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Monday 31 December 2018

New Year's Greetings

Let me wish you all a very



Bseenu

Collectors Corner

    It’s been on record that I have been looking to add this record to my collection of many years. Oh there have been several copies available over the years, only not at the price I would choose to pay.

    However Santa Clause {as mentioned in the Prisoner} dropped by and left this for me, the “gatefold” Prisoner LP record. Although without its three original enclosures {which I already have} the sleeve itself is in excellent condition, as is the record itself. Produced in 1984, this record now completes my Prisoner record collection, well almost, all but the “Holy Grail” of Prisoner memorabilia which is still outstanding.
The Ron Grainer Orchestra ‎– The Prisoner
Label: RCA Victor ‎– RCA 1635
Format: Vinyl, 7", 45 RPM, Single
Priced at anywhere between £24.99 and £150 this does not include postage and packaging which can be between £9 and £30!!!!!

Be seeing you

Bureau of Visual Records

   Unhealthy aspects of speech, well I can understand how this youthful hippy’s form of speech wouldn’t exactly fit in the Village. It’s difficult to see Number 48 fitting in anywhere in the Village, or indeed to understand why this youth was brought to the Village in he first place. Unhealthy aspects of dress, but surely Number 48 wasn’t permitted to wear his current attire, surely his clothes would have been taken away, and replaced with more conventional Village attire.
    Number 48 doesn’t appear to have any place in the Village whatsoever. If he had then he represents failure if Number 2 could not curve this youth’s rebellious nature. It might be that 48 was born in the Village, and grew to loath the place and all it stood for and so he “dropped out,” hence he once being with them, but then he went and gone. But then there’s the question of his clothes, where would he have obtained them? Perhaps from a warehouse where all the people who arrive in the Village have their clothes taken and stored. Number 48 doesn’t fit in unlike the late Number 2 and the former Number 6, he’s the odd one out, because he represents rebellious youth that’s all, in other words he is a contrivance on the part of the scriptwriter. Unlike Number 2 who comes from the British Establishment, the House of Lords no less, while Number 6 stems from British Military Intelligence. But Number 48 has no background, rather like the Butler, more is known about Number 6 than any of these two! If you think Number 6 is an enigma, what does that make Number 48 and the Butler?


Be seeing you

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! And yet 7 are the ages of man!


Be seeing you

Caught On Camera!

    I have a large Teddy bear very much like the one sat in the chair there, he’s called Mister Aldershaw, as pictured below. I note the red Ferrari racing car, the steam traction engine, the rocking horse {which we will soon be seeing again in ‘Once Upon A time’} and the Gollywog, but what are the two funny looking creatures on the two wooden cabinets? One is a fat round owl, but the other it suggests nothing to me, unless it’s a type of “Gonk!”

                      {Mr. Aldershaw}
       Who is that peeping out there on the left of the picture?
Be seeing you

Sunday 30 December 2018

The Ghost of Christmas Past!

    I have seen Christmas pictures of Number 6 in which a Christmas hat has been superimposed upon his head. However it’s not everyone who can place an actual Christmas hat on Number 6’s head, in order to put him in the Christmas sprit whether he likes it or not!


Be seeing you and a very happy and peaceful New Year to you all.

Saturday 29 December 2018

Village Life!

    “I tell you something, someone is going to pay dearly for this! Number One-one-eight, why was there no bruised fingernail on Number 6’s first finger of his left hand? I said, why was there no bruised fingernail…….oh never mind!”

Be seeing you

Quote For The Day

    “I am Number Two.”
    “You are number nothing!”
                               {Number 2 and Number 6 – Once Upon A Time}
    Number nothing, nought, zero, is that higher or lower to Number 1? Only in cards the Ace, the Number 1 can be a high card or a low one. If it’s high it’s above a King, if low it is subservient to 2. In Navel terms Number 2 is second in command to the Captain of a ship, a 1st lieutenant, 1st officer, or Number 1. As for zero in The Village, there is no number nothing just as there is no number 7, both are mere digits that accompany other digits to make a double digit number. 7 and 0 cannot exist in The Village alone.


Be seeing you

Thought For The Day

    Number 2 told Number 6 he knows too much that’s why they’re both lifers, which would suggest Number 6 know too much as well. He went on to say he’s an optimist, that’s why it doesn’t matter who Number 1 is. It doesn’t matter which side runs The Village. Number 6 might well be staying, but Number 2 is free to leave The Village, you will recall how they brought him back for ‘Once Upon A Time.’ So how can Number 2 be a lifer if he’s allowed to leave The Village? Perhaps because he still works for The Village in the outside world! Many do you know, Cobb for one, the Colonel and Fotheringay for two others. Perhaps ZM73 worked for The Village, but then for whatever reason he went and resigned, and they wanted to know why one of their agents had gone wrong. So they had him brought to The Village!


Be seeing you

Citizen No.2


   This man is unique when it comes to Number 2. Unique because not only is he Chairman of The Village, the Chief Administrator, he’s also on the Board of Education. As well as being the only Number 2 to be seen dressed as a Top Hat official of Administration! I wonder if he carries out funerals on the side?


Be seeing you

Thursday 27 December 2018

Village Life!

    “We’re not quite sure what it is!”
    “Is that a church door?”
    “It might be the archway to this Recreation Hall!”
    “There’s a crosspiece, I wonder what it is?”
    “Well it’s a crosspiece any fool can see that!”
    “But what about the piece with all the holes in it?”
    “Woodworm?”
    “There’s just one thing I don’t understand?”
    “Only one?”
    “Where is Number Two in this sculpture?”
    “Number Two?”
    “Yes, his face is practically on everything here. So where is Number Two’s face on this?” 
   “Oh look there he is, peering through one of those holes!”
    “It makes the piece complete in my opinion!”


Be seeing you

Fall Out!

   “Evacuate…evacuate…evacuate!” such was the order given to the citizens of The Village at the command of Number 2-the Judge. But did the citizens know what to do, or where to go in such an emergency? Where were the assembly points for the helicopters? The command came through the public address system for them to evacuate, but not where to go, or where to assemble for evacuation by helicopter. It could be that the citizens had been drilled for such an emergency, that fire drills had been carried out from time to time. Well it stands to reason that The Village would have had a fire station, standing by in case of an outbreak of fire. Perhaps a Mini-Moke could have been converted into a small fire engine!
   Then again, we do not actually see the citizens being well drilled for such emergencies as for fire, or an evacuation. People calmly lining up ready to board the helicopters. They seem to be more in a panic. Running this way and that, eventually a large group running away from The Village along the beach! But at least The Village administration had the sense to have all those helicopters available for just such an emergency! 


Be seeing you

Tea Break Teaser

    In ‘The Schizoid Man’ Rover patrols The Village as it may, in fact Rover is abroad in The Village before Number 2 issues an Orange Alert! So why the need to instigate such an alert when Rover is already activated?


Be seeing you

C!

    It’s really not a bad likeness, but how many sculptured busts do you see wearing spectacles? Not many I’ll be bound. And I can’t remember when I last saw a bust brandishing a mustache, full beard yes, mustache no, except for Lord Kitchener. So they brought ‘C’ to The Village after all.


Be seeing you

Monday 24 December 2018

Village Life!

    “Compliments of the season.”
    “What do you mean by that?”
    “Well it is Christmas eve.”
    “What’s that got to do with the price fish, you’ll be wishing me a merry Christmas next!”
    “Well yes, merry Christmas.”
    “Merry Christmas indeed!”
    “You’ll be saying Bah humbug next!”
    “Why are you smiling like that, you’re acting like a big kid!”
    “I’ve got you a present.”
    “You haven’t!”
    “I have.”
    “I haven’t got you anything.”
    “You didn’t get me anything last year!”
    “That’s because we didn’t celebrate Christmas last year!”
    “I was wondering why I was the only one in the choir!”
    “That was you singing was it? There were complaints!”
    “We must try to get into the festive spirit.”
    “Must we?”
    “Number Two is wearing a red jacket with white piping.”
    “Is he?”
    “Yes, what’s more I’ve seen him driving about in a Mini-Moke fixed up with antlers and a big red nose!”
    “What’s that you’re humming?”
    “My favourite carol, God rest ye merry gentlemen. Come on we’ll sing it as we make our way to the café for tea and mince pies.”

    “God rest ye merry gentlemen
let nothing you dismay
remember Christ our saviour
was born on Christmas Day
to save us all from Satan’s pow’r
when we were gone astray
oh tidings of comfort and joy
comfort and joyoh tidings of comfort and joy…..”

Be seeing yule!

A Favourite Scene In Dance of The Dead

    A favourite scene in ‘Dance of The Dead,’ yet equally it could be from ‘Many Happy Returns’ after Number 6, who has recently returned to The Village, looks out of his cottage window. And yet, it is the wrong view, for Number 6 to look out upon this scene, he would have to live in one of the terraced cottages next to the Green Dome. For to do so from his own cottage is clearly impossible!
   But it’s nice to see the good citizens of this fine community promenading around the pool and fountain of the Piazza, which for many is a daily occurrence, well I suppose it passes the time. But it might not be the promenading which is the important thing. For the Victorians who although they were very fond of promenading in parks, along esplanades at costal resorts, it was not so much the promenading that was so important, it was being seen! But why our diminutive friend the
Butler is standing there overlooking the scene, is anyone’s guess. Did you realize that only two citizens have such a black and white striped umbrella like that one, the Butler and Number 6. Only Number 6 cast his umbrella away into the back of a taxi on the day he was discharged from the hospital, but he must have retrieved it because later he’s seen to have it when he meets with Number 9 at the Brass band concert, but is never seen with it again in the entire series. So perhaps he cast the umbrella to one side again only for the Butler to pick it up who is seen holding it up, not only in this scene but others as well.
    But why open umbrellas on such a sunny day, why to act as parasols for protection against the sun, why else?


Be seeing you

Questions Are A Burden!

    When the Prisoner having expelled his personal maid, after judging what her little game was, he explores the interior of his cottage. And opening a small writing desk he opens a leather bound {the Prisoner being very particular in his stationery} ‘things to do today’ pad in which a note reads “Don’t forget to send thank you note for the flowers.” What flowers? Who would be sending him flowers? Does that memo appertain to someone back in London, certainly not in The Village, he’s only just arrived. And besides there are no flowers! Another note said “Arrived today, made very welcome.” Obviously this second note originates from the day of his arrival in the Village, but the Prisoner didn’t write it, as he was unconscious at the time. So who wrote that?


Be seeing you

Caught On Camera!

    Why is it that whenever Number 6 is in Number 2’s office they keep a spotlight on him? It was the same when he had his first interview with Number 2 on the day of his arrival. Perhaps Number 6 likes to be in the spotlight, maybe the use of a spotlight harkens back to stage work in the theatre! All The Village is a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances,
And one villager in his time plays many parts.


Be seeing you

Saturday 22 December 2018

Dear readers, no dear friends,

Compliments of the festive season to you all.

Thank you for your continued support of my blog
I wish you all
a very merry Christmas
with health, peace, and happiness for
the New Year

Be seeing yule

The Prisoner On Radio 4 Extra

   December 2018 – January 2019 Radio 4 Extra here in the UK are running the first series of Big Finish's audio drama of the Prisoner at 6pm on Sundays and repeated on Monday evenings at midnight.



Be listening!

Village Life!

    “How are you going to handle this?”
    “Well I don’t want to be too hard on her, I’m surprised they even sent her here.”
    “What crime has she committed?”
    “No crime, just a case of nervous tension, they sent her here to recuperate.”
    “What, they sent her to The Village to be made better?”
    “An interesting concept don’t you think?”
    “What methods are you going to use against her?”
    “I don’t want to be too hard on her. Perhaps we’ll use the gentle approach. Go back to your cottage, and should you bump into the new Number Eight, well perhaps you could give her the benefit of your own experience. You do remember your first day?”
    “How could I forget?”
    “Besides it will save a good deal of time if you explained about the taxis, perhaps it might be better for her if you brought her to the Green Dome for me. Oh don’t come in, just bring her to the door.”
    “Anything else?”
    “No that’s all for the present. I’ll call you if I need you.”
    “What happened to your last assistant?”
    “He took a sideways promotion. He made an improper suggestion about you!”
    “I’m not exactly over worked in the position myself.”
    “Don’t worry Number Six, I am glad you are here, even if no-one else is!”
    “Thanks very much.”
    “Don’t worry, I’ve a feeling this assignment is going to have an added attraction for you.”
    “If I get her in my cottage I’ll give her the works!”
    “Naughty naughty!”
    “They used to call it the hollow legs treatment, I’ll get some gin down her!”
    “That’s the spirit Number Six.......just a minute it will be a waste of time, its non alcoholic!”
    “Well you waste your time and I’ll waste mine!”
    “I’ll be watching you Number Six.”
    “Then I hope you learn something!”


Be seeing you

In The Village!

    We’ve seen Number 21 before, in fact she was the first person to speak in The Village, she was a waitress at the cafe then. She offered him breakfast and coffee, but now she seems to have been reduced to acting as a maid, the evening maid who makes Number 6 his nightcap telling him
    “Drink it while it’s hot.”
    “What is it?”
    “It’s good for you.”
    “Good for someone.”  
   Number 6 is a very fortunate man, not only does he have a daytime personal maid, to bring him his breakfast, and to flick a yellow duster or feather duster about the place, but he’s got a night time personal made as well to make him his nightcap! I suppose the maids must make Number 6’s bed as well, perhaps they also do his laundry for him, after all he must have  a change of clothes at some point, as well as change of underwear. It’s a wonder they don’t run his bath for him, and turn down the bed at night! I just wonder how many other prisoners get this kind of treatment, or privileges? I suppose when you’ve a prize prisoner like Number 6 you do your level best to look after him, after all they wouldn’t want any harm to befall him, would they?


Be seeing you

Thought For The Day

    Questions are a burden to others, meaning they don’t like questions probably as they don’t have the answers themselves. On the other hand, depending on whose side you are on, questions can be equally a burden to you, because you cannot find the answers! So why do any of us ask the questions in the first place? Because we want to know the answers and thereby create a prisoner for oneself because of what we know, unless of course it’s the answers we give to the questions which makes a prison for oneself!


Be seeing you

Friday 21 December 2018

Merry Christmas No.6!

               Seasons Greetings



 Be seeing yule!

Caught On Camera!

   The following images were taken by Eddie Mitchell and posted on Twitter.



  The link was sent to me by Alejandro Rivero.
   It looks like Village agents get everywhere.....it would appear that an ex-Number 2 has now a position with the Police. He appears to be operating what looks to be a monitoring station during the drone incident at Gatwick airport yesterday. And yet, is this a test of the electronic defence system invented by the Rook? Or perhaps the electronic Beam as operated in ‘Hammer Into Anvil’ in order the bring the drone down!

   On the other hand it’s either a simple case of Prisoner fans getting everywhere, or the Policeman is an ex-Cambridge man!


Be seeing you

Thursday 20 December 2018

MindGames!

    Take that night in ‘A B and C,’ when Number 6 emerges from the bathroom to find the maid has left his nightcap of hot chocolate on the work top of the dinette. What does he do? He pours the drink into the sink, then taking a glass he fills it with cold water from the tap, then holding up the glass he shows it to the camera looking into the clear liquid, and takes a sip of water. A few moments later he feels strange, the glass slips from his hand, and he collapses on the floor in the bedroom. 
   So each night when a maid makes Number 6’s nightcap, did she personally drug that drink from a receptacle, or was the drug fed into the water supply at certain times? Number 6 didn’t drink that nightcap, instead he took a sip of cold water drawn from the cold tap in the kitchen, after which he collapsed unconscious in the floor in the bedroom. For me that confirms the drug, the strong sedative, was administered through the tap water all the time, which in turn would have made it easier for the maid. Because no doubt she not only had to make Number 6’s nightcap, but for a number of other citizens as well.
   Number 6 usually drank his nightcap, because as he said to himself in ‘Dance of The Dead,’ “I’ve never seen a night, I just sleep.” But then that night Number 6 found he couldn’t sleep because he didn’t drink his nightcap. And again in ‘Hammer Into Anvil,’ he told Number 14 how he couldn’t sleep, that he was so restless. So there’s no point in lying in bed when you cannot sleep, so he got up and went out, what time might that have been? It was certainly very early in the morning, and at that time of day one might expect the door of his cottage to still have been securely locked. But perhaps they forgot to lock the French window again!
    Number 6 not having drunk his nightcap in ‘Dance of The Dead’ and so being unable to sleep would suggest the drug was in his nightcap, not so, because it indicates he didn’t drink any tap water either as he had in ‘A B and C.’ Number 6 thought he was being clever by not drinking his nightcap, but he wasn’t half clever enough. After all he didn’t have to drink the water, but then if he hadn’t, he might not have been asleep let along heavily sedated when the two men came for him during the night!


Be seeing you 

The Manager No.20

    It’s no wonder the Prisoner got annoyed in the manager’s office of the Labour Exchange, he recognized the man tinkering with the children’s construction set, Potter! Potter formally of the same department of British Military Intelligence, and here he was working in The Village asking him questions! Of course Potter is the first ex-colleague the Prisoner encountered in The Village, but he wouldn’t be the last by any means. Then Potter was promoted to assistant to Number 2 during ‘The Chimes of Big Ben,’ when he seemed happy to suggest to Number 2 that there are methods they haven’t used against Number 6. Perhaps it was that suggestion that saw him moved sideways down to the Control Room, and assistant to the Supervisor-Number 26. But perhaps it might have been more to the point that Potter was moved on due to the fact there was nothing for him to do. Thinking about it there was precious little for Number 2 to do, for him to warrant an assistant! And yet the Supervisor-Number 26 was a most organized and capable operative, who had the Control Room running like clockwork, and had the respect of the Observers. So really even in the Control Room there was precious little for Potter to be doing. That’s why when he’s seen, he’s seen to be standing about doing nothing! Even as the Labour Exchange manager tinkering around with that wooden construction set, he appears to have little to do. The line from ‘The Girl Who Was death may spring to mind at this point.... “Busy Potter?”


Be seeing you

Quote For The Day

     “No more wastage in schools. No more tedious learning by rote...... A brilliantly devised course, delivered by a leading teacher, subliminally learned and checked by an infallible authority....... and what do you have?”
    “A row of cabbages!”
    “Knowledgeable cabbages.”
                                             {No.2 and No.6 - The General}
    Well we might have met with this "row of cabbages" previously during the dissolution of the outgoing council at the Town Hall during the election period of ‘Free For All.’ And as the candidate Number 6 observed, what a bunch of “tailors dummies" they all turned out to be. And as far as I can see, a more suited "row of cabbages" you would not wish to meet.
     "Can you laugh, can you cry, can you think? In your heads must be the remnants of a brain. In your hearts must be the desire to be a human being again.”
     Is this what happens to those rotten cabbages in The Village? Brainwashed imbeciles, who might once have been former Number 2's who have now been sub-divided, and who now sit upon the Town Council without a voice, and without power to act. A puppet regime in a twentieth century Bastille which pretends to be a pocket democracy. It's all a farce really, as Number 6 observed. And to think the Town Council is democratically elected once a year, according to Number 2 and Number 6 could have been a member of the Town Council, amid those brainwashed imbeciles, with no heart or brain, nor the desire to be a human being again.
   Solitary confinement might have been more effective, or to get Number 6 so drunk that he wouldn’t be able to stop himself from talking his head off! But then that might prove to be too easy, as Number 2 and The Village administration, well they do like to play their little games.   


Be seeing You

I Think I’d Like Some Tea!

    I would be careful with that cup of tea if I were you Eighty-Six, tea cups, saucers and Number 6 do not mix, he upsets them more often than not. Either that or the tea gets poured away into a plant pot......told you so. You have to get up early to put one over on Number Six!


Be seeing you

Tuesday 18 December 2018

Caught On Camera!

    Just a minute! There’s the Prisoner on the morning of his arrival in The Village sure enough, and that’s his cottage. But where’s the rest of it, the bedroom, bathroom and the dinette located? They should be on this side of that wall as the Prisoner goes into his cottage. After the maid leaves the cottage the inner wall rises up to the roof space revealing a flat floor area with the dinette on the right, the bedroom to the left, and the bathroom in between. But looking at the cottage from this angle, there’s no room for any of those. As Doctor Who’s TARDIS is simply described, it’s bigger on the inside than on the outside, or was it smaller outside than it is inside, well whatever’s the greater. It’s handy for the shop though!


Be seeing you

Exhibition of Arts And Crafts

                 They Cannot Fool No.6! 
 BcNu

Quote For The Day

    “We have everything here, water electricity.”
                                  {No.2 – Arrival}
    
I should think they would have water and electricity, not much of a village without those. And has The Village got gas laid on? It is suggested that it has, because there is a gas pipe leading to the gas fire in the fire place of Number 12’s cottage in ‘The Schizoid Man.’ It’s the pipe Number 6 earthed himself to when he gave himself the electric shock therapy. Mind you that gas pipe might well have simply been for show, after all it was in Alison’s former home and would have to be in her cottage in The Village, but it might simply have been for show. After all, the cottage 6 Private might have a fire place, but it has no chimney!
   So The Village has two of the usual public amenities, water and electricity, but what about dealing with the sewage? Is The Village on mains sewage, or are cesspits made well use of? Being so isolated as The Village is, I should think mains sewage would be out of the question, as that would suggest a sewage treatment plant nearby. No, my money is on the use of cesspits!


Be seeing you

A Favourite Scene During The Opening Sequence

    As ZM73 {because he’s not the Prisoner yet} drives out of the underground car park and up the ramp, here’s a car waiting as the Lotus reaches the T junction. It’s a hearse with two undertakers in it, and they follow the Lotus through the streets of London to arrive in Buckingham Place before ZM73, and watch him go into the house.
    Had the two undertakers followed the Lotus to the underground car park, and then waited for the car to emerge? Or is it the case that someone ordered them there, to follow the Lotus back to the driver’s home and abduct him from there? If the latter who gave the two undertakers such an order and when, because even if it was that bureaucrat who ZM73 handed his letter of resignation to, then he’d have had to be damn quick about it, to organize the two undertakers in so short a time. Before ZM73 returned to his car from that office. And if it was the Colonel who gave the order then they’d have to be even quicker because the bureaucrat would have to tell him first. But if it had been Sir Charles Portland well that would have been a miracle to bring about such a plan in so short a time!
    I think ZM73’s abduction had been long since organized, before his resignation which was simply coincidental. Someone had had him under the closest possible surveillance, cameras in his home and all that. And for a reason, he was wanted by those masters we hear so much about from people in The Village, those masters who are the administration behind The Village. A man of ZM73’s calibre, who wouldn’t want him? But making him co-operate that’s a different game altogether!


Be seeing you

Sunday 16 December 2018

MindGames

    Patrick McGoohan said he had no idea who Number 1 is, so he made himself Number 1. It’s a great pity script editor George Markstien had long left working on the production of the series. Why? Because he could have been Number 1, he could have revived his role as the man sat behind the desk, as he might have been in both ‘Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling,’ and ‘Living In Harmony’ as the Marshal. After all it all began with the bureaucrat when ZM73 handed in his letter to that man. In ‘Fall Out’ Number 6 could have gone into the Control Room of the rocket only to find that same man sat there behind an oak desk, and he could have been Number 1 all the time!


Be seeing you

Exhibition of Arts And Crafts

                           Arrival
 BSEENU

Village Life!

    “Go easy on him this morning.”
    “Why?”
    “He’s in a bad mood.”
    “Did he get out of the wrong side of the bed or something?”
    “It’s because you forced him to use that red, curved, over-sized telephone yesterday.”
    “Oh.”
    “He thinks you were taking the micky out of him.”
    “He’s right!”
    “What are you two talking about?”
    “You.”
    “Well there’s only one thing worse than being talked about.”
    “What’s that?”
    “Not being talked about!”
    “And me......I’m not allowed to speak!”
    “That’s because you’re symbolic.”
    “Of what?”
    “The little man who hasn’t a voice.”
    “You’re just getting me on the cheap that’s all!”
    “What do you mean?”
    “If I talk on camera I get paid more.”
    “Ah but you’re enigmatic.”
    “I thought you said I was symbolic?”
    “Yes, and enigmatic, you are the real mystery,”
    “Me?”
    “Yes, they know who I am, but you are the man of mystery, the man with no identity, a man with no name, you don’t even have a number!”
    “I’d never thought of it like that.”
    “Are we getting on with this scene or not? And don’t make me use that damned telephone again or I’ll.......”
    “Or you’ll what.....resign?”
    “Let’s just get on, my ulcer’s playing up!”
    “Ready to go now......”
    “Stop!”
    “What is it now?”
    “Hair in the gate!”
    “Oh and I’ve drunk all the milk now!”
    “Ten minute break everyone.”
    “How was I Patrick?”
    “You were good Angelo.”
    “I’m a complete mystery then?”
    “You said it Angelo, but more than that you make me look even better than I am!”
    “Eh?”


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The Therapy Zone

    51 years on and do we understand ‘the Prisoner’ any more today than we did all those years ago? We had better, otherwise it’s been a tremendous waste of time! More than that, it means file Number 6, section 1, page 1, paragraph 1, back to the beginning! Cue dark clouds, cue thunder, cue the Lotus 7 being driven at speed from out of the distance, and don’t complicate matters this time, keep it simple. Don’t let your mind get all in a tangle, keep to the straight a narrow, and whatever you do don’t allow yourself to be side tracked, or led down side avenues that turn into a cul-de-sac, you’ll only have to go back on yourself, and then you’ll be lost. Keep it simple and straightforward. Remember the simple answers are the best answers, so at the beginning of ‘Arrival’ where is the Prisoner coming from? Perhaps he’s just coming back from visiting the Colonel at his country residence! But he’s on a runway not a road, and the sound of aircraft engines suggests an airport. One thing is for sure, he’s not the Prisoner at this point, seeing as he’s not resigned his job. But he has escaped from The Village, he did that in ‘Fall Out,’ and as we know ‘Fall Out’ is the prequel to ‘Arrival!’ So ZM73, for want of a better name, has recently escaped The Village, is about to resign his job for which he’ll be abducted to The Village from which he has recently escaped from! Ask me another............... Who is Number 2? A person who has been recruited from the British Foreign Office, or promoted to the position of Number 2 from within The Village administration. Who is Number 6? He’s an ex-secret agent, which means like Number 66-the ex-Admiral and Number 14-the ex-Count, he’s simply not a secret agent any longer! The Prisoner it’s not difficult, its simple really.


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Friday 14 December 2018

The Prisoner Means What It Is!

    The Prisoner it means what it is, but what exactly is it? First and foremost it’s a television series. Its drama, action and adventure, something to lose oneself in for fifty minutes, escapism if you prefer. And Number 6 is the hero, but he turns out to be the villain was well. While Number 6 is countering the machinations of Number 2, he as Number 1 is giving the orders at the same time! Who do you think issued that termination order against Dutton? My money is on Number 1. But of course we’re not supposed to know who Number 1 is, not until ‘Fall out.’ So it’s not the same the second time of watching, because we know who Number 1 is, of Number 6’s battle with himself, in which others may suffer as collateral damage! I think I preferred it when I didn’t know who Number 1 is, it was simpler then, the unknown villain behind the big door. Mind you no matter how many times one sits through ‘the Prisoner,’ Number 6 still doesn’t know who Number 1 is, not until that confrontation in ‘Fall Out.’
   “Who is Number One?” the Prisoner demands to know.
   “You are Number Six” Number 2 replies.
   Then some clever clogs came up with the idea of where to place the emphasis, so to makes it appear that Number 6 is Number 1. That way enthusiasts can say we knew who Number 1 was right from the very beginning. But I prefer it simply that Number 2 is telling the Prisoner that he is Number 6, that seems fine to me, and I’m happy with it, that’s all that matters. If people disagree then that’s fine.
    Because of the way ‘Fall Out’ ends its possible to stick the episode at the start of the series, and that’s alright because ‘Arrival’ begins at the end of ‘Fall Out,’ it completes the vicious circle. In the Prisoner’s end is his beginning, and his future looks to continue just as his immediate past. I have tried to find ways in which it’s possible to break that vicious circle, and there are ways. However to do that at any point those within the circle must come to realize what it is that plays out time and time again, over and over repeatedly. And there lies the rub, ‘the Prisoner’ is the time and time again no matter what. Those involved are incapable of realizing they are trapped in a vicious circle, therefore it impossible for anyone to change any course of events. That’s because it’s not filmed in such a way that the hero begins to realize that he’s the prisoner of a vicious circle, and each time the events play themselves out the hero cannot attempt to alter the course of events taking place. ‘The Prisoner’ is only a vicious circle because it has the start of the opening credits stuck on the end of ‘Fall Out,’ making it begin all over again. But then we are happy to see the events play themselves out, we should be used to it after 51 years. Perhaps that’s why we attempt to impose our own ideas,
interpretations, and beliefs on the Prisoner, to make it mean something altogether different. Or at least to give situations new meaning, but then the Prisoner means what it is no matter what we make of it, rightly or wrongly.

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Who Is That On The Telephono?

      It's a ridiculous telephone when you look at it, however it is the hotline to Number 1, and vice versa to those who are second only to 1, that's Number 2.
    At the beginning of the episode ‘A B and C,’ Number 2 has a nervous look on his face as the telephone begins to bleep, he picks it up
   “Number Two here. Yes sir, I am doing my best. He's very difficult. I know it's important.......... He's no ordinary person sir, but if I had a free hand........ I know sir yes I'm not indispensable.”
   Later, after Number 6 has paid Number 2 a visit, he is again put under pressure by Number 1 via the hotline. “Yes sir, within two days. You have my word....... Yes sir, I realise my future is at stake. Two days, I guarantee.”
   Yet despite his word and guarantee, it all goes pear shaped for Number 2, and it is as the oversized red telephone begins to bleep in the laboratory, he knows what is coming. In fact Number 2 had half expected the telephone to start to bleep after the failure with 'B', but now with the complete failure to discover the reason behind Number 6's resignation Number 2's fate is sealed.
    Number 2 of ‘Hammer into Anvil’ is another Number 2 to have access to the red telephone, well not all Number 2's use this peculiarly over-sized red, curved telephone you know. Although it is seen on the desk of certain Number 2’s in later episodes. But it is only actors Colin Gordon and Patrick Cargill who are forced to use this prop, although Gordon does get away with not having to do so in ‘The General.’ Anyway it is down this telephone that Number 2 gives Number 1 all his assurances, that he doesn't need any help, that he can manage. And it is a second Number 2 who gets the chop by telephone, even though he has reported himself as being a breakdown in control, and in need of being replaced.
   Actually, this telephone sitting on Number 2's desk must be a constant reminder of Number 1's ever presence, being just a phone call away. I mean no-one is free of observation. Take Number 2 for example. There he was, having learned of his failure to Number 6's success, that almost instantly that oversized red telephone began to bleep. So Number1 must surely have been watching to have learned of Number 2's failure so quickly.


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Thursday 13 December 2018

Citizen No.8

    I guess that puts 8 pretty far up in the rankings, that’s a mere 6 between itself and Number 1. Nadia of course wasn’t really a citizen of The Village, more a plant, so she doesn’t really count in the order of things especially since she left The Village. But she played her part well enough, a woman in distress. The next Number 8 was a completely different kettle of fish, a citizen yes, but one conditioned through hypnotism to betray people and their escape plans. This Number 8 was in love with Number 6, but that love was manufactured. He saw through her, he saw through her tears, and we never saw her again!
    When the number 8 is reallocated it’s to a woman who works in the cipher room, it is she who must oversee a daily prognosis report on Number 6. She delivers it personally to an interim Number 2, and goes through its finer points. However she gets the hump when the interim Number 2 belittles her complicated explanation as to why the computer refused to give up the data after having “Fission prognosis programming must include a quantum permutation of all cause and effects of supplementary elements.”
    “In other words the computer calculated the old woman’s behaviour would change the behaviour pattern of Number Six.”
    The final Number 8 turns out to be a man! He devised a method of putting a subject into a dangerous environment, dosing said subject with hallucinatory drugs, and speaking through microphones. But this Number 8 allowed himself to become involved and do what he would in a real situation. It’s not been a bed of roses being Number 8. Once I betrayed someone, and would have done a second time, but I wasn’t clever enough! Then I portrayed myself as an efficient woman working in the cipher room, the next I’ve had a sex change, and turns out to be a psychotic homicidal maniac who strangles the same girl twice with my bare hands. Then I take what is termed as the easy way out, committing suicide by throwing myself from a balcony! Number 8 is a poor number for anyone to have.


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Wednesday 12 December 2018

60 Seconds With No.42

    So what did you do to Number Forty-two?
    Who?
    Number Forty......I mean Dutton.
    Oh Dutton. Well each man has his breaking point.
    And you deliberately took him to it?
    I took him beyond it, I had permission.
    From whom?
   Number Two, she told me it would allow me to experiment, after all Dutton was dispensable.
    But Dutton had told you everything he knew.
    Ah, I’m not so sure about that, he was certainly reluctant to go further, but then I always win in the end.
    And Number Six?
    If we wait for orders we’ll never get results. There are times when you simply have to grasp the nettle.......
    Even though it makes our hands bleed?
    There’s no blood on my hands!
    But you did have one of your failed experiments buried.
    How did you know that?
    I have it from a very reliable source.
    There’s no pictorial evidence.
    No, but the grisly scene was re-enacted in Village Day!
    Village Day?
    A little after your time doc!


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Quote For The Day

   “But I must have them!”
   “For the last time, your week’s credit allowance is all used up. Come back tomorrow.”
   “But I can’t go through an entire day without my sweets!”
                     {Number 36 and the Kiosk attendant - It’s Your Funeral}
    Thursday is Appreciation Day, so the day Number 36’s weekly allowance had been all used up by was a Wednesday, and there was still another three days in the week, so how would Number 36 manage? The kiosk attendant told 36 to come back tomorrow. Why did he tell her that? Thursday was generally payday in Britain at that time, so perhaps that’s the day in The Village when weekly credit allowances were placed on credit cards, and Number 36 would be able to satisfy her sweet tooth. Except Number 6 bought her a bag of sweets, seeing another lady in distress, although Number 6 said “Candy.” Number 2 said Number 6 never eats candy, and that’s an Americanism. Being English Number 6 should have said a bag of sweets!


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A Question of Time!

    The Colonel “The Group Captain said he wouldn’t be a minute.”
    Thorpe “Yes.”
    “How long does it take to put on a pair of boots?”
    “I don’t know a couple of minutes perhaps.”
    “How long has it been now?”
    “Why do you ask?”
    “The Group Captain was already wearing his boots.”
    “Why are you worrying about the Group Captains boots?”
    “He should have come out of the kitting room by this time!”
    “There he goes now.”
    “Did you see that milkman?”
    “Milkman, no!”
    “We didn’t order any milk.”
    “There was no need, we already had some for our tea. But why are you worrying about the milkman?”
    “I don’t know, he took too long that’s all.”
    “The milkman?”
    “No, the Group Captain.”
    “What do you mean he took too long?”
    “Even two minutes is too long for a man to take in order to put on his boots, when he’s already wearing them. So what was he doing?”
    “I shouldn’t worry about it, they are on their way now.”
    “Yeeeesssss. I get the feeling we’ve seen the last of him.”
    “Probably just as well.”
    “A bit unkind don’t you think? After all he’s on old, old friend who doesn’t give up!”
    “Don’t we know it!”


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Monday 10 December 2018

Guardian!

    He might not be white, round, have the behavioural qualities of a balloon but he’s a guardian all the same, but one of a different kind. He like others of his kind who work undercover, this one’s a gardener. Number 6 told this gardener that he’d like a word with him. The gardener told him that he’d have to wait....guardian! You can tell a guardian by his authoritative attitude, that’s why other prisoners like the Rook, shopkeeper, painter and the others obeyed Number 6. He demonstrated his authority towards them.
    So what do these guardians do? They spend their working day working, but at the same time they watch and report, like the shopkeeper in ‘Hammer Into Anvil,’ Number 112. He watched Number 6’s unusual activity in his shop and reported that activity to Number 2. They watch and report. It’s not enough to have surveillance cameras and microphones everywhere, and the deterrent of Rover, they have to have human guardians on the ground, in the field so to speak. Informants! It’s no wonder they don’t need a police force and a police station. For the most part citizens behave themselves, they toe the line because they don’t know who they can trust. Well they could, until the Rook put to Number 6 his own test, and found him to be a guardian, an infiltrator who goes about trying to trick innocent citizens in engaging in escape plots. But the Rook got it wrong, Number 6 got it wrong  when he took command of the escape plot, and that’s why no group of people could ever escape The Village, not being able to know who to trust or not. Number 8 wanted to help Number 6 with his escape attempt, or at least she could tell him what not to try. After all she had helped so many others with their escape plans, but then she’s still in The Village and because of that Number 6 wouldn’t take the risk in trusting her. And yet he expected others to trust him, for all they knew he could well have been an infiltrator trying to trick them. Originally one of Number 6’s reliable men had been an infiltrator, designed to find out what Number 6 was up to. But Number 6 discovered Number 32 was a fifth columnist, and got rid of him. Number 6’s downfall was his air of authority, hence the Rook putting to Number 6 his own tests. Number 6 would have made an excellent guardian, if we’re judging by attitudes.


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