The Therapy Zone

   The Prisoner is all in the mind - so they say. Trouble is, I can't get him out of mine!

 I Didn’t Resign - I Walked out!

   "What I intended, originally, was that McGoohan is held by people and he doesn't know which side he's working for... I walked out. That's why it became silly, you see. It needed a certain hand at the helm."

                                  Gerorge Markstein.

Dance Of The Dead

   It has been written that this episode opens with No.6 having been brainwashed. Well this is absurd. Because to brainwash a person, or someone means that what they know has been washed away so that those who have done this thing can then replace that something with something of their own. Its like wiping the memory of a computer so that you can reprogrammed it to do something different. To understand this fully you should watch the film The Manchurian Candidate.

   Bearing in mind the face that Professor Jacob Seltzman now wears, that of the Colonel. Can we be sure that the white haired gentleman that we see in the episode Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling, is actually Professor Seltzman? In short has Seltzman used his process previously, with some poor victim, so as to hide his true identity. After all he was living in Kandersfeld, working as a barber, under the pseudonym of Herr Hallen.

   And that's the beauty of it, we can never know. Simply to speculate.

The Freedom To Think!

   I was on the telephonic communication device last night, speaking to an old friend of mine. He made the comment that my articles here are all very thought provoking, interesting to read, and entertaining into the bargain. Furthermore that I have found new angles to come at the Prisoner with, and have formulated new ideas and theories about the series. And that Six of One are losing out on my inspired Prisoner based articles.

   It was very kind of my friend to say so, and indeed I was once, and for 15 years from 1986 to 2001, a proud member of Six of One: The Prisoner Appreciation Society, and contributed letters and articles to the society magazine, which were all well received. However it has to be said that ndeed since walking out on Six of One, I have found a new freedom to think. I have developed a fresh outlook on ‘the Prisoner,’ new angles to come at the series. To develop new and fresh ideas and theories about the series. Furthermore I feel that had I remained a member of Six of One, I would not have had the freedom of mind to carry out a fur year study into ‘the Prisoner’  in-depth, to make the fresh discoveries I have made about the series, together with aspects of the series which have never been made mention of in all my time as a member of that society, nor have I read in any of the society magazines or newsletter throughout the 31 years.

    Now when I look back, with my new found freedom to think, I can see the restrictions that a society like Six of One puts on its members. The society is too confining. You tailor your thoughts to stay within the structure of what is permitted. Put in short, you fail to think outside the box, to coin a phrase.

  More articles to come? You betcha!

Be seeing you

A Favourite Scene in The Prisoner

   When No.6 steals a taxi, and he and the Rook go about the Village in 'Checkmate,' stealing a surveillance camera. I'm always amused by the fact that than while the Rook tilts the camera down, the Supervisor is actually viewing the Village via that camera, and yet the effect of the Rook tilting the camera down is not projected onto the wall screen in the Control Room. Then a telehone is stolen, and electrical componants and a screw driver from the trailer of the electrics truck. In the electrics trucks trailer is a cardboard box with the "Ever Ready" batteries logo. Obviously a special import!

BCNU

Village Life!

  No.2 "And now, and now the prize of prizes, the special Merit Award of 2,000 free work units, for the best work in any of the five groups. And the Committee have awarded it to...........No.6............. Simply on the basis that his work doesn't look anything like me!"

BCNU

Exhibition of Arts and Crafts

    From my "Surreal" period!

BcNu

Prismatic Reflection

       Here I am faced with a blank page once more. It’s not easy finding new things to write about ‘the Prisoner.’ Everything I could think of seemed to have been written to death over the years and decades. And yet what is seen to be considered “old hat” by life time fans, will be new and exciting to people who have only just discovered ‘the Prisoner,’ or are relatively new to the series.

    And so you think you know ‘the Prisoner’ inside out. You’ve arrived at an understanding of the series which may not suit everyone, but which suits you. Well to be perfectly honest that’s just the way I felt, until I began to discuss ‘the Prisoner’ with people like Jana Muller, who herself is relatively new to the series. Jana has proved to me that seeing ‘the Prisoner’ through fresh eyes, one can arrive at completely new ideas. I recall discussing the Prisoner as being Everyman, and the butler as representing the “little man” in society. And yet “Everyman” can include the butler. Both Everyman and the “little man” act very differently from one another. How strange it is that Everyman and the “little man” took to each other as they did in ‘Fall Out.’ No.6 accepts the butler without question, whilst the butler, seeing which side his bread is buttered, simply changes his allegiance. There appears to be an unspoken mutuality between them.
    The idea was put to me that had Rover MK1 survived, that the driver could have been the butler, being small enough to fit inside the dome of that ungainly vehicle. More, “it is suggested of Everyman, that everyone is Number 1, and the driving force behind Rover, it might indeed be the little man.”

   And what about No.1 and No.6 being one and the same person. The following was put to me. That

No.1 and No.6, being the same person, nothing would happen if No.6 and No.1 changed places had No.6 accepted the offer of ultimate power. Everything in the Village would have stayed the same!  It has been suggested that No.1 and No.6 are one and the same person, or rather the two alter egos of the same person. The one is dedicated to the Village and wants to suppress people, while 6 wants the people to be free. It could be said that No.6 is the conscience of the Village, a conscience which tempers the actions of No.1.

    As to the question of No.1 and No.6 to be able to leave the Village, might not both of them have to be defeated at one and the same time, seeing as one is the alter ego of the other? If No. 6 and No.1 are the same person, then the struggle between No.6 and No.1 is a fight between two aspects of one person. A struggle against themselves, but one of them has to be defeated. On the other hand this thought, that Number 1 and Number 6 would have to be defeated in order to be able to leave the Village. This means Number 6 was defeated, in the end, otherwise he would not have been able to leave the Village. And maybe he was, seeing him returning to the beginning.... But somehow I don't think that Number 6 was really defeated, although he remained prisoner, because for me this would mean that he had accepted imprisonment, or ultimate power, but he refused both, till the end, at all costs.

   As for the Butler, well, he escaped and he might as well have been just like Number 6. If he really is meant to represent the little man, why not? If Everyman is No.1 does that not include the butler as well? But that's a very allegorical interpretation. I wouldn't take the door opening electronically and automatically as doors do in the Village, in itself as a clue that the Butler is No.1. The house in Buckingham Place has always been number one, and nothing to do with No.1 in the Village. However the scene shows that the Prisoner had not left the Village at all, that he didn't escape. For the Butler this could also mean that he just entered his new prison cell.

   It is thanks to Jana Muller for being the inspiration behind this article. And I do not lay claim to some of the ideas and interpretations it contains, but such are the thoughts, ideas, interpretations, and theories which can be brought to the discussion table by new fans of ‘the Prisoner’ series. Indeed I enjoy discussing ‘the Prisoner’ with a wide range of aficionados of the series.    

Be seeing you.

The Therapy Zone

The Affair Of The Bruised Fingernail

   This is the Polaroid picture taken by No.24-Alison, is one of a series taken of No.6. And prior to this Polaroid, No.24 had carelessly knocked over a soda siphon, catching No.6's finger which bruised under the nail.

   This Polaroid was given to Curtis, who took it from the breast pocket of his blazer after that attempt by No.6 to prove his identity, with No.24 in a mind reading experiment, which sadly for him went wrong!

   What this Polaroid was doing in Curtis's blazer pocket I don't know. Surely not to help prove that he is No.6. Because he is wearing a cream blazer, whereas No.6 in the Polaroid is wearing a dark blazer!

  No.6, snatches the Polaroid from his others hand and carefully studies it. He studies it even closer in the comparative privacy of his cottage, with the aid of a magnifying glass. Thereby he identifies the passage of time, by comparing the bruised fingernail in the Polaroid, and that of his own, in that in the Polaroid the bruising is at the base of the fingernail, where his is now halfway up the nail. Also there is the perpetual day-date calendar in the background - 10 FEB. His own perpetual Calendar still shows 10 FEB.

   If it were not for that accident of knocking over the soda siphon, and injuring No.6, and had No.24 not taken that particular picture of No.6, his suspicions would not have any foundation.

What's Sir Saying?

    In the episode of Fall Out three rebellious types, ie No.48, a 'late' No.2, and Sir who has successfully vindicated the right of the individual to be individual, are given the opportunity to plead their case before the Assembly.

   We know what words issued fourth from both the lips of No.48, and a "late" No.2, yet not all is clear about what Sir is saying in his address to the Assembly. Something about "I feel that despite, the....... I feel that despite the devaluation of the pound never theless......." and then the rest is clouded in shouts of I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I by the delegates.

   And over the years many have tried to lip-read what Patrick McGoohan is saying in his address during Fall Out. But they have been thwarted at every attempt. And yet, they never make mention of two plain words that come at the end of that address given Patrick McGoohan, two words which are easily lip-read, and in all probability demonstrate just how McGoohan was feeling by that time...."I'm pissed off!"

Night Time

"Sleep, sleep, that's it sleep until tomorrow, lovely gentle sleep, and a lovely tomorrow."

   The way that disembodied female voice tries to lull No.6 to sleep, that night during Dance of the Dead, makes it sounds to me like a dose of brainwashing "a lovely tomorrow" my foot! Mind you the female announcer appears to believe her own words, in fact I can see her face, sense her ecstasy as she speaks. Perhaps she's the one who's been brainwashed!

Be seeing you, and a beautiful tomorrow to you all.

THEPRIS6NER

   I know what you are thinking, what's he doing writing about this series again, hasn't he had enough?  Well perhaps you should give the series a second chance, and that's not the first time I have suggested that to fans of 'the Prisoner.' Other people who have taken my advice have found value in THEPRIS6NER having watched the series a second time. In fact it took me a second screening before I could get into the series, I mean to appreciate the series. But then I began to watch the series with an open mind, and not with a fixed opinion that I'm not going to like it simply because it's not a remake of the original series.
   As it so happens, when a friend of mine who is also a life-time fan of McGoohan's 'the Prisoner,' had first watched THEPRIS6NER I asked him what he thought of the series. He told me that he didn't like it, didn't dislike it, he said he was "indifferent" to the series. This is what Leslie, had to say for himself after watching the series for a second time.  “Me and my friend John have recently watched the new series of THEPRIS6NER, and I've got some wonderful news for you: I've been working on questions from the new series. I got more out of watching THEPRIS6NER a second time. I now understand it's not meant to be a sort of carbon copy of the original series.  I got the new series on the brain and some questions popped into my head and I just had to write them down before I forgot them. They are all cracking questions: there's about 17 of them."

   You see it's as I've always said about THEPRIS6NER, it takes a second screening to actually appreciate the series. So if you have an open mind, give the series a second chance, and you might just discover what others are discovering, and what you have been missing!

Be seeing you