robertsl@stolaf.UUCP (Laurence C. Roberts) (03/19/85)
*** REPLACE THIS LINE WITH INFORMATION *** This doesn't have a lot to do with the televised version of the Prisoner, but I just wanted to be helpful. By the way, around here, the series ended about mid-January, and there's already been quite a bit of _Secret_Agent_ on. I've read the 1st Prisoner novel, the one by Tom Disch. One of my favorite scenes in it is where he finds 17 cans of film with movies of parts of his life that he doesn't remember. The one he the most of the is _The_Schizoid_Man_, the one where a duplicate of number 6 appears. There seem to be some minor differences between the synopsis of the episode and the actual broadcast episode- for instance, the color of the duplicate's clothing, and a final scene [in the novel's summary] which showed the digested remains of the double after Rover was through with him. Perhaps Disch was working from a screenplay. If anyone had read Disch's novels _Camp_Concentration_ and/or _The_Puppies_Of_Terra_ [a.k.a. _Mankind_Under_The_Leash_ alias _White_Fang_Goes_Dingo_], there are quite notable similarities between these two books and Disch's Prisoner novel. In _Puppies_, there is a chapter where 13,000 people escape from the St. Cloud, Minnesota Womens' Penitentary while presenting a version of Salome` [but since it's for a popular audience, it's called Salami]. In the Prisoner book, there is an escape during _Twelfth_Night_ (I think). In both cases, the main character was unable to escape with the rest. _Camp_Concentration_ is also about a prison which is run by some nameless power. Its purpose is nearly opposite the of the Village; in Camp Archimedes, the inmates have been given a drug to increase their intelligence. They are supposed to be creative instead of conforming. [An annecdote: Disch told Michael Moorcock that he was writing a novel about what everyone wanted to become. Moorcock asked if it was about becoming an elephant, but Disch set him straight: everone wants to be smarter.] [Spoiler in the next paragraph] There is also a segment of _Camp_Concentration_ which is similar to the epsode where 6's mind is switched with someone else's. I'm not sure which came first, although the idea is probably older that either. I really like Disch's writing, because he is extemely literate, and also from Minnesota, so there are a few inside jokes for us Minnesotans. I'd guess that fans of _The_Prisoner_ would like his other work, too. Laurence Roberts ...ihnp4|stolaf|robertsl "Goodness gracious sakes alive/ the bees are buzzing in the hive/ making honey strangely sweet / such as bunnies love to eat" From _On_Wings_of_Song, by Thomas Disch