Plus? Children in Need special on Friday.

Waters of Mars was entertaining, but isn’t sitting well with me. I think the central problem is that the only person telling us that the Doctor can't change things is... the Doctor. So first there's the tragic Time Lord's burden stuff, which is a bit distasteful. And then when "can't" somehow turns into "shouldn't," there's hubris and trauma and suicide and doom to make it clear that this is A Bad Thing. Otherwise we wouldn’t know the difference. If the crux of your story would pass unnoticed by the audience unless you have neon signs pointing at it, that seems like a design flaw.

As for The Prisoner 2.0, I just ran across this quote from the writer:

“The original says we must assert our individuality: ‘I am a free man,’ ”he said. “But one thing that interests me is that perhaps we have become too individualistic.”

Wait, what? How does that make any sense? Is he trying to make the anti-Prisoner?

Jacob thought it was good. He will probably give it an A+ and write a forty-page recap.

Strega, I watched "The General" last night. I can see how that's one that you couldn't pay attention to. He doesn't even try to escape!! But I found the speed-learn concept an amusing sort of commentary on the educational system.

Strega, I watched "The General" last night. I can see how that's one that you couldn't pay attention to. He doesn't even try to escape!! But I found the speed-learn concept an amusing sort of commentary on the educational system.

Ah, but it does explain the reference to "the General" in "Schizoid Man", and why that was an item that pinged that No. 2. Now you should go on to "A, B and C" which I think is just a fun episode.

I find "The General" interesting in that this is one of the few episodes where No. 2 isn't even really interested in No. 6 in the main. Plus it's also one of the few times he finds someone he allies himself with who isn't playing him. That actor, I believe, played Geoffrey (?) in movie of The Lion in Winter.

Ah, but it does explain the reference to "the General" in "Schizoid Man", and why that was an item that pinged that No. 2. Now you should go on to "A, B and C" which I think is just a fun episode.

Except my order had "The Schizoid Man" BEFORE "The General"! And so did the aired order and every other order on Wikipedia but one, which switches them so that that reference make sense. I just assumed that when he was concerned about The General, he meant No. 1. (Wait, do you mean that No. 6 meant No. 1 (or something, but not actually The General), but No. 2 thought he actually meant The General? That makes more sense.) There are all sorts of weird things with the order. Some things make more sense this way and some things make less sense. Like in "Many Happy Returns," it's March, and in the next episode it's February or something. And I thought "Dance of the Dead" made a good second episode, but there's a bit where the No. 2 explains that the black cat is hers, but I don't think we'd seen the black cat in the episode before. Instead, it randomly appears in "Many Happy Returns," I think, which would have been right before that episode in the aired order. That was a neat episode.

Plus it's also one of the few times he finds someone he allies himself with who isn't playing him.

Instead, he's playing No. 2! I still love the twist of "Checkmate," though, where his ally ends up betraying him because he thought No. 6 was playing HIM.

Wait, do you mean that No. 6 meant No. 1 (or something, but not actually The General), but No. 2 thought he actually meant The General? That makes more sense.

This. No. 6 said something like "Give my regards to the General" and No. 2 was "You know that's impossible." It could still mean No. 1, but in light of the...other (can't really say earlier or later) episode, I always thought it made more sense before.

Instead, he's playing No. 2! I still love the twist of "Checkmate," though, where his ally ends up betraying him because he thought No. 6 was playing HIM.

That was great.

Incidentally, I read "Checkmate" was on of the episodes that MacGoohan always had in mind as the core of the series, along with "Arrival", "Chimes of Big Ben", "Free for All", "Dance of the Dead" and the last two (though I'm not sure how well-defined those two were, especially "Fall Out" which could have just as easily been called "Far Out").

He originally just wanted an eight episode series, ITV tried to talk him into twenty-something and they compromised on seventeen (heh - Nilly would appreciate that). You can see the later episodes starting to get a little redundant, thin and/or wacky.

The Wikipedia site on episode order has the ones McGoohan thought were essential and the order.

Incidentally, I read "Checkmate" was on of the episodes that MacGoohan always had in mind as the core of the series, along with "Arrival", "Chimes of Big Ben", "Free for All", "Dance of the Dead" and the last two

"Chimes of Big Ben" was pretty good, as it led to a dramatic reveal...of a ONE-HOUR TIME DIFFERENCE!!!!!!1111 I watched the middle of "Free for All" last night since I fell asleep the first time. I'm having trouble staying awake in the evenings, so I keep wavering in and out of consciousness halfway through an episode and then wondering what the hell is going on at the end. I am liking the show, though.

Oh, and "Many Happy Returns" has the best "Be seeing you" of all time. That was the moment when I thought it earned its status as an awesome catchphrase.

I watched the middle of "Free for All" last night since I fell asleep the first time. I'm having trouble staying awake in the evenings, so I keep wavering in and out of consciousness halfway through an episode and then wondering what the hell is going on at the end. I am liking the show, though.

That's a bad episode to have less than 100% attention while watching, IMO, because there is a LOT of stuff going on, most of it messing with 6's head. I find Dance of the Dead particularly dense like that as well - very easy to lose your place.