Thought For The Day

    Is it always the way when someone wakes up in The Village, that not only do they wake up in a replica of their own room, but to be confused by the view out of the window. And then to go out and ask, the first person they see about taxis? Would Nadia have found a taxi and ask to be taken to the nearest town, only to be taken on a scenic tour of The Village and end up where she began, that’s why they’re called local! And yet with Nadia it was all an act. She knew exactly where she was, and why, but she still had to act like she didn’t know. But other than that I expect the first day in The Village is much the same for everyone!

See you soon

Bureau of Visual Records

    Oh look, that’s where Nadia Rakovsky used to live, she was the new Number 8 if you recall. She moved in after the old Number 8 had vacated the property, there was no funeral because you need a body for that. Mind you that didn’t stop them when it came to staging Cobb’s funeral! So since Nadia Rakovsky left the Village she became the old Number 8, allowing a new Number 8 to move in. So who would that be? That would have to be Number 8 who works in the cipher room who carried out a daily prognosis report on Number 6!

Be seeing you

Exhibition of Arts And Crafts

                I’ll throw the book at this lot!

             {He wasn’t a real policeman but some fans thought he was!}

BSEENU

Village Life!

    “How is my husband, doctor?”
    “He’s doing remarkably well under the circumstances.”
    “It’s that Number Six’s fault!”
    “He’s a known troublemaker. But I believe this is the first time he has resorted to such a personal attack.”
    “What will happen to him?”
    “Nothing I shouldn’t think, he’s already in prison, not much more they can do to him.”
    “I didn’t mean him, I meant my husband.”
    “Oh I see. Well just be thankful he wasn’t lying in the bed at the time of the attack, otherwise your husband would be lying there with his head bashed in!”
    “You have a strange bedside manner doctor!”
    “Just think yourself lucky you have me as your doctor. I can think of a couple of my colleagues you wouldn’t want anywhere near your husband!”

Be seeing you

A Favourite Scene In Dance of The Dead

    What is it they say, observers of life should never get involved! Well the Butler certainly stands aloof of such goings on, but then perhaps he just doesn’t like Carnivals! It might be said that he is above such things perhaps he is above such “bourgeois epatant of costume” As Langdale Pike once said to Sherlock Holmes!
    It’s strange, but when Number 6 looks out of his cottage upon his return to The Village at the end of the previous episode, this is the scene he looks out on. It has always given me the impression that Number 6 arrived back in The Village just in time for Carnival, no matter that Number 6 couldn’t possibly have seen this view from the window of his cottage. It’s the impression given that counts, and makes their scheming against Number 6 appear to be relentless! I wonder what those two frogmen are doing parading around the pool and fountain in the Piazza? Perhaps they came up from the free sea!

Be seeing you

Exhibition of Arts And Crafts

                        Be seeing you!

 Not If I See You First!

 BcNu

In The Village!

    There is a phrase, put all your rotten eggs in one basket. And so it is that people with attitude of one kind or another, even in thought if not deed. You will no doubt recall the Rook and his treasonable thoughts about wanting all nations to have his electronic defence system as it would have ensured peace. They are put in The Village. And it doesn’t matter from which country people come, The Village is an international community, it recognizes no official boundaries like borders. Perhaps The Village is an international, cosmopolitan place because all nations are involved with it in some way. A fanciful thought no doubt, but stranger things happen every day.

Be seeing you

Caught On Camera!

    Rightly or wrongly, it may be observed that Number 51, the Watchmaker, took a bit of a chance leaving that remote detonator device on his workbench for anyone to walk in and pick up. After all that’s just what Number 6 did. It's just as well that when Number 6 pressed the button activating the remote detonator device, that the plastic explosive had not at that stage been placed in the duplicate Great Seal of Office. Otherwise there might have been a very nasty accident!

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In The Village!

    I have observed that Number 6 doesn’t have friends, he never tries to make friends with anyone, mind you he doesn’t seem the friendly sort to me. Oh he has acquaintances if that’s the right word, he helps people from time to time, and when it comes to a genuine rapport he shares that with Number 2 during ‘The Chimes of Big Ben.’ He does appear to be genuinely simpatico with Alison, I doubt even the doctors in The Village could fake that. But he doesn’t have any friends, and at times he goes out of his way to avoid people, like the way he keeps his own company in the woods when using his homemade gymnasium apparatus. I have wondered what kind of friend Number 6 would make, would I like him if I ever had the opportunity to get to know him? I suppose a man like ZM73 doesn’t make friends easily considering the kind of work he used to do. Perhaps he brought that with him to The Village. Mind you there was ‘B,’ he seemed relaxed with her. No, Number 6 doesn’t have any friends.

Be seeing you

Exhibition of Arts And Crafts

It was you who brought me back here you swine!

BCNU

Bureau of Visual Records

   There is a scene which the original script called for, but which was never used. This is when the Prisoner tries to escape the deserted Village by helicopter. He climbs into the cabin and discovers that the key is still in the ignition. He turns the ignition key and finds that the fuel gauge registers full. Pressing the starter button the rotor blades start to rotate sluggishly. They stop. He tries again, but the blades move only a few inches before the battery gives out.

   Seeing the taxi, the Prisoner gets out of the helicopter and attaches two wires to the two terminals of the helicopter’s battery, and the other ends to the battery of the taxi. He starts the taxi’s engine, and places a rock upon the accelerator pedal revving the engine. Then climbing back into the Alouette’s cabin, he switches on the ignition and pushes the starter button. The rotor blades now rotate quite fast. The engine coughs.

The Prisoner tries again. It almost starts. He pushes the starter once again. The battery starts to die, suddenly the engine fires. The Prisoner is wet with perspiration. He revs the engine a couple of times, then climbing out of the cabin, the Prisoner rips the wires from the battery. As this happens the helicopter’s engine begins to falter. Quickly he leans into the cabin and revs the engine like crazy. Still with his hand on the throttle he climbs back into the cabin of the helicopter. The rotor blades are now coming up to speed everything is fine. The Alouette helicopter begins to lift off the ground. A foot or so off the ground the engine suddenly cuts. The rubber floats hit the ground with a bump. The Prisoner pushes the starter almost frantically. The rotor blades make a half turn only. His eyes go down to the instrument panel, they stop on the petrol gauge, it still registers full. He taps the gauge with a knuckle of a finger. The needle sinks slowly back to empty.

I'll be seeing you

Village Life!

    “I think you want this.”
    “What is it?”
    “Important papers from London.”
    “Open it you fool, open it!”
    “It was to have been my future!”
    “It must be difficult watching your other self make a complete fool of you!”
    “He’ll open it, he’s got to open it!”
    “It’s my letter of resignation, don’t you want it?”
    “He’s not going to accept it!”
    “If you don’t, you’ll never know what was in it!”

    “Take it, after all this is what all this has been about. Take it and let me get back to sleep.”
    “If you go to sleep what happens to us?”
    “We cease to exist!”
    “Is that true?”
    “It’s his dream.”
    “Then I’ll never know what was in that envelope!”
    “Look, you’ve taken the envelope.”
    “This is it, the moment I’ve been waiting for, it’s great.......just a minute, it can’t be, they’re just.........”
    “Blank sheets of paper!”

See you soon

To Hell With The Village!

    I used to think that when Number 2 gave that toast in the Therapy Zone, that he really did mean those words “To hell with The Village!” He seemed so sincere, after all there was no surveillance, and yet Number 2 was himself a plant. It was all part of the game, and Number 6 wasn’t intoxicated, merely drugged.
   In a way it was rather like Number 2 in ‘The General’ when he told Madam Professor that what Number 6 wants is what we all want ultimately…….to escape. Number 2 once told Number 12 that his thoughts regarding the Professor should be carefully guarded. It would seem that Number 2, not only should heed his own advice, but he cares as little for The Village as that of one of his predecessors. The one left in the helicopter, which he piloted himself, the other may well have also left via helicopter. While the one didn’t fail, the other was twice a failure and both cost Number 1 dear. But it may be expected that he too was permitted to leave The Village. Either that or he was to remain in The Village a prisoner……… or experienced a worse fate!

Be seeing you

Exhibition of Arts And Crafts

                    No.6 Tells It Like It Is!

BCNU

Caught On Camera!

   Having watched ‘the Prisoner’ so many times over the past fifty years, one would think that everything there is to be seen has been seen. Well that’s been noted to be wrong before, and so again here. Sometimes when we miss noticing something it’s because the eye is concentrating on the action taking place. In this instance a bout of fencing is about to take place in the gymnasium, but it would appear that the gymnasium has been constructed in Number 2’s office of the Green Dome! Observe if you will the purple wall in the background, and the steel framework. But of course this isn’t the first time that a set has been constructed within the set of Number 2’s office. The first time is the laboratory in ‘A B and C.’
    At the same time as this I also observed something else, an article from another episode which turned up later in ‘The Schizoid Man,’ and being put to an entirely different purpose. But that’s for another  time.

Be seeing you

The Therapy Zone

    As it happens Number 6 was more than ready to meet Number 1, although he had been given the choice of leading The Village or going. Number 6 clearly couldn’t go without at least meeting Number 1, that way he’d know who to blame for his incarceration in The Village! And as I happens it wasn’t just Number 6, so too were the television viewers at the time, and each new enthusiast for ‘the Prisoner’ series over the years and decades, has been eager to meet Number 1.

   It seemed that under that theatrical mask {although I’ve seen Morris dancers with such painted faces, half white, half black} and the ape mask, lies the face of a lunatic or madman! His maniacal laugh echoing around the Control Room of the rocket, as Number 1 ran around avoiding Number 6 laying hands upon him. Finally to scale a ladder into the nose cone of the rocket {strange how those being chased have the sudden urge to climb things} closing the hatch behind him, and sealed by Number 6. As it happens there is no release leaver on the upper side of the hatch, so it would appear that Number 1’s fate is sealed!

   Number 6 had no compunction about ridding himself of that troublesome doppelganger, the cause of all his troubles since waking up in the community of The Village. One can only speculate what may have taken place had Number 6 managed to lay his hands upon his tormentor. However it is extremely unlikely that they would have sat talking together over a cup of tea. Besides had Number 6 got his hands on Number 1, it would undoubtedly have ended in violence. Just as it was when Number 6 finally laid his hands on Number 12. That resulted in the death of Curtis! And with the launching of the rocket, lead in all probability to the death of Number 1, and freedom for Number 6!

Be seeing you

Quote For The Day

    “Well Stranger, fancy living in Harmony?”
    “Not my kinda town!”
    “It’s a good Town.”
    “Enjoy it.”
    “Why, what’s wrong with our town mister?”
    “Maybe I don’t like the way its run.”
    “Oh you just do as the Judge says, he’ll look after you.”
    “I’ll look after myself.”
    “It’s a good town.”
    “Keep it!”
            {Townsman and The Man With No Name - Living In Harmony}

    So the Man with No Name doesn’t like their town. He doesn’t like the way its run, but then he can say the same of The Village! It’s the Judge he doesn’t like, he’s a bad judge. Just as long as the town’s people keep in line, he takes care of them. But put one foot out of line, and well just look at what he allowed to happen to Cathy Johnson’s brother. The Town’s people turned into an angry mob and lynched Johnson. That’s rather like the time Number 6 had been put on trial for the possession of a radio. He had been found guilty, and sentenced to death. The Citizens at the Ball turned into an angry mob screaming for the Prisoner’s blood. If they had managed to get their hands on Number 6, they wouldn’t have hanged him…..they would probably have torn him limb from limb! And those were not the only times Number 6 was forced to face an angry mob! Remember the way the ladies sub appeal Committee led a vicious attack upon Number 6, before he was manhandled all the way to the hospital in order to undergo the operation known as Instant Social Conversion. But how easily the mob is pacified. The one by a hanging, the other by the supposed mental salvation of a fellow citizen. Except Johnson didn’t hang because Johnson and the towns people did not physically exist, and the other never truly happened either as Number 6 never underwent the operation, but was merely kept heavily sedated. Such is the ease that the citizens of The Village can be so manipulated. As for Number 6, he just doesn’t want to live in harmony, no matter what the circumstances he finds himself in!

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A Favourite Scene In It’s Your Funeral

    The Village has few shops, the General Store of course, kiosks positioned round and about, two Cafes, and the watchmakers shop. I have always thought of the watchmaker to have been recruited to The Village, after all that is the work he would be doing. He may have come with his wife and daughter Monique, unless she had been born in The Village. The Watchmaker is alone, so it can be supposed that his wife is deceased. But the shop, it’s a replica of his original shop of course, but are the contents replicas original to his shop somewhere else before he came to The Village to run his business there? I would expect the clocks to be originals, one off’s seeing as he was a watchmaker. I wonder if Number 51 was permitted to return to his shop after his exploits leading up to Appreciation Day. I like to think he was, after all he had been cleverly manipulated, no, radicalized by Number 100.

Be seeing you   

Cat And Mouse!

    I’ll have a double!
    A double what sir?”
    Whisky.
    Do you want water with that?
    You don’t mean to tell me you water the stuff down, mind you that wouldn’t surprise me!
    They don’t need to water it down, and if they did it would be like drinking double water with water!
    Did I ask you?
    No.
    So why butt in, are you looking for a busted lip?
    Brute force never availed anyone anything!
    So keep out of it!
    All I was trying to tell you sir, is that all the drinks here are non-alcoholic! Gin, Whisky, Vodka all look the same and taste the same......but you can’t get quietly inebriated!
    Then what’s the point?
    The Cat and Mouse is a nightclub, and people come here to be sociable.
    Cat and Mouse eh, well whose little game are you playing?
    I am Number Ten, and you sir?
    I am not..........
    Oh please spare us, we have all heard such protestations before!
    I am not given to be a number.

    Your badge......it doesn’t have a number!

    No.
    You’re not wearing a badge.

    No.

    Then who are you and why are you here in The Village?
    I am a wanderer with no number!
    Oh no, you mustn’t be like that.

    Be like what?
    Different.....they don’t like you being different. How did you get here?
    I walked.
    You walked to The Village?
    Is that where I am?
    Don’t you know?
    No, but I remember it was a dashed long walk!

    You walked here, why?
    For a drink, and to use the telephone.
    Who are you going to call, I hope its local.

    Why?
    You’ll find out.
   There isn’t going to be any finding out!
    Who said that?
    I did.

    And you are?
    I am Number Two.
    He’s the boss!
    The head man eh. Then this is for you!
    The man reached into his long black coat and brought out a small black leather wallet and Number 2 smiled
    For me?
    For your successor.
    My..............then?
    You’re terminated!
    There was a loud report, and gun smoke filled the room. Two men in long black coats and top hats came running into the Cat and Mouse
    My God you fellows are quick!
    Who do you think we are?
    Undertakers?
    And who might you be?
    Looks like I’m the new Number Two! The man said pinning a brand new 2 badge to the lapel of his coat.

Be seeing you

The Prisoner World Gallery

   Readers might well be interested in the following link, an archive of newspaper and magazine articles relating to both ‘the Prisoner’ and Patrick McGoohan.

https://archive.org/details/ThePrisonerWorldGalleryStarbrite/page/n0

BCNU

'FIFTY YEARS OF THE PRISONER'

http://www.quoitmedia.co.uk/prisoner50dvd.htm

BCNU

'WHERE HAVE I BEEN ALL MY LIFE? A MEMOIR' by ANNETTE ANDRÉ

http://www.quoitmedia.co.uk/annetteandre.htm

BCNU

Village Life!

    “Poor old chap!”
    “Who?”
    “Haven’t you heard?”
    “Heard, heard what?”
    “Why about The General.”
    “What about him?”
    “You know what happened with Speed Learn?”
    “I don’t watch television.”
    “You must be about the only person in The Village who doesn’t! A new Number Two arrives this morning.”
    “I never did think Number Two was fit for a further term, not with that stomach ulcer!”
    “It was a complete mess. The General destroyed, both the Professor, and Number Twelve dead of Administration, with Number Two permanently asking the question why.”
    “Is there going to be an enquiry?”
    “An inquiry into what?”
    “The failure of Speed Learn.”
    “Oh it will be swept under the carpet much like any other failure here, besides who’s to know?”
    “But you can’t cover up two deaths, what about Madam Professor?”
    “I’m not, and she will continue to live in The Village conducting her art seminars.”
    “And what about the students?”
    “Don’t you find it strange?”
    “How do you mean strange?”
    “It’s the citizens.”
    “What about them?”
    “Well not one of them has asked about the Professor’s lectures. It was only yesterday, and yet it’s as though the lectures had never taken place!”
    “What lectures?”
    “Oh don’t you start!”
    “You know what the trouble with you is.”
    “No.”
    “You think too much!”
    “At least I can, not being programmed by a computer!”
    “You shouldn’t talk like that.”
    “Why?”
    “Someone might hear......how long have you been with us?”
    “Quite a long time.”
    “Obviously long enough to know better as to guard one’s thoughts!”
    “Do you know what I’m thinking now?”
    “I fancy a cup of tea and buttered toast.”
    “That’s remarkable!”
    “Not really, we always go for tea and buttered toast at the cafe this time of the morning.”
    “Not always, sometimes we have teacakes!”
    “Do you know what I’m thinking?”
    “Yes, that it’s my turn to pay!”

Be seeing you

Exhibition of Arts And Crafts

      I Wish I’d Never Come To this Place!

BcNu

ESCAPE!

   The Prisoner tried escaping by land, that didn’t work out so well, all that happened was he had a nasty accident. Luckily an ambulance was quickly despatched and soon on the scene!

    The next day Number 6 attempted to escape by air, but unfortunately for him he became unwittingly involved with a latest experiment, the development of a drone aircraft. A pilot-less helicopter flown by a technician in the Control Room!

    Then during ‘The Chimes of Big Ben’ Number 6 spent 6 weeks carving out a boat for himself and Nadia, because she claimed to know the location of The Village. And with such given information Number 6 could then calculate where he was sailing to! It was a 30 mile voyage to a cave on the Polish coast, or at least it was supposed to be. Because before he knew it he was crated up and on the back of a lorry on his way back to The Village!
    He did try one further escape attempt by air, it was a golden opportunity, he was not the pilot on that occasion. However the plan failed due to the lack of basic information. The fact that Susan died a year ago!
    Number 6 attempted two further sea-escapes, one was on the spur of the moment after he realized what they had been doing to him. The other was meticulously planned, he even had a number of reliable conspirators helping him, and yet both attempts failed. The last thing he tried before he gave up, was to attempt to get a message to the outside world, it didn’t matter who received the message, someone, anyone. The message was picked up, but presumably by the crew of M. S. Polotska, who returned the body back to The Village, and the contents of the dead man’s wallet to Number 2! Yes I realize ‘Dance of The Dead’ comes before ‘Checkmate’ in the screening order. But either way, Number 6 exhausted all the ways to escape by sea, well almost all. He never once tried to go inland by river, perhaps by dug-out canoe, after all The Village is set on the mouth of the estuary, of a river!

Be seeing you

Life Outside The Village!

    How ironic it is, that Number 6 should happen upon a British Police road block, which was looking for an escaped prisoner! What were the chances of that happening? At least now he has positive identification of which country he’s in. Mind you the iconic white cliffs, and the Beachy Head lighthouse should have told him that. But after having been incarcerated in The Village, isolated from the rest of the world, he was having difficulty trusting reality. I did once wonder why Number 6 didn't give himself up to the Police. But then thinking about it, he had no form of identification. His appearance was one of a man who had been sleeping rough for quite a long time. Indeed they may very well have taken him for this escaped prisoner they were looking for, and arrested him on the spot. So it was just as well that Number 6 kept himself out of sight, otherwise he may very well have found himself on the run once again. Because had he been caught by the police, let him then try and prove his identity!

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A Favourite Scene in A B and C

    When Number 6, having gained entry to the secret laboratory in the woods, walks along the corridor with a white envelope in his hands, he slaps his thigh with it a time or two. While on the wall screen Number 2 and Number 14 watch the pair of steel doors open, whilst the actual pair of steel doors remained firmly closed, and Number 6 enters the laboratory.
   “I owe you an apology.”
   “An apology?”
   “Yes……I forgot to give you this……..a bargain is a bargain.”
   Number 6 offers the white envelope to Number 2 as he watches the scene play out on the wall screen, and urges himself to open the envelope, he must see what’s in it.
   On the wall screen Number 2 opens the envelope, far from being the Prisoner’s letter of resignation, the content of said envelope is a collection of holiday brochures!
    “He was going on holiday!”
    “I wasn’t selling out, that wasn’t the reason I resigned” Number 6 tells Number 2.
   Number 6 settles himself on the operating table, and Number 2 is a broken man!
    It must have been difficult for Number 2, watching himself play out a scene he should be playing out in reality. Why it’s almost enough to make one question reality itself. More than that he was forced to watch his own failure! Number 6 wasn’t selling out, that wasn’t the reason he resigned. Number 2 said that they had researched and computed Number 6’s whole life, well someone got it wrong when it was supposed to come down to three people, A B and C. Well you can’t blame the computer, it arrived at the conclusion it did because of the information about the Prisoner’s life it was programmed with. And a computer is only as good as its programming!

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Caught On Camera!

    This must have been how it was for Curtis, on the day he arrived in The Village!

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Playing The Game

    “Sir, you play a fine game” No.14 says paying No.6 the compliment.  Well that's as may be, but No.6 was but a pawn, and moved only two squares on the board during the human chess match. But No.14 wasn’t complimenting No.6 on his chess prowess, but referring to the game No.6 plays the game against the authority behind The Village, the game he plays against No.2. No.14 may be too old for escape, but at least he can still defy them by keeping his mind alert. That's why he plays chess. And by using people, is the only opportunity one gets for power in The Village.

    Mind you, I could never figure out why No.6 asked No.8-the white Queen who No1 is? I mean whatever made No.6 think that No.8 would know who No.1 is? Mind you, I suppose No.6 had to ask someone. No.2 wouldn't have told him, even if he or she knew. And there was no point in picking up the telephone to ask the telephone operator to put him through to No.1. But if the telephone operator had, and if No.1 had answered, whose voice would No.6 have heard? No.6 might very well have ended up speaking to himself, if we are to believe the outcome of No.6 finally getting to meet No.1 in the final episode of ‘Fall Out.’         

Be seeing you.

In The Village!

    It’s mainly a place for the gathering of information, to be extracted by fair means or foul, as well as protected. The Village is a place for human experimentation, technological breakthroughs, of misery, pain, and despair, for playing games of cat and mouse. A place to arrive at and to try and escape from, if you know the way!
    Prisoners and warders what’s the difference between them? There is no difference, everyone prisoner or warder they are all lifers because they are Village, except for the lucky few who are allowed to leave. Others remain for they have no choice in the matter, they reside in the cemetery!
    Number 6 since his arrival has led them a merry dance of the dead, and at times it been a right free for all, and it’s not been at all as easy as A B and C, and sometimes there has been a change of mind. But we listen, we listen for the chimes of Big Ben for they give hope. But the cat and mouse game usually ends in a checkmate win for Number 2, sometimes stalemate, or an occasional win for Number 6. The General idea is that the schizoid man should keep away from the girl who was death, because if not it’s you funeral! So do not forsake me oh my darling, and let there not be a fall out amongst friends. Because once upon a time it was like living in harmony, had it not been for Number 6 and Number 2 fighting like hammer and anvil! But if you have to go, remember it can so easily be many happy returns no matter where you go, sooner or later

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Quote For The Day

    “Sign your number here Number Six.”

                                {The postman – Dance of The Dead}

    The postman was making a special delivery to the cottage of 6 Private, an invitation to the Ball, and quite naturally the postman asked Number 6 to sign for it, as proof that the specially delivery had been made. But Number 6 declined to sign his number, was that because he refuses to acknowledge his number in any way? Or was it simply that he never signs for anything? Although he did once, during the previous episode Number 6 signed an I.O.U for 964 units on the counter in the General Stores for the provisions he had helped himself to, including a copy of The Tally Ho, as well as the camera. Perhaps that’s the reason Number 6 never signs his number to anything, because they might well have held Number 6 to that I.O.U he signed, and so had to pay the 964 Units outstanding!

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Village Life!

    “How is life treating you here in The Village Thorpe?”
    “Who did you call me?”
    “And there you were thinking you wouldn’t mind a fortnight’s leave here. Not such a far cry from Sing Sing after all!”
    “Who are you?”
    “Did they seek you out, or you them?”
    “It must have afforded you the opportunity to try and break Number 6. Let’s face it you two didn’t get on that time did you?”
    “I am Number Two.”
    “Yes, but probably not for very much longer. You have to be hammer or anvil, isn’t that how it goes? Well it would seem that hammers break sooner than anvils!”
    “What do you want?”
    “To gloat over a man who clutches that Penny Farthing for comfort.”
    “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.
    “You have come to report my downfall!”
    “Well you started all that by yourself, increase call in vigilance by Number Two. And all that guff about enemies within, we don’t know who they are. Conspiracies, what conspiracies, there are no conspiracies. You brought it all on yourself Number Two.”
    “It’s all that Number 6’s fault!”
    “Number Six, what’s he got to do with it?”
   “Don’t ask me, ask him...........oh get out, get out!”
    “Do you know One-one-three b, I bet he wished he’d never come here!”
    “Think they’ll let him go?”
    “Shouldn’t think so, those nice men in white coats will probably come to take him away.”
   

Be seeing you

Caught On Camera!

   What it must be like to stand and watch yourself being suffocated into unconsciousness or even to death. To witness ones own death must be a terrible thing. But nevertheless that is what Number 6 does in 'The Schizoid Man.'

     Perhaps he thinks that that could have been him had he given the password Gemini to the Guardian, that no-one deserves to die like that.

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Exhibition of Arts And Crafts

Exhibition of Arts And Crafts

       Cuckoo  – That Would Be No.2!

BcNu

Thought For The Day

    The Prisoner is hospitalized after having had a very nasty experience with the Guardian. Then he’s invited by a doctor to have a medical, after all the after effects of being suffocated into unconsciousness can be pretty nasty. The Prisoner is strongly advised to have a medical, after all it’s for his own good. But what kind of medical is it, when all the doctor does it check the man’s heart? It’s not a thorough medical at all. The doctor then programmes the computer probably with some basic fact’s, and out pops a computer printout card diagnosing that the patient is absolutely fit! How is the doctor able to read, or at least interpret the content of that printout card?

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Page 6

    The Prisoner is all about Number 6, that in turn might well suggest The Village is simply for the benefit of Number 6 also. Seeing as 6 is 1 I can well believe it, especially a man with the size of ego he has! I mean talk about monomania on a big scale. Who else would make himself out to be Number 1? No-one else in The Village bothered themselves about the identity of Number 1. Number 2 said it doesn’t matter who Number 1 is. It was Number 6 all the time asking who is Number 1, as if it mattered, which it didn’t. So in the end Number 6 only had himself to blame, he was a prisoner of his own self. Don’t bother about who Number 1 is, just look after yourself!

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Arrival

    “Accomplishment of an object” what think you that might be? Well that was a clue for a crossword puzzle, the answer was “Arrival.” So might not that have been the Prisoner's objective Arrival, and if so why?

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A Favourite Scene In The General

    Number 6 is sitting at the Café drinking a cup of coffee. A helicopter is circling above, he looks as though he is wondering who is just arriving, or maybe he remembers the time when he piloted the helicopter for a short time. But the truth of the matter is, the pilot of the helicopter is searching for someone, as it turns out it’s the Professor they are looking for. 
    There comes a public announcement

Number 6 asks for another cup of coffee, but the Cafe is closing, he did hear the announcement......

    “Waiter.”
    “Sir?”
    “Another coffee please.”
    “Sorry sir, we’re closing………..you did hear the announcement sir…..about the Professor.”
    “I’m not one of his students.”
    “One coffee sir…two credit units if you please……..you’re never too old to learn sir.”

    “Who told you that, the Professor?”
    “No sir, the General!”
    “The General?”
    “Best of luck with your exams sir.”
   “Thank you.”

   Number 6 doesn’t seem to be aware of either the Professor or the General, which begs the questions where has Number 6 been all this time? After all the Speed Learn experiment didn’t just begin over night, judging by the students and the announcement Speed Learn has been running for quite some time. Or at least that is the impression I get!

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Exhibition of Arts And Crafts

       There must be some kind of way out of here!

BcNu

Six Is The One

    Am I the one? I don’t think I’m the one, because 6 could be the one, he’s important enough to be the one. Sometimes I think 6 is the most important man in The Village, after all everything appears to revolve around him. Why is that? After all he’s just a prisoner in The Village just like anyone else. I heard 6 suggest to 2 that he’s just as much a prisoner as he is. But of course he is, he knows too much. And even if he knew too little he’d still be a prisoner. Because once anyone works for The Village they instantly become prisoners, and there’s no escape, not for anyone.
   So 6 is the one, well its no wonder really the way he’s treated. Oh I know he’s put through the mill now and again, but no real harm befalls him. He has a future with The Village you see, he must be won over. No extreme measures are to be used, there are other ways. They don’t want him broken you see, they want him with a whole heart, body and soul, and not a man of fragments.  Lucky bloody him that’s what I say. But what about the rest of us? Why don’t any of us get the chance to be the one? What makes this 6 so damned special, what’s wrong with 7? That’s a good point, why keep 7 out of it? There has to be a 7 somewhere, somewhere someone has to be 7. I could be 7, 7 is the one, we want 7 seven is the one…..we want 7, 7 is the one, would be the chant. But then if 6 is the one, and 6 and 1 are 7. Then 7 is the magic number, and 10 is the interloper which was never originally wanted by 7. So should we reject the 10, but which is the 10 and which the 7? 1 to begin and 2 to finish, together they make the 3. Because there must be a beginning and an ending, and in-between is space just enough for 4! But 4 of which, or is it 4 of the other, in either case it leaves 6 remaining out in the cold, unwanted and uncared for. 6 left on the shelf, never to be seen again. Poor sad and lonely 6, no longer important to anyone!

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In The Village!

    He brews his brew, plays with his chalk, this chemist, they then come along once a week, photograph the stuff on the blackboard, then clean it so that the chemist can get to work on another lot. Another lot of what, what’s he working on, and who sets the problem, for him to come up with some answer in a scientific formula? Is it supposed that this chemist will simply put his mind to some problem of his own, and come up with the answer in a scientific formula? He’s certainly good at formulating drugs, the potion was to the exact proportions, just enough to carry Number 6 through the election, and without any remembrances.
    So are we really to believe that this chemist actually lives in that cave? That he’s allowed to live beyond the pale of The Village? Brewing his illicit brew, and turning his cave into a place where citizens can go and get drunk, to be alcoholics in perfect privacy, just as long as they rejoin the flock in good time. It seems highly unlikely. More likely is that the so called Therapy Zone was mocked up simply for the benefit of Number 6. After all there was only he and Number 2 there, customers of the chemist. 
    Number 2 sounds quite convincing though, when he gave that toast “To hell with The Village!” He had me going the first time I saw it. I once believed that Number 2 was sincere in his toast. But he wasn’t, far from it in fact. 
    If the Therapy Zone in the cave had been mocked purely for the benefit of Number 6 during ‘Free For All,’ it makes one wonder if this was the first time. Or whether the so called Therapy Zone had been employed before for the benefit of another prisoner or prisoners!

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Exhibition of Arts And Crafts

                      I Wanna To Be Elected!

BcNu

Village Life!

    “They say Number Two has reported a bomb outside the door of the Green Dome!”
    “That’s right.”
    “And they’ve sent us to investigate.”
    “Well they would, wouldn’t they, after all we’re bomb disposal.”
    “Yes, I know. But you’d think they would give us a special unmarked vehicle.”
    “Be fair they have given us an unmarked vehicle.”
    “Yeah that would be right, they’ve blacked out the word taxi on the number plate. Oh and while we’re about it, what kind of siren did they give us.”
    “A high pitched one!”
    “Well you might call it that, but I’ve certainly never heard it’s like before. You and I are important men. We are about to go into a dangerous situation. We are putting our lives on the line, there are lives to be saved!”
    “Your point being?”
    “Well they might have given the vehicle a more masculine siren, one becoming our status as bomb disposal men!”
    “Did you check our equipment?”
    “Two hard hats, and a litter bin, two pieces of sponge, and a bucket of sand.”
    “Not very technical is it........just a minute, a litter bin?”
    “Yes.”
    “Why, and where did you get it?”
    “Funding wouldn’t run to two buckets, so I removed the litter bin from a wall. What happens if the bomb explodes?”
    “We use our intuitive!”

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Caught On Camera!

   Observe if you will the blank placards in the above picture taken during the election in ‘Free For All.’ Of course Number 6’s face is on the other side of the placards hence his face hidden from view, well from the front aspect. It’s as though they didn’t want Number 6’s face seen too soon. And yet the citizens who walk behind those who carry the placards could plainly see Number 6’s face upon them. Then once Number 6 had given his first speech the placards would be turned round showing Number 6’s face to the camera. I suppose it might be asked why hold the placards at all if Number 6’s face was not to be seen too soon? Obviously for instant impact, Number 6 having been accepted by a large majority of the electorate as their local candidate. Mind you the instant appearance of the placards, especially the large “Vote for No.6” placard came as rather a shock to Number 6, the effect was to give him a nasty jolt. Which in itself should have been a warning to him. But by that time it was too late, he was carried along by the enthusiasm of the electorate! Certainly Number 2 was sure of his subject to have those election placards of Number 6 made in the first place! But then again he hadn’t personally knocked the placards up. And if Number 6 hadn’t gone for Number 2’s suggestion of standing for election, well the placards would simply have been thrown away, as they would have been disposed of after the election.

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Exhibition of Arts And Crafts

                    To The Victor The Spoils!

BcNu

Thought For The Day

    Number 6 the lone Wolf! So very different from what had taken place before, Number 6 the defender of the people. And now those same people have been turned against him. Number 6 has effectively been sent to Coventry, and if he doesn’t toe the line he’ll lose all his privileges. No more credit, no more taxis, no more personal maids, oh he’d already lost that particular privilege! 
   It was all very well trying to turn the tables on the Committee. That was when they mentioned the complaints, “well done,” Number 6 said “I’ve several,” as if that would wash with the Committee. And tearing up that questionnaire, what was that, an act of bravado? Number 6 treated it as a game, all this disharmonious-ness, and unmutuality. And yet it soon became less of a game. And it was whilst watching birds of a feather flock together, meaning the Cormorants, the game didn’t seem funny anymore.
    Number 6 may have felt that he had undergone the process known as Instant Social Conversion, but we as the viewer knew differently. We saw Number 86 turn that dial down to zero. And yet before the episode of ‘A Change of Mind’ commenced, we had a fair idea that they might have Number 6 posted as being disharmonious, and an Unmutual. But never would they take a risk with Number 6 as to perform a Leucotomy on him, to isolate the aggressive frontal lobes. True, such an operation could have had three differing effects on the patient. Firstly the operation could have been a success, rendering the patient docile. Secondly they could have lost Number 6’s mind altogether, leaving him a brain-dead imbecile. And thirdly, the operation may not have had any effect on the patient whatsoever! Thinking about it, I wonder if that’s what the doctor-Number 40 performed on Roland Walter Dutton in the end? That would explain Dutton’s final state of mind when Number 6 called him as a character witness at his trial in ‘Dance of the Dead.’ His mind having completely gone!

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You Never Know Who Might Come Calling!

    ‘Free For All’ and No.6 is on the telephone speaking to No.2, who is seen speaking to No.6 on the telephone, but through the television set.

  Is this one of the first experimental telephone video calls, a video phone it might be called, which is a very rudimentary system when it comes to today’s mobile telephone video technology. But then such technology had to begin somewhere! But what's strange, is that moments after No.6 puts the receiver of the telephone down, the door to his cottage, opens and there, stands No.2 framed in the doorway!

    The question then is, and one I've not been able to put an answer to, only to surmise how its possible for No.2 to arrive on the doorstep of ‘6 Private’ so quickly. Could he have been calling No.6 from a telephone kiosk? However I think its clear No.2 telephoned No.6 from the Control Room. On the Other hand, seeing as the telephones in The Village are cordless, is it possible to use such telephones like a mobile phone? This would make it possible for No.2 to have been calling No.6 from just around the corner from his cottage, and that would explain how it was No.2 could appear at No.6's cottage door so quickly. However it doesn't explain the background of the Control Room seen on the television screen. One answer might be, that an image of a small section of the Control Room had been pinned to the outside wall of ‘6 Private’ and No.2 was filmed telephoning No.6 there. Thus giving the illusion that No.2 is in the Control Room, and at the same time creating the answer of how he managed to get to ‘6 Private’ so quickly!’

   Clever aren’t they? Yes, they are, damned clever!

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