History Recap / ThePrisonerE6TheGeneral

* ArmorPiercingQuestion: "Why?"

* MeaningfulName: Number Twelve turns out to be a moral equal to Number Six: "Six of One, Half-Dozen to Another". He collaborates with Six to end a project that threatens everyone's free will.
* OffTheShelfFX: The strange doll-hand device that takes entry tokens was actually a toy "Thing Bank", a licensed [[Series/TheAddamsFamily Addams Family]] variation of a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Useless_machine useless machine]]. Rumour has it Creator/PatrickMcGoohan himself asked to incorporate the toy into the episode.
* OneSteveLimit: Averted; this is the second time a Number Twelve appears in the series, just after "[[Recap/ThePrisonerE5TheSchizoidMan The Schizoid Man]]".

* SleepLearning: A major focus, though of course, the Village always attempts to subvert "learning" with "re-education"

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/number_six_bust.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:According to Number Two, Number Six is a fellow with a tendency to overdo things.]]

* {{Zeerust}}: The General turns out to be a room-sized [[TheSixties 60s era]] set of computers with spinning reels of magnetic tape and operating by punchcard commands. Patrick [=MacGoohan=] later noted by the 1980s that the General could get outmatched by [[TechnologyMarchesOn a single desktop computer with a floppy disk]].

* DefeatEqualsExplosion: Instead of just shutting down and producing an error message like any normal computer, the General proceeds to redline its meter, produce copious smoke, and electrocute its creators.

Six makes an actual ally in the Village called Number Twelve (Creator/JohnCastle) who is worried there is a plot which could expand the Village's influence tremendously. This turns out to be a computer which is capable of brainwashing large numbers of people via a hypnotic green beam and instilling a vast amount of rote knowledge.

* TheUnreveal: [[spoiler:We never find out ''why'' Number Twelve betrayed Number Two in trying to stop the Village's plan to use The General to brainwash entire populations. It's hinted he was friends with the Professor and his wife, but we're never given a definitive answer.]]

Number Six sees sinister implications in a Village plan for mass education. A local professor who teaches there and his wife answer to someone called "The General." Meanwhile, Six makes an actual ally in the Village called Number Twelve who is worried there is a plot which could expand the Village's influence tremendously. This turns out to be a computer which is capable of brainwashing large numbers of people via a hypnotic green beam and instilling a vast amount of rote knowledge.

* OffTheShelfFX: The strange doll-hand device that takes entry tokens was actually a toy "Thing Bank", a licensed [[Series/TheAddamsFamily Addams Family]] variation of a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Useless_machine useless machine]]. Rumour has it [=McGoohan=] himself asked to incorporate the toy into the episode.

* OffTheShelfFX: The strange doll-hand device that takes entry tokens was actually a toy "Thing Bank", a licensed [[Series/TheAddamsFamily Addams Family]] variation of a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Useless_machine useless machine]]. Rumor has it [=McGoohan=] himself asked to incorporate the toy into the episode.

** As Number Six points out to Number Two, the "education program" would essentially turn everybody into "cabbages," lined up a row and unable to think for themselves.

* AnachronicOrder: This episode depicts the Number Two played by Colin Gordon as confident and authoritative, while the earlier-broadcast "[[Recap/ThePrisonerE4ABAndC A, B & C]]" depicted him as a neurotic wreck terrified of his superiors. A common fan interpretation is that this episode occurs first and that its events explain the character's mental deterioration in the other.

* AnachronicOrder: This episode depicts the Number Two played by Colin Gordon as confident and authoritative, while the earlier-broadcast "A, B & C" depicted him as a neurotic wreck terrified of his superiors. A common fan interpretation is that this episode occurs first and that its events explain the character's mental deterioration in the other.

* CallBack: The episode has a bust of Leo McKern's Number 2.

* OneSteveLimit: Averted; this is the second time a Number Twelve appears in the series, just after "The Schizoid Man."

** As Number Six points out to Number Two, the "education program" would essentially turn everybody into "cabbages," lined up a row and unable to think for themselves.

* OffTheShelfFX: The strange doll-hand device that takes entry tokens was actually a toy "Thing Bank", a commercial variation of a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Useless_machine useless machine]]. Rumor has it [=McGoohan=] himself asked to incorporate the toy into the episode.

* Zeerust: The General turns out to be a room-sized [[TheSixties 60s era]] set of computers with spinning reels of magnetic tape and operating by punchcard commands. Patrick [=MacGoohan=] later noted by the 1980s that the General could get outmatched by [[TechnologyMarchesOn a single desktop computer with a floppy disk]].

* NamesTheSame: This is the second time a Number Twelve appears in the series, just after "The Schizoid Man."
** It's also a MeaningfulName relating to Number Six ("Six of One Half-Dozen to Another"). This Number Twelve happens to be a moral equal to Six and freely working with Six to end a project that threatens everyone's free will.
** On a Meta level, there's an extra in this episode played by [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Fleming_(actor) Ian Fleming]]. He's '''not''' the Creator/IanFleming who wrote the ''Literature/JamesBond'' novels: ''he'' died in 1964 before production on this series even started. [[MindScrew Unless you think the Village faked his death,]] since after all the novelist Ian Fleming was a spy during the Second World War...

* TechnologyMarchesOn: Also file under {{Zeerust}}. The General turns out to be a room-sized [[TheSixties 60s era]] set of computers with spinning reels of magnetic tape and operating by punchcard commands. Patrick [=MacGoohan=] later noted by the 1980s that the General could get outmatched by a single desktop computer with a floppy disk.

** On a Meta level, there's an extra in this episode played by [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Fleming_(actor) Ian Fleming]]. He's '''not''' the Ian Fleming who wrote the JamesBond novels: ''he'' died in 1964 before production on this series even started. [[MindScrew Unless you think the Village faked his death,]] since after all the novelist Ian Fleming was a spy during the Second World War...

* TechnologyMarchesOn: Also file under {{Zeerust}}. The General turns out to be a room-sized [[TheSixties 60s era]] set of computers with spinning reels of magnetic tape and operating by punchcard commands. Patrick MacGoohan later noted by the 1980s that the General could get outmatched by a single desktop computer with a floppy disk.

* AnachronicOrder: This episode depicts the Number Two played by Colin Gordon as confident and authoritative, while the earlier-broadcast "A, B & C" depicted him as a neurotic wreck terrified of his superiors. A common fan interpretation is that this episode occurs first and that its events explain the character's mental deterioration.

Number Six sees sinister implications in a Village plan for mass education. A local professor who teaches there and his wife answer to someone called "The General." Meanwhile, Six makes an actual ally in the Village called Number Twelve who is worried there is a plot which could expand the Village's influence tremendously. This turns out to be a computer which is capable of brainwashing large numbers of people via a hypnotic green beam and instilling vast number of facts.

* AnachronicOrder: This episode depicts the Number Two played by Colin Jeavons as confident and authoritative, while the earlier-broadcast "A, B & C" depicted him as a neurotic wreck terrified of his superiors. A common fan interpretation is that this episode occurs first and that its events explain the character's mental deterioration.

* LogicBomb: Six drops one of these on the General.

Number Six sees sinister implications in a Village plan for mass education.

Number Six sees sinister implications in a Village plan for mass education.