ASW Episode 227
I Am Not A Number!
“Where am I?”
“In the village.”
“What do you want?”
“Information.”
That’s part of the intro to one of my favorite shows, The Prisoner, whose last episode originally aired February 1st, 1968.
It was a somewhat surreal series about individualism and surveillance with a cryptic main character known only as Number Six.
The intro ended with the show’s famous line, “I am not a number. I am a free man!”
It’s a well told story and, fifty-five years later, its themes hold up well.
After all, advertising identifiers are just slightly larger numbers.
Here’s an article from the BBC on the 50th anniversary of when The Prisoner started filming.
I recommend going into the series as fresh as possible. The only bit of context that might be helpful is that the star, Patrick McGoohan, played a spy in a series prior to this called Danger Man. You can find the full series at ShoutFactoryTV.
Once you’ve watched the entire series (the 17 episodes go quickly), check out this Twitter thread (spoilers!) from J. Michael Straczynski about some of the meaning behind the show and its two-part ending.
Be seeing you.