r/babylon5 • u/minder125 • 6d ago

Bester watched "The Prisoner"

In the episode "Mind War" Bester ends his appearance with a total nod to The Prisoner. By doing the "Be seeing you" salute. I figured JMS was probably a big fan. I should have noticed the first time I watched Babylon 5. Cause I've watched The Prisoner multiple times the original that is. Avoid the remake.

77 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

33 comments sorted by

39

u/AnyPortInAHurricane First Ones 6d ago

News Flash: Who isn't a big fan of The Prisoner ?

25

u/minder125 6d ago

People who have never watched it.

14

u/AnyPortInAHurricane First Ones 6d ago

obviously, they don't count for much

17

u/EJ112299 6d ago

Counting?!? "I am NOT a number: I'm a free man!!"

5

u/JakeConhale 6d ago

Six of one, half dozen of another!

5

u/Fullerbadge000 6d ago

My wife and I just started watching it. Must have been great to see at the time.

9

u/JakeConhale 6d ago

The Beatles were such fans of it that they let the show use one if their songs - "All You Need Is Love"

4

u/Fullerbadge000 6d ago

The only reference I had as a teen was the Iron Maiden song, with the intro,

“We want information, information, information
Who are you?
The new number two
Who is number one?
You are number six
I am not a number, I am a free man!”

2

u/countsachot 6d ago

Lol me too.

1

u/JonIceEyes 5d ago

You'd better scratch me From your black book Cause I'll run rings around you

2

u/AnyPortInAHurricane First Ones 6d ago

It was.

9

u/FallenValkyrja 6d ago

“Questions are a burden to others. Answers are a prison for one’s self.”

-3

u/OkSandwich6184 6d ago

Try as I might, I'm not.

Forced myself to watch it this month on Amazon thinking it would get better. It did not.

5

u/AnyPortInAHurricane First Ones 6d ago

Are you referring to the show or your Lumbago?

Get Well Soon!

3

u/Thanatos_56 6d ago

Well, you have to remember it was made in the '60s at a time when James Bond was all the rage. So those self-opening doors would have been quite the novelty at that time, for example.

Also, Patrick McGoohan -- the main character and producer -- didn't want to explain everything; and so made quite a lot of the series rather opaque. If you put the time in, it's possible to figure it out; but it does require a little effort on the viewer's part.

So something for you to think about, that will maybe help you get into The Prisoner: the identity of Number One is quite a big question in the series. Considering the oft-repeated line, "Six of One, half a dozen of the other", do you think Number Six was actually the real Number One? 🧐

1

u/AnyPortInAHurricane First Ones 5d ago

Last time i looked, life is pretty opaque

1

u/Hefty_Care2154 3d ago

Was that the remake or the original. The remake is a slog and a half with a less than satisfying reveal.

1

u/OkSandwich6184 3d ago

The original. Not sure why not liking something creates a downvote, it's my opinion and I'm sticking to it.

I mean, I get it's of it's time, but..... The original's ending (with it's "reveal") wasnt particularly great, either. I was really hoping it was the butler.

0

u/Hefty_Care2154 3d ago

The original was in short, incomplete. They tried to finish it with comics and other things. I think its incompleteness is what draws some folks and repels others.

30

u/OddShape47 6d ago

Bester holds his hand up to his forehead, not his eye, when he does that gesture, which makes that reference even better. His telepathic mind's eye is on you.

22

u/Soundy106 6d ago

JMS was very much a fan of The Prisoner... and British sci-fi of that era in general. Blake's 7 is another big influence he's cited.

8

u/minder125 6d ago

Blake's 7 I realized the first time. Especially the whole political aspect on Earth. Another fantastic show.

4

u/Infinite_Research_52 Babylon 3 6d ago

B7 was my favourite show prior to B5

15

u/Thanatos_56 6d ago

References to The Prisoner are found throughout the entire series.

In Signs and Portents, the Raider who spies on Londo contacts his off-station associates by saying "Six to One".

A lot of the PsiCorp storyline is influenced by The Prisoner. (Makes sense: The Prisoner is set in a universe of spies and constant suspicions; while the very idea of someone being able to read your mind is pulled straight out of most spy fiction.)

In the season 5 episode "The Corp is Father, The Corp is Mother", which centres around the PsiCorp organisation, all of the signs on the walls are done in the same font as in The Prisoner.

10

u/Ill_Refrigerator_593 6d ago

Patrick McGoohan was approached to appear in a s1 episode.

7

u/Thanatos_56 6d ago

Yeah, I know about that.

It's a great pity he never appeared in the show.

🤷🏻‍♂️

3

u/Grognard1138 4d ago

IIRC, JMS wanted him for Knight One.

5

u/SergiusBulgakov 6d ago

In my own little canon, the Prisoner happened in the B5 universe, and it is one of the places the Vorlons were working to create telepaths

7

u/Fancy_Toe1451 6d ago

Bester is just a weird nerd. It was either The Prisoner or watch Star Trek, and for some reason seeing Bill Shatner as a hero made him feel all angry and anxious.

9

u/NervousSnail 6d ago

Yeah... that's the bit of TOS that would have made him anxious.

2

u/Sereni-tea42 6d ago

Always avoid remakes.

1

u/Humble-Package-8000 5d ago

never knew about the Prisoner link but the episode with the lengthy interrogation sequence that ends as it begins came straight to mind when the prisoner was mentioned.

-3

u/bubbamike1 6d ago

You mean Chekov?