The Prisoner
The Prisoner was a daring and original 1967 UK television series, created by and starring Patrick McGoohan. McGoohan himself wrote and directed several episodes, often under a pseudonym. Each episode starred McGoohan as Number 6, an otherwise-unnamed secret agent held captive in The Village, a special prison appearing to an outsider like a resort town, but in fact manifesting a vast coercive apparatus, bent on holding its inhabitants in complete isolation, and depriving them of their will, the secrets they each possess, and eventually their identity. However, Number 6 refuses to bend or break and never gives up resisting the warders as he tries to escape and find out the secrets of his prison.With its 60s counterculture message and themes, the program has had a far-reaching effect upon science-fiction-fantasy-genre television, and popular culture in general.
Only 17 episodes were made, though McGoohan's original plan was for just seven. The network wanted a full season of 21 episodes, and 17 was decided upon as a compromise. The entire series is available on DVD in a boxed set.
There are still fan societies devoted to the series. There is a Prisoner memorabilia shop in Portmeirion, Wales, the site of the filming of the series. Portmeirion has also played host to several fan conventions.
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2 Analysis and Interpretations 3 References to The Prisoner in Popular Culture 4 Interesting trivia/things to watch out for 5 External links |
The series featured striking and often surreal story lines, including one diversion into outright parody ("The Girl Who Was Death") and simulations of hallucinogenic drug experiences. In "Many Happy Returns," Number 6 awakens to find the entire Village deserted, and eventually makes it back to London on a makeshift raft, only to find a surprise waiting for him; more than half of the episode contains no dialogue. "Do Not Forsake Me, O My Darling" did not star McGoohan at all (except for a few shots), as he was in America filming Ice Station Zebra; the episode featured the contrivance of Number 6's mind being implanted in another man's body (Nigel Stock, from The Great Escape), who is then sent out of The Village to help capture a scientist.
On awakening, the hero finds himself in a strange village of Mediterranean architecture, filled with other people of various nationalities dressed in bright colours in a peculiar nautical style. Many also turn out to be ex-spies being held captive, not all of which are on his side. No one has a name; they all have numbered ID badges. Our hero is Number 6; his real name is never mentioned in the series, although fans like to think it is John Drake, the lead character of McGoohan's prior series Danger Man (Secret Agent in the US).
The following dialogue exchange ran over the opening titles of several of the episodes:
Format and Structure of the Programme
The series attracted considerable attention. Rather like the later Twin Peaks, many viewers had no idea what was going on in the episodes, but watched it compulsively anyway. However, the final episode caused so much confusion that the television network was besieged by phone calls and McGoohan was even hounded at home by baffled viewers demanding explanations.The Opening Sequence
The titles sequence featured the hero, played by McGoohan, apparently a secret agent working in some government intelligence building in London, having a fierce argument with his superior and resigning. After this altercation, the hero drives home in his Lotus coupe; intercut with footage of him driving are shots of his photo and identity documents being mutilated and filed as "resigned." Returning to his flat he quickly packs his possessions, with a colourful travel brochure nearby. Knockout gas is piped into the room by a tall man dressed as an undertaker, rendering him unconscious.The Village
The Village is located in an unknown country (the series was filmed at Portmeirion near Penrhyndeudraeth in Wales, and at Borehamwood Studios in England, using clever camera tricks to make the resort look larger than it is). In one episode of the series its location is hinted somewhere in Morocco, in another - Big Ben - Lithuania (on the Baltic coast "30 miles from the Polish border").
The Village publishes a newspaper, the Tally Ho. The Village administrators consist of a formal council which meets in a large chamber, which of course in reality is completely under the control of Number 2. Debates are held with a strange, mindless uniformity of opinion. "Credit units" serve as currency in Village shops. All day long, pleasant classical music and public announcements are piped into all dwellings and gathering areas, such as the Café and the parade grounds. All of the media and signage in the town displays a consistency in design, incorporating sailing or resort themes. The "logo" of the Village is a Penny Farthing Bicycle.
An underground control center monitors closed-circuit television cameras located throughout The Village. Regular observers continually spy on Villagers' every movements, and foil Number 6's escape attempts with the aid of Rover, a large balloon-like device that would chase him, suffocate him, dragging him back to land if he was attempting to escape by sea via the nearby beach. Rover was originally intended to be a robotic machine, rather like a Dalek (See Doctor Who), but when the prototype failed to work during the first episode's shoot, the crew used a weather balloon out of desperation.
Number 6 always wore a Village-supplied black suit with white piping, though never his "6" ID badge (except briefly in an election campaign in Free For All). Characters said goodbye to each other with the phrase "be seeing you," accompanied by a waving gesture consisting of thumb and forefinger forming a circle over the right eye, then tipped forward in a kind of salute. "I'll be seeing you" was a popular expression in Britain in the 1940s, when it was jocularly pronounced "Abyssinia". McGoohan uses the phrase "be seeing you" in real life.
Number 2
The Village is openly administrated by Number 2, whose identity changes each episode, though some Number 2s did make repeat appearances (notably Leo McKern, who appeared in three episodes). Number 1 was never seen (except perhaps in the final episode, though even this is unclear and subject to interpretation). The character of Number 2, though having complete control over The Village, serves at the pleasure of Number 1, and Number 2s were often sensitive to the fact that they themselves were effectively prisoners of Number 1, who was beyond all account. The episode Free for All established that the status of Number 2 was perhaps an "office" that one could be "elected by the people" to fill.
Throughout the series, Number 2 tries to find out why Number 6 resigned. Number 6 refuses to answer, considering his reasons a "matter of conscience," and not open to inquiry. A variety of interrogation, intimidation, drugs and mind control techniques are used. An intriguing subtext is that Number 6 never learns the identity and loyalty of his jailers — is he being questioned by "us" or "them," or in the context of the Cold War, the West or the Soviets? (The series never refers to this or any real-world context.) While the powers behind The Village always foil Number 6's escape attempts, he never reveals why he resigned. Several episodes end with Number 2 being sent home in disgrace, having failed to break him. Number 6 is this important because he possesses valuable secrets and because he is the only resident to resist interrogation and assimilation successfully.
Escape
Number 6 spends the first half of the series seeking ways to escape, then turned his attention to finding out more about The Village and how to bring it down from within. In "Hammer into Anvil," he reduces the new Number 2 to a mad, paranoid wreck through a series of pranks. The later episodes feature less in terms of action-packed escape attempts, and more psychological storylines that posit observations on the nature of power, force, and authority, and their relationship with liberty. As Number 2s become successively more coercive, invasive and desperate, the stakes become higher, and Number 6s behaviour becomes more and more uncompromising to his jailers. This trend finds a conclusion in the final episode, Fallout.
After each ultimately unsuccessful escape attempt, the episode ends with an image of Number 6, behind bars.
The major philosophical theme of The Prisoner is the inherent unavoidable conflicts between the needs of the individual and the needs of the society to which he belongs, and what rights each of the two can demand from the other. The Village is trying to make Number 6 conform, to adapt, and above all to play their game on the society's terms. Number 6 is in turn trying to escape, to think for himself, to be independent and thereby be able to pursue his own goals. Sometimes Number 6 succeeds, sometimes he fails, and sometimes he fails by resisting, in that in resisting on their terms he has succumbed to the greater trap, that is, playing the game The Village has put before him.
The final episode suggests that The Village is on the mainland of Great Britain, Number 6 and his friends are able to drive from the Village onto the English motorway system, taking the M5 back to London.
Some people claim that Number 2 says "You are, Number Six" in the opening dialogue, but this is fanon; there is no pause between the words "are" and "Number". However, this notion is not entirely without merit; the dialogue in the series is rife with phrases with two meanings. So, Number 2 is undoubtedly saying "You are Number Six", but it is likely that it was the intention of the writer to allude to the other possible meaning of the phrase.
The symbol of The Village is the Penny Farthing bicycle; most every Villager wears a badge, displaying the pennyfarthing with their number in the large wheel. Also, the closing credits feature an animation incorporating the device. McGoohan has stated the vehicle is a symbol of progress, though there is some evidence that it was a symbol of Portmerion before the series began, and McGoohan adopted the symbol.
Analysis and Interpretations
Warning: Plot details follow.References to The Prisoner in Popular Culture
To the Opening Sequence
The opening dialogue is sampled in the intro to the Iron Maiden song "The Prisoner", inspired by the series. The band has also recorded another song called "Back In The Village", also inspired by the series.To the Village
The Psi Corps in Babylon 5 used the phrase "Be Seeing You" and an accompanying gesture that looks like the glyph for the number 6 in a deliberate homage to The Prisoner.To Rover
One of the most obscure pop culture references to Rover (see above) comes in Mike Goetz’ 1983 version of Crowther & Woods’ forgotten computer game, Colossal Cave Adventure — when a player pilfered a poster off the walls of the computer room (in Witt’s End), Goetz sicced Rover on ’em. Goetz’ laconic prose correctly captures all the eldritch noises, shrieks heard in the distance and terrifying suspense as Rover is "born" from a glop of subterranean goo (like a blob in a Lava Lamp) and begins a chase which proceeds with the unerring ferocity of Nemesis to inevitable death. Rover rocks!To Fallout
Several images from the final episode, of which a house on a trailer bed is the most obvious example, appear in Terry Gilliam's 1984 film Brazil.Interesting trivia/things to watch out for
External links