Rarely have I ever felt more than numbified or dumbified from having
watched television.

I actually felt smarter and more psychologically-equipped after
interacting with an episode of "The Prisoner".

I still have two versions of the EduWare "The Prisoner" software game
stashed away somewhere, which also had similar effects.

Thank you, Patrick McGoohan for this and other excellent work in your
shared lifetime.

best wishes forever,
Christopher Gray
Pleasant Hill, CA USA


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

He is truly free indeed, my friend.

--- On Wed, 1/14/09, Olive Elizabeth Thomas <olive_e_thomas@...> wrote:

From: Olive Elizabeth Thomas <olive_e_thomas@...>
Subject: [The Prisoner] Re: R.I.P. Patrick McGoohan
To: theprisoner2@yahoogroups.com
Date: Wednesday, January 14, 2009, 7:30 PM






--- In theprisoner2@ yahoogroups. com, drake65_19
<no_reply@.. .> wrote:
>
> No. 6 has finally escaped the Village.
>
I am not a number. I'm a free man! Free at last! Free for all time!


















[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

--- In theprisoner2@yahoogroups.com, drake65_19
<no_reply@...> wrote:
>
> No. 6 has finally escaped the Village.
>
I am not a number. I'm a free man! Free at last! Free for all time!

Be seeing you.

No. 6 has finally escaped the Village.

I'm building a sorta-replica of the opening credits car for EfB (an
alternative fuel race/rally from Berkely to Vegas--details at
escapefromberkeley.com). Are there any other Prisoner fans who might be
around for the departure Saturday, Oct 11...or the party the night
before?

(BTW, Oregon only allows us six digit personalized license plates,
hence the do-the-math KAR 12K)

http://www.sixofone.org.uk/Prisoner-Remake.htm

Like there's any point in wasting money on a remake that'll never
be as good when you can just show the already-in-the-can
original episodes.

Stupid...

--- In theprisoner2@yahoogroups.com, danmoran <no_reply@...> wrote:
>
> After viewing the "Colony 3" episode of Secret Agent aka Danger Man, I
> was struck by the parallels with The Prisoner.  It's fascinating to
> observe how the outline and themes for The Prisoner developed during
> this earlier series.
> Has anyone else had an opportunity to view these?
>
I'm new here, but I am asured that this place will 'grow on me' and I
might even meet people I know. ;-)

I love this series you mention, and Colony 3 is a very good example.
IMHO I think 'Judgement Day' is the reason for the Prisoner's
resignation.  If you watch this closely you will see that 'the powers
that be' told him to safeguard this scientist back to London, and that
Drake found out he was a biological warfare physicist.  Let me know
what you think.
Rose aka No.9

TCM will be showing Ice Station Zebra this Thursday Dec 27 at
1:15 in the afternoon Eastern Standard Time.

Yippee! I get to play with my new DVD recorder!

Yes the place fascinated me more than anything... The location was only
listed on the last episode... I sat as a 16 yr old by the tv looking
for the location only to have it for a few short seconds flashed across
the screne.. I wrote it down.. save the info for 40 yrs and finally
traveled on my own 2x and next year a 3rd and last time.  Port Merion
is worth a visit...

I usually stay in  Noel Cowards former cottage where he wrote "Blithe
Spirt" a play my husband and I were both in during our school years...

--- In theprisoner2@yahoogroups.com, "Olive Elizabeth Thomas"
<olive_e_thomas@...> wrote:
>
> Almost hard to believe that's a real place on this planet. Very
> nice...
>

Well, Patrick McGooHan answered "WHY" in his interview years ago..
POGO summed it up nicely "We have met the Enemy and it is us". The
rest was creative use of interesting props and location.

The answer "WHY" has been answer to me even when I was 16.. or
perhaps I figured it out over 40 yrs.. so that is not the question LOL

I was wondering about Leo McKern and the episode that McGoohan talked
about when McKern had a "Break down"?   Does anyone know more about
this, since McKern has passed away?

Also, is there any information if McGoohan has Asperger's syndrome?

Thank you Yvonne M.


--- In theprisoner2@yahoogroups.com, "Franny Wentzel"
<franny_wentzel@...> wrote:
>
> We'll have a go at any questions but please don't ask "WHY?". That
> question seems to muck up our computer something fierce...
>
> --- In theprisoner2@yahoogroups.com, yvonnetxart <no_reply@> wrote:
> >
> > Hello: I am a new member. Like most I have been a fan of the
Prisoner
> > since the 1960s when I was a teen. On the last episode, I wrote
down
> > the location and looked it up in our Encyclopedia.  40 years
later,
> > when my daughter was in Graduate school in London, I decided to
visit
> > Port Meirion and subsequently, returned the next year, as the
> > experience was amazing.  My husband and I plan to return next
year for
> > one last time.
> >
> > I have some questions and wondered if it would be possible to see
if
> > you could answer them or perhaps if I could send a letter to
Patrick
> > McGoohan regarding one particular one.  Cheers, Yvonne Houston, Tx
> >
>

We'll have a go at any questions but please don't ask "WHY?". That
question seems to muck up our computer something fierce...

--- In theprisoner2@yahoogroups.com, yvonnetxart <no_reply@...> wrote:
>
> Hello: I am a new member. Like most I have been a fan of the Prisoner
> since the 1960s when I was a teen. On the last episode, I wrote down
> the location and looked it up in our Encyclopedia.  40 years later,
> when my daughter was in Graduate school in London, I decided to visit
> Port Meirion and subsequently, returned the next year, as the
> experience was amazing.  My husband and I plan to return next year for
> one last time.
>
> I have some questions and wondered if it would be possible to see if
> you could answer them or perhaps if I could send a letter to Patrick
> McGoohan regarding one particular one.  Cheers, Yvonne Houston, Tx
>

Hello: I am a new member. Like most I have been a fan of the Prisoner
since the 1960s when I was a teen. On the last episode, I wrote down
the location and looked it up in our Encyclopedia.  40 years later,
when my daughter was in Graduate school in London, I decided to visit
Port Meirion and subsequently, returned the next year, as the
experience was amazing.  My husband and I plan to return next year for
one last time.

I have some questions and wondered if it would be possible to see if
you could answer them or perhaps if I could send a letter to Patrick
McGoohan regarding one particular one.  Cheers, Yvonne Houston, Tx

A nice site for Lotus 7 owners and people who dig the car on
acount of the Prisoner series...

http://www.lotus7register.co.uk

Almost hard to believe that's a real place on this planet. Very
nice...

The last pictures arrived today, I've put them up on the website on a
page called holga
http://four.fsphost.com/antbrierley/

Ant

Thanks for sharing these wonderful images! They're great!

:-)

Pat

hi all

as with the last few years I have put together a website with pics
from the recent convention for anyone whose interested.

http://four.fsphost.com/antbrierley/

I've tested it with internetexplorere and the latest netscape and its
working fine.

Have a look if your interested

BCNU

Ant

Patrick McGoohan turned 79 the other day making him almost
twice as old as his master work The Prisoner...

I'd offer to bake him a cake but it seems Mrs. Butterworth has
ordered one from the Village Bakery already...

From  http://news.independent.co.uk/media/article2027061.ece

Michael Grade: No more heroes

Lew Grade's cult shows from the Sixties are winning a new
generation of fans. So, asks Robert Sellers, can the ITV boss
Michael Grade match his uncle's golden touch?
Published:Ê30 November 2006

I used to be one of those nerds who'd circle in pen the
programmes I wanted to watch; now I don't even bother looking
at the listings. Why? Because I know there's sod-all on. Of
course, the Sixties and Seventies had their fair share of crud, but
it's no coincidence that the bulk of TV shows being released on
DVD herald from this golden age of British television.

My challenge to Michael Grade in his new role at ITV is to make
shows that once again touch such a popular chord. Pretty much
every cult show back then came from the same stable, ITC - The
Saint, The Prisoner, Thunderbirds, The Persuaders, Danger
Man, Stingray... the list is endless. There are fan clubs for each
individual show, and conventions allow fans to meet their
heroes, now mostly old and grey and rather bemused by all this
idolisation. "They really are anoraks," says Francis Matthews, the
voice of Captain Scarlet. "They dress up and stare at you when
you're signing the autograph as if you're some kind of
extraordinary god!"

All this can't just be nostalgia, people of a certain age wallowing
in the memories of their youth, because all the time these shows
are winning new generations of fans. When ITV4 started
screening much of ITC's output at prime time earlier this year
they were surprised when the shows pulled in the highest
ratings on the channel. And Sky One wouldn't be wasting
millions on a major reworking of The Prisoner, either.

ITC's origins go back to the birth of independent television itself
in 1955 when cigar-chomping entrepreneur Lew Grade brought
Robin Hood to the small screen (played by Richard Greene), in a
series that ran 143 episodes and led to other historical
derring-do in the shape of William Tell and Sir Lancelot.

Desperately creaky today, these shows did give early exposure
to future film stars such as Peter O'Toole, Christopher Lee,
Robert Shaw and Michael Caine.

With the arrival of the spy series Danger Man, Robin Hood and
his stocking-clad imitators looked redundant. Danger Man
changed everything, becoming the blueprint for practically every
future ITC show. In the person of Patrick McGoohan, TV also had
its first big star, but an eccentric one who insisted that his spy
never carry a gun or indulge in promiscuous sex. "Patrick was
Roman Catholic and held strong beliefs," says Clive Donner,
who directed early episodes. "He was also a strange man. I
heard he bought a house near the studios and had some young
daughters so surrounded the place with barbed wire. I think it
was just to protect the children, but there was a certain sense of
paranoia." McGoohan told another director that the basement of
his house was a virtual shelter where he and his family could
live if there was an atomic explosion.

Very different in personality was Roger Moore, who exploded on
to TV screens as the Saint not long after. Ironically, both men
would be approached to play James Bond before Sean Connery
due to their successful ITC series. Moore was just the right sort
of actor to play Simon Templar - good-looking, with a strong
personality and a light comedy touch. "I like to play things for
humour," he says. "Particularly as I was playing a hero because I
consider myself to be devoutly unheroic to the extent of being a
sheer coward. I think any heroism I have is the fact that I did
things physically that I was absolutely petrified of doing."

Danger Man and The Saint, which ran for seven years,
established ITC as the main purveyor of cult Sixties TV, and was
quickly followed by the likes of Man in a Suitcase, The
Champions, and Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased). Grade also
wisely financed the puppet shows of Gerry Anderson, creating a
whole cult sub-genre that remains as popular today as ever.

There was also, of course, The Prisoner, the granddaddy of all
cult TV shows. McGoohan revelled in the fact that many of the
allegorical aspects of his pet project flummoxed audiences, who
kept watching out of a sheer morbid fascination to find out just
what the hell was going on. One day on set, Grade asked
McGoohan: "What's this show about?" McGoohan replied: "I don't
know." Lew barked back. "Well I don't know either so I'd better
find out what it is as I'm backing it."

The influence of another show, Jason King, proved just as
far-reaching, becoming the template for Mike Myers' hugely
popular character Austin Powers, with his chest wig, goofy teeth
and horror show wardrobe. Incredibly, King's alter ego, actor
Peter Wyngarde, was for a brief time the most famous man on
television. "I couldn't go to any country in the world without being
mobbed, physically attacked," he says.

One trip to Australia saw Wyngarde land at Sydney airport
whereupon he was surrounded by women who wrestled him to
the ground, tore at his clothes and grabbed tufts of pubic hair. "It
was as if I was a feast. To be eaten raw. It was terrifying."

Show a picture of Wyngarde's Viva Zapata features or Moore with
a halo above his head and most people will give a smile of
recognition. ITC was making a brand of television shows that
had never existed before and has never been equalled since. All
the people working for them were proper film-makers. Roman
Polanski's cinematographer did The Saint, Lindsay Anderson
got an early directing job through ITC, and several leading
Hollywood screenwriters, exiled from America because of the
McCarthy communist witch hunts, were hired, notably Ring
Lardner Jr who would go on to pen M*A*S*H. Everything was
attacked in a film fashion, not a television fashion. Plus, they
were shot on 35mm film, so each episode was a kind of
mini-movie. "ITC was a very special place to work in," says
director John Hough. "And the people cared. Instead of asking
you to do it quicker and with less quality, they'd push you to excel
yourself. It was creative and interesting, but very disciplined. It
was like Michelangelo painting the Sistine Chapel on a
nine-to-five contract."

In the Seventies, ITC diversified into science fiction with Space
1999 and Sapphire and Steel, as well as bringing together Tony
Curtis and Roger Moore for The Persuaders. Grade also
employed the variety format to devastating success when he
bankrolled a young American puppeteer called Jim Henson,
when no one else was interested, who came up with The
Muppet Show. "I think Jim always felt that it would be
successful," says Henson's widow, Jane. "He just didn't know
how successful. I think it took all of us by surprise how the
Muppets took off round the world. We used to joke that it played
in more countries than existed."

Grade's most treasured accomplishment was the mini-series
Jesus of Nazareth. Commissioned to film the story of Christ by
the Pope himself, Grade hired Clockwork Orange author Anthony
Burgess and director Franco Zeffirelli to realise his dream. When
the film was completed, the Pope made a speech on the balcony
overlooking St Peter's Square telling everybody to go home and
watch it on TV that evening. You can't get better PR than that.
Jesus was played by Robert Powell, then living with his
girlfriend, former Pan's People dancer Babs. It was a godsend
for the tabloids and within days there was the inevitable
headline: "Jesus living in sin with Pan's People dancer". When
the paper came out, Grade buzzed the head of his press office,
yelling: "What are they trying to do, crucify him?"

That story is typical Grade, and he is the real reason why ITC's
shows were successful and why they have endured for so long.
"Lew was quite simply a gem," Roger Moore remembers. "When
he was at the height of his powers his energy was enormous.
He would get off a plane without any jet lag and just go straight to
work. His health regime consisted of never having butter and
smoking cigars all day long."

In today's media climate, research groups and panels of
executives spend months waffling about whether to do a show or
not; if Grade liked your pitch you had a deal there and then. And
he had little time for lawyers and unwieldy contracts, either; his
handshake was usually enough of a guarantee. Incredibly, no
contract was signed between Grade and McGoohan over The
Prisoner and neither did Moore sign one to do The Persuaders;
it was all based on trust. I doubt that would happen today.
"Lew was very straight and always kept his word," says his
nephew Michael Grade. "He relied entirely on his instincts. And
his judgement was very good. He wouldn't have lasted two
minutes if he had no judgement, or if he was selling crap all the
time. He picked good people and let them get on with it. The
difference now is that everything is done by committee, they
squeeze the life out of creativity."

Robert Sellers' book 'Cult TV: The Golden Age of ITC' is
published by Plexus books

The Prisoner is a sci-fi television series from 1967. Its about a man
who is kidnapped from his home while packing his bag, and wakes up in
a prison called 'The Village', where he is known only by the name
Number Six (played by Patrick McGoohan) a former secret agent of the
British government during the Cold War. The Village somewhere between
Butlins and Alcatraz and its most strong willed inmate.

Village Officers-in-Charge, always known as Number Two, try to find
out why Number Six resigned his job as a secret agent. Number Six is
interrogated, brainwashed, and manipulated by the powers behind the
mysterious Village. Number Six struggles ceaselessly to assert his
individuality while plotting to escape from his captors.

http://www.dvdcraze.tv/movies/action/The_Prisoner.html

I hope I'm not being redundant. I don't remember if I or another
member posted links to the video here before.

Anyway, I hope you like it.

Pat

Quality QuickTime Version: http://www.rudehouse.com/Music/Prisoner.mov

YouTube Version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqhn4XERka8

I stumbled upon this at IMDb.com:

Not to be confused with the 1967 TV series of the same name (also
starring Patrick McGoohan), this adaptation of Bridget Boland's 1954
stage play depicts the conflict between a Cardinal (allegedly inspired
by real-life Hungarian Cardinal Mindszenty) in an unnamed totalitarian
state and the Interrogator who tries to force him into a public abjure
of his religious convictions.

Alan Badel as The Cardinal

Patrick McGoohan as The Interrogator

Written by Bridget Boland



Perhaps "Who is Number 1?" is also a sly humorous reference to
this? ;-)

We got the Secret Agent Series on DVD, but we haven't completely finished  it
yet. Part of this is due to my brother losing the remote, and just a time
thing. I haven't seen that eppy yet unfortuanately

-The60sMonkee
Its not my place to know what  you feel
I'd like to know but why should i?
Who were you then, who are  you now?
Common labourer by night, by day highbrow
Back in my room I  wonder, then I
Sit on the bed, look at the sky
Up in the sky
Clouds  rearrange
Like the talk of the town
-Talk Of the Town by the Pretenders  (written by Chrissie Hynde)
All I got to do is to love  you
All I got to be is, be happy
All it's got to take is some warmth to  make it
Blow Away, Blow Away, Blow Away
-Blow Away by George  Harrison
Another pleasant valley sunday
Here in status symbol  land
Mothers complain about how hard life is
And the kids just dont  understand
Creature comfort goals
They only numb my soul and make it hard  for me to see
My thoughts all seem to stray, to places far away
I need a  change of scenery
-Pleasant Valley Sunday by the Monkees (written by George  Geffin and Carol
King)
Better parted
I see  people crying
Thruth gets harder
There's no sense in lying
-Living in  Another World by Talk Talk (written by Mark Hollis and Tim
Freise-Greene)
Without going out of my  door
I can know all things of earth
With out looking out of my window
I  could know the ways of heaven
The farther one travels
The less one  knows
The less one really knows
-The Inner Light by the Beatles (Written  by George Harrison)



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

After viewing the "Colony 3" episode of Secret Agent aka Danger Man, I
was struck by the parallels with The Prisoner.  It's fascinating to
observe how the outline and themes for The Prisoner developed during
this earlier series.
Has anyone else had an opportunity to view these?

Hello,

This email message is a notification to let you know that
a file has been uploaded to the Files area of the theprisoner2
group.

   File        : /Carvair.arp.750pix.jpg
   Uploaded by : olive_e_thomas
   Description : In the episode Chimes of Big Ben saw this odd looking plane
carrying Number 6 and 8 to London. By stroke of luck found this image of a
Carvair transporter online.

You can access this file at the URL:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/theprisoner2/files/Carvair.arp.750pix.jpg

To learn more about file sharing for your group, please visit:
http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/groups/files

Regards,

olive_e_thomas

The first in the standard opening theme sans the various episode-specific sound
FX...

http://tv.groups.yahoo.com/group/theprisoner2/files/The_Prisoner_Theme.mp3

The next is the standard end titles theme music...

http://tv.groups.yahoo.com/group/theprisoner2/files/The_Prisoner-End_Titles.mp3

Lastly is the modified opening theme music for the episode ''Fallout''...

http://tv.groups.yahoo.com/group/theprisoner2/files/The_Prisoner-Fallout.mp3

Enjoy and be seeing you!

It seems Matchbox made a Lotus Super Seven miniature some time in the
early 1970s but didn't think to go for a Prisoner tie-in like Dinky Toys
had with their Mini-Moke model...    They're pretty cheap on eBay and
disassemble easily so you can spray the body cleanly - they come in
yellow but you have to use nail polish remover to take off some printed
decals. I used "Hunter Green" colour.  Sadly the licence plate isn't
KAR-120C (it's AJD-577K for those information completists out there)


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Ah, the mini-moke.  I wish I could have been there to see it!

   Be seeing you!

olive_e_thomas <no_reply@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
           Was heading to the store for some items when it just happens that this
nice
English lady pulls up to the corner in a Mini-Moke. She was nice enough to
wait for me to run back to my house and fetch my camera...

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/olive_e_thomas/album?.dir=/165dre2

She was almost as pleased that I'd recognised the Mini-moke as I was
excited to actually get to see one (I live in upstate New York and these
things aren't all that common).

And it was really a bit of luck that I'd been delayed in getting out of the
house long enough to be in the right place and time to spot this.

Be seeing you!

By the by... I think I might've met this lady before when there was a restored
B-17 bomber visiting our airport about 5 years ago.






---------------------------------
Get your own web address for just $1.99/1st yr. We'll help. Yahoo! Small
Business.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Was heading to the store for some items when it just happens that this nice
English lady pulls up to the corner in a Mini-Moke. She was nice enough to
wait for me to run back to my house and fetch my camera...

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/olive_e_thomas/album?.dir=/165dre2

She was almost as pleased that I'd recognised the Mini-moke as I was
excited to actually get to see one (I live in upstate New York and these
things aren't all that common).

And it was really a bit of luck that I'd been delayed in getting out of the
house long enough to be in the right place and time to spot this.

Be seeing you!

By the by... I think I might've met this lady before when there was a restored
B-17 bomber visiting our airport about 5 years ago.