I love that episode too but only after I had an explanation of it worked out. Until then I found the end thoroughly unsatisfying. And I can kind of understand why McGoohan had to lie low for a few weeks because everyone was so peeved at the lack of finale answers.
However, the ending does make some sense to me now and the opening door of his home in London on his return (which suggests the village has now enveloped the rest of the world) is a touch of magic.
Quote: SlagA @ April 20 2010, 7:38 PM BSTHowever, the ending does make some sense to me now and the opening door of his home in London on his return (which suggests the village has now enveloped the rest of the world) is a touch of magic.
Yup, and isn't his door number 6?
That bit where he finds number one, rips his mask off, and it's a monkey face, then rips that off, and its his own face, then he chases himself about-insane! I wonder if this new one will have a similar ending?? 
Quote: Matthew Stott @ April 20 2010, 7:45 PM BSTThat bit where he finds number one, rips his mask off, and it's a monkey face, then rips that off, and its his own face, then he chases himself about-insane! I wonder if this new one will have a similar ending??
I hope so. The articulated scene was quite nice too.
Anybody ever seen Secret Agent? The show The Prisoner was an unofficial sequel too, also starring McGoohan?
Quote: Matthew Stott @ April 20 2010, 7:45 PM BSTYup, and isn't his door number 6?
That bit where he finds number one, rips his mask off, and it's a monkey face, then rips that off, and its his own face, then he chases himself about-insane! I wonder if this new one will have a similar ending??
I had a similar experience. Finding out I was the maniacal opressor
of my own dadaist nightmare gulag. Didn't stop me having to go to work the next day.
Sucks.
Tonight is the last night of my yearly Prisoner watch - have only the final episode left.
Did you all know that they screened the show's episodes in the wrong order? That some of the earlier ones are actually mid-series?
There's a correct listing on the internet if you ever want to watch them chronologically.
There were at least four female Number 2s. One is in the carnival episode "Dance of the Dead" where everyone dresses up in costume. One is from "Many Happy Returns" where he gets back to London and finds a lady has possession of his house, when he returns to the village it's revealed she is Number 2. There's one in "Free for All" the manic taxi driver with a sadistic slant. And one more is seen very briefly in "It's Your Funeral."
One of my favourites was the near wordless The Girl Who was Death.
Whimsical and disturbing genius. It's a tone I desperately want to achieve in my work (albeit with more pornography and swearing)
Quote: SlagA @ April 20 2010, 10:33 PM BSTDid you all know that they screened the show's episodes in the wrong order? That some of the earlier ones are actually mid-series?
Whaa?
How did that happen?
Got the box set for Christmas. Had seen bits and pieces before. I never really got the final episode and couldn't understand how they were able to drive back to London.
I love the surreality and the strangeness of the show, its right up my street but the final episode left me disappointed.
The final episode is weird but I think it's a bit of social allegory mixed in that creates the confusion.
All through the series the village is placed either near the coast of Poland (although the weather doesn't concur) or near the Azores. But in either case, number six is told this by others, so it's most likely disinformation. The disturbing thing is that the village turns out to be not some experiment far away but somewhere in Britain. Number two, after escaping the village is seen returning to his normal life as an MP. This also would indicate the village was in the UK, so that number two could easily move between his posts without notice.
When six returns home, the door number is 1. The door opens just as in the village and the funeral directors (that gassed him in the beginning) drive past his house just as six enters, which all suggest he's been duped again. McGoohan said six never really escaped. And it seems either he's been tricked once again or more sinisterly the village has spread globally.
Some interesting points for me are: six should never have taken the throne. It seems out of character and I think it's the key moment that indicates he actually lost his battle with the system. That he expresses no surprise when the door of his London home opens just as in the village seems to indicate he's now fully integrated - despite the previous protestations of the judge and jury that he successfully rebelled. The paradox is it was the moment he accepted their praise for being the only individual, he lost it. When asked to give his speech, he keeps being drown out by the jury all speaking at the same time. In a world of individuals there is no single voice that can be distinguished seems a subtle paradox, individuality can only be expressed when it is a rarity.
Another explanation is that the whole of the last 2 episodes are a drug-induced phantasm created by number 2 - but I tend to think it's meant to be taken as seen. That it isn't just a dream, that six's mind was fractured by the experiment or that it was broken.
McGoohan rejected suggestions to make the butler number 1. Thank goodness.
Clues as to the real number one: I is close to 1 visually - I is one. In the opening credits the answer to the question "Who is number one?" is intoned carefully and the listener's sense of the the answer implies "You are number six." which seems to ignore six's question but in the last episode it changes to "You are, number six." The comma completely changes the sentence sense. That the real number one is six himself means that his prison is ultimately inescapable. Wherever six goes, so does the village.
Quote: zooo @ April 20 2010, 10:52 PM BSTWhaa?
How did that happen?
IIRC they filmed them in a different order but as production was slower than the broadcast schedules, they had to fill gaps in schedule with episodes that were to hand.
Quote: chipolata @ April 20 2010, 7:55 PM BSTAnybody ever seen Secret Agent? The show The Prisoner was an unofficial sequel too, also starring McGoohan?
You mean Danger Man. Secret Agent is the US title, I think.
Quote: Chappers @ April 20 2010, 7:07 PM BSTDo you mean Leo McKern?
Nah, I was talking about McKellen being a classic No. 2 in this new version, comparative to the original No. 2's (Including Leo McKern, naturally).
McKern was awesome.
No matter how much I love the Prisoner and McGoohan's vision etc I do not rate him as an actor. At the end of nearly every shot you can see a smile or the hint of one.
Of course McKern was awseome, it just occurs to me that Ian McKellen has pretty much modelled his Number 2 on that Classic Number 2 mould, as typified by McKern.
Personally I love the first 13 eps of the Prisoner. Just great great drama. after that....not such great drama.
Quote: SlagA @ April 21 2010, 12:10 PM BSTIIRC they filmed them in a different order but as production was slower than the broadcast schedules, they had to fill gaps in schedule with episodes that were to hand.
Ohhhh. That's mad!
Ian McKellan was good. I totally misunderstood the relationship between him and that boy he was hanging around with, though.
Quote: john lucas 101 @ April 21 2010, 5:08 PM BSTYou mean Danger Man. Secret Agent is the US title, I think.
I was reading about it in the excellent Psychotronic Film Guide. An American book. So that would make sense. But thanks for humiliating me, John, and making me look a clod! 