This one tests one's patience when it come to motivations. To start with we must accept the fact that a method has been developed for transferring one's thoughts from one person to another. In an effort to find out why Number Six resigned, his thoughts are transferred to the Colonel's. It is hoped that somehow in a new state, back to his home and his fiancée, he will spill the secret. There are some interesting things that happen as the Colonel invades private territory, not in body but in mind. There are all sorts of secret things going on and it directly involve the pretty young woman who would have married Number Six. The methods for solving codes is somewhat ingenious and the efforts to find the man who made the machine, but it somehow doesn't ring very true. An episode that is too much over the top.
12 Reviews
Swapped
AaronCapenBanner9 June 2015
Number six(Patrick McGoohan) is stunned to find out one day that his body is no longer his own, as he has been used in a new device that has swapped his mind in another man's body, in this case called the colonel(played by Nigel Stock) and now he must find the inventor whom he once knew in order to reverse the process, which is exactly what the village wants, and why it has released him from his prison - sort of- since he most certainly wants his old body back! Easily the least in the canon doesn't look or feel at all like a part of the series, and is even absurd really(with an unconvincing fiancée!), but a neat twist ending compensates.
"Do We Know Where Seltzman Is?"
ShadeGrenade21 September 2006
Warning: Spoilers
Originally titled 'Face Unknown', this was made as a 'fill-in' because McGoohan was busy with the filming of 'Ice Station Zebra' for M.G.M. It begins with The Colonel ( Nigel Stock ) arriving by helicopter in The Village. Number 2 ( Clifford Evans ) reveals to him the existence of a 'mind swap' machine, invented by Professor Jacob Seltzman ( Hugo Schuster ), who has gone into hiding. The process cannot be reversed, hence Seltzman is needed.
Number 6 is knocked out by guards, and taken to hospital. When he awakes, he is back in his London flat, all unhappy memories of The Village gone. He looks in a mirror, yet sees a stranger's face - the Colonel's. His fiancée Janet Portland ( Zena Walker ) comes calling, having spotted the Lotus 7 parked outside. A year has gone by, yet he remembers nothing of it. She does not recognise him. He smashes the mirror with his fist. There is only one thing he can do - search for the man who can help him: Seltzman. This is, of course, what The Village want him to do, every step of The Prisoner's quest is shadowed by an undertaker ( William Lyon Brown )...
Stock gives a remarkable performance as 'The Colonel/Number 6', capturing accurately the steely determination of McGoohan's character, while Evans' 'Number Two' is so impressive one wishes he'd been brought back. His 'we could break the security of any nation' speech is wonderfully delivered. Walker shines in her few scenes as Number 6's faithful fiancée.
In their book 'Fall Out', Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore state that nobody has a good word to say about this story. I think it is a brilliant, entertaining instalment, a breath of fresh air coming after a steady run of Village-based episodes. It works even though McGoohan is barely on screen, and veers closely at times into 'Danger Man' territory, particularly the Austrian and London party scenes. Had a second season been made - with Number Six chased across the world by his ex-captors - this is how it might have looked. Clips from previous episodes are put to good use too.
Vincent Tilsley's script was later published, and after reading it, I for one am glad it was rewritten. The original had 'Sir Charles' ( John Wentworth ) reporting to a shadowy figure who is clearly connected to The Village ( Number 1? ). The 'mind swap' machine idea was old hat, a standard spy series cliché most recently done in 'The Avengers' romp - 'Who's Who?' - and whilst a pretty contrived way of explaining the star's absence it is better than having Number 6 vanish in a magician's cabinet ( a thankfully rejected idea ).
Some have grumbled that the Village do not really need Seltzman, when all they have to do to reverse the mind-swap process is to run it again. Obviously this must have been tried, and did not work. Perhaps the subjects died when the reversal was attempted. As for the final scene in which Seltzman escapes from the Village by helicopter ( having first transferred his mind into the Colonel's body ), we must assume that by the time Number Two realised what had happened the chopper had flown beyond the point where it could be retrieved. It is strange that 'Prisoner' fans can devise countless explanations for the bizarre concluding episode, yet seem incapable of ironing out inconsistencies in other episodes.
Number 6 is knocked out by guards, and taken to hospital. When he awakes, he is back in his London flat, all unhappy memories of The Village gone. He looks in a mirror, yet sees a stranger's face - the Colonel's. His fiancée Janet Portland ( Zena Walker ) comes calling, having spotted the Lotus 7 parked outside. A year has gone by, yet he remembers nothing of it. She does not recognise him. He smashes the mirror with his fist. There is only one thing he can do - search for the man who can help him: Seltzman. This is, of course, what The Village want him to do, every step of The Prisoner's quest is shadowed by an undertaker ( William Lyon Brown )...
Stock gives a remarkable performance as 'The Colonel/Number 6', capturing accurately the steely determination of McGoohan's character, while Evans' 'Number Two' is so impressive one wishes he'd been brought back. His 'we could break the security of any nation' speech is wonderfully delivered. Walker shines in her few scenes as Number 6's faithful fiancée.
In their book 'Fall Out', Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore state that nobody has a good word to say about this story. I think it is a brilliant, entertaining instalment, a breath of fresh air coming after a steady run of Village-based episodes. It works even though McGoohan is barely on screen, and veers closely at times into 'Danger Man' territory, particularly the Austrian and London party scenes. Had a second season been made - with Number Six chased across the world by his ex-captors - this is how it might have looked. Clips from previous episodes are put to good use too.
Vincent Tilsley's script was later published, and after reading it, I for one am glad it was rewritten. The original had 'Sir Charles' ( John Wentworth ) reporting to a shadowy figure who is clearly connected to The Village ( Number 1? ). The 'mind swap' machine idea was old hat, a standard spy series cliché most recently done in 'The Avengers' romp - 'Who's Who?' - and whilst a pretty contrived way of explaining the star's absence it is better than having Number 6 vanish in a magician's cabinet ( a thankfully rejected idea ).
Some have grumbled that the Village do not really need Seltzman, when all they have to do to reverse the mind-swap process is to run it again. Obviously this must have been tried, and did not work. Perhaps the subjects died when the reversal was attempted. As for the final scene in which Seltzman escapes from the Village by helicopter ( having first transferred his mind into the Colonel's body ), we must assume that by the time Number Two realised what had happened the chopper had flown beyond the point where it could be retrieved. It is strange that 'Prisoner' fans can devise countless explanations for the bizarre concluding episode, yet seem incapable of ironing out inconsistencies in other episodes.
Great Episode Has A Totally Different Feel To It
verbusen22 August 2009
Warning: Spoilers
Revision from my 2009 review after watching this again in 2020. I'm probably in the minority on this episode but I can highly recommend this episode. McGoohan was filming a movie (Ice Station Zebra) so this episode and I believe the episode "The Girl Who Was Death" use body doubles, flashbacks and another actor all together here to get the story told. I watched the Prisoner as a very young lad when it first aired on CBS, and then avidly in High School on PBS in the late 70's, and I don't recall ever seeing this one until I purchased the A&E DVD set. Maybe that's why I like it so much, I have not seen it too many times. I really enjoy the scene where he is driving to his old bosses underground office and then in the weird office lift as they go up with the semi techno music playing and McGoohan's voice thinking to himself thoughts such as "is there a reversal process? Pity if there isn't." lol, classic. The story, like many of these in the series has at least one major plot fault that seems really obvious to me, that being in the end when number 2 knows that Dr Seltzman is now alive in a younger mans body flying away but still over the village, why doesn't he just recall the helo back? A more intelligent ending would have been the Colonel flying away and we hear the Doctors voice in thought saying "I've done it!" But I can forgive it for that as overall I think this is one cool episode and I do also like the actor that McGoohan's mind is placed into, character actor Nigel Stock. I am now reminded of this Prisoner episode every time I see Stock like in 2020 when I was watching a boring, depressing film with him (co star in The High Bright Sun); upon which I turned off the film half way in to watch this Prisoner again! After my 2020 viewing, I picked up that he was engaged to a woman named Janet, which is my wife's name , she got a kick out of that! This one is very different from the rest of the series and should not be the first one viewed as an introduction. At episode 12, it is a nice change of pace and will keep your interest in the series to it's best episode IMO "Once Upon A Time." 9 of 10. If you really start to get into this series like I have, this series is legend in England (at least during the 20th century it was), they have done a TON of specials on this show which can be found on Youtube.com. Look for the one where McGoohan is interviewed on Canadian TV, it's a very insightful one hour with great details and his motivations on how the series was made. Be seeing you.
Finally a good episode
andrew1211121111 November 2020
After a series of very average slow episodes we finally get a nice fast moving one which is both exciting and intriguing. For McGoohan fans this one doesn't really feature him at all but for me that doesn't matter. A brilliant script, give it a watch.
Making the best of it
Mr-Fusion12 October 2017
Trivia has it that Patrick McGoohan was off filming "Ice Station Zebra" but the production schedule must be kept. Give the writers credit for dealing with the problem, and mind transference sure is a handy storytelling fix. But if anything, it's proof that you can't have "The Prisoner" without its star. It's a particularly flat episode, and despite its wealth of location shooting, I found myself looking forward to returning to the status quo in next week's outing.
5/10
5/10
Bottom of the barrel
GusF17 May 2006
I have to say that this is by a VERY long way, the worst episode of "The Prisoner". It suffers greatly from the fact that Patrick McGoohan is absent for almost the entire episode. The fact that he was the one and only cast member made his absence all the more notable. I missed his brilliant sense of humour, hilarious one-liners (like "Oh, I'll just go to pieces" in "The Girl Who Was Death" and the sheer talent that comes through in each and every one of his performances.
I usually love body swapping episodes in any series but the main attraction of them for me was seeing what the bad guy is doing in the good guy's body because it gives the actor a chance to flex his acting muscles, not what the good guy is doing in the bad guy's. All the Colonel does in Number Six's body is lie semi-conscious on a bed wearing stupid looking goggles! I thought Nigel Stock was a poor substitute for McGoohan as well. He was a good actor but I never really bought that this was the same stubborn and extremely intelligent and resourceful man that I'd watched in the last twelve episodes stuck in another man's body. In fact, the only time he seemed to be acting or even talking like himself was at the very end when his mind was put back into his own body.
One other thing that bothered me was that Seltzman believed that he was who he claimed to be after just comparing two samples of his handwriting, one written while in his own body and the other written while he was in the Colonel's. It could easily just have been forged. A man capable of inventing a machine capable of swapping two peoples' bodies should have realised that. The final twist, however, was brilliant and I did not see that coming at all.
All in all, the low point of "The Prisoner" but every series has to have one fairly poor episode.
I usually love body swapping episodes in any series but the main attraction of them for me was seeing what the bad guy is doing in the good guy's body because it gives the actor a chance to flex his acting muscles, not what the good guy is doing in the bad guy's. All the Colonel does in Number Six's body is lie semi-conscious on a bed wearing stupid looking goggles! I thought Nigel Stock was a poor substitute for McGoohan as well. He was a good actor but I never really bought that this was the same stubborn and extremely intelligent and resourceful man that I'd watched in the last twelve episodes stuck in another man's body. In fact, the only time he seemed to be acting or even talking like himself was at the very end when his mind was put back into his own body.
One other thing that bothered me was that Seltzman believed that he was who he claimed to be after just comparing two samples of his handwriting, one written while in his own body and the other written while he was in the Colonel's. It could easily just have been forged. A man capable of inventing a machine capable of swapping two peoples' bodies should have realised that. The final twist, however, was brilliant and I did not see that coming at all.
All in all, the low point of "The Prisoner" but every series has to have one fairly poor episode.
The point where The Prisoner took a sharp turn for the worse
grantss30 April 2022
Number Six's mind is transferred to another body and he finds himself, in that body, back in his London flat. His friends and former colleagues don't believe it is him and he sets off to Austria to find the one man who can reverse the process.
Until now The Prisoner had been great, an intense, intriguing, intelligent battle of wits and wills between Number Six and a variety of Number Twos and their minions. This episode has none of that and has a plot that hardly makes any sense.
The following episodes were no better and the show never recovered to the anything like the quality of the first 12 episodes. This episode is where the solid writing stopped...for good.
Until now The Prisoner had been great, an intense, intriguing, intelligent battle of wits and wills between Number Six and a variety of Number Twos and their minions. This episode has none of that and has a plot that hardly makes any sense.
The following episodes were no better and the show never recovered to the anything like the quality of the first 12 episodes. This episode is where the solid writing stopped...for good.
A McGoohan-less Episode Practically
Samuel-Shovel1 August 2019
Warning: Spoilers
In "Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling" the government tries to track down the creater of a mind-switching device who's in hiding. The scientist, an old friend of Number Six's, doesn't want his technology used by the world's powers. They use the device to switch Number Six's consciousness with a Colonel.
Now free to roam London as he pleases, Number Six in this colonel's body tries to find his friend through old clues. The government is following him all along and Number Six leads them right to the scientist. They force Professor Seltzman to change the two back. During this, he switched himself into the Colonel's body, switches Number Two back into his own, and leaves the Colonel in the old man's.
With McGoohan out of town during the shooting of this episode, I guess they had to figure out a way to film an episode not needing Number Six and a body swap was the best idea they had. It's not the most elegant solution. They have to jump through a lot of hoops just to avoid spilling Number Six's real name. This episode is also filled with just tons of unnecessary filler.
I think I would have preferred an episode within the Village not focused on Number Two. Maybe we meet some of the other prisoners or just see what Number Two does in his day to day life when not pursuing Number Six. Anything besides this boring plot device.
Also, I like how they write in a fiancee never previously mentioned.
Now free to roam London as he pleases, Number Six in this colonel's body tries to find his friend through old clues. The government is following him all along and Number Six leads them right to the scientist. They force Professor Seltzman to change the two back. During this, he switched himself into the Colonel's body, switches Number Two back into his own, and leaves the Colonel in the old man's.
With McGoohan out of town during the shooting of this episode, I guess they had to figure out a way to film an episode not needing Number Six and a body swap was the best idea they had. It's not the most elegant solution. They have to jump through a lot of hoops just to avoid spilling Number Six's real name. This episode is also filled with just tons of unnecessary filler.
I think I would have preferred an episode within the Village not focused on Number Two. Maybe we meet some of the other prisoners or just see what Number Two does in his day to day life when not pursuing Number Six. Anything besides this boring plot device.
Also, I like how they write in a fiancee never previously mentioned.
Interesting idea but badly executed
Eradan23 January 2022
Warning: Spoilers
Unfortunately, nothing in Nigel Stock's body language, facial expressions, or diction had any resemblance to those of Number Six as portrayed by McGoohan. It might have worked if Nigel Stock had the time and talent to work up a genuine impersonation but clearly one or both of these commodities was absent.
Another (albeit minor) problem was that Janet Portland believed this bizarre story far too easily. Even if she had been aware of Seltzman's work, it would have been a hard sell convincing her that this puffy, late middle-aged man was the same uber-chad she had become engaged to a year earlier.
I rate this episode a '5' on the IMDb scale. It's only worth watching if you're doing the whole series. On it's own, it's mediocre.
Another (albeit minor) problem was that Janet Portland believed this bizarre story far too easily. Even if she had been aware of Seltzman's work, it would have been a hard sell convincing her that this puffy, late middle-aged man was the same uber-chad she had become engaged to a year earlier.
I rate this episode a '5' on the IMDb scale. It's only worth watching if you're doing the whole series. On it's own, it's mediocre.
Let's mess with his character while McGoohan's away...
NellsFlickers7 February 2020
Warning: Spoilers
I purposely saved watching this episode for LAST, knowing it was a "throw away" entry in the series, cobbled together while Patrick McGoohan was in Hollywood filming "Ice Station Zebra".
Firstly, while there are some elaborate sets, the rest of the episode is full of "stock footage" padding from past episodes, the use of obvious doubles and back-screen shots, topped off with a lame plot and silly sci-fi ending.
Second, and more important, is the fact the viewer is finally given a peek into Number Six's private life, which could otherwise have been interesting, if not for the fact Nigel Stock got the honor of showing us the romantic side of Six and not McGoohan himself. Just way too much character development handled the wrong way.
To show us scenes proving that cold-as-ice Number Six, one of TV's sexiest cold-fish, was capable of love and willing to get married, even show him kissing his fiancé, and NOT to involve McGoohan seems like a network taking advantage of his absence to wrestle control of the series from him. Perhaps it was pay-back by the same executives who originally demanded John Drake kiss every female lead in "Danger Man" and lost the battle. I can't believe Mr. McGoohan let it hit the airwaves, though he may not have had a chance to do much about it do to scheduling.
Long-time die-hard fans who have read every single shred of text ever written on the series since the 1960s no doubt know more of the nitty gritty behind this episode than I do at this point, but personally, I think it stinks.
Firstly, while there are some elaborate sets, the rest of the episode is full of "stock footage" padding from past episodes, the use of obvious doubles and back-screen shots, topped off with a lame plot and silly sci-fi ending.
Second, and more important, is the fact the viewer is finally given a peek into Number Six's private life, which could otherwise have been interesting, if not for the fact Nigel Stock got the honor of showing us the romantic side of Six and not McGoohan himself. Just way too much character development handled the wrong way.
To show us scenes proving that cold-as-ice Number Six, one of TV's sexiest cold-fish, was capable of love and willing to get married, even show him kissing his fiancé, and NOT to involve McGoohan seems like a network taking advantage of his absence to wrestle control of the series from him. Perhaps it was pay-back by the same executives who originally demanded John Drake kiss every female lead in "Danger Man" and lost the battle. I can't believe Mr. McGoohan let it hit the airwaves, though he may not have had a chance to do much about it do to scheduling.
Long-time die-hard fans who have read every single shred of text ever written on the series since the 1960s no doubt know more of the nitty gritty behind this episode than I do at this point, but personally, I think it stinks.
WATCH FOR SPOILERS!
aramis-112-8048801 May 2022
Warning: Spoilers
Poor Nigel Stock. Best known in America as Cavendish in "The Great Escape," where he gave a delightful performance, he was naturally a more familiar face in England. Still, England or America, he found himself stuck filling in for the dynamic Patrick McGoohan on basically what in America is called a "clip show."
A clip show is an episode of a regular series TV show with minimal work from the principals and relying on "clips" of old episodes. They are usually place-holders in a series that has fallen behind schedule, or worked in the schedule to give the principals a breather. In this case, McGoohan was off gallivanting in Hollywood, making a movie with big American stars. And commanding them. But not joining them because, like it or not, in America stars must be commanding, yet with humility. Think Jimmy Stewart.
The conceit of this episode is that a fellow known as "The Colonel" (Stock, playing a character we know nothing about) gets his mind swapped with no. 6's. 6 will then be sent to find a missing scientist and won't get his own body returned to him until he does. Men, which body would you rather inhabit?
The whole mind-swapping thing was better done in "The Avengers: Who's Who?" with the never-boring Freddie Jones as the baddie assuming the body of John Steed. That episode took a little time setting up what Jones' character was about. And the actual mind-swapping ritual was better done. And then Patrick MacNee played Freddie Jones' character playing him while Jones played his version of MacNee's Steed. All clear? Here we have no.6 inhabiting the body of a Colonel we neither know nor care about (we know 6 is in there because McGoohan did thinking voice-overs). What we don't see is Stock acting like no 6 is inside him. So far as I can tell, Stock makes no attempt to pretend he's no. 6 with a different facade.
Spoilers! Curiously, though McGoohan is MIA, here we learn more about no.6's pre-Village life than from all the other episodes combined, to that time. Only A. B. C. Comes close (leaving aside the scrapbook from "Arrival"--after all, a fiance in the offing is more important than knowing he likes lemon tea).
This "Stock" episode is the Rodney Dangerfield of the series. It don't get no respect. In many cases, rightfully so. True, it's not as claustrophobic as other episodes, but claustrophobia is part of what prison is all about.
When we all more or less accepted McGoohan's big lie that they couldn't think up more than 17 or so ideas for "The Prisoner," we wondered how he counted that high, with all these wacky episodes dangling at the end of its run. "The Girl Who Was Death" was pure fun but like "Living in Harmony" seemed to have little connection with the Village and its Green Dome, its roaring weather balloons and its Mostly Harmless clientele. I always wanted more episodes exploring the village. Especially after meeting so many characters who weren't Kool-ade drinkers, played by interesting actors like John Castle, Jane Merrow, Rosalie Crutchley and Annette Andre. The slow building of opposition cells looked like a promising theme. Alas. In the last episode all those good, noble, interesting people get blown to Kingdom Come while no. 6 escapes with a butler, a former no.2 and whatever Alexis Kanner is supposed to be. No females escaped. Mysogeny.
Is this episode boring? Yes. Is it skippable? I don't know. It is cannonical, which is the best you can say for it. Me? If I want a good brain-swapping I'll revisit Mrs. Peel.
A clip show is an episode of a regular series TV show with minimal work from the principals and relying on "clips" of old episodes. They are usually place-holders in a series that has fallen behind schedule, or worked in the schedule to give the principals a breather. In this case, McGoohan was off gallivanting in Hollywood, making a movie with big American stars. And commanding them. But not joining them because, like it or not, in America stars must be commanding, yet with humility. Think Jimmy Stewart.
The conceit of this episode is that a fellow known as "The Colonel" (Stock, playing a character we know nothing about) gets his mind swapped with no. 6's. 6 will then be sent to find a missing scientist and won't get his own body returned to him until he does. Men, which body would you rather inhabit?
The whole mind-swapping thing was better done in "The Avengers: Who's Who?" with the never-boring Freddie Jones as the baddie assuming the body of John Steed. That episode took a little time setting up what Jones' character was about. And the actual mind-swapping ritual was better done. And then Patrick MacNee played Freddie Jones' character playing him while Jones played his version of MacNee's Steed. All clear? Here we have no.6 inhabiting the body of a Colonel we neither know nor care about (we know 6 is in there because McGoohan did thinking voice-overs). What we don't see is Stock acting like no 6 is inside him. So far as I can tell, Stock makes no attempt to pretend he's no. 6 with a different facade.
Spoilers! Curiously, though McGoohan is MIA, here we learn more about no.6's pre-Village life than from all the other episodes combined, to that time. Only A. B. C. Comes close (leaving aside the scrapbook from "Arrival"--after all, a fiance in the offing is more important than knowing he likes lemon tea).
This "Stock" episode is the Rodney Dangerfield of the series. It don't get no respect. In many cases, rightfully so. True, it's not as claustrophobic as other episodes, but claustrophobia is part of what prison is all about.
When we all more or less accepted McGoohan's big lie that they couldn't think up more than 17 or so ideas for "The Prisoner," we wondered how he counted that high, with all these wacky episodes dangling at the end of its run. "The Girl Who Was Death" was pure fun but like "Living in Harmony" seemed to have little connection with the Village and its Green Dome, its roaring weather balloons and its Mostly Harmless clientele. I always wanted more episodes exploring the village. Especially after meeting so many characters who weren't Kool-ade drinkers, played by interesting actors like John Castle, Jane Merrow, Rosalie Crutchley and Annette Andre. The slow building of opposition cells looked like a promising theme. Alas. In the last episode all those good, noble, interesting people get blown to Kingdom Come while no. 6 escapes with a butler, a former no.2 and whatever Alexis Kanner is supposed to be. No females escaped. Mysogeny.
Is this episode boring? Yes. Is it skippable? I don't know. It is cannonical, which is the best you can say for it. Me? If I want a good brain-swapping I'll revisit Mrs. Peel.
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