"Arrival" of The Prisoner--a couple of questions

After probably the 50th time I have watched this pilot episode  called "Arrival," these are my current thoughts:

Why did they tell him at first? Why didn't they pull a "Chimes of Big Ben" first or drug him into an "A., B., and C." coma until he couldn't do anything but give in?

That's always been one of my biggest questions after multiple viewings of the series. I know they did it in the show as exposition--to tell the viewer just what the heck was going on. I also now understand, only after watching episode 17 repeatedly, that they are trying to get him onto their side, with a "whole heart" as Leo McKern said.

But there's also the hopelessness of it all. Like the villain that has the hero all tied up and at his mercy, he must reveal the diabolical plan. "Go ahead and scream; we're miles from where anyone can hear you!" It reminds me of Poe's "Cask of Amontillado" where Montresor re-echoes and yells back at the screaming Fortunato. One would be resigned to one's fate of the situation. What would normally break a smart, strong-willed man upon the realization of one's own fate being completely out of one's own hands, as they probably predicted #6 would react, the situation actually strengthens our hero's resolve.

Another strong factor against this outright explanation of #6 being in the Village is because it always hinted very strongly, to me anyway, that #6's side, the British side, is the main culprit.

I love how he walks around the Pennyfarthing bicycle as #2 relates the story, himself awash with modern technologies like the egg chair or the chairs rising from the floor. The juxtaposition of the old order versus the new strikes me. There is one moment where I don't think the production came off correctly, like they filmed it anyway even though the technology wasn't working at the moment: the lava lamp beside #6 when he says, "I don't know who you are, or who you work for, and I don't care. I'm leaving." It isn't pulsating right, like they just switched it on. This would again highlight the old versus the new. #6 here is trying to denounce this new technology, or at least warn against it.

One of the highlights of the our provided by #2 is the Retirement Home. "You're looked after here, for as long as you live." Clearly, this indicates another forced reminder that this is the end of the line anyway so accept the fate now.

In the Labour Exchange are some of the best images. The sign that reads "Questions are a burden to others; Answers a prison for oneself" highlights the entire show. I really wish there would have been more screen time for that shot--maybe #6 standing next to it asking something.

The aptitude test is amazing in its vagueness and metaphor. Who is the round peg? Why does the square hole fit around it? Note that #6 holds it as if he knows it will eventually fit. Is this McGoohan speaking against typecast spy shows? Does he go to the audience or does the audience come to him?

And the Labour Exchange guy with the Tinker Toys is another remarkable piece. Playing with these people's lives as if they were toys. And it doesn't matter what he  writes on the questionnaire--he will just be spun round and round anyway.

The focus of the Admiral saying, "We're all pawns, m'dear!" has always meant a lot to me and to the focus of the show as a whole. In a way, I would like to know more about the girl's character. Clearly, she is working for the Village, yet is still somewhat rebellious. And the fact that she has played right into their hands, her credibility sacrificed like a pawn, is fantastic.

"Arrival" has to be a perfect hour of television. Vague yet it tells a complete story. The more answers it gives, the more questions we ask. After at least 50 viewings, I still find myself immersed in the rest of the show.

Tagged! Monster attack!

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Fantastic Journey 1970s sci fi show

A couple of weeks ago, I finished Space:1999 and I commented on how I did not really know any of the characters. They were interchangeable--switch them with any sci fi show. I just finished, through the magic of YouTube, all ten episodes of the shortlived sci fi show from the 1970s Fantastic Journey.

After only ten episodes, I know more about Fred, Varian, Scott, and Willoway better than any of the characters on Space: 1999. This show distinguished itself from the run-of-the-mill what's-in-this-sci-fi-space (like Star Trek with new planets, even Battlestar Galactica for the most part).

It was a 70s show, but I believe that the concept holds up well. In fact, it is eerily reminscent, for the most part, with Sliders. Also, the basic concept of Quantum Leap, going from world to world basically, is mimicked from a show like this. Instead of a starship, they wander through zones of time on foot, like multiple Bermuda Triangles. With characters like this, the whole thing would hold up in a modern setting.

It suffered a bit from strange plotting. The pilot episode had extra characters that somehow "went on ahead" while the core travelers wandered. A family was separated--the dad and mom left the 13-year-old boy behind. They picked up new travelers along the way, including Roddy McDowall, who was basically a villain in his premiere episode. Something tells me that once he started acting in it, he said something about being in a show like this all the time so they probably wrote him in, being the acting name that he was. The last two episodes didn't even have the lovely Katie Saylor, who according to Wikipedia, was very ill during the filming so they wrote her out. Actually, she didn't live very long thereafter, dying in 1991 (or "thought to have died," according to Wikipedia); she must have really been ill.

The episodes were interesting. The action was faster, it seemed, than Space: 1999, and it did not drag. This was probably because of the characterization thrown in.

My hat goes off to Fantastic Journey. I was well entertained for the short run. Seeing as how I was only four years old when it first came out, I got around to the show only 35 years later!

Huckleberry Hound Cookie Jar

Description: Everyone's favorite Southern canine appears on this ceramic Huckleberry Hound Cookie Jar! Standing a sizeable 11 1/4-inches tall, this detailed jar makes for a perfect storage space for all those warm cookies you've got planned for weekend baking. (Read More...)

Powys Media

I like the tv show The Prisoner. So, often, when I stroll the web, I find new stuff relating to my favorite show. I recently came across a new series of novels on my favorite show! It's sort of like the feeling a geek gets when his series becomes a movie, or gets a reboot.

But I can't get the books!

Powys Media stinks.

This is some kind of fan shop but they apparently don't want to sell any books.

My home IP address has been blocked from their website, by the way, apparently for asking these types of questions.

Powys also sells novels and books about the old show Space:1999. This summer, I just finished watching all 48 episodes of that show and I must say, while I liked them a tad, I am not a superfan or anything. I thought there was no characterization, that the situations could just as easily been presented through any number of science fiction television shows. I don't think it would be a stretch, at all, to carbon copy those episodes just exchanging Star Trek characters. The moon could be the Enterprise. It really wouldn't make a difference.  So Powys has several books (supposedly) in the Space: 1999 universe.

However, I just checked Amazon.com and many of those books sell for well over $100.

Used, of course. There must be such a limited print run that they disappear. The one called Forsaken is selling for $144.89 right now!

And The Prisoner  is like this too. There were other books on Amazon. For the life of me, I can't find them there now. I have The Prisoner's Dilemma which is the one that sells for $15. There used to be one called Miss Freedom but I know I saw that going for $50.

So my question to throw out there--especially to Powys, who must not care about the fans--why can't a fan buy the books??

And then, when a fan, a customer! tries to ask a simple question, he gets banned from the website. Now that's the irony of the whole situation--Big Brother-like Village, website in this case, suppresses dissenting opinions.

Powys media books. I just don't understand. And rather than discuss it, even if I am a bit irrational about the whole thing, Powys just chooses to ignore me.

Giant Deluxe Monopoly Board

Giant Deluxe Monopoly Board

Adventure Time 10-Inch Finn with Changing Faces

Adventure Time 10-Inch Finn with Changing Faces

Dirk Dastardly action figure

Gene Simmons and Arcana team-up and the world says, "SO??"

Comics world is NOT stunned! These are destined for the quarter bins!! Do you realize this??

ARCANA--NO ONE CARES!!!

ARCANA COMICS AND GENE SIMMONS RELAUNCH SIMMONS COMICS GROUP AT SAN DIEGO COMIC-CON "Simmons Comics Anthology” to debut on Friday, June 13th with book signing at 2:00 pm in Arcana Comics Booth 2415. VANCOUVER (July 9, 2012) - Arcana Comics is thrilled to announce a new partnership with Gene Simmons to relaunch Simmons Comics Group, as revealed today in USA Today. Gene Simmons, the legendary rock god and multimedia mogul is set to debut an all new Simmons Comics Anthology at SDCC This year. The Anthology brings together comics originally created by Simmons Comics, and includes the first issues of Zipper, Dominatrix and House of HorrorsPLUS the first chapter of the all-new crossover event, “The Slave Trade”, where Zipper and Dominatrix will face off against each other. "The Slave Trade" features art from rising star Yannis Roumboulias (DEADLY HARVEST) and is written by Arcana writer, Erik Hendrix (SIDESHOWS, THE EVIL TREE, CHAMPIONS OF THE WILD WEIRD WEST, DEADLY HARVEST, THE BOOK, INTRINSIC, HEAD SMASH), who will be on hand during the convention to celebrate the relaunch of Simmons Comics Group.   “We intend on using the finest artists and writers in the comic book medium,” says Simmons. “ZipperTM,DominatrixTM, and Gene Simmons House of HorrorsTM will be published throughout the year. For Comic-Con we thought we would do something special and give the fans a jam-packed ‘Simmons Comics Anthology’ featuring all of our comic book titles. This is just the beginning.” Creator Gene Simmons himself will be doing a book signing on Friday the 13th at 2 pm at Arcana ComicsBooth #2415.  Only 200 copies will be made available at Comic-Con of the Anthology. Fans will get the chance to meet Gene and get their photo taken with real life versions of Dominatrix and Zipper – two of the star characters from Gene’s comic. As told to USA Today: "There's Zipper, starring a leather-clad reluctant hero and 'misplaced bit-of-Jell-O-like-consistency alien' who finds himself on Earth after running from an enemy. 'He's got a strange fascination with humanity,' Simmons says." "Another major title is Dominatrix, with a heroine who 'works hard for the money and deals pleasure and pain,' according to Simmons, in an action-packed story involving secret government organizations and super-soldiers. 'She just happens to be hot and bothered.' (She also meets — and throws down with — Zipper in a tale in the anthology.)" "The third is Gene Simmons House of Horrors, an anthology series itself that uses different artists and writers for Twilight Zone-esque stories. 'Behind it all, of course, is the eternal, powerful and attractive visage of Gene Simmons looking on,' he says." “Sean O’Reily has been completely supportive and a great partner in our re-launch of Simmons Comics Group. As a lifelong fan boy, I’ve been madly in love with the medium ever since in my early teens and have continued to ravenously devour comics through the decades,” adds Simmons. “Along the way, I created our three comics – Zipper, Dominatrix and Gene Simmons House of Horrors. Zipper is an alien among us,Dominatrix deals pleasure and pain, CIA meet T & A. Gene Simmons House of Horrors consists of stories by some of the best talents in comics today.” Arcana Comics is thrilled to be working with Gene Simmons and looks forward to delving into the worlds ofZipper, Dominatrix, and Gene Simmons House of Horrors further in the coming months! Fans will get the chance to see the debut of exclusive art from the Anthology and be the first to get their hands on a copy. To stay up to date on all news regarding Gene at San Diego Comic-Con and Arcana comics, as well as get a sneak peek at what’s in store, fans should make sure to like Arcana’s Facebook page:http://www.facebook.com/ArcanaStudios and follow on Twitter: @arcanastudios

Fan of The Prisoner denied access!

I have been attempting to reach real people at the Powys media website. They blocked my IP address from home!

They "publish" books about The Prisoner and Space:1999 TV shows. I say that loosely because they have such a limited print run that it is impossible to get the books. You can't order from their website, and if you could I simply couldn't find it, and when I checked on Amazon, one of the new ones was going already for $50.

So I left some notes on their forum boards. I want to be heard. So instead of actually answering my questions, as a fan, they blocked my IP address and denied access.



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Slogans for homefront in World War II era comic books

During World War II, the nation took it upon itself to take care of the war effort, even if they were sitting at home. Slogans popped up all over to help people, and kids in particular, to help out with the war effort. That's why some of these old comic books are worth their wait in gold: recycling paper, including precious comic books, was helping out our boys. 

For instance, All-Star Comics #21 had rhyming slogans at the bottom of most every page.

All-Star Comics #21 featuring the Justice Society of America

Bottom Lines on Following Pages Tell What to Do While Battle Rages

Tin Cans in the Garbage Pile Are Just a Way of Saying "Heil!"

Waste Fats in Good Condition Help to Make Fine Ammunition

Boys and Girls, Every Day, Can Give War Aid in Many a Way--

Every Time You Buy a Stamp, You Feed the Flame in Freedom's Lamp!

If You Have an Extra Quarter, Buy a Stamp to Make War Shorter

However far soldiers roam, they want to have some mail from home [no caps]

Collect Old Paper, Turn It In--Help Your Uncle Sam to Win

You Can Walk to School and Store! Saving Gas Helps Win the War!

Boys Are Smart, Girls Are Wise, Black Markets Not to Patronize

IF YOU STILL HAVE METAL SCRAP, TURN IT IN TO BEAT THE JAP [all caps]

Turn Out Lights Not in Use--War Production Needs the "Juice"

They repeat then throughout the book

All the capital letters and lowercase letters have been preserved from the original text.

Tasha Yar's death in "Skin of Evil"--episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation

I love Netflix. I can access episodes faster than if I had the DVD boxset.

So I am re-watching Star Trek: The Next Generation from beginning to end. In the first season, I get to "Skin of Evil" again. Watched it years ago, maybe twice, remembering that it is not a very good episode overall. I wanted to see it again after all this time, especially to consider again when watching those ones later where Tasha's Romulan daughter attacks.

This is the episode with the death of Tasha Yar. This is a main character, credit during the opening and everything, something very prestigious in Star Trek overall. What, did she last 23 episodes? And, she gets her name still on the credits for at least the next episode after her death, where she is not seen or mentioned. Anyway, just pretty cool to kill a main character instead of a redshirt, albeit in a silly, stupid way.

Good episode. Fighting just a purely evil entity. Good stuff. But it is the end that bothers me.

After they all get back to the Enterprise, they go to the holodeck for a funeral. And then, they come up with some kind of hologram recording of Tasha saying goodbye to all her friends and coworkers.

Was this a reverse-eulogy??

Does everybody record these? Is Riker's waiting in his quarters on the chance he doesn't make it back from an away mission?

Do they get updated regularly? New people, new relationships, how relationships have grown and changed? Is there a standard from Starfleet for this? "Once every 12 months, Starfleet personnel must record their goodbyes to friends and loved ones in case of accidental death in the line of duty." My goodness, how morbid that would be to do! Here, let's remember our mortality once every year.

Does it only play the ones for those present? For instance, what if Wesley Crusher was still away trying to get into Starfleet--would it just be waiting for when he came back, or would it still have played if he were not present? Does she have one or more still on the record for people that she knew from before the Enterprise?

This is my only problem with the episode. Yeah, I get that they were trying to milk some character development, and that it does. I get that they were trying to shine the spotlight on Tasha's sacrifice, and that it does.

But I can't help but think that this Starfleet regulation came about after Spock's death in Wrath of Khan. See, if Spock had just recorded his goodbyes, logically, he would have added one little footnote: "Oh, and just in case, I may not be really dead. I may have been able to transfer my consciousness into another being before my death, you know, to hold on to. Check the cameras and see who I came in contact with last." Then all that trouble on the Genesis planet could have been avoided. So now they make everyone record last messages.

(Ha ha--that last bit is just flippin brilliant, if you ask me.)

Space:1999 final analysis

After several months, I finally finished all the episodes of Space:1999. I remember seeing commercials for it when the SciFi Channel originally started, with Martin Landau saying, "We do not commit mindless violence." I wanted to like this series. I really did. I love old 60s-70s Doctor Who. I love Star Trek. I love bad science fiction in general. This show wasn't very good.

I just now finished the last of 48 episodes. I was renting the discs every once in a while through Netflix. It's a 17-disc set. I just couldn't bring myself to keep watching them night after night--I needed breaks in between discs. That's why it took several months.

Space: 1999 had no character development. The stories were okay, overall, but as I write this, I can't help but remember how many times that episodes just seemed to drag on in the middle, as if they were stretching their idea to fit into the 50-minute window. I felt that a lot. And those are the areas where they could have added character development.

Who were they as individuals? I simply don't know. I know the Martin Landau character Commander John Koenig as a moral yet oftentimes hotheaded character. I know nothing of Barbara Bain's Dr. Helena Russell character. Poor Alan--who seems to get pushed aside by other new characters midway through--all we know about him is that he's a pilot from Australia.

They barely, barely by gossamer wisps, touched on the growing love between Koenig and Russell and between Maya and Tony. But it just comes across as couples that are together for sheer sake of there only being 300 people left as it is.

The best glimpse into some character development is Tony's beer. He liked to try to make that homemade brew that everyone, including Tony, found disgusting. We needed more of that.

I don't know Koenig. After 48 episodes, I really couldn't describe him to you. He could be replaced easily. In fact, in some of the episodes that Landau was not in, for whatever reasons, you don't miss him. Imagine watching original Star Trek without a Spock. You'd miss him. You simply don't even notice when Koenig is not there.

They took away, after the first season, the doctor character played by Barry Morse. He made a good sounding board for Koenig. I could look up the answer as to why they got rid of him--off-screen between seasons, mind you, with little fanfare--but if they don't tell me in 48 episodes they were simply stupid. See, this could have been a bit of character development there, as they coped with the loss. Something. It was barely mentioned.

I liked the dozen or so last episodes--they were much better. Maybe this is when I resigned myself to the fact that there would be no development. I watched knowing that the characters simply didn't matter. They were all interchangeable. They could have a new pilot, a new doctor, a new commander, at any moment--and did most times--and it did not change the storyline.

More of The Prisoner IN Danger Man

I am always on the lookout for references to Patrick McGoohan's The Prisoner. While watching old Danger Man episodes on DVD, I came across an interesting bit in an episode entitled "Say It With Flowers."

Drake: "Maybe he's decided to retire?"

Contact: "Retire?"

That one word posed as a question simply must have begun seeping into McGoohan's mind. What does an old secret agent do? Is retirement realistic? When? If given a pension, how much is enough? That sort of thing. In the first epsiode of The Prisoner, the second #2 said, "Loyalties change--exactly." This overall concept is also referred to by Production Manager Bernie Williams in an interview on one of my Prisoner discs, referring to the secret agent's pension.

There's also another episode of Danger Man called "To Our Best Friend" that speaks of an "English village in Russia."

Send away for jiu-jitsu by mail!

I wonder how many kids got their butts kicked after ordering something like this? Mail order jiu-jitsu.

This is from an old comic book ad. It probably goes hand in hand with those classic Charles Atlas ads of kicking sand into the weakling's face.

Can you even learn this from a book?

Book Buzz: Why Read Moby-Dick?

Book Buzz: Tension City, Why Read Moby-Dick?:

I love it--it's now a book. Why Read Moby-Dick?

Nathaniel Philbrick is a great writer in his own right. I really enjoyed his book about the whaleship Essex--it completely captivated me, and I usually don't like non-fiction at all.

The author of this article calls the book "a passionate and convincing text." There is no personal opinion on Moby Dick itself.

But check out this "argument." If I had a student write this, I would have the student express why the quote proves the point:

"but when he quotes Melville, the text soars and Melville’s prose becomes Philbrick’s best argument for reading the book: 'While gliding through these latter waters that one serene and moonlight night, when all the waves rolled by like scrolls of silver; and, by their soft, suffusing seethings, made what seemed a silvery silence, not a solitude. ... '"

Yes, I agree, that sentence is awesome. Should we consider Moby Dick just a long, great sounding poem then? The term novel just doesn't fit then anymore, especially if you consider structure.

I love how this piece ends:

If anyone is still awaiting the arrival of The Great American Novel(s), give it up. They have already been written. The first is “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” and the second is “Moby-Dick, or, The Whale.”

I just taught Huck Finn and didn't have a great experience either. But Huck Finn has a narrative structure.

Read more: http://www.heraldextra.com/lifestyles/book-buzz-tension-city-why-read-moby-dick/article_2a1af0ce-43df-11e1-a093-001871e3ce6c.html#ixzz1kK9zO3mz

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DC already cancelling 6 books from new relaunch

I knew it:

http://mjb0123.blogspot.com/2011/07/dc-universe-relaunch-i-bet-it-fails.html

Sorry, DC, but I knew it. You put too much product out on the market and killed good books.

http://www.geeksofdoom.com/2012/01/13/dc-relaunch-six-comics-canceled-and-replaced-with-second-wave/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+geeksofdoom+%28GEEKS+OF+DOOM%29

It is reported here that books Static Shock, Mister Terrific, O.M.A.C., Men of War, Blackhawks, and Hawk and Dove are cancelled. I could've told you that, and unfortunately, this does not mean anything against the creators.

So now we get yet another Batman book, Batman Incorporated, by Grant Morrison so that one should be okay. It's Batman.

Also--and check me if I'm the complete idiot here--G.I. Combat gets a go. Uh, didn't they just cancel two war books?? See, the blending that I predicted has started.

World's Finest is just another team-up book. Supposed to not concentrate on Superman or Batman but I bet they'll both be in it by issue #10--it's a bet. I have just never understood why they don't just save these team-ups for the regular individual mags.

Dial H is a concept that we laughed at back in the 80s. I give this six issues--see, this could be a team-up in another mag, see if that sells like hotcakes, then give it a solo title.

Earth 2 written by James Robinson sounds really really cool if you are into DC. This should have been in the original relaunch.

The Ravagers will fail monstrously quickly, no offense. This should just be a subplot in another book, like Superboy or the Teen Titans.

See, what DC doesn't get is that the market is completely glutted. And since comics now take more and more issues to tell a single story, we don't have the freaking money to try new comics.

For instance, and I have to rant here. I recently read the issues of the newest The Brave and the Bold that featured Green Lantern, Green Arrow, and The Stranger. Good little story. But it took four issues. Four times $2.99 is way too much for this story, I'm sorry, and I really liked it. I remember when a story like this was told, with all sorts of text, in two issues or less. Now they are just drawing out the story.

Now we have 52 monthly titles at $2.99 or more? And that's just DC. Heaven forbid you try any independent comics for a change.

My prediction is already coming true, DC.

Fat or Skinny? Make up your mind!

Two ads from 1950s comic books. One saying to stop being so skinny. The other saying to get rid of some of that weight.

What?? Which do girls go with? No wonder so many are screwed up with weight issues, one way or the other.

Although, I do understand that being too scrawny is unattractive at times. However, the mixed messages here really collide.

Proof that the original Batman kills

Batman started out killing, even if accidentally a couple of times. The pics here from Batman #1 show this quite clearly.

In one panel, looking through the sights of a plane's machine gun, he even says, "Much as I hate to take human life, I'm afraid this time it's necessary."

The monster he "accidentally" strangles with a noose from his Batplane and then says something about the monster probably being better off, and then he just cuts him loose. Whatever helps you sleep at night, Batman.

The other monster is knocked off the ledge by the Batplane, as a quick and tidy way to finish the story that went on too long.

Three deaths in the opener.

Kids with real-looking guns

Before, they were just putting escaping gorillas back into cages. Now they are stopping crime!

I wonder how many kids tried scaring people into thinking their toy gun was real? I know that's why they started making toy guns look fake, because of the shootings by cops who thought this gun was real.

I wonder why the bad guy didn't just shoot the kid. What, was he really worried about the physical prowess of the kid. In the movies, the bad guy would've shot back at an adult in this situation.

If this were today, imagine the liability lawsuits.

"My Johnny was just trying to stop a bank robber and you SHOT him!"