The Prisoner: Difference between revisions

[[The Prisoner/Recap|Recap pages]] are under construction.

 

 

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* [[All Just a Dream]]: The resolution of two of the later episodes, where the majority of the episode is revealed to be a simulated dream or a fictional story being improvised by a character. And then there's the episode where Number Two decides to invade Number Six's dreams...

** And arguably, the final episode... or the entire series.

** The DVD boxset features episode descriptions that include full details on why each episode is placed in their chosen order. And even that makes a clear mistake: "A, B, & C" is placed before "The General" despite featuring No. 2 saying "I am No. 2" in the credits rather than the usual "The new No. 2," and appearing far more nervous and erratic than in "The General," indicating he's been given a rare second chance to try to break No. 6 and faces particularly dire consequences if he fails again.

* [[Applied Phlebotinum]]: That wonderful [[Silver Age|sixties]] version of the trope, involving giant talking computers with big knobs, all-purpose mind-altering chemicals, and multicolored electronic beams of light.

* [[Bavarian Fire Drill]]: In "Checkmate," Number Six impersonates a guard simply by acting imperious. The other prisoners, who have been conditioned to be subservient, buy it without question.

* [[The Beatles]]: Use of "All You Need Is Love" in the finale is a rare example of an original Beatles recording (as opposed to a cover) used in a soundtrack. Also very creepy.

** Leo McKern apparently got very, very into the role as No. 2 in "Once Upon a Time", to the point where the on-screen stress No. 2 was enduring caused either a real heart attack or nervous breakdown for the actor (the accounts differ).

** The end of "Living in Harmony" reveals that {{spoiler|the whole thing was a hallucination in a fake town, in which Number 2 and his assistant played the main villain and the psychotic "kid." However, the assistant has genuinely been driven insane by the experience.}}

* [[Bond One-Liner]]: Subverted. On the surface, Six is a [[Deadpan Snarker]] like Bond, but his "jokes" are always deadly serious.

* [[Canon Discontinuity]]: McGoohan has gone on record stating that only seven episodes in the series ''really count''. <ref> Those episodes being ''Arrival'', ''Free for All'', ''Dance of the Dead'', ''Checkmate'', ''The Chimes of Big Ben'', ''Once Upon A Time'', and ''Fall Out''</ref>

* [[Catch Phrase]]: Several. "Be seeing you!", "Why did you resign?", "I am not a number, I am a free man!", "Who is Number One?", etc.

* [[Cold War]]: Subverted. See [[Government Conspiracy]] below.

* [[Common Knowledge]]: When the character of the Prisoner is referenced in other works, it is common to see him placed in his black vest with white piping and the number six lapel pin. This may make serve to make the reference clear, but the original Prisoner took the No. 6 pin off practically as soon as he was given it; he ''never'' wore his number willingly, except under extreme duress (like being brainwashed into campaigning enthusiastically for himself in "Free For All").

* [[Cool Car]]: The Lotus Seven, even though it's rarely used outside the intro.

* [[Couch Gag]]: A rare serious example. Most episodes' introductions feature the back-and-forth quotation at the top of this page, but have redubbed No. 2's lines with the voice of the new No. 2 from the current episode, often featuring a brief shot of them.

* [[Cowboy Episode]]: "Living in Harmony" takes place in a Wild West setting. Number Six is a sheriff who turns in his badge and gun and tries to leave town.

* [[Curb Stomp Battle]]: Number 6 vs. Number 2 in "Hammer Into Anvil".

* [[Daddy's Little Villain]]: The Girl Who Was Death.

** DEM BONES, DEM BONES.

* [[A Day At the Bizarro]]: Basically every single episode after the first 11 - owing to a case of [[Franchise Zombie]]. "Bizarre" is relative, but "Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling" gives us the first real example in the series. It's immediately followed by "Living In Harmony", in which the ''entire'' show (including the iconic opening sequence) is transformed into a [[Western]]. The episode after ''that'' ("The Girl Who Was Death") turns out to be {{spoiler|a bedtime story told by Number 6}}. The reason for these stories is because the script editor, George Markstein, quit the series and was not replaced. Scripts and story ideas came from random people and places: the Western episode was suggested by a video editor and "The Girl Who Was Death" was an unused script from ''Danger Man''. All this adds to a dissonance of tone and distances the series from exploring life in the Village and Number Six's struggles.

* [[Dystopia]]: The Village, a more subtle example than most.

* [[Elseworld]]: "Living In Harmony" turns the show into a Western, down to the [[Special Edition Title|credits sequence]]. {{spoiler|It turns out to be a hallucination induced by the Village staff.}}

* [[Fake Ultimate Mook]]: Number 2 in "Hammer Into Anvil". At the start of the episode, he seems to be the most dangerous, sadistic, tenacious, calm, hands-on Number 2 in the series so far. Number 6 easily and ''utterly'' destroys him.

* [[Fauxreigner]]: Number 58 in "Free For All"

** At least, it appears that way.

** In the episode "The General" {{spoiler|Number 12 - who controls Security that episode - immediately aids Number Six's efforts to stop the Instant-Learning program. No explanation for 12's turn is ever given.}}

* [[Hoist by His Own Petard]]: Number Six's method of looking for potential allies in "Checkmate" is the very thing that thwarts that episode's escape attempt.

** In "A Change of Mind," Number Six turns the villagers against Number Two with the same tactics Number Two used on him throughout the rest of the episode.

* [[Little People Are Surreal]]: The Butler.

* [[Locked in a Room]]

* [[Loners Are Freaks]]: Subverted since in the Village, the fact that Number 6 is a stubborn loner is his greatest strength. Doubly subverted in the episode "Checkmate".

* [[MacGuffin]]: The real reason for Number 6's resignation. In two ways:

* [[Sauna of Death]]: With Number 6 trapped inside. In "The Girl Who Was Death".

* [[Scenery Porn]]: The Village. [[wikipedia:Portmeirion|You can always swing by for a stay]]...

** The ''[[Shattered Visage]]'' comic series is just loaded with these, with the references running from ''[[Danger Man]]'' to the short-lived, little known medical series ''[[Rafferty]]'', which starred McGoohan.

* [[Sleep Learning]]: A major focus of "The General," though of course, the Village always attempts to subvert "learning" with "re-education"

* [[Soundtrack Dissonance]]: Some truly masterful [[Mind Screw]] examples in the [[Grand Finale]] ranging from Carmen Miranda to "Dem Bones" to [[The Beatles (band)|The Beatles]]' "All You Need Is Love".

** One episode, "Free For All", is a clear [[Take That]] to voter apathy and political machinery sabotaging democracy. Number 2 promises great gains if Six is elected, but the exact same people respond to his speeches as Six's with equal enthusiasm (prodded on by the Butler). Six's "supporters" even have party posters of him made up before he's even aware of the election, and to add to the insult, they use the same picture from his resignation photo in the opening montage. {{spoiler|At the end of the episode, Six has fought off party brainwashing, but is no more free than before. Only his jailer's face has changed. Subtly, this is also the only episode he willingly wears a number pin, to show his support for his own campaign.}}

* [[Tap on the Head]]

** "Once Upon A Time": The Butler knocks Number 6 unconscious with a club to the back of the head to stop him from strangling Number 2. The precise definition is lampshaded in this case as 6 doesn't immediately go down but rather spasms a bit as one might do if they've received a sudden shock like a club to the head.

* [[The Tape Knew You Would Say That]]: The phonograph record that gives Number Six his assignment in "The Girl Who Was Death" seems to hear his smart aleck aside.

* [[Throw the Pin]]: There's a variation in "The Girl Who Was Death" where Number Six tampers with the bad guys' old-timey WWI-era grenades (the ones with a baton-like handle used to hurl a can-shaped charge) so the explosives ended up in the handles.

* [[Trippy Finale Syndrome]]: Good Lord.

* [[Uncanny Village]]: Gotta watch out for those idyllic seaside resorts!

* [[The Un-Reveal]]: The [[Grand Finale]] is so steeped in symbolism that it's effectively this.

* [[The Voiceless]]: The Butler.

** According to ''The Prisoner Video Companion'', the Village salute represents the sign of the fish, a Christian symbol.

* [[What Happened to the Mouse?]]: Rover was initially meant to be a single entity, and had what was intended to be an on-camera "death". Though they'd already filmed a scene with him in "Once Upon a Time", the intent was always to reshoot it. When the show got canceled, they no longer had the budget to do so, and so it lends the appearance of Rover being a type of weapon that inexplicably disappeared for several episodes.

* [[Xanatos Roulette]]: Many of the ploys designed by the Number Twos involve ''very'' convoluted chains of events to work.

* [[You Are Number Six]]: [[Trope Namer]]

** Also Patrick Cargill, who played a British government official in "Many Happy Returns", and Number 2 in "Hammer into Anvil".

** Christopher Benjamin appears as different characters in "Arrival" and "The Girl Who Was Death", and in the latter actually reprises a character named Potter that he played in an episode of ''[[Danger Man]]".

** Colin Gordon appears as No. 2 in the episodes "A, B and C" and "The General" and aside from McKern is the only actor to play No. 2 more than once. However, given the nature of the series, there is actually a case to be made that Gordon is playing two ''different'' No. 2's, if one compares elements such as characterization. The one-off appearance of Village workers in "Arrival" who look exactly the same (possibly twins, possibly clones) is cited as possible evidence in support.

* [[Your Favorite]]: Happens quite often in The Prisoner, since the overlords at The Village know nearly everything about the Prisoner and can accommodate him almost immediately. They know how he takes his tea, what foods he likes, and so on, and regularly give him exactly that. In one episode, they change his favourite food to mess with his mind. (And in another, he takes his tea differently to mess with Number Two.)

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* [[All Just a Dream]] - {{spoiler|It turns out the Village is actually a sort of shared dreamspace on a level deeper than the subconscious. Which makes it all a dream, but not ''just'' a dream.}}

* [[Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever]] - Rover returns, but this time as a ''giant'' weather balloon bigger than a building.

* [[Bottomless Pits]]

* [[Catch Phrase]]: discounting "Be seeing you", apparently avoided during production; when the series was first announced, much of the publicity involved the phrase "Seek the Six" being connected to the show in some way, but once the show was actually made and prepared for broadcast, this catch phrase vanished from all publicity and is never heard within the show itself (if it was ever intended to be).

* [[Enemy Without]] - Schizoid

* [[Evil Overlord List]] - 2's last gambit is remarkably similar to #143

* [[Hospital Hottie]] - 313

* [[Lotus Eater Machine]] - {{spoiler|explanation for the existence of The Village}}

* [[Shout-Out]] - In addition to elements actually carried over from the original series, there are passing references, like the penny-farthing bicycle hanging from the ceiling of the nightclub. The opening credits also follow the same general pattern as the original.

* [[Thirsty Desert]] - Surrounding the Village, instead of the ocean in the original.

* [[Tomato Surprise]] - Those flashbacks to Six's life before The Village? {{spoiler|They aren't flashbacks, they're happening simultaneously.}}

 

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[[Category:The Sixties]]

[[Category:Hugo Award]]

[[Category:TV Series]]