THEPRIS6NER

THEPRIS6NER

    93, the old man who died in the desert. He was the first we see die, "Tell them....." he said to the Prisoner "........Tell them I got away." And so 93 did, because through a Village death, which is no death at all, 93 returned to his other life in that "other place." But exactly what "other place" was that? True, there was a sketch of St. Stephen's Tower of the Houses of Parliament hidden in an empty wine bottle in 93's apartment, which does suggest London, so how did 93, the former No.6, come to be brought to The Village?

    Okay, the last we see of the Prisoner he is driving his Lotus Seven in London during the final episode of Fall Out. Yet as we know, the ending of Fall Out is the beginning of Arrival, well it is in my book if not yours. And so it is that the Prisoner begins all over again at the end of Fall Out. The Prisoner has not escaped, but remains a prisoner of his own personal vicious circle, which is all in his mind. So if the Prisoner-No.6 is still living his own tormented dream in the prisoner, how was it that No.6 was brought to The Village in THEPRIS6NER, if he wasn't actually living in New York but London. And if not London, The Village! And if then The Village, surely 93 would have had a sketch of the Bell Tower, and not St. Stephen's Tower.

   I may not be able to tell you how 93, was brought to The Village, or indeed how long ago. But the reason for his having been brought to The Village is plain. No.6 was damaged, mentally. He was troubled about something which brought about his resignation. So Two had the former No.6 brought to The Village, given the number 93, in the hope that the former No.6 would be made better and then returned to his former life in the "other place, to which 93/6 returned to upon his death out there in the desert.

    Why the ships drift anchor as a folly in the middle of the desert? I have absolutely no idea, as that was never explained, and follies are rarely explained. "Follies are as follies do" as Braithwaite would say, they need no explaining, otherwise they would not be follies. Personally I think it would have been a nice tribute to the original series to have had a canopied penny farthing bicycle discovered by Six, half buried in the sand, what think you?

   So Michael took over as the boss of Summakor, Michael sat in the chair in the control room like a Supervisor amongst so many observers sat at their monitors. Such is the modern day take on the Village Control Room.

   I don't see it, do you, what it was that sent 313 running out of that dark corridor in Checkmate. You see it was said that all the questions will be answered in the final episode, well the basic ones maybe. Not the fact that no-one in The Village seemed to actually pay for anything. Not even why wraps were the basic nourishment in The Village, or exactly what the Therapy Zone is. And did you notice just how Six spent so little time in his apartment in The Village? And why did Two's wife give The Village a fifties/sixties atmosphere, even 313 rode a sixties style bicycle!

    Despite what fans of the original series might think, basically the two series are not that dissimilar from one another. Okay you haven't got the quirkiness of the original, there are no huge painted backdrops as used in the original, no studio sets purposely built, and in it's way there is less style of the original series in the reinterpretation, with Two the stronger of the characters, Six being the weaker. But if you take away the "filler" episodes of the original series, episodes like ‘Living In Harmony,’ ‘The Girl Who Was Death,’ ‘It's Your Funeral,’ ‘A Change of Mind,’ ‘Hammer Into Anvil,’ ‘A B & C’, because originally McGoohan envisaged the Prisoner being only a 7 episode series. So if McGoohan had managed to get his way, instead of having 17 episodes, you would have only 7. Because when you look at the original series, there are some which basically are really unnecessary to ‘the Prisoner,’ and are considered as simple "fillers" used to "pan out" the series.

    The Village has a Postman, he delivered Six's Clinic appointment card you'll recall. But does it have a newspaper I wonder? And to get on the bus in The Village, and to get off the bus and arrive in the Village is just the wildest thing!

    If a Village death isn't an actual death, in the way Two died having blown himself up with a hand grenade, and by which he returns to that "other place," as others have who have died in The Village, then that means that no-one is actually buried in The Village cemetery. And that can be said of the original series, as Cobb died in The Village, there

was his funeral of course, but then Cobb wasn't actually buried in The Village graveyard - was he? Cobb was allowed to leave The Village to return to the "other place." It's not exactly the same thing I know, it's more of an interpretation, as is THEPRIS6NER series itself.

DAS - BCNU

A Favourite Scene From THEPRISONER Comes When

   Six enounters some newcomers just getting off the bus.

Six "Who are you people?"

"Woman "Newcomers."

"So where have you come from?"

"We just got off the bus."

"Well where did you get on the bus?"

"The Village."

"This is the Village, you've arrived here."

"Isn't this just the wildest thing."

DAS - BCNU

The Therapy Zone

The spectre of The Dance

   No.2 was seen on the telephone to, presumably No.1, and made the comment that she wished you could come too. So presumably No.1, or whoever it was, had made the wish that he could be there at the ball in the evening.

    Now if we take the premise of ‘Fall Out,’ that No.6 and No.1 are one and the same person, the one alter ego of the other, then surely No.1 did actually attend the Ball in the Town Hall that evening of ‘Dance of the Dead.’ and here he is walking, when he should be dancing along with little Bo-Peep. Whether or not this stands up is one thing, another would be that whoever the Prisoner is, he never allows himself to relax and enjoy himself!

Be seeing you, at the dance perhaps.

The Prisoner

   Given No.6's unusual qualities and the extent of his knowledge, especially about The Village, it's very existence and location. It is therefore not surprising then that it is necessary that he should be held in a place of confinement, and not be allowed to roam free after his sudden resignation. Such a person is extremely dangerous to the security of both the Nation and The Village. That’s why he had to be brought back to the Village, the knowledge of the Village keeping him prisoner!

The Prisoner And Me

    I watch the whole the Prisoner series once a year, and the odd single episode once in a while. But these days I mostly write about the series, well there's hardly a day goes by when I don't write something about the series, regular readers of my blog here can vouch for that. A good few years back now an old, old acquaintance once said that, "Everything that can be written about the Prisoner has been written." Well a decade or so on, and I'm still finding new things to write about ‘the Prisoner’ series, so I've been happy to prove him wrong.

   I don't collect Prisoner merchandise so much these days, well there’s not so much merchandise which is produced these days. However I do keep an open surveillance eye open for any memorabilia to do with the series.

    I no longer go to Prisoner Conventions. I'm not a member of any Prisoner related group or society, as I no longer feel the need to be. And yet I am happy to discuss ‘the Prisoner’ with many people around the world, and they are happy to discuss the subject with me. For ‘the Prisoner’ is as much part of my life as it has always been, perhaps more so, since the day I heard that first crack of thunder over 45 years ago.

   Through a 4 year in-depth study of ‘the Prisoner’ series I have arrived at an understanding which suits me, although it probably wouldn't suit you. Oh I can give explanations, interpretations, answer questions. But in the end we must all, each and everyone of us, arrive at our own unique understanding of an outstanding television series. But having said that, no-one has to understand anything about the Prisoner and his Village. Just sit back and enjoy, and sometimes I just do that. But ‘the Prisoner’ never lets go, he's always there taunting me with this or that when something I see in the series pops into my head, I just have to write about it. That's why I'm a prisoner!

Be seeing you

This Week I Am Mostly Reading

    I purchased a copy of this book via ebay, I'm not at all sorry that I did, for I did so for sentimental reasons really. Back in the early 1970's this book was my only link to 'the Prisoner,' although the book itself has nothing to do with the actual series, it is based on the series. It was the front cover of the book really that was my link to 'the Prisoner,' even if the designer of the cover had given Number 6's blazer blue piping instead of off-white.
  I used to take a copy of this book out of my local library time and time again, and I would read it. I'm reading the book again now, and to be perfctly honest I'm struggling to hold my concentration with it. I mean since when did the Village have a Railway Station? Ah, in the Village of THEPRISO6NER-09 there is an old disused Railway Halt, but that's got nothing to do with the original series. But like the 09 series, in which Two brings Lucy to the Village in order to break Six's heeart, in the same way Number 2 brings Lora a girlfriend of Number 6's to the Village.  Number 6 does become Number 2 after the Number 2 escapes by.......helium balloon. But I find there is a distinct lack of discription of the Village in Disch's novel. For me, the only thing that makes this a novel based on 'the Prisoner,' is the cover of the book, and the use of numbers instead of names, not that names or not used in the book. I think Disch's novel was an easier read back in the early 1970's when I had no access to 'the Prisoner' series itself, as I do today.

Be seeing you

Who's That On The Telephono?

No.2 "Yes who is it, what's the matter?"
No.60 "Supervisor here, I'm on a sort of turquoise."
"What?"
"The telephone, I'm on a turquoise telephone."
"Oh."
"Come on sir, play the game."
"Oh very well. I'm on yellow."
"Shouldn't that be red?"
"What?"
"Shouldn't you be on red?"
"Are you Number One?"
"No sir."
"Well don't be ridiculous. Now what is it you want?"
"I don't want anything, It's Number Six."
"What about him?"
"He could be heading for the woods, or the shore. He's just walked through the mangrove walk."
"So?"
"He's carrying a box."
"A box!"
"Yes, he has a pigeon in it!"
"A pigeon?"
"Yes."
"I didn't know Number Six was a pigeon fancier."
"Hello!"
"What now?"
"Number Six has just taken the pigeon out of the box, he's doing something to it."
"What's he doing to it?"
"He's about to release the pigeon. Perhaps it's a homing pigeon!"
"Well it won't have far to go then will it!"
{suddenly the telehpono went dead!}

BCNU

Thought For The Day

    And you think Number Six is a prisoner. Well he's got nothing on me I can tell you that, all I can say is I want my mum! Well if I actually had a mother that is. I was born in a scientific laboratory, in a petra dish to be more precise. And then I was transferred to this container, perpetually breaking up onto small globules and long streaks of myself, and for what, people's entertainment? Let me out of here......I am not a, well I don't know what I am, but if I can just break the glass of this container I'll do someone some actual bodily harm!

Be seeing you

The Therapy Zone

Arrival

    In the conversation between the new No.2 and the Prisoner he says "We do here what has to be done. It's the law of survival. It's either them or us." Imprison people, steal their minds, destroy them! "Depends on whose side you're on, doesn't it?" To which the Prisoner replies "I'm on our side." What the side of the village? If his own people put him here, there cannot be any question of which side runs the village. And if the Village is set up to gather information, as suggested in ‘Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling,’ it's not just the reason behind the Prisoner's resignation that they want - but all the information inside his head! The Prisoner has been put in the village for the protection of National security, and to be thoroughly debriefed at their leisure! And it might have worked, had they offered him something in return. Oh but of course they did, or at least No.2 did. It was during the aerial tour of the Village when No.2 suggested to the Prisoner "You might even be given a position of authority." Well they did actually offer that position of authority, in ‘Fall Out,’ they offered No.6, or sir as he became to be addressed as, the offer of ultimate power!

The Prisoner

   You can just tell it's going to be one of those days, when you wake up and suddenly something feels different. Then as you make a search of The Village you discover that everyone's gone but you! Imagine, everyone escaped The Village but No.6. What could be worse than that? Me being left alone in The Village! Mind you, I don't have the necessary skills as our friend No.6 here. Oh I could chop down trees and probably make myself a raft. But then what? I'm no sailor, and have very limited navigational skills, and besides which, it's a very long way home! So if it were me in No.6's shoes, I'd probably have to sit down and wait to see what happens next. And if then no-one turns up, well I'd probably pack necessary provisions and head off across country, but keeping well away from those mountains!

Downright Surreal!

    ‘A B & C’ is a primary example of surrealism in the Prisoner, as much of the episode takes place in No.6's dream. However towards the end, with No.6 only partially drugged, his projected visions are as if he is partly awake and partly asleep. And when No.6 is heading for the secret laboratory somewhere in the woods, watching No.6's progress on the wall screen. It must have been a very surreal moment to see the pair of steel doors of the laboratory slide open on the wall screen, but not the actual doors, and to watch No.6 walk in on the both of them, in his dream that is!

Be seeing you

Thought For The Day

   You can see the Astro or Lava Lamp in many rooms and offices in the Village. Number 6 for example has two such lamps in his cottage. While Number 2 in 'Arrival' also has two, but of a different design, the one placed on top of the other! It is also interesting to note that Number 2 of 'Arrival,' are the only Number 2's to have any such lamps in his office, as his successors rely upon the Lava Lamp effect being displayed on the wall screen as seen below.

BCNU