Fall Out!

    Does the episode Fall Out work? It doesn't really seem to fit in with the previous episodes that's for sure. Mind you, a previous No.2, formally of The Girl Who Was Death, has been brought back to the Village, and that would not be for the first time, nor to play the role of a Judge.
    For me there are two things which stand out about Fall Out, one  it's the James Bond style ending to the series, which isn't what McGoohan said he wanted, but its what the fan of the series got. Secondly Fall Out works better if viewed as a further manipulation of No.6. The Judge, or President, tells the gathered delegates of the Assembly, that the man brought before them, formally the Prisoner-No.6, must no longer be referred to as Number Six, or indeed a number of any kind. For 'Sir' as he was called had survived the ultimate test, and had gloriously vindicated the right of the individual to be individual.
    Sir, as the Prisoner was addressed, which really doesn't mean anything in itself, because the Prisoner was addressed as Sir on the morning of his arrival in the Village by the Shopkeeper of the General Store! Anyway I digress for the moment. There are three rebels who have been brought before the Assembly, No.48 who is nothing more than a representation of rebellious youth which rebels against anything it can find, against anything which is considered to be the norm. The 'late' No.2, who isn't even allowed to rest in peace, having been resuscitated, and then feels like a new man, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, his laughter still rings richly in the ear! And Sir, who is applauded for his private war. Yet Sir is the only one of the three rebels brought before the court, who is not listened to by the Delegates of the Assembly, shouted down as he is every time he commences upon his address to the court. Yet none the worse for that, Sir is permitted to meet No.1, and that's where the ordeal gets decidedly worse. Yes Sir has been rewarded with the keys to his house, a passport valied for anywhere. Travellers cheques-a million, and a leather drawstring purse of petty cash.
   Finally Sir gets to meet with No.1 in what turns out to be a rocket, and No.1 turns out to be himself, No.6's alter ego, who has been running the Village all the time, or has he? For me this alter-ego of No.6 being No.1, and vice versa, doesn't work for me in conjunction with the previous episodes. No,  for me No.1 is Curtis of The Schizoid Man, who didn't die in that episode, but was resuscitated in much the same way as the 'late' No.2. Curtis could then have been kept in hospital, or isolation somewhere in the Vilage, certainly he couldn't be left to walk the Village on his own, citizens would notice two No.6's in the Village at one time. No, Curtis having been put on ice so to speak, was later wheeled out for a second confrontation with No.6. In fact Curtis having been kept isolated from the rest of the Village community for all that time, may have tilted his brain and that would account for No.1's maniacle laughter.
    It is interesting to note that both No.1 and No.6 escape the Village at one and the same time. One blasting off aboard his rocket, and Six in the cage aboard the Scammell Highwayman transporter lorry. If anything can be said in its favour, I suppose it might be this, Fall Out does appear the most logical ending to the Prisoner series. Perhaps logical is not the right word. But I cannot see any other way the series could have ended, not with the hero able to escape the way he did. But is escape the right word either? Because even at the end, No.6 is just as much a Prisoner as he was at the beginning! Perhaps we're looking at this from the wrong end, it might very well be that the Prisoner begins because of the actions of Fall Out. Is that why the Prisoner resigned?
I'm Johnny Prisoner

Kosho

     When it was reported in the daily activity prognosis of No.6, that he attends his semi weekly Kosho practise, originally it was to have been his semi weekly Judo practise. So I wonder why it was changed, and how it was that Patrick McGoohan came up with the novel notion for Kosho? Perhaps it was during some inebriated reverie that he foresaw the idea of Kosho. It has to be said that Kosho has a more visual effect than judo might have done, and makes for a more dramatic action scene.
  Another thing - which episode was the Kosho scene filmed for? Because a brief scene appears in Hammer Into Anvil after No.6 challenges No.14, played by Basil Hoskins, to a bout of Kosho. Yet the majority of the filmed Kosho scene actually appears in It's Your Funeral, which would be fine, save for the fact that No.6's Kosho opponant is played by Basil Hoskins of Hammer Into Anvil, who can be  clearly seen, yet makes no other appearence in the episode It's Your Funeral. But I suppose the television viewer was not supposed to notice that, and even having done so, to make nothing of the fact. Well I'm sorry Pat, but most of us fans of the Prisoner have the most enquiring minds! I have to say though, that Patrick McGoohan and Basil Hopkins were quite fit, because they did the majority of the action themselves for the bout of Kosho. Yet I wonder why it is, that after the short bout of Kosho of Hammer Into Anvil, that No.6, who is clearly the victor, doesn't actually 'dunk' No.14 into that tank of water. It was as though the sudden appearence of two other Kosho contestants had put No.6 off from doing so. Yet he had no such compunction when it came to dunking his opponant into the tank of water in It's Your Funeral. But then I suppose that's because it wasn't Basil Hoskins!
I'm Johnny Prisoner

Prisoner Collection

    Over the years and decades of appreciation for the Prisoner, I have built up a collection of memorabilia and mechandise to do with the 1960's series from pens, pictures, posters, and postcards. Maps of Your Village, both in black and white as well as in colour. Badges, mugs, books, Local Group magazines, newsletters, and material produced by Six of One: The Prisoner Appreciation Society. Soundtrack of the series on both record and CD's, every release of the Prisoner on both video and DVD. I have four Lava Lamps, both original to the series, and the 2009 series, which I had prior to the 2009 series.
   Here is an interesting curio.......it is a chap wearing a Top Hat, on a Penny Farthing, fitted with a pair of stabilising wheels, and it has a clockwork mechinism. I also have a collection of die-cast model cars relating to both series of the Prisoner, which includes two Village Mini-Moke taxis, and a model  Lotus Seven which I built with my own hands. Flapjacks are one of my favourite dishes, and more recently anything in a wrap! I have a white envelope which contains blank sheets of paper. A packet of Black Russian, and Senior Service cigarettes from the time of the Prisoner. I've travelled to a Prisoner convention inside a crate, and have spent a night on the beach at Portmeirion. I have rigged up the door to my flat so that it will not open unless I place a security pass disc in the little black box first, this as the secuirty precautions in the Town Hall in the episode of The General. One day I went out without a security pass disc in my pocket, and effectively locked myself out of my flat. Which meant my having to spend the night on the landing, and calling in a locksmith the next day!
    I suppose my collection, which is second to none, has turned into something of an archive more than a collection. If anyone decides to create a museum for the Prisoner I would gladly make one or two donations myself. But I don't suppose they ever will. In bygone days, if someone had a collection of something, say paintings, a person would give to the nation, like the Soames and the Forsyte bequest. Trouble is I don't think the nation is ready for the J.P bequest, and even if they were, I wonder what they would do with it? Would people come and see it, to marvel in the Village?.....shouldn't think so somehow!
I'm Johnny Prisoner