Bureau of Visual Records

   In ‘A Change of Mind,’ when it comes to Number 6’s complaints {not his own complaints of which he has several, but those and the charge which has been levelled against him} the accusation of Number 6’s disharmony stems not from Number 18-the Chairman of the Committee, but from a voice from a tape player! It’s the same voice which feeds Number 93 the words of his confession.

   “They’re right of course. Quite right. I’m inadequate, inadequate. Disharmonious, I’m truly grateful, believe me, believe me, believe me.”
   During Number 6’s interview with the Committee, although the tape player is switched on by the Chairman, it is suggested the voice emanates from the machine and seems to be independent. In other words the voice reacts to what Number 6 says, or is it the other way around, seeing as Number 6 appears to be speaking to the voice of the machine, rather than to the members of the Committee.
   No.6 “I take it you’ve checked my file…regarding hostility.”
   Voice on the tape “Your files are no concern to us. Any information is with Number Two.”
    “Really.”

    Number 18 Committee Chairman “It is the duty of this Committee to deal with complaints.”
    “Complaints?”
    Voice on the tape “Your complaints.”
    “Your complaints.”
    “Well done, I have several!”

    “You realise the serious charge has been levelled against you, particularly your attitude towards your fellow citizens. We deplore your spirit of disharmony”

    “That’s a common complaint around here isn’t it?”
    Chairman “I would council discretion Number Six!”
    Voice on the tape “You do appreciate that everything you say is being recorded.”
    “And may be used as evidence against me!”

    “This is a strictly impartial Committee.”
    Chairman “Number Six you are not called before this Committee to defend yourself.”

    “All we ask is for your complete confession.”
    Chairman “I’m sure you will co-operate Number Six. Gentlemen its time. I think we are more than ready for a tea break. The Group and medical reports will be considered in full at the resumed hearing of this Committee.”

   Just a minute, during part of this scene the striking of the bell in the Bell Tower can be heard. But the Committee Chamber is well below ground, so how is this possible? Unless its with the voice on the tape, which means the voice was recorded, if it is a recorded voice we hear, was recorded somewhere out of doors. And there’s one other small matter. At the outset of the interview with Number 6, the Chairman presses a button on a control panel effectively switching on the tape recorder. But the voice, which is suggested to come from the tape recorder is heard to speak before the tape recorder is switched on. So it’s a disembodied voice which emanates from another source. Because it’s impossible for a recorded voice to emanate from the tape and react to what Number 6 is saying. The tape recorder is simply doing what the disembodied voice said, recording everything Number 6 says. So from where is the voice coming? There is no black loudspeaker on display, but there must be one. Perhaps the voice is a live feed via a microphone, and because of the sound of the chiming of the bell, the man must be somewhere outside in The Village. But the question is, why the voice at all? After all the voice says nothing the Committee Chairman could not say!

Be seeing you

A Favourite Scene In The Prisoner

   In ‘Dance of the Dead,’ when Number 6 breaks curfew and goes out into The Village night. In her office Number 2 observes Number 6 on her wall screen, and presses a button on her control panel releasing the membranic Guardian. Then Number 6 finds himself on the beach with the Guardian, which does not attack him. Instead Number 6 begins to run, and it always seems to be that he is testing himself against the Guardian, perhaps in an attempt to outrun it. But the Guardian simply maintains pace with the Prisoner, until Number 6’s stamina finally gives out, and is on his knees. Having observed this on the wall screen in her office Number 2 presses another button and the Guardian moves away. I suppose the reason why the Guardian didn’t attack Number 6, thereby suffocating him into unconsciousness, is because Number 6 isn’t being of any great trouble. So seeing that Number 6 has nowhere else to go but back to his cottage Number 2 is happy to leave Number 6 where he is. A night spent on the beach will not harm him or The Village.

   Well that’s all well and good, Number 2 activating and deactivating the Guardian by the touch of a button. But how was it conveyed to the Guardian to just maintain pace with the running Number 6, and not to attack him?

Be seeing you

Exhibition of Arts And Crafts

                              “Be seeing you.”

                           “Not if I see you first!”

BcNu

The Tally Ho Press

   Number 113, was he simply wasting his time when he interviewed the local candidate Number 6 in the election?

    “This is red hot stuff you know, haven’t had a candidate of your calibre for ages.”
    “Congratulations.”
    “How are you going to handle your campaign?”
    “No comment.”
    “Intends to fight for freedom at all costs. What about your internal policy?”
    “No comment.”
    “Will tighten up on Village security. How about your external policy?”

    “No comment.”
    “Our exports will operate in every corner of the globe. How do you feel about life and death?”

   “Mind your own business.”
   “No comment.”

   The only thing is Number 113 doesn’t write down one single word of that interview. The page of his notebook remains blank, save for the printed lines upon it. This is perhaps because he, or someone else has already written the interview, and had already been printed in the broadsheet. What’s more the interview with the candidate printed in The Tally Ho newspaper does not contain one word of the above interview, as seen below.

   And Number 113b, photographer for The Tally Ho, was he simply wasting film in his camera by taking a number of photographs of Number 6 sat in the taxi? Was there actually film in his camera? Because not one of the supposed pictures taken by Number 113b appears with the article! Only this one.

Be seeing you

I’m New Here!

   The episode of ‘Dance of the Dead’ is the eighth episode in ‘the Prisoner,’ so it becomes curious what Number 6 says to the maid Number 54, "I'm new here." After Number 6's arrival in The Village, he's been duped into thinking he escaped The Village during ‘The Chimes of Big Ben, had the privacy of his dreams invaded in ‘A B and C,’ In ‘Free For All’ he ran for electoral office. After that he met his doppelganger The Schizoid Man, and destroyed the General by asking a question, supposedly insoluble to man or machine. Then one morning having found that he is the only inhabitant The Village, Number 6 made himself a sea-going raft and set out on a sea adventure. So to say "I'm new here"........just how long does a citizen of The Village have to be a resident so as no longer to be new? It may be supposed that by the time ‘Dance of the Dead’ came along, Number 6 would have been an old hand of The Village! He certainly sounded like an “old hand” in The Village when he was giving new arrival Nadia Rakovsky directions to the Green Dome, and explaining the local taxi service to her, during ‘The Chimes of Big Ben,’ and that was only the second episode of the series. Yet having only arrived in The Village in the previous episode. And there’s the crux of the matter, in the library or production order of ‘the Prisoner’ ‘Dance of the Dead’ is the second episode. In that scenario the line “I’m new here” holds water. And yet having said that, Number 6 did only arrive recently, in  the previous episode, at the end of ‘Many Happy Returns,’ so in a way Number 6 was new in The Village, only recently arrived!

Be seeing you

THEPRIS6NER

   Well ‘Arrival’ went by rather quickly last week! I could certainly have done with “More Village” that’s for certain. Tonight it's ‘Harmony,’ in which Two gives Six a brother 16. In fact this is not the first time the Prisoner has been given a brother, I did so for my film ‘Village Day.’

    Hamony begins where Arrival left off. The Guardian having attacked the Prisoner, leaving him lying on the sand unconscious.

   Two sees Six as having physiological problems, and sends him for a session of the ‘Talking Cure’ with 70, in an endeavour to find the “Six inside.” After Six storms out, Two decides that it might be a good idea to find the “Two inside.”
 "You don't think I believe this therapy babble do you?” Two tells 70. “My mother sat me side-ways on the potty when I was a toddler and now I want to sleep with her. Oh grow up man. Have you had sex with your mother Seventy?"
   "No, never."
   "Well don't!"

   "Two, if I might ask, if you don't believe in the value of the talking cure..."
  "It is not necessary for me to believe, it is necessary for Six to believe."
   For myself I think it's Two, Two was talking about here, and that its more likely that he's the one with psychological problems!

    The surrealness of The Village - not only has it been turned into a television soap opera in The Village, but its also been novelised! So not only can the good citizens experience The Village for themselves, but read about it as well!

    Six is the one shouting. The louder a man shouts, the more profoundly he's wrong.

And finally the Prisoner is not a number.........his name is Six. He is Six.

Be seeing you

Caught On Camera!

    Number 6 in the laboratory somewhere in the woods, or to be more precise, in Number 2’s office by the looks of it! Observe the purple walls, and the steel structure in the background. We have seen this before, with the gymnasium of ‘The Schizoid Man.’ The case of a set constructed on a set, no doubt designed to save time!

BCNU