This Friday on 'The Prisoner' ep 7 'The General'

In "The General" we see a critique of the educational system and computer technology.

*Note on broadcast order. "The General" is another example that viewing "A, B and C" third is really way off. "A,B and C" should be viewed "after" "The General" around 6th or 7th, because of #2 Colin Gordon is in this one as well. If you remember Colin Gordon says "I'm #2" in the beginning of "abc" rather than "I'm the new #2". Also placing "ABC" after "The General" makes more sense in Colin Gordon's frantic behavior in the ABC episode. If you remember Gordon was despondent that his methods weren't working so he agreed to try the experimental "abc" drugs on him. This gives the impression that Gordon had been in the village for awhile and It doesn't make sense that he would be so calm and cool "after" the events of "ABC" or that he would even return to the village at all.

"The General" is also the beginning of the next group of episodes after the initial Arrival, Dead, Free for All, Checkmate, and Chimes of Big Ben". There's a shift in tone and structure in "General, ABC, Schizoid Man, and Many Happy Returns".

The one thing I like about this episode is that we see that the purpose of the village isn't solely to break number 6 and to get him to talk. Actually getting "information" or getting #6 to talk isn't even brought up.

The episode starts with the village all in a buzz about the courses in "speed learning". What was it with the 1960's-70's education that they always seemed obsessed with "speed reading" or some other forms of speed learning. The professor is seen running away on the beach. #6 finds the professor's tape recorder but is unable to listen to the entire message.

#6 returns to his house and he watches the professor's "speed learning". Unbelievably he's learned all the important military and political dates of 19th century European history in just 3 minutes. #2 is certain that 6 has hidden the tape recorder but he is not successful finding it.

#6 goes back to the beach to relocate the tape recorder and listens to the professor's warnings of "speed learn". On the beach #6 is confronted by #12 John Castle. Castle was a long time British actor is probably best known for his part in "Lion in Winter". #12 is guardian but informs 6 that he is actually rebelling against the village. 6 is skeptical but eventually trusts #12. It appears that "speed learn" is just being tested in the village by the powers that be, possibly for greater use in the outside world.

We never actually learn #12's motivation for his rebellion. It's also interesting to note that this is the first episode where the goal isn't necessarily escape but rather to sabotage the village.

6 & 12 devise a plan to put an alternate message into the speed learn course telling all the citizens about the truth of the device. #6 dressed in English top and overcoat sneaks into a secret meeting underground using a pass giving to him by #12. This is the first time we see the underground with the white helmeted security guards and the corridors and rooms that resemble a James Bond or a Kafka story.

#6 then overtakes the guards and commandeers the projection room. His plan doesn't go to fruition as he's found and then interrogated. #6 is unwilling to give away his accomplice so #2 consults The General for the answer. It's at this point that we learn that The General is actually a computer and not a person. 6 offers to stump the computer with a question and #2 scoffs at the notion that he can outsmart the computer. 6 then asks the question "Why?" and then in classic 60's-70's sci-fi, the computer self destructs.

#12 & the professor are also killed in explosion. I think this is important from a series/story standpoint because this show is not about a rebellion but rather the struggle of one man.

random thoughts:

*There's also a very small sub-plot with the Professor's wife who is an art teacher in the village. It doesn't really go anywhere or explain much.

*It's interesting that "The Professor" and "The Art Teacher" are not given a number.

*The computer is very dated in this episode taken up an entire room while working on a punch card system.

*What was it with 1960's-70's sci-fi and computers. There was this whole huge fear about these machines. My microwave oven probably has more computing power than those huge machines. Maybe it was all those English majors fearing the arrival of the computer. There was a laughable premise back in the 60's-70's that you could destroy a whole computer network by asking it some kind of rhetorical or unanswerable question. I think Star Trek had a similar story, Logan's Run also had a similar ending.

*There's always an interesting mixture of 19th century technology like the small hand reaching for the coin like some 1890's piggy bank next to an ultra modern mid 20th century computer. There's also the use of early 20th century top hat and overcoats inside a very modern mid 20th century underground fortress.

*As a former history teacher I enjoyed the criticism of "historical rote memorization" as some sort progress in learning. I really became annoyed that history classes became a place for standardized test preparation and the only thing that mattered were standardized test scores.

I give it 7 speed learning courses out of 10.

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The General... I should've known they could only be talking about ONE general. In this case, obviously, General ELECTRIC!

OK, the topic is interesting, as the topics for The Prisoner stories usually are, but it just doesn't seem they had enough material to cover 48 minutes of show, so it got tedious and aimless. And some of the stuff that DID happen lacked the impact the writers obviously expected to give, but those flaws have to be considered with the show in its proper CONTEXT in the 1960s.

Since our own Number 1127 raised some of these issues (and more), as an experient The Prisoner viewer that he is, I'd like to refer to those in the next part of my comment.

by JohnQ1127 » The one thing I like about this episode is that we see that the purpose of the village isn't solely to break number 6 and to get him to talk. Actually getting "information" or getting #6 to talk isn't even brought up.

Yes, that is an important step in this show. I just hope the "why did he resign?" issue isn't swept under the rug instead, along with the magnetic disk from Planet of the Apes. But it was good they showed another perspective. Also, since Number 6 managed to destroyed the General and kill the professor with one stroke, this marks a victory for him, quite a different ending from an episode like "Free for All", for instance.

We never actually learn #12's motivation for his rebellion. It's also interesting to note that this is the first episode where the goal isn't necessarily escape but rather to sabotage the village.

#12 & the professor are also killed in explosion. I think this is important from a series/story standpoint because this show is not about a rebellion but rather the struggle of one man.

Yes, again, it was interesting to see something else happen that doesn't necessarily based on Number 6. In fact, the whole episode could have been told from Number 12's perspective, with Number 6 as just a supporting character.

What was it with the 1960's-70's education that they always seemed obsessed with "speed reading" or some other forms of speed learning.

Yes, I remember from that time they had some weird concepts, like "learn while you sleep" I kept wondering how I would manage to fall asleep with a phone constantly blabbering in my year.

Also, as an ESL teacher, I remember having studying about language labs, and I remember schools that were locally famous for having huge language labs in the 1970s and 1980s. At that time they believed that no school would be complete without a language lab full of recordings and listening booths.

Also, at that time my mother was crazy about recorded language materials, mostly in English, and I still have a Linguaphone course in a neat wooden box full of mini vinyl disks. "I am the teacher. You are the student. I am an American. You are not an American. I speak English. Americans speak English." See? I still remember.

*The computer is very dated in this episode taken up an entire room while working on a punch card system.

*What was it with 1960's-70's sci-fi and computers.

6 then asks the question "Why?" and then in classic 60's-70's sci-fi, the computer self destructs.

Ugh! That part was painful. But, again it's all a matter of context. The classic notion about computers, so popular from the 1950s to the 1970s, that computers would possess all facts (how the were fed those facts seemed to be irrelevant back then) but lacked the most basic judgment skills, so would be dangerously stumped by a simple question that would demand some humanity from them. Another classic plot was telling the computer which wants to dominate the world or something that since it was determined or programmed to eliminate all threats to humanity, the computer itself posed an threat and it would destroy itself, or explode trying to solve the unsolvable paradox.

Still, that feels bad nowadays. I mean, pulp fiction bad. Comic book bad. The writers had little to guide themselves from, and they knew nothing ab out computers and were unable to predict how computing would evolve.

*There's also a very small sub-plot with the Professor's wife who is an art teacher in the village. It doesn't really go anywhere or explain much.

I loved how she explained as valid art exercises complete stupid activities like tearing off the pages of a book, standing on one's head or taking a simple nap, yet got enraged with Number 6's depiction of her even though it was beautifully and professionally rendered and had a strong message.

*There's always an interesting mixture of 19th century technology like the small hand reaching for the coin like some 1890's piggy bank next to an ultra modern mid 20th century computer. There's also the use of early 20th century top hat and overcoats inside a very modern mid 20th century underground fortress.

Exactly what I was thinking. The Prisoner has a couple things in common with Pushing Daisies, which happens to be one of my favorite shows, and we watched it a few rounds before. Like Prisoner, Daisies makes great use of color and costumes. But The Prisoner was made in 1967, and Pushing Daisies, in 2007. So, when Daisies wanted to be retro, they'd use imagery from the 1950s to 1970s. But The Prisoner couldn't use 1960s inspiration to look retro, obvious, so they went all the way back to the 19th century to get the same feel. And, by the way, I loved the little hand of the piggy bank.

As a former history teacher I enjoyed the criticism of "historical rote memorization" as some sort progress in learning. I really became annoyed that history classes became a place for standardized test preparation and the only thing that mattered were standardized test scores.

History study with lots of facts, names and dates and zero interpretation. A punch right in the gut of the educational system that might still be felt today.

I think this one gets 6 days of negotiations on the Treaty of Adrianople, which was signed in September 1820. And as we all know, in 1830 Greek independence was assured and guaranteed by Russia, France and Britain. Also considering that Bismarck's ally against Prince Christian of Glucksburg was Frederick of Austenburg, because he had never accepted the 1852 Treaty of London, and Bismark wanted war, but wanted it waged by Prussia and Austria in alliance, and not by the whole German Bund. So he realised that a successful war against the Danes in 1864 would serve the same purpose as Cavour of Italy's entry into the Crimean War namely that it would indicate future leadership and would, at the same time, raise Prussia's prestige!

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I give them credit for doing something different this week – no escape attempt, no scheme to extract information from Number Six. But what transpires is more suited to an episode of TWILIGHT ZONE or OUTER LIMITS. We start with shades of 1984 – with a poster of a popular professor with a load of loyal students, promising a three year course of study in three minutes. Number Six seems to be late to the game at first; everyone else seems to know about this course and is taking it. Then he sees the mysterious professor being chased by a pack of students and losing his recorder with his class notes. Six quickly buries the recorder before two of the warders come by to give him a lift back home.

Six joins everyone else in taking the course at home, and receives a course of history that he recites as if reading a textbook. He calls someone else and hears them spew out the same information just as quickly and easily. He goes back to retrieve the recorder and it’s gone – but finds he has an ally in Number 12, who returns the recorder to him. He also asks him a question from the text. Six responds the same way he did before, but Twelve tells him he asked “What”, not “When.” Clearly this “course” is akin to a form of brainwashing – turning students into rows of cabbages, as Six will later surmise.

The message on the recorder says that the General must be destroyed. The General seems to be the brains behind the Professor and his course. Twelve gives six a coin so that he can sneak into the Board Room of the village. He manages to dress up like a member of the Board, wear a button identifying him as Number 56. He uses the coin to get past the electrified security, then knocks out a workman and takes his clothes. He substitutes a small data rod given to him by Twelve for one of the regular data rods in the transmitting system. But he is caught by surveillance because another workman managed to stab him in the hand and he didn’t have time to clean off the blood. Six is caught and Twelve is exposed.

Nevertheless, the villains decide to brag about their plan to Number Six, and present him with the General – a highly complex computer which converts the courses into subliminal sounds that can be indelibly etched on the brain. They brag that there is no question the machine can’t answer, but Six claims he has one. He types 4 characters into a typewriter and it is fed into the machine, which overheats and then explodes taking the Professor and Number Twelve with it. The insoluble question: “Why?”

As I said earlier, while this might fly on an anthology type show, it seems way out of place here. A village of spys trying to extract information from other spys suddenly are working on a plan for world domination? And what’s with the professor? He’s being chased by students as if he’s being dragged back reluctantly to give his course. He leaves a message saying the General must be destroyed, then is late for his course introduction that he shows up for afterward co-operating – perhaps reluctantly. But at the end of the episode, he is bragging about his computer creation. When the machine starts to go berserk, he seems to be trying to save it, even though he earlier said it must be destroyed. Why? (Oops, sorry. That’s an insoluble question.) And then there’s the Professor’s wife. There’s seemed to be some subplot about her – she’s even the last image they show, being consoled by Number Six. But I didn’t follow it. And there’s some bizarre scene where they claim the Professor is resting, and Six walks in with a heavy stick and strikes “his” head, to reveal it’s just a mannequin. Maybe they were out conditioning him at the time, and that’s why he was enthused about his machine again in the end. It’s all vague and messy at best. I’ll give it 6 cute little coin banks with a hand that reaches for a coin converted into a deadly security device.

Random thoughts: After five weeks of watching PRISONER episodes on YouTube with no themes on them, I sought out a copy of just the opening theme to watch before starting the show. Then I started to watch “The General” and guess what…the theme was attached this time. Later, during the show, I struggled to catch the number on Number Twelve’s button – even freeze-framing the image a couple of times to get a better look at it. When I finally got a clear enough look to see what it said, somebody then immediately called him “Number Twelve.” You just can’t make this stuff up.

And who says “Why?” is insoluble. Here are some possible answers:

“Because!”
“Because I said so!”
“Why not?”
“Why what? Establish your parameters, please”
“I’m sorry. I am not programmed to respond in that area.”
“That does not compute.”

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