“Science progresses because scientists, instead of running away from such troublesome phenomena or hushing them up, are constantly seeking them out.
In the same way, there will be progress in Christian knowledge only as long as we accept the challenge of the difficult or repellent doctrines.
A ‘liberal’ Christianity which considers itself free to alter the Faith whenever the Faith looks perplexing or repellent must be completely stagnant.
Progress is made only into a resisting material.”
— C.S. Lewis,
Christian Apologetics
An attribute of the penny-farthing is that the rider sits high and nearly over the front axle.
When the wheel strikes rocks and ruts, or under hard braking, the rider can be pitched forward off the bicycle head-first.
Headers were relatively common and a significant, sometimes fatal, hazard.
Riders coasting down hills often took their feet off the pedals and put them over the tops of the handlebars, so they would be pitched off feet-first instead of head-first.
Although easy to ride slowly because of their high center of mass and the inverted pendulum effect, penny-farthings are prone to accidents.
To stop, the rider presses back on the pedals while applying a spoon-shaped brake pressing the tire.
The center of mass being high and not far behind the front wheel means any sudden stop or collision with a pothole or other obstruction can send the rider over the handlebars.
On long downhills, some riders hooked their feet over the handlebars.
This made for quick descents but left
no chance of stopping.
A new type of handlebar was introduced, called Whatton bars, that looped behind the legs so that riders could still keep their feet on the pedals and also be able to leap forward feet-first off the machine.
David Foster Wallace on Commercial Literature and Reading
McGoohan:
I think we're progressing too fast.
I think that we should pull back and consolidate the things that we've discovered.
I think we're progressing too fast.
I think that we should pull back and consolidate the things that we've discovered.
Fifth Boy:
Mr. McGoohan, when you began "The Prisoner," you began it in a decade in which a lot of people were used to secret agents.
You very neatly saw the next decade coming.
I thing you saw Watergate; The Enemy Within as opposed to The Enemy Without.
I don't know if you can answer this, but if you were going to do the series again and you had to look aged to the 80's and you were thinking in terms of what you see as being the real enemy, not the storybook enemy but the enemy that's really going to hassle us.
If you were going to look into the 80's now, what would you look to?
Mr. McGoohan, when you began "The Prisoner," you began it in a decade in which a lot of people were used to secret agents.
You very neatly saw the next decade coming.
I thing you saw Watergate; The Enemy Within as opposed to The Enemy Without.
I don't know if you can answer this, but if you were going to do the series again and you had to look aged to the 80's and you were thinking in terms of what you see as being the real enemy, not the storybook enemy but the enemy that's really going to hassle us.
If you were going to look into the 80's now, what would you look to?
McGoohan:
I think progress is The Biggest Enemy on Earth,
apart from oneself,
and that goes with oneself,
a two-handed pair with oneself and progress.
I think we're gonna take good care of this planet shortly.
They're making bigger and better bombs, faster planes, and all this stuff one day, I hate to say it, there's never been a weapon created yet on the face of the Earth that hadn't been used and that thing is gonna be used unless...
I don't know how we're gonna stop it, not -- it's too late, I think.
I think progress is The Biggest Enemy on Earth,
apart from oneself,
and that goes with oneself,
a two-handed pair with oneself and progress.
I think we're gonna take good care of this planet shortly.
They're making bigger and better bombs, faster planes, and all this stuff one day, I hate to say it, there's never been a weapon created yet on the face of the Earth that hadn't been used and that thing is gonna be used unless...
I don't know how we're gonna stop it, not -- it's too late, I think.
Fifth Boy:
Do you think maybe there's going to be a strong popular reaction against "Progress" in the future?
Do you think maybe there's going to be a strong popular reaction against "Progress" in the future?
McGoohan:
No -- because we're run by the Pentagon, we're run by Madison Avenue, we're run by television, and as long as we accept those things and don't revolt we'll have to go along with the stream to the eventual avalanche.
No -- because we're run by the Pentagon, we're run by Madison Avenue, we're run by television, and as long as we accept those things and don't revolt we'll have to go along with the stream to the eventual avalanche.
Sixth Boy:
We tend to view the threat, the Village there, as sort of a thing as something external like Madison Avenue, the media.
How responsible are we for accepting this?
Where do we become involved in being "unfree"?
We tend to view the threat, the Village there, as sort of a thing as something external like Madison Avenue, the media.
How responsible are we for accepting this?
Where do we become involved in being "unfree"?
McGoohan:
Buying the product, to excess.
As long as we go out and buy stuff, we're at their mercy.
We're at the mercy of the advertiser and of course there are certain things that we need, but a lot of the stuff that is bought is not needed.
Buying the product, to excess.
As long as we go out and buy stuff, we're at their mercy.
We're at the mercy of the advertiser and of course there are certain things that we need, but a lot of the stuff that is bought is not needed.
Sixth Boy:
Did you regard the Village as an external thing or as something that we carry around with us all the time?
Did you regard the Village as an external thing or as something that we carry around with us all the time?
McGoohan:
It was meant to be both.
The external was the symbol,
but it's within us all I think, don't you?
This surrealist aspect; we all live in a little Village.
It was meant to be both.
The external was the symbol,
but it's within us all I think, don't you?
This surrealist aspect; we all live in a little Village.
Troyer:
Do we?
Do we?
McGoohan: Your village may be different from other people's villages but
we are all prisoners.
we are all prisoners.
Troyer:
Well, I know who The Idiot is in mine...!
Well, I know who The Idiot is in mine...!
McGoohan:
Yes, Number One - same as me.
Yes, Number One - same as me.
Seventh Boy:
Is No. 1 the evil side of man's nature?
Is No. 1 the evil side of man's nature?
McGoohan:
The Greatest Enemy that we have...
No. 1 was depicted as an evil, governing force in this Village.
So, who is this No. 1? We just see the No. 2's, the sidekicks.
Now this overriding, evil force is at its most powerful within ourselves and we have constantly to fight it, I think, and that is why I made No. 1 an image of No. 6.
His other half, his alter ego.
The Greatest Enemy that we have...
No. 1 was depicted as an evil, governing force in this Village.
So, who is this No. 1? We just see the No. 2's, the sidekicks.
Now this overriding, evil force is at its most powerful within ourselves and we have constantly to fight it, I think, and that is why I made No. 1 an image of No. 6.
His other half, his alter ego.
Troyer:
Did you know when you first outlined the series in your own mind, the concept that No. 1 was going to turn out to be you, to be No. 6?
Did you know when you first outlined the series in your own mind, the concept that No. 1 was going to turn out to be you, to be No. 6?
McGoohan:
No, I didn't. That's an interesting question.
No, I didn't. That's an interesting question.
Troyer:
When did you find out?
When did you find out?
McGoohan:
When it got very close to the last episode and I hadn't written it yet.
And I had to sit down this terrible day and write the last episode and I knew it wasn't going to be something out of James Bond, and in the back of my mind there was some parallel with the character Six and the No. 1 and the rest.
And then, I didn't even know exactly 'til I was about the third through the script, the last script.
When it got very close to the last episode and I hadn't written it yet.
And I had to sit down this terrible day and write the last episode and I knew it wasn't going to be something out of James Bond, and in the back of my mind there was some parallel with the character Six and the No. 1 and the rest.
And then, I didn't even know exactly 'til I was about the third through the script, the last script.
Troyer:
How about you colleagues, the other writers.
Were they surprised?
How about you colleagues, the other writers.
Were they surprised?
McGoohan:
Yep..
Yep..
Troyer:
Were they annoyed?
Were they annoyed?
McGoohan:
No.
No.
Troyer:
Did they decide it was untidy?
Did they decide it was untidy?
McGoohan:
No, they used to come along from time to time and say, "Who's No. 1?" you see.
And I told them , "It's a secret" until I actually sat down and wrote it - and it was, actually; they didn't know until I handed out the script.
No, they used to come along from time to time and say, "Who's No. 1?" you see.
And I told them , "It's a secret" until I actually sat down and wrote it - and it was, actually; they didn't know until I handed out the script.
Troyer:
But were they disappointed by that...?
But were they disappointed by that...?
McGoohan:
No, they liked it. They said they always knew it was going to be him.
No, they liked it. They said they always knew it was going to be him.
Troyer: (laughs)
Once you told them.
Once you told them.
McGoohan:
Few of them did really.
Nobody really knew. No.
Few of them did really.
Nobody really knew. No.
Troyer:
Why the double mask?
Why the monkey face?
Why the double mask?
Why the monkey face?
McGoohan:
Oh, dear.
Yeah, well, we're all supposed to come from these things, you know.
It's the same with the penny farthing symbol bicycle thing.
Progress. I don't think we've progressed much.
But the monkey thing was, according to various theories extant today, that we all come from the original ape, so I just used that as a symbol, you know.
The bestial thing and then the other bestial face behind it which was laughing, jeering and jabbering like a monkey.
Oh, dear.
Yeah, well, we're all supposed to come from these things, you know.
It's the same with the penny farthing symbol bicycle thing.
Progress. I don't think we've progressed much.
But the monkey thing was, according to various theories extant today, that we all come from the original ape, so I just used that as a symbol, you know.
The bestial thing and then the other bestial face behind it which was laughing, jeering and jabbering like a monkey.
Eighth Boy:
Mr. McGoohan, during the last episode, Fall Out, we see the Prisoner.
He's smiling and laughing and dancing for the first time and yet later on the very last scene is exactly the some as the very first scene where he's driving off with his familiar stern face.
My Question is, has the Prisoner between the first and the last episode actually changed any?
Mr. McGoohan, during the last episode, Fall Out, we see the Prisoner.
He's smiling and laughing and dancing for the first time and yet later on the very last scene is exactly the some as the very first scene where he's driving off with his familiar stern face.
My Question is, has the Prisoner between the first and the last episode actually changed any?
McGoohan:
Ah, no, I think he's essentially the same.
I think he got slightly exhilarated by the fact that he got out of this mythical place and felt like doing a little skip and a dance, and singing a bit, and felt very happy to be going home with his little buddy, The Butler, you know.
And we never did a cut of him when that door opened.
We just saw the door open and he went in.
So, you never knew whether his exhilaration was lost when he saw that sinister door that was left like an unfinished symphony.
I think he got slightly exhilarated by the fact that he got out of this mythical place and felt like doing a little skip and a dance, and singing a bit, and felt very happy to be going home with his little buddy, The Butler, you know.
And we never did a cut of him when that door opened.
We just saw the door open and he went in.
So, you never knew whether his exhilaration was lost when he saw that sinister door that was left like an unfinished symphony.
Ninth Boy:
In the final episode, does the Prisoner really consider becoming the leader of The Village?
McGoohan:
No. He does not.
He just wants to get out and he uses a technique which he hadn't used before that, which was violence, which is sad, but he does --
And that's how he gets out and then, of course, in the final episode, he goes back to his little apartment place and he has his little valet guy with him and the door opens on its own when he goes in the car.
There you know it's gonna start over again because we continue to be Prisoners.
No. He does not.
He just wants to get out and he uses a technique which he hadn't used before that, which was violence, which is sad, but he does --
And that's how he gets out and then, of course, in the final episode, he goes back to his little apartment place and he has his little valet guy with him and the door opens on its own when he goes in the car.
There you know it's gonna start over again because we continue to be Prisoners.
Ninth Boy:
And that leads to my last question, what would the Prisoner be likely to do with his newfound freedom?
And that leads to my last question, what would the Prisoner be likely to do with his newfound freedom?
McGoohan:
He hasn't got it.
He hasn't got it.
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