Where (and when and who) were you when you found TP?

General discussion on Twin Peaks not related to the series, film, books, music, photos, or collectors merchandise.

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Louise Dombroski
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Where (and when and who) were you when you found TP?

Post by Louise Dombroski »

(I've been lurking for a long time and finally registered to post this. Hope it hasn't been covered--I didn't see anything within the last year anyway.)

What with the new series being filmed, I'm feeling nostalgic...how did Twin Peaks first happen for you?

For me, it began at the very beginning, April 8, 1990. I was 22, living on the east coast, and on vacation with my then-boyfriend's family. We were wavering over what to watch that evening: either the pilot for some new show one of us had heard about or Married With Children. We decided to give the new show a try, and if it wasn't any good, we could always change the channel. Needless to say, we did not visit the Bundys that night. I'd never seen anything like it, and I was so freaked out by the phrase "Fire walk with me" that I woke up in the middle of the night terrified.

My affection for Twin Peaks never waned, but my affection for the boyfriend definitely did. Fortunately, at a friend's Season 2 Twin Peaks party, a very cute guy sat next to me and complimented me effusely on the cherry pie I'd made. We've just celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary. In 1996, we moved to Seattle (for non-TP reasons!), and one of the first things we did was drive to North Bend for coffee and pie at the RR, to the weary amusement of our waitress. Right now, we're in the middle of rewatching the series with our 13-year-old daughter (we are holding off on FWWM for a LONG while). She loves it and keeps asking questions like "Who is THAT???" or "What just happened?" and every time we say "EXACTLY!"
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LostInTheMovies
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Re: Where (and when and who) were you when you found TP?

Post by LostInTheMovies »

Great question - I was actually recently thinking this should have a thread!

I wish I could remember the specifics better, but I didn't see Twin Peaks until 2006. I knew little to nothing about it, but I loved Mulholland Drive when I saw it several years earlier and the idea of a David Lynch TV show was fascinating. At the time only the Artisan set was available, so I stopped after two episodes and waited for the Gold Box.

The most specific thing I knew about it going in was, I think, that there was a backwards-talking dwarf. I pictured a gnomelike, bearded person in the woods, not Michael J. Anderson in a snazzy red suit dancing to jazz.

By the way, on a related note there is a thread here recounting first reactions to various turning points on the show (which I later turned into a blog post): http://www.dugpa.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2600. I encourage you to continue down this path, and share the rest of your TP history too!

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Re: Where (and when and who) were you when you found TP?

Post by thugpa »

I first heard about Twin Peaks watching Homestar Runner cartoons. Here's a list of references http://www.hrwiki.org/wiki/Twin_Peaks

I remember seeing Marzipan dressed as the Log Lady and I only read briefly about her. Somehow I misunderstood and I thought she was from a sitcom and I didn't look into it anymore.

Then I saw some of the later references on the site that caught my interest, but I didn't think I would want to watch it because it seemed too scary for me. I thought it was entirely a horror show.

Sometime later I was looking to find something to watch with a mysterious small town, because I like that kind of atmosphere, and Twin Peaks kept coming up. After looking at some pictures of the show I watched some clips on you tube. I thought that Cooper would be very serious based on the few pictures I saw of him, but he was funny and strange enough that I decided that I had to watch it.
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Re: Where (and when and who) were you when you found TP?

Post by MasterMastermind »

Seeing Wild at Heart and Mulholland Drive as a kid sparked a sort of artistic awakening in me so I started seeking out all David's stuff. I first watched Twin Peaks over my junior and senior years in high school, so 2006-2007. I had a friend torrent the first season (including the Pilot), and a few months after showing it to a friend and fellow Lynch fan (much pie and coffee was consumed) season 2 hit DVD and I remember being so excited! I was almost late to senior prom because I couldn't stop watching, and it wasn't even the good season 2 episodes. I didn't even see FWWM until a year later when I finally found the dvd at a thrift store.
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Jasper
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Re: Where (and when and who) were you when you found TP?

Post by Jasper »

The Sunday Boston Globe used to come with a newsprint TV listing called "TV Week" (sample below). I think they featured one particular highlight of the week right up at the front, sometimes with a photo, and going by my hazy memory, it had a somewhat gushing short review of the pilot, which was about to air. I'd seen Dune in the theater, and I'd rented Eraserhead when I was 13 or 14. I can't remember if I'd seen Blue Velvet by that time, but I'm pretty sure I had. I remember when Blue Velvet came out, because it got considerable media attention. My first Blue Velvet viewing (rental) is very hazy. I think I was distracted by a girl. :roll:

I wouldn't mind seeing that TV Week blurb again in the highly unlikely event that anyone's got it.
TV_WEEK.JPG
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euro
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Re: Where (and when and who) were you when you found TP?

Post by euro »

I was 15 or 16 when Twin Peaks started on TV in Germany. It was running on a private Server (RTL) and my family didn't have Sat oder Cable, so my best friend took most of the Episodes on VHS and we were watching it together. We started with Episode 2. (He just watched Pilot + Episode 1, mee not). Okay, it was very strange. But I liked the Atmosphere and the Music. Then Audrey started dancing at the Double-R and i felt in love with her. And then Coopers dream, the Red Room, the Dancing, backward speeking dwarf. Holy Shit. This was the craziest thing i'd ever seen on Television.
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Re: Where (and when and who) were you when you found TP?

Post by SandWorm19 »

I was 12 or 13 when it came on originally. My parents decided to watch it and therefore being only on television in the house, I had to watch too. I remember not being terribly interested in it initially. I think it had to do with the fact that they didn't really care for it that much, so I didn't really try. But they kept watching it to see what it was all about. Fast forward several years and I see a copy of season one on dvd and remember the show vaguely and decide I want to give it a fair chance. So I get season one and I find a copy of the pilot and FWWM and try to find season 2 so I can have the whole series before getting started. No dice. At the time there was no season 2 on dvd, and I decided to hold off until I had everything. Fast forward again, this time until June of this year, I find the dvds in my collection and decide to watch them. My wife and I both sat there and just stared at the tv, completely mesmerized. We wouldn't allow ourselves to binge watch it, so that gave me ample opportunity to track down season 2. When we started watching we had no idea there was talks of a third season. So far we have watched the series 3 times and I have had to promise I wouldn't watch it again until Christmas when hopefully Santa will bring that nifty blu-ray set. I am one of those people that gets completely obsessed with one thing, so even though my wife really liked the show, I think she is a bit ready for me to stop talking about it. I will say she has seemed to get interested when I tell her about the upcoming season.
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Ped
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Re: Where (and when and who) were you when you found TP?

Post by Ped »

I was 9/10 when it first aired on the BBC in the UK. I know I didn't religiously follow it but I remember watching the 'BOB climbs over the couch' scene and becoming terrified yet so intrigued at the same time. My sister who was 12/13 watched it and she and her friends were in love with Bobby Briggs. I know I shouldn't have been watching it at the time but my parents views, like a lot back then, were anything goes apart from hanky panky! Violence yes, sex no. I don't recall much apart from the aforementioned BOB couch scene, Maddy dressing up as Laura to fool Jacoby and the final episode. Twin Peaks always stuck in my head after that. A few years later, about 97, I got talking to a friend at High School about it. He vaguely remembered it but got really interested in it and saved a bit of money to buy the 1st season on VHS. I got FWWM on ex-rental from the library and we would swap these and exchange theories. Around that time also we got access to the Internet at School. First thing we searched for was Twin Peaks. We would print out theories regarding the Black Lodge and it just blew our little minds. Twin Peaks has been in and out my life since then. Watched the re-run on Bravo, got the first season in DVD, waited what seemed a lifetime for the 2nd season and now re watched the Entire Mystery on Blu-Ray. Even now as a 33 year old dad, I CANNOT wait for this new series.
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Re: Where (and when and who) were you when you found TP?

Post by sneakydave »

I was 12 when Twin Peaks started airing in the UK at 9pm on a Tuesday night. I remember being intrigued by the advert for the show which showed Catherine firing that poor guy at the mill. I was intrigued by the mystery of the show in a way that nothing else had ever done for me at that age. I watched the pilot with my mum and I was hooked. I recorded every episode on VHS tape at the time, even writing my own episode descriptions on the back of the boxes, and would rewatch each episode several times before the next one came on. My mum didn't really get into it so I ended up banning her from the living room while it was on so I could concentrate fully on it and not have to engage her in conversation about other stuff.

Over time I discovered that a friend of mine watched the show too and I ended up going to his house to watch it. My main memory from that time is watching the final episode at his. When the final scene played out I remember both of us just sitting in stunned silence for around 15 minutes after the final credits ended, not uttering a word. I stood up and walked out of his house without saying goodbye. it had tore my heart out.

Still, that didn't put me off obsessing over it. Bought the VHS box sets when they appeared, bought the Gold Box, bought the recent blu ray set. Apart from family, Twin Peaks has been the one constant in my life and I bore my friends rigid with my constant reference to it.

The new season can't come soon enough.
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Re: Where (and when and who) were you when you found TP?

Post by euro »

I watched the Pilot a half year later and the Episode 1 1 1/2 Year later. I never had TP complete on VHS. Episode 25 started after Midnight and I programmed the Wrong Time/Date on my VHS-Recorder. Episode 27 didn't record due to power blackout :twisted: . God, the 90s were a strange decade. The First Time I had Twin Peaks complete was, when it has been released on DVD.

I got the Gold Box also and of course the BD, but I can't watch the German-Bluray due to the Wrong tone-pitch. The German Synchro was recorded in 25 FPS, the BD has 24 FPS, the Voices sounding very strange on the German BD.
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Re: Where (and when and who) were you when you found TP?

Post by CooperDog »

I was 19, and was visiting my girlfriend (now my wife of 22 years!) after both of us returned home from our respective colleges for summer break. The first thing I saw was the scene at the gazebo, when Jacoby is scoping out "Laura" from the bushes. I impatiently asked my future mother-in-law stupid questions like: "How can that be Laura, isn't she dead?!" To which she immediately replied: "Shut up and watch."

IIRC, Season 1 was re-broadcast on ABC, starting with the pilot, perhaps as early as the following week. My wife and I watched it religiously straight through.
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Jonah
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Re: Where (and when and who) were you when you found TP?

Post by Jonah »

I was 9 or 10, whenever it was that it first aired here. I have only a handful of very vivid memories from that time -

1. Of falling in love with the idea of Laura Palmer and being emotionally devastated at her death and feeling a sense of empathy for her. (I used to stare at her face in the photo in the end credits and think how sad it was she had died and how pretty she was.)

2. Maddy's death - I remember being very disturbed and horrified by it and for years, before I found the show on video and discovered it all over again, remembering it slightly wrong - that Leland had bashed her head into the mantlepiece, not the Missoula Montana photo.

3. BOB - I always found him absolutely terrifying, particularly in the aforementioned scene and in the next episode when we see him in the mirror again when Leland is fixing his tie, and still do to some extent.

4. The theme song, the opening credits - the feeling of transcendence (though I didn't know that word then) they brought about, a kind of feeling of entering a warm, otherworldly, magical - and at times very dangerous - place.

I fell in love with the show at a very young age, but those are my only vivid memories from my first viewings when it was being broadcast on TV. I'd probably have more but with so many rewatchings over the last decade or more, it's hard to remember all the first times I viewed a scene, as I know it all so well now. I wish I remembered more how I reacted to certain revelations in the plot, but I just can't. Twin Peaks, though, has come to be really the ONLY TV show I ever loved. (I don't watch many TV shows these days, often finding the ones people rave about on HBO et al, to never live up to TP for me.) I have a few others I enjoyed, and I've always been a huge film buff too, but nothing else in terms of TV shows - and even film to some extent - ever really enraptured me the way Twin Peaks has. Despite its faults, I've stayed loyal to it and loved it all my life, and always longed for it to come back.
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Re: Where (and when and who) were you when you found TP?

Post by FauxOwl »

I first saw the pilot on ABC... I want to say it was a re-airing of the pilot and not the very first airing. I recall there'd been a fair amount of hype and critical acclaim already, so I'm thinking it was a re-airing. I was 14 and I watched with my family... only my mother wasn't watching. My father was a fan of older mystery/Hitchcock type films. I remember he was quite impressed with the scene in which Cooper caught the reflection of the bike off Laura's eye in the home video. His early theory was that Cooper was the murderer.

Now of course I know this to be my introduction to David Lynch who would go on years later to become my favorite director. I became a huge fan of the show... during the second season when ratings were tanking there was an episode that was locally pre-empted by something or another... a sporting event perhaps... and I phoned the station to find out if it would ever air (they did air the episode late at night). I wish I could recall more about my initial impressions of key moments. I certainly remember being frightened during key moments and intrigued by the weirder elements... little men and giants and what not. I only vaguely recall my initial impressions of Maddy's murder scene... it was of course really scary but I'm not sure I had an understanding of what a masterful bit of filmmaking I was witnessing (today, I recognize it to be a rare scene of such immense power that doesn't fade even a little bit after multiple viewings).

I guess it's cool to have seen the show as it first aired and be among the first to witness it but I do envy those who were introduced to it in recent years, after the beautiful HD transfers and no commercial breaks. All of this really puts the revival into perspective... it's going to be something to savor. Everything about how the revival is being produced and presented is better than it was for the original airing.
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Re: Where (and when and who) were you when you found TP?

Post by musicaddict »

Me: 12 years old
Living in South Africa at the time
Started on TV in SA in June 1991 and the entire show ran through in one go until Jan 1992.
The first thing I heard was the the theme tune when they ran promos on the TV and I was intrigued. Read several write ups about the show ahead of it starting.

After the first 3 episodes my mother banned me from watching the show so I use to get a friend to tape the show for me and slip the VHS to me at school and I had to watch it in secret at home (very difficult to do!).
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Re: Where (and when and who) were you when you found TP?

Post by BOBscaresme »

I was a kid in 4/90 that watched a lot of television both alone and with the family. My mother was already familiar with Lynch with The Elephant Man and Blue Velvet. She was very interested in watching Twin Peaks when she found it listed and so I was interested with her.

Twin Peaks blew my mind, and my immediate impression was 'This is TV that is like a movie!' The fact that my mother had said it was by a movie director probably influenced this opinion, but it was true.
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