Talk:List of The Prisoner episodes

message: I think a case can be made that, while the '1st' column was certainly redundant in terms of ordering, it still served a good purpose, in that one could quickly and easily check how each episode matches up against the original ordering by just looking across the columns.  i.e. I can easily see that, after reordering to the '6 of 1' order, I can see that what is now the 2nd episode was originally aired as the 5th.  Trying to look across at a date isn't useful at all.  I'll be honest, I'm already loading up the past page that had the '1st' Column on it to do just this.
I make the motion to bring it back.  Anyone agree/object?
Barmy Fotheringay-Phipps 05:25, 3 October 2010 (UTC)
thread_title: Was '1st' Really Redundant?

message: * What does this mean?  When did McGoohan identify these episodes?  What made them special?  What is the source for this statement?  24.131.202.30 16:55, 15 July 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: I am not clear as to why you've posted this here, as I cannot find the statement in any of the existing messages on this page, but as I have said it on some other Prisoner-related Wiki talk pages, here goes. The source is Matthew White and Jaffer Ali's book, The Official Prisoner Companion, Warner Books, 1988 (and I feel certain that I've encountered it elsewhere, but my collection of P sources are not readily handy; off the top of my head, I suspect Dave Rogers' book). That was the phrase they attributed to McGoohan, with the addition that he would "toss the rest into the rubbish" (again, I think his--or their--exact words, but this time I won't guarantee that it's absolutely ver batim, but very close; certainly "rubbish" was used). As best as I can interpret this (White & Ali left it at that), he thought that these seven episodes are the core of the programme, and the rest were hacked out to fill the commitment to ITC and are worthless. Ted Watson 19:41, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

text: I believe this was mentioned in the interview with Warner Troyer.  I think it was originally something along the lines of "I thought the concept of the thing would sustain for only seven".  There was a later, follow-up remark to Alain Carrazé and Hélene Oswald reprinted in "Le Prisonnier: (Huitième Art, 1989)": "There are seven I consider completely true to the concept. The others on occasion were stretching it a bit."  I know that Prisoner Film Librarian Tony Sloman has his own opinion of which those seven are, based on his view of how much care, energy and enthusiasm that McGoohan had for the particular episode.  I have a feeling that he named some, but not all of the seven. Simon Coward 09:51, 11 October 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: I'm going to remove this part of the list.  While it does seem that McGoohan did endorse the idea of there being seven fundamental Prisoner episodes, he does not seem to have promoted a particular order for them (different fan groups list them in different orders, e.g. here) and according to at least one fan page, McGoohan denied that these particular seven are the ones he was thinking of.  So the whole thing appears rather dubious, and unsourced.RandomCritic (talk) 15:11, 2 October 2010 (UTC)
thread_title: McGoohan's seven episodes that "really count"

message: *Oppose. Star Trek and Doctor Who warrant individual episode articles, and the episodes of this series have been deeply studied and analysed. It would be a disservice to chop the articles down into bite-size pieces to fit this list. 23skidoo 17:32, 27 February 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Request to merge individual episodes

message: In the opening section (the text preceding the list), the quotation marks around "their version" serve absolutely no legitimate purpose, and no purpose whatsoever as far as I can tell other than to highlight the obvious bias against A&E's list.  I am about to edit the section in question to be less derogatory in the presentation of its one-sided argument.  Strunkenwhite (talk) 17:33, 6 October 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Issue with opening section 

message: The question about the lumps of sugar in both Checkmate and The Chimes of Big Ben makes it clear that The Chimes of Big Ben should precede Checkmate, as number 6 alludes to The Chimes in Checkmate when this question is asked.  And yet, none of the so-called critics appears to have picked up on this with their recommended ordering.  That's a bit strange. Viriditas (talk) 06:05, 3 March 2015 (UTC)
replies: text: You are mistaken. There is no tea in "Checkmate."  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.3.99.18 (talk) 23:41, 17 March 2015 (UTC)
thread_title: Lumps of sugar

message: Why is a significant portion of this page dedicated to an "unpublished" piece of analysis? Who is this "analyst" and why is she quoted here?
The Keymaster (talk) 09:43, 18 January 2018 (UTC)
replies: text: Cut the odd, extensive original research, attributed to “unpublished article” by 200-year-dead religious prophet Joanna Southcott, added to article 3 years ago by short-lived editor who promptly disappeared from Wikipedia. Jmg38 (talk) 02:34, 18 August 2018 (UTC)
thread_title: Joanna Southcott?

message: The article's table of episodes and dates has a column indicating the Six of One order (correct, so far as I am aware) but accompanying text notes "The UK Sci Fi Channel marathon used a similar order, but with 'Dance of the Dead' preceding 'Free for All', and 'The General' preceding 'A. B. and C.'". No specific source is cited for this.
Six of One's "35th Prisoner Anniversary News Update" (undated but it accompanied the society's "Free For All" magazine dated Autumn 2002) notes with regard to the recent Sci-Fi channel marathon that, "As for order of episodes the standard positioning was only applied up to Dance of the Dead. Then came Forsake, followed by Funeral, Checkmate, Harmony, Change, Hammer and Girl (prior to the final two-parter)." In other words, this says that the channel followed the ITC order as listed in the table, and appears to have been written after the weekend in question (14 & 15 September 2002).
This sequence matches that in an advance listing in "Zap" magazine and is also partially confirmed by "Radio Times" which doesn't list all the episode titles, but lists enough to also contradict the claim that the Six of One order was used.
So where does the claim of the channel's use of the Six of One order originate, given that Six of One's own publication seems to refute it? Could there have been more than one Sci-Fi Channel marathon, one (or more) of which used a different episode order to the September 2002 one? 
Simon Coward (talk) 11:45, 16 June 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  Six of One order and the Sci-Fi Channel marathon 

message: I have a question about the aforementioned order: in some sources, for example alt.tv.prisoner and the 2007 comments by Ted Watson in this discussion, the episodes are alleged to have been broadcast in the US in this order (I quote from Ted): "Arrival", "Chimes", "A,B,& C", "Free", "Schizoid", "General", "Returns", "Dance", "Forsake", "Funeral", "Checkmate", "Harmony", "Change of Mind", "Hammer", "Girl", "Once", and "Fall" (with the temporary exclusion of "Harmony"). However, the article refers that the US broadcast followed closely the UK version: what sources are available for this order?
(If you were interested in having a look, I recently fixed partially the Italian main article and the corresponding episode list: I worked on the issue of our local distribution (there would be a lot to fix also in the other sections, and unfortunately it would need a lot of time). The order of the first Italian broadcast is very different, but it's most likely it's just nonsensical...:) ) Laterale (talk) 21:56, 2 July 2022 (UTC)
replies: text: The Official Prisoner Companion, by Mathew White and Jaffer Ali, page 143 agrees with that US order.  Bubba73 You talkin' to me? 01:02, 3 July 2022 (UTC)
replies: text:  The US order should probably be added as a column in the episode table (after the ITC column).  Bubba73 You talkin' to me? 01:38, 3 July 2022 (UTC)
replies: text:  I'll add it now. Laterale (talk) 14:32, 6 July 2022 (UTC)
replies: text: Why add the US order, but not the order for any other country? (Apart from Britain.) HiLo48 (talk) 04:01, 7 July 2022 (UTC)
replies: text:  That is the only other one I have seen referenced.  Others could be added.  Bubba73 You talkin' to me? 04:58, 7 July 2022 (UTC)
replies: text:  This fan site lists some additional orders.  Is it a reliable source?  Bubba73 You talkin' to me? 05:29, 7 July 2022 (UTC)
replies: text: Have added The Unmutual Website's order, being that it's the world's largest Prisoner resource and the order is at least written by an published and respected author on the subject. 89.168.196.221 (talk) 12:37, 1 January 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  US Broadcast Order (and the Italian one!) 

message: Sometimes I lay awake in the middle of the night wondering why there isn’t an authoritative order for the episodes.  Surely by now, after all this time, some kind of consensus on the most accurate order should have been reached?? Viriditas (talk) 09:45, 23 November 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  This frustrates me to no end 

message: I removed some IP's suggested order and the Prisoner US website, which seemed to be a non notable fan site. Also removed 'Unmutal'. No mater how popular a fan website, it's just opinion. Also removed KTEH, it was just one TV station out of thousands. Bkatcher (talk) 18:32, 30 March 2023 (UTC)
replies: text: I'm not a regular wikipedia editor, so I don't know the rules on notability around here. But I did like having the listing of different fan opinions on the episode order as I'm going through my first watch-through. It was a nice snapshot of fan opinions on the matter. Thankfully, the original listing is still currently available at the web archive for anyone who stumbles upon this note: https://web.archive.org/web/20221201232845/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Prisoner_episodes TitusAtturi (talk) 18:05, 3 April 2023 (UTC)
replies: text: Or you can just look back a few edits. The problem with fan options is they can rapidly spiral out of control. We could easily wind up with 60 viewing options here. Best to leave it to The Prisoner fan sights. Bkatcher (talk) 03:38, 4 April 2023 (UTC)
replies: text: Worth therefore noting that the A&E order is also one fan's opinion (a certain Roger Langley, who did not consult anyone about his own order before telling A&E to use it, and his list has been widely criticised), so perhaps that should be culled too. Although, I do appreciate your other points. 89.168.220.246 (talk) 07:14, 9 May 2023 (UTC)
thread_title: Sir Quacky, Umutual, KTEH, and Prisoner US