|
"Fall Out" is the 17th and final episode of the allegorical British science fiction series ''The Prisoner'', which starred Patrick McGoohan as the incarcerated Number Six. The episode originally aired in the UK on ITV on 1 February 1968, and was first broadcast in the United States on CBS on 21 September 1968. "Fall Out" generated controversy when it was originally aired owing to the obscurity and ambiguity of the installment's last 20 minutes. This reaction forced McGoohan, who wrote and directed the episode, to go into hiding for a period of time because he was hounded at his own home by baffled viewers demanding explanations. The episode omits the usual long opening sequence in favour of a recap of the penultimate episode, "Once Upon a Time". It is the only episode in the series in which the show's main outdoors location, Portmeirion, is given a specific credit in the opening titles. This resulted from an agreement with Portmeirion's architect, Sir Clough Williams-Ellis, that the location would not be revealed until the series finale. ==Plot summary== After breaking Number 2's will in the previous episode, Number 6 asks The Supervisor to take him to Number 1. He is led to a cavernous chamber apparently serving as an assembly hall, presided over by an MC referred to as The President, in British juridical wig and robes. The assembled "delegates" are all wearing black-and-white (comedy and tragedy) masks and long, white-hooded robes. Each sits behind a name plate representing a social institution or activity such as "Education", "Recreation", "Identification", "Defectors", "Activists", "Pacifists", "Anarchists", "Nationalists", "Welfare", etc. Number 6 is directed to his seat, an ornate throne upon a dais. Nearby, a large metallic cylinder with a green mechanical eye labeled with a big red "1" watches the proceedings. The President announces that Number 6 has passed the "ultimate test," and had won the "right to be an individual," and as such, he is no longer a number, but is referred to from this point onward as simply "sir," or "The Man." The President then explains there are many matters of ceremony involved in the "transfer of ultimate power" at his imminent "inauguration". The caged kitchen from the previous episode is lowered into the chamber and the body of Number 2 is removed by medical personnel and placed in a makeshift lab. He is resuscitated and given a make-over, including a shave (this due to Leo McKern having changed his appearance within the almost year-long period which separated the filming of the 2 episodes). Both he and Number 48 a young modishly-dressed man are in turn interrogated by the President as examples of two types of "revolt." Number 48 refuses to cooperate and creates a general ruckus by causing the delegates to break into a rendition of "Dem Bones" before he is restrained. Number 2 asks why he was revived and defies the authority of the mechanical eye. Both men are then taken away, secured until The Man's "inauguration." The President explains how these "two forms of revolt the first, unco-ordinated youth, rebelling against nothing it can define; the second, an established, successful, secure member of the establishment turning upon and biting the hand that feeds him" are attitudes which are "dangerous. They contribute nothing to our culture, and are to be stamped out." As for the third form of revolt, that of Number Six, The President says that the assembly is "honoured to have with us a revolutionary of a different calibre. He has revolted resisted, fought held fast, maintained, destroyed resistance, overcome coercion. The right to be person someone or individual. We applaud his private war and concede that despite materialistic efforts, he has survived intact and secure." At which point he shows The Man his home is being prepared for his return, and gives him traveller's cheques, a passport, and the keys to his London home and car. "All that remains", The President proclaims, "is recognition of a man a man of steel a man magnificently equipped to lead us." The President then offers The Man a choice: "lead us or go." The Man asks "why" he's being given a choice, to which The President responds, "You have been such an example to us." The Man asks "why" after each subsequent explanation: * "You have convinced us of our mistakes." * "You're pure, you know the way. Show us." * "Your revolt is good and honest. You are the only individual. We need you." "I see," The Man finally says, to which The President responds: "You see all." He then invites The Man to address the assembly, but, after mounting the rostrum The Man can only repeatedly utter "I feel..." before the assembly drowns him out by shouting the word "I" repeatedly whilst clapping and pounding on their desks more and more menacingly. The Man is then led to "meet Number 1" and passes Number 48 and Number 2 being held in transparent tubes labeled "Orbit 48" and "Orbit 2" next to an empty tube labeled "Orbit" with no number. The Man then sees the hooded figure of Number 1, watching surveillance videos of Number 6, and tries to unmask the figure, first revealing a gorilla mask, then a man with his own features, before the figure flees laughing in a semi-hysterical fashion. Giving chase, The Man locks him in a room overhead. As he leaves the metal cylinder, The Man realizes it is a rocket, and the cavern an underground launch pad. We hear the ''Toccata and Fugue in D Minor'' as he starts the launch sequence, sending the assembly and The President into a panic and the whole Village into a mass evacuation. The Man frees Numbers 2 and 48 and, along with the Butler, they gun down the armed guards, killing several. All four make their escape in the caged room, now revealed to be on the bed of a Scammell Highwayman low loader. As they exit the Village, the enormous rocket launches overhead. The last shot of the Village in the series shows it completely evacuated. Rover (the security of The Village) deflates and is destroyed (to the accompaniment of "I, Yi, Yi, Yi, Yi (I Like You Very Much)") upon exposure to the flames of the rocket's exhaust. The escapees find themselves driving along the A20 road a mere 27 miles from London (this being an apparent contradiction with the location of The Village being elsewhere, as previously shown in the episodes "The Chimes of Big Ben" and "Many Happy Returns") and Number 48 alights and proceeds to hitch-hike. The remaining three continue to London, stopping outside Westminster Palace. Number 2 thanks The Man and enters the building via the Peers' Entrance, while The Man and the Butler return to The Man's former residence where his Lotus 7 sports car awaits. As The Man drives off, the door to his home opens for the Butler in the same automatic manner as the doors in the Village. The door bears the number "1" (as it always had in previous episodes). The final moments repeat the show's usual opening sequence, without the music or the cloudy sky shot, showing The Man driving at high speed towards the viewer. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Fall Out (The Prisoner)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|