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Path: utzoo!watmath!jagardner
From: jagardner@watmath.UUCP (jagardner)
Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers
Subject: The Prisoner
Message-ID: <11389@watmath.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 8-Feb-85 15:13:10 EST
Article-I.D.: watmath.11389
Posted: Fri Feb  8 15:13:10 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 9-Feb-85 05:55:21 EST
Reply-To: jagardner@watmath.UUCP ()
Organization: U of Waterloo, Ontario
Lines: 52

[...]

People who are interested in the Prisoner may be interested in
"The Prisoner Puzzle", a booklet put together by TVOntario (Ontario's
equivalent of PBS) when they were showing the series five or six
years ago.  In those days, TVO had to go out of its way to prove
that entertaining shows like the Prisoner were also educational,
since TVO's mandate is to provide _educational_ TV that doesn't compete
with commercial television.  At any rate, they followed each show with
a discussion of the episode's major themes, pointed out nifty pieces
of symbolism the viewer might have missed, and so on.  It got a little
pompous, but it had good moments.

The booklet could be obtained at that time (and maybe now, for all I
know) by writing to TVOntario, Customer Relations Dept. in Toronto.
You should be able to get the address from a phone book -- most major
libraries in Canada carry U.S. phone books, so U.S. libraries may
have Toronto phone books.  (Maybe I'm being naive.)  Anyway, the booklet
contained a description and discussion of all 17 episodes, in the order
that they originally aired, plus an interview with Patrick McGoohan, and
other neat stuff.

By the way, I object to the statement made on the net that the Prisoner
is not SF.  The episode "A, B, or C", for example, contains "dream-monitoring"
equipment to see if Number 6 lets down his guard when he's asleep (three
guesses whether he does).  Much of the series IS more down-to-earth, of
course, but they didn't blink an eye at departures from reality.

While we're on the subject of the Prisoner, I should point out that
it is a direct continuation of a series that aired as "Danger Man"
in Britain, and as "Secret Agent" in the U.S.  (Remember the big
hit song, "Secret Agent Man", that was its theme?)  In the last
episode, the secret agent (played by McGoohan) resigns from the agency
because he disapproves of what they did to a fellow agent who may or
may not have defected.  The lead-in to the Prisoner is obvious.  I might
also point out that the secret agent was never called by his real name;
he had a cover identity that they used most of the time, but they made
it clear that it was only a cover.  As the theme song said, "They've
given you a number and taken 'way your name."

Also, there were a few Prisoner paperbacks published a number of
years ago, in much the same style as the Man from UNCLE paperbacks
people may remember.  I've read one, by David Gerrold, I believe
(the famous tribbler).  In it, Number 6 and a romantic interest
(a woman prisoner who may or may not be working for Village authorities)
stage a production of Shakespeare's "Measure for Measure" as a cover
for an escape attempt.  An odd little book, with the same sort of
elegant paranoia of the show.

				Jim Gardner
				University of Waterloo