I have to say, Ian McKellen positively excelled in the role of Number Two. Often when you see an actor, a specific role comes to mind and it can be quite off-putting out of contest. The role you see often represents the one you most keenly associate with them – and in this case Ian’s performance means I can no longer watch ‘Lord of the Rings’ or the ‘X-Men’ movies in quite the same way. The cold menace of a man so committed and invested in his cause and beliefs, Ian gave Number Two considerable presence and gravitas. I seriously would love to meet this great actor of our time, but right now I probably wouldn’t want to be trapped in a lift with him.

The series had faults, but then so did the original, especially after McGoohan buckled under the pressure of Lew Grade to make more episodes than he’d originally intended. The latter half of the series suffered as a result with the sort of bottle episodes we loathe so much these days. Stories that didn’t push the narrative forward but simply told a tale span the series out to 17 episodes, when it could so easily have concluded in half that. The new version ran for six episodes and just about had the story for them all, though a couple ran a little thin on plot.

I’d like to think Number Two represents an interesting role model for the playing of a High Programmer. A man with a purpose that almost certainly seems at odds with his intent. An individual who delivers each word with calculated precision, each sentence representing a possible lie within a deceit wrapped in a falsehood. Number Two espouses a distilled dose of Machiavellian principles driven by a profound need to survive bordering on… well… acute paranoia.

Anyway… I liked it. A diehard fan of the original, I nevertheless have a place for the re-imagining. Be seeing you!

So, perhaps I need to do some reading or watching to get me in the mood. I watched Fringe the other night, which came off like an episode of The X-Files without any hint of aliens. An agent investigates out of the ordinary cases, tied up in something called The Pattern, while getting help from a drop-out scientist, and his son, who spent his time, before incarceration seventeen years ago, studying wacko science. Not quite PARANOIA-fodder, but it might make a reasonable replacement for the late lamented Threshold, which I rather enjoyed.

I have spotted several adverts for City of Ember, due out in cinemas in the next week. Society driven underground by war spends 200 years in an enclosed community under dubious, if charismatic, leadership. Now, however, the primary generator has started shutting down and an ancient prophecy seems to be come true – or something like that. Certainly smells like PARANOIA, and I have been meaning to buy the book (rather than rely on the Hollywood vision alone). I guess only viewing and/or reading will tell.

And here I am on the fourth paragraph, when I should be getting ready for work and certainly could have been writing a bit of the mission-that-must-be. Even a few lines would be better than nothing!

Could this inertia be some kind of Communist conspiracy?