Ron Grainer -- Theme from "The Prisoner"

 

As a J-moppet in the mid-1960s, there were two images on television that terrified me back under sofa cushions and behind my parents. One was the first face of Balok from the original "Star Trek" episode, "The Corbomite Maneuver".

Of course, I hadn't been aware of the episode at the time but terrifying Balok was used as the final still photo for the ending credits during the second season of "Star Trek". Not sure why my parents, who were never sci-fi fans, just happened to have the show on at the time when those credits popped up. I can only gather that they were getting back at me for filling up my diapers a little too often.

The other image that probably was responsible for me filling up my diapers was good ol' Rover from "The Prisoner". How does a white bouncy balloon become something this scary? I don't know but the producers pulled it off. It especially frightened me when Rover caught an errant Villager and the camera just had to show the victim screaming through the balloon.

"The Prisoner" starring Patrick McGoohan (whose face frankly scared me too) was one of those one-of-a-kind programs that has become legend despite only having a one-season run between September 1967 and February 1968. There was no way at the time that I could have understood the overarching philosophical and political themes at play. It was always Rover and that pre-commercial shot of Number 6's head racing toward the camera before prison bars stopped it. In fact, it wasn't until some fifteen years later when reruns of "The Prisoner" began playing on the local "The All-Night Show" that I could begin to understand what was really going on between Number 6 and all those Number 2s. And at the same time, I could also finally hear the theme song.

I only learned about this in the last few days but the composer for "The Prisoner" theme song was Ron Grainer who is already on KKP's Reminiscings of Youth series because of his work on the theme for "Doctor Who" which he accomplished with Delia Derbyshire. The other big surprise was that the original version of "The Prisoner" theme was a far more sedate deal known as "The Age of Elegance", and yep, it definitely sounded elegant, but show producer McGoohan was having none of that and he kept pushing Grainer to speed it up (I guess "Faster...more intense" wasn't just George Lucas' mantra). It finally did speed up to become this boss and very 1960s brassy tour de force tune that was unlike anything for James Bond or Napoleon Solo. The British always did brass right back in the day. I guess in a way, the theme was reflective of Number 6 himself: elegant, fast, brash and cunning.

By the way, I've been hearing rumours that Christopher Nolan may be interested in doing a cinematic version of "The Prisoner". If there's any director who can pick up on the challenge, it would be Nolan although I wasn't quite as enthused about "Tenet". Anyways, who was picking up on the Japan Record Awards hardware in 1967?

Grand Prize: Jackey Yoshikawa and His Blue Comets -- Blue Chateau（ブルー・シャトウ）

Best Performance: Hiroshi Mizuhara -- Kimi Koso Waga Inochi （君こそわが命）

Best Performance: Yukari Ito -- Koyubi no Omoide （小指の思い出）

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From imdb