The Baltic Times

    To borrow one of No.2’s sayings, well it isn’t really, “The Devil is in the detail,” well not in this instance he isn’t! According to Nadia the location of the village is in Lithuania 30 miles from the Polish border. As it happens there is the 100 mile or so coastline of the Russian territory of Kaliningrad Oblast

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaliningrad_Oblast

which is the only Baltic sea port of Russia, which lies between Lithuania and Poland. Quite obviously scriptwriter Vincent Tilsley had forgotten, or had not taken into account, that length of coastline when he worked out the location of the village.
    Nadia’s file claimed that at the age of 17 she had been an International swimmer, an Olympic bronze medallist. No.6 had been on an Olympic fencing team, we learned that during the fencing scene during ‘The Schizoid Man.’ Yes it was No.12/Curtis who said it, but he was impersonating No.6 at the time. 
   When it comes to Nadia it pays for a “plant” to have her story straight, mind you No.2 didn’t help when he said that No.8 had been brought to the village because of suffering from nervous tension, that she’s been brought to the village to recuperate. Nadia told No.6 that she had committed no crime; all she had done was to resign. No doubt this was to play on No.6’s sympathies seeing as he was in the same boat as Nadia having resigned from his own job. So perhaps Nadia had the right of it, and No.2 was simply having a joke with No.6. But then in the hospital why did No.2 tell No.6 that No.8’s not at all important, saying that he was surprised they had even sent her to the village. An Estonian working for the Russians who resigned her job, there would have been worse places the KGB could have sent her, a Gulag in Siberia for one! But she wasn’t, and she didn’t, but she was to return to where….to where? Presumably to London to make her report to those “masters” we heard about from time to time. Not to No.1 then? Shouldn’t think so, after all at the end Nadia is dressed in a fur coat and looked to be ready the leave the village.
   File No2. section 12 page one, paragraph one, line one, when you think about it No.1 doesn’t enter into it during ‘The Chimes of Big Ben.’ No.2 doesn’t make a report to No.1 at any time, in fact when he does make a note or amendment to a report, he does so using a small square recording device. What think you, a futuristic digital recorder perhaps?
    During ‘The Alternative Chimes of Big Ben’ No.6 uses a much older device, which he made himself for his first woodworking project, a Triquetrum which is derived from the Latin tri “three” and quetrum “cornered” and was the medieval name for an ancient astronomical instrument first described by Ptolemy who called it a parallactic instrument and seems to have used it to determine the zenith distance and parallax of the Moon. No.6’s homemade device is a crude device, not one hundred percent accurate. I’m never sure if No.6 is describing Ptolemy’s Triquetrum, or the crude device No.6 made for himself!
    File No.2, section 12 paragraph 3, subsection 2 add Christopher Benjamin played the Labour Exchange manager in ‘Arrival,’ yet during ‘The Chimes of Big Ben’ he’s assistant to No.2. Was this promotion for No.20 the Labour Exchange manager? He’s certainly had a change in number, as well as a change in costume, dressed as a No.2 in fact, except  for the piped blazer, but then one No.2 has been known to wear a piped blazer. So No.20 becomes No.10, but his promotion doesn’t seem to have lasted all that long, for one scene as it happens, because the next time we see No.10 he’s in the control room, possibly now demoted to assistant to the supervisor, seeing as this No.2 doesn’t really warrant or need an assistant. On the other hand perhaps this No.2 took against his assistant’s remark about there being methods they haven’t tried against No.6 yet!
    File No.2, section 12 paragraph 3, subsection 2 add when it comes to the two roles played by Christopher Benjamin in ‘Arrival’ and ‘Chimes’  we could be dealing with another case of identical twins, or doppelgangers!
   Although ‘The Chimes of Big Ben’ has some of the most memorable, and sparkling lines of dialogue in the series, and is rich in humour, the surprise of the plot only works on the first time of viewing. I recall when I first watched the episode in 1967, how I thought No.6 had actually managed to escape the village when that crate arrived in that office No.6 knew very well, in London. Poor old No.6, they even rubbed salt into his wounds by announcing a great new competition seascapes!

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The Prisoner Virtual Convention No.2

 

 

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Finally To Escape!

 Finally To Escape! 

    If they thought No.6 would simply accept all the praise and accolades which the High Court Judge places upon the former No.6, then he was sadly mistaken! Chaos, mayhem, revolution, death and destruction, evacuation, and finally escape! The countdown begins; the Scammell Highwayman transporter leaves the cavern, citizens run this way and that as helicopters take off from all corners of the village, and two snowdrop military policemen drive a speeding Mini-Moke through the village on their way to where……to where…..to escape!
    As the rocket blasts off out of its silo the Scammell Highwayman transporter crashes through a pair of wrought iron gates at the end of the tunnel. Rover is no more, its dead; and it took the high temperature flames emitted from the exhausts of the rocket to kill it. It’s questionable as to why the Guardian was in the silo in the first place.
   No.6 and No.1 managed to escape the village at precisely the same moment, what No.1’s fate may have been must clearly have ended in his death. As for No.6 he eventually returned to London, No.48 is trying to thumb a lift along the M1 motorway, and after returning home the former No.6 drives off in his Lotus 7as the butler enters the house. And as he drives passed the Houses of Parliament on his way to that underground car park, the former No.2 is dressed for the Village of Westminster on his way back to the House of Lords. And then that long deserted runway appears on the screen and out of the distance looms the Lotus 7, and simply know you its going to begin all over again. But it doesn’t; look right does it, to have that final shot of the deserted runway at the end, after all the former No.6 is already in London parking his car in that underground car park. If you are to press the rest button for ‘the Prisoner’ to start all over again must mean ‘Fall Out’ never really took place, and everything that happened prior to ‘Fall Out’ has yet to happen, cue clouds, clue thunder…….

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More Tales From The Village

     If you, like so many Prisoner enthusiasts, have enjoyed the “fan fiction” series ‘Tales From The Village,’ then you will enjoy the second volume called ‘More Tales From The Village.’

    No.2, a portly gentleman sat in the black global chair, “If he would answer one simple question all the rest would follow!”

    No.21 young, tall man, with fair hair stood at the desk “One of your predecessors thought that.”

    “Really, what happened?”

    “The Prisoner answered the question and that brought his file up to date.”

    “What do you mean brought his file up to date?”

    “Well it was the one thing that was missing from the file.”

    “What was it, what was the question?”

    “What was his date of birth?”

    “And that was it?”

    “Yes, but the clever thing was we knew the Prisoner’s date of birth

all the time, we just left it out of his file!”

    “And he gave you his date of birth.”

    “Yes.”

    “Just like that?”

    “Yes.”

    “He probably guessed you knew the date of his birth, and so saw little harm in him telling it to you. Did he tell you anything else?”

    “Well yes as a matter of fact he did.”

    “Well what was it, what did he say?”

    “I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or numbered, my life is my own. I’ve nothing to say, nothing. The trouble was they were using the wrong approach!”

    “How do you mean?”

    “You should send the Prisoner to the hospital.”

    “Why isn’t he feeling very well?”

    “There’s a doctor there, Number 40, he’d soon get the information we want. He reckons everyman has his breaking point.”

    “No I can’t do that.”

    “Why not?”

    “Our masters do not want the Prisoner broken, they want him with a whole heart body and soul.”

    “We are too soft on him that’s our trouble!”

    “You want to be careful 21.”

    “Why?”

    “You never know who might be listening, after all not everyone is  as understanding as I am.”

    On the wall screen the Prisoner was pictured in his house lying on the sofa listening the Brahms. He had a ham and cheese sandwich and a cup of coffee.

    “Look at him, he’s far too relaxed. What we want to know is why he resigned.”

    “What does it matter?”

    “It’s the one detail missing from his file, and our main purpose is for the extraction and gathering of information.”

    “What do we do with it when we get it?”

    “What do we do with it when we get it, well we pass it on.”

    “To whom do we pass it on to?”

    “Number 1.”

    “And what does Number 1 do with it?”

    “Well I should think he’ll pass it onto someone else.”

    “Our masters.”

    “I should think so.”

    “And what do they do with it when they get it?”

    “I should imagine they give it to someone else!”

    On the wall screen the Prisoner was pictured turning off the record player, he slipped on his brown piped blazer and went out. No.2 pressed a button on the control panel of his desk and followed the Prisoner’s progress on the wall screen.

    “What happened to his letter?”

    “Letter?”

    “His letter of resignation?”

    “I don’t know.”

    “Someone must have it, the Colonel perhaps, or Sir Charles Portland.”

    “We can’t go bothering them.”

    “Why not?”

    “It’s not the done thing.”

    “If we had the letter we could read it and perhaps learn something of value from it.”

    “Not necessarily, he might not have written a reason for his resignation, simply that he resigns.”

    “Dear Colonel, I herby tender my resignation effective forthwith, that sort of thing?”

    “Just so.”

    “Just as well we didn’t go bothering the Colonel or Sir Charles then!”

    No.2 caught sight of No.6 on the wall screen “What’s that Number 6 up to now?”

    No.6 had made his way into the woods, and over the past week he had assembled a high bar. The bar itself was a length of steel scaffolding, strung up at over six feet between two trees and secured by stout rope. From the bushes he brought out another length of rope and threw it up over a strong tree branch. The other end of the rope was secured to a homemade punch bag, made up by various pieces of sacking all stitched together.

    “So that’s what he’s been up to” 21 said staring at the screen “he’s made himself a private gymnasium!”

    “You mean you didn’t know?”

    “And you did I suppose.”

    “It’s our job to know Number 21, that’s why we have surveillance. But why our friend Number 6 was busy constructing his private gymnasium he wasn’t poking his nose in where it didn’t concern him. I didn’t know he was so skilful with needle and thread though.”

    On the screen No.6 pulled on the rope and hoisted up the punch bag then secured the rope.

    “What’s in the punch bag?” 21 asked.

    “Our friend has been collecting old rags, bits of cloth, and a couple of bags of sand from the beach.”

    “Is there no end to this man’s talents?” 

    No.6 took off his blazer and dropped it to the ground then began laying into the punch bag with his bare fists. Then he jumped up and grabbing hold of the high bar pulled himself up and continued his workout on the high bar before somersaulting to the ground pushing the punch bag, ducking out of its way then punching it as it swung back towards him. There was another rope which No.6 took a running jump at, he swung a few times on the rope, then as he swung he kicked out at the punch bag which made it swing. Then letting go of the rope he dropped to the ground, clenched his fists again and began to punch the swinging bag for all he was worth. When he had finished his work-out, he put his blazer back on and headed back through the woods, through the village to his cottage. In the shower room he decided that if he was to continue with his work-outs there was just one more thing he needed, a track suit!

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An Out of Village Experience!

There are a number of episodes of ‘the Prisoner’ which give an “out of village experience.” The Chimes of Big Ben A B and C Many Happy Returns Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling Living In Harmony The Girl Who Was Death Once Upon A Time Fall Out I have included ‘A B and C’ although its not an almost full episode free of the village like ‘Many Happy Returns’ ‘A B and C’ does give an experience of life outside the village, and I’m sure No.6 enjoyed the change. As for ‘Many Happy Returns’ it’s an experience No.6 was lucky to survive and one he would rather forget. But then he did have two choices to stay or go. And yet the desire of escape would be so overwhelming, so instinctive that he probably couldn’t stop himself even if he wanted to. But it does afford the viewer a brief glimpse into No.6’s past as he encounters two of his former colleagues, the Colonel and Thorpe. ‘Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling,’ a sort of out of body experience you could call it I suppose. But like everything in the village No.6 takes it all in his stride, and for the first time he needs the village, otherwise his mind would reside in a body perhaps not to his liking, the Colonel’s, until the day he died! So it’s lucky an agent working for the village had managed to follow ZM73 all the way to Kandersfeld. Otherwise I couldn’t see how No.6 would have made it back to the village at all! ‘Living In Harmony’ can be described as an “out of village experience,” yet without leaving the confines of the prison! The Frontier town of Harmony set in the American 1800’s is rather like the village in that its townsfolk reply upon the Judge to look after them, just as citizens in the village rely upon No.2 as chairman to look after them. Also as there is no escape from the village, once you’re living in Harmony there’s no leaving! ‘The Girl Who Was Death’ is perhaps the best of the list ‘Once Upon A Time’ can we call this an “out of village experience”? Yes the Embryo Room is located within the village, and yet what takes place within that room reflects a life lived outside the village. Finally ‘Fall Out,’ the main events of which take place in an underground cavern free of village influences and so could be described as an “out of village experience,” where a debate is held in regard to a matter of democratic crisis. As far as a crisis is concerned that hasn’t been reached yet, well not until the former No.6 encounters No.1, then all hell is let loose! Should I have included ‘The Chimes of Big Ben’ in this list? True No.6 and Nadia do manage escape the village and travel 30 miles, that’s an “out of village experience,” and yet they are taken back to the village straight from the cave where in a room the journey is played out, and eventually in a room No.6 knows very well in London, an “out of the village experience” is played out in one act. This is much like one of the acts in ‘A B and C,’ in which we get a glimpse of No.6’s former life, and of two former colleagues. So perhaps ‘The Chimes of Big Ben’ can be added, I think it can. Be seeing you

The Girl Who Was Death

Death is most often personified as male, although in some cultures Death is perceived as female. Published in 1933 “The Appointment In Samarra” is the retelling of an ancient Mesopotamian tale retold by W Somerset Maugham. The speaker is Death; 

    “There was a merchant in Baghdad who sent his servant to market to buy provisions and in a little while the servant came back, white and trembling, and said, Master, just now when I was in the marketplace I was jostled by a woman in the crowd and when I turned I saw it was Death that jostled me. She looked at me and made a threatening gesture, now, lend me your horse, and I will ride away from this city and avoid my fate. I will go to Samarra and there Death will not find me. The merchant lent him his horse, and the servant mounted it, and he dug his spurs in its flanks and as fast as the horse could gallop he went. Then the merchant went down to the marketplace and he saw me standing in the crowd and he came to me and said, why did you make a threatening gesture to my servant when you saw him this morning? That was not a threatening gesture, I said, it was only a start of surprise. I was astonished to see him in Baghdad, for I had an appointment with him tonight in Samarra.”

      Whether or not scriptwriter Terrence Feely was aware of this retelling of ancient Mesopotamian tale by W Somerset Maugham, and thereby given the inspiration for Death being female in ‘The Girl Who Was Death’ is unknown. However it is always possible. Terrence wrote this episode based on an idea by director David Tomblin, so was it Tomblin or Feely’s idea to make Death the Girl? Generally one does one’s best to avoid death, as in “The Appointment In Samarra,” however its Death who leads Mister X a merry dance of death in a series of adventures, at the cricket match, then avoiding death in the Thatched Barn hotel. The dance continues to the Turkish baths, then onto all the fun of the fair and Barny’s Boxing Booth where Mister X is given a clue as to the whereabouts of Death…….the tunnel of love where again death is cheated! A car chase leaves the funfair miles behind and ahead of them the deserted village of Witchwood where Mister X is due to die. The dance leads Mister X through the butchers, the bakers, and the candlestick makers where he is meant to die. But one can only go on avoiding death for so long, even using an International 100b Drott loader as a tank for protection will not save him, only by his wits does Mister X live to fight another day!

 

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Tales From The Village

The pair of steel doors opened and the tall frame of No.14 walked down the ramp. No.2 was sat in his black spherical chair drinking coffee, pictured on the wall screen in his cottage was No.36 who paced the floor of his lounge.

 “Help yourself to coffee 14.” “Thank you sir” and he picked up the silver Georgian coffee pot and poured out the black liquid. 

 “He hasn’t talked.” 

 “No sir” 14 agreed adding two lumps of sugar and milk to his coffee.

 “You told me that everyone talks on the third day.”

 “As a rule” 14 said stirring his coffee. 

 “Then Number 36 is apparently not in accordance with that particular rule, wouldn’t you say?” 

“Yesterday we tried the psychology, the day before that we tried brute force, and the day before that we used 66’s feminine wiles.” 

“And today we give 36 the silent treatment!” 

“How do you mean sir?” 

 “Drink your coffee then I’ll explain.” 

    An hour later No.36 was brought to the Green Dome by two guardians, and seated in a black leather chair. No.2 sat in his chair, and No.14 perched himself on the edge of the grey curved desk, neither of them said a word. 14 was thumbing through a black file while No.2 sat looking at the wall screen, watching citizens enjoying themselves down on the beach. Eventually they turned their attention to No.36, and just stood there looking at him in complete silence. No.36 was beginning to wonder why he had been brought to this purple walled chamber, and why he was being given the silent treatment.

 “What’s the matter with you two today, cat got your tongues?” No.2 and No.14 simply stood there, silent and staring.

 “What’s the matter, aren’t you going to ask me any questions?” Response there came none. 

“Well I can sit here just as quietly as you pair……………….. Alright, ask me something……anything…….. why are you two acting like a pair of brainwashed imbeciles? What do you want to know, I’ll tell you anything you want to know, I can’t be fairer than that can I? First of all there was this file that once crossed my desk by accident…………” No.14 folded his arms “I’m surprised, this technique actually works.”

 “I told you 14, give the subject the silent treatment and he will soon begin to talk, he won’t be able to stop himself.” 

 “Are you two listening to me?” 

 “Yes 36 we’re all ears……..first of all tell us all you know about the projects you know about, the files you have seen, details not just headings…………” 

 

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