22 Interesting, Funny and Weird Details in THE PRISONER (1967 TV series) (analysis)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ก.ย. 2024
- Written, narrated and edited by Movie Archaeologist.
Also check out my analysis on Circus themes in the James Bond films:
• The Circus Paradigm in...
(UPDATE 23/3/24)
Been receiving plenty of comments here about The Prisoner including a Freemasonic interpretation of The Village, so here is my generalised response for now: it is very possible that The Prisoner includes inferences to Freemasonry, and public awareness of Freemasonry has gone on for a long time, going back to the ancient Russian book War and Peace. But I'd say the show isn't only about Freemasonry, I believe the show is more about the indoctrinating and conformist aspects of our society generally. One point that goes against the Freemasonic interpretation is that The Village includes women as Number 2's, whereas Freemasonry has generally been a gentlemen's club that doesn't include women among their ranks (and have been bashed on the news reports for doing so... though there were offshoot masonic organisations that featured women).
A critique has been said a handful of times in the comment section now which dismiss the lava lamp imagery as just being part of the visual trend of the time with no deeper meaning. Lava lamp imagery had novelty value back in the 1960's, yes, but that does not dismiss how The Prisoner used those imagery for communicating its themes. As I showed in the video, the protagonist glances specifically at the lava lamp imagery on the big screen as he says "Imprison people, steal their MINDS, destroy them?" In other words, the lava lamp imagery represents organic human minds that are encased and under constant scrutiny, hence they are shown on the same TV screen of Number 2's, but not among the Villagers' home TVs from what I recall. It makes perfect sense with the story.
And for those of you who are not convinced of my observations in this video, I will mention here that I was previously 50-50 on the idea of the bright circular light shown in the episode Once Upon a Time to symbolise Rover (as I said in this video). But later on, I looked at the original script by the series creator and star Patrick McGoohan himself, and one passage says that the hypnotic lamp above the protagonist's bed "could be a distant relative of Rover in shape and colour." This strongly supports my original observation. There may be garbage interpretations out there on many things, but this experience of mine goes to show that if you don't explore, you don't discover.
Be seeing you! 👌
It's like what they are trying to do to us today, control. They punch cards when buying something
costing them units, they are allowed so many. They dress alike and are monitored etc
Thank you for your insight for this amazing series.
When Rover was scripted as the "go-kart with a dome" it was black and white like a police car and had a flashing blue lamp that "paralysed" people. Several episodes have a "pacifying" blue light that freezes P in his tracks, and it forms the eye in the "all seeing eye" pyramid throne in the council chamber in two episodes as well. It basically symbolises the police force/law enforcement.
The chessboard worked on both levels, freemasonry and the gaming/mental fighting element. Isn’t McGoohan a spy who rebelled/burnout. As are the other villagers. So it’s a “prison” for “retired” compromised spies at a superficial level. Remember Elizabeth I and John Dee developed the British Empire with psychic spying (black magic). And every other empire since has and continues to do the same. Mkultra , Stargate project being the declassified examples. Finally when McGoohan finds out he is No.1 this refers to every spies (humans) battle with their own evil, while battling with the evil elite - the grey men in Whitehall. But ultimately revealing that P.MCG is fallen/evil like everyone else and is facing eternal damnation. PS the white balls I see as the moon/greater evil always threatening to overwhelm the soul and capture and control it completely (for) eternity - the 2nd death, dark side of the moon, being beyond redemption.
I wonder if McGoohan peered into the darkness but knew he wouldn't be allowed to work and secure a life for his family if he blew the whistle, nor would anyone believe him, so instead he used ART- and heck it was the psychadelic 60's, no one questioned it as ART, even the controllers. Brilliant- I think he REALLY was n. 6, not acting.
I love The Prisoner because it took the spy genre beyond action and intrigue. Sadly, the world has long since become The Village. Technology will continue to intrude ever further into our privacy.
Defo. If the social media already existed back in the 1960's, The Village would have a field day.
We are all secret agents of the birth certificate organization. We must resign this post and claim our Christian title which is the statement of birth, an original issue security held by the State Treasury. Read UCC-8 and the Security Transfer Acts in your State. You will also have to read about the High Court of Chancery to have your property interest vested.
@@moviearchaeologist9655, the observation about technology continuing to erode privacy is not a foregone conclusion. Before technologies change society, we choose the technologies that make those changes. This is what I found most significant about my journey through University of Houston - Clear Lake's Master of Science program in Studies of the Future. And if you read Rogers' Diffusion of Innovation, you'll see why.
Loved this series as a child in the 60s! Have to rewatch every so often. It's brilliant
The episode Hammer into Anvil is one of my favourites. The way No.6 - by hook or by crook - plays on the new No.2’s insecurity & paranoia by making him think there’s a conspiracy against him. Eventually No.2 cracks up, a most satisfying episode indeed!
One of my favourite episodes, too. Number two (Patrick Cargill) is absolutely the most loathsome character of the entire series (with John Sharpe's No. 2 a close second in "A Change Of Mind") and demonstrates what a good actor he is, by that dubious distinction! His increasingly erratic and desperate interrogations of the various Village officials are so well observed, I can't help but be impressed. And his sudden, shocked realization that he, himself, was the traitor, when Number 6 confronts him with the bare facts, is absolutely poetic!
Fallout's ending, with 6's flat door opening automatically, as in the Village, suggests that he is still not free. The final scene, the same as the first of the series, implies that the series is a cycle that is about to repeat itself, supporting the idea that 6 cannot be free!
Yes! My thoughts exactly. Number 6 had just been "promoted" into a much, much larger "Village". And he'll not escape this one! (Unless, of course, he intends to follow Number 1's flight into space!)
My thoughts exactly as well
I would suggest that this scene shows there can be no 'physical' escape from the Village, whether on land, sea, or in space; but that the Prisoner (and you, the viewer) can still attain some degree of personal freedom as No. 6 has done, with the Butler personifying an ever-present reminder of the vigilance necessary to protect that hard-won freedom.
@@_tillinghast_ Sounds more like "The Matrix" in a way, although, I've never seen the show.
@@Moodie111 That's if he hasn't swapped ego with Number 1, like Agent Cooper in Twin Peaks...
At 11:46, two possible reasons for the "priests" repetitive chanting of "I, I, I..." in 'Fallout' are given. However, when I first saw this show, back in 1968, it was obvious to me that the reason they were chanting this (ad nauseum) was that they were ridiculing Number 6's repeated insistence on the importance of his individuality, something that the Village's management was continually trying to do throughout the entire series and something that Number 6 resolutely refused ever to relinquish.
...and another interpretation. .. "I" the roman numeral of the first chapter
@@jagmarc ..and Number/numeral 1.
Funny thing the whole episode was a result of him falling out big time with the head of the TV company
I always heard the "I I I" as them mocking his individualism as selfish. "I Me Mine" by the Beatles comes to mind.
Spot on; the collective mocking the individual
"The Girl Who was Death" was originally supposed to be an episode of "Danger Man" AKA "Secret Agent" in the US, but when "Secret Agent" was cancelled in the US, it meant the end of "Danger Man" in the UK. McGoohan held onto the script and adapted it into a "bedtime story" for the "Prisoner".
Anything with Justine Lord is fine with me!
Some possible foreshadowing during the intro sequence. When Number 6 asks “Who is Number 1?” the reply is simply “You are Number 6”. In retrospect, this could be understood as “You are, Number 6”.
Interesting. I never saw that. I always thought Number Two evaded 6's question.
Most people never really catch upon true meaning of that phrase. Indeed, anyone the mysterious controllers of Village wanted focus upon would be Number One, Mr Vallance
Interesting interpretation! That would explain why Number 6 battled various versions of himself in the final episode, 'Fallout'.
And all it took was a comma inserted!
Good use of grammar, the defining factor in discerning whether you know your sh1t or you know you’re sh1t….
Enough in this series to make a ten episode study. Quite a few things in your vid I hadn't noticed too.
7 Octahedrons equels 7 chakras maybe!!?
I agree and I’m wondering, will you ever make a video breaking down The Prisoner Rob?
@@l1ve2art Thought about it from time to time. Maybe one day.
@@collativelearning Oh wow! Thank you for replying Rob, I’d love to see someone break down this weird and wonderful show! 👍
Hey! It's YOUUU lol
Subbed
Over here in the states we enjoy The Prisoner mini-series, but we also like Mcgoohan for other things like helping to develop our cigar smoking, awkward, 'one other thing!' detective Columbo. What a great piece of work Peter Faulk said about Mcgoohan's writing and directing after Emmy Award interviews. Columbo was kind of like the opposite of your Hercule Poirot, a comedic character but just as shrewd inside a murder mystery always complimenting his wife that never appears in the series.
Peter Falk- another absolute legend!
I heard Falk & Mc Goohan were good friends. Also, here in the states, there was a British series shown, THE SCARECROW OF ROMNEY MARSH, introduced us to McGoohan.
"Who is number 1?"
"You are, number 6."
Rover has a piece of fanfare music sometimes that is heard just before it appears. For example :- In Free For All as it herds No.6 towards the Town Hall. In Many Happy Returns, we hear the same brief fanfare music, but instead of Rover, we see a Policeman near a roadblock looking for an escaped Prisoner (not No.6). A very clever way of illustrating that Rover is symbolic of authority through the use of a short piece of music we have become familiar with.
Hm, interesting, thanks. Btw, like your profile pic. High Plains Drifter is a great movie. 🐎
I watched this as a child in rerun few if my peers remember it. I found it fascinating.
A lot of interesting observations of this gem of a series. Please make more on The Prisoner.
I'm subscribed!
_Be Seeing You!_
imho, the prisoner was the most impactful and important series of the 60s, if not the entire history of tv
It was quite a ride. I watched it when I was 21 (23 years ago). I got immensily hooked just on what the resolve of it all would be. The final episode, the I I I scene, the totally chaotic stuff, as if chaos was dissolving itself. I don't know, I never forgot about it, to this day. It was definitely a one of a kind watch.
I was fortunate to have seen the original showing of the Prisoner in the '60s when it first aired. In "Arrival" the taxi driver speaks to the prisoner in French. He questions her about it and she says "French is international." Later, in "Free for All" the prisoner is joined by Number 2 for breakfast. Number 2 refers to the cuisine as "international". The prisoner than says, "French", and No. 2 repeats, "international." I've wondered what the French/International relationship is.
Hm, that is curious. Might be to do with the dialogue about the entire Earth as a Village, but maybe there is something else specific going on there too.
For a while, French was the international language and was used a common language, but has since been replaced by English.
@@marksasahara1115 French was the international language of diplomacy and English was the international language of aviation.
Maybe it has to do with the French playing both sides on the cold war, and France being defiant of the US leadership in the Western World.
@marksasahara1115 Hence the term "Lingua Franca" to indicate whatever the standard international language is.
It dates back before the Cold War, and before the British Empire. It dates to before the French Revolution, when the French Monarchy was looked up to by the nobility, and noble children all learned French growing up.
in most of the series , you hear there is a threat of rain or showers, but it never rains
Haha! I would have never noticed half of these, and I still watch episodes often. The number 66 one is clearly a riddle...food for thought! The series is obviously vastly more intellectual than most television. Part of why I love it so much.
👈
I cracked the bicycle code.
Some things I found interesting: Number 6’s birthday is the same as Patrick McGoohans, I though the lava lamps were representing the over watching danger of rover, lots of Christian allegory, only 7 episodes where originally panned, Patrick McGoohan was pivotal in selecting the theme song, the village as part of “a new world order”, I thought the “I,I,I” in the final episode was the revulsion of the individual and the overall theme of individuality against the system
Loads going on in this show, I've only scratched the surface in this video. Even though the TV show had a convoluted and quite rushed production (and there have been collaborators contesting ownership of certain ideas), a lot of the key themes have been consistent.
@@moviearchaeologist9655 Patrick McGoohan was the consistent element: a complex individual. Another video discussing themes is th-cam.com/video/Dc-ZK4iT1Is/w-d-xo.html, unfortunately his other videos are now gone
Just think, I,I,I was accurate prediction of Me first culture so prevalent today. The rise of Trumpisum and believe in election lies in years 2019/20 are prime example. People don't even bother check if so called facts we're given are accurate anymore.
Just an aside. The scene with the Deer Statue was filmed in Stag Place in Victoria, London. Number Six's house was just off of that square.
I was happy to see Aubrey Morris, the actor who played "Mr Deltoid" in "A Clockwork Orange" had a place in this series.... yessss?
the first truly interactive TV show and probably the best, the term "world village" sums up today's electronic surveillance culture we live in , and the best of it is we all sign up willingly and even pay for it when we buy electronic goods, TV streaming devices, google hubs, smart phones, email accounts etc, we actually buy the devices that spy on us, who could have foreseen that back in 1967.
I have finished reading a production history book of the show, and the show came out just as the credit card system was being introduced. And Marshall McLuhan in the 1960s coined the term "global village", which involves everyone's interaction with screen technology. Orwell and others knew what was coming.
All those episodes of him trying to find out who Number One was, and, even at the end, he didn't realize that he himself was Number One.
Because of the missing comma at the beginning ?
I have doubts that Patrick has planned it that from the beginning. He wrote the last episode under extreme stress because he had not been able to figure out what do with it.
"I" "I" "I"
Aleister Crowley in Thelema forbade his students to say the word "I" in order to dissolve their ego
I think there's a lot of occultist sybolism in this show. Perhaps the whole thing represents an occult process which the Prisoner is subject to.
I think we mustn't discount the theme of psychological disturbance. This was, in historical fact, an era of intensive efforts to extract information and exert covert control over adversaries, using every available technology. Abduction, torture, scopolamine, sodium pentothal, and LSD were part of routine tradecraft.
I grew up in this time and remember it well. I remember how commonly (and, in retrospect, naïvely) we all took to the simplest and most colorful, most childlike and innocent, sorts of technological storytelling as good enough to warrant suspension of disbelief.
The Prisoner is a very deliberate play upon that willingness of the audience to be persuaded by cool artifacts and trippy images.
Of course it all looks very silly in retrospect. But these small theatrical touches - the striped shirts and awnings, the manicured lawns, the absurdly high tech "monitoring" crane, even the silly telephones - those were enough in a less cynical time to create a convincing sense of madness, psychological manipulation, and cunning power.
Rob Ager sent me here. Who am I to disobey? Be seeing you.
The most fascinating tv drama series ever made and because it is an enigma with many intriguing facets it can be enjoyed repeatedly. It will never become dated!
Overall I believe the general theme to be about the rise of surveillance, of being controlled, being made to confirm, and having your personal identity and individuality erased.
So think carefully next time you are obliged to take action on-line by responding to a question about ‘cookies’ or ‘privacy’! Do you really want all your actions recorded? I don’t. I never respond. I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered.
My life is my own.
Wildest episode, in my opinion, was #6.
Almost the first 30 minutes, silence.
Then, crazy interesting deduction and a great #2 in some "other" capacity.
Best episode of a great show!
Do you mean Many Happy Returns? First 25 mins of no dialogue at all, how many TV shows are like that?! Most of the episodes are great. 👌
@@moviearchaeologist9655 many happy returns was good but no need for Patrik Cargill as he was in hammer into anvil as number 2 and number 6 broke him the weak link.
Episode order was different for many people. Your episode #6 might be someone else's episode #5 or #12, etc. Everyone had their preferred order of viewing the episodes based on different criteria. You would have been better off just naming the episode by it's title, rather than by the order in which you watched it.
It is just one of the best and most unique TV shows ever. I remember it vividly when it first was broadcast and I’ve seen it many times since thanks for your post.
I lived in Austin about 81’ and Public Channel had a synopsis of each episode by Warner Troy that was very astute imho, ty Nancy. He was Canada Public TV if I recall and they have been lost in the void sadly. Questions like “How many times do you show your ID? “ still come to mind.
This show, to me, is the culmination of Patrick McGoohan’s life experiences. It failed as a commercial venture because it rose above the Pablum of mindless entertainment, the formulaic basis for most programming. It was a program that demanded audience intellectual participation. Without that active
presence the show became incomprehensible. It demanded audience intellectual participation, which is why the programme failed as a commercial enterprise. The breadth and depth of the story, characters, setting, acting, dialogue etc along with the allegory were impossible to fathom otherwise. It was perhaps one of the only programs ever made that demanded you think and question everything. An incredible and unique experience, provided you were willing to make the effort.
The show was incredible for its day, yes, and it's still fantastic even by today's standards because of the show's deeper psychology and not relying on expository dialogue all the time like so many TV shows do.
Well said. I agree.
You state it far better than I. Thank you.
When I was only 9 years old I saw and loved The Prisoner.
I was very much reminded of The Prisoner during the Covid pandemic.
DEAR MOVIE ARCHEOLOGIST, YOU BROUGHT OUT A FEW POINTS THAT EVEN I MISSED , THOUGH I HAVE WATCHED THIS AT LEAST SEVERAL TIMES AND LOVED IT!!!!GARY BAILEY KING OF DARKNESS AND GOD OF THUNDER AND LIGHTNING
The Prisoner is my favorite television show. BCNU.
Great stuff! I'm looking forward to the next one! ..Be seeing you!!👌
Excellent analysis…. Great facts and perceptions
Regarding the analysis of TV shows vs. Movies; TV shows are usually melodramas, which depict important events in the life of the protagonist(s), while movies are usually dramas, which depict THE important event in the life of the protagonist(s). The Prisoner is unusual in that it is a TV drama - its 17 episodes forming a single story that is the most important thing to happen to Number 6. This may be part of what sets it apart.
I really enjoyed this, and learnt a few things I hadn't heard so that alone is a big thankful.
The black and white represent duality, masonic and secret symbolism permeate the show. There is the repetition of 6 especially in one episode, 6 6 6. 6 6 6. The be seeing you gesture is reference to the all seeing eye. This almost looks like a show piece for those in the know
@cint xo he definitely understood the symbols
The image of the keyhole is a visual of the repeating theme of, "be *seeing* you."
Your discussion of the globes in Number One's office remind me of the variant closing credits in one episode in which the large wheel of the penneyfarthing bicycle transforms into the Earth alongside the cryptic initials POP.
Very nice work. Thank you!
Great observations there. One I worked out myself was the episode in the episode Chimes Of Big Ben. The character alongside Number 6 is named Cobb.
some trivia, at 5:09 thats the actor from I Claudius who played Tiberius. George Baker, who had a huge list of credits to his name.
It's always interesting to hear someone else's interpretation of a work of art. It says more about you and your powers of analysis than about the artwork itself. How many times have you heard Patrick McGoohan say that "it's an allegory"? In other words, don't ask me what it means! :-)
Personally I think this video speaks more about the powers of this show, it's definitely more original and creative than most TV shows. And plenty more interesting and powerful things going on in the show beyond the allegory stuff I haven't verbalised yet 🙂
Like "They Live" it's a documentary. an allegory for real life.
He told Lew Grade, he didn't know how to end it, Grade said it didn't matter as they'd already made money.
Apparently it was only supposed to be seven episodes, and McGoohan had already worked out the ending. Lew Grade wanted it made longer to stand a better chance of selling it. Some of the added episodes are quite clearly padding.
@@lawrencedoliveiro9104 Indeed!
The enigma and non-specificity of the overall message ends up being its strength allowing one to apply individual interpretation. I am writing this in 2024 and it seems that the subjects of privacy, information and control are even more relevant now. The thread running through "1984", "The Prisoner", social media and modern national politics demonstrate the trend growing with more surveillance technology, the public actually providing information on themselves, and finally the ability to add misinformation. The message of this series is even more relevant as we become more unaware of reality around us. We seem to have created our own "village" where we no longer know what is true and who is collecting information. All I can say is "be seeing you."
I did an amateur version of the prisoner credits in 1989. I was a big fan 😊
such an excellent introduction - gentle swipes at really quite revered series. Also well worth the analysis
Great Observations!!
I think the opening sequence evokes “Paradise Lost.” The star disciple rebels and is imprisoned in hell.
Love this show, thanks for the commentary
Thank you for this interesting video. Long-time fan of >The Prisoner
Question: is number 6 the agent John Drake from the Secret Agent Man series prior to the Prisoner?
The reason I ask is because there’s a part in the theme song of Secret Agent Man where they say
“They’re giving you a number and take away your name.”
I always thought the Lava Lite was a reflection of the oppression and control ultimately exercised by Rover. Rarely is Rover stationary or 'resting'; it is always moving.
I've been a prisoner fan since it was first shown here in america in nineteen sixty seven anybody who was a fan probably ended up with a lava lamp. I still have one.
I am old enough to remember this series when it was first shown and it immediately gained cult status. This was nearly 60 years ago and since then people have been trying to understand it, for example they think there are hidden coded messages within the script which they have tried to decipher over the years, without success. On the other hand some of us believe that it was simply a ground breaking series devised by a very creative mind which opened the door to many others taking a lead from it. So I would say don't look too deeply just sit back and enjoy because it is unique and has never really been equaled.
That was a real treat and timeless okay be seeing ya
Whilst I Know of the programme and watched a little...it wasn't for me.. unlike many other of it's genre. However I do consider that it has many hidden texts. The globes on the table of a map... I can't quite see the map, is it possible that it is a flat earth map represented perhaps by the village. Interesting that the lights look like the moon and that they use massive surveillance... an early version of "The Truman Show"... in some or many aspects.
Thanks for the insights - indeed this is a fascinating series
How we arrive is always the key to what arrives before us.
Your video was appreciated and inspired another marathon viewing! Some of your observations seem spot-on ( I never noticed the London chessboard pavement before, and I didn't link the B+W sunglasses with anything important - I assumed they're merely one of the many props and costumes that have the 60's pop-culture look ). There are certainly other significant images and dialogue that are almost subliminal. But I can't hear 'religious chanting' sounds (!?) with Rover, nor would I describe the music as 'tribal' - it's standard incidental TV show music with mostly light percussion whose sounds won't conflict with dialogue when viewed on TV. The paintings on the office wall are probably just part of a ready-made 'generic' TV set. But maybe not.
Nevertheless, this is what makes this series so thought-provoking and enjoyable - the combination of both the obvious and the enigmatic, and how they all fit together. I'll check out your other material, thank you. Be seeing you!
I'm pretty sure either Andrew Pixley's book or one of the documentaries had McGoohan and crew members mentioning about the religious chanting sounds of Rover and the tribal music. The office painting is the more mysterious, but it is largely reminiscent of the lava lamp imagery in Number 2's lair. Thanks for the feeback anyway. Be seeing you! 👌
' Being seeing you': On camera? Surveillance?. They say the secret service ran a village like this in the second world war. Wouldn't put it passed us. We excel at this sort of thing.
i think its probably better to watch the series as we did in the sixties, aged eight, without any thoughts of ulterior motives just to breathe in the wonderful quirky sixties style, futuristic and sci-fi at its best. to anyone interested look also at the avengers, emma peel ones, the champions and man from uncle.
Oh my Patrick was so handsome 😊!
Great stuff!! Looking forward to the next video .he seeing you!! 👌
50 years later you say oh what a great show where you been.
I saw the first showing of this series on UK TV. In some ways it's helped to shape my life.
whenever I see one of those California state lottery ads with that huge ball that bounces in I always picture the supervisor calling "Orange alert" ! that is what THIS TV show does to your mind!
Great video...👍
I rewatched the show about ten years ago and a few things really stood out as having a message. The most prominent being the eye in the pyramid. A reference to the Illuminati?
I believe it to be more of a metaphor of corrupt powers generally (hence the eye and pyramid imagery on the dollar bill). From what I read, the Illuminati might have existed in the past (like 1700's), but there is no concrete proof that they exist today as is true with Freemasons, Skull & Bones, etc.
@@moviearchaeologist9655Bohemian Grove is very real.
The Prisoner was THE best and my all time favourite programme ever made
Interesting/informative/entertaining. The character guest stars enhanced Patrick's performances.🤗. Like the characters guest stars on the " Bat Man" series. Wishing viewers a safe/healthy/prosperous (2024) filled with plenty of " Prisoner " episodes-!!!🌈🎉💵😉.
"Number twoses"? Where did you learn that?
Either I tried to pronounce "Number 2's" or my half Chinese accent slipped up there :)
Many of these points just show the Prisoner to be a manifestation of the culture of its time and may just be the props department working with what was commercially available.
In 1967 I was 11 when I first saw it and I have seen it 3 or 4 times more and still do not understand it.
Hopefully this video will help you in making more sense of the show, you might even come to your own unique conclusions 👌
'Supercar' predates 'The prisoner' by six years, and I wonder if it had a little influence on 'The Prisoner's own title sequence. The aircraft sound and clap of thunder sound exactly like the same sound effect used at the end of the title sequence for Gerry Anderson' 'Supercar'. Both series were commissioned by ITV's Lou Grade, so maybe his production teams used the same source. Other similarities are that the vehicle comes straight for the camera, just as No.6' s Lotus does, and like Rover, Supercar can travel in the air, the land or come bursting out of the sea. th-cam.com/video/HFXcirSidnY/w-d-xo.html Could these have had a subconscious effect on Patrick McGoohan?
Hm, quite interesting. I'm not convinced personally, I don't see how the Supercar show would tie in with the themes of The Prisoner (that mostly has people walking and talking on foot instead of being James Bond with the cars), but who knows...
There is a widely used thunderclap sound effect, originally recorded for the movie Frankenstein. I think The Prisoner uses it. I've just had a listen to Supercar and I think it's different, it seems longer to me. I could be wrong. It's quite a niche debate. Good luck with your stop watch.
I remember. watching this in September 1967, I had married eight weeks before and was living with my inlaws. I don't think my Father In Law ever forgave me for inflicting this 'not Danger man show' on him. We joked about it many times and laughed over the years. I still watch it when i wish to visit the village alas alone, now we lost him to soon many years ago and wife still doesn't like the show.
Big part of the program format is letting people find significance in things and is more about interpretation. Around that time The Beatles hugely published random devices in their songs such as cutting tape and splicing in random order, lyrics intentionally non sensical i.e. "Walrus". Just look at the words chosen for the "UN" member state nameplates. Religions which are based on ceremony and ritual to instill order are often developed out of context. In catholicism '3 things' comes up repeatedly everywhere.
Not really familiar with those examples myself, so can't comment on them, but nor would they be comparable to the artistic structure of The Prisoner, where a lot of my observations point to overarching key themes and social messages of the show that were at least partially intended by the series creators... if you can piece them together alongside your own observations of the show the next time you watch it. The Prisoner is very unique among TV shows to be this cryptic, I'd say on par with the artistry of Kubrick's and Lynch's.
I'll also point out that I was previously 50-50 on the idea of the bright circular light shown in the episode Once Upon a Time to symbolise Rover, but later on, I looked at the original script by the series creator and star Patrick McGoohan himself, and one passage says that the hypnotic lamp above the protagonist's bed "could be a distant relative of Rover in shape and colour." This strongly supports my original observation.
Sure, there's plenty of garbage interpretations out there on many things, but if you don't explore, you don't discover.
@@moviearchaeologist9655 something I ought mention is we today tend to view not through the eyes of the viewer of that time but through contemporary eyes. Around that time ICBMs cold war & the Space Race, the Pet Sounds and Pepper albums and later with Scott MacKenzie "San Francisco (flowers hair)" was later trying to defuse how negative flower power people were seen after the bubble burst, the 60s counter culture, a fickle Lew Grade who could pull the plug at short notice and did, and a big film gig Ice Station Zebra come up. Funny interview he gave 10 years after he said he had to go into hiding after deciding his face appears for 4 seconds under the gorilla mask "No 1" wearing.
In the final episode, doesn’t the main character go through a door, but when it closes, we see has the number one on it?
That was when Angelo Muscat's midget butler goes in the door, not the main character, but yes, that has been talked about. Curiously enough, McGoohan did say in The Prisoner Puzzle interview that he had considered the midget butler as being the real Number One, it was he who went into the house with the door marked number 1. And there are some things going on with the midget butler which I will talk about another time.
IMO I think the lava lamp is more due to the novelty of it and its looks rather than meaning. The show is from 67, lava lamps were first sold in 63 and grew in popularity. Other shows and movies would use them at the time, it's like if someone nowadays invented a mass produced holographic device, I think we'd put it everywhere.
Lava lamp imagery had novelty value back in the 1960's, yes, but that does not dismiss how The Prisoner used those imagery for communicating its themes. And that would also be case if a fiction movie / TV show / video game incorporated holographic devices for symbolic communication. It's not impossible.
As I showed in the video, the protagonist glances specifically at the lava lamp imagery on the big screen as he says "Imprison people, steal their MINDS, destroy them?" In other words, the lava lamp imagery represents organic human minds that are encased and under constant scrutiny, hence they are shown on the same TV screen of Number 2's, but not among the Villagers' home TVs from what I recall. It makes perfect sense with the story.
There's also the embryo like qualities of the lava lamp imagery, and that is supported by two details. In the episode Once Upon a Time, the main set piece is called "The Embryo Room." And in the script version of Hammer into Anvil, this is the ending scene: "No. 2 is sitting curled up in the egg chair like a foetus in a womb." That's what the scriptwriter said.
There are some other details in the video that I am not as convinced of, as I said in the video, but the lava lamp imagery I am very certain has total symbolic meaning.
Be seeing you 👌
Danger Man ,Series 2, Episode 3, "Colony Three"
Patrick McGoohan's masterpiece!
I think everyone has read way too much into this series. I think McGoohan was a pseudo intellectual (he is an actor, after all) that had read a few thought-provoking books or maybe watched a couple of art films and as a result, came up with a one-note premise for a TV show that would allow him to vent his frustrations with show business, and to a larger extent, the human condition of the time. After watching a few interviews with Patrick regarding the production and themes of the show, it seems very clear to me that beyond the basic concept of the series, there was not much depth to it. That painting of the key means nothing special, nor does the use of lava lamps or even the appearance of all those penny farthings. It's a fun, weird little commentary on the ridiculousness of the modern world, but that's where it ends.
Skipped your into and went straight to the point.
Looking forward to future Prisoner videos
Number 6 always, ALWAYS showed a 3rd alternative to the wrong and right, black and white, good and evil.
I see it as the danger globalism poses to identity
The significance of the globes in the final episode is obvious. The Prisoner is a load of balls.
number 6 wants to know who runs THE VILLAGE judging by how monumentally geeky everyone is dressed I'd say it is the fashion police!!
Sin la menor duda, EL PRISIONERO ha sido una de las series televisivas más originales e incluso profética en muchos aspectos. Actualmente, el mundo es muy parecido a La Villa, sometido a la
tiranía tecnolátrica donde todos somos números, contraseñas o claves computarizadas. La distopía
convertida en realidad cotidiana. Sin embargo, no hay un "número seis" con cerebro suficiente y las
agallas necesarias para rebelarse. Dicha serie televisiva puede considerarse una distopía cumplida,
como las novelas de Huxley, Orwell y Bradbury. Mi más sentido pésame por un mundo idiotizado.
"Sin embargo, no hay un "número seis" con cerebro suficiente y las agallas necesarias para rebelarse." "Agallas", I agree there's not enough people with courage and agallas, even among intelligent people.
Es verdad, la lucha eterna entre la individualidad contra la conformidad, y en el mismo tiempo esta burlando a los régimenes y rituales
Why I’m scared of white balloons!😊
In the last episode (it might have been the 2nd to the last) #2 who is action like #6's school principal says something that sounds like (I haven't seen this in decades so it's probably not 100% accurate) "see me in the morning Drake" or was it "see me in the morning break". Any idea what #2 said ?
Checked the script just now, it does say "morning break", break time from school lessons.
Interesting!
The is talk about director Nolan doing a remake…should be interesting
that would be telling.
hmm..
not stated outright in dialog?
"Who is number one!"
'You are, number six.'
*_"Be Seeing You...."_*
The show started from Secret Agent Man ( Danger Man in the U.K. ) a show I liked much better !