The Subject Episode Guide

T HE SUB J E C T The Complete Guide By Jack Knoll

Foreword The Subject was created as a tribute to Patrick McGoohan’s classic cult series The Prisoner and later Patrick McGoohan himself when he died in January 2009 during the production of episode 10, Killswitch Engage. The series was also created to be a way for me to release my frustrations with society and life as a young teenager in the 21st century. It was this combination and by way of my own imagination, that created what is said to be “the best web series on YouTube”. The Subject was in production and released between July 2008 and February 2009. Only 13 episodes were produced so that the simple format remained interesting and unpredictable. I made this series with the help of my production company J3P Films. We had previously only made a very poor quality science fiction film under the title of Space Station 5. The Subject proved to be a great step forward for us. We hope that The Subject has helped us to step forward even further. This episode guide provides a specially written synopsis of each chapter in the series; notes about the production of the episode, the people involved, deleted scenes, original concepts and other trivia. There is also a section in some episodes which describes how it has a link to The Prisoner. Enjoy the guide!

Jack Knoll June 2009

Cast and Crew Jack Knoll – The Subject/The Secretary Jacob Senior – James (Ep 4, 9, 13) Zack McAuley – Mr. Z (Ep 10) Andrew Prendergast – Killers (Ep 10) Adrian Sherlock – SOCRAD voices (Ep 11) Nick Carter – Guards (Ep 13) Edd Sutch – The Administrator (Ep 13) Robert Havinden – The Professor (Ep 13) Patrick Murphy – Subject C (Ep 13)

Theme Music – Cyril Stapleton (Ep 1-5) Volker Holz (Ep 6-13) Additional Music – Ron Grainer (Ep 1) Rick Clarke (Ep 2-13) Writer – Jack Knoll (Ep 1-4, 6, 8, 12-13) Patrick Murphy (Ep 5, 7, 9) Zack McAuley (Ep 10) Adrian Sherlock (Ep 11) Stunts – Zack McAuley (Ep 10) The Fight Song – Marilyn Manson (Ep 10) Director – Jack Knoll and Zack McAuley (Ep 10) Producer – Jack Knoll Dedicated to Patrick McGoohan RIP (Ep 10-13) Series Distributed by J3P Films

Episode 1: Home and Away Written by Jack Knoll Released 31/07/08

As he goes to sleep a teenage boy is shot by a strange laser which knocks him out. As he wakes up he discovers that although his bedroom is the same, the rest of the house is completely different and all the surrounding area. He walks around to investigate his new surroundings. After discovering envelopes simply addressed to The House, a family photo with only him in it and a voice from the telephone telling him to contact “The Secretary”. The boy goes down to meet The Secretary only to discover that he is a human experiment run by an illusive gentleman known only as The Author. And The Subject’s only form of company is The Secretary, who is an exact clone of himself, working for The Author!

Notes Actor/Writer/Director/Producer Jack Knoll uses the pseudonym of Jason Falconburger. This episode is unique as it does not feature any loyalty free music by Rick Clarke. It took two days to shoot this episode, the first being used to shoot the walking down the garden sequence which was used as the first trailer for the series; the second being used to shoot the rest of the episode. A short piece of Ron Grainer’s theme for The Prisoner is the only piece of incidental music in the episode. Links to The Prisoner This episode is similar to that of the opening episode Arrival. The opening titles are heavily inspired by the opening titles of The Prisoner.

Episode 2: Freedom of Law Written by Jack Knoll Released 03/09/08

The Subject has started to settle into routine a little in The House but is still trying to rebel. After being forced to sit and watch television that enriches his mind, The Subject is told by his clone The Secretary that it is time for his first test. Whilst The Secretary is being given orders from The Author, The Subject tries to make an escape over a fence. But to The Subject’s surprise The Secretary encourages him. There is a flash of blinding light and having jumped over the fence to freedom, The Subject discovers he is sitting in the middle of the garden. The Secretary was actually testing whether one could have true freedom whilst there are still natural boundaries. Concluding that the test proved nothing The Subject decides he may as well be back under the rules. But was it a wise move?

Notes This is the first episode to feature musical pieces by Rick Clarke although re-uses a piece from The Prisoner theme music. The cartoon that The Subject is forced to watch is I Rocket by Black Maria Productions. The Secretary is seen as slightly more casual in a new jacket but with a t-shirt and tie. There are a few sound problems in the scenes in the garden because of the wind. The original title of this episode was Freedom from Law. Links to The Prisoner The famous farewell “be seeing you” is uttered by The Secretary during the phone call at the beginning of the episode.

Episode 3: Mind Exposure Written by Jack Knoll 28/09/08

Whilst he is relaxing, The Subject is made to take a pill and go to bed. He falls asleep and begins to dream about being on a beach. But The Secretary is watching his dreams on the television and tries to control them to make him accept the situation in the House and make him work better, but The Subject’s subconscious proves to be too powerful. The Secretary then tries to put himself into the dream!

Notes The Secretary’s costume changes again in this episode, he is now wearing a yellow shirt which isn’t exactly tasteful to say the least! The dream sequences were shot on green screen. This made editing of this episode taking a much longer than normal, two weeks. A majority of the incidental music in this episode was originally used in Doctor Who but the composers are not credited. Links to The Prisoner This episode is inspired by the episode A, B and C in which No. 6 has his memories of a party altered and observed by No. 2.

Episode 4: Best of Enemies Written by Jack Knoll Released 18/10/08

The Subject wakes up to discover his entire body has been transformed into that of his old friend James. The Secretary refuses to give an intelligent explanation for what has happened. The Subject starts to have disturbing memories of when he and James used to be “friends”. The Subject’s mind suddenly flips as he goes to the kitchen and picks up a heavy rolling pin and goes out to kill The Secretary. But is The Subject really who he thinks he is?

Notes This is the first appearance of the character of James in the series, as played by Jacob Senior. Jacob Senior is also given top billing on the end credits. This episode under ran by several minutes but could not be corrected during edited. This also happened in All You Need is Love in which Jacob Senior also appeared. The Secretary is now back in his regular costume originally seen in Freedom of Law. This is the only episode to feature a scene before the opening titles although it was a feature which Jack Knoll wanted to continue throughout the series. Links to The Prisoner This episode is partly inspired by the episode Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling in which No. 6 wakes up in a new body back in his home in London.

Episode 5: Vampires Written by Patrick Murphy Released 27/10/08

When The Subject goes downstairs for supper one evening, The Secretary reveals that he has just consumed a chemical that removes all liquid that he drinks from his system. The Subject’s body slowly starts to dehydrate and weaken bringing him close to death. But suddenly The Subject makes a glass of water for The Secretary and seems to offer it to him out of good will. But does he have a more cunning plan...?

Notes This is the first episode to feature a script not written by Jack Knoll. However, Knoll is still uniquely credited as Script Editor. He is not credited for this role for the rest of the series. Patrick Murphy’s other scripts for the series are The Lateral Line and All You Need Is Love. This is the last episode to use Cyril Stapleton’s theme music for Department S on the opening and closing titles. After the completion of this episode, the editing computer was infected by a virus which stopped production of the series for about a month.

Episode 6: Born and Bred Written by Jack Knoll Released 29/10/08

The Subject has finally decided to take part in an experiment to show his interpretation of heaven and hell. However, The Secretary, disapproves of the results as The Subject just uses it as an excuse to protest about his imprisonment. Later on The Secretary begins to question The Subject about his views on murder. The Secretary then gives The Subject the chance to kill him. However, The Subject can’t bare the guilt. But The Secretary reveals that this was another test to see whether we are born with an evil streak or whether we develop it through life. But The Secretary has one more test planned...

Notes This is the first episode to feature Volker Holz’s theme music on the opening titles and end credits. A scene deleted from the final edit of this episode featured The Subject pulling a compass he had hidden in a drawer. The needle goes wild, and in anger The Subject throws it away, leaving a note saying “You’ll have to try better than that”. The scene was deleted to reduce the episode’s running time. The knife thrown by “The evil Subject” was originally scripted to end up in the wall. However a suitable effect could not be found. Links The theme of this episode was inspired by the novel “The Tulip Touch” by Anne Fine which explored the concept of the nature/nurture theory.

Episode 7: The Lateral Line Written by Patrick Murphy Released 06/12/08

The Secretary begins to explain the seven senses of a shark before forcing The Subject to take a pill. This starts to cause The Subject to behave in very peculiar ways. He starts to detect the electrical signals of insects in the garden in the same way a shark can. The Subject then thrown into a fit and his eyesight starts to seeing these electrical signals. This is the sense known in sharks as the lateral line. The Subject demands to have his sense restored to normal, but it could come at a cost...

Notes This is Patrick Murphy’s second script for the series. This episode was the only one to shot before the previous episode (Born and Bred) was released. This was due to a virus on the editing computer which required fixing whilst production continued. A majority of the episodes of The Subject were shot during autumn and winter which meant that conditions outside were often cold. This meant that the lead actor had to have his feet up against a radiator after crawling in the grass outside!

Episode 8: Eternity of Silence Written by Jack Knoll Released 21/12/08

When asked to take part in a test by The Secretary, The Subject gives no reply. He appears to have taken a vow of silence. The Secretary gives him 24 hours to change his mind. He begins to observe The Subject only to find he is not giving in. In the middle of the night he receives a phone call from The Author summoning him to the garden...

Notes This was the last episode of The Subject to be written. This is one of only three episodes to feature no end credits and instead features credits over the opening scene. The other episodes are The Faulty Batch and Final Assessment. The slot for the eighth episode was almost filled with a completely different story. The idea in the original 13 episode plan of the series is called “No place like home” which would have featured The Subject escaping The House into a changed world. The second idea was called “Knowledge is Power” which would have featured The Secretary becoming a teacher to The Subject and would have analysed today’s education system. Links to The Prisoner This episode takes it’s inspiration from the episode “Hammer into Anvil” where No. 6 tries to drive No. 2 insane by doing a series of strange yet suspicious acts.

Episode 9: All You Need is Love Written by Patrick Murphy Released 10/01/09

The Subject starts to have memories of his girl friend Sophie. He begins to get angry with The Secretary for his imprisonment in The House. The Secretary is forced to tranquilize The Subject who begins to hear other voices when he wakes up. When he goes downstairs he discovers that The Secretary is talking to James!

Notes This is the second of Jacob Senior’s three appearances in the series as James. This is the last of Patrick Murphy’s scripts for the series. The original title of the script was “Still Waiting”. The original intention was that the end credits were to feature “All You Need Is Love” by The Beatles but Rick Clarke’s more gentle ambient music was used instead. This was the first episode to be filmed in the 2009 production block which had been scheduled to last just six weeks to complete the remaining five episodes of the series.

Episode 10: Killswitch Engage Written by Zack McAuley Released 25/01/09

The Subject wakes up to discover a strange person standing over him. The Secretary reveals that he is harmless and called simply, Mr. Z. The Subject goes downstairs and finds another new arrival in The House. They are two un-programmed humanoid robots. Mr. Z is then revealed to be the leader of the robots and announces that a test is starting soon. Number One comes in with a shovel and reveals that The Subject’s challenge is to survive...

Notes The script for this episode was written by Zack McAuley who had never actually seen a single frame of The Subject before. The script was also very close to being late and as such a new script was commissioned to be written by Edd Sutch (who appeared in Final Assessment). Nick Carter (also appeared in Final Assessment) was originally supposed to appear as one of the robots but was unable to attend filming. Andrew Prendergast took both roles although this is not clear in the finished episode. Zack McAuley and Andrew Prendergast both previously appeared in J3P Films’ first production Space Station 5.

Episode 11: Damon Dark Written by Adrian Sherlock Released 01/02/09

A young version of transdimensional control agent Damon Dark arrives in The House, only to be met by The Secretary holding a camera shouting cut! The Secretary reveals that Damon Dark is just The Subject playing the part in a short film. But he still keeps up the belief that he is Damon Dark. Suddenly, everything seems to return to normality. But then the chilling voice of the alien SOCRADs threaten to destroy the Earth! Only Damon Dark can save the day!

Notes Creator of Damon Dark, Adrian Sherlock wrote this episode especially for The Subject. Sherlock used an idea he had developed for Damon Dark in 1996 during it’s creation and adapted it into an episode for The Subject. However, Damon Dark had to replace a script by Patrick Murphy called “Mind Your Manners”. This story featured The Secretary trying to teach The Subject by reversing times every time he is rude. This episode was never filmed because Jack Knoll insisted that the series ran to no more than 13 episodes. Links to The Prisoner This episode was inspired by the episode Living in Harmony where No. 6 is convinced he is living in a western which turns out to be a set at the back of the Village.

Episode 12: The Faulty Batch Written by Jack Knoll 08/02/09

In the middle of the night The Secretary comes for The Subject but has to hypnotise him to obey. The Subject wakes up in complete whiteness and is confronted by The Secretary about the troubles with his life. They discuss what the problems with The Subject are and why he was brought to The House. But does The Secretary have other intentions?

Notes This is the first part of the story to conclude the series. The episode originally went under the title of “The Survival Game”. During the production of this episode the United Kingdom had it’s heaviest snowfalls in 18 years which provided some very dramatic shots. The rest of the episode is filmed in front of a green screen with a white background being added in. It was originally intended that this 10 minute dialogue scene be shot in the shed which is where it appears to take place. However the shed was far too crammed with junk at the time. Links to The Prisoner This episode is heavily inspired by the episode Once Upon A Time where No. 2 decides that either he or No. 6 can survive and spends a week acting through No. 6’s life in order to work out why he resigned.

Episode 13: Final Assessment Written by Jack Knoll Released 01/03/09

After The Secretary’s death, The Subject is taken by a guard to a strange assembly hall. Here a man called The Administrator informs The Subject, that The Secretary was just another experiment and had no authority. The Subject then demands to see another one of these test experiments who is known as Subject C. The boy is shut in an unlocked room and appears to be too stupid to get out. But after a long time he manages it and leaves with The Subject. After another meeting with the unhelpful Administrator, The Subject decides to hunt down the man who has been running the whole operation... The Author....

Notes As this was the absolutely final episode of the series, the episode ran to half an hour with an extra long script. Jack McCabe (previously in Space Station 5) was originally cast as The Administrator and then The Professor but was unable to attend filming. The episode was shot mostly on green screen with sets being built on a computer. The opening of this episode is unique as it does not use the regular opening titles but instead uses the guard and The Subject walking up the garden to a slowed down version of the theme music. The ending of this episode (and the series) was unscripted. The ending did in fact change twice. The first ending featured The Subject reuniting with Sophie, his girl friend but before she turns round she has the face of The Secretary. A mock up of this was shot with Edd Sutch playing Sophie from behind. The second ending featured The Subject arriving at Sophie’s house, only to be met by The Secretary. Parts from each of these endings was used in the finished episode. Jack Knoll usually explains the meaning of each episode and his intention for writing it when asked, but this final two part story is the only one where he refuses and demands that the viewer works it out for his/herself. Links to The Prisoner This episode is heavily inspired by the final episode Fall Out where No. 6 watches the peculiar trials of No. 48 and a revived No. 2. He then gets a chance to meet No. 1 who is also a replica of himself. However Jack Knoll was not merely copying The Prisoner in this incident and used the idea with different intentions.