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Fall Out cover

 
 

Fall Out: the Unofficial and Unauthorised Guide to The Prisoner
By Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
Telos Publishing 2007
RRP £16.99

Released 19 August 2007

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'The whole Earth ... as the Village.'
'That is my hope. What's yours?'
'I'd like to be the first man on the moon.'

The Prisoner's impact upon society was explosive, transforming art, storytelling and popular culture like no other television programme before or since. Patrick McGoohan spearheaded the project in his role as an unnamed man, held against his will in a strange isolated Italianate village, tormented by a succession of individuals, each calling themselves 'Number 2', whose true motivations and intentions towards him remain a constant mystery. The man, known only as 'Number 6', attempts escape, is befriended and betrayed, undergoes hallucinogenic journeys, and experiences strange revelations, before the series achieved its cathartic climax.

  The Prisoner was ahead of its time, and in this book, Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore, authors of Liberation: the Unofficial and Unauthorized Guide to Blake's 7, take on the task of debriefing the programme and attempting to make sense of the many interpretations and readings which have been placed on it. This is not the book with all the answers.... but it may help you ask the right questions.

 With a foreword by Ian Rakoff, film editor and original writer of the The Prisoner episode "Living in Harmony".

Critical Acclaim:

"This will make an ideal viewing companion and offers a comprehensive overview of the cultural impact, themes and production of the programme. Hardcore fans... will find it a useful quick reference and an enjoyable read. And if you are new to the wonders of The Prisoner this is the perfect starting point for you. Possibly the best guide Telos have published so far."
--Action TV Magazine

"McGoohan's aim was to let the viewer decide for themselves what the series means, and again credit to Moore and Stevens who do not propose to give a definitive answer to the questions posed by the episodes, but instead throw up some ideas and let the reader decide what could and not could not be true... written in an informative yet discussive manner, making it a nice read and not boring.... With each episode is also a few production or "making of" details, to set the scene as to what follows in each chapter, and by and large I think the authors have got that balance about right..... "Fall Out" is highly recommended to Prisoner fans as a companion to the more factual books."
--The Unmutual (The Prisoner News Website)

"Stevens and Moore make some excellent connections and discoveries in their analysis, shining some welcome light on the series' darker and more complicated concepts."
--Deathray Magazine

"Fall Out is one of the more analysis-rich books on the series... [it] will appeal to readers wishing to delve into The Prisoner's concepts, psychology and contexts... detailed discussions of motivations of characters, underlying themes and psychoanalysis."
--Free for All, the magazine of Six of One (The Prisoner Appreciation Society)

"If you’re after a look at most details and dissection about the series, then this will keep you amazed for weeks, not to mention re-watching the series at the same time. It will undoubtedly having your various discussion groups debating points or even things they missed before.... If ‘The Prisoner’ is one of your favourite TV series then this book will be of undoubted interest and a requirement to your collection. If you are of a younger age and discovering the series being re-released on DVD any time soon then this book will give you certain insight into what is going on beneath the surface. "
-G.F. Wilmets, SciFiCrowsnest.co.uk

"This book offers an analysis of every episode of The Prisoner plus all officially published (to date) Prisoner fiction. I would class this work as semi-academic, in that it has clearly been written on the foundation of disciplined research, but in such a way that it should be accessible to most readers.... the authors succeed in drawing out a number of themes for the reader to engage with. In summary: one of the better works on The Prisoner."
--D.M. Thompson, Amazon.com 

"Number Six filed and indexed... microscopic analyses of the episodes... thoughtful essays and chapters on unused storylines and spin-off fiction complete the package."
--SFX Magazine

Interviews with the Authors:

TV You Grew Up With Podcast

 

Cover illustration copyright Lee Binding.

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