From: mike.dickson@almac.co.uk (Mike Dickson)
Newsgroups: alt.tv.prisoner
Subject: MCGOOHAN INTERVIEW    2/9
Date: 23 Jan 93 18:27:00 GMT
Reply-To: mike.dickson@almac.co.uk (Mike Dickson)
Organization: Almac BBS Ltd. +44 (0)324 665371

>>> Continued from previous message

 McGoohan: It was very difficult because they were also prisoners of
           conditioning, and they were used to writing for "The Saint"
           series of the "Secret Agent" series and it was very
           difficult to explain, and we lost a few by the wayside. I
           had sat down and I wrote a 40-page, sort of, history of the
           Village, the sort of telephones they used, the sewerage
           system, what they ate, the transport, the boundaries, a
           description of the Village, every aspect of it; and they
           were all given copies of this and then, naturally, we talked
           to them about it, sent them away and hoped they would come
           up with an idea that was feasible.

 Troyer: What about the philosophy, the rationale of the Village? What
           did you tell them about that? Its raison-d'etre, not its
           mechanics...

 McGoohan: (very deliberately) It was a place that is trying to destroy
           the individual by every means possible; trying to break his
           spirit, so that he accepts that he is No. 6 and will live
           there happily as No. 6 for ever after. And this is the one
           rebel that they can't break.

 Troyer: To what end was that process of breaking down the individual
           will?

 McGoohan: To what end?

 Troyer: For the Village, what was the purpose, the goal?

 McGoohan: I think it's going on every day all around us. I had to sign
           in to get into this joint! (Troyer: Uh-huh) Downstairs,
           yeah.

 Troyer: Made you angry, too? (Chuckle.)

 McGoohan: Slightly, yeah. Pass-keys and, you know, let's go down to
           the basement and all this. That's Prisonership as far as I'm
           concerned,and that makes me mad! And that makes me rebel!
           And that's what the Prisoner was doing, was rebelling
           against that type of thing!

 Troyer: But can you, in everyday life, summon the will and the energy
           to rebel every time any indignity occurs?

 McGoohan: You can't, otherwise you go crazy! You have to live with it.
           That's what makes us prisoners! You can't totally rebel,
           otherwise you have to go live on your own, on a desert
           island. It's as simple as that.

 Troyer: How much psychic attrition is there, spiritual attrition in
           not rebelling? How much do you give away or lose? How high
           is the cost of not rebelling every time? Not complaining
           every time?

 McGoohan: Ulcers, ulcers.

 Troyer: Do you have ulcers?

 McGoohan: I have a couple.

 Troyer: Bad ones?

 McGoohan: Not too bad. They're gettin' worse. (laughs)

 Troyer: How many scripts did you write? Your name was on two.

 McGoohan: Well, my name was on two and then I wrote under a couple of
           other names: Archibald Schwartz was one and Paddy Fitz was
           another.

 Troyer: So how many all together?

 McGoohan: I t'ink five.

 Troyer: Which ones? The last one...

 McGoohan: The first one I re-wrote. It came out...not the way I
           wanted, and then the last one, I wrote. The penultimate one,
           I wrote. Free For All - another one, and then there was
           another one, I can't remember the name of it offhand. It's a
           long time ago.

 Troyer: What's your response to what could really only be adequately
           described as a "cult" which has grown up around the series,
           a kind of mystique about it, here and in Europe?

>>> Continued to next message
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Newsgroups: alt.tv.prisoner