A DEGREE ABSOLUTE! episode twenty-nine — Our Top Six Twos

THERE CAN BE ONLY TWO(s) as Chris & Glen rank their top six on this week’s exciting episode!

A DEGREE ABSOLUTE! episode twenty-six — SHATTERED VISAGE

Chris and Glen discuss Dean Motter & Mark Askwith's 1988 four-volume comic book sequel to the unclassifiable and unforgettable TV series.

A DEGREE ABSOLUTE! episode twenty — Fall Out

Patty McG has claimed he was driven out of England after this puzzling final episode of The Prisoner debuted on Feb. 1, 1968. McGoohan admitted to financier Lew Grade that he'd been bluffing a year prior when he told the moneyman that he had an ending in mind for the strange new series he'd proposed.

While this episode certainly reflects its creator's exasperation and exhaustion, it's more satisfying than any conventional resolution of the show's myriad mysteries could possibly have been... isn't it?

"Fall Out"

Written and directed by Patrick McGoohan

Original airdate February 1, 1968

A DEGREE ABSOLUTE! episode eighteen — Once Upon a Time

Shot in December 1966 under the title "Degree Absolute" and not broadcast until more than a year later when it became The Prisoner's penultimate — and, we agree, ultimate — episode, "Once Upon a Time" is the real thing. A bottle episode that locks GOAT Number Two Leo McKern and Number Six in the black-box "Embryo Room" and compels them to reenact the Seven Ages of Man that that glover's son from Stratford wrote about, shooting it almost killed McKern. And talking about it almost killed us! Our private, personal, by-hand, punchcard-driven discursive dissection of this epistemological epic is more tangent-tolerant than ever! Get comfortable, because Second Childishness & Mere Oblivion await!

"Once Upon a Time"

Written and directed by Patrick McGoohan 

Original airdate January 25, 1968

A DEGREE ABSOLUTE! episode two — The Chimes of Big Ben

Our abstract-art-and-seafaring-adventure-packed “The Chimes of Big Ben” episode of A Degree Absolute! makes a fine companion on your sunny-day run or walk or bike ride or desperate escape attempt via art-boat!

Number Six attempts to escape The Village with the help of a newcomer named Nadia and a "basically primitive" abstract art project with a hard-to-overlook nautical vibe. He also finds out where The Village is.

Unequivocally.

Indisputably.

Maybe.

Featuring the first of the great Leo McKern's appearances as Number Two!