The Prisoner/The General

The General
Season 1, Episode 6
Airdate	November 5, 1967
Written by	Joshua Adam
Directed by	Peter Graham Scott
← 1x05 The Schizoid Man	1x07 → Many Happy Returns
The Prisoner — Season One

The General is the sixth episode of the first season of The Prisoner. A new human experiment which boasts the ability to teach an entire course in three minutes sweeps the Village, but the so-called General may not be all that it seems from the propaganda.

Starring: Patrick McGoohan (Number Six)

Guest Stars: Colin Gordon (Number Two), John Castle (Number Twelve), Peter Howell (Professor)

with Angelo Muscat (The Butler), Al Mancini (Announcer), Betty McDowall (Professor's Wife), Peter Swanwick (Supervisor), Conrad Phillips (Doctor), Michael Miller (Man in Buggy)

and Keith Pyott (Waiter), Ian Fleming (Man at Cafe and First Top Hat), Norman Mitchell (Mechanic), Peter Bourne (Projection Operator), George Leech (First Corridor Guard), Jackie Cooper (Second Corridor Guard)

Plot Overview

Number Six is sitting in the cafe when an announcement from the office of the general comes over the loud speakers, telling all students to return to their dwellings for a history lesson from the professor. The propaganda strewn about the village declares that the professor can deliver a three year course in three minutes. Six is approached by a man who sings the professor's praises and describes himself as "a cog in the machine." The two go their separate ways and Six watches a mob of people chase after the professor and drag him away from the beach. Six uncovers something similar to a tape recorder which plays a message from the professor. He buries the machine in the sand and is given a lift home by a tram operator.

At his home, Number Six watches the lecture broadcast, where a representative of the General and the professor's wife are desperately stalling for time. The professor eventually comes on air and explains that speed learning has rendered him obsolete and is a revolution in teaching, but before he begins the lesson the representative comes back on and tells the audience that they'll be learning about Europe since Napoleon in 15 seconds flat. A close-up image of a man appears on screen and for 15 seconds, Number Six is transfixed by the image. A tone sounds, he drops his drink and Number Two enter Six's home, looking for the recording device Six found on the beach. Naturally, they don't find it, but Number Two takes great joy in proving that the 15 second lecture worked by testing Six on European history.

Following curfew, Number Six goes back to the beach to dig up the recorder with the Professor's notes. When it's not where he left it, he discovers the "cog" in the bushes with the recorder. He hands it over freely, but not before being quizzed one more time. Except this time, the man asks a different question and Six gets it wrong. After the man leaves, Six plays the tape and hears the professor plead with his students to destroy the general because "speed learning is slavery."

The next morning, Number 12 suggests to his superior that the professor's antics have gone on too far. He is berated by Number Two for being insubordinate and giving his unsolicited opinion. Number Two leaves his office to spy on the professor's treatment at the hospital and also watches Number Six at the seminar, an unusual move for him. He slyly implies that the professor's wife is actually the general by drawing a picture of her wearing a military uniform, but she tells him that he's wasting his time. After making his intentions known to the professor's wife, Number Six sneaks into the professor's home. She catches him again and explains that they came to the village voluntarily. He also exposes the professor as a phony double created by the wife.

That night, following a large party in celebration of speed learning, Number Six goes back to his home and his circuit panel blows out. The man from earlier offers him a chance to deliver the professor's true lecture about the destruction of the General by giving him a pass into the general's office and a gold pen. Six follows through on this by blending in with the other board members in charge of the lecture. After gaining access to the offices, Six knocks out the two guards outside of the projection booth and then disposes of the projectionist before replacing the first lecture with the true lecture hidden inside the pen. Before long, Number Two notices that Number Six has replaced the projectionist and has him taken away just before the beginning of the lecture.

Number Six is interrogated in the board room by Number Two and the man who gave him the pen. Number two takes Six and the guards along with him to see the General, which turns out to be a sophisticated computer system which broadcasts subliminal lessons. Number Two suggests that soon they will be making their own history and beckons the professor to write out several points in order to get an answer about what to do with Number Six and Number 12. Six suggests that there's a question that the general cannot answer and prompts Number Two to feed it into the machine. He makes the professor do it and the computer shortly bursts into flames. Number 12 sacrifices his life to safe the professor, but both are seemingly killed in the accident.

Number Two demands to know what question Number Six fed into the machine. Six simply tells him, "Why?"