GAME OF THE NAME: MOTHER FACTOID

'DANGER MAN'

"COLONY THREE"

From the IMDb:

Drake takes the place of a defector and goes behind the iron curtain to find out what is happening when foreign agents reach England. When he gets there he finds a replica English village, which is a school where foreign agents are taught to 'be British'. Actual British subjects, such as Drake, are employed to teach the agents the finer points of the British way of life. Drake sets out to disrupt their education and stop the supply of agents from reaching England.

One of the other British subjects who arrived with Drake was Janet Wells, but she came there under false pretenses.  She was hoping to find out what happened to her co-worker (and possibly lover) Alan Bayliss who had been brought to Colony Three some time earlier.  But apparently Bayliss had tried to escape the village and allegedly died due to the exposure to the elements once outside the boundaries.

Sound familiar?  I'm fairly certain that - outside the Box - "Colony Three" was an inspiration for the TV series 'The Prisoner'.  Whether or not the "Other Side" operated The Village within the reality of Toobworld is unknown, but I think they may have been inspired by that model to create their own versions in Soviet Russian.

Janet Wells claimed that she didn't really want to be there, but only wanted information on Bayliss.  However, the administrators of Colony Three needed someone else to take his place as a British librarian to better train their agents in the workings of life in the United Kingdom as deep cover "sleeper" agents.  However, I think that Miss Wells, like Drake, was working for her branch of the intelligence community to infiltrate Colony Three.  And as one usually expects in these kinds of stories, their respective agencies were working at cross-purposes from each other.

Based on her intercepted message as read by Richardson, I believe Janet Wells happened to be a talented amateur working for the same secret agency as John Raleigh, the top professional who used the code name of "John Steed."  The letter was addressed to "Mother", which was the code name of the head of that agency, Colonel Alex Faraday.  Colonel Faraday had once worked on a case with John Drake (during which his code number was 1056.)  

After he had become head of the spy organization, Mother kept his rank and position in UNIT as his cover.  Years later he was unwittingly copied for an android duplicate by the Kraals. (Luckily a certain Time Lord put an end to that.)

Unfortunately for Janet, even if her message had not been intercepted (As one might expect, Drake escaped Colony Three successfully.), there was no help for getting her out.  As Richardson had pointed out, once a person entered Colony Three, they ceased to exist....

Because of that simple reference in Janet's letter, "Mother" will one day be inducted into the Television Crossover Hall of Fame, probably as part of the Christmas Honors list.  One should always pay heed to the Fat Man at Christmas......

TRANSCRIPT FOR THE ABOVE SCENE:

John Drake is on a train leaving Russia with an enemy agent.

RICHARDSON:
So you're human, Fuller.  

Well, that's reassuring, I suppose.

DRAKE:
It is? What do you mean?

RICHARDSON:
The girl. It was… Very touching.

DRAKE:
You saw her give me the letter…?

RICHARDSON:
I was waiting for you to um, mention it…

Drake hands over the letter.
Richardson opens it and begins to read aloud.

RICHARDSON:
"Dear Mother, you must help me… I--#"

I would've thought that she would have realized by now....

DRAKE:
Realized what?

RICHARDSON:
That once people enter Colony Three, they... cease to exist.

OTHER SHOWS CITED:

• 'Danger Man' - "The Battle Of The Cameras"
• 'Doctor Who' - "The Android Invasion: Part Four"
• 'The Avengers' (20 episodes):

1. The Forget-Me-Knot
2. You'll Catch Your Death
3. All Done with Mirrors
4. Super Secret Cypher Snatch
5. False Witness
6. Noon Doomsday
7. They Keep Killing Steed
8. Wish You Were Here
9. Killer
10. The Rotters
11. The Interrogators
12. Love All
13. Take Me To Your Leader
14. Stay Tuned
15. Fog
16. Who Was That Man I Saw You With?
17. Pandora
18. Homicide and Old Lace
19. Requiem
20. Bizarre

BCnU!