The Prisoner #004: Names v. Numbers

Published in

· 12 Jul 2023

Date: Fri, 20 Sep 85 21:42:24 edt
From: sjuvax!iannucci (D. Iannucci)
Message-Id: <8509210142.AA03628@sjuvax.UUCP>
To: bpa!sb6!allegra!packard!MIT-MULTICS.ARPA!Lippard
Subject: Prisoner #004

The Prisoner #004 9/20/85 Moderator: Dave Iannucci (iannucci@sjuvax.UUCP)

Topics

Names v. Numbers
Concept of time in `The Prisoner'
More on the last episode
Various replies to Prisoner #003

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Open discussion here...
I believe it is best to assume that every one has seen all the episodes. If you haven't seen one, this newsletter may aid you in seeing what is "really" going on in the show. Regarding giving away the last episode. What can be given away about them? I still have trouble figuring them out and I've seen them several times!

Concerning names/titles vs numbers...
Their use seems to be illogical. "Rover" a thing (machine?) is named. Then there is the "supervisor" who seems to be wearing a number, but is he called by his title in any show? If so, I assume he's called the supervisor for convience of the script. In "The General" there is the "perfessor" and his wife is called "madame perfessor". I did not see any number badges on them. They must have been temporaries in the village, but I don't remember seeing temporaries in other shows without numbered badges. Then there is #2's servent who has no badge, never speaks and sometimes disappears. One suspison I have is that the servant is number one. To me he is the most mysterious character. Come to think of it have you ever seen the servent around when number two was on the phone with number one? Please prove me wrong so I can get a good nights sleep!

Relevance of time in the series...

Already mentioned
1.

The Arrival
A watch allowed the avoidance of Rover thus helicopter access.

Chimes of Big Ben
Lack of discrepancy between British and Village time gives clue of not being in London.

Some new ones

It's Your Funeral(?)
The clock maker is a jammer and assasin.

Schiod Man
It's the alleged date and photo of his injured nail that assures the prisoner of his true identity.

Any others??? Let's here them! What part does time play in the village and/or episodes?

Trivial help...
To whom it may concern I have 12 out of 17 episodes on video tape. I got them when they where on WHYY (PBS Philadelphia area) around the beginning of this year. For those difficult to answer trivia questions I'll look them up on tape and let you know. Anybody else out there doing the same?

BCing U...
Tom Kenny, [ihnp4 | allegra]!pegasus!juliet!tek

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Regarding Alan Hedge's thoughts on the final episode:

... what is the significance of the cage when #6 supposedly goes home? Finally, the last scene of the series showing him driving his sports car across the large open space is the same as in the beginning of all the episodes? My theory is that the whole thing is in the mind of #6, and he never is really freed. The only real support I have for #6 being the real master is in his defeat of #2 posing as the schoolmaster in the "final" attempt at breaking him.

My initial impression upon seeing this episode was that the message is that even back in normal society, he is still in his own self-made prison. Notice that in addition to returning to society in a cage, he is surrounded by the same people (the current #2, the butler), he goes through the same routines he always has (driving down the highway), and the door to his home has the new feature (we know this wasn't there before from the episode where he returned to London for a while) of opening automatically like those in the Village. I believe there must be other quirks like these in the episode as well.

Other evidence for #6 being the real master is found underneath the monkey mask in the final episode. This evidence alone was enough to convince me.

                               /-- dual ---\ 
                    /-- ucbvax ---\       /--- sun!sunncal ---\ 
Lyle E. Wilkinson      {      or       }!{            or           }!leadsv!lew 
                    \-- decwrl ---/   \-- amdcad!cae780 --/ 
                               \-- ihnp4 --/

I meant to write this after seeing this movie for the first time a few weeks ago. There seemed to be a lot from "8 1/2" (the spa [village], the people, the lead character) that was used in "The Prisoner". The movie was made in the early 60s and could easily have been used as a model for the TV series.

Has anyone else noticed these similarities? If so, do you think it was intentional or just coincidence (sp?)?

BTW, as for all the talk about symbolism in the series, don't forget that this was a very "trendy" show at a time when media, in general, was very trendy. A lot of these could be misinterpreted if taken out of the context of the times. What we want to believe about them may never had been intended by their creators. Who knows, maybe the whole thing was a spoof of people who look for "hidden meanings"?

[R. Zarcone]

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Why did they go through all this trouble in the first place? Why not just 'bump him off'? <The 'authority' in the series -- not the motivation for the series> [B. Miller]

If you remember in the last episode, they made a big to-do about him being the only individual, and being the "greatest" and all that crap, and they asked him to lead them. I think it could be that once they saw what he was made of (shortly after his arrival in the Village), they decided to give him the whole 9 yards and if he proved strong enough, they would enlist him as part of the ruling community.

What did the bicycle symbolize? [B. Miller]

I believe that someone had an interpretation of this on the net way back when. Is that person here? If so, would you repeat your explanation, as I can't remember it too well.

One thing I wonder about is how much does "Secret Agent" have to do with "The Prisoner". There are probably a lot of references in the latter to the former. [J. Gomez]

Back in April, Channel 12 WHYY here in Philly said that they were going to show SA after The Prisoner was finished. As far as I know, that never materialized. Anybody know why?

Dave Tallman thinks that the behavior of the characters in "Liv. in Harmony" demonstrates that #6 is imagining it all. I don't think so.
I think I remember one of the actors reminding the other not to get too involved in the script, and in the end the plan falls apart for this reason, sounds to me like real people having difficulty keeping track of reality.
I was sort of remembering the plot in a different order when I wrote that. But I still don't think the scene's when he's not there prove anything, it's just the scriptwriter trying to convince *us* that it's all real (#6 doesn't need any convincing). [W. Burstein]

I don't know quite what you mean by "No.6 doesn't need any convincing", but I do know that since the whole thing was conducted through headphones, it would not make sense for them to continue talking once No.6 had left the scene. He supposedly couldn't hear them if he was not near them. And letting him hear conversations that were going on a block away would have just screwed him up. I don't know what to make of this really, but perhaps Dave's fantasy idea isn't so crazy after all. The only alternative I can see is my old standby: the producers of the series didn't think that far into the consequences of letting things go on behind 6's back. I don't think anybody wants to hear that though.

he really thought it was quite funny that lots of liberals were taking _The_Prisoner_ as such a statement for freedom when in fact it espoused a very conservative, restrictive viewpoint. [R. $alz]

Well, I thought about this and discussed it with John Giorgi, a colleague of mine. I could come up with nothing. John suggests that since McGoohan has lied many times in the past about the series, that he might have been lying that time too!

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Hey, folks, I only got THREE submissions this time! Doesn't anybody feel like talking any more?

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