THE PRISONER 1.6 – "The General"

Writer: Joshua Adam

Director: Peter Graham Scott

Cast: Patrick McGoohan (Number Six), Colin Gordon (Number Two), John Castle (Number Twelve), Angelo Muscat (The Butler), Peter Swanwick (Supervisor), Peter Howell (The Professor), Betty McDowall (Professor's Wife), Conrad Phillips (Doctor), Michael Miller (Man In Buggy), Keith Pyott (Waiter), Norman Mitchell (Mechanic), Peter Bourne (Projection Operator), George Leech (First Corridor Guard) & Jackie Cooper (Second Corridor Guard)

Number Six tries to stop a subliminal teaching device that could be used to brainwash people...

"Speedlearn is an abomination! It is slavery! If you
wish to be free, there is only one way: destroy the General!"

-- Number Six (Patrick McGoohan)

The General is the mysterious threat occupying Number Six (Patrick McGoohan) this week, as the Village is suddenly put under the spell of a miraculous new teaching tool called "Speedlearn", created by an ageing academic known only as The Professor (Peter Howell), which demonstrably imparts knowledge to users subliminally...

Of course, such a tool might also be used for malicious purposes – such as the mass brainwashing of a population via television. Number Six is quick to realize how Speedlearn could be used as a weapon by Number Two (a returning Colin Gordon), and becomes convinced the will be exploited when The Professor attempts to escape from the Village. It transpires that he's merely the figurehead of the scheme, and the real brains behind Speedlearn is someone known only as "The General"...

For once, Number Six manages to secure legitimate insider help, in the shape of an administrator called Number Twelve (John Castle), who enables him to infiltrate the "education board members" by disguising himself in hat, tuxedo and dark glasses, carrying some secret token coins Twelve has passed him. Inside, Six's plan is to get to the projection room and change the planned history lesson into a lesson on democracy, with the hope that it'll encourage the Villagers to revolt against the regime.

The plan is foiled however, when Six manages to get inside the projection room and replace one of the technicians, only for Number Two to notice Six's presence on a viewscreen. Six is arrested and Number Two reveals the true identity of The General – a supercomputer that The Professor created, which Number Two insists in infallible. To test his theory, Six enquires about asking it a simple question. Number Two accepts, but after Six inserts a question into the machine, The General very quickly starts hissing steam before finally exploding – killing Number Twelve and The Professor. An outraged Number Two demands to know what question Number Six asked. The answer is a simple epistemological puzzle: "Why?" Simple, but insoluble...

The General is quite an interesting slice of sci-fi, although the idea at its core have been better explored in other works. The Professor and The General are clear symbols for education and militarism, respectively – and the danger comes from when those two branches collude for the detriment of mankind. Back in the 60s, the idea of computers was very different from what it is today. These days, computers are everywhere (in your home, in your car, in your washing machine, in your mobile phone), but the home computer boom was still about 15 years away in 1967. The notion of supercomputers was quite a scary thing (and it still is today, in some ways), but I think we've become accustomed to their ubiquity and see them as more beneficial than people did during the Cold War.

When watching The General today, the silliness of the supercomputer dates this episode more than any other, but the underlying message remains quite potent. This episode was particularly good with the background elements, such as the rather helpful Number Twelve and "normal" residents like The Professor and his wife (Betty McDowall) – as I do find The Prisoner's usually-mute, oddly-dressed populous a bit tiring. Also great to see Colin Gordon back as Number Two, as he's one of the better actors to take on the role – indeed, he's one of the few who play Number Two more than once.

Overall, this is a decent episode but nothing special. Age hasn't been too kind on the aesthetics and wobbly science, but its central idea is still relevant -- and the brainwashing aspect still fuels a great deal of sci-fi stories some 40 years later.

Trivia

-- This episode places the location of the Village as possibly being an island in the Mediterranean, as shown in the map scene.

-- Number Six does not visit Number Two's office in this episode.

-- The Council Chamber is a redress of the Number Two's office set.

-- Along with It's Your Funeral, this is one of only two episodes to feature two related inhabitants of the Village: the Professor and his wife.

-- The exterior of the Professor's house was also used as the exterior of Madame Engadine's in A. B. and C. It was also seen, in archive footage from that episode, in Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling.


First Aired: 5 November 1967