Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site watmath.UUCP 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