There Are No Second Chances!

    Just when did No.6 and No.24-Alison first meet I wonder? What was it that first brought them together? And how was it that No.6 and No.24-Alison, first realised that they shared a mental link - that they could reach each others minds? And you thought that there were no more questions to be asked of the Prisoner, not that they're ever likely to be answered, or have anyway of knowing. And speculation would seem to be pointless.
    If No.6 and Alison-No.24 came together through genuine circumstances, and by no contrivance of No.2, then No.2 obviously saw a situation which he could put to his own advantage, and thereby breaking No.6 and learning the reason behind the Prisoners resignation. All it would take would be to coerce No.24 into co-operating with the betrayal of No.6.
    Towards the end of The Schizoid Man episode, Alison told No.6 that she was ashamed of what she had done. And because she had realised that the man about to leave the Village by helicopter was No.6 and not Curtis, thus she wanted No.6 to know that its not often one gets a second chance, and that had she a second chance, Alison wouldn't do it again. Thus letting No.6 know that his secret, was safe with her.
   Now when No.6 told Alison-No.24 that there are no second chances, that wasn't quite right. There are second chances for those fortunate few, like No.2 of A B & C who was brought back to the Village for a second term of office in The General, which turned out all the worse for him. And there was No.2 of The Chimes of Big Ben, who was seen to be a good man, brought back to the Village for Once Upon A Time and Dregree Absolute, a one-to-one situation which ultimately cost him his life. And No.2 would have remained dead, had it not been for the advent of Fall Out!
I'm Piet Hein

Its A Question Of Daffodils

  We know that No.73 was driven to suicide by No.73, she having jumped to her death through a hospital window at the beginning of Hammer Into Anvil. In 73's hospital room, there is a bunch of daffodils in a vase. Then later, when No.6 visits the graveyard, there is a buch of daffodils on 73's grave. Now I wonder who put those there? Originally, the script for Hammer Into Anvil, called for No.6 to visit the graveyard at the end of the episode, to lay a bunch of daffoil flowers on 73's grave. This scene was cut from he trasnmitted episode, but apparently not the daffodils placed on 73's grave which we do see in the transmitted episode.
    At the Ball in Dance of the Dead, No.2 offers No.6 a glass of undoctored wine, to which No.6 replies I rarely drink, and that would be right. Because No.6 might sniff the bouquet of the wine, but he does not tatse it. And that also goes for his role as Danger Man John Drake. Because Drake rarely drank as well. He would be given a drink, he might taste it, but rarely would he finish his drink. Perhaps that's because of the kind of work Drake did, often going behind both the Iron and Bamboo Curtains. Drake had to always have his wits about him at all times. Mind you, there are times when Drake would play the drunk, and on many occasions.
     Why is it I wonder..................................................sorry I was lighting my pipe just then, why it is that whenever there is a picture of No.6, either on the front page of The Tally Ho newspaper, on his card of identity, or election placards, No.6 is always depicted in civilian clothes, and not Village attire of piped blazer etc?
    The map drawn by No.6, and added to the amended wallet of the dead man washed up on the beach in Dance of the Dead, is completely useless, because it only has the four points of the compass, and no longitude or latitude. What's more No.6 has not even been able to name the sea! So if you can find the Village by using No.6's map, you're a better man than I am Gunga Din!
    No.13 is as unlucky as the number 7 is lucky, that's why the number does not appear in the Village.
    Amongst the most used numbers employed in the Village are 2, 8, 10, 12, 14, 22, 54, 113.
    Only one issue of The Tally Ho newspaper is dated, and that same issue is used for two episodes, A B & C and The Schizoid Man, in one because of the Headline 'Is No.2 Fit For further Term?' And in the other for the date Feb 10th.
    In Checkmate No.6 and the Rook-No.58 ask to see the Shopkeeper -No.99's books. Strange that his books have never been inspected before. Is that why we never see No.99 again after Checkmate, because of a discrepency in his books! Because at the end of Checkmate, No.2 states that they, meaning No.6's reliable men, will be placed back on the chessboard tomorow. However when No.6 goes into the General Store in following episode of Hammer Into Anvil to buy a small note book and a copy of The Tally Ho newspaper, there is a new shopkeeper! So what did they do to 99 I wonder? Perhaps they simply took him away for treatment, and he just never came back!
I'm Piet Hein

That No.6 Has a Radio Set!

    Tonight when the moon rises the whole world will turn to silver............ It's my opinion that the message heard transmitted over the radio No.6 was listening to, but seeing as how the radio was found in the pocket of the dead man on the beach in Dance of the Dead, was intended for him. Mind you, there's no real evidence that the transmitted message was intended for the dead man either. But then again if it was.........that would mean the dead man had somehow smuggled the pocket radio into the Village with him. Could No.34, for that is whom the dead man was, No.34 having been under the observation of No.240, but who had died, have been a plant in the Village? The transmitted message indicated that the appoinment could not be fulfilled, that other things had to be done that night. Perhaps No.34 was waiting for someone, someone to come and extract him out of the Village, or perhaps a group should have been on the way to the Village for whatever reason.  The dead man in the water, attacked and suffocated to death by the Village Guardian? Certainly if No.34 had been a plant in the Village, it might possibly have been something like John Drake of M9 having infiltrated Colony Three, somewhere behind the Iron Curtain. But then our side had a man in Section One, who helped get Drake out, unlike No.34 in the Village, who would appear to have come to a very nasty end.
    No.6 was seen to have a future with the Village. But he's still a pawn to be used in someone elses game. Such as in It's Your Funeral, when No.6 was used as a dupe in the plan to execute the retiring No.2. Without No.6, to give the plan credibility, without which the plan might backfire. But the plan did backfire! You would have thought that to involve No.6 in any plan would be tantamount to failure. And why is it that an interim No.2, an heir presumptive, doesn't have to use that over-sized, curved red telephone which two of his predecessors are forced to use in A B & C, The General, and Hammer Into Anvil?
    No.2 of Hammer Into Anvil believed that No.6 was a plant, sent to spy on them by their masters. No.6 had signed a note to XO4, an obvious code name, which is a precursor to the code names used in Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling - ZM73 and PR12. D6 was once thought by certain fans to be code for Drake 6. But no, that would surely be too obvious. Of course No.6 wasn't a plant. Nadia Rakovski was though, if that was indeed her name. She was a good agent, and no-one better to have planted in the Village. But what if No.2 in Hammer Into Anvil was actually right. What if No.6 is a plant, sent to test and spy on the Village and it's administration?
I'm Piet Hein

A Brave New Village

    It is not at all easy to sit here, quill in hand, and a blank sheet of paper upon the desk before me. Certainly not when hundreds upon hundred of articles must surely have been written on the subject of the Prisoner. Someone once said, I forget who it was, that everything that can be written about the Prisoner has been written. The trick is these days, is to try and come at the Prisoner from a different angle, and that is what scriptwrier Bill Gallagher successfully did with THEPRIS6NER. Although the 2009 series is not to everyone's taste, I believe there is much within the series that every fan of the Prisoner can appreciate, as there is much of the original series in the 2009 series. It's just been reinterpreted, or reinvented, what's more THEPRIS6NER is more sutble than the original series, you have to give it a chance that's all.
   With McG's series of the Prisoner you have so much to come to understand, so much is left to interpret, there is no one satisfactory conclusion, and questions have been left unanswered. Not so with Bill Gallagher's seires of THEPRIS6NER, because there are a series of clues to follow throughout the whole six episodes, and the first clue is in the opening scene. Follow the clues, put them all together, and by the end of the last episode Checkmate, you are left with no doubt at all of what THEPRIS6NER is all about. Even then I was left wanting more, to know what the new Two's Village would be like in the unconscious mind of 313. Would Six, the new Two, be able to find a better way? Would he be able to build a better Village? Or would he fall into the same trap as Two? Of course that is the driving pulse behind THEPRIS6NER, the handing over of the Village by Two to Six. Okay, with Bill Gallagher you know what his series is all about. It is not a remake. It was never intended to be a remake. And AMVtv never once described the series as a remake. and as I have stated the viewer is left in no doubt whatsoever what THEPRIS6NER is all about. Well you wouldn't want to be put through the ringer for a second time, not the way Patrick McGoohan did the first time...... would you?
    With the original series there could be 1,100 different interpretations of what the Prisoner is all about, and each one could be the genuine article. But with THEPRIS6NER there is nothing left to interpret. There are no unanswerd questions.........well you might think that, those of you who actually watched the series from the moment the Prisoner woke up in the desert somewhere, to the moment 313 shed a tear, as Six was imagining a brave new Village. Questions such as the old man, 93, whom the Prisoner helped, and who died out there in the desert. He was wearing an old style piped blazer, and as far as I can see, was the only citizen in the new Village to do so. Where did he come from, and where did he go having suffered a Village death, back to his former life in that 'other' place. Yes, but which 'other place,' which former life, in London or the former Village, to remain still a prisoner?
   Curtis and Helen esaped the Village. Originally Curtis and Helen volunteered for the Village experiment because they saw it as a way and means for them to have a child. But that child murdered his mother, then comitted suicide. Curtis and Helen, back in New York had lost their son. they are two broken people. And it is broken people who are subconsciously brought to the Village to be made better. So, would Six and 313 bring Curtis and Helen back to the Village to be made better? Now that's something to speculate over!
    Holes begin to appear in the Village everytime M2 is awake. To help stop the people of the Village panicing, citizens are encouraged to 'Keep A Pig,' because it is said that pig breath can stabilise the Village. But surely pigs dig holes themselves. They ruttle about for truffles with their snouts!
    And then there is the question of those pig masks........worn by members of 16's family towards the end of the episode of Harmony. The pig masks are worn in the American transmitted epsiode, but not in the United Kingdom transmission. Nor do the pig masks appear in the episode of Harmony in ITV's box set.....why is that?
    There are 'dreamers'in the Village, dreamers who dream and remember another place, other than the Village, New York in the case of 554 and Six. That is because those who are brought to the Village are living two existences, one in the Village, and in that 'other' place. But when living in that 'other' place, do they dream of the Village?
   So you see, there are some unanswered questions after all. there is something for everyone in THEPRIS6NER, if only those who poo-pooed the series in the first place, would now give the series a second chance. Even if THEPRIS6NER had left no unanswered questions whatsoever, the series is still a treat to watch, entertaining, somewhere to escape to.
I'm Piet Hein

Six Of One Half A Dozen Of The Other

    That's what they say ins't it, six of one, half a dozen of the other......well it's all the same to me. It's no skin off my nose why the Prisoner resigned, or indeed what it was he resigned from. Although I've come to think that the Prisoners resignation was brought about by the events of Fall Out. After all, in the ending of Fall Out do we not see the beginning of Arrival. In my end is my beginning, as T.S. Elliot wrote.
    It matters not one whit which side runs the Village. It doesn't matter who No.1 is, because if you don't know by this time you never will.
    I have never worn a piped blazer as No.6 does, I've never once had the inclination to do so. And for what it is worth, I've never been to the Italianate Village of Portmeirion. Mine has been something of a purist appreciation of the Prisoner. I've never desired any of the trappings which comes with the series, the books, pens, photographs, posters, mugs etc. But I do have the Prisoner on video and DVD, and cd series soundtrack which I enjoy listening to very much.
    What's more I never allowed myself to join any Prisoner related group or society. Many people have felt the need to join and connect with like minded people, they are the fans. They go to meetings and the Prisoner convention at Portmeirion. Oh I like to keep myself appraised of what's going on in the Village of the Prisoner, the fandom world. Some fans feel the need to off burden themselves, to put their ideas on what the Prisoner is upon others. I suppose I've done much the same with my own column from time to time. Every fan the world over has his or her own take on what the Prisoner means to them, and they'd be right. Ask one thousand people what the Prisoner means, and you'd get one thousand different answers, and each one would be right. Who would we be to say otherwise?
    And then there are the extremes........by this fans who go that one step too far. There used to be this chap, I've no idea of he is still a fan of the Prisoner these days, as it was a good few years ago now. But this chap always 'talked Prisoner!' By this I mean if you were unfortunate to have engaged in conversation with this chap, he would always reply to you using dialogue, quotes, and speech from the Prisoner! But if this chap could find no rersponse in 'Prisoner talk,' he would say That would be telling! I don't think even Johnny Prisoner has gone that far!
    Mentioning Johnny Prisoner, he once told me that when he used to attend Prisoner conventions, there used to be this woman who brought a Thunderbird puppet with her to the conventions, that of Alan Tracy! Why? Well because the head of the puppet of Alan Tracy of Thunderbirds was actually modelled on Derren Nessbit of the episode It's Your Funeral, perfectly true. It's the lip you see, Derren Nesbitt has the perfect Thunderbird puppet lower lip! Not extreme enough? Well that's as may be, but this woman treated the puppet as though it were a real person!!!!!!!! They are the extremes of Prisoner appreciation.
    Of course now there is the 2009 series of THEPRISONER to appreciate, the series I watched on television, then went out and purchased the DVD box set of the series just as soon as it was available. And of course there is the cd soundtrack of the 2009 series, well there would have been if it were not for the fact that the cd soundtrack of THEPRISONER was not deleted from the sales list long before the series premiered in the United Kingdom, long before the DVD box set of the series went on sale! So now the cd soundtrack is only available in America and Switzerland!! But neverthe less I was fortunate to obtain a copy of the cd soundtrack of the 2009 seris of THEPRISONER. And as far as this series goes, it is most definately one for the purist, as the merchandise connected to THEPRISONER is based in America. Merchandise available over the World wide web yes, but not for me.
    The fan base for the 2009 series is in the minority. As for the majority of fans of the original series of the Prisoner, well they don't know what they are missing. For myself, well I'm just happy to be breathing in, breathing out...........more Village!
I'm Piet Hein

The Prisoner - A Novelisation

    The first novelisation of the Prisoner, and of the same title, was by the American writer Thomas M. Disch in 1969. Disch's novel is loosely based on the 1960's series, but not really that exceptional in my opinion. However, having said that, Disch's novel the Prisoner has been re-printed on numerous occasions over the decades, on both sides of the Atlantic, and on the European continent, namely translated into French.
   I recall David Stimpson telling me once, that when he was young, and after the 1976 screening of the Prisoner in Great Britain, he was left with nothing to remind him of the series, save for his memories. But then in his local library he came across a hardback copy of Thomas M. Disch's the Prisoner. Although not directly linked to the actual series, the book was the only link David had. And so after taking the book out of the library once, and having returned the book to the library, immediately took it out again! This is the front cover of that book, for those who have not seen it, of which there cannot be that many fan's of the Prisoner who haven't.

    Eventually the book was returned to the library, and remained there. Because then David found a copy of Disch's book in paperback, published by New English Library, as seen below.

What follows are other guises in which this novel has been published over the decades.

The original American publication in 1969.                                                                                                                                               Then re-printed in hardback in more recent years in America.

And for the 25th anniversary of the Prisoner, Boxtree re-printed the novel in Great Britain.

The next reincarnation of Disch's novel, was in this Prisoner Omnibus published by Carlton Books, which also contains The Prisoner - Who Is Number Two by David McDaniel, and The Prisoner - A Day In The Life by Hank Steine, and in my opinion the third novel is by far the best of the three, and McDaniel's the most outrageous! This Prisoner Omnibus was never a good seller. In fact withn a matter of months, I came across two large piles of this book in a discount book store, for the lowly price of 99 pence!                                                                                                              

Penguin Books next published the book, which I found to be something of a curious decision, when you consider the fact that Disch's Prisoner based novel has never been a best seller. And it makes it even worse when someone has written an excellent manuscript based on the Prisoner, and written in the style of the original series, which publishers reject time and time again. But who are perfectly prepared to re-print Prisoner based novels like this time and time again.

Again it was Penguin Books who reprinted Disch's novel just in time for the 2009 premier of THEPRISONER in Great Britain, and only a matter of weeks after their previous re-printing of the novel! This reprint even has a picture of Ian McKellen as Two on the front cover, why, when Disch's novel has nothing whatsoever to do with the 2009 series of THEPRISONER!

I'm Piet Hein

THEPRISONER

     I'm sitting here in my study, and playing on the cd player is the soundtrack to
. It's not everyone who can appreciate the music of this series, in fact there are many fans of the original series who cannot find any appreciation for the actual 2009 series, because it's perhaps too subtle than the soundtrack of the original series, which I also very much appreciate. I gained the cd from Switzerland, well it was either there, or America, as the soundtrack was not sold here in the United Kingdom.For some reason, the soundtrack was removed from the sales lists, long before the 2009 series of THEPRIS6NER received it's premier here. No-one seemed to want to give the soundtrack a chance! Anyway, I can appreciate it, even if no-one else can, and that is all that matters.
    At the end of the series, Six is quietly saying to himself, that perhaps there is a way, to make a better Village. In the former Two's Village, everyone's favourite food was presented in a wrap, and that was because M2's favourite food was in a wrap. If I were to create the Village in my subconscious, perhaps everyone would smoke a pipe, because I like to smoke a pipe.
    I was reading J.P's piece of blog from yesterday, in which he said that the 2009 series of THEPRIS6NER has revitalised his appreciation for the Prisoner, which was on the wane. That's something strange for Johnny Prisoner to admit to. For myself, I find   quite refreshing. It has a certain something which I cannot deny. There's soemehing dark and menacing in the way Two eats a cherry cake at the end of Arrival. Two projects an image of a kindly old man, who is loved by the citizens of the Village. A kindly old man who asks a schoolgirl-1,100 to pay him a visit at his residence Palais Two. Two discovered that 1,100 had been spying on him, but he held no grudge towards 1,100, save for the fact that he would have to send 1,100 to the Threapy Zone for treatment. But there was no rush, 1,100 could finish her ice cream first, said Two, projecting his image of being a kindly old man - but who didn't give 1,100 time to finish her ice cream before 'they' came for her, and took 1,100 away in a black Bedford van, leaving 1,100's ice cream cone lying in the sand. A black Bedford van, dark and menacing. Village transport is not what it once was. White Mini-Mokes with candy striped canopies.
    There are those who are taken to the Village, and those who are born of the Village. There are citizens who dream of another life, of another place, and like Six wish to go to the 'Other' place. But only those who are brought to the Village can go to the 'other place,' because those like Two and M2's son-11-12, do not physically exist, being born of the Village. For people born of the Village, Village is best for them. Yet for 11-12, the Village is no longer enough!
    Those who are brought to the Village, choose life, as they busy themselves making a new home. But Six chooses death, and if only Six has the faith to take that leap of faith...........................Sorry, I was just lighting my pipe.........because in the Village death is, as it was indicated in the original series, is an escape! The first person we see suffer a Village death, although we do not realise it at the time, is the old man, 93, who the Prisoner helps in the first episode of THEPRIS6NER, somewhere, out there, in the desert.
   The old man 93, wore an old style of Village piped blazer. I have seen no-one else in the new Village to wear such a jacket. Indeed 93 is the former No.6 of the original series, if not exact, then a representation of the former No.6 who dies, suffers a Village death, to return to the 'other' place, and that of his former life. The only question, indeed mystery, is to which former life did 93 return? In 93's apartment, the Prisoner, now Six, finds a sketch drawn by 93. It is of St. Stephen's Tower of the Houses of Parliament in London. St. Stephens Tower which houses the bell of Big Ben, which would suggest that 93 was returned to his former life in London. A waitress at the Solar Cafe 554, also had a sketch, drawn from a recurring dream she had been having. 554's sketch was of the Statue of Liberty. When 554 was seen to be getting too close to Six, Two had 554 killed in an explosion which tore the Solar Cafe to pieces, in which 544 died, suffering a Village death and was returned to her 'other' life in New York. If that is the case with 93, who was wearing an old style of black blazer with off-white piping, that suggests to me that when 93 died a Village death, that he did not return to his 'other' life in London, but to that of the former Village of the original series!
    Many people the world over enjoy watching television soap operas. In the Village they have a Village soap opera about life in the Village - it's called Wonkers, and what's more it's also a novelisation, published by Village Books.
    There are those like Six who want to escape the Village. But there is no escape, because there is nothing to escape from! Then on the other hand, there are those citizens like 313 who do not want to escape, having no desire to return to her 'other' life, where she was abused as a child. Made to stand still with a cardboard box on her head by her father. And in that, we discover why 313 was brought to the Village, why she was a broken person in need of making better. While on the other hand, Six was brought to the Village because he resigned his job from Summakor. And why did he resign? Because he found out what it was he was doing for Summakor, and his own involvement with the Village before his abduction there..........................
I'm Piet Hein