Can you explain The Prisoner to me?

May 7, 2004 4:19 PM

Questions about The Prisoner (cult TV show with Patrick McGoohan).

I recently started watching the DVDs of the show, though I, like most people seem to have no idea if i'm watching them in order or not. Anyway, can someone explain to me the big white bouncing ball. How did they do that special effect and why are all the characters so incapacitated by it? Second, why is there a different #2 every episode? Is that just intended to keep #6 off-balance or did i miss something?

posted by Slimemonster to media & arts (18 comments total)

As far as I remember, "why" questions and The Prisoner don't mix terribly well...
posted by Pretty_Generic at 4:39 PM on May 7, 2004

I don't know how they did the Big Brother Bouncing Balloon, but yes, I always assumed that the shifting #2 was designed to keep #6 "I am not a number!") freaked out. Or as freaked out as MacGoohan ever let slip underneath that sly, sardonic face he'd make.

But otherwise, Pretty_Generic is right... it's generally futile to ask "why?" too much regarding The Prisoner, especially as you get to the later episodes. Just jump on and enjoy the ride. Be seeing you!
posted by scody at 4:42 PM on May 7, 2004

Before you view the link about the bouncing ball, consider this: the whole deal with "The Prisoner" is watching it and figuring it out as best you can. Spoilers would remove the fun. You were warned... The answer is right there on TV Acres, along with lots of popups.
posted by Stoatfarm at 4:47 PM on May 7, 2004

What do you mean, "different #2?"

Are you saying that there's a new number two?

Who is the new number two?

(There is some pretty good Prisoner otaku stuff out thar in the bitstorm... but it's fun to find on your own. Good luck!)

Be seeing you!
posted by mwhybark at 6:12 PM on May 7, 2004

I, like most people seem to have no idea if i'm watching them in order or not

I believe the order of the episodes is pretty well established at this point.

As for the balloon: the prop itself is just a weather balloon. The "character" incapacitates through suffocation. I don't consider these details to be spoilers.

I had always thought the succession of Number Twos was because each was unsuccessful in breaking Number Six. I seem to recall this having been made explicit at some point in the show's run.

That said, and as has been noted above, the series gets more allegorical as it progresses, so keep in mind that some of what you'll be seeing is meant to be taken symbolically, not literally.
posted by jjg at 6:37 PM on May 7, 2004

I thought there is still quite a big debate about the episode order. I've seen TvTome's order, but the episode order on the DVDs is different and different again on other episode lists. It seems that some were filmed in a different order than they were broadcast, so that people have a bit of an option of the way that they want to have them ordered.
posted by Slimemonster at 7:20 PM on May 7, 2004

I never understood why Patrick never knifed the balloon...
posted by five fresh fish at 7:39 PM on May 7, 2004

The episode order on the A&E DVDs (established in consultation with members of Six of One, the "official" Prisoner fan club) is considered to be definitive (at least by members of Six of One, who are the most hardcore Prisoner fans on God's earth).

That said, when you get near the end of the series, the order doesn't much matter (except for episodes 16 and 17, of course). If I remember correctly, one source of the numbering difficulty is that the show was slated for thirteen episodes, but because of its popularity the run was stretched to seventeen--therefore, there are a few episodes near the end that are self-contained, and don't really push the overall character development forward. (Those episodes aren't all that good, either.)

jjg's answer regarding the succession of Number Twos (or Numbers Two) is as correct as it can be without spoiling.

Slimemonster: do us a favor and post an AskMe question after you watch "Fall Out." That thread will be a fun, fun time.
posted by Prospero at 7:54 PM on May 7, 2004

If anyone here is suddenly inspired to join Six-of-One, read this first (I don't know if it's accurate, be your own judge).

However, the order on the DVDs works for me (except for The Chimes of Big Ben, since the "real" version is pretty much superior in quality to the version Six-of-One "unearthed" that's on the second DVD) -- since so little is referenced from episode to episode, it really just has be bookended correctly.

Rover was originally a small black-and-white striped cylinder with a domed top and a blue flashing police light -- there's a video clip online somewhere. I think the weather balloon has aged much better than the dome-car-thing would have.
posted by j.edwards at 8:24 PM on May 7, 2004

The bouncing ball/weather balloon is called Rover. Enjoy the series the first time through without doing TOO much reading about it, is my advice. Then watch it again and take it from there. One of the best television series ever, in my opinion (as a *ahem* former member of Six of One). Be seeing you.
posted by biscotti at 8:24 PM on May 7, 2004

Question #4 in the (spoiler-free) alt.tv.prisoner FAQ addresses the various episode sequences out there.
posted by jjg at 9:57 PM on May 7, 2004

Rover was originally a small black-and-white striped cylinder with a domed top and a blue flashing police light -- there's a video clip online somewhere.

One of the later region 1 DVDs has this footage as well. Besides probably not aging well, it lacks the eeriness of that roaring wobbling sphere.


If anyone here is suddenly inspired to join Six-of-One, read this first (I don't know if it's accurate, be your own judge).

Good heavens. That's quite a list of grievances (or crazy accusations: I can't speak to the accuracy of this either).
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 10:05 AM on May 8, 2004

Six of One's ordering of the series has some obvious problems. Their placing of "A, B & C" before "The General" is the biggest goof, and some key dialogue in "The Schizoid Man" seems to place it before either.

McGoohan originally wanted a 7-episode series. ITC wanted two 13-episode seasons. The latter is what they originally shot for ("Once Upon a Time," with a different ending, was to be the season 1 finale). By the time they began working on the 14th episode ("Do Not Forsake Me"), it became clear that they'd never make it to 26 episodes. "Do Not Forsake," "Living in Harmony," and "The Girl Who Was Death" were to be interspersed among the more "normal" remaining unbroadcast episodes. Given that production issues delayed the broadcast of many episodes out of the intended order, it's all a big mess.

There is no "one true order." I like:

1. Arrival
2. Dance of the Dead
3. Free for All
4. Checkmate
5. The Chimes of Big Ben
6. The Schizoid Man
7. The General
8. A, B & C
9. Many Happy Returns (end of an artificial "first half")
10. Do Not Forsake Me (was to have been episode 1 of season 2)
11. It's Your Funeral
12. Living in Harmony
13. A Change of Mind
14. Hammer into Anvil
15. The Girl Who Was Death
16. Once Upon a Time
17. Fall Out
posted by macrone at 12:35 PM on May 8, 2004

Is Fall Out agreed-upon as the last in the series? I watched the first the other day. I've seen a good number of the middle episodes. Might as well hunt down and watch the final episode...
posted by five fresh fish at 1:29 PM on May 8, 2004

fff: Once Upon a Time and Fall Out are the last two episodes in all chronologies. Also, if you watch Fall Out without seeing the episode just before it (and I'd also argue for watching Living in Harmony--that's the one set in the Old West, right?), you'll be completely lost.

Not that Fall Out bends over backwards to make its meaning clear to you anyway, but still, you should watch Once Upon a Time first.
posted by Prospero at 2:39 PM on May 8, 2004

Off to SuprNova I go. Thanks!
posted by five fresh fish at 3:48 PM on May 8, 2004

fff: I'm sure that sharps of any kind in the Village must be quite exceedingly rare.
posted by mwhybark at 9:23 PM on May 8, 2004

He could have crafted a Pointy Stick, I'm sure.
posted by five fresh fish at 8:24 AM on May 9, 2004