The General (The Prisoner)

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“The General”
The Prisoner episode
Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 6
Guest stars	Number Two - Colin Gordon Number Twelve - John Castle Professor - Peter Howell Professor's wife - Betty McDowell
Written by	Lewis Greifer
Directed by	Peter Graham Scott
Original airdate	November 5, 1967
Episode chronology
← Previous	Next →
"The Schizoid Man"	"Many Happy Returns"

The General is the sixth episode of the television series The Prisoner.

[edit] Synopsis

Number 6 discovers a new scheme -- Speedlearn -- that permits a person to learn a university level course in history in three minutes, taught by an individual known as "The Professor", who is backed by another entity known as "The General". Number 6 finds that Speedlearn could possibly be used for mind control as well as mass education. A disaffected member of the Speedlearn committee helps Number 6 infiltrate the project to try and bring the General down.

[edit] The General

"The General" turns out to be a sophisticated (for the 1960s) computer system. However, Number 6 is able to destroy this computer, and Number 2's plans, with some simple logical epistemological trickery.