A look at Community versus the Collective based in the television series "The Prisoner"

Dr. Lawrence Sasaki , Bio and Archives--September 15, 2026

Cover Story | Comments | Reader Friendly | Subscribe | Email Us

"The Prisoner"[1] is an ITV television series that came out in 1967, and I remember watching it when it first came out, but I had not thought of it until I saw an interview between Alex Jones and filmmaker Roger Avary[2]. During the conversation, he (Roger Avary) mentioned that he had spent some time in prison. Before he went in, he was advised by a former inmate that the only way he would survive prison was to “be your own man” and that lead to a discussion of the television series, “The Prisoner”.

“The Prisoner” was created by actor/producer Patrick McGoohan. He had just come off a highly successful secret agent series called “Danger Man”. “The Prisoner” follows what happens when a person, such as the secret agent, retires prematurely. People want to know why he is retiring in order to predict what he would do with all the secret information he possesses.

In the opening scene, he slams his retirement notice on the desk, rushes home and packs in order to escape. Before he had finished, he is gassed and collapses. He wakes up in his own room, but when he opens the blinds, he finds himself in a strange Mediterranean-like place called “the Village”. The famous line from the series is

In the series, he is given the appellation, Number 6. In each episode, there is a new Number 2 whose task, it is, is to break Number 6 and get him to reveal why he resigned. It may seem a small thing, but it is part of who he is, it is private and none of their business. He responds:

Throughout the series, Number 6 remained his own man, and the........

© Canada Free Press