Ups And Downs

    Edgar Allen Poe had The Pit And The Pendulum, The Prisoner has the domed Control Room, and a steel See-Saw device! The Pendulum is seen as an intrument of torture during the time of the Spanish Inquision, and this tool was used to convey fear into the inhabitants of the land.. But can the steel See-Saw device of the village underworld, be seen as an intrument of torture? The definition of See-Saw is an up and down, back and forth movement, and I don't think that the two Observers who sit on either end of the See-Saw are being tortured. That fact of the matter is that the use of the Sea-Saw is a technique developed to help prolong the attention duration of an Observer. Usually the duratioin when security is monitoring screens is twenty minutes, then they fail to notice what is taking place on the monitors, and so after twenty minutes duration, it's time to take a break from the monitor.
   However, deep in the bowels of the village, beneath the village, in a cavern, the steel See-Saw device is put to a much darker use, as the two men sitting at either end of the See-Saw are armed with heavy machine guns! The purpose is to maintain security whilst the session is in progress, during the trial of three rebels during Fall Out. Only I have to say that the positioning of the heavy machine guns was not that effective. Oh they were fine when firing upwards, or on a level. But when it came to a target below them......well it was the depression you see, not enough downward depression!
    Only in the village could an innocent childs toy be employed to prolong Observers observational duration. Some might say that it evolves into a symbol of the unfair rise and fall of power, which ultimately becomes a symbol of war, rendering both death and destruction.
I'm Piet Hein

Increase Vigilance Call From New No.2

    What's all this about an increase vigilance call from the new No.2? What's the village got to be afraid of? Who is No.2 afraid of? The village seems to be an idyllic place to live. If you give them what they want, they tend to leave you alone, and look after you, for as long as you live.
   I've seen them, citizens lounging about in bathing suits, bikinis, on the beach sunbathing, and playing beach ball, and around the swimming pool. Not actually in the swimming pool you understand, but in a boat in the swimming pool. Because the triangular swimming pool is made of stone and concrete, filled with water form the estuary, brrrrr that's gotta be ice cold to actually swim in! But the fact of the matter is, citizens of the village do get recreational time, in which to enjoy themselves. It's only those who defy the village administration, those who refuse to talk, that find life in the village hard and difficult. But I'm getting away from the point. Here is an article written by No.2 for The Tally Ho newspaper. Actually it's No.6's copy of the newspaper, you can tell that by the circled word with the question make over it.

   So, judging by what No.2 has written, he was paranoid long before the episode of Hammer Into Anvil came along. No.6 realised that, and simply played on that paranoia.
   "The security of the community must be protected," well that's fair enough, otherwise the way of life in the village might be gone forever. And then what would those citizens, born to the village, do, having known nothing but the village. The outside world would be as alien to them, as the village is for those who are brought there!
    No.2 goes on to say that "We must be constantly on our guard against enemies in our midst." Well who might they be, well No.6 obviously. No.2 also went on to say "We do not necessarily know where our enemies are, or who they might be. Therefore it is the duty of all of us to be on constant look out against traitors who, behind out back, seek to undermine and destroy us." Well No.6 again really. Yet under this description, No.2 finally placed No.14, his loyal assistant, whose only crime was wanting to help, to 'get on' in the village, and possibly achieving promotion to the position of No.2 one day. If only No.2 had placed his trust in the one real man No.2 could trust, No.14, then the outcome might have been different. Certainly an end could have been put to No.6's war of nerves with No.2. Mind you, I did think at one point that this No.2 might have got it right for once. That No.6 was actually a plant. Placed in the village to spy on them. After all John Drake of Danger Man was 'planted' in Colony Three, a typical English village behind the Iron Cutrain, and used for the training of agents to become typical Englishmen and women.

 I have often wondered what happened to this particular No.2, the hammer! Somehow I suspect he was not allowed to leave the village, certainly not in his broken state of mind. It's quite possible that this No.2 ended up residing in the phsychiatric ward of the Hospital!

 I wonder also who he was? Could he have been Thorpe from Many Happy Returns do you think? After all, there was no love lost between the Prisoner and Thorpe, who would, I'm sure at the time, have been an ideal candidate for the position of No.2. So who is to say that Thorpe was not recruited to the village as the new No.2? It might be that Thorpe would have taken great pleasure in being able to  'hammer' No.6!
   The only trouble is, there is no evidence of No.2 being the former Thorpe of a previous episode Many Happy Returns, only the fact that both roles are played by the same actor - Patrick Cargill. But of course there's no-one to stop me from my thinking that Thorpe and No.2 are one and the same. Even if the actor Patrick Cargill was still alive to say one way or the other! Although I do believe that Patrick Cragill understood that Thorpe and No.2 were not suppoosed to be the same character.
I'm Piet Hein

As I Understand it..................

    During The Chimes of Big Ben, while reading Nadia Rakovski's personal file, No.2 discovered that at the age of seventeen she was an Olympic bronze medalist, a swimmer. So which Olympics would that be at, 1948 perhaps? Then in The Schizoid Man, whilst in the gymnasium, Curtis tells No.6 that his fencing is good agricultural stuff, meaning that No.6's fencing ability is good enough, but would hardly get him his place on the Olympic team! So, if Curtis is living the life of No.6 in the village, taken his place in fact. When Curtis is talking about his place on the Olympic team, is he talking about himself, or as No.6, having read his personal file? If No.6, then that means the Prisoner was once a member of an Olympic fencing team!
    It doesn't make sense, well when you look at it there's still a great deal in the Prisoner which doesn't make any sense, is even beyond comprehension, still defying interpretation some forty-four years later! But why oh why does No.2 of Once Upon A Time have but one week to gain the reason for the Prisoners resignation? Mind you, No.2 on that occasion was fortunate to have a week. No.2 of A B & C only had three days! If it's really so vital to gain the reason behind the Prisoner's resignation, why not give No.2 more time and support? Or failing that, No.1 could simply have asked the Colonel while he was in the village during The Chimes of Big Ben. But even better than that, the Colonel, or Fortheringay, could have brought the Prisoner's letter of resignation with them, and that would have been that! Because the reason why the Prisoner resigned would have been contained within that letter, of which the Colonel would eventually have been the recipient.
     Then there's those chaps in a cave during that episode of Free For All, sitting in chairs around a pulsating village guardian. What's that all about then? And how did No.6 know the village guardians name, when he called 'it' Rover in The Schizoid Man? Was No.6 simply giving it a dogs name, seeing as how it guards the village, like a guard dog. And if so, why did No.2 pick up on the name used when No.6 telephones him to say that No.6 is dead, Rover got him? And the members of the local Town Council in Free For All, No.6 asked them who they represent? Who elected them? To what place and people do they owe their allegiance? Whose side are they on? But no answers were forthcoming, so No.6 pressed on after showing the members of the Town Council a copy of The Tally Ho.........Can you laugh? Can you cry? Can you think? Well apparently they can talk, as in this section of photograph taken in the Council Chamber while No.6 was in conversation with No.2.

As you can see two members of the Town Council are having a chat. And the chap standing at his podium is taking the whole matter very casually. This is a sort of Caught on Camera moment.
I'm Piet Hein
   

It Doesn't Make Sense!

     If anything, the Prisoner series is full of differential anomalies. Take Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling, there are more holes in that episode, than which appear in the village of the 2009 series! First of all 'they' are looking for Professor Jacob Seltzman, and there is a question about whether or not he has perfected a "reversal" process, so that the minds of two men can once again be rightly housed in their own bodies....................... But a reversal process isn't required, all that needs to be done is to put the same two subjects through the exact same process they were originally put through. Where's the problem? I mean it's hardly rocket science is it! And if the Administration for The Village are looking for Professor Jacob Seltzman, how did they acquire a "Seltzman" machine in the first place?

This is No.73, who has been brought to The Village, instead of her husband, because the Administration doesn't know where her husband is! 73 is interrogated by a sadistic No.2 at the outset of Hammer Into Anvil. No.2 wants 73 to tell him where her husband is. Apparently he's still "over there." When pushed further on this matter she says "Oh somehwere there,2 without being too precise, suggesting her husband might be behind the Iron Curtain, he had some work to finish. No.2 then asks if her husband was devoted to her, to which 73 replies that her husband is devoted to her. Then No.2 taunts 73 by showing her a photograph of her husband with the woman Mariah, at which 73 shuts her eyes tightly against, shaking her head in dispair. Well I find it highly ridiculous that 73 was brought to The Village in order to get her to tell them where her husband is, when they are able to take a photograph of her husband caught in flagrante dilicto, with the woman Miriah! What's more I can reveal that there was no inflagrante in that photograph. In fact 73's husband isn't even in that photograph shown to her by No.2, and if she had only kept her eyes open, 73 would have seen that for herself. Now, I can reveal to you, exactly who it is in that photograph........Oi, just a minute! What are you doing?.............That's my text, you can't just come in here and shread it like that! "Sorry Piet, but you were about to reveal something which I wish to remain secret, for the time being. Now write about something else. Here, write about this!"

..........What's this? Ah, it's a transcript of the maiden speech made by the electoral candidate No.6. Well that's what it appeared to be on first glance. But after reading it, I find it isn't anything of the kind. Nor is it a transcript of the interview carried out by No.113, in the Village taxi with No6 on his way to the dissolution of the out-going Council. This is a piece of manipulative journalism, made up from bits and pieces said at different times, and much of it reinterpreted and written in different words! But isn't that what the press does? Makes things up, twists things, puts a different interpretation to what is told to the press?  
    All you have to do is read the following transcript of that interview between No.113 and No.6.
No.113 "How are you going to handle your campaign?"
No.6 "No comment."
No.113 writes "Intends to fight for freedom at all costs." "How about your internal policy?"
No.6 "No comment."
No.113 writes "Will tighten up on village security." "How about your external policy?"
No.6 "No comment."
No.113 writes "Our exports will operate in every corner of the globe." "How do you feel about life and death?"
No.6 "Mind your own business."
Nol.113 writes "No comment."
    No.113 putting his own answers to his own questions, thereby distorting the truth, that No.6 doesn't care to answer questions, and doesn't the press get to work quickly. Because moments after the interview with No.6, No.6 is given a copy of the latest edition of The Tally Ho by the vendor of the village newspaper outside the Town Hall. The headline of the newspaper is, No.6 Speaks His Mind, which has absolutely nothing to do with either his maiden speech, or the ineterview with No.113. As someone, somewhere, has already written this article for The Tally Ho. So that even No.113, in putting answers to his own questions put to No.6, counts for nothing, in the undemocratic state of The Village!
I'm Piet Hein