The Prisoner - Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darling

Episode Name: Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darling
Original Air Date: December 22 1967
TV Airing Order: 12
KTEH Airing Order: 13
Summary - Deprived of his memory and placed in another man's body, Number Six travels back to England to seek a missing scientist.

Another episode that opens with a slightly different intro. But no matter, as there's no telling what they'll do next time. This episode happens to be the one I read about earlier, in which Patrick McGoohan was almost entirely unavailable for filming, and so they had to make a story that has almost no need for him. The writers chose body swapping, another classic trope that gets a Prisoner twist.

It turns out that the Village wants a certain scientist who mastered the ability to swap two minds. Only problem is that he went into hiding before he could master the reversal process, or so they think. They also know that Number Six knew him before being captured, so they his mind into another body and send him back to London, knowing that he will track down his old friend in hopes of setting things straight. A few twists occur, and the ending results in another small victory for Six.

As an episode that is almost entirely devoid of McGoohan, this ended up being a more traditional spy thriller. Not too bad considering the circumstances, though again it feels rushed. The victory at the end is achieved only thanks to a plot hole that past episodes would have refuted, and a potentially powerful revelation - Number Six was engaged before being captured - is barely covered and will likely never be followed. This could have been an interesting character piece, but the opportunity is squandered. Still, as a standalone thriller it works well enough. We're getting close to the end, with only three more filler episodes left, so at this point I am willing to put my mind on cruise control and see where the ending takes me.

The Prisoner - It's Your Funeral

Episode Name: It's Your Funeral
Original Air Date: December 8 1967
TV Airing Order: 11
KTEH Airing Order: 11
Summary - To save the prisoner who is being set up to take the fall, Number Six must intervene in a Village power struggle and prevent the assassination of a Number Two.

Holey moley, the episode order matches up! Not like that means much at this point. What does matter is that after Living in Harmony's detour, It's Your Funeral gets the show back on track with one of the best "filler" episodes so far. This one is all about an assassination attempt, with one Number Two trying to kill another. We also learn of a group of Villagers called "Jammers", who apparently hatch fake plans of resistance in order to confuse the Observers. I must admit that most of this episode was highly confusing for me, perhaps moreso than any episode to date. The problem was that It's Your Funeral is a mix of influences. It harkens back to the earliest episodes, in which the Village tricks and leads Number Two through some elaborate scheme without the use of drugs or mental conditioning. Yet it belongs where it is because just like the last few shows, Number Six gets the upper hand and foils the plot.

From what I can tell, the assassination attempt is real, and Six only factors in because the conspirators hoped to keep the Village's freest thinker from thinking all the right things that would allow him to stop the plot. The Number Two that is marked for death also seems to be played as a fool, because he actually is. The only thing I can't figure out is why his replacement wants to kill him, and whether it has to do with the Jammers.

There was some good character work here too. Number Six is fully knowledgeable of what tricks the Village likes to use, and skepticism and lack of genuine interest (at least at first) is a stark contrast to his earlier behaviors. This episode also contains a lot of interaction with other Villagers who aren't all (deliberate) spies or mindless drones. Between them and the struggles of the ruling members, we get to see a lot deeper into the Village on a whole, and the cracks in the foundation are starting to show.

Ultimately, despite being my most confusing episode, It's Your Funeral was not frustrating in a bad way. I believe that all the answers are there as to what was going on, and I just have to pay a bit more attention to piece them all together. Also, part of the reason for the confusion is that, in a rare change, the Village's plot is real - the only lies are small ones used to jerk around the players. It isn't common for them to act so straightforwardly (relatively speaking), which made it difficult until the very end to figure out what was really going on.

I don't like when television shows play these games with the viewer for the length of an entire season or more, but for the purpose of one episode I can appreciate the fact that The Prisoner decided to play with my mind for a change, and give Number Six a bit of a break.

Edit - I did some reading, and no one else can come up with a good reason for the questions I still had. That really puts a dent on the whole point of having this episode. Add in the fact that there's no real theme or message (aside from one that I need to get into in the future), I'm beginning to change my mind and agree with the folks that say this was perhaps a rush job. The fact that the episode contained a lot more of the Village than I have been seeing lately is probably what endeared me toward it.

The Prisoner - Living in Harmony

Episode Name: Living in Harmony
Original Air Date: December 29 1967
TV Airing Order: 14
KTEH Airing Order: 10
Summary - In an Old West setting, a lawman who resigned is trapped in a town called Harmony where the Judge wants him to be the new sheriff — by hook or by crook.

Yeah, I don't have much to say about this one. If I a certain interview with McGoohan correctly, this episode exists because no one in British television was interested in doing a western, so they put one into The Prisoner. Yes, this episode really is an old western tale, complete with its own introductory sequence. Yes, it also another scheme to trick Number Six into thinking he is somewhere other than the Village, in the hopes of getting him to do something. This time, it isn't about his resignation - instead, they force him to become the sheriff of their fictional frontier town so that he once again picks up a gun.

There's probably all sorts of analysis to be had with this episode, but just like with A, B, & C I feel that these questions are the wrong kind. They don't exist to drive home a point or to serve the story, but are simply due to the show's loose grasp of development and continuity. I don't really want to spend time getting anxious and frustrated as I try to piece it all together when there isn't much of a point. Since I was exhausted when I watched it, I approached this episode like it was an entry in a good old western show, and I had a lot of fun with it that way. Anything else can easily be written off as The Village becoming even more frustrated with their failure to break Number Six and that maybe, just maybe, their unorthodox methods are starting to take their toll on the people administering them.

Normally, I don't always like any analysis of a show that tries to write something off as "not being the point", but this wasn't an episode to worry over (it wasn't even shown in the U.S. back in the 60's). Hell, you could view it as a parable of a man's struggle with society in another period of time if you want. You'll still get something good out of it.

The Prisoner - A, B, and C

Sorry about the delay in posts - Thanksgiving came around, and I hadn't the ability to watch any episodes for four days. We'll be getting back to our regularly scheduled updates now...

Episode Name: A, B, and C
Original Air Date: October 13 1967
TV Airing Order: 3
KTEH Airing Order: 9
Summary - A desperate Number Two tampers with Number Six's dreams to discover where his loyalties lie.

We're going way back to the third TV episode here, though it feels much more at home in the KTEH order. It features the same Number 2 as The General, providing one of the few solid bits of continuity in the show. We also get the rare reminder that there is someone more powerful than Two, and they are most displeased with how difficult it has been to crack Number Six. Results must come soon, or he will most certainly be replaced.

This opening scene alone guarantees the episode's spot in the middle of the order. It makes sense that tensions would be running high, especially now that Number Six has been shifting his strategy yet again. He isn't trying to escape, nor is he mildly fucking with their minds. Now he is devoted to fighting back and dismantling their traps, hoping to destroy the establishment and gain victory from the inside. We saw this in full force in The General and to a lesser extent in The Schizoid Man (they put him through the ringer, but he ends up getting their man killed, and only a minor verbal gaffe botched his escape). Now it continues as Number Six wages his battle within the confines of his own mind. The Village has created a drug that allows them to observe and modify a person's dreams. They intend to use this to place the dreaming Six into a party along with three people he might have revealed his resignation to, in hopes that he'll play out the scene again without realizing that it is all in his head (and that it is being watched).

The scenario may be a familiar concept, but it is one that can be used in so many ways, all depending on what any given writer believes about the power of dreams. I expected a little bit of back and forth from the players, but instead Number Six easily figures out what is happening, and sabotages the second and third nights of testing. In the end, he completely humiliates Number Two, and all we learn is that his theory - that Six planned to sell everything he knew to the highest bidder - was incorrect.

The problem I have with this episode is not that Six gets the upper hand, but that the way he does so feels cheap. He gains a small victory in Schizoid Man because the Village did not expect him to put together all the pieces. He won in The General because they didn't expect him to get inside help. These are both fairly plausible mistakes to make, and aside from them the Village still had most angles covered and considered. Here, they lose because they didn't expect Number Six to notice the puncture wounds in his arm, or that the characters in his dream were acting out of place. Their security got so poor that they allowed him to follow a doctor into the testing chamber. The Village is lazy here, plain and simple, and I can only wonder if it is the result of inattentive writing, or something deliberate. Maybe they want to show that this Number Two is letting his fear and obsession obscure his judgment, or that the entire system only appeared to be airtight, back when Number Six wasn't as intent on poking around where he isn't wanted.

This episode still manages to be entertaining thanks to the dream sequences (which are at times witty and dripping with 60's trippiness) and the small amount of continuity that we get. But I feel that this episode doesn't suffers the most on its first viewing. There's nothing here to anchor it down. Previous questions about the Village were inconsequential. It didn't matter why they did anything, because it always worked. But now that Six is altering his strategies, the changes to the Village are reactions rather than plans, and reactions always have consequences. Without knowing whether they'll step up their game, the episode ends with the feeling that it is missing some context that only the rest of the series can possibly provide. In other words, up until now The Prisoner has always dealt with the "good questions" that manage to thrill and entertain regardless of whether they are answered. Now I am getting that uneasy, "what will happen next time?" feeling that comes from the "bad questions" that make a show feel stilted and incomplete. I am fully confident that these feeling will go away by the next show, and that I'll feel a lot better about A, B, and C once I have completed the series. Let's hope I'm right.

Edit - There's a comment in the AV Club's blog reviews that says

"I can't help but recognize that A, B and C is... really good? I just never CONNECTED to it, you know? Not in the same way as Schizoid Man or Dance of the Dead."

While my choice of episodes would be different at the end, this sums up how I felt about A, B, and C as well

The Prisoner - The General

Episode Name: The General
Original Air Date: November 3 1967
TV Airing Order: 6
KTEH Airing Order: 8
Summary - An important prisoner's new speed-teaching machine poses perhaps the greatest threat to Number Six's independence.

The General popped up frequently in my research of the show, and it always reminded me of Chinese food (which makes me hungry), and the song of the same name by Dispatch (which makes me think of shaggy haired undergrads struggling to play some chords on Thursday nights in college). Neither of those are feelings I like to have, so it will be nice to finally get this episode behind me.

The Schizoid Man made the first mention of the General, and by the end of this story we learn exactly who he is. Until then, we see the entire Village become obsessed with "Speed Learn", a method of instantaneous learning allegedly created by our mysterious General, and taught by another Villager called The Professor. Number Six learns firsthand how well Speed Learning works, which naturally worries him. Any device that can teach so well can also be used to brainwash. What follows is what some fans consider a low point in this series, as it goes against what they consider to be the point of the show. Number Six gets genuine allies, and the final conflict involves feeding an unsolvable question to a super computer (you didn't think the General was going to be an actual person...). In a show that focuses on the struggles of one man against society as a whole, it seems odd to throw Six and some one time use characters into a plot straight out of Star Trek, or so the fans say.

I'm not sure if I entirely agree. The General shows sides of the Village we have never seen before. The Professor and his wife, for example, are neither captives or guardians, but rather voluntary citizens doing a job. We see a rare male spy/ally, whose interactions with Number Six are much different than what we have seen before (interesting to see that he is identified as Number 12, which was the number of the main antagonist in Schizoid Man). And it still highlights an important theme of the show - how technology advances faster than society can learn to use it. Speed Learn appears to be a more powerful and efficient method of learning than any traditional form of lecture, but all you really end up with are students who can fire off facts without any comprehension of what they mean. It isn't a form of education, but rote memorization. It does nothing for the pupil, and it can even take away from the importance of the subject matter.

As someone who is only a few years removed from the world of education, this hits close to home. I can still remember all of the students who could memorize everything they needed to in order to pass a test, but couldn't remember any of that material by the time they graduated. I saw my own brother struggle to write a good college essay, because he was told that anything he wrote in high school would be graded based on how well it fit a rigid, five paragraph structure. I read a sample from a decade's old elementary school exam that was considered a "real" test by some commenters, simply because it asked students to name the people elected to obscure government positions. Everyone argues about the right way to educate people, but few can let go of their love of rote facts. The General touches on these dangers, and even glimpses into the future's absurd, touchy feely approaches to education (a Villager who is sitting upside down is said to be "discovering a new perspective").

Finally, The General reminds us that no matter how robotic and procedural the Village is depicted to be, it is still run by and populated with human beings, who have flaws and dark sides and everything in between. It shows us the Education council that wishes to use Speed Learn for their own means, and it uses Number 12 to show that these mysterious elites can have a change of heart. When the ending conflict leaves the Professor dead, we are reminded that his wife will be left behind. The Prisoner may explore the human condition, but there are certain human qualities which it forgets to focus on, and The General brings them into focus, if only for a brief hour. While it is true that the 60's cheese may make repeat viewings difficult, the underlying messages are as strong as ever.

The Prisoner - The Schizoid Man

Episode Name: The Schizoid Man
Original Air Date: October 27 1967
TV Airing Order: 5
KTEH Airing Order: 7
Summary - Number Two replaces Number Six with a duplicate to weaken the real Six's sense of identity.

The KTEH ordering is starting to make a lot more sense. The initial batch of episodes always seemed appropriate, considering they all show a Number Six who is new and naive to the machinations of the Village. But now I see that the ordering is also the reason why so many of the episodes followed the same basic structure of "Six tries to hatch an elaborate escape plan that fails". Apparently this too was intentional, and luckily worked along with the other ordering rationale. But ever since Free for All, we have been in a new arc, which can best be described as "The Village tries to fuck with Six's mind in order to break his spirit". I only realized this after figuring out that the last episode, Many Happy Returns, was also just another elaborate mindfuck. The Schizoid Man continues the trend, only this time it doesn't try to hide from its intent.

That intent is a classic storytelling device - the evil twin/Bizarro impersonator. Six is faced with a double, one who claims to be the real deal. Only The Prisoner cannot use such a simple storytelling device without putting its own twisted stamp on it. It does so by putting the real Six through a gauntlet of psychological conditioning in order to convince him that he is the double and that the impostor is genuine. This isn't actually too confusing, though after reading some breakdowns of the episode, it appears that some folks thought that Six was sufficiently brainwashed into thinking he was an impostor. I didn't see this at all. He knows what is going on from the start, and tries to reveal the truth. The problem is that the Village has gone to great lengths to make the real Six look fake. This in turn causes him a bit of psychological trauma, but it isn't so much because he believes he is fake, but because he isn't sure how they managed their trickery. Eventually he figures it out, and uses it to hatch a hasty and failed escape.

If Free for All was a taste of the Village's methods, and Many Happy Returns was a twisted bit of benevolence, then Schizoid Man is an attempt to make Six forget his old identity and embrace his role as, well, Number Six, by forcing him to want to the role back from his double. By doing this, perhaps the Village believes he will be more willing to integrate into the system and eventually talk. We know that won't work, but this is another piece of filler that takes an entertaining concept and uses it to further the show's cause. A bit of a mindbender, but certainly a good one.

PS - after writing it, I didn't think this summary did the episode justice. I just found a remark from an AV Club commenter that I believe is important to appreciating it. The user said that, while you always know what is happening throughout the episode, you never feel absolutely certain about it. There is always something in the back of your mind that tries to make you doubt what seems to be the obvious truth. I felt the same way, which means that Schizoid Man essentially makes the viewer feel the same way as Number Six. That's as powerful as TV can get.

The Prisoner - Many Happy Returns

Episode Name: Many Happy Returns
Original Air Date: November 10 1967
TV Airing Order: 7
KTEH Airing Order: 6
Summary - After waking to find the Village deserted, Number Six returns to England but doesn't know whom he can trust there.

In case you were wondering, the summary for Many Happy Returns is not a joke. Number Six does find the Village deserted, and he does return to real old England. As you might guess, he also winds up back in the Village. What happens in between makes for one of the more difficult episodes to decipher. In a way, the plot is structured similarly to The Chimes of Big Ben, the difference being that this time, he actually gets to London. But it also feels entirely different. Very little of the episode takes place in the Village, instead focusing mainly on his journey. There is action at sea, adventure on land, and very little dialogue overall. When he gets home, there is all sorts of technical chatter as he and his old friends try to determine the location of the Village.

Many Happy Returns feels more like an episode in a classic spy show, and I suppose that there is a reason for that. This is the first episode in the KTEH ordering that was not part of McGoohan's original seven, and in fact all of the episodes from here on out are part of the extra ten shows, save for the final two. With that in mind, it is understandable that it feels like there is little going on. But I do feel that there is some reason for its existence. It exists as a character piece, showing us just how good of an agent Six was in his former life, and how he behaved when he was at home working with his mates.

There is also one major point revealed at the end, when one of Six's colleagues has a line that says something like "he is an old friend, a man who doesn't know when to quit." This single utterance gives us the most important clue about Six. He is good at his job, but he can easily become single minded in his pursuits. This gives context to his early escape attempts, and why the Village is always able to get him back. It may even be another clue as to why he resigned (he was already a part of a system he wanted to be rid of). Six is a smart man, but he is flawed, and these flaws are why he cannot be free, no matter where he goes. And even if he were rid of those flaws, the nature of the world is such that there may no where that is free from the control of the powers that be.

At this point I thought it would be appropriate to mention another aspect of 60's television production. Back then, TV viewers rarely watched every episode of a show every week. This is why an episode like this one can be similar to Chimes, and why the show would have been hurt by having stricter continuity between episodes. The Prisoner can be trippy enough as it is, let alone if it relied on last week's story to make a lick of sense.

Many Happy Returns might be our first example of filler, but you could do a lot worse. The quiet scenery within is beautiful, and where previous episodes brought feelings of fear and despair, this one has a subtle but overwhelming sense of hopelessness.

The Prisoner - Free For All

Episode Name: Free For All
Original Air Date: October 20 1967
TV Airing Order: 4
KTEH Airing Order: 5
Summary - Presented with the opportunity, Number Six runs for election to the post of Number Two.

Interestingly enough, every single ordering of the show I found other than the KTEH order have Free for All appearing earlier in the list. I can see why this is the case. The episode features both a mention of non alcoholic alcohol (as seen in Chimes) as well as Six intention to discern who is a captive and who is a Guardian (which he does in Checkmate). Still, I have an idea as to why it is slotted here, as we will get into shortly.

This episode was written by Patrick McGoohan under a pen name, and leave it to him to give his show a kick in another direction, at least for a brief duration. Number Six learns that it is time for the Village to hold its democratic elections, and that if he wants to, he can try to run for the office of Number Two. In fact, he pretty much has to, as there is no opponent to Two, and everyone thinks he would be an ideal candidate. This puts the character between a rock and a hard place. Six knows that the role of Two changes constantly, and that any election that the Village would hold would be a farce. It would seem silly to try and play along, but he knows that they would make him do so anyway, and perhaps he feels there is a chance he could indirectly sway the Villagers toward his cause.

During the initial phases of the campaign, Six learns just how much of a joke the election is. He is bombarded by reporters who create their own news when he refuses to comment (and put down no comment when he has something to say). This information is in turn printed immediately into the newspaper. We know the Village has complete control over every aspect of life, but here we see it in action.

It doesn't last too long, however, because Six eventually plays into the trap that was set for him all along. After a tense and disturbing scene, he is brainwashed into approaching the election with the utmost seriousness, promising the citizens things that he would never agree to in his normal state of mind, and quickly becoming the favorite candidate. Throughout this time, he occasionally snaps out of it, and during these bouts of fear and confusion we see him try and fight back. These attempts are futile, and by the end of the show the replacement Number Two has him carted away like a looney. The ending of the episode was fairly clear - the election was held solely to remind Six of just how much power they have over him, and that in the end, they can make him do whatever they want, short of extracting his secrets. If he doesn't want to experience something like this again, he will need to talk.

The Village has never been this rough on him mentally, and it is almost painful to watch. McGoohan does a fantastic job of making it appear that Six's mind is a mess of thoughts and emotions, and while there are two clear moments when he breaks free of the brainwashing, there are other times when it is not so obvious, where it looks like his true feelings are coming out while under the spell. If this is the case, however, who is to say that this is not going on when he is towing the party line? This is why I think the episode works well in the five slot. At the end of Chimes, Six narrowly avoids falling into a trap, and walks away defiantly. In this context, the events of Free for All act as a sort of revenge from the Village, to remind him who is really in control here.

All in all, Free for All has so much going on. We get commentary on voters, candidates, the absurdity of elections, and the power of government. Most importantly, we get a lot of psychological trauma that I found to be down right scary. In a way, this has everything you could want from The Prisoner, save for the spy games and action of other episodes, but in another way I feel this is the make or break episode. After both Free for All and Chimes, there is danger that a modern viewer may give up. If you watch these two episodes with a desire for every scene to have a logical explanation, you will be beyond frustrated.

This is where one must realize that The Prisoner is not about logic. Not everything will fit together neatly. Perhaps this is due to production issues, or the difficulty of creating a show that was so unique for its time. But in the end, much of it is intentional. It isn't that The Prisoner wants to confuse you - in fact, I would say the intent is quite the opposite. It simply assumes that the viewer has enough intelligence to understand what is important and what is not. For example, the question of why Number Six would choose to run for office is not important. We know as well as he does that there is little choice in the matter, or if you chose to watch Free for All earlier, you might assume that he does so out of naivety. Either answer works. The important thing is what happens later, what it means for Six, and what greater points about society the show wants to impart on the viewer.

This is why The Prisoner is so brilliant. Depending on what order you watch it, and what you bring to it, there are many bits and pieces that can be interpreted and analyzed however you wish. They can have different meanings for different people. But there are certain big picture concepts that each episode aims to tackle, and each of these different paths winds up at the same place at the end. The show is saying "you can deal with these parts however you want, but I expect you are smart enough to figure out the main thrust." It doesn't matter what the answer to any given question is in the end. If you walk away from Free for All feeling a bit more depressed about the nature of government, if you feel the same sense of dread as Number Six, if you are on the edge of your seat waiting to see when the Village might push him a little farther, then you have "gotten" the episode. And if you ask me, it was an episode worth "getting".

The Prisoner - The Chimes of Big Ben

Episode Name: The Chimes of Big Ben
Original Air Date: October 6 1967
TV Airing Order: 2
KTEH Airing Order:
Summary - A new prisoner, Nadia, may have information about the Village that makes an escape attempt possible

The "official" second episode pops up a bit later in the KTEH ordering, but it honestly would work just fine where it was. I say this solely due to one fascinating scene between Six and the new Number Two. Unlike his colleagues, who sometimes carried out their tasks in a workmanlike fashion, this Two is very much in love with the concept of the Village, and makes this known in a conversation by the beach. He mentions that, aside from its purpose in extracting top secret information, the Village is in a way a prototype for a new civilization, which he hopes to see spread throughout the globe as under the command of a New World Order. It is a chilling exchange, filled with excellent lines (the entire episode has a great script, really), and it works to enrich the setting and context of the show, something which works best early on.

I mentioned in the last post that I was wondering whether the show was going to mix up its formula, and I can say that Chimes does not. Six still tries to hatch an escape that looks under the radar, but is in fact allowed by the Village. The plan is again inspired by interactions with a woman spying on him. He looks towards the sea for his freedom. I suppose I could start railing on the show for this repetitiveness, but in all honestly I can't bring myself to do so. Part of the reason is that I realize how influential the show has been over the decades, and that many of the more sophisticated stories I have seen are only so in part because of writers and producers inspired by The Prisoner. The other reason is that no matter how many of these basic aspects of the episode structure remain the same, they never play out the same way, and there are different themes to explore every time. There is always something new to chew on with each new entry, and that is something that easier said than done in the world of TV.

With this in mind, there are two important moments in Chimes, one that makes it a very crucial episode. The first is when Six enters his piece into the Village arts and crafts competition, which is in fact the boat he plans to use for escape. He talks directly about the ideas of freedom and escape to his fellow villagers, who nod their head and smile in appreciation, without ever remarking that his thoughts might be dangerous. Hell, they never even realize that the sculpture is very obviously a boat! Chimes discusses the concept of freedom more than any other episode thus far, but the reactions of the Villagers juxtaposed next to it are what make it so vital.

The second crucial moment is at the end, when Six gets as close as we have ever seen to revealing the nature of his resignation. In the end, we do not get it, but his first sentence is enough of a clue that we can make a safe guess as to what it might be. Combined, these two scenes dig into a core idea of the show, in that we never know what is going on in the minds of the Villagers. Are they really that naive, or is it all a ruse? Is Six escaping because he tricked his captors, or are they giving him a false sense of power? How much of what we see is premeditated, as opposed to being a reaction to Six's ingenuity? It isn't always easy to tell, for him or for us, and we see just how much of a problem this is going to be. Number Two was this close to getting the information he wanted, and all he had to do was let Six think he was outsmarting and outrunning the Village on his quest for safety, and let him get closer than ever before towards escape. If there is one clue we can garner, it is that the Village, while crafty, can make mistakes, as it is a very minor oversight that prevents Six from spilling the beans. It is a brief, last moment hint that his adversaries might not be as perfect as they appear to be, and it only makes future conflicts that much more intriguing.

On a final note, there is a striking bit of character development at the end, when Six reacts to his recapture with nothing more than a smile and a wink. He isn't comfortable in the Village, or happy, but he knows when to admit temporary defeat, and he does not give the Village the kind of rage and desperation they want to illicit in him. Getting out will be a challenge, but in the mean time, he might as well fuck with them.

The Prisoner - Checkmate

Episode Name: Checkmate
Original Air Date: November 24 1967
TV Airing Order: 9
KTEH Airing Order: 3
Summary - Number Six thinks he has a means to tell the prisoners from the warders, and assembles a group for an escape attempt.

Checkmate continues the trend of logical episode reorderings. Number 6 still takes a brute force approach, asking people he runs into basic questions about the Village and the identity of Number One, even though we know that nothing will come of it other than canned, Orwellian responses from the citizenry. An early scene shows a game of chess played with human pieces, in which the players (sans 6 and his questionee) believe they are playing with some semblance of skill and tactics, rather than simply following orders of the two players. Quite frightening, especially when one of the players makes a move on his own, and is taken away for "reconditioning". The Village really does have a hell of a vicegrip on its populace. The mental conditioning continues when they take 6's new friend and potential ally, and brainwash her into a "lovestruck" spy.

However, Number 6 is starting to learn, and amidst all of this he begins to try and recruit other Villgaers to help him escape, by determining which citizens are captives, and which are the Guardians that keep an eye out on everyone. The plan goes off with little complication, and 6 is able to keep away from his spy with startling efficiency. Everything looks to be going all too well, and by the time the escape is "finished", we discover that this quite is true.

Checkmate's ordering as episode 3 is a double edged sword, depending on how you look at it. It is the third time in a row that a woman has been used as some sort of bait, as well as the third time that Number 6 has looked toward the sea as a means of escape. We also get an even better peek at how much control the Village has on the minds of its captives. A pattern is starting to form, one that risks repetition. On the other hand, it makes sense to place them in this order. We can explain Number 6's actions as the result of him still testing the waters, coupled with his continued (but lessening) underestimation of his situation. The same can be said for the Guardians and their mind tricks. We'll have to see if the plots start mixing it up in the future.

Despite the feelings of retread, this episode was a good one. Even though we know the scheme is going to fail, it is difficult to hold back those feelings of "he's going to make it this time!" Checkmate's chess based symbolism is also an obvious but much needed allegory that helps reinforce the idea of the Village, as well as the show's opinions on government control.

Next episode goes back to the second show in the TV ordering. Will we get the same old song and dance, or will something new pop up entirely? You'll have to come back for the next post.

Be seeing you....

The Prisoner - Dance of the Dead

Episode Name: Dance of the Dead
Original Air Date: November 17 1967
TV Airing Order: 8
KTEH Airing Order: 2
Summary - Number Six tries to save an old friend headed for destruction at the hands of the Village.

Dance of the Dead marks the first time that the KTEH ordering deviates from the original TV airing, and as such I was nervous as to how well this whole episode shuffling business would work. I suppose I am simply used to modern shows with strict continuity and cannonical underpinnings (not to say that The Prisoner is marred by any lack of this strictness). In any case, I'd say it worked out pretty well on a whole, save for the first five or so minutes. The first thing to throw me off was the modified introduction, which apparently will be used from here on out. After that, we are treated to scenes that suggest that the leaders of The Village have been continuously experimenting on Number 6, and that he has grown rather accustomed to his new place in life. This is quickly shattered when he eventually reacts to a situation in his home by saying "I'm new here". From here on out, he once again begins to act like a newcomer, someone who doesn't know all the answers and believes that his escape is all but guaranteed. If you shrug off the opening scene as being a bit of In Media Res storytelling, you can see that shifting this episode to the 2 slot is a smart move. I can't imagine that the original second episode would fare better (though I'll find out two episodes from now!)

Another reason why this is a good ordering choice is the sheer crudeness of the scheming. Number 6 is still relying on little to no planning in his escape attempts, and Number 2 and crew try again to use a woman to spy on him (which didn't work out too well the first time). Both sides appear to be underestimating each other, but that notion is thrown away once the Carnival begins. The Village Carnival is the focus of the episode, and it is important for several reasons. First, it gives us more insight into the villagers themselves. We learn that they actually ordered to have fun during the festivities, though every time this happens, the looks on their faces are anything but cheery. I'm not sure if this was an intentional bit of direction, but the villagers react to the Carnival with a kind of indifference that borders on sadness. I won't go so far as to say that they are all unhappy with their lot in life, but they certainly look broken. There's no real happiness here, only orders to do one thing or another, which they carry out without question.

But their tone changes dramatically at the end of the party, when Number 2 and crew reveal just how quickly they learn from their mistakes. Number 6 is put on trial for breaking an important rule, which is a bit surprising considering he broke it right in front of 2 and his Observer. Apparently is wasn't going to go unpunished. In fact, the trial is over almost when it begins. 6 is found guilty of his crimes, and his sentence is death by the people. The result throws the villagers into a frenzy. They immediately go from gloominess to sheer joy, as they form a mob that happily chases Number 6 through the Town Hall, every one of them eager to kill him. The trial is also strange in that his Observer servers as his prosecution, even though we see just how much she regrets the idea of 6 being slain. No matter what she feels, she still must obey her commands. They way both she and the other citizens change their tone on a dime is creepy as hell, and shows just how powerful the rulers of the Village are.

But it isn't even the strongest example. 6 doesn't die, of course, but he is only saved due to Number 2, who takes one of 6's rescue attempts and uses it to fake his death. At first, I thought this scene brought everything together, but after a few days I changed my mind. On one hand, it is chilling to realize that the people in control of 6 are also his main protection. Yet the ending doesn't make sense. If the villagers are told that he is dead, surely they will realize that he is walking around afterward. And reversing the sentence would never happen. The only solution to this plot hole that I can think of is that their minds are so flexible that they can quickly be convinced that everything is alright sometime later, and that the whole exercise was meant to remind 6 of just how screwed he is.

In the last post, I mentioned how I was looking for that episode that would hook me in, and Dance of the Dead was it. Despite the oddball ending, it showed the twisted, trippier side of the Village, and ended with the feeling of hopelessness that I was waiting for. All I could think of at the end was that I needed to see just what else they would try on Number 2, as well as whether or not he would change his tactics. We'll have to wait for Episode 3 to see what happens.

Be seeing you...

The Prisoner - Arrival

Episode Name: Arrival
Original Air Date: Sept 29 1967
TV Airing Order: 1
KTEH Airing Order: 1
Summary - After waking up in the Village and discovering his captivity there, Number Six encounters a friend from the outside who may have a possible escape.

So here it is - the one and only first episode. We get to see The Village and its inhabitants, which are at once peaceful, creepy, and full of fab 60's era style. We also learn just enough about Number 6 and The Village's plans for him to whet our appetite, but it isn't enough to spell anything out, or worse yet, confuse us to the point of frustration. By the time the episode is complete, we are treated to multiple escape attempts and double crosses (with just a bit of action sprinkled in for good measure). Arrival gives you a taste of the many things The Prisoner offers, from the thrilling to the exotic.

However, I might argue that all of these little tastes fail to add up to a full meal, and they aren't exotic enough to get you hooked. What I mean is that there is nothing here that makes you wonder what will happen next, nor is there anything trippy enough to entirely appeal to one's retro curiosities. It is good enough to convince you to watch more, but perhaps not enough to instill that "just one more" sense of addiction that a good show can produce.

That being said, I really do think it is a fine standalone episode. Despite the fact that the crew had a leisurely 57 minutes of show to work with, they manage to cram in so many events and so much information without it feeling like a rush job. When I first watched it online, I stopped around Number 6's first escape attempt. When I started it up again, I realized I was only halfway through! If they had ended the show there, I would have been satisfied, but the fact that it kept going allowed Arrival to do an even better job of establishing just how skilled the guardians of The Village will be at keeping our hero captive. I understand that television programs these days cannot run for so long, but it does wonders for the plot and pacing.

Actually, I should clarify on the "rush job" remark. One of the more jarring aspects of the episode was how quickly it cut from one scene to another. At one point Number 6 is invited by Number 2 for a chat later in the day, and the next thing we know, they're sitting down to talk. I can't say it is bad way to handle things - better to cut to the chase than to add some unnecessary scene in between - but it takes some getting used to.

So there you have it. A fairly straightforward, but no less exciting introduction to The Village. I can't say that the show's purported magic is on full display here, but it did convince me to dig deeper. In the end, you can't ask for much more in a first episode.

PS - Apparently The Onion AV Club did an episode guide of their own leading up to the AMC Remake. I'm promising myself to only read them after writing my own posts, so as not to affect my own views and opinions.

Be seeing you...

The Prisoner

I learned about the cult classic TV show The Prisoner on the day that Patrick McGoohan passed away. After seeing some clips, I realized that, in fact, I had seen it before, in the form of homages and parodies in other pieces of entertainment. I also learned that the full series was available for viewing on line on AMC.com, as something of a preparation for their eventual remake.

Said remake just finished airing, and in the time between these events I only managed to watch the first episode of the original Prisoner. It wasn't that I didn't enjoy it - I simply struggled with the idea of watching every episode from the uncomfortable position of a computer chair. Months went by until I eventually forgot about it almost entirely.

Thankfully, the remake rekindled my interest, and this time I intended to be serious about it. Looking online, I discovered that my delay was a blessing in disguise - the show has been recently released on Blu-Ray, with remastered footage and a bunch of extra content. And so I did what I have rarely ever done - bought a television show on disc. Considering The Prisoner is considered one of the best cult classics of all time, I think it will be worth it.

From here on, I will be doing a small post for each episode I watch. I'm not sure if I will discuss them with or without spoilers, but I will warn everyone ahead of time. I'll try to get them out as soon as I am finished with each one, though it might take longer if I decide to rewatch certain episodes with commentary on.

With all that said, a few more remarks before we get started -

- The show was originally envisioned as lasting just seven episodes, making it more of a proto miniseries than a full television show. However, the studio bankrolling it wanted more, and so a compromise was made at 17 episodes. This means that there are only 7 which, as the fansites declare, "actually matter" in order to understand the plot.

- When the show originally aired, it was not done so in the correct order. These are the only things I have been able to ascertain in regards to this:

1. The only episodes that were shown in the proper order are the very first, and the final two
2. The seven important episodes have something of an official order
3. No one is sure about the rest
4. Various fan groups have created their own preferred orderings that they feel work best, though they admit that many of them can be ordered in whatever way the viewer wishes, in order to examine certain themes or ideas

For the purposes of my viewing, I'll be using the ordering made up for public television station KTEH, which is "reportedly approved" by series creator Patrick McGoohan.

That's it for now. It should be interesting to see where this one takes me. Be seeing you...

Foooseball

After Week 3 of NFL play, the only thing I feel like talking about is how much the NFL is getting me down. Specifically, I feel this year the league's TV presence is getting less and less PC. Usually, network personalities have to be incredibly fair and even handed. Everyone team has to be made out as having talented players and coaches, where every loss is a struggle (but not one that can't be overcome). As the season goes on, this starts to fade, but there is always optimism for next year! Even if these announcers do not directly work for the NFL, you get the feeling that they all have to tow the same line in order to stay on air.

I'm not getting the same feeling in 2009. I'm seeing pregame guys call the Browns "pathetic", plain and simple. There may be no arguing against that statement, but I still found it shocking. On the other end of the spectrum, I have heard more people use the nickname "Tom Terriffic" in regards to Brady than when he his team were division leaders. That could easily be the result of me not paying attention, but perhaps part of it is that they are afraid of people getting off the Patriots' bandwaggon, and are trying to do some damage control. Whatever happened to all of that love of parity?

The problem here is that there is too much football coverage. As such, the networks have to find things to talk about for far longer than anything needs to be talked about. This brings out conflicting ideas, and also allows each person to bring out their biases as they scrape for every last ounce of commentary. The answer, at least for me, would be to reduce the length and quantity of football programs. Let the networks' pre and post game guys come on for a half hour before and after the games, and during half time. No more coverage starting at 11:00 on Sunday, and then throughout the week. Leave the heaviest coverage to the local market networks and newspapers. Those guys may have biases, but we expect them there. I don't mind see lots of worship for Brady if I am up in Massachusetts, but he is one of the last things on anyone's mind here in Maryland. Don't assume we want to suck on the League's proverbial member because you're getting paid to.

An a relate note, football has been silently evolving into something more white collar for a while now, and every year this reality becomes more evident to me. I finally understood the concept of TV blackouts, and then saw it in effect (or rather, I saw nothing) when the Lions beat the Redskins. The sport is in a weird position where it both demands and spends a lot of money, in an economy where the fans cannot. This may work for a while, as the moneyed classes continue to "enjoy" the sport as a social event, but they are a fickle crowd who will never devote any loyalty to a team. You still need your diehard fans, and all I see is an NFL which is pushing them out of the picture. I love watching the game as much as anyone, but if I had to live without it, I could do so. Maybe one day I will do it by choice rather than necessity.

Netbook

...aaaand the reason I made my last post was because I recently had a successful time purchasing a brand new netbook. I have been looking to get one throughout 2009, so that I could get work done from the comfort of my couch, while still conversing and chilling with the roomates, instead of locking myself to my desktop upstairs. But I remembered my past purchasing gaffes, and hesitated to look for the right netbook for the job. I knew which brands were good, but which of those brands' models were the best? Which could I afford? Would I really benefit for finding one online? Did it matter if Linux wasn't preinstalled? These questions caused me to waffle over and over again. The solution was to stop thinking like a techie.

My g/f has a $300 Acer Aspire One, which I have had experience with, and which I found to offer enough power and features for the price. So when I found the similarly priced and speced EEE PC model at a retail outlet, I got it right then and there. No debating whether I should price compare online for an MSI Wind, or wondering if I would be content with Windows XP. I knew the EEE was a popular brand, and I knew it would offer the power I needed. I bought a new Flash drive to go along with it (holy crap memory is cheap), and that was that.
I don't care what anyone says - it was a good choice for me. The EEE is a great little piece of kit, with a crisp screen and enough power to suit my needs (and if not, a RAM upgrade will do the trick). Since I will not be using it as a primary PC, I don't mind having to trash and reinstall the OS on it if it ever starts to slow down. Bottom line, I will get years out of this netbook, and that makes it a worthy choice.


My only complaint was how tricky it was to get Linux running on it, though I understand that this is a silly thing to say when dealing with Linux. The problem is that the model of EEE PC I got has a newer set of ethernet/wireless hardware than previous versions, and support for them isn't built in to every distro (or at least not Ubuntu and even plain Debian). My final solution was to install the ethernet drivers (ignoring all the errors that come from them - they actually did install), update, reinstall with a new kernel, and finally dive into a backport repository to fix wireless. In the end, I got regular desktop Jaunty running at a great clip, and learned a lot along the way. A successful afternoon of hacking if I ever saw one.

So now the EEE is exactly where I want it, and I can't wait to play around with it in the coming weeks. Work has been extra busy as of late, and I'm thinking this will allow me to better unwind at home, and also keep me out of my bedroom for anything but sleeping (which is supposed to help with your sleeping). Wish me luck.

PC Hardware

Today I want to talk a bit about computer hardware, as a preface to the next topic I want to write about. After buying my college desktop back in 2003 (still my best and most thought out purchase), I have made every mistake in the book when it comes to buying computer parts, accessories, and everything in between. I have been suckered into buying "deals" that were actually rebate hells. I have bought on impulse rather than shopping around, causing me to overpay or get a lower quality product. I have bought on impulse without looking at what I needed, leaving me with hardware that was incompatible.

Most of this stems from the fact that I don't keep up to date with the latest and greatest tech when I am not in the market for it, and when I am, it typically means that something has broken, and I need a fix immediately. So of course I do not do any research - I cannot, or sometimes do not want to wait, and since I haven't had any time to save up money, my only requirement is that what I buy is cheap. The pricetag is the most misleading labels on a product, and burned me time and again.

The other problem is that no one makes buying hardware easy. Taking your time to do some research and comparisons will always help, not simply because you spend the time, but because spending that time forces you to spend even more in order to cross reference and check everything you read. Because that glowing review you read for a video card is guaranteed to be contradicted by a few others. Meanwihle hardware focused sites and message boards will have their own opinions, most of which are of little use for people who don't upgrade their hardware on a yearly basis.

Once you find the "one", that one answer to all of your troubles, your excitement will immediately diminish once you find out that it is either too expensive, too crappy, outdated, or that the true best product is out of your price range. The best video card I ever bought was the Radeon 9800 Pro. It took me almost a year, and a genuine price drop, to determine that it would meet my needs. My younger brother spent two months trying to research his own college PC, asking me questions almost nightly.

I am not trying to say we should not spend time looking into major purchases, but I do think that it is possible to overthink them. That is because the Internet can be a a hindrance as much as it is a help to shopping. For example, 'net denizens are often suspicious of premium, name brand products, which they fear (or simply know) are ripoffs . This is great when dealing with companies like Bose or Monster Cable. But there are other situations in which the reverse is true. PC enthusiasts will always recommend the highest quality RAM for your computer upgrades, and there are specific brands they chose for this purpose. If you stick with the former mentality, you will be screwed over by the multitude of cheap Chinese wares that flood even good sites like Newegg. If you go with the former, you will most certainly be swindled one time or another, and you will always have that doubt in your mind that you could have spent your money more wisely.

My solution to this dilemma is evolving, but it currently involves two major steps. First, never run out and buy non a new piece gear right away. Wait a while - a year if you have to - in order for the technology to get better and for the market to grow. Doing this successfully requires being happy with what you have, or if you have none, then being able to live without for a little while longer. Thankfully this isn't hard to do - any tech junkie that tells you otherwise is acting like a brat. The second step is to try and take good care of your hardware, including learning how it works and how to troubleshoot it. I almost trashed my (now six year old) college PC because of malfunctions, until I found out that a cooling fan was unplugged and that it was dusty as hell inside. I used the same tiny Flash drive for five years thanks to painter's tape and a sharp eye (so it doesn't get lost). A little bit of DIY can go a long way.

I have a third step that I am not quite prepared to believe in - sometimes it is worth going with the name brand for the sake of convenience and security. Can you find an MP3 player that is better and cheaper than an iPod? Of course. But I can finally see why people clamour for them. They just want to listen to their tunes, and with millions of iPod users out there, they can be confident that it will allow them to do just that.

I guess this can all be distilled into saying "when in doubt, play it safe." Now all I have to is follow through with future purchases.

Football Season

Not much to talk about with the start of the current NFL season. It was an exciting enough first week, but it will not be indicative of how many teams perform down the stretch.

What I did find interest in was the simple, though oft repeated remark by ESPN's Bill Simmons about how football, a typically blue collar sport that captivates most of the nation, has become a white collar event, at least if you want to see it live. Tickets are pricey, parking is pricey, food is...pricey, which has been the case for long enough. But now you have teams charging for seat licences to help pay for and raise the profile of their pricey new stadiums. Meanwhile, the economy is making it so that longtime season ticket holders cannot afford their seats, and longtime waitlisters may not be able to act on their one and only chance.

As Simmons has pointed out, this leads to a situation in which homefield advantage means very little in some fields, where the only people who can afford to go do not really care that much about the team. The people who do are at home watching on a nice TV (which, while pricey, is easier to save up for than tickets), or at the bars. That's not the best situation for America's Game to be in. Thankfully, Hi Definition and good camera work can make the home experience pretty intensive. But how this obvious sign of class division can continue to go on without anyone really noticing or caring is more than a little unsettling.

Pleasant Surprise

I just finished playing Wheelman, a fairly standard looking GTA clone starring Virtual Vin Diesel. But while the game might look unnecessary on the surface, Diesel's luck with the Chronicles of Riddick games rubbed off on it.

I won't go into a full schpiel until I write the review, but suffice to say that Wheelman ditches a lot of what has bogged GTA down over the years, in favor of a straightforward action film script, and missions that do their best to constantly elicit the excitement of a good car chase. Oh, and it doesn't make you travel to your mission every time you attempt it. The game isn't as memorable as GTA at its very finest, but ends up being worthy by not being full of itself.

I find myself gravitating to this kind of game lately - something stupid and relatively quick that I can start and finish on the weekend. I like to have momentum with any game I am playing, and when the work week leaves you with little time or energy, this becomes difficult. I might log 15 hours into an RPG during a light week, only to find it collecting dust two months later, when I have forgotten where I was and what was happening, and ultimately do not continue. With a simple action game, I can usually beat it in a handful of sittings, and if not, it can probably be polished off with an or two on Monday night. Worst case scenario, I call it quits, and guess how the cliche plot ends. This leads into the other advantage - this system plays well with Gamefly. I can get a game on Friday, mail it back on Sunday, and get another one the next Friday. The games spend their time in the mail on the days that I can't give them attention, and arrive exactly when I can. Plus it means I can get my money's worth from the service, while spending less on purchasing games (which I will then not play).

Most importantly, I find myself getting tired with everything else. I have played too many RPGs with piecemeal plots or 50+ hours. Too many games with OCD driven tasks. Too many highbrow, artsy titles that aren't actually fun. I still believe in the medium's ability to be something bigger than cheap thrills, but most that shoot for this lofty goal still come up short, and I do not have the time for that anymore. Give me the cheap thrills so I can actually stop thinking for a brief period during the week, and maybe save some money to be spent on other areas of interest.

I'm not abandoning gaming, but when life changes, sometimes your hobbies have to adapt.

Just Walk Away

Dammit, it happened again - I fell out of love with a gaming forum that I thought I would never leave. I lost count of the number of times this has happened, though I think I have finally figured out why it happens to me. It all has to do with the nature of the Internet.

Say you have a small, intelligent message board that somehow explodes in popularity. The arrival of new users of varying degrees of posting quality will eventually bring down the board's overall quality. You can't really stop this trend, however, so I find that the best thing to do in this situation is to move on and not lament.

Another scenario is that the board is part of a massive community website, in which users come and go quickly, and the idea of a "regular" is measured in the span of months. This causes the nature of its content to fluctuate, so that it will have "good" and "bad" periods of various lengths. The trouble here is that you never can tell where the forum is heading towards. You may join in when it is great, only to see it devolve into endless list threads. Will the next influx of regulars turn it around into something interesting? Or will the lists simply give way to something else that is aggravating? Usually it isn't worth finding out.

There is one more situation I am thinking of, and it applies to the forum that I am currently at. We often lament how the internet is hampered by people who are varying parts hateful and unintelligent, but just as troublesome is its ability to shelter us from the people and thoughts we do not want to hear from. When a community is so small, so tight knit, it tends to become insular and warped. Without fresh blood or fresh ideas to challenge the status quo, the members simply reinforce each others ideas until their belief becomes unshakeable. They also end up repeating themselves. You will hear about the same games time and again, and you will read the same debate play out exactly like it did a month or two ago. You can get to the point where you can accurately guess what news will be worth creating a post for, what people will say, and how others will respond. It becomes boring, and as the users keep going through the motions, they become caricatures of not only themselves, but the people they claim to avoid on the internet. The hate, the sarcasm, the snark all creep in, and they can't even tell that it has happened.

This time, I don't think I will go about looking for a new board to post in. If I find one, terrific, but if not I have plenty of good offline relationships to spend my time with. And if I do find myself on another one, I should be able to walk away before it gets on my nerves.

Pink Floyd

In some cases, getting into a classic rock band is a straightforward process. You hear a couple of tunes you enjoy, do some research to find out which album people consider the best (or at least the best to start with), and check it out. If you like it, you do some more research and add to your collection.

But with some bands, this process is not so clean cut. Maybe they have too large of a discography, or their albums are a dizzying mix of live and studio recordings. Maybe they had distinct eras in which different members put their own spin on the sound. For me, Pink Floyd was one such challenge. I have had genuine exposure to them since I went to college in 2003, and it is only this year that I have grown to have an appreciation for their music. For many of the above reasons, as well as a few others, I found them incredibly challenging to "get into".

For starters, you have the fanbase. Even in 2009, every college campus has at least a few stoners who absolutely adore Floyd and all their works. These folks will easily expose you to them, but their passion is so great that it is difficult for them to recommend a good starting place for budding fans. Your other option is the radio, which isn't any better. Most classic rock stations rely on small stable of Pink Floyd songs which they reach for whenever they come up on the playlist. It mostly consists of tracks from Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall, with a handful of other tunes from the rest of their catalogue. Not only are these radio safe songs unable to demonstrate the band's full talent and style, but it is easy to grow tired of them. To this day, I still can't listen to Money. I believe that this overexposure was the major factor in keeping my interest in Floyd down for years. In any case, for a long while, I was completely indifferent to Floyd. I respected them as a major force in classic rock, and I would pay lip service to die hard fans that I talked to, as I knew enough about their history to sound like an expert. But deep down I had no urge to take a serious look at their music.

The solution to my troubles was purely accidental. I was driving around with my roomate for a few long trips, during which we listened to The Wall and Wish You Were Here almost to completion. Sitting there, being able to listen to these works the way they were intended to be heard, was the key. I had nothing to focus on but the music, thus all the subtleties and mezmerizing sounds were unlocked. I listened to them a few more times on my own, and I went from being indifferent to at least being interested. Then I purchased and listened to Animals on my own, and after that I was hooked.

Or at least, I would like to think I am hooked. But the only albums I have mentioned so far compromise the band's "Big Four", the releases which saw their best commercial success, and which many people think of when they think of what defines the Pink Floyd sound. But there were releases afterwards, when the band was in turmoil, and even more from before, when they were going through changes in their lineup and musical styles. I still haven't explored these offerings, and if my research is any indication, there is no guarantee that they will click with me in the same way. But for once I am willing to take a chance, and at the very least I have an anchor point. It took a long time to get to this point, but the journey was more than worth it.

The Best

Last night I had a very random revelation - for almost every era of your life, there is someone who will tell you they are your "best years". Which made me wonder why they felt so, and if there are so many differing opinions, is any of them truly the best.

High School - High school is often considered the best years of your life because it is a time when you are young, carefree, and most definitely curious. It is a chance to make memories and build friendships without having to shoulder any responsibilities. Or so they say.

But these days high school involves a lot of work, at least if you plan on attending college. It also involves growing up and making mistakes. Most importantly, I think high school is our least permanent time. We don't tend to keep our HS friends, or stay in our home town. Many of us will move up or down on the social ladder. Our favorite music at the time often doesn't last with us by the time we are 30 (this is opposed to our favorite things from childhood, which often stick with us due to stronger nostalgia). High school is an important time for growing up, but the years later are when we will learn more pertinent life lessons, and when more important goals can be achieved. I often feel that those who miss their HS days are the folks who peaked at that time, and have struggled to make something of themselves ever since.

College - this is another time without full responsibilities, with the added benefit of often leaving home for the first time, as well as the eventual ability to drink. Unlike high school, this is the time where one can fully take advantage of the wonders of youth.

Looking back, I have great memories of college, but I still wouldn't call it the very best of times. The problem with this period is that the experience is different for everyone. Some of us go in with mom and dad footing the bill, and can take more than four years in order to dick around with a liberal arts degree. Others have student loans to pay, and absolutely need a job after gradtuation. What your situation is will largely affect how much of your college years are filled with work or play, and the kind of school you go to will also have a great impact on what you end up doing. College is far more important than secondary school in regards to one coming of age, but it can be a bumpy road.

Post college - this is the time in which I find myself in right now, and in a lot of ways it is fantastic. I have money to spend, and no one to look after but myself. This is the time wherein one can bask in luxuries that one cannot have while raising a family, as well as a chance to maximize your free time with activities that are a bit more active than staying around at home all the time. But I find that this is only half of the picture. All that money still comes from a job, one that may or may not involve a lot of hard work and long hours. Often I find myself unwilling to leave the house on the weekends due to fatigue, nor do I have the ability to stay up until the wee hours of the morning. This is when real life kicks in, and that means you have responsibilities which cannot be avoided. I think that those of us in this age group are acting out on the last dredges of immaturity, trying to recapture the excesses of college in a time when they should be coming to a halt. We don't want to become old and boring, but we also fail to accept why it is that people become old and boring. Here's a hint: it is a good way to get through life.

Old Age - This time is supposed to be for when you are retired, and can finally sit back and worry about nothing but yourself.

I haven't reached this point yet, but I imagine that whether or not it is the best time of your life depends on your health. And wether or not all your hard work led to a position in which you can tackle all those things you never had time to do. Otherwise....I'd rather not think of otherwise.

Lastly, I wonder if maybe the best time of our life isn't middle age. Sure, we regret what we missed out on, and regret having to continue to do so. But it is also a time during which we have learned enough to prevent making the mistakes of youth, and when we still have enough years to complete a goal. It all depends on whether or not one is willing to start striving for something again. I'll guess I will know in about ten years.