The Prisoner Nummer 6


The sediments at the bottom of television: series and serials, omnipresent and almost as infinite as the medium itself. Few only were successfull in touching the underside of our attentiveness.
UNWAHRSCHEINLICHE GESCHICHTEN ("Improbable Stories") was one that did, the classic TWILIGHT ZONE.
Anything associated with the expression TV-magic applies to this.

Phantastic television of the sixties, among other things, is one conjuring formula:
"Be seeing you!" or
L'année dernière
au Village:

CONTRIBUTING AUTHORS:
(GERMAN KNOWLEDGE REQUIRED)

 

 

ANDERSWO GELESEN
 

AUTOREN:

BEITRÄGE VON...
 

INTERVIEWS:

Nr6DE MIT
DAVE BARRIE
Nr6DE MIT
TIM BOURNE
Nr6DE MIT
PATRICK DUCHER
Nr6DE MIT
MAX HORA
CHRIS RODLEY MIT
GEORGE MARKSTEIN
SIMON BATES (BBC) MIT
PATRICK McGOOHAN
ALAIN CARRAZÉ MIT
PATRICK McGOOHAN
BILL KING MIT
PATRICK McGOOHAN
MIKE TOMKIES MIT
PATRICK McGOOHAN
WARNER TROYER MIT
PATRICK McGOOHAN
TOM WORRALL MIT
MARY MORRIS, N. WEST
UWE HUBER MIT
HORST NAUMANN
PATRICK DUCHER MIT
JEAN-MICHEL PHILIBERT
Nr6DE MIT
STEVE RAINES
DAVE BARRIE MIT
IAN L. RAKOFF
HARALD KELLER MIT
BERND RUMPF

 

AYE, AYE, AYE...! - I, I, I...

There is a gap of several months between the production of episode 12 (16) and 13 (17) which may explain some of the inconsistencies. "Once Upon A Time" which was to be the last episode of the first installment clearly is now the penultimate of the series.

Instead of producing 26, as common in TV business, only 17 episodes were made under considerable pressure of time. It was McGoohan who wrote the script of "Fall Out" virtually alone in one night. Kenneth Griffith himself wrote his assembly speech. And a lot of acting was done on the spot out of the situation. Almost the last third of the episode is without any dialogues.


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MUSIC SAYS IT ALL
MORE: FALL OUT & APPRECIATIVE EPISODE EXAMINATION
THE PRESIDENT'S SPEECH IN "Fall Out"

"Fall Out" resumes the trial. But it’s all different now. Number Six has gotten through the ordeal with Number Two.
It may be in gratitude or just mocking him for having proved his individuality Number Six is now sitting on a throne in front of an audience of hooded figures donning black-and-white face masks who represent certain roles: "nationalists", "reactionaries", "dissidents" etc. Number Six is now addressed "Sir" by the President of the assembly who then proceeds to speak about revolt. Bringing forward two examples - Number 48, an impetuous youth and one established, Number Two, who had died the episode before, reanimated (or - as nothing really is the way it appears to be - wasn’t he dead at all?) it becomes evident that the true essence of revolt is that of Number Six’.

The German title "Demaskierung", in fact, is misleading because nothing there is demasked that isn’t already an image, a mask, a picture-puzzle. And the trial is a farce initiated by the (then up-to-date) Beatles’ song "All You Need Is Love" with Number Six, the Supervisor and the Butler walking down a subterranean corridor lined with jukeboxes leading towards and into a huge cavern. There the action is terminated by some rude although rather stage-effect gunfighting. It is up to Number Six to make up his mind: to govern or to leave. In the key scene he is allowed to speak to the assembly. As he starts his very first word is interrupted by the masked knocking on their tables and shouting repeatedly: "Aye, aye, aye - I, I, I...!" to leave his speech unheard in the noise. Within the assembly, community, society there is no use for someone like Number Six. "You’ve made us realize our mistakes", says the President. And Number Six leaves, events getting out of control. The entire Village is evacuated, helicopters rise to the sky and so does a rocket but due to the weak optical effects not much more credibility is generated here.

Eventually he gets to meet Number One who turns out to be his other "self", or else something different. For sure, many viewers wouldn't accept this as a solution conforming to TV series' standards or as an appropriate one, in fact they don't until today.

As the episode ends we see Number Six, Number Two, Number 48 and the Butler back in London, Number Six driving his Lotus down the empty highway just like it happened in the very first scene...

This closing episode is certainly a wrap-up and everthing but a conclusion or resolution of the events previously seen. Maybe it was developed under the pressure to put an end to it, one way or the other. We will probably never know.The background of these fireworks of ideas is anarchism and social rule. Even those experienced in university seminars will find both final episodes pretty hard stuff to swallow. And the best of it all: this is television entertainment!

ZDF (the German TV station that first aired THE PRISONER in 1969) probably was in a state of uneasiness. Because NUMMER 6 was shown on Sunday nights around 11 p.m.

 

 

Contact impressum filmtexte - texts on film deutsch english language   "Be seeing you!" or L'année dernière au Village The Prisoner · Nummer 6

 

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WIR SEHEN UNS! D
BE SEEING YOU! E
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OLD PEOPLE'S HOME
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6 PRIVATE
2 PRIVATE
GENERAL STORES
TOWN HALL
LABOUR EXCHANGE
COUNCIL CHAMBER
BAND STAND
CHESS LAWN
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DISCOURSES

FREE INFORMATION
SIX OF ONE · 601 D
THE VILLAGE D
CAMERA OBSCURA D
WHO IS NUMBER 1?
THE NEW NUMBER 2
"ORANGE ALERT!"
VILLAGE FACT FILES
"MUSIC SAYS IT ALL"
McGOOHAN INTERVIEW D
"ARRIVAL" SCRIPT
SPEEDLEARN DIR
THE TALLY HO D DIR
Nr6DE FRIENDS & SUPP.
THE PRISONER WEBLINKS
TV-MAGIC WEBLINKS
IMPRESSUM | FEEDBACK

ARRIVAL
THE CIMES OF BIG BEN
A. B. AND C.
FREE FOR ALL
THE SCHIZOID MAN
THE GENERAL
MANY HAPPY RETURNS
DANCE OF THE DEAD
CHECKMATE
HAMMER INTO ANVIL
IT'S YOUR FUNERAL
A CHANGE OF MIND
DO NOT FORSAKE ME...
LIVING IN HARMONY
THE GIRL WHO WAS DEATH
ONCE UIPON A TIME
FALL OUT

PATRICK McGOOHAN