Teabreak Teaser

 Listening to the message heard by No.6 during the episode of ‘Dance of the Dead,’ does the voice remind you of anyone?

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Newly Arrived In The Village!

   Nadia Rakovsky, who apparently and according to No.2, was sent to the Village to recuperate. He told No.6 that she’s not at all important, that he was surprised they had even sent her to the Village. Ah I have it. Perhaps Nadia is one of those people who are sent to the Village because she knows too little! Well it would have been a nice idea if it were not for the fact that Nadia was sent to the Village to work “undercover,” and so the real reason why she was sent to the Village. But then No.6 wasn’t to know that at the time, was he? What’s more neither were we!

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Exhibition Of Arts And Crafts

From My Watercolour Landscape Period

                               "Two Mokes For Mister Prisoner!"

                       {It would have been a Seascape, but the tide was out at the time!}
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The Arrival!

    During the conversation between the new No.2 and the Prisoner in ‘Arrival’ 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 the Prisoner where he is, there cannot be any question of which side runs the Village. And if the Village is set up to gather information, as suggested by No.2 “We want information, information, information,” 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." But did No.2 mean it? Was that possible offer of authority real, or merely the carrot on the end of a stick? And the same could be said of that offer of ultimate power in ‘Fall Out.’

    Whichever way you look at it with regard to both offers of a position of authority, No.6 for one so usually quick to think on his feet, he was incredibly slow. I recently read in an article by Alan Shapiro and I quote “Foucault famously said: “As in judo, the best answer to an adversary manoeuvre is not to retreat, but to go along with it, turning it to one’s own advantage, as a resting point for the next phase.” But then there is no guarantee that this would have worked. You will recall that No.12 {The General} had a position of authority within Administration. He went along with the Village, until he began working against the educational experiment of Speedlearn, as he tried to work against the system from within, and look what happened to him. It cost him his life. And even if it hadn’t No.2 was on to him as being a traitor in the Village!

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Quote For The Day

“Will you never learn? This is only the beginning. We have many ways and means but do not wish to damage you permanently. Are you ready to talk?”

                                                                     {The new No.2 – Free For All}

   Apparently not! It would appear that the mere bruising of the tissue was not enough to make No.6 talk, and by the looks of the man he’s still as defiant as ever he was. You can see it in his eyes.

 However the exercise did give the two motor mechanics the opportunity for them to wreak their revenge on No.6, for his attack upon them on the boat, and their subsequent dunking in the sea!

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The Chimes of Big Ben

    Really the escape plot of this episode can only work with the first viewing, after that the elements of both surprise and shock of ‘The Chimes of Big Ben’ are rendered impotent. We are privy to only a fraction of that supposed escape trip as No.6 and Nadia make that twelve hour journey to London confined within the crate. But of course was we know it is a journey that doesn’t take place, and the only sea journey they take is one back to the Village!

   Instead of placing the crate on a lorry, which even in the episode we can see they failed to do, they placed the crate on a rocker bed, this to simulate movement. By road, being loaded onto a ship by crane, the journey continued by sea, and then by air. And then there would be the sound effects, not only that of the London traffic outside the Colonel’s office, but also of any outside sounds during that twelve hour journey, the sound of the ships engines for example.

   There is much within this episode that the television viewer is privy to, that No.6 and Nadia are not. And yet there is more which is taking place during ‘The Chimes of Big Ben’ which neither No.6, Nadia and the television viewer are not privy. Both parties, participants and observers, are deceived. As for the “punch line,” to the episode, well that can only work once. We are deceived no more!

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Village Life!

   "Mind the bulbs sir!"
   "Bulbs? Oh yes, you were an electrician a few moments ago!"
   "Yes sir, but I was fast-tracked into horticulture!"

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