ORANGE ALERT! ORANGE ALERT!
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)
|
FRANK
T. BITTERHOF |
So, after about 30 and more years, what is it that hardly leaves anyone reacting indifferently towards the series?
A notion
of something extraordinary stayed in mind. The mixture of the show first
made it a flop: nothing of a real spyshow, no love interest and a incomprehensible
ending. But a few years on the same mixture became the reason for its
cult status.
It isn’t what, it’s how - the way things are presented. A tongue-in-cheek
style of subtle irony that makes THE PRISONER unique even in its weakest
part. Which is to say: German TV series production barely seems to be
capable of reaching this kind of quality level.
Maybe a bit too far out for the most common of TV consensus but exactly the right kind of stuff for specialists because of
1.
its idea
2. its witty mix of mystery, action and sophisticated dialogues
and
3. its high production value in general.
The series’ opening credits, identical except from three episodes, again and again recount what happened before the start of each episode. Made for television at its best. "Arrival" and "Many Happy Returns" partly are without any spoken word, something wholly unimaginable for run-of-the-mill TV shows and sit-coms that only come into being by the word itself. And where literally everything, not only talk is cheap.
Ron Grainers somehow elegiac as well as driving theme song kept staying in mind and hasn’t aged at all ever since. In the past the PRISONER soundtrack was hard to obtain. By now it can be found on good compilation albums, too.
For many
years people used to remember at least one detail: a white balloon emerging
from the sea and drifting on the water surface or the land: "Rover".
This is the Village’s watchdog, paralyzing and returning those inmates
trying to get away. His appearance is accompanied by some brutal roaring.
Essentially it’s a ridiculous special effect but doubtless an exotic
eye catcher for the whole show. There are other elements for the eye only
and pure motion, such as the see-saw in the Underground Control Room.
It’s meaning is never explained.
Beside the Village itself it’s the inmates’ clothing dominating the scenery. Striped in yellow, red, green and white are pullovers, umbrellas and the taxi’s canopies strikingly contrasting the archetectural classicism. The colour white is the colour of power. White fog knocks out Number Six, encountering Rover may end lethally. Doctors and scientists dressed in white use recalcitrant people as guinnea pigs. There is a mysterious "black widow" dressed in white intent on killing Number Six.
Existentialism black is assigned to Number Six although Number Two also prefers black clothes combined with a white scarf. He alway wears a white-piped black blazer. Once Number Six is offered his own black suit when the carnival starts, as a fancy dress. The second time, in the "Fall Out" episode, he is told "We thought you’d feel happier being yourself." "The Schizoid Man" makes excellent use of this game of colours: Number Six confronts a double. It is hoped to raise doubt regarding his individuality. The double - in Number Six’ words „the economy pack“ - wears a white blazer with black pipes. Implied in this doubleing is, among other things, the real closeness of Number Six to his adversaries...
