The Secret History of Twin Peaks

[FrightNight]

Yeah, I enjoy The X-Files for the silly, messy show it is but Chris Carter's bizarre too-much-Alex-Jones ultra-retcon for his entire series' mythos in the new revival was deeply embarrassing. Nothing in the book approaches that.

So your (and other's) reports about these discrepancies have been false, have they? Just to see how much "melodrama" you can stir up, I guess ...

More like not everything needs to be viewed as the best or worst extreme at all times.

How about "original showrunner should at least get his facts straight before embarking on creating another dosage of HIS property" kind of extreme? Other than that, I recall precious little fan responses of the "meh" variety when the return of the series was announced two years ago - so what happened in between that made it a norm to be measured by? And does it seem okay to you that fans are apparently forced to console themselves with "it doesn't matter if there are mistakes 'cause the new show probably won't be about much of what went on before anyway"? I guess everything is right as rain, as long as we have Lynch & Frost at the helm ...

[N. Needleman]

How about "original showrunner should at least get his facts straight before embarking on creating another dosage of HIS property" kind of extreme? Other than that, I recall precious little fan responses of the "meh" variety when the return of the series was announced two years ago - so what happened in between that made it a norm to be measured by? And does it seem okay to you that fans are apparently forced to console themselves with "it doesn't matter if there are mistakes 'cause the new show probably won't be about much of what went on before anyway"? I guess everything is right as rain, as long as we have Lynch & Frost at the helm ...

It seems okay to me that after 25 years in the abyss, the Twin Peaks merchandising is still a bit sticky on continuity while still providing me with a great book, yes. Would I rather the gaffes not exist? Sure. But like the mishaps in Laura's diary or Cooper's tapes, I don't let them get in the way of my experience with what is overall an enjoyable addition to the larger canon.

Maybe you can lecture Frost about this in exactly this same tone when he begins his book tour, though. That seems the best way to deal with absolutely every issue.

[gavriloP]

I haven't read the book yet, I just ordered it from online bookstore here in Finland but I'd like to say something about this "drama" here

For starters, there seems to be certain school of thought among some fans that Lynch is this amazing architect who builds his perfect worlds where everything makes sense behind it all. That's just simply not true. His method isn't about building a secret truth under the surface, he is actually seeking that truth, it is a process. He himself don't KNOW what everything means, he just goes with his insanely creative subconscious. Same thing happened in original Twin Peaks too. They didn't have a masterplan, they were riding blind and it just went to these beautiful places and mythologies with the magic that is Lynch. Not to say Frost wasn't important too. So I'm expecting a whole lot of errors and inconsistencies on a nitpicking level, especially when it comes to continuity from the first two seasons. Of course this new season is different because most of the stuff is written beforehand and that btw is one thing that interest me a lot. It is a new approach to the series.

I can't imagine Lynch and Frost going through old series, especially the parts they had little to do with (big chunks of the 2nd season) and be tied by the stuff with other writers. I don't mind that at all. FWWM did the same thing and I absolutely love it. Stuff like Laura's secret diary by Jennifer was totally noncanon and still it fits in TP universe in my books. The feeling is there...

If people are waiting to go through this stuff with all possible modern online scrutiny they're bound to be disappointed. If you dissect the Lynch stuff too hard you only start to see what you want in there. The idea of truth, mere glimpse or reflection is enough. I'd say with Lynch you get the feeling what it all means but he intentionally constructs his art so that it cannot be "opened" and solved completely. I can see the loose approach to continuity very fitting to this.

OH, and I don't mean you shouldn't try to open them, I do that all the time, but the only certainty I've found is that he always leaves room to dream, his puzzles always have few missing and wrong pieces. Part of that has to be due the process itself but some of that is intentional, I feel.

Then again, it is possible that there are some deeper meaning to some of these inconsistencies in this particular book. After all, it is Frost's baby. I'm eager to see where this all takes us! Even though I'm surely going to read the book with deep deep scrutiny, I think the final thoughts will only form after I've seen the new series too. Good times!

I find it still hard to believe that in couple of weeks at most I will be holding new Twin Peaks material in my sweaty hands

[FrightNight]

How about "original showrunner should at least get his facts straight before embarking on creating another dosage of HIS property" kind of extreme? Other than that, I recall precious little fan responses of the "meh" variety when the return of the series was announced two years ago - so what happened in between that made it a norm to be measured by? And does it seem okay to you that fans are apparently forced to console themselves with "it doesn't matter if there are mistakes 'cause the new show probably won't be about much of what went on before anyway"? I guess everything is right as rain, as long as we have Lynch & Frost at the helm ...

It seems okay to me that after 25 years in the abyss, the Twin Peaks merchandising is still a bit sticky on continuity while still providing me with a great book, yes. Would I rather the gaffes not exist? Sure. But like the mishaps in Laura's diary or Cooper's tapes, I don't let them get in the way of my experience with what is overall an enjoyable addition to the larger canon.

Maybe you can lecture Frost about this in exactly this same tone when he begins his book tour, though. That seems the best way to deal with absolutely every issue.

Sounds like you would be displeased if the TP-related merchandise actually didn't continue in the same SLOPPY vein. Because that would demand some amount of adjustment and effort, not only on the producer's but also on the consumer's side, maybe?

Nonsarcastically, I don't see why expecting of the highest possible authority when it comes to the world of a certain TV series to do his homework and being discontent when he clearly didn't (at least as it appears; I still leave some room open for it all going away with the best of explanations) would be disrespectful of him, as you're insinuating. Picking on the one who says it and not on the bad work itself certainly doesn't seem like a trait of a healthy, content-focused discussion you're supposedly in favor of. Or maybe I forgot that forums such as this one are reserved only for the highest praise of the art (and artist) in question, so those who've got an odd complaint should steer clear of them.

[dronerstone]

Nonsarcastically, I don't see why expecting of the highest possible authority when it comes to the world of a certain TV series to do his homework and being discontent when he clearly didn't (at least as it appears; I still leave some room open for it all going away with the best of explanations) would be disrespectful of him, as you're insinuating. Picking on the one who says it and not on the bad work itself certainly doesn't seem like a trait of a healthy, content-focused discussion you're supposedly in favor of. Or maybe I forgot that forums such as this one are reserved only for the highest praise of the art (and artist) in question, so those who've got an odd complaint should steer clear of them.

This. Couldn't hve summed it up better.
I already get that most people on here would be defending whatever Lynch/Frost did, even if it was completely nuts. Same goes for all kinds of funds for TM and stuff like that.
Over the years I've grown highly critical, but I gotta say that I still (and will continue to) totally fall for DKL's very unique aesthetic.

But that does not mean that I'm d'accord with all the sloppiness and mistakes...

Either there's a way of justifying those - a plot line, a deeper meaning, etc
Or they just scrwed up their own work - shouldn't they know better than us long time fans of the show? You'd think they would.

And if the latter is the case, I'm still reading the book as soon as I have it in my hands, I'm still watching the show and obsessing over each single new minute of it as soon as it is released in whatever form, but - to express my honest opinion - I would've expected better and I feel that this thought is completely justified.

So, the smaller as well as the bigger mistakes better make some sense, or you're really not doing your job very well, Mark and David.

Nuff said.

[frahm9]

I assume there's no way these are all due to an unreliable narrator kind of thing?

[Panapaok]

Why some people have such hard time to reconcile with a small retconing to an arguably weaker part of the series? Frost isn't a moron who forgot all about it or too lazy to look those things up. It's clear as the sky that after more than two decades and ahead of the new series, he was comfortable to change a few things.

[LonelySoul]

It seems okay to me that after 25 years in the abyss, the Twin Peaks merchandising is still a bit sticky on continuity while still providing me with a great book, yes. Would I rather the gaffes not exist? Sure. But like the mishaps in Laura's diary or Cooper's tapes, I don't let them get in the way of my experience with what is overall an enjoyable addition to the larger canon.

Maybe you can lecture Frost about this in exactly this same tone when he begins his book tour, though. That seems the best way to deal with absolutely every issue.

It'd be one thing if this was a book written by Scott Frost again or some other person. But this is a creator of the series. He invented Twin Peaks. If he can't get his shit together enough to adhere to canon, I have serious concerns about season three. I know you really want to sweep all this under the rug, and it certainly does appear that you're trying really hard to keep your rose-colored glasses on, but dude, this shit ain't small potatoes. The discrepancies are abundant and glaring.

Why some people have such hard time to reconcile with a small retconing to an arguably weaker part of the series? Frost isn't a moron who forgot all about it or too lazy to look those things up. It's clear as the sky that after more than two decades and ahead of the new series, he was comfortable to change a few things.

I have a hard time because it is canon. Whether it's from the "weaker" part of the series is completely irrelevant and subjective. I happen to thoroughly enjoy latter season two. If Frost wanted that stuff to be better he should've focused on his TV show more closely. But the show had to carry on without him and Lynch at times (Peyton has been vocal about how difficult it was to get ahold of either of them during this time). We got these events and they're canon. Unless there is a really good reason for Frost to fuck up details, backgrounds, plots and whole characters in abundance, then this co-creator's work is getting relegated to the level of the low-quality, thrown-together tie-ins from the 90s.

[FrightNight]

Why some people have such hard time to reconcile with a small retconing to an arguably weaker part of the series? Frost isn't a moron who forgot all about it or too lazy to look those things up. It's clear as the sky that after more than two decades and ahead of the new series, he was comfortable to change a few things.

Because once you open that door (if we're indeed dealing with a retcon and not some kind of plot-serving narrative mechanism), it can become very difficult to close it or keep the creative integrity intact. In other words: once it becomes acceptable of a creator to change "small" aspects of his previous work around just because he doesn't like them (anymore), who's to say that sooner or later larger things won't fell victims to this "whim" , so to speak, as well? In my view, the answer to the question of what should be considered canonical (ie. as gospel) is really very simple and has nothing to do with whether a certain element, character, event, subplot is "big" or "small", "more important" or "less important to the main mystery" (because ALL of them have come to form the wonderful and strange tapestry of Twin Peaks we've come to love so much): whatever went on before (again, if your story isn't about toying with alternative timelines and corresponding variations of people, events, places etc.). So, either EVERYTHING is canon or NOTHING is.

And the argument of the "TP's consistency history has always been a checkered one" variety really doesn't hold water, at least not in the circumstances when a list of people creating the series has been narrowed down to just two guys. Because: when these mistakes, discrepancies, inconsistencies, whatever you'd like to call them, were a somewhat logical consequence of a small army of people laboriously turning out things in an environment where the "founding fathers" were sort of coming and going and you had the pressure of ratings-conditioned demands of TV execs to consider, they were justifiable, at least. The circumstances change drastically, though, when the only ones working on it are the two men who created the thing in the first place, when they don't have to deal with any kind of suits' interferences (and you even make a big deal of the point promotion-wise) and when they had 25 years to think it all through - thoroughly.

[Major Briggs]

Why some people have such hard time to reconcile with a small retconing to an arguably weaker part of the series? Frost isn't a moron who forgot all about it or too lazy to look those things up. It's clear as the sky that after more than two decades and ahead of the new series, he was comfortable to change a few things.

Nothing New... Some People still condemn others for calling The new series a reboot, when clearly all signs point that way, when even the Showtime merchandise calls it a whole "New series". Of course there'll be a sense of continuation, but Frost's retconning only makes it clearer that they're rebuilding The yellow brick road to a whole New Story.

And Yes, I find that George Lucas style of changing The Canon Pretty disrespectful of Frost

[LonelySoul]

Removed because I was being a dick.

[FrightNight]

LonelySoul, I see we were following a well-nigh identical train of thought (and typing it at about the same time,too)!

[djerdap]

Doubt he'll answer but we'll see.

If you're using that kind of tone, he'll probably never answer.

[FrightNight]

Wow, LonelySoul, kudos to your courage!

[krishnanspace]

You should not have asked him so bluntly.