The Prisoner Under the Spotlight

    So Much Caution In A Man Like No.6 seems so wrong. But the village is prepared to handle No.6 with care, because he has a future with them. Doctors are reluctant to try unproven or dangerous drugs on No.6, as in the case of the doctors-No.14 and 86 of ‘A B  C’ and ‘A Change of Mind’ repeatedly. The new No.2 of Arrival states that the subject is proving exceptionally difficult, but in view of his importance no extreme measures are to be used yet. The conversation between No.2 and his assistant No.14 during ‘The Chimes of Big Ben:’

No.14 "There are methods which we haven't used yet."

No.2 "I want him with a whole heart, body and soul."

No.14 "He'll crack."

No.2 " Perhaps, one tiny piece at time. I don't want a man of fragments.

No.14 "He doesn't even bend a little."

No.2" That's why he'll break."

    During the election period of Free For All, No.2 is careful to remind his subordinates not to damage the tissue! And at the beginning of ‘Dance of the Dead’ No.2 orders the doctor-No.40 to "Get that man back to the hospital" referring to Dutton of course, not No.6, who the doctor thought was about to talk. But No.2 doesn't believe it. No.6 would have died first! The good doctor would have made No.6 talk, or so he ways "Everyman has his breaking point." Another doctor was obsessed with No.6's breaking point.... oh yes, the doctor in ‘Checkmate,’ No.22. But this almost elfin like No.2 of ‘Dance of the Dead’ doesn't want No.6 broken, she sees No.6 as having a future with the village and must be 'won over.'

   Back to the doctor-No.22, she like her male counterpart would see harm done to No.6, to curve his aggressive tendencies, by performing a Leucotomy, to knock out the aggressive centres of the brain. But No.2 soon puts a stop to any such ideas the doctor might hold, as being too risky "No, he's far too valuable to us." So No.6 is not only seen to have a future with the village, he is also have a value to them. And the fact that the operation known as Instant Social Conversion was not actually carried out on No.6 is suggestive wouldn't you say?

   But despite such caution being demonstrated against No.6, there are times when the information inside the subjects head, the reason behind his resignation, outweighs the risks. Well that's what No.2 of ‘A B and C’ thought, and if he gets it wrong, well he'll worry about that later! What is it Miguel de Cervantes Savedra wrote in Don Quixote? Oh yes, "Hay mas al en el aldea que se suena" - "There is more harm in the village than is dreamt." The various doctors who No.6 encounters might have little or no regard for him, his value, or possible future with the village. And the same can be said of a handful of No.2's. "The man's as strong as a bull!" No.2 bellowed to No.86 during ‘A Change of Mind,’ this at urging her to use another dose of the tranquilliser Mytol on the subject. Whether dangerous or not to the patient!

   And was it not a risk for the village in ‘Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling,’ to use No.6 in such a way, where is the caution here? Was it really so important for them to find Seltzman? If the experiment had gone pear-shaped, and they had lost No.6 - there would have been hell to pay! And of Living In Harmony the use of hallucinatory drugs against No.6, which had the effect of tripping No.6 out back to the American Wild West. Again, No.2, or rather No.8 in this case, has no regard for caution against No.6. His method has always worked, and would have worked if No.2 had not developed the crisis too soon! They've all got an excuse, haven't they, those who fail but not necessarily have to pay the price.

Be seeing you

Did The Prisoner Actually Resign?

      There is only one proper and correct way to resign, and that it do so in a letter. For all the Prisoner's ranting and raving he might just as well have kept his mouth shut that day he stormed into that office. But no doubt the thought that shouting and ranting at the man sat behind that desk would relieve the feelings. But at least the Prisoner had written a letter of resignation, placed it in an envelope marked "personal - by hand," which he slammed on the desk before he stormed out of the office.
   In the above picture there is a word in red RESIGN . Michael didn't rant and rave at anyone, he didn't write a letter of resignation, he simply sprayed the one word on the window of his office RESIGN, but at least he wrote something, even if it was simply one word, before he walked out. And yet it was just the one word, resign. He didn't write in spray paint "I resign" just "Resign," which isn't so much a statement as in "I resign because.....," but more in the way of a suggestion or instruction I would have thought, as in "why don't you resign?" So even with this one written word spray painted on the window of his office, it would not be accepted as a man having resigned from his job!

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Thought For The Day

    It has been said that the Village was destroyed by the rocket that lifted off during ‘Fall Out.’ Well I don’t see any physical evidence for that, in fact there is a shot of the Village completely intact soon after the rocket has lifted off. I would have thought the Village would have been at least “singed” a bit around the edges, even the Green Dome set on fire from the flames from the rockets exhausts. The cavern would have been filled with flames and smoke, and everything in it burned to a cinder, the walls of the cavern blackened and charred, with a segment of the Village Guardian affected by heat exhaustion from the searing heat of the flames.

    It might be that the Village is not harmed or damaged by the lifting off of the rocket, because the Village is eternal, it is always there. The somewhat chilling moment when the front door of No.1 Buckingham Place opens automatically, is a demonstration that the Village is all about us. That none of us need to be abducted and taken to the Village, because we are already there!

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Feb 22nd

   Today is the first day at sea for No.6. I cannot possibly imagine how he is feeling at this time. There was possibly the feeling if elation as he put to sea, along with some apprehension after having out to sea, all on his own. And yet No.6 will have realised what is he has to face, but the desire to escape the Village outweighs the dangers at sea.

  Certainly he's a resiliant man our No.6. he makes himself a compass using a jar, a round of cork, pencil, and two lengths of wood with indistinguisable markings on them.
   He keeps a rudimentary log, not too sure about the presence of a roll of Village film.

   And No.6 likes to maintain standards by shaving, but I promise you that will not last long, shaving with cold water, and being bobbed about by the waves. Besides when one is in isolation as the Prisoner is at this time, sooner or later the question of personal hygiene no longer comes into question!

   Tonight when you are sitting comfortably at home watching television, having a meal perhaps, spare a thought for No.6, as he's far from comfortable out there, all alone in the dark at sea.

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Village Life!

   "Who's that up there? Just a minute....................I know that face!"

    "Oh no he's seen me! I can't let him catch me, got to act fast!"

    "Pardon me madam!.............................How did he do that?"

BCNU

Prismatic Reflection

   “One egg or two?” It would appear that by this time Number 6 has had one of his privileges rescinded. The fact that he has to make his own breakfast means no more breakfasts brought to him in the mornings on a tray by his personal maid. But wait a minute! Oh look here’s Number 8 to boil his two eggs for him! But I’m jumping the gun slightly!
   The Prisoner isn’t bending, not even a little and that’s why he’ll break. Mind you there are methods they haven’t even used yet, but Number 2 doesn’t want a man of fragments. He wants Number 6 with a whole heart, body and soul. If Number 6 will answer just one simple question, then all the rest will follow, “Why did he resign?” Yes, that’s what one of his predecessors thought, when he got the Prisoner to bring his file up to date by giving the time of his birth. And that’s all he got, the time of the Prisoner’s birth, but then they knew that anyway!
    So an outsider is brought in, Nadia Rakovski she called herself, but I’ll call her Number 8, and what she was, was a plant in the Village. It was played that Number 8 would become a damsel in distress, and so being, Number 6 would become her protector. But Number 6 took some convincing. At the beginning he was suspicious of her, thinking that she was working for Number 2, which of course she was. But I’ll say this, Number 8 was good, a dedicated agent, who came to the Village with her eyes wide open. I’m sure she would have been well briefed on the Village, and yet nothing could have prepared her for her encounter with the Village Guardian. That was a risk for both Number 8 and Number 2, she could have been half drowned and suffocated to death.
   So Number 6 took Number 8 under his wing, he offered his protection for whatever that was worth. And he had a plan, a plan for escape by boat. You see if Number 6 knew where he was sailing from, he could calculate where he was sailing to, and that swung the game in Number 8’s favour, as she claimed to have seen a file on the Village, but for a few seconds only, but enough to know the location of the Village……..in Lithuania, on the Baltic, thirty miles from the Polish border. And for that piece of information, Number 6 had to enact a romantic scene with Number 8.
    Number 8 claimed to be an Estonian, she spoke with an eastern European accent, which she retained at the end of the episode. Her files claimed that she was a swimmer, an Olympic bronze medallist at the age of 17, I’ll leave it to yourself to figure out at which Olympic games that was.
   So, Number 6 and Number 8 shared a plan of escape. For his part he would construct a boat, for her she knew the location of the Village. She also has a contact man, and knows of a fishing village, whose people resist those of the Village. Do they? I wouldn’t have thought that the people behind the Village have much contact with outsiders!
    Number 2 wants Number 6 to settle down, and Number 6 promises to do some woodwork for him. It turns out as a three piece abstract sculpture which he enters into the Exhibition of Arts and Crafts. Members of the awards Committee have a problem, they don’t know what it is! I’ll let Number 6 explain. “It means what it is! This piece what does it represent to you? “A church door?” “Right first time.” “Think I see what he’s getting at.” “Now this other piece here, on the same general lines, somewhat more abstract as you’ll notice. Representing freedom or a barrier, depending how you look at it. The barrier’s down, the door is open, you’re free, free to go, free to escape, to escape to this, the symbol to human aspirations. Freedom, knowledge, escape.” But why the crosspiece? Well obviously he needs that to hang a sail from!
    And so now we know why the crosspiece! That night after curfew, Numbers 6 and 8 take the pieces of the abstract sculpture, and with the aid of a tarpaulin, and Number 38’s tapestry for a sail, they put to sea, on a course for the Polish coast.
   Having gone so far, there seemed nothing that could stop them now. In the Control Room the Supervisor has them on sonar, “They’re almost out of range.” Number 2 orders the Supervisor to contact Post five just in case, then to issue an Orange Alert, and the Village Guardian is despatched. Nadia can see the cave, but then she can soon see something else! “Look!” Number 8 shouts, behind them the white mass of the Village Guardian can be seen, just as they are within an ace of achieving this goal, and so are forced to abandon their craft, to swim for it!
    From the cliffs a man aims his rifle, he fires at the Village Guardian, once, twice, four times hitting the membranic Village Guardian, which appears to be impervious to bullets. The Guardian’s membrane would appear to be self-sealing!
    The Prisoner asks for a pencil and paper, he has a “delivery note” to send, it is in code, and must be transmitted to London immediately. Karel has the escape route mapped out, by sea Gdansk/Danzig, by air to Copenhagen, by air again to London. So the Prisoner can time the journey, he asks for Karel’s watch as his own is water logged, sea water, is no good. So Karel hands over his wrist watch, little knowing that this error will be the Colonel’s undoing!   “Quickly now please” it’s time to get into the crate, and start the next part of the journey to London, which will take some twelve hours.
   Of course what we see on the television screen isn’t what takes place. The crate containing the Prisoner and Number 8 is on it’s way back to the Village, and the twelve hour journey merely a simulation. Oh it works perfectly well when watched for the first time, but after that, well no-one is fooled.
    Good old Fotheringay, he’s looking forward to seeing his old friend and ex-colleague. He receives a telephone call “Fotheringay here, yes…I’ve seen a copy of the deciphered message….What time would you say?…..Good…….Yes I can’t wait to see him.”
    During the journey Nadia passes the time by interrogating the Prisoner, despite feeling a little sick. Where are we going to land in England? Doe he have a wife at home? This he denies. Is he engaged to someone? No response. I wonder why he didn’t tell her about Janet Portland?
    The crate together with it’s occupants arrives in the Colonel’s outer office. It is opened, and the Prisoner is confronted with the welcoming sight of his old friend and ex-colleague Fotheringay. They greet each other warmly, and Nadia is introduced. And then Nadia hears what she has been waiting to hear for a long time, the chimes of Big Ben. For Number 6 it means he’s home, for Nadia the assignment is over, as she is led away by two men.
   The Colonel is sceptical about Nadia, he asks the Prisoner what her name was before she left Peckham Rye and went off to train with the Bolshoi Ballet?
    There is a de-briefing session between the Colonel and Number 6. Number 6 tells the story of his abduction to the Village…….”The Village?” says the Colonel, “Where is this Village?”
    There isn’t much difference between the Colonel and Number 2. Number 6 risked his life and Nadia’s to go home, to go back there because he thought it was different, “It is isn’t it, Isn’t it different?” No Number 6 it isn’t different, except it’s the Colonel asking the question instead of Number 2! And it might have worked as well, had it not been for one small detail…..as Big Ben strikes eight…….Number 6 realises that his watch, given to him by a man in Poland says eight o’clock. Why should a man in Poland have a watch showing English time, when there’s one hour’s difference? The Colonel supposed he was slow. Yes, if it hadn’t been for Number 6’s waterlogged watch, and his wanting to time the journey to see that it tallied.
   So Number 6 had been back in the Village all the time! However he did learn some valuable things. Firstly that his own people are behind the Village, and it was they who had him abducted in the first place. Secondly that he is completely and utterly on his own now, and that there is no-one he can trust. He was betrayed by Nadia, and his own people. Number 6 has also learned that the Village is not in Lithuania on the Baltic, the time of the watch given to him by Post Five is proof of that. Wherever the Village is, it is in the same time zone as Great Britain!
   But in any case the game is up! No.6 leaves what was supposed to be the Colonel’s office, and out into the Village. On the steps of the Recreation Hall Fotheringay asks No.2 what his next assignment is, the Colonel will tell him when he returns to London. As for Fotheringay, he had better get back to London before any embarrassing questions are asked.
   As he passes by, he see No.2 with Fotheringay and Nadia, “Be seeing you” he salutes and makes his way back to his cottage. Now he realises who it is who abducted him, which side is behind the Village………his own!
    Poor old No.6, as he makes his way back through the Village to his cottage there is a public announcement about the Local Council having organised another exciting competition the subject this time Seascapes! There seems an expression in the female announcers voice that seems to be rubbing salt into No.6’s wounds when she says “Seascapes.”
   In the Control Room No.2 makes a brief report “File Number Six, section Forty-two, sub-section one, paragraph one, back to the beginning.” Nadia admits that No.2 was right about him. He did tell her. But don’t worry, he did his best, and perhaps he’ll do better next time in the Embryo Room of ‘Decree Absolute!’

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Feb 21st

    Today approximately, having looked for an escape route out of the Village, felling a number of small trees, emptying oil drums down a drain, the Prisoner finishes off the constructing of his sea-going raft.

Then sets about gathering provisions for the voyage. It’s just as well that the General Store had been left unlocked, unless of course No.6 had to use some of that old fashioned brute force he’s so keen on, and had to break in! Certainly No.6 provisioned his craft from the General Store, taking also a copy of The Tally Ho and the black loudspeaker, also a Canon Dial camera. But at least he signed for the items and provisions he took, on the counter top in the General Store and signing himself No.6?

 

   After stowing his provisions and barrel of fresh water, and a galvanised bucket, aboard his raft, No.6 set about taking a number of photographs of the Village. If he should be successful in his voyage, to eventually return home, he has the idea in his head to return to his ex-colleagues for their help with his problem, and so has photographic evidence of the Village.

 

   Finally, just as he is about to cast off, SMASH, the sound of a breaking crockery! No surely not, they could not be so cruel as to dash away his hopes at the final moment. The Prisoner slowly turns around expecting perhaps to see No.2 standing there. But no! It’s the Village cat, and with that the Prisoner's hopes restored he quickly casts off his raft and sets sail on a voyage of discovery. But are we, the television viewer really to be expected to think that it was the Village cat that smashed that cup and saucer? I suppose if the Prisoner accepted it, then, we, as the television viewer have to do likewise.

Be seeing you