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Rover is a plot device from the 1967 British television program ''
The Prisoner ''The Prisoner'' is a 1967 British television series about an unnamed British intelligence agent who is abducted and imprisoned in a mysterious coastal village, where his captors designate him as Number Six and try to find out why he abruptl ...
'', and was a crucial tool used to keep 'prisoners' from escaping the Village. It was depicted as a floating white balloon that could coerce, and, if necessary, incapacitate or kill recalcitrant inhabitants of the Village. It also had the ability to subdivide. Several aspects of the Rover device were left unexplained and to the imagination of the viewer. The name "Rover" was only used once in the entire series (in the episode " The Schizoid Man"). The novel ''The Prisoner: Number Two'' by
David McDaniel David Edward McDaniel (16 June 1939 – 1 November 1977) was an American science fiction author, who also wrote spy fiction, including several novels based upon the television series ''The Man from U.N.C.L.E.'' Biography David McDaniel w ...
, based upon the series, uses the name Guardian.


Portrayal


Description

Rover was depicted as a large white inflatable balloon, not quite fully inflated, with a flexible skin. Rover would often produce a muffled roar sound when attacking. It would also sometimes emit a strange light display or
luminescence Luminescence is spontaneous emission of light by a substance not resulting from heat; or "cold light". It is thus a form of cold-body radiation. It can be caused by chemical reactions, electrical energy, subatomic motions or stress on a cryst ...
from its interior. Once released, Rover could bounce and glide across the land and sea for a long range and at high speed, faster than a vehicle or boat. Rover behaves as if it were a self-aware or quasi-intelligent entity and can interact with its surroundings, as well as adjusting to and anticipating the actions of Number 6 and other characters. No apparent direct control was ever shown to be exerted over it by the controllers of the Village, other than to release it. Rover would occasionally be seen outside its normal environment, sitting placidly in rooms, in Number 2's chair, roaming the streets of the Village, or being studied by unidentified persons in "secret" areas of the Village. Rover possessed considerable strength, and was able, if necessary, to incapacitate people either by blunt force impacts, or through
suffocation Asphyxia or asphyxiation is a condition of deficient supply of oxygen to the body which arises from abnormal breathing. Asphyxia causes generalized hypoxia, which affects primarily the tissues and organs. There are many circumstances that can i ...
by absorbing or engulfing them.


Operation

In the
first episode A series premiere is the first aired installment of an episodic entertainment series, most often a television series. In the United States, many series premieres are aired in the fall time or, for mid-season replacements, either in the spring or ...
the rest of the villagers freeze when instructed as Rover appears and attacks an unidentified man who does not comply. The same scenario reappears at the start of "
Checkmate Checkmate (often shortened to mate) is any game position in chess and other chess-like games in which a player's king is in check (threatened with ) and there is no possible escape. Checkmating the opponent wins the game. In chess, the king is ...
", the ninth episode, except that this time the man who does not comply is not attacked by Rover, prompting Number 6 to follow him and discover the human chess game, a key event in the episode. The use of Rover appeared to be both intimidatory and functional. Following encounters in the early episodes, where Rover physically interacts with prisoners, the Number 6 character gradually gives up trying to defeat Rover directly, and its mere presence is often enough to achieve its objectives. While Rover primarily prevented escapes, it also served as a guard agent or herder when a character was required to take a certain action or direction, or to prevent their access to some part of the Village. In the cases where Rover incapacitated a prisoner, it also appeared that it had the capability of transporting their limp body. Occasionally, if attacking somebody in the water, the incapacitated victim (including Number 6 on one occasion in " Free for All" and Number 8 in "The Chimes of Big Ben"), would be carried back to the shore by what appeared to be three smaller Rovers. Rover could be summoned at the direction of the control room, by declaring an Orange Alert. A stock scene of its inflation is shown before its appearance, although this sequence could also be omitted with Rover appearing spontaneously. It would be inflated beneath the sea, although its first appearance came as being inflated from the Village fountain. No explanation was ever made as to where Rover went after its mission had been completed, aside from a single scene in "Free For All" where Rover appears to return to the bottom of the sea (simply a reverse reel of the spawning sequence).


Plot device

Several aspects of how Rover worked were never revealed in the series beyond the primary actions in subduing prisoners, in which task it was apparently extremely effective. Open questions surrounding Rover suggest that its use in the series was a variation of the ''
deus ex machina ''Deus ex machina'' ( , ; plural: ''dei ex machina''; English "god out of the machine") is a plot device whereby a seemingly unsolvable problem in a story is suddenly and abruptly resolved by an unexpected and unlikely occurrence. Its function ...
'' type of
plot device A plot device or plot mechanism is any narrative technique, technique in a narrative used to move the Plot (narrative), plot forward. A clichéd plot device may annoy the reader and a contrived or arbitrary device may confuse the reader, causing ...
, used as a means to give a reason as to why the Village is so successful in coercing the inhabitants and preventing escape, without having to waste unnecessary screen time explaining this method. The other methods of control of the Village, such as surveillance, mind-control and
double agents In the field of counterintelligence, a double agent is an employee of a secret intelligence service for one country, whose primary purpose is to spy on a target organization of another country, but who is now spying on their own country's organi ...
, are explored in much more detail in the TV series than is Rover.


Production

Rover was originally supposed to have been a robotic, wheeled device with a siren. It resembled a circular inflatable swimming pool topped with a black-and-white segmented dome with a blue flashing light at the top. Although a prop was constructed, it did not work properly, due to the driver of the small go-kart within having very poor visibility. In some interviews, Patrick McGoohan claimed that it was not seaworthy, and sank in the waters off
Portmeirion Portmeirion is a tourist village in Gwynedd, North Wales. It was designed and built by Sir Clough Williams-Ellis between 1925 and 1975 in the style of an Italian village, and is now owned by a charitable trust. The village is located in the com ...
during the initial stages of filming, but this story has been said to be untrue and just made up. Bob Monks, second unit cameraman confirms this in 'The Prisoner - behind the scenes' documentary. The final version of Rover was inspired by a
weather balloon A weather balloon, also known as sounding balloon, is a balloon (specifically a type of high-altitude balloon) that carries instruments aloft to send back information on atmospheric pressure, temperature, humidity and wind speed by means of a ...
seen above Portmeirion by production manager Bernard Williams. The balloon was dragged across the set with wires, with the wires and the attachment point sometimes being visible. Several approach scenes were filmed through the use of reversing a film of the balloon being towed away from the camera, although the balloon was often also filmed from the side being towed in direction of travel. Rover is last seen in " Fall Out". While the rocket is being launched, Rover drops down a hole to a cave-like area, where it shrinks to a small size and becomes still as if it is deactivating itself now that it is no longer needed in the Village. Alternatively, Rover may have been destroyed by the blast of the rocket or missile exhaust. However, this scene was not in the script and was inserted to give Rover its finale.


Cultural references

Rover has become an icon of the series, and has been referenced numerous times in popular culture, such as in the ''
Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, a ...
'' episodes " The Joy of Sect" (where it envelops
Hans Moleman The American animated television series ''The Simpsons'' contains a wide range of minor and supporting characters like co-workers, teachers, students, family friends, extended relatives, townspeople, local celebrities, and even animals. The write ...
) and in ''The Prisoner'' parody episode "
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" (in which Homer simply pops it with a plastic
spork A spork is a hybrid form of cutlery taking the form of a spoon-like shallow scoop with two to four fork-like tines. Its name is a portmanteau of spoon and fork. Spork-like utensils, such as the terrapin fork or ice cream fork, have been manuf ...
, thus prompting Number 2 to question its effectiveness). An episode of ''
Lupin III Part 2 ''Lupin the 3rd Part II'' is a Japanese anime television series produced by TMS Entertainment. Part of the ''Lupin III'' franchise, it is the second anime television adaptation of the ''Lupin III'' manga series created by Monkey Punch. Althou ...
'' is a full homage to ''The Prisoner''. The antagonist uses Rover-like bubbles to sweep up any escapees from Gemarschaft, and carries them back to the village so they can be stoned to death by the brainwashed masses, as Lupin witnesses when he enters looking for his captured friends. The DVD box set of the series includes an advert for Renault cars (not Rover cars, as has been widely reported), in which a man in ''Prisoner'' style clothing escapes from the Village by outmaneuvering a version of Rover depicted not as a balloon, but a large solid white ball. The writers of the television series ''
Lost Lost may refer to getting lost, or to: Geography *Lost, Aberdeenshire, a hamlet in Scotland * Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail, or LOST, a hiking and cycling trail in Florida, US History *Abbreviation of lost work, any work which is known to have bee ...
'' have made mention on numerous occasions that Rover was the inspiration for the "Smoke Monster." Rover appeared in the 1984
CP/M CP/M, originally standing for Control Program/Monitor and later Control Program for Microcomputers, is a mass-market operating system created in 1974 for Intel 8080/ 85-based microcomputers by Gary Kildall of Digital Research, Inc. Initial ...
edition of Crowther, Woods' Colossal Cave text adventure game,http://www.ifarchive.org/if-archive/games/cpm/cpm-advent-b03.zip either in the Vault (player gives wrong magic word) or the Computer Center (player takes posters from the wall). In ''
Mystery Science Theater 3000 ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' (abbreviated as ''MST3K'') is an American science fiction comedy film review television series created by Joel Hodgson. The show premiered on KTMA-TV (now WUCW) in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on November 24, 1988. ...
''s presentation of ''
Laserblast ''Laserblast'' is a 1978 American science fiction film about an unhappy teenage loner who discovers an alien laser cannon and goes on a murderous rampage, seeking revenge against those who he feels have wronged him. The extremely low-budget film ...
'', Tom Servo identifies an inflated white pool toy as "Rover from ''The Prisoner''!" In
Xavier Mauméjean Xavier Mauméjean (born 30 December 1963) is a French writer. He teaches philosophy at a high school in Valenciennes, Northern France. Books in French * ''Les Mémoires de l'Homme-Eléphant'', Le Masque (2000) * ''Gotham'', Le Masque (2002) * '' ...
's short story, "Be Seeing You!", from the second volume of the ''
Tales of the Shadowmen ''Tales of the Shadowmen'' is an American anthology of short fiction edited by Jean-Marc Lofficier and Randy Lofficier and published by Black Coat Press. The stories share the conceit of taking place in a fictional world where all of the character ...
'' anthology series, the original Rover from 1912 is made of metal and propelled by steam, and is stated as being designed by the character of Cavor from
H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells"Wells, H. G."
Revised 18 May 2015. ''
The First Men in the Moon ''The First Men in the Moon'' is a scientific romance by the English author H. G. Wells, originally serialised in ''The Strand Magazine'' from December 1900 to August 1901 and published in hardcover in 1901, who called it one of his "fantastic ...
''. Rover appears in Liverpool quartet
Clinic A clinic (or outpatient clinic or ambulatory care clinic) is a health facility that is primarily focused on the care of outpatients. Clinics can be privately operated or publicly managed and funded. They typically cover the primary care needs ...
's video for their single "Harvest". Rover also appears in the third-season episode "Number 7" of the animated series ''
ReBoot In computing, rebooting is the process by which a running computer system is restarted, either intentionally or unintentionally. Reboots can be either a cold reboot (alternatively known as a hard reboot) in which the power to the system is physi ...
''. The entire episode is an homage to ''The Prisoner'' that culminates with the older version of the Enzo character meeting his younger self. At the end of this meeting, young Enzo throws a small Rover at his older self. It grows in size and envelopes the older in the same manner as in ''The Prisoner'': with the face outline and monster-like roar. In the 1980s video game ''
Impossible Mission ''Impossible Mission'' is a video game originally written for the Commodore 64 by Dennis Caswell and published by Epyx in 1984. The game features a variety of gameplay mechanics from platform and adventure games, and includes digitized speech. ...
'' by Epyx software there are several rooms you must pass through which have a large floating ball that slowly follows you. This was made as a reference to Rover. In the episode "From the Confidential Casefiles of Agent 22" of the 2017 animated series ''
DuckTales ''DuckTales'' is an American animated television series produced by Disney Television Animation. The original cartoon series premiered on syndication and on Disney Channel on September 18, 1987 and ran for a total of 100 episodes over four seas ...
'', a bubble-like entity wearing a "jaunty hat" guards the villainess's lair. This character, referred to by the creators as the "Troub-bubble", is an homage to Rover, and is one of many references to 1960s spy fiction throughout the episode.


In the 2009 remake

Rover appears in the 2009
miniseries A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format h ...
remake of ''
The Prisoner ''The Prisoner'' is a 1967 British television series about an unnamed British intelligence agent who is abducted and imprisoned in a mysterious coastal village, where his captors designate him as Number Six and try to find out why he abruptl ...
''. This version of Rover is only ever referred to by Two as "The Beast". It is much larger than the original, described as being more of a presence than a material thing. In the final episode, The Beast is revealed to be an embodiment of 6's hidden desire to stay in the Village, thus stopping any attempt at escape made by himself or others.


References

{{Subject bar , portal1= Television, portal23=United Kingdom, portal2= 1960s , commons=yes, commons-search=The Prisoner , q=yes, q-search=The Prisoner , d=yes The Prisoner Fictional robots Fictional balls Fictional amorphous creatures Television characters introduced in 1967