? After all they couldn’t have Curtis leaving The Village looking like Number 6, could they now?

Be seeing you

The Village

    I didn’t think it would be like this!
    Well what did you think it would be like?
    The Employment agency told me I was contracted to help construct a holiday resort somewhere abroad.
    That’s what we’re doing, aren’t we?
    I don’t call excavating two large circular pits a holiday resort!
    I thought they were two swimming pools!
    Well you’re getting paid for it.
    I’ve been here helping dig these two pits for two long months, and I’ve yet to see one penny piece! 
    Well now you come to mention it, neither have I, and I can name others in the same boat. Plumbers, electricians, painters, plasterers, bricklayers. labourers, stone masons, carpenters, landscape gardeners, lumberjacks.....everyone!
    We’re all in the same boat. What’s more no-one is allowed to leave this place!
    What no leave at all?
    No, so the foreman told me!
    So who is going to be living in this village?
    It looks like we are!
   

Be seeing you

Quote For The Day

   “I’d like to be the first man on the Moon.”
                         {Number 6 – The Chimes of Big Ben}

    Of course Number 6 is only speaking figuratively, meaning he would like to get away from it all, which is what he was going to do after he had handed in his letter of resignation. He was certainly in a hurry when he arrived home, two suitcases already packed, his passport and airline ticket ready, oh yes and two what look to be travel brochures. Where he was going is anyone’s guess, perhaps to Paris first, maybe to attend one of Madame Engadines celebrated parties. After all that’s what he would have done had “they” not got to him first. He told Madame Engadine that he was going on holiday, but not the fishing trip, somewhere different, somewhere quiet where he could think. According to Engadine there is nowhere quiet, but there is. You will recall the two holiday brochures, they both had pictures of a tropical beach, white sand and palm trees, it might be an island. Well there would be quiet enough for him to think, but think about what? Why his future, what he was going to do next!

Be seeing you

Thought For The Day

    It no longer matters why the Prisoner known as Number 6 resigned, or who Number 1 is, or for that matter who is Number 2, or where is The Village. 51 years of supposition and speculation takes its toll, if one is no wiser 51 years after the event you never will be. We believe what we want about ‘the Prisoner.’ Its meanings can be as complex as may be, but it is we who make it complex. I should imagine that enthusiasts for the series have thought of questions which never dawned in the mind of Pat McGoohan. I never met the man, and even if the opportunity had arisen I don’t think I would  have wanted to. I have never really been a fan of McGoohan, and I don’t believe you have to be to enjoy either ’Danger Man’ or ‘the Prisoner.’ With me it’s the character that matters, although one could say the character of McGoohan and Number 6 are one and the same. That’s as maybe, but watching ‘the Prisoner’ I do not think of that. Nor for that matter do I take into consideration that Number 1 and Number 6 are one and the same, not until ‘Fall Out.’ After all, he who looks upon the face of Number 1 does so as though he were looking into a mirror!

See you søøn

The Village Salute!

   In The Village when one citizen receives a salute from another citizen, the salute looks like the number 6. Might that not be the reason why Number 6, on occasions, is so casual in his saluting fellow citizens?

Be seeing yøu

Village Life!

    “You’re following me!”
    “Yes, and I’m only the first, you’re a household name you know?”
    “Am I?”  
    “You’re John Drake.”
    “How do you work that out?”
    “Oh don’t be like that, I’ve followed all your adventures working for Security NATO, and British Military Intelligence, M9, you missed the Intelligence out....was that deliberate?”
    “Look lady you must be mad!”
    “Danger Man made you a household name, but now you’ve gone rogue, I like that in a man!”

    “Look lady if you don’t clear off I’ll have you done for harassment!”
    “You wouldn’t do that would you?”
    “Just buzz off!”
    “Tell me what it’s all about, and I’ll go.”
    “Tell you what, what is all about?”
    “Is it like ‘Colony Three,’ you know that time you infiltrated a village for spies somewhere on the Russian Steppes.”
    “Oh, it’s nothing like that.”
    “I expect you’ve got a contact in Section Three who can get you out of here.”
    “Section Three?”
    “You know, Section Three like in ‘Colony Three.”
    “Oh no, nothing like that.”
    “Listen John, when you’re ready to escape I’ll help you.”
    “You, help me to escape?”
    “Yes.”
    “I’ve often helped others with their plans.”
    “Why are you still here?”
    “Well none of them every succeeded.”
    “That’s a coincidence!”
    “I’d be invaluable to you, at least I could tell you what not to try. But then I expect you’ve already got a foolproof plan.”

    “What makes you think that?”
    “You’re John Drake, Danger Man always finds his way out of a tight spot!”

Be seeing yøu

A Favourite Scene In Dance of The Dead

   When Number 6 wakes up after spending the night on the beach, and finds the body supposedly washed up on the beach. The body could have been placed there for Number 6 to find. He duly goes through the dead man’s pockets, and opens the wallet and takes out the photograph of a couple sat by the pool and fountain in the Piazza. There is also a letter, and three raffle tickets. Later in another scene on the Outlook, Number 6 takes the wallet from his pocket, and looks at the photographs again. Is he wondering about the couple in the photograph, and how it is that a body of the man washed up on the shore has a picture in his pocket of a couple photographed in The Village? But of course the dead man Number 6 found, is the man pictured in the photograph, and by the manner of his attire, probably on the day of his arrival in The Village. There is another story here, who is the young woman pictured with the man, and who took the photograph? Number 6 might have been curious enough as to find the woman, to tell her that he had found the body of her dead husband, or boyfriend. Otherwise why does he seem curious about the photograph? There is also a strip of negative film in the wallet, perhaps the negative of the photograph. Perhaps the couple in the photograph arrived in The Village together, as she is not wearing a badge. They look as though they are on holiday, and just asked someone to take their photograph. Perhaps they came willingly, in the same way of the Professor and his wife. That they came to The Village for a reason, and yet the man in the photograph was found dead. So then what happened to the woman in the photograph?

Be seeing yøu

No.9

    It’s alright for some, I only feature in ‘the Prisoner’ once, in ‘Arrival.’ I’m an undercover working for Number 2, assigned to Number 6 I had to feign bereavement at Cobb’s funeral. That was in order to get close to Number 6. The story was I was supposed to have been going to escape The Village with Cobb. 6 wanted me to go with him, but I never intended to not without Cobb. I gave Number 6 the Electro Pass which synchronizes with the alarm system of the helicopter and lets you through. I think Number 6 guessed it was Number 2 who gave the Electro Pass to me, despite my telling him I knew the last pilot. Apparently he saw me leaving the Green Dome, Number 6 that is, he must have suspected me even then! Originally I was to have been Number 9 during ‘The Chimes of Big Ben,’ but since there had already been one female Number 9, to have another No.9 in Nadia Rakovski would be too soon. I don’t know why though, after all originally ‘Dance of The Dead’ was to have followed on from ‘Arrival,’ and then ‘Free For All,’ so I could have appeared in at least two episodes.

See you søøn

60 Seconds With No.2

    “I have just been talking to Number Two.”
    “But I am Number Two.”
    “Not for much longer if this fiasco is anything to go by!”
    “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.”
    “Newspaper men!”
    “So where are we, Dodge City, Warlock, Agry Town, or Contention City?”
    “Where?
    “Where is this?”
    “Harmony, we were testing a new Virtual Reality game.”
    “Number Eight dead, Number Twenty-two dead……”

    “It all went wrong!”
    “Looks like it. Gun play was it?”
    “No.
    “Well if this is virtual, I’ll keep reality if it’s all the same to you!”
    “This wasn’t meant to happen, the Kid became too involved with Cathy!”
    “What virtual sex, that’s a new one!”
    “You don’t understand.”
    “You must be hoping that Number One is more understanding that we are!”
    “Smile!” Click goes the camera.

Be seeing yøu

In The Village

    In ‘A B and C’ a laboratory is hidden away somewhere in the woods. On one wet stormy night Number 6 is taken to this laboratory where a doctor-Number 14, and Number 2 are waiting to receive the subject. The idea, to get into Number 6’s dreams by the means of inception, and a new wonder drug the doctor had developed. More then that they would manipulate Number 6's dreams in order to achieve Number 2’s own goal, which was to discover the reason behind the Prisoner’s resignation. He believed The Prisoner was going to sell out, he wanted to know what he had to sell, and to whom he was going to sell it. What had he to sell? Number 6 wasn't selling out, after having researched and computed the Prisoner’s whole life, and Number 2 still got it wrong! He was simply going on holiday. Because after all that, the only things in the white envelope, which  Number 6 handed to Number 2 contained, were innocuous travel leaflets!

   So why have Number 6 taken to a laboratory hidden away in the woods, when there was the hospital at the doctor’s disposal? It would have been better, and more secure, for the doctor to have carried out her experiment on Number 6, in a room, or operating theatre at the hospital. If for some reason the experiment had gone badly wrong, there would have been a larger medical team on hand to assist Number 14. However at the same time, it would have made it far more difficult, if not impossible, for Number 6 to gain access to any such laboratory in the hospital {unlike the ease of access to the laboratory in the woods} he might very well have been seen by someone, possibly apprehended by hospital orderlies. It was a device which made it easy for Number 6, when after following Number 14 through the woods, he was able to infiltrate the laboratory via the air ventilation shaft, make his discovery of what had been taking place there, and dilute the third dose of the doctor’s drug. Thus being able to “turn the tables” on Number 2 by manipulating his own dream. 

Be seeing yøu

A Favourite Scene In Many Happy Returns

    This is Tom the Woodcutter’s son, but no not really, one fairytale in ‘the Prisoner’ is more than enough! In ‘Many Happy Returns’ Number 6 fells a few small trees, this one in particular is of interest. Because it appears he went to all the trouble of chopping off the top of the tree first before felling the lower trunk. As when the trunk of the tree is felled it has no top branches and lies upon the ground like a long log! Number 6 has a somewhat curious way of doing things, and in this instance we have another!

Be seeing yøu

The Prisoner In Lucks Way!

    “Get that man back to the hospital” Number 2 ordered from the gantry level in the Control room. 
    The doctor-Number 40 was under the misapprehension that Number 6 was about to talk. Don’t you believe it, he would have died first! The doctor used Roland Walter Dutton as a communications medium, to try and trick Number 6 in giving Dutton certain information about the files he’d seen, the projects he’d heard of, headings not details. This was under the pretext that there was a security leak, and so the Committee wanted a breakdown on everything they knew, ZM73, Dutton, Arthur, and the Colonel, everybody. But Number 6 wouldn’t talk, not even to Dutton. He told him that he shouldn’t ask him that, and then he passed out!
    It is wondered just how far the good doctor would have gone with Number 6, had Number 2 not intervened on the Prisoner’s behalf, and had he not collapsed the way he did. The doctor-Number 40 might have gone to any lengths with Number 6 to gain the information he was after, just like he did with Dutton. “Everyman has his breaking point” the doctor once said to Number 2. Judging by the state of mind, Dutton was in at the Prisoner’s trial, it would appear that the doctor had reached Dutton’s breaking point!  
    Originally there was to have been a scene in which the doctor-Number 40 was having a grave dug into which was to have been buried one of his failed experiments. Presumably that was to have been another poor Villager the doctor had been trying to extract information from, and had gone beyond some poor wretch’s breaking point, resulting in the death of the subject! It would seem that no matter what the treatment Number 6 is subjected to, throughout the series, he manages to find himself in lucks way!

Be seeing you

One Egg Or Two?

     On the morning of ‘The Chimes of Big Ben’ Number 6 gets out of the wrong side of the bed, because he can make the act of putting on his dressing gown seem an act of defiance! But then on the second morning of ‘Chimes of Big Ben’ Number 6 can be seen and heard in the dinette whistling. Suddenly he’s in a good mood, he’s relaxed, one might say happy. He’s in the process of making his breakfast when Number 8 comes calling, and telling him that she’ll do that, “One egg or two?” she asks “Two” he tells her. Number 8 then puts down a glass of orange juice

    “Yes good morning, you’re early.”
    “I’ll do that…one egg or two?”
    “Two I think.”
    “Here you are.”
    Nadia places a glass of orange juice in front of Number 6.
    “That’s so nice, be seeing you.”

    The question is, what was it that put Number 6 in such a good mood that morning? There can be only one answer, there’s a woman in his life, Nadia! Because she’s suddenly no longer frightened, and she is also very relaxed and smiling! Perhaps they sought comfort from each other. But it must not be forgotten that basically Nadia is nothing more then a honey trap, so it’s no wonder she’s also looking pleased with herself!

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Who’s That On The Telephono?

    “Number Two here………….what sir……….you’re on red…………what colour telephone am I on, well I’m on yellow as it happens…………...why aren’t I on red, well the yellow telephone began to bleep, it was the Supervisor who picked it up…………yes sir, it was the Supervisor who spoke to you a few moments ago, he handed me the yellow telephone…………well generally he’s a very competent and able man, perhaps if you speak to the telephone operator…………well I just thought that if there is a fault it lies with her…………well I appreciate that she’s a good girl…………….but perhaps she…………I was going to say that obviously the telephone operator put your call through to the wrong telephone……………….really sir, a new telephone……………..a ridiculously over-sized, curved, red telephone………….you can’t think of anyone more appropriate to use it………well thank you sir……..well I will sir.”

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Orbit Tubes!

    What did Number 1 want with a rocket? Was this The Village’s shot at the Moon? Number 6 once said he’d like to be the first man on the Moon, it’s a long way to go to find peace and isolation, and the atmosphere’s not much to write home about! But those Orbit tubes they look like a life support mechanism, Orbit 48, Orbit 2, what price Orbit 6? If this was to get rid of three troublemakers, they had enough armed guards to have each one of them put up against a wall and shot! But no, it’s just like Number 1 to have some elaborate plan in mind. Instead of putting them up against a wall, why not put them in a rocket and launch them into space? And so as not to be too cruel, give them all a sporting chance, put them in life support status. That way they would one day wake up from suspended animation somewhere in deep space........if the rocket made it that far. But like all elaborate schemes involving Number 6, it didn’t work! And we all know what happened next.......violent and bloody revolution {you have to imagine the blood} evacuation and escape. Although there were 4 Orbit tubes in the rocket, I can only imagine that one was for Number 1, not that he got to use it sealed in the nose cone.

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Portmeirion

    I had not realized that the web cams at Portmeirion are now back up and running, a friend of mine sent me the following link a few days ago.

https://portmeirion.wales/galleries/web-cams

    Technology-wise Portmeirion has caught up with the 21^st  century! I have to say it’s nice to see parts of Portmeiron with such clarity, and with a slightly wider scope. And yet, in years gone by Portmeirion was a place where you could go and be completely anonymous. It used to be a place for privacy. After all Edward VIII and Mrs. Wallace Simpson went to stay at Portmeirion in order to get away from the attention they had attracted. That sort of thing could never happen today, because Portmeirion is now open to viewing by anyone anywhere in the world! How ironic that is, when thought of in terms of The Village!

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A Favourite Scene In Checkmate

    “Love? You’re crazy!”
    “Yes about you.”
    “You don’t even know me!”
    “I know how I feel.”
    “Who put you onto this?”
    “Nobody…….how can you doubt me?”
    “It’s easy and I’m waterproof, a slight drizzle won’t wash away my doubts so don’t try.”
    “I only want to be near you.”
    “Everybody’s near in this place, far too near!”
    “Do you think they’ll ever release us?”
    “Let me know, I shan’t be around.”
    “Why do you want to risk your life, we could be happy together.”
    “Really?”

    It’s a nice little scene, but Number 6 has already had one tearful encounter with the maid on the day of his arrival in The Village. He wasn’t fooled then, and he’s not fooled now. He knows that someone put Number 8 up to making her declaration of love. Number 8 doesn’t know Number 6, but if she did, would she like him in her non-drugged state of mind? Number 6 places a good deal on his own company, his privacy, and sees everyone in The Village as being far too near for his comfort. As for Number 8 asking the question “Do you think they’ll ever release us?” The answer is no. They can’t risk letting so many people leave The Village free to talk about their experience! And as for a slight drizzle not washing away his doubts, just watch the following scene, when in the evening Number 8 is happy to make Number 6 his night cap of hot chocolate. By the end of that little scene Number 6 seems to have mellowed towards Number 8. Or is that my imagination?

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60 Second Interview with No.2

    “Why…….why?”
    “Why indeed!”
    “The Speed Learn educational experiment was going so well.”
    “Yes, but did the people want educating?”
    “You’re never too old to learn……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.”
    “I don’t think he feels like smiling. The Professor dead, Number Twelve dead, and the General destroyed, couldn’t get much worse could it. Do you have anything to say?”
    “Why?”
    “Because you underestimated Number Six, that’s why! What will happen to Madam Professor now?”
    “She’ll have to move out of the Manor house, and into smaller accommodation.”
    “And her art seminars?”
    “What about them?”
    “She’ll have to hold them somewhere else.”
    “And you?”
    “Me………….I don’t know.”
    “Madam Professor will blame you for her husband’s death, and Number 1 will blame you for the failure of Speed Learn. You’ll get it in the neck twice!”
    “I know.”
    “I can see the headline now One-one-three b, is Number Two fit for further term?”
    “Smile” click goes the camera.

Be seeing you

Quote For The Day

   “Morning, nice day again.”
   “Be nice again tomorrow.”
   “What happened in eighteen seventy-eight?”
   “Eighteen seventy-eight? Eastern Romania was declared an autonomous province of the Turkish empire.”
    “Word perfect eh. Best of luck with the exams!”
                                {The waiter-No.26 and No.51 –The General}

    When it comes to the educational experiment of Speed Learn, are exams necessary? The lectures are “projected through the sublimator at a speed thousands of times faster than the eye can record, are imposed directly onto the cortex of the brain, and is, with occasional boosts, virtually indelible.” So it appears exams would be unnecessary, and a complete waste of time. After all the learning process has been completely by-passed, as has the possibility of making mistakes. “Virtually indelibly imposed on the brain,” means everyone knows the same information, and spouts the same answers word for word! If the three children, visited in the nursery by Number 6, had been subjected to the Speed Learn experiment, they would have been pleased, as with Speed Learn there’s no need for homework, and school would be a thing of the past!

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Village Life!

   “Don’t I get to read your Tally Ho mailing?”

   “No Fourteen.”
   “But sir?”
   “I’m sorry, but you’ll just have to wait your turn, this has just arrived, and I’ve been waiting for this for ages, so I’ll read it first!”
   “Yes sir……….I wonder what Piet Hein’s writing about this time?”
   “Perhaps he’s writing about me!”
   “Why should he write about you?”
   “Well he’s more likely to write about me than he is you!”
   “He could write about both of us!”
   “Why should he do that?”
   “He might find us interesting.”
   “In what way?”
   “I don’t know.”
   “Very well Fourteen, carry on.”
   “With what?”
   “What?”
   “Carry on with what sir?”
   “I don’t know, carry on with whatever you were doing I suppose.”
   “I was assisting you.”
   “Oh yes. Well go and do whatever it is you do when you’re not assisting me.”
   “And The Tally Ho?”
   “I’ll let you have it later.”
   “Yes sir, that Johnny Prisoner he always makes me laugh!”

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ESCAPE!

    There is no escape, we are Village! It’s been tried so many times before, and here we are still in The Village! The thing is before any escape you need to know where you’re escaping from, so you know where you are escaping to. Otherwise you’re simply making good your escape by simply running away. And is it really any better elsewhere? In The Village you’re looked after for as long as you live, such is their welfare policy. And anyway if you are a good boy and cough up the secrets who knows where that might get you. Take Cobb for example, and Chambers late of the foreign Office. Not to mention the Colonels and Fotheringay, even Number 2 who was once as much a prisoner as anyone in The Village. Regretfully he resisted for so short a time, then he wasn’t trained as a field agent. But then everyone talks on the third day as a rule, Number 6 however is an exception to that rule. So talk and they might let you go, but even then you’re never truly free, they come for you sooner or later wanting you to work for them in some capacity or other. You might be like the Colonel who was brought to The Village in order to undergo a mind transference with Number 6. That was to cost the Colonel his life.
   So escape isn’t perhaps what it’s cracked up to be, it’s probably a case of better the Devil you know, better than the one you don’t. Anyway the sun’s shining, it’s a beautiful day, the weather forecast is the recent spell of good weather is to last another month, and I fancy an ice cream. Flavour of the day is strawberry, well when isn’t it? Only on Village Day when it’s raspberry!

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In The Village!

    One minute there is a local election, and a few episodes on the democratic process has been dispensed with, on the grounds that democracy is terribly inefficient. Which is fair enough I suppose. However had ‘Dance of The Dead’ preceded ‘Free For All’ as the film library order for ‘the Prisoner’ suggests, there would have been a much bigger problem, how to stage a local election when there is no opposition, no democratic process in The Village? Number 6 would have smelt a rat straight off! And yet as the episode sequence stands, it isn’t until after ‘Many Happy Returns’ that democracy in The Village has been dispensed with, because when it came to the question of a town council, Number 6 told the Colonel that the town council is elected once a year, and that he could have been a member. So it makes perfect sense for ‘Dance of The Dead’ to follow some time after ‘Many Happy Returns.’ The proof that there is no longer a town council in The Village becomes evident in ‘A Change of Mind,’ the council chamber has been given over for use by the Committee which stands against disharmonious and unmutual citizens.

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Bureau of Visual Records

   Number 6 has been in this chamber before, only last time it was to witness the dissolution of the out-going council. But since then there has been the dissolution of democracy in The Village. So waste not, want not as the saying goes, and the Committee moved into the chamber! Take a seat Number 6, all the Committee wish for is your complete confession, they will tell you what to say. It might seem strange but the wall decoration has always put me in mind of orange flames, suggesting Number 6 was about to descend into Hades!

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X Meets Death!

    Mister X combats the Girl who was Death. She is a trained killer, while Mister X is a born survivor. Mister X is called Mister X because either no-one knows his name, or his anonymity must be preserved. The man behind the big door in ‘A B and C’ once said that anonymity is the best form of disguise, and is often the way with important people. So is Mister X an important person? 
    Indeed the Prisoner can be regarded as Mister X all through his ordeal in The Village, and although for official purposes Mister X is given a number, he has no name. He may use false names, such as Peter Smith, Schmitt, Duval, but he still maintains his anonymity. Even his fiancée Janet Portland didn’t use his name, not even in a tender moment between them.
    There was even a Mister X behind The Village, who also maintained his anonymity right up until his mask of disguise was removed by the former Number 6. Mister X being the one and the same person, who would have thought that?  It had to be I suppose, no-one was as important as Patrick McGoohan. After all he was the boss!

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Exhibition of Arts And Crafts

                              Village Salute!

                                 It looks like a 6!

BSEENU

A Favourite Scene In A Change of Mind

    Well perhaps not a favourite scene, but there is something compelling about the way the big man nibbles daintily on a shortcake biscuit! It puts me in mind of the time when Number 6 nibbles on his ice cream cone in ‘Once Upon A Time. The question is, does Number 6 keep shortcake biscuits in his kitchen to which Number 2 helped himself to, or did Number 2 bring it with him? If he likes a nibble from time to time, he might keep one or two biscuits in his pocket, I have known it done.

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Page 6

    Sometimes, in his dreams he’s someone else, he’s Number 6! He might well have rejected his number, failed to respond to, or even wear his number. But upon my word the Schizoid Man did his level best to cling to that identity, because at the time it was the only one he had! They took quite a liberty of having the Prisoner abducted to The Village, taking away his identity, not that he had an identity because no-one seems to know who he was, and they gave him a number. But they weren’t satisfied with that, because they came for him one night, took away his identity and made him out to be someone else! And even then they were not satisfied, they then reverted him back to look like his former self and made him impersonate himself! I am 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 oh that was Number 12, Number 6 is the one who said he knew his own fingerprints, I mean to say, who knows his own fingerprints? Number 6 for one, but name me another, well yes Number 12, but he was impersonating Number 6. So there were two people going about The Village impersonating Number 6. But if that wasn’t bad enough, at one time there were three people in The Village who looked like Number 6, with Number 1. There have been doubles, look-a-likes, and twins in The Village before, but now triplets! Where will it all end, because the end is but the beginning, and the Prisoner’s immediate future seems to be as his recent past.

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I’m Napoleon Bonaparte!

    Number 2 said of Number 6 that if he insists on living a dream he may be taken for mad. Is Number 6 mad? Well not according to their records, as the psychiatrist in ‘Hammer Into Anvil’ attests to.

    The doctor-Number 40 is one of those who look after the patients, as The Village could be described as a madhouse, but what about the doctor himself? A form of insanity far more common in fiction than reality, is the delusion that one is a famous person, or at the very least the modern reincarnation of same. Napoleon Bonaparte is the most commonly used person for this, possibly because the unusual hat and hand-in-jacket pose are a strong visual that immediately identifies the delusion for the audience.

    Is the doctor-Number 40 mad, because it’s strange that he should choose this costume for himself. But then again according to Number 54 other people choose other citizens costumes. So I wonder who chose this costume of Napoleon Bonaparte for the doctor. Whoever it was, and it might have been Number 2, perhaps they saw a manner in his character which saw him as mad. He’s certainly fanatical.
   There is another situation in which Number 2 sees himself as Napoleon Bonaparte, although originally he was to have been a mad German scientist.     Fanatical yes, mad yes, because who else would build a rocket inside a lighthouse? Mister X said he’s crazy, and I bet it was Number 2’s mad idea of trying to get Number 6 to open up to children.

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