A Favourite Scene

    Number 6 didn’t seem at all happy when the Supervisor said they’ll need the body for evidence, he smashed his glass on the floor in a fit of anger! The Supervisor then asked 6 what he desired, he said Number 1. Had ‘Once Upon a Time’ not ended up as the prequel to ‘Fall Out,’ perhaps Number 6 would have gone to see Number 1 in order to make his report at the end of his assignment. After all the Colonel on his deathbed was keen for Number 2 to tell Number 1 that he had done his duty. So why not Number 6? After all he had managed to infiltrate The Village, tested its security, but in his breaking of Number 2 he had perhaps gone too far. So it would only be natural that he would wish to make his report.
   I wonder what would have happened to Number 6 at the end of Once Upon A Time’ had ‘Fall Out’ not come along, and the need for that final short scene not been added on at the end? Certainly Number 2 would have remained dead, and the time lock would have released the steel door for Number 6 and the Butler to leave the Embryo Room. But what then…………………..?

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Thought For The Day

       During the time when Number 6 and Curtis were trying to prove their identities by their fingerprints, Curtis said that the problem with science is that it can be perverted! Is Curtis referring to science in general, or The Village’s administrations perverted use of the Seltzman machine? But then how would Curtis know about that? So perhaps it was Patrick McGoohan as Curtis who made that statement about science in general, but then demonstrated that perverseness in the use of the Seltzman machine!

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Caught On Camera!

    Number 12 was sent to talk to the girl Alison to see if she had any insight into Number 6’s motivations. She hadn’t, there was nothing she could tell him. Long before Alison reached for a cigarette box Number 6 had his hand in his pocket reaching for his cigarette lighter. He almost lit the lighter before Alison had the cigarette between her lips. It’s a small point but the scene would have been better had Number 6 been more casual about producing the cigarette light. It would have been more natural had he produced it straight from his blazer pocket just as Alison put the cigarette to her lips. As it is he seems to be anticipating Alison wanting a light for her cigarette, thereby proving her point!

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Three Days!

   During ‘Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling’ Number 2 explained about the workings of the Seltzman machine to the Colonel. Lying on the operating table in the Amnesia Room was a man who had obviously undergone the Seltzman mind transference technique. Because Number 2 said “We call this our amnesia room, rather proud of it. With it we can erase the memory to any point in time we choose. This man you see was extremely co-operative, he told all we wanted to know in three days, with hardly any persuasion. So now we wipe out any unhappy memories of The Village, then put him back into circulation to gather more information.” The man told Number 2 all they wanted to know in three days with hardly any persuasion. Then perhaps Number 2 of ‘A B and C,’ who only had three days in order to extract the reason behind the Prisoner’s resignation, should have employed the same technique as employed by Number 2 in ‘Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling.’ This instead of wasting time researching and computing the Prisoner’s whole life, and getting into Number 6’s dreams by Inception, and manipulate them in order to discover the reason behind the Prisoner’s resignation!

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Everyman

   When asked about the identity of the Prisoner-No.6, Patrick McGoohan defined him as being “Everyman,” and so in turn enthusiasts for the Prisoner took that to mean No.6 is absolutely anyone. However the definition of the word Everyman is “An ordinary or typical human being,” however when it comes to No.6 he could hardly be described as an ordinary typical human being. After all how many men can boast being endowed with all the following number of skills?

    Ability to pilot a helicopter.

    His Mechanical skills being as such that he built his own Lotus 7 kit car.

    His wood working skills are such that he could make his own woodworking tools, carve out a boat’s hull out of a tree trunk, and to build a sea-going raft.

    He made his own compass using a jar, a piece of cork, and a magnetic needle.
    Constructed a Triquetrum an ancient astrological device out of wood during the first cut of ‘The Chimes of Big Ben,’ if we can count that, I think we can.

    His navigational skills are second to none.

    Has a strong survival instinct.
    He enjoyed a classical education

    Enjoys a strong sense of identity.

    He has a well developed mind and mental strength.

    Works with codes and ciphers.
    Physically he is well developed, athletic, strong, and agile, able to take care of himself in a fair fight.
    Water skiing.
    He excels as Kosho.

    Has boxing skills, and is an ex-Olympian, having once been on an Olympic fencing team. Shooting he has a skill rate of 90%.
   He built his own private gymnasium in the woods, and demonstrated his sewing skills my stitching together a punch bag from odd pieces of material.
   Quick-witted, has the ability to think quickly on his feet.

   He can also spin a good yarn, as three Village children as well as No.2 can confirm!
   Being of an artistic bent he created his own piece of abstract art, and makes a decent cartographer, such are his drawing skills.
    He is domesticated.
    Plays chess, games often ending in a 7 or 11 checkmate win by No.6.

    Has a working knowledge of rocket science.

    If I have left anything out perhaps the reader would be kind enough as add them in a comment.
    The above talents, skills, and expertise all of which can be learned of course, but put them all together in such a man as No.6 and what have you got? An “extraordinary man!”

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Tell Us Another One!

   I wonder how many times Number 6 played child-minder to those three children, and whose children were they anyway? Did their parents know they were being used in one of Number 2’s little experiments? And like Scheherazade how many stories did Number 6 have to tell, 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13 14,15,16....or was this simply a one off? He can certainly spin a good yarn. Go on tell us another, the one about the big bad lone wolf who chucks in his job because for a very long time he craved peace of mind! Why peace of mind, what had he been doing that he needed to escape the job he was doing? Perhaps he developed a sudden conscience, and decided that he no longer liked or had the stomach for the kind of work he was being ordered to do! What went wrong? Because he didn’t seem to be the kind of man who was about to resign his job. He was going to marry the boss’s daughter, Janet Portland. He was set to have lunch with Sir Charles that very day, what’s more it’s indicated that he often had lunch with Sir Charles, having said once how Sir Charles lunches do go on. He seemed happy that morning, well until he saw in the mirror that he wasn’t the man he thought he was!

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The Willing Prisoner!

    “Look, I don’t know why you brought me here.”
    “Don’t worry, it’s not for you to know why you are here, only to know you are here. But I can see there has been a mistake.”
    14 “We don’t usually make mistakes.”
    “Oh I don’t know, sometimes we have to make mistakes, sometimes we have to.”
    “But it’s a well known fact sir, we do not make mistakes.”
    “We never fail.”
    “What was that sir?”
    “It’s not we never make mistakes, it’s we never fail.”
    “Amounts to the same thing in the end, doesn’t it?”
    “Well if you don’t know......”
    “Look, what about me?”
    “Yes, what are we going to do with you?”
    “We’ll have to send him back won’t we?”
    “Nothing else for it Fourteen, he shouldn’t have been here in the first place. We’ll just have to send him back. You won’t mind that will you now...”
    “Yes!”
    “.....Good. That’s that settled then......what did you say?”
    “I don’t want to go back there!”
    “You don’t want to go back?”
    “Well would you?”
    “He can’t stay here sir.”
    “I can see that Fourteen. Look mister......?”
    “Ninety-nine.”
    “Ninety-nine. We are awfully sorry about this current state of affairs....”
    “It’s no good being sorry. You had me brought here, so here I’ll stay. Now then, that doctor was asking me a lot of questions, what is it you want to know?”
    “Sir, he’s a plumber from Bethnal Green, his firm’s motto is “we plumb the depths.”
    “ What could he possibly know that we want to?”
    “Nothing!”
   “The two undertakers went to the wrong house.”
    “No, they went to the right house and he was in it!”
    “Yeah, I was doing a plumbing job. Next thing I know is I wake up in this place, this Village. Mind you it is a bit of alright this place.”
    “It’s a bit of alright?”
    “Well it’s by the seaside.”
    “It’s on an estuary.”
    “Close enough, it’s got a lovely beach, the girls are a bit of alright. The lodgings are comfortable enough, I’ve got me own house, and a maid comes in and cleans once a day, and brings me meals.”
    “Look sir, why don’t we make the best of a bad job. There was a meeting of the Works Committee only yesterday discussing the state of the drains.”
    “What’s that?”
    “It’s nothing to do with you.”
    “He mentioned the drains, what about the drains?”
    “The drains, oh I see what you’re grasping at Fourteen.”
    “Look if you people have problems with your drains, well I’m your man.”
    “Actually it’s not just the drains, it’s the sceptic tank.”
    “You mean you’re not on main sewage?”
    “Can I leave you to deal with this Fourteen?”
    “I think you can sir. Come with me Ninety-nine, let me introduce you to the Works Committee, I think they can find gainful employment for you.”
    “Well you know I know everything there is to know about the plumbing game, I’m a sanitary engineer first class you know.”
    “Yes I’m sure you are.”
    “I’ve got a plan for a machine that will not only unblock a drain, but will coat the pipe with a mixture so that.........”
    “Yes, very interesting I’m sure, just come along with me will you.”

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