Jake

Twin Peaks Discussion

Recommended Posts

I don't think I can manage to watch the last two episodes and the movie, let alone another series. Argh. Will have to force myself soon I guess.

You really should. You can kind of have the penultimate ep in the background while playing on your phone or something, but the finale and the movie are pure, terrifying Twin Peaks. Super good.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I think this is Lynch's reward for Chris, Jake, and the Rewatch crowd for soldiering through the second half of the series and making it through to the other side. Good things come to those who endure. ;)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

It seems like they are doing more than the originally scheduled 9 episodes? I wonder if the dispute was over the episodes of the show he wanted to shoot as well.

Now I'm sad. I was really excited for nine-and-we're-out.

But yeah maybe the "lynch wanted to do more than showtime was expecting initially," literally meant that there was more show than would fit in the initially budgeted nine hours?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Why does that make you sad Jake? Maybe it's 12, maybe 10. I very much doubt it's 22. I genuinely think, from the wording, it'll be a run of 12 episodes telling the final story and boom.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Now I'm sad. I was really excited for nine-and-we're-out.

Totally with you.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Why does that make you sad Jake? Maybe it's 12, maybe 10. I very much doubt it's 22. I genuinely think, from the wording, it'll be a run of 12 episodes telling the final story and boom.

I will be really really bummed if this transforms from "we had been working on this nine episode story and its scripts for four years," into "suddenly we realized we had EVEN MORE to tell so we're excited showtime is giving us more space to keep expanding."

It feels like the rights consolidation, the Blu Ray and gold box re-releases, the years spent writing these new scripts, were all part of a consolidated, focused long term plan by Frost/Lynch over the last half decade, to get Twin Peaks back fully under their control so that they had an incredibly firm foundation on which to tell one more story. That I can get on board with and have huge respect for. It gets me nervous when I hear that on the cusp of being able to realize years of very clearly complicated and precise and passionate work, the core of it is starting to fundamentally change shape.

I'm not super concerned until it comes out and is good or bad, but with expectations already set by lynch and the network, and the "years in the making" backstory that came with it, a wrinkle like this is not confidence-filling. (That's why it seems likely it was the source of the scuffle -- lynch coming to showtime right before the cameras roll and saying "guys it's gonna need to be 11 episodes to do this story right," would not make them stoked on any level.)

But really you can't speculate too much. Plans of this sort often DO change the moment you're about to make them. Right before movin from the theoretical part of conceiving a project to actually getting your hands dirty on making it work, your brain sort of switches gears, and seeing your idea through the eyes of the person who has to actually put it together, you don't always like the shape of it. That's totally understandable and real and happens a lot and if so I'm glad for lynch to have the space to fix that kind of problem.

That was a rambly window into my thoughts on it more than anything conclusive or valuable I guess! In short I find the whole thing interesting and it gives me a lot to think about and speculate on. I'm honestly neither sad nor happy about the "more episodes" wrinkle, but it is a wrinkle and it's hard to know what it means without the whole story, which I'm sure we won't get for a while.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I will be really really bummed if this transforms from "we had been working on this nine episode story and its scripts for four years," into "suddenly we realized we had EVEN MORE to tell so we're excited showtime is giving us more space to keep expanding."

It feels like the rights consolidation, the Blu Ray and gold box re-releases, the years spent writing these new scripts, were all part of a consolidated, focused long term plan by Frost/Lynch over the last half decade, to get Twin Peaks back fully under their control so that they had an incredibly firm foundation on which to tell one more story. That I can get on board with and have huge respect for. It gets me nervous when I hear that on the cusp of being able to realize years of very clearly complicated and precise and passionate work, the core of it is starting to fundamentally change shape.

I'm not super concerned until it comes out and is good or bad, but with expectations already set by lynch and the network, and the "years in the making" backstory that came with it, a wrinkle like this is not confidence-filling. (That's why it seems likely it was the source of the scuffle -- lynch coming to showtime right before the cameras roll and saying "guys it's gonna need to be 11 episodes to do this story right," would not make them stoked on any level.)

But really you can't speculate too much. Plans of this sort often DO change the moment you're about to make them. Right before movin from the theoretical part of conceiving a project to actually getting your hands dirty on making it work, your brain sort of switches gears, and seeing your idea through the eyes of the person who has to actually put it together, you don't always like the shape of it. That's totally understandable and real and happens a lot and if so I'm glad for lynch to have the space to fix that kind of problem.

That was a rambly window into my thoughts on it more than anything conclusive or valuable I guess! In short I find the whole thing interesting and it gives me a lot to think about and speculate on. I'm honestly neither sad nor happy about the "more episodes" wrinkle, but it is a wrinkle and it's hard to know what it means without the whole story, which I'm sure we won't get for a while.

 

I think the key is that Lynch remains in charge throughout. Because the best bits of the series were often created on the fly/spur of the moment. The Red Room dream sequence, the entire Black Lodge (shot in roughly 24 hours with actors and props onhand to serve Lynch's whims), many elements of Fire Walk With Me (including key components of the ending) were not in the script (hell, even Audrey's dance in episode 2 was improvised by Lynch).

 

*slight True Detective "spoiler" follows - nothing specific, just my feelings about the overall shape of the show*

 

The greatness of Twin Peaks, I think, has always been its ability to go off-script and follow Lynch's muse. I'd compare this to something like True Detective which has a solid script, adheres strictly to it, and delivers a tight final product that nonetheless feels (to me at least) like it played it safe and didn't explore some interesting avenues that opened up as the director played around with the material (ep. 5 & 6 in particular feel like they are tapping into a deeper, richer strain of character and mood than was intended, and that demand something other than the more conventional route already scheduled by for ep. 7 & 8).

 

So while I understand your concerns, I think the problem with Twin Peaks was not that it went off the rails but that it went off the rails with Lynch in the driver's seat. Somehow he knows how to work without a net better than anyone else out there. But then, I say that as someone who likes Inland Empire. ;) I think Lynch's and Frost's script will serve as something of a safety net/guidepost but that many of the greatest bits of the new series won't even have been foreseen by that.

 

P.S. If all you mean is you don't want the show to extend into further seasons, I kind of share your concern there. I could see Lynch losing interest again and the great thing about this upcoming series is his ability to treat it as a single entity, a sort of super-long-form film rather than episodic television whose energy can sag and waver as it did the first time around. But I think the open-endedness refers to how this upcoming story will be told and not for further stories down the road. We'll see...

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

For no reason, here's a scene from

from a live studio audience.

 

(I forget if this site strips YouTube time codes?  I started at 5:09.)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

For no reason, here's a scene from

from a live studio audience.

 

(I forget if this site strips YouTube time codes?  I started at 5:09.)

 

"Oh yeah, how'd you get that elf to talk backwards?"

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

18 new episodes: http://welcometotwinpeaks.com/news/18-new-twin-peaks-episodes-angelo-badalamenti-washington-state/

I'm not sure about this. 9 sounded cool. I could've stretched to 12. By them pushing for 18... I fear it could be diluted and awful.

 

Yeah, that's strange news.  Perhaps it will be 18 episodes produced at once to air over two years like Battlestar Galactica or Mad Men?  AKA one season for their accountants, two seasons for us.

 

The only pay cable show I can think of that had a long season with a lot of episodes is Dream On.  Even Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel is only about 12 episodes per season!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I still hold out that if Lynch directs all of it, it's going to be spectacular. But yeah, 18 has me a bit worried as well as excited. Interestingly, 18 hours of Lynch will almost equal his entire feature filmography up to this point (it triples his episode count for the original series). Whatever else, this is going to be very memorable.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Haha my first thought was honestly "Oh my god so much more podcasting than I was expecting." This will be interesting.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I'm guessing the 18 will be presented in two 9 episodes runs.  I imagine somehow that was the Showtime stipulation --that the amount of money requested could be justified for a "two season" run but not a single season. I'm not especially concerned that the show will somehow be diluted but the pace of things may not be to everyone's expectations. Unless they're expecting a deliberately paced, Lynchian experience. In which case --that's exactly what the viewer could get. 18 hours of conventional television is a lot of production for one person to direct in one go. My hunch is that no more story will be written but the 9 scripts will be unpacked so that the same story unfolds over 18 episodes, giving David Lynch even more opportunity to be David Lynch.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I was worried when I heard 9 episodes that there wouldn't be room for the quirky bits that I really enjoyed, but weren't exactly plot relevant. Now at 18 I'm a little worried that there will be too many weird quirky bits that take away from the tone of the rest of the show. *shrug* I guess I'm just hard to please.

 

On another note, I just watched Dune all the way through for the first time since high school. What a weird movie, but it was awesome to see McLachlan in a different sort of role.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I'm glad that movie brought MacLachlan and Lynch together, at least, because...boy howdy, is that movie (and Paul) kind of a bummer. I mean, that hair! I'm also pretty sure at one point MacLachlan has to look up at the uncaring stars and, in an internal monologue, ask, "Where are my feelings?" Yow.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Kickstarter just promoted this project in their newsletter: a documentary about a Twin Peaks superfan who grew up in the town of filming (Snoqualmie, I guess?). Looks like he got way too into the show and the Laura Palmer character specifically, as a way of escaping an abusive situation. Like to the point of doing drugs because Laura Palmer did.

 

http://kck.st/1GUyZCY

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Watched the FWWM deleted scenes this weekend.  Makes sense why most of them were cut, but it was nice to check back in with the townsfolk.  The Pete/Josie scene was particular fun, but it would have felt out of place with the rest of the film.

 

I was hoping to find that scene on Youtube. I would refer to it every time someone is confused by 2-by-4 not measuring 2x4 inches.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I don't know whether this has already been discussed but is there actually anything concrete about Diane or is it left ambiguous? I always thought she was fictional and the tapes were just a way for cooper to organise his thoughts. An outlet.

Thoughts?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

(Is this thread now open to spoilers? I'll spoiler it just in case.)

 

There's a deleted scene in The Missing Pieces where Cooper talks to Diane in front of her door. She doesn't talk back, though.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

(Is this thread now open to spoilers? I'll spoiler it just in case.)

There's a deleted scene in The Missing Pieces where Cooper talks to Diane in front of her door. She doesn't talk back, though.

That's some Charlie Brown shit.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now