THE PRISONER EPISODES FA CUP
"What
physically happens if I win?"
Number
Six, "Free For All".
One of the most enjoyable series of debates about The Prisoner on the alt.tv.prisoner newsgroup in recent years was "The Prisoner Episodes FA Cup".
The idea was quite simple. Two Prisoner Episodes were randomly drawn against each other, and readers had to give points"for and against" each episode, with the Episode getting the most support during the debate going into the next round until there was only one Episode remaining - the winner!
The debates often made very interesting reading, particularly during the early "rounds", so The Unmutual is proud to present you with direct links to the debates.
To go direct to Google's Archives for each debate, or "match", click on the match you would like to read about (then click "complete thread"). Please note that "Arrival" was not included in the "cup", as the format required 16 Episodes and as "Arrival" was the first Episode it was felt that it would be the most difficult to compare to any other.
ROUND ONE:
Living in Harmony vs The Schizoid Man
Once Upon a Time vs Free For All
Girl Who Was Death vs Many Happy Returns
The Chimes of Big Ben vs It's Your Funeral
Do Not Forsake Me vs Checkmate
The General vs Hammer Into Anvil
QUARTER FINALS:
Living in Harmony vs Once Upon a Time
Checkmate vs The Chimes of Big Ben
Hammer Into Anvil vs Many Happy Returns
SEMI FINALS:
Checkmate vs Hammer Into Anvil
THE FINAL:
The winner of the Prisoner Episodes FA Cup was Checkmate. The format was later used on the newsgroup for the "Number Two Championship", in which all the Number Two characters were pitted against each other. Not surprisingly, Leo McKern's Number Two won fairly comfortably, beating Peter Wyngarde's character in the Final.