December 22, 1967 Season 1 Episode 13
If you want to see where we are…HERE is a list of the episodes.
This is where the show started to become more chaotic. Before resigning, Number Six had worked on a mind transfer experiment with Professor Seltzman. The Village wants to kidnap the professor (Seltzman) to get information from him. The professor had a machine that could transfer a person’s thoughts and consciousness into another. The Village could transfer someone’s thoughts and consciousness into another person like the professor, but they could not reverse it. For that, they would have to track the Professor down.
The best way was to transfer Number 6’s consciousness to another person, and then he would be forced to find Professor Seltzman and reverse it. They knew Seltzman wouldn’t give up information freely, so they placed Number Six’s consciousness into another man. That man is Colonel Sinclair, who is loyal to Number 1. Now, Number 6 is inhabiting Sinclair. From here on out until we get to the end, Number 6 is in Sinclair’s body. Sinclair’s thoughts are back at the village in Number 6.
This unique “freaky Friday” style body-swap plot was actually written out of necessity. Actor and series creator Patrick McGoohan needed to travel to the United States to film his role in the feature film Ice Station Zebra, so the writers created a storyline that allowed another actor (Nigel Stock) to stand in as Number Six. So until the end, Sinclair is really Number 6
Sinclair leaves the Village and heads back to London to his home. He tries to contact people from Number Six’s old life. Nobody recognizes him because he no longer looks like himself. Sinclair also reconnects with Number Six’s former fiancée. She begins to believe his story after hearing details only Number Six would know.
We have some serious spy business as well. My favorite part of this episode is when Sinclair gets a note that was given to his fiancée before he was kidnapped. It’s a number to pick up some picture slides from a photo business. The government has already seen them, but they couldn’t figure the code out. Sinclair works through them to get the message. Now Sinclair (again Number 6) is going to reconnect with Professor Sinclair, and the Village knew that he would, so they follow. That was the whole point of this.
They ended up kidnapping both of them. Sinclair returns with the professor, hoping to reverse the process before it becomes permanent. The transfer is finally reversed, and Number Six gets his own body back. This episode ranks near the bottom with a lot of fans and critics, but I thought it was fun and I liked the ending…it was a wonderful twist. Be Seeing You!
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