The Prisoner #014

Published in

· 12 Jul 2023

Date: Saturday, 12 April 1986 19:03 mst
From: ihnp4!psuvax1!burdvax!sjuvax!iannucci at SEISMO.CSS.GOV (Dave Iannucci @ St. Joseph's University)
Subject: Prisoner #014
Reply-To: sjuvax!iannucci at SEISMO.CSS.GOV
To: sjuvax!prisoner-dist at SEISMO.CSS.GOV

The Prisoner #014 04/12/1986 Moderator: Dave Iannucci (iannucci@sjuvax.UUCP)

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From: William Gasarch <princeton!seismo!mimsy.umd.edu!umcp-cs!gasarch>

Someone commented, on Many Happy Returns:

I was never sure before that the Russian gun-smugglers were ringers sent to intercept #6's raft. It seemed the most probable explanation, but it was possible they were innocently involved. But this time I saw the cans of beans they were eating were labeled "Village Foods".

If looking at the series as a straight story then this is a reasonable conclusion. But I tend to have the ``Life is the Village and the Village is life'' attiude, and will take this as more evidence for such.

Also noticed that in ``Do not forsake me my darling'' when he arrives in austria the waiter at the Cafe says ``Welcome to our village.'' Any other uses of the word `village' in the prisoner would be apprecitated (in fact, on this newsgroup, more dialouge and less monolouge in general would be appreciated)

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This comment, and ``Do not forsake me my darling'' got me thinking:

gotten lazy about participating. I have now recently seen and recorded the entire series, and am quite disappointed with the final episode. It really bears no resemblance at all to the style and attitudes which pervade most (if not all) of the "regular" shows. I think that the premise of the series is an interesting one with a lot of potential, but my impression is that the people who were in charge either lost steam midway through production, or couldn't

Most of my fellow prisoner watcher friends, and myself, think of the show as having many different interpretations, and to be either about society, or whatever (Recall from previous posting- Surrealism is getting you to think there is something there)

BUT, looking back, is this mentality mostly caused by the last episode? ``Do not forsake me my darling'' was a (rather good) spy story, and could easily have been a good episode of Secret Agent Man. Not all the episodes are so weird or so unexplainable. Many points are unexplained but not unexplainable.

Don't get me wrong- I do like looking at social commentary or whatnot- I just wonder how much of the mysterious aura surrounding the prisoner is justifyied. The only REALLY weird episodes were Fallout and Dance of the Dead.
(I want this statement to be challanged by someone out there)

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Comment on Two of the Books

``The Prisoner'' and ``The Prisoner- A day in the life'' The biggest thing wrong with them is that the authors have the mentality that since the prisoner is such a weird series anyway its okay to have some things that are unexplainable, or at least unexplained.

This would be okay if these things were also interesting. For example, in one of the books it is revealed that the water around the village has no seaweed.

No explanation of this is given. If there were either an interesting explanation, of if it had any significance to the story (it didn't) or if the fact were interesting in the first place then this would be worth knowing. None of these is the case. Other events are simply unexplainable unless you want to cop out and say ``Its all a dream'' (a valid viewpoint, but perhaps should not be used to cure all ills)

In the two books some explanation of the origins of the village are given, but we don't know whether to believe them or not.

And I'm not sure we care by that point. One problem is that any literal explanation will pale by comparison with less well developed ideas as in discussion with friends or even this newsgroup.

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From: princeton!ihnp4!lanl!dspo!tallman (Charles David Tallman)

I finally got to see the "Dance of the Dead" episode I missed the first time the series was shown locally. No one was able to summarize it for me, probably because it doesn't have a clear theme.

A Festival is commanded but no-one seems happy about it. Number 6 meets his Observer, a woman who tells him he is wicked for not conforming to the Rules. He finds a dead body on the shore (with a radio in its pocket) and he tries to float it away with a message for help.

At the Festival #6 is the only one with a tuxedo instead of a costume. He sneaks away and explores Town Hall, and finds the body in a morgue drawer. Number 2 comes in and tells him the body will be made to look like him so that the world will think him dead. She summons #6 back to the party, which has turned into a trial with him as defendant for breaking the Rules. Number 6 calls a character witness, a friend who was recently captured, but the latter has been completely brainwashed and can say nothing. The tribunal condemns him to death, to be executed by the villagers.

The mob chases him within Town Hall, but he escapes into a secret room. A teletype is printing something (the Rules?) and he breaks it. Number 2 enters. She shows him through one-way glass that the crowd is still looking for him, because they do not realize he is "already dead". He tells her, "You'll never win." She replies, "How unpleasant for you." The teletype begins writing again as #2 laughs.

Any ideas on the meaning of this one? How does it fit into the continuity? They are not trying to kill him in later episodes.

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"Why don't I have a costume?"
"Because you do not exist."

Dave Tallman - dspo!tallman@LANL or {ucbvax!unmvax,ihnp4!lanl}!dspo!tallman
Los Alamos National Laboratory - E-10/Data Systems
Los Alamos, New Mexico - (505) 667-8495

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Good news for Prisoner fans in the Philadelphia viewing area (e.g. yours truly!). Channel 12 WHYY has made an announcement in their monthly program _Applause_ that they are working on getting the rights to Secret Agent, and plan to show that along with a repeat of The Prisoner starting late this summer.