“The whole Earth, as the village,” such
is No.2’s hope. As for No.6 he would like to be the first man on the Moon! Such
is this man’s desire to get as far away from the village as possible, certainly
the atmosphere there would be very different to what it was elsewhere! Or
perhaps he simply has the desire for his own company and no-one else’s. Well he
got that in ‘A Change of Mind’ when the people of the village turned their back
on him. We may like to think No.6 is a lone wolf in society, but he isn’t,
because he needs the interaction with other people. We all enjoy our own
company from time to time, but as the English 17th century author
John Donne said in one of his sermons “No man is an island. No one is
self-sufficient; everyone relies on others.”
Number
1 Given A Rocket?
Why was there a rocket in the village in
the first place? No doubt it arrived on the back of a Scammell Highwayman
Transporter {see my book the Prisoner Dusted Down} but why was it needed? The
Blue Streak rocket which we see superimposed onto the piece of film in ‘Fall
Out’ suggesting it was a missile carrying a nuclear payload which No.6 launched
in the episode. And yet the rocket had no warhead, because No.1 was sealed in
the nose cone, and there were four Orbit Tubes {life support tubes} inside the
rocket, suggesting when eventually launched, the rocket was bound for somewhere
or something beyond the Earth’s atmosphere. Whether the rocket was capable of
reaching the Moon is doubtful, and even if it was there was no indication that
the rocket was capable of landing on the Moon’s surface. Neither is there any
indication of the rocket containing a Moon Lander, nor for that matter was
there any sign of spacesuits! Perhaps the intention was to fly a manned rocket
around the Moon without the capability of making a landing.
Nevertheless the rocket was launched by No.6, which has suggested to some enthusiasts of ‘the Prisoner’ that No.6’s previous employment was as a rocket engineer. Nonetheless for that, remembering No.6 did show the desire to be the first man on the Moon, he did launch the rocket in full knowledge that his other self was firmly secured inside the nose cone of the rocket. Thereby at least giving himself the opportunity of attempting to reach his goal! Certainly No.1 achieved escape velocity.
Nevertheless the rocket was launched by No.6, which has suggested to some enthusiasts of ‘the Prisoner’ that No.6’s previous employment was as a rocket engineer. Nonetheless for that, remembering No.6 did show the desire to be the first man on the Moon, he did launch the rocket in full knowledge that his other self was firmly secured inside the nose cone of the rocket. Thereby at least giving himself the opportunity of attempting to reach his goal! Certainly No.1 achieved escape velocity.
Be seeing you
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