Mr. Bellavance wants his $500,000 back. And whoever may have stolen it is going to whacked, with the polaroids to prove it.
That’s how The Aggression Scale kicks off. And for the next 84 minutes it doesn’t let up. It’s a fly under the radar flick that action fans definitely shouldn’t miss out on. And if you grew up loving Twin Peaks, you definitely have to watch this one.
Mr Bellavance is played by Ray Wise, who TP fans know as Leland Palmer, while his main hitman, Lloyd, is portrayed by Dana Ashbrook, aka Bobby Briggs. In the acting world, Wise is a given talent, a character actor who has turned in countless memorable performances throughout his storied career. Ashbrook is no doubt best known for his time on time on Twin Peaks, but he’s really a standout in The Aggression Scale. He’s aged very well and comes across as the badass his character requires.
Back to the story. Bellavance’s hitmen (among them Ashbrook and Derek Mears from the recent Friday The 13th reboot) track down a the Rutledge family, one that includes the emotionally disturbed Owen (Ryan Hartwig), who sets about protecting himself and his new sister when things turn very bad for the family.
Under the direction of Steven C. Miller, The Aggression Scale is a kickass thriller that will hopefully find an audience after it got strong notices at the 2012 SXSW Film Festival. With all sorts of crap that makes it to movie theatres, it’s too bad that the film didn’t score a wider release. It’s quick and clever and has some great action scenes. The performances are all strong, with the standouts coming from Ashbrook and Mears, who act and react exactly how you think hitmen in their situation would. That’s one of the strongest aspect of The Aggression Scale – the characters feel real.
A refreshing take on home invasion films, The Aggression Scale is well worth tracking down. It’s out today on Blu-ray and DVD and can be ordered here.
I think my memories of “Twin Peaks,” as with those of many folks, are scarred by how the series faded away, rather than how it started. The phenomenon began with a sizzle then very quickly transformed into an inferno. The problem was that very few people stayed around to see what was left when the smoke cleared. Once the initial ‘Who killed Laura Palmer?’ furor died down, no one much cared any more, and when things got a bit weird, even the network backed off. My thoughts on the rise and fall of, as well as my return to, “Twin Peaks” are after the jump.
The Phenomenon
I can’t honestly remember ABC’s advertising campaign for the series, if any, or how they promoted the show, but I do remember quite clearly that everyone was at home in front of their TV that Sunday night. And equally, everyone was talking about it Monday morning, and throughout the week until the next episode.
I remember talk TV and radio were obsessed with the show. The buzz was non-stop, whether it was compiling clues to the murder, suggesting theories, or just trying to figure out why it was so popular – everyone was talking “Twin Peaks.” Folks were quoting it, and it may well have been the first of the water cooler shows.
I remember coffee, pie, and log viewing parties where folks would dress as the characters and then verbally dissect the episode afterward. It was one of the first TV shows, along with “Batman The Animated Series,” that I obsessively taped with my brand spanking new VCR.
The magic even extended to other media. The haunting soundtrack by Angelo Badalamenti was in everyone’s car stereo and on the radio as well. Even the album featuring Julee Cruise’s melodic vocals over the show’s theme did serious time on the air and on the charts. Twin Peaks mania rivaled that of the original 1960s “Batman” TV show. But like the Adam West caped crusader, its day in the sun was fleeting.
The Fall
Television networks have a bad habit of letting things go on too long. ABC also did this with “Moonlighting” and “Lois and Clark.” AMC did it just this year with the startlingly familiar “The Killing.” They stretch when they should close.
“Twin Peaks” just took the whole ‘Who killed Laura Palmer?’ thing too long and too far. Viewers gave up, they didn’t care, or they were aggravated it was taking so long to tie up the case and reveal who did it. The network demanded the case be closed and the story moved on. As forced as that was, it was far too late.
And then things got weird. Really weird. Prophetic giants? Dancing funny talking little people in red leisure suits? Red curtains, zig zag carpets and strobe lights? WTF? I wanted to throw something through my TV at the end of the final episode, the first time I saw it, and yes, the second time I saw it just today.
Second Chances
It’s been over two decades since I’ve seen “Twin Peaks.” After a recent discussion with my Biff BamPop! peeps about the theatrical epilogue to the series, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, I decided to view the whole shebang again. Here are my thoughts.
The first thing that struck me on my rewatch of “Twin Peaks” was the quirkiness of characters just for the sake of quirkiness, not because it was important to their personality or motive. Second, the music of Angelo Badalamenti, so new and refreshing to TV of that age… in hindsight, and in reviewing, I found it unintentionally funny, striking an almost melodramatic 1950s soap opera chord.
Watching the pilot again I was struck by how much it reminded me of AMC’s aforementioned “The Killing.” That’s really not so odd because “Twin Peaks” was the first thing I thought of when I saw that show. The problem is I was recalling “Twin Peaks” through the cloud of a nearly two decade memory. Seeing it here now, it seems almost a parody of itself, with “The Killing,” itself a remake of the Danish TV series “Forbrydelsen,” being almost the superior remake.
Conclusions
I recall “Twin Peaks” being quirky and fun, creepy and refreshing. I don’t remember it being funny or campy. I had to stop and wonder, rewatching it, was this David Lynch and Mark Frost’s intent all along? I really can’t help thinking of the 1966 “Batman” TV series. At four years of age it was serious as a heart attack but at twenty-four, it was hilarious. Was “Twin Peaks” nothing more than a two level Warner Bros. cartoon where we won’t get half the jokes until we’re adults? I’m really afraid so.
While the show created stars, renewed careers, was full of stunt casting, and changed television forever, the truth is, in hindsight, it is full of melodrama and heinous overacting, all for the apparent camp effect.
“Twin Peaks” was an enjoyable, and painful rewatch, and as much as I liked it, I don’t think I’ll do it again. The 1990s were enough the first time around, for me at least. Perhaps I’ll look forward to giving the movie/sequel/continuation Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me another shot. I do recall David Bowie being quite good in it, but little else, but then again, Bowie is always good. “Twin Peaks,” not so much…
Hey Biff Bam Poppers! I wanted to share with you the cover to next month’s issue of Rue Morgue Magazine, which features a cover story on Twin Peaks written by me! It features my interviews with various cast and crew, including wonderful Sheryl Lee. The issue is out April 1. So don’t forget to buy one
I’ll be pimping out my book on the series next February!
Rejoice! FAN EXPO Canada is back, T-Dot (resident and visiting) peeps!
What’s “T-Dot”, you ask? Well, that’s just me shouting out the glorious city of Toronto with my best urban inflection. FAN EXPO Canada, of course, is the third largest pop culture event in North America, a worthy happening for any lover of comic books, sci-fi, horror, anime or gaming.
Now entering its 20th year (you’re all grown up!), and boasting over 1000 exhibitors over 750,000 square feet comprised of both the north and south buildings that make up the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, FAN EXPO Canada expects to host well over 100.000 fans.
If you plan to be one of them over the next four days, follow me after the jump for a highlight list of some exciting events on a schedule brimming full of exciting events!
Look, I’m primarily a comic book fan, but I also dig the sci-fi and horror stuff to a certain extent. Luckily, FAN SXPO Canada has it all.
Checking out the schedule in advance is a must. Because the convention centre will be buzzing, you’ll need to know where you’re going, what room you need to be in and at what time, and where to find your buddies on a regular basis.
You can find the master schedule list right here. I generally print mine up in advance and highlight the programming I’m most interested in. It’s useful not just to plan your day, but there will be times when you just want to grab a cold drink (or a hot, caffeinated beverage) and just find a room to sit in and rest your weary feet whilst listening to something interesting about some fragment of pop culture.
Here are some of the events that have tickled my fancy this year. Maybe I’ll see you at one of them:
THURSDAY AUGUST 28
6:30 PM – Room 713 – Steampunk 101
You know, the Steampunk niche ain’t so niche anymore. I’ve seen its devoted fan base grow larger and larger each year. If you want to know more about this corner of pop culture, Stempunk 101 is the place to be. Of course, you could always ask Biff Bam Pop’s own Steampunk Granny, Marie Gilbert!
6:45 PM – Room 705 – Working Digitally In Comics
More of the comics we read these days are in digital form, aren’t they? Here’s how they’re made.
8:15 PM – Room 206 – Life Inside A Dalek – From The Doctor Who Society Of Canada
I’m not a huge Who fan, but I know there are a ton of you out there who are. Meet all the others here. It should be interesting.
FRIDAY AUGUST 29
11:15 AM – Room 703 – Life After Archie
Holee molee! They just killed Archie! Shake your fist at the panelists – or shake their hands as they regale you with stories of Riverdale and the fallout of the death of one of comicdom’s most beloved characters!
12:30 PM – Room 701A – Remembering The Shining With The Grady Twins
One of the all-time classic horror films! Let the Grady Twins (remember those freaky sisters from the flick?) walk you down memory lane with stories about the production. Tales of Nicholson and Kubrick? You gotta be there!
Back in the day, TVO’s Prisoners of Gravity was one of the most important pop-culture news, views, and interviews television shows to watch. Sure, maybe you have to be of a certain age to be interested in this particular event – but the importance of that show still lives on today. At 5:30, that’s where you’ll find me. Drop me a Tweet is you’re coming too: @jpfallavollita
8:00 PM – Room 105 – The Legendary Stan Lee
Maybe you’ve heard Stan “The Man” Lee talk before. If you have, you’ll probably want to hear him regale with stories again. He’s that good at it. The man’s a legend. What more needs to be said?
SATURDAY AUGUST 30
12:00 PM – Room 206 – 25th Anniversary Of Twin Peaks Reunion
The cult classic television series that has gone on to inspire so many films and TV programming since it originally aired 25 years ago is having a reunion! Huzzah! Look for legendary actors Ray Wise (Leland Palmer), Sheryl Lee (Laura Palmer) and Sherilyn Fenn (Audrey Horn) to share thoughts and stories on the production. Biff Bam Pop’s own Editor-In-Chief, Andy Burns will be there as well – he’s got his new book, Wrapped In Plastic: Twin Peaks, set to be unveiled in 2015, didn’t ja know?!?
2:30 PM – Room 714 – DC Comics – Batman 75: The Eternal Dark Knight
Celebrate Batman’s 75th Anniversary with the writers and artists and fans that were and still are inspired by one of the world’s greatest pop culture icons.
3:45 PM – Room 715 – The Black Museum Presents: The History of Horror On Home Video
I love archived, historical talks. And that’s what you’re gonna get here – a history of horror like only the Black Museum can present! Get educated!
Sunday August 31
12:30 PM – Room 105 – Celebrity Q&A Session With The Star Of Arrow Stephen Amell
I’m thinking this will be a fairly popular event. How could it not be? A great series about to enter an exciting 3rd season. A charming, funny, and genuinely likeable lead actor. Who also, you know, just happens to be not so hard on the eyes. Hell if I know, how he makes that salmon leap exercise routine look so damn easy.
5:00 PM – Room 105 – The Two Captains Patrick Stewart And William Shatner
Now that’s the way you end a convention. Beam me up to this event, Scotty! (Just make sure you beam up with your pre-purchased tickets!)
So there you have it. A small sampling of some of the more interesting scheduled events at FAN EXPO Canada this year. Well, interesting by my standards and curiosities. By no means is this an exhaustive list. I implore you: make your own.
Don’t forget to check out the available FAN EXPOExclusives. I’ve got dibs on DC-The Multiversity #1 variant, the Image-Wayward #1 variant, the HBO Game of Thrones Lannister Shield Wall Plaque (they always pay their debts!) and the pretty awesome Nerdblock-designed Fan Expo Canada T-Shirt #1. And don’t forget to spend some time in Artist Alley and the Indy Press Pavilion – easily one of the largest and best artist collectives of any convention in any part of the world!
In the meantime, I’ll see you around, wandering the halls, floors and breakout rooms of 2014’s FAN EXPO Canada. I’ll be the hipster with the coffee in his hand. Come say “Hi”.
It’s the return of the Biff Bam Popcast, featuring Andy Burns, Glenn Walker, JP Fallavollita, and the newest addition to the BBP family, Ms. Amanda Blue. In this edition, we’re talking about the return of Twin Peaks to television after 25 years.
I confess. I didn’t watch “Twin Peaks” when it premiered on ABC in 1990. I have no excuse except that life got in the way. “Twin Peaks,” created by David Lynch and Mark Frost, focused on the murder of a young girl, Laura Palmer. Thanks to its creators, “Twin Peaks” became the flagship for groundbreaking television. This year when Andy Burns, Editor-In-Chief of Biff Bam Pop!, published his book Wrapped in Plastic: Twin Peaks, I was curious as to why he loved this series so much. He wisely suggested that I read his book which is not only for diehard fans of the show, but for newbies like me who’d never seen the series. I’ve started watching the show on Netflix. Do I like it? Grab yourself a cup of damn good coffee and find out.
The Body
While the theme song written by composer Angelo Badalamenti plays in the background, Pete Martell (Jack Nance), who works at the Packard Saw Mill, gives his wife, Catherine (Piper Laurie) a kiss before heading out for a relaxing day of fishing. He finds something on the beach.
Laura’s Parents
Unaware that her daughter is missing, Sarah prepares breakfast. When Sarah can’t find Laura, she calls Laura’s boyfriend. Betty Briggs tells Sarah that Bobby (Dana Ashbrook) is at football practice. Was Laura with him? Sarah calls her husband, Leland (Ray Wise), who is with his business partner, Ben Horne (Richard Beymer). Richard played Tony on West Side Story. They are closing a deal on land they don’t own to visiting Norwegians.
Lucy Moran, (Kimmy Robertson) the dispatcher for the Twin Peaks Police Station, receives the call that sends Sheriff Harry Truman (Michael Ontkean) and his deputies to investigate the dead girl wrapped in plastic. Now it’s up to the sheriff and his two deputies Hawk and Andy to find out how she died. Andy is crying uncontrollably; a hint to his personality. He does this at every crime scene. Dr. Hayward recognizes the girl. It’s Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee).
Leland is speaking with his frantic wife, when the sheriff walks in with the news. Leland had to identify the body of his seventeen year old daughter; he is inconsolable. While Sheriff Harry speaks with Sarah, Deputy Hawk and Leland search Laura’s room. They find a diary. Andy tells Harry that another girl is missing. Ronette Pulaski is found later that day, badly beaten, raped and in a catatonic state.
Laura’s Friends
Not only did Bobby miss football practice, but according to the coach Bobby’s been late for the past two weeks He’s having an affair with a very married waitress at the Double R Diner. Shelly Johnson’s (Madchen Amick) husband, Leo, is abusive and a crook.
At school, we meet some of Laura’s school chums, Donna Hayward (Lara Flynn Boyle), James Hurley (James Marshall) and Audrey Horne (Sherilyn Fenn). The Principal makes the announcement that Laura is dead and Bobby is arrested by the sheriff. Audrey is one of my favorite characters. She does everything possible to muck up her father’s business plans with the Norwegians. She plays dumb sex kitten, but she’s one smart bunny.
Big Ed
Ed Hurley is (Everett McGill) James Hurley’s uncle and the owner of a gas station. His wife Nadine (Wendy Robie) wears an eye patch and is obsessive about drapes; quiet drapes. Ed has a lover, Norma Jennings (Peggy Lipton) owner of the Double R Diner and wife to jailbird Hank Jennings. James leaves a note for Donna with Ed; meet him at the Roadhouse.
Packard Saw Mill
There is palpable hostility between Josie Packard (Joan Chen) and Catherine Martell who fight over the running of the mill. The mill is losing money. Josie was married to Catherine’s brother. She’s not happy that Josie inherited the business after her husband’s death.
Agent Cooper
It isn’t until Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachian) arrives on the scene, that you realize that this isn’t your average weekly serial drama. Speaking to the unknown Diane on his recorder, Cooper talks weather, location, trees, cherry pie and coffee. He’s meeting with Sheriff Truman about the crime. The camera’s long shot between the meeting of Cooper and Truman is mentioned in Andy’s book; another clue into Lynch’s directing techniques.
Cooper tells Truman that the Feds are now in charge. On the way to the morgue, they bump into one of the wackier characters on the show. Dr. Lawrence Jacoby (Russ Tamblyn), who you may remember from West Side Story, is a psychiatrist. Laura was his patient. Cooper finds evidence under Laura’s fingernail. Cooper has seen this. The letter R is printed on the speck of paper. They read the diary found in Laura’s bedroom and find a key to a safety deposit box.
A crying Deputy Andy locates the area where Ronette and possibly Laura were raped. One of the clues is half a gold heart on a chain and a note with the words, Fire dance with me. Cooper questions Bobby. They have a video of Laura and Donna dancing. Was Laura seeing someone else? Cooper is one smart agent. He may babble on about coffee, trees and pie, but he knows his shit and he knows who filmed the girls by something reflected in Laura’s eyes. Lucy overhears Bobby and Mike planning to find the biker.
Cooper and Truman head over to the Roadhouse where a fight breaks out. James and Donna bury the other half of the heart and decide to do their own investigation to find Laura’s killer. James Hurley is arrested along with Bobby and Mike.
Laura
When we meet Laura, she is dead. We don’t know much about her, but there are many clues: We know Laura was cheating on Bobby with James; that she and Donna were BFF’s; that she had a safe deposit box that contained a porno magazine which featured an ad for Ronette. There was also ten thousand dollars inside that box. What the hell was Laura into?
Conclusion
I can see why Andy Burns feels that “Twin Peaks” was one of the most influential shows in television history. Nothing was done like this show before. Even the music for the series is different. It’s hip, cool and sets the mood for what’s taking place on the screen.
Even though the subject matter is dark, it also has comedic moments like the dear head on the table, Nadine playing with her curtains, Cooper’s obsessive interest in Douglas Fir trees, coffee and cherry pie and, the rows and rows of donuts set out for the sheriff’s and his deputies.
At the end of the pilot, Cooper has checked in at the Great Northern Hotel. Sheriff Truman is spending the night with Josie. And, someone digs up the heart that James and Donna have buried. The game is on!
One of the things we love here at Biff Bam Pop! is books, probably because we’re all writers as well as readers. Therefore I’d like to suggest some books here that folks who regularly read our website might also enjoy reading, perhaps because some are by us, and some by friends, and some we just really dig. Meet me after the jump for the Gift of Reading.
BBP contributor Lucas Mangum has a new book available on Kindle that came out this past Halloween about a filmmaker haunted by a cursed screenplay, and it’s some of the best horror I’ve read this year. Check out Maniafor both yourself and the horror fan on your list. Our own Marie Gilbert this year also released the third part of her Roof Oasis series with Beware the Harvesters.
With Rogue One the sensation of the season, we are all Star Wars fans at the moment, and Sequart Organization has two fantastic books out for the fans on your list. Released last year is A Long Time Ago: Exploring the Star Wars Cinematic Universe, and just recently A Galaxy Far, Far Away: Exploring Star Wars Comics. A third and final volume, for those thinking ahead, will be available shortly: A More Civilized Age: Exploring the Star Wars Expanded Universe. These extensive and entertaining books are musts for the Star Wars fans on your list.
Speaking of Sequart, their founder Julian Darius has a fantastic science fiction comic series, Martian Comics (we looked a few early issues here) that I can’t recommend enough. Check it out for yourself, and gift it for your friends.
And if you’re looking for speculative fiction short stories, I would be remiss to not mention Strange World: A Biff Bam Pop Short Story Anthology, featuring many writers and contributors to this very website. The book includes work by folks like the aforementioned Andy Burns and Lucas Mangum, David S. Ward, Jason Shayer, and Ian Rogers, among others, and also a short story by some guy named Glenn Walker.
Happy Holidays, happy last-minute shopping, and keep reading!
No, it’s not a sequel to ‘The Void,’ it’s the new video from Frankie Rose.
This week on Pump Up The Jam: IO Echo, Zola Jesus, Annie Hart, Frankie Rose, Talullah Ruff, Dead Heavens, Beliefs, and Greys.
It’s been way too long since we’ve heard from IO Echo, the darkwave project of Ioanna Gika and Leopold Ross. 2013’s Ministry of Love was one of my fave records of that year and while the band released a free mixtape in 2014 (with the fantastic title I’ve Been Vaping Your Tears, including a great cover of Mariah Carey’s “Heartbreaker”), their presence, in the form of a full-length release and a tour, has been sorely missed.
The good news is they have recently signed to Sargent House Records and have released a new single and video called “Harm.”
It has that eerie, lo-fi aesthetic of late ‘70s music videos without the self-consciousness of someone trying to recapture that feeling. I see the influence of J-Horror, Let’s Scare Jessica To Death, and Maya Deren. The song is wonderful, and a good indication that IO Echo has only gotten better with age.
Even better news! Today, in solidarity with Bandcamp’s inititative, Sargent House is going to donate all proceeds from the sales of the “Harm” on Bandcamp to support Transgender Rights, with all monies going to the Transgender Law Center. Here are more details from the Bandcamp site.
Another artist from whom we’ve been waiting for a new release is Zola Jesus. The first single from her upcoming album Okovi, “Exhumed,” was released back in June, and now there’s an official video. Coincidentally, it also looks like it was heavily influenced by J-Horror, specifically The Ring series.
Record label Sacred Bones has also announced two special Zola Jesus releases that will come out on September 8, the same day Okovi is releases.
A new “Ice” colored vinyl edition of Stridulum collects her classic Stridulum and Valusia EPs together on a single volume for the first time, and a new “Smoke” colored vinyl variant of the long out-of-print debut LP, The Spoils. If you haven’t preordered Okovi yet, the limited edition LP on “Rust” colored vinyl with art zine by Jesse Draxler is still available.
Stereogum also premiered a video of a live performance of an as-yet-unheard song, “Siphon” along with a track from Okovi called “Soak.”
If you’ve been watching Twin Peaks, you’ve seen that performance from female trio Au Revoir Simone, whose cool synths and even cooler harmonies were on full and dazzling display. Annie Hart, one third of the band, has a new album out from Instant Records on September 15 called Impossible Accomplice. She’s also premiered two tracks from the album, “Hard To Be Still” (which has a video) and “I Don’t Want Your Love.” Both are upbeat and sad at the same time.
If you’ve heard bands like Crystal Stilts, Dum Dum Girls, Vivian Girls and Beverly, you’ve heard Frankie Rose. Her fourth album is due on August 11 called Cage Tropical (from Slumberland Records and Grey Market). The single, “Red Museum,” is unbelievably captivating. It feels like a super poppy Cocteau Twins or a creepier iteration of The Sundays. I absolutely love it. And the video’s look fits with the IO Echo and Zola Jesus videos posted above.
I’d never heard of Talullah Ruff until a few days ago, but her song, “I Am Not,” is something quite special. She has a wonderfully flexible voice and it goes well with the melancholy piano melody of the song. It’s hard to believe she’s only 20 years old. I expect more great things from this young woman. Her self-produced EP What Is Honest will be out on August 25. You can read more about Ms. Ruff and her music at Atwood Magazine.
In my recent review of Dead Heavens’ Whatever Witch You Are I called the band, “less macho than stoner rock, but more elegant than garage punk.” I think the band’s new video for “Away From The Speed” will prove my point!
Hand Drawn Dracula is a Toronto, Ontario-based label that consistently releases intriguing music (Bad Tits, Doomsquad, Vallens, etc.). The label’s latest release, a split 7-inch between shoegazey noise band Beliefs and post-punk/hardcore outfit Greys is no exception. Having seen both of these bands live, I can attest that these two new tracks are excellent examples of the sound of both bands.
As many of you know, I’m a huge fan of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower. As many of you may also know, I’m the author of the book Wrapped In Plastic: Twin Peaks (ECW Press, 2015). Previously, I never would have imagined that there would be any connection between two of my greatest loves, but following last night’s conclusion of Twin Peaks: The Return, I can’t help but think about how both series confounded expectations of their followers.
Read along with me, but be advised, there will be massive spoilers for both The Dark Tower and Twin Peaks: The Return.
Last night on Showtime brought the resolution of the 18-episode limited event series, Twin Peaks: The Return. As co-written by show creators Mark Frost and David Lynch, and directed solely by Lynch himself, the series was essentially about the return of FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) to the town he first visited some 25 years ago when he was tasked with investigating the murder of high school student Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee).
I’m not going to get into deep analysis off the series as a whole (you can wait for the follow-up to my book), but it’s worth nothing that the real story for this remarkable piece of art Lynch and Frost created is ostensibly that of Cooper’s return to Twin Peaks, and a final confrontation with his evil doppelgänger that has roamed free for decades while Cooper himself has been trapped in the series’ supernatural meeting house, The Black Lodge. And in episode 17, that’s what Lynch and Frost deliver – moments that fans have dreamt of for 25 years themselves. Cooper, clad in his black suit and craving his cup of coffee, back in the town, surrounded by familiar faces and some new ones. The evil doppelgänger vanquished, seemingly for good. This was fan service at its finest, and for many, shutting things down with this conclusion probably would have been just fine.
Fans felt the same way in the final book in Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series. After seven books detailing Roland of Gilead’s quest to find the Tower that holds multiple worlds together, the Gunslinger finally arrives at his destination. But before going any further, the narrator begs the reader to not continue their own journey with Roland; to take comfort knowing that in other worlds, his fallen comrades (his ka-tet) are still alive, gathered together to live happily ever after. To rejoice that Roland has completed his quest, and to let him enter the Tower on his own. It’s unlikely that any reader did as suggested, which is why when the revelation that Roland’s journey is a cycle, that he has found and entered the Dark Tower multiple times and is destined to repeat his journey until he learns from his mistakes, more than a few were angry at the results. However, as we were told constatly throughout our own Dark Tower cycle, ka (destiny) is a wheel, forever turning.
Twin Peaks: The Return was a journey itself, Cooper’s journey home. And perhaps, for most fans, the defeat of Mr. C was where the show should have ended. But that’s not quite the story Lynch and Frost were determined to tell. Cooper the hero had grand ambitions, a determination to save Laura Palmer from the horrible death that befell her back in February of 1989. Frustratingly, Cooper returns to The Black Lodge and encounters the long-lost Phillip Jeffries, now embodied as a kettle with the power of time travel. Cooper is sent back to the night of Laura’s death. We see him watch her final moments with James Hurley (straight out of the cinematic prequel Fire Walk With Me, with Laura’s out of nowhere scream from the original film now given explanation). Before Laura goes to meet Leo Johnson (Eric Da Re), Jacques Renault (Walter Olkewicz) and Ronnette Pulaski (Phoebe Augustine), she encounters Cooper in the woods, offering his hand and a promise to take her home. Though Laura disappears with another scream before his mission is fully completed, it appears that Cooper has done more than enough.
Laura lives.
However, in doing so, Cooper has rewritten time, and his entire reason for being in Twin Peaks has been negated. As the first moments from the series replay, the body wrapped in plastic is no longer on the shore. Cooper has never had reason to come to Twin Peaks. Yet, he still exists, his experiences intact. And his determination to bring Laura home remains, a problematic goal seeing as how the world he was part of has now changed. In fact, as the final hour of Twin Peaks: The Return suggests, Cooper is now trapped in a world where Laura may have never actually existed. Having travelled through a time portal with his secretary/flame Diane (Laura Dern), Cooper himself is different. His eyes are darker, and his methods and mannerisms are crossed with that of his doppelgänger.
Is this even the Cooper we were rooting for?
When he finally encounters who he thinks is an older Laura Palmer who has survived, she comes with a Texas accent and the name Carrie Page, with no recollection of Twin Peaks and all of its events. She may look like Laura Palmer, and she may even feel like her, but it’s doubtful that it truly is who we see. Much like Roland the Gunslinger of The Dark Tower, Cooper too is determined to press on, to take Laura home and complete his own noble quest, though what he finds there may not be what he or the audience is looking for.
Upon knocking on the door of the familiar Palmer house in Twin Peaks, a woman we’ve never seen before answers the door. There is no Sarah Palmer living there. There never was. The previous owner was named Chalfont, which was also a name of the old lady who lived in the Fat Trout Trailer Park in Fire Walk With Me, and was seen in the Black Lodge. The woman at the door herself is named Tremont, another name used by the same aged woman. This house, which I would suggest is some sort of nexus for evil, never belonged to the Palmers. Do the Palmer’s even exist here and now?
As we know, there are other world’s than these.
Cooper is shocked. He walks out into the middle of the street with Carrie Page and stunned, suddenly asks out loud, “What year is this?” Carrie hears the name Laura in the wind and screams the ear piercing scream that Sheryl Lee has delivered so masterfully before.
Perhaps Twin Peaks is a wheel.
The series finale of Twin Peaks: The Return is frustrating for all of us that wanted something clearly definite and explained. After 25 years, those are not unfair expectations. But this is a series, and these are creators, than typically feel a sense of obligation only towards the story they’ve decided to tell. The story that has percolated sans fish over their own decades of living. Much like Stephen King understood that many of his readers would despise how The Dark Tower ends, no doubt David Lynch and Mark Frost knew the same thing. However, the greatest stories write themselves, and make no mistake, Twin Peaks: The Return has been great storytelling. It leaves you thinking about what you’ve seen, and wondering if you’ll see more. What we do know is, like Roland’s quest for The Dark Tower will never end, Agent Cooper’s quest to save Laura Palmer will forever continue, with every good deed and misstep in lockstep.
Even as the lights grow dim, the last page is turned, and the credits roll.
For fans of Twin Peaks, 2017 has been an incredible, defining year. First, the long-talked about third season made its way to Showtime as an 18-part film, written by series co-creators Mark Frost and David Lynch, with every hour directed by Lynch himself. Familiar faces mingled with new ones, though nobody would disagree that the new series was a tour de force delivered by Kyle MacLachlan, who not only returned as Special Agent Dale Cooper, along with two brand new characters. The series picked up 25 years after Cooper became trapped in the Black Lodge with his doppelgänger roaming free. While the ratings weren’t outstanding, the quality of the series was incredible, and its making many a Best of 2017 lists.
This week sees the release of Twin Peaks: The Limited Event Series on Blu-ray and DVD, featuring hours of incredible behind the scenes footage that take you up close and personal into David Lynch’s creative process. The Blu-ray is the version to pick up, as it contains a bonus disc of footage that absolutely is a must-experience for fans. The packaging is a gorgeous slipcase that features Cooper’s various guises. For anyone looking to delve deeper into the world of Twin Peaks, this is 100% a must have.
But wait! If you’re going to purchase Twin Peaks: The Limited Even Series, you need to get Twin Peaks: The Final Dossier along with it. Mark Frost has penned this immensely readable novel, written in the voice of Special Agent Tammy Preston, which does the unthinkable in Twin Peaks – it actually answers questions. What exactly happened to Audrey Horne? It’s in the book. How are we supposed to take the final moments of the penultimate episode? It’s in the book.
With so many questions left unanswered by the series (and don’t complain, this is David Lynch we’re talking about), Twin Peaks: The Final Dossier is an absolute gift for fans.
But that’s not all. For the toy lovers out there, the fine folks at Funko (I love me some alliteration), have released some outstanding Twin Peaks action figures. The four pack included Special Agent Dale Cooper, The Log Lady, BOB and Laura Palmer, wrapped in plastic.
And finally, what’s wrong with a little self-promotion. My book Wrapped In Plastic: Twin Peaks is a look at the phenomenon of the first two seasons of the series, and the impact it made on popular culture. Lots of folks involved with Twin Peaks said nice things about the book, and hopefully you will too!
This is the water, and this is the well, and these are the most-have Twin Peaks purchases for the fan in your life this holiday season.
Thursday April 8th marks the 20th anniversary of the debut of Twin Peaks, one of the most influential and memorable programs in the history of television. Over the next two days Biff Bam Pop writers share their memories of the show. We begin with JP:
I missed David Lynch and Mark Frost’s Twin Peaks the first time it aired but caught it, appropriately I suppose, on its second run.
Of course, I had been aware of the series when it premiered – it was the darling of television critics everywhere and I read my TV Guide as thoroughly as the Entertainment section of the Toronto Star but for one reason or another, the pilot eluded me and I didn’t want to start my “detective work” on the show in the middle of the following seven episodes. So I waited, caught it on repeat and then dove headfirst into season two, transfixed by the strangely meandering soap opera-like story of unsolved small town murder, the surreal yet transfixing cast of characters, the sultry female actors, the haunting musical score and, of course, the amazing Kyle Maclachlan as the now mythical Agent Cooper.
Twin Peaks is a series that will stay with me forever – not because of the story. No, to be honest, I found the series too perplexing and impenetrable for that aspect of the show to be deemed classic. In fact, I found the second season to be so much filler to what the story was supposed to be about. Twin Peaks will stay with me for the timeless imagery it served up to my young eyes: sometimes pleasing, sometimes horrifying, sometimes bizarre – but always fascinating.
There are four specific images from the series’ two “seasons” of broadcast that are imbedded within my consciousness. The first two typify both the sublime and the ridiculous nature of the series: how could I ever forget the beautiful visage of Madchen Amick serving cherry pie at the Double R dinner? Yeah, I fell in love at that greasy spoon every time she was onscreen. And then there was the strange dwarf, the Man From Another Place, as he was called, dressed in a 1930’s leisure suit, walking and talking backwards in a mysterious lounge decorated with sweeping red velvet curtains, illuminated only by the light of a strobe. Disturbingly whacky.
But there was also another side to the show. A dark side.
The other two images that haunted me in the early nineties, just as they do now, revealed the antagonist, Bob, a tall, thin drifter with long and wiry gray hair and maniacal eyes, malevolently leaping over a couch and coming straight for me, the viewer! And in the final episode, heroic Agent Cooper, not immune from the wickedness he’s investigated for so long, slamming his head against a washroom mirror, revealing a broken reflection of the evil Bob, as he incessantly asks “How’s Annie?”
Those kind of primordial images entrench themselves within you, stay with you, both in the conscious and the subconscious. So powerful were they that they have also informed – and continue to inform – my own creative outputs ever since I first witnessed them twenty years ago.
Thursday April 8th marks the 20th anniversary of the debut of Twin Peaks, one of the most influential and memorable programs in the history of television. Over the next two days Biff Bam Pop writers share their memories of the show. Up next is Andy Burns:
Like anyone who watched the show about cherry pie, damn good coffee, and dancing dwarves, Twin Peaks had an indelible effect on my life. It introduced me to the brilliance of David Lynch, and gave me an appreciation of surrealism that continues to this day. I didn’t know what a long tracking shot was in cinema until Lynch utilized it during the pilot episode. Lynch (and co-creator Mark Frost) created strangely compelling characters that lived in a town that seemed so normal on the surface, but who led dark, strange, and haunted lives.
I loved Twin Peaks. Loved it, bought the “I Shot Agent Cooper” t-shirt, and read the book (The Secret Diary Of Laura Palmer, penned by Lynch’s daughter Jennifer). I owned the Angelo Badalamenti soundtrack on cassette and went to my first movie all by myself when Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me was released in August 1992. Heck, I even bought the new video game Deadly Premonitions, which had been in development hell for three years, after trailers for the game under its original name Rainy Woods showed it to be a blatant Twin Peaks homage (ripoff, depending on your point of view). I see it in the trailers for the new tv show Happy Town, set to debut on ABC later this month, the same network that first broadcast Twin Peaks twenty years ago.
I remember when the HBO series Carnivale debut a few years back and Michael J. Anderson, the Man From Another Place on Twin Peaks, was on a promo tour, visiting the radio station where I worked. Upon expressing my love of Twin Peaks, Anderson recited a poem that any fan would have loved to have heard whispered in their ears:
Thru the darkness of Future Past the magician longs to see/one chants out between two worlds/ Fire – walk with me.
Every six months or so I have a Twin Peaks nightmare. I wake up in a cold sweat after seeing the leering face of BOB rushing towards me, just like Agent Cooper did in the series finale, one of the greatest and most unique hours of television ever produced. I carry Twin Peaks with me wherever I go. While I had a seven season love affair with Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Twin Peaks is and likely always will be my most beloved television show.
While I’ll never understand why ABC moved the show from its Thursday night time slot during its first season to Saturday nights for its second, that move wound up giving me the final memory of the show I’ll leave you with. On Saturday November 10th, 1990, Twin Peaks was going to reveal who killed Laura Palmer. I was visiting my Dad that weekend and my ten- year-old sister wanted to stay up to watch the show with me. My step-mom was a little hesitant, but I told her it would be ok for my sister to watch the show.
“It’s weird, but not scary,” I reassured her.
Boy, was I wrong. At the end of that hour of television I didn’t want to go upstairs, I was so scared. I know my sister didn’t slept right for months. Just how scary was it? Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails once called the scene “the scariest, most violent thing (he’d) ever seen on television.” See for yourself if you’d like, but if you watch the scene below make no mistake, you will know who killed Laura Palmer. There will be no going back. You’ve been warned.
Showing THAT to a ten year old? Yeah, bad call on my part. I guess I pay for it every six months or so, when BOB haunts my dreams.
Today marks the 20th anniversary of the debut of Twin Peaks, one of the most influential and memorable programs in the history of television. Over the next two days Biff Bam Pop writers share their memories of the show. Up next is Ian Rogers:
On this day twenty years ago David Lynch and Mark Frost introduced us to a logging town in the Pacific Northwest called Twin Peaks. It was the kind of small town that generally goes unnoticed in America. But Twin Peaks was special, and it was catapulted into television history on the wave of a single question: “Who killed Laura Palmer?”
We had a pool going at my high school on who killed Twin Peaks’ homecoming queen. I had put my money on Benjamin Horne… and lost. I don’t think anyone in the pool actually guessed who the killer was. And if you haven’t seen the show yet, go check it out on DVD, because I’m not going to reveal the answer here.
Twin Peaks was a show of unforgettable visuals: the waterfall next to the Great Northern Hotel; that lonely traffic light at Sparkwood and 21; Agent Cooper hanging upside down in his boxer shorts. And who could forget that powerful second season premiere in which we actually see the brutal killing of Laura Palmer. I’m still surprised that one made it past the censors.
And let’s not forget the sounds: wind blowing in the trees; fifties music playing on the Double R Diner’s jukebox; Gordon Cole’s constant yelling (“Coop, today you remind me of a small Mexican Chiwowow!”); and, it goes without saying, Angelo Badalamenti’s haunting score.
Like any show, Twin Peaks was defined by its characters. A quirky ensemble cast that included Sheriff Harry S. Truman, Deputy Hawk, Deputy Andy, Lucy, Big Ed Hurley and his wife Nadine, Donna and James, Maddy Ferguson (Laura Palmer’s cousin, played by the same actress), Audrey Horne, and Gordon Cole (played by Lynch himself). And what about the other, even weirder characters, like the Log Lady, the One-Armed Man, The Man From Another Place (aka, the dancing, backwards-talking dwarf from Cooper’s dream), the Giant who haunted the Great Northern, and, of course, BOB.
The standout performance of the series belongs to Kyle MacLachlan, whose portrayal of FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper is legendary. Who can forget Cooper’s cowlick, his black suits, his boyish enthusiasm for Douglas Firs, cherry pie, and that “damn fine” coffee. Cooper was like a boy scout exploring the underworld, using a combination of Tibetan philosophy and deductive reasoning to uncover Laura Palmer’s killer. And I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Cooper’s unseen sidekick, his trusty pocket recorder, into which he recited all of his quirky observations (“Diane, I hold in my hand a small box of chocolate bunnies…”)
Twin Peaks had a powerful effect on me when it first aired, and it still does today. Last year my wife and I rewatched the entire series on DVD while we were vacationing at a cabin in the woods. This was probably not our brightest idea. Every night, after I turned out the lights, I kept expecting to see BOB’s face leering in through the window.
My own work as a writer has been heavily influenced by Twin Peaks, both in terms of its quirky characters and its mythology of strange and malevolent forces residing in the woods. Few shows balanced horror and humour with as much skill as Twin Peaks. The show embraced both these qualities. Take, for example, the opening scene of the pilot episode in which Pete Martell (played by Jack Nance, a David Lynch regular since “Eraserhead”) discovers the body of Laura Palmer on the shore near his house. “She’s dead,” he tells the police. “Wrapped in plastic.” The phrase would become synonymous with the show (it would also become the title of the Twin Peaks fanzine). A few episodes later the same character ends up coining another phrase after a disastrous incident in which he serves coffee to Agent Cooper and Sheriff Truman. “Don’t drink that coffee!” he warns them. “There was a fish… in the percolator!” Only on a show as bizarre as Twin Peaks could a character who coined one of the most ominous catchphrases in TV history also coin one of the funniest.
Unfortunately the show got too weird for its own good. David Lynch may be a master at creating mysteries both beautiful and terrifying, but he has never gone in for the kind of linear storytelling that is required of network television. Throw in a few subplots that people didn’t care about (James Hurley anyone? Or how about Little Nicky?) and the show’s days were numbered. Leaving a bunch of unanswered questions in its wake, and a theatrical movie that looked backward to the days before Laura’s murder instead of forward to tie up loose plot threads, and the fans were left feeling angry and unsatisfied. Opportunities to resolve the show’s lingering storylines via another movie or a graphic novel have come to nothing, and it seems unlikely that we’ll ever find out what happened to the people in that poor, doomed town.
It’s been twenty years since Twin Peaks first aired. I can still remember seeing that opening sequence for the first time. Those great big trees. The lumber mill. I miss Twin Peaks. The show and the town. It entertained me as a viewer and taught me as a writer. It continues to inspire me today. Every few years I find myself going back and revisiting that creepy little town. That place where you don’t want to go walking in the woods after night, where everyone has a secret, where the owls are not what they seem.
Today marks the 20th anniversary of the debut of Twin Peaks, one of the most influential and memorable programs in the history of television. Over the next two days Biff Bam Pop writers share their memories of the show. We conclude with David Ward:
I remember Twin Peaks fever during the summer of 1990. It was insane – from t-shirts emblazoned with “I killed Laura Palmer” to Kyle McLaughlin hosting Saturday Night Live to books, books, and more books popping up every few books. I even owned The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer, because I, like so many other foolish people, thought I could figure it all out from a book sent out by the makers of the show.
Twin Peaks is a difficult show to describe, and what I find even more difficult to describe is the effect it’s had on me over the past twenty years. A murder mystery? A supernatural horror story? A town with too many questions? What was the appeal? To this day, I find it difficult to either quantify or qualify.
It is scary, though. Amusing, quaint in places, but truly terrifying in others. During some of the reveal scenes in the second season, your eyes widen and hair stands up on the back of your neck. The first season, which gets the ball rolling in terms of the murder mystery and the town’s denizens, also has its moments, but between BOB, MIKE, and the Black Lodge, well, there’s enough there to send you to therapy for years if you’re particularly sensitive.
Perhaps that’s why I find it appealing. I’ve always liked to be scared. Or perhaps it’s the uncanny ability of Lynch and co. to blend character and setting so seamlessly. Twin Peaks, and the land that surrounds it, is infused with darkness and is also a living and breathing entity unto itself (and The Bookhouse Boys are only too aware of this). All of the settings are characters: the woods, the Double-R, the mill, the Great Northern Hotel, the sheriff’s department, the hospital, One Eyed Jack’s, the Bang Bang bar – they’re as real, and as important, as Cooper, Truman, the Palmers, the Haywards, the Log Lady, the Hornes, Big Ed and Nadine, the Renaults, etc. Land and person sit on equal footing in this show.
And let’s not forget the truly weird shit. I’ve already mentioned BOB, MIKE, and the Black Lodge, but there’s also The Man from Another Place (a.k.a., The Arm), the Giant, the White Lodge, and the surreal dreams. The supernatural in this show, or at least the perception of the supernatural, is some of the most original stuff I have ever seen, and I still stand by this. These aren’t classic monsters; they’re physical manifestations of the darkness in us and in the land that surrounds us. They’re also us. They’re really unnerving, from the moment we first see BOB on-screen, to the show’s very last scene. Lynch has used this before and since – in the face of absolute personal horror, the monstrous manifests in either physical or dream-like form. Are they real? It’s strange to say, but I hope so. I’d rather it be monster than man.
Oh, and lastly I wanted to mention the horse. Still don’t get the horse.
Well it’s that time of the year when all of our favourite shows wind up their respective seasons (or in the case of Lost, it’s the end of the series). Judging by the amount of content on my PVR waiting to be viewed, there’s an abundance of shows wrapping up around this time that I’m actually interested in. Believe me, I’m pretty surprised that I actually care about how Desperate Housewives finishes off its season. I don’’t know how that happened. Or maybe I do. I’ll admit it. Growing up, the only series that I ever got excited about its final episode of a season was Dallas.
Yes, Dallas.
I really can’t explain it. Ok, that’s not true either. I probably have to blame my mother, who was a huge fan of the saga of the Ewings. I vividly remember us visiting family in Toronto and staying in a hotel, but rushing back to the room to see the memorable sixth season finale when Bobby Ewing died in a car accident. What a moving season finale, one matched only by the seventh season ending which brought Bobby back from the dead. You know, the famous shower scene.
Pam’s bad dream brought Bobby back from the dead and sent a once powerful prime time soap on its downward spiral.
There have been other season finales that are memorable in my mind. Buffy The Vampire Slayer caped off its fifth season and its final one on the WB before switching to UPN with one of the show’s greatest moments. When, if ever, has the title character of a television show been killed off at the end of an episode? Pure brilliance, full of emotion and heartache.
Buffy would carry on for two more seasons full of highs and lows, but it would never scale the heights that it did during its fantastic fifth season.
On another bit of a downer, if you enjoyed the rebooted Battlestar Galactica that ruled much of the 2000’s, the cliffhanger ending that split Season 4 in half was surely one of the series most defining moments, since it delivered on the promise the show had made the from the very beginning; that it’s beleaguered survivors would finally find the mythical planet of Earth. Of course, it’s not exactly what they hoped it would be.
Sure it was a mid-season finale for BSG, but as far as I’m concerned a wait of more than 6 months makes this a finale, and a memorable one at that.
Another favourite finale of mine shouldn’t come as much of a surprise for regular readers. It’s the episode that ended Twin Peaks second and final season. Knowing that the show wasn’t going to be renewed following its ratings challenged sophomore year, I remember being extremely eager to see how the show would finish. Of course, I never could have guessed what I’d receive. At the time I was thoroughly dismayed that David Lynch was ending the series with a total cliffhanger, over the years I’ve come to appreciate the infinite possibilities that the final scene of Twin Peaks leaves you with.
Those are just a few of my favourites. And who knows. Maybe by the end of this week I’ll add the season finale of V or the series finale of Lost to my list as well.
Maybe even that episode of Desperate Housewives I have waiting on my PVR. You never know, right?
Earlier this year the writers of Biff Bam Pop! paid tribute to David Lynch and Mark Frost’s groundbreaking ABC tv series Twin Peaks, which this year celebrated its 20th anniversary. For those of us that watched the series during its initial two season run all those years ago, it’s still hard to believe that so much time has passed since we (along with Pete Martell) discovered Laura Palmer, wrapped in plastic; Agent Dale Cooper, Douglas Fir and coffee enthusiast; the seductive Audrey Horn, who had a way with a cherry stem. Leland Palmer, The Log Lady, Deputy Andy, Bobby Briggs, The Man From Another Place, BOB – all of them have been engrained in my memories since encountering them way back in 1990. And while the series may have done well during its first season, part of the series’ legacy is how spectacularly it crashed and burned during its second and final season, plagued by a horrible timeslot and muddled storytelling. However, those of us that love Twin Peaks love it something fierce.
That’s the case with James Roday, one of the stars of the USA Network’s Psych. It was his love of Twin Peaks that led to “Dual Spires”, last week’s episode of Psych and full-blown tribute to the series. The cast and creators even managed to lure some series alumni to guest star – Ray Wise (Leland Palmer), Dana Ashbrook (Bobby Briggs), Sherilyn Fenn (Audrey Horne), Lenny Van Dohlen (Harold Smith), Robyn Lively (Lana), Catherine Coulson (The Log Lady) and Sheryl Lee (Laura Palmer). According to various interviews, Roday, who plays psychic detective Shawn Spenser on the series, grew up on Twin Peaks, even befriending Dana Ashbrook when the two worked on a series together about ten years ago. It was the unabashed admiration for Twin Peaks that helped bring all of the former cast together again.
The story is simple – Shawn and his partner Gus receive a mysterious email telling them to get to the small town of Dual Spires, population of 288 and home of a Cinnamon Festival. Soon enough, the duo are investigating the murder of a young girl, Paula Merral, whose body is discovered washed up, wrapped in plastic. Thus begins an episode that is more than just a nod and a wink to Twin Peaks. From the very first line about a woman in Washington building silent drape runners, I knew I was in for a treat.
There was so many shout outs to the series, I probably lost count and even missed a few. But there I was sitting next to The Queen, whispering things like “Windham Earle was Coop’s enemy in season 2” or “Maudette Hornsby’s name is pretty close to Audrey Horne” when every little homage revealed itself. I laughed at the score, clearly inspired by the great work of original Twin Peaks composer Angelo Badalamenti and was literally thrilled with the long shot of a ceiling fan and stairs that Shawn and Gus were walking up. If you’re a fan, you totally get it, I’m sure. As someone who really has missed Twin Peaks since it went off the air, this episode of Psyche was like some sort of crazy television crack. While I won’t ruin the story for you or give away the culprit, I will say that the final scene of the show manages to throw in every essential reference that may not have appeared throughout the hour.
While I’d heard of Psych, I’d never watched an episode before this past week. I have to admit, even without the Twin Peaks aspects of the series, I think I could very well enjoy watching it. There’s quite a few pop culture references throughout and the two leads are very appealing. But really, this episode was all about celebrating the magic of a series that inspired those that watched it and countless network shows that have appeared in the last 20 years. If you were ever a fan of Twin Peaks, you must find a way to watch Psych’s “Dual Spires”.
Preferably with a cup of damn good coffee in your hands.
Hey Biff Bam Poppers! I wanted to share with you the cover to next month’s issue of Rue Morgue Magazine, which features a cover story on Twin Peaks written by me! It features my interviews with various cast and crew, including wonderful Sheryl Lee. The issue is out April 1. So don’t forget to buy one
I’ll be pimping out my book on the series next February!
THIS PIECE WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED AT WRAPPEDINPLASTICTWINPEAKS.COM
Today marks the 26th anniversary of the death of Laura Palmer. It also marks one year since I was lucky enough to talk to Sheryl Lee about her iconic role. The original purpose of our interview was for Rue Morgue magazine’s cover story on the 25th anniversary of Twin Peaks. As happens, we didn’t have space to us the entire interview in the magazine so I thought, what better day than today to share the complete and unedited piece with all of you. Special thanks, of course, to Sheryl Lee, for talking to me that night, and to Dave Alexander at Rue Morgue for first asking me to do the piece in the first place. I hope you enjoy it!
Rue Morgue #143 – Twin Peaks, written by Andy Burns
She’s Filled With Secrets: The Sheryl Lee Interview
In the world of Twin Peaks, February 24th 2014 marked the 25th anniversary of Laura Palmer’s murder. As fate would have it, that night I found myself on the phone with Sheryl Lee, the actress forever immortalized as a beautiful corpse, wrapped in plastic. Gracious, warm and charming, she spoke lovingly about her time in Twin Peaks, her colleagues and David Lynch, the man whose art would turn Lee into an icon.
Andy Burns: How did you wind up on Twin Peaks?
Sheryl Lee: I was living in Seattle at the time, studying with a theatre director. That’s what I wanted to do; I wanted to do theatre. I had an agent just for commercials or video auditions, stuff like that, to help pay the bills. I got a call one day that David was in town and that they were going to be filming a very secretive television pilot around the Seattle area and would I come in and meet him. And that was kind of it. I went in and I met him and he talked with me about how I would feel about being wrapped in plastic and playing a girl that was already dead and doing a few flashback scenes. It was a very short shoot at that time, doing flashbacks and then a few days of work as a corpse. David was so nice and funny and charming and warm, that I felt comfortable with him immediately.
Andy Burns: You guys just connected right way?
Sheryl Lee: I felt that way, but I think he has that kind of personality where he’s just a really kind human being, and he connects with the people he’s speaking to. He’s warm that way, and you feel it when you meet him.
Andy Burns: When you walked onto set that first day, what was that like for you? Were people welcoming?
Sheryl Lee: People were welcoming. For me, I’m painfully shy by nature, so still, whenever I walk onto a set for the first time, I’m nervous, even after doing it all these years, because it’s a new group of people. But then, I had no reference point to what TV was like, but playing a corpse, you get a really good education. You learn to just lay there, and I was like a sponge; I got to soak it all up. Sometimes it was like they were speaking a different language, when they were speaking about blocking and camera lighting. I didn’t know any of that stuff. But everyone was really kind; you couldn’t have asked for a better group of people.
Andy Burns: I find that so interesting, because I’ve lived with your work for so long and not just with Twin Peaks, but the John Carpenter film you did (Vampires) and Backbeat, and I’ve always thought of you as a brave performer, so to hear you talk about being shy, it’s not something I ever would have guessed.
Sheryl Lee: Thank you so much. I can tell you I’ve been lucky, like in Fire Walk With Me, to have David there, I mean, he pulls stuff out of you that you didn’t even know was there. He creates and environment that is so safe, and you know that you can jump off that cliff because there are calm, still waters at the bottom. He’s very supportive and you want to do your best for him. You want to give him everything you have creatively because he is so brilliant. I trust his vision.
Andy Burns: That’s got to be such a big thing when you’re playing such a vulnerable role as Laura in Fire Walk With Me. You’ve got to be able to trust who you’re working with because it’s so intense.
Sheryl Lee: Yes, and he and I, by the time we did Fire Walk With Me, Twin Peaks had already aired, so we already knew each other. So when he approached me about Fire Walk With Me, he and I would meet and have coffee or have dinner, and figure out, where was Laura living at this point, emotionally, spiritually? What’s going on? So through the course of those conversations, my trust grew more and more and more.
Andy Burns: It’s a very surreal film. The tv show was too, but the film takes it in a bit more of an intense direction. When you’re working on a film like that, do you feel, for lack of a better word, the “weirdness” of it as an actor, or is it not as surreal because you know who you’re working with and you have the trust of your director. Did it feel weird at all?
Sheryl Lee: That’s such a great question. I can’t believe of all the questions I’ve been asked over the past 25 years, nobody has thought to ask me that (laughs). I love that you asked me that! You know, there were times on that film that it definitely felt surreal and, forgive me, because in my mind, in my internal creative space, its very difficult to separate the series from the film because it’s all one story. So sometimes I’ll be speaking with someone about the film and I’ll be having memories from the series, or vice versa. It’s still Laura and it’s still Laura’s parents and it’s still Laura’s life. But yes, many moments on the series and on the film where I was like, “Wow, that’s happening today?” Or, one of the things I love so much about David and the way that he directs is that, sometimes through your logical mind it doesn’t make any sense, but if you surrender to his world, you’ll realize that what he’s done is created a mood.
Just to give you an example, there was a scene on the TV series where I was playing Maddy and I was sitting in the diner with Lara (Flynn Boyle). And it was cold and rainy and we were drinking coffee. And David’s direction was along the lines of, “Ok, it’s 1950 and it’s summer and you’re drinking milkshakes.” Well, it wasn’t 1950, it wasn’t summer and we weren’t drinking milkshakes. But he goes and tells this whole thing and then says “Action!” Now, if you’re going to try and make sense of that with your logical mind, you’re not going to be present to the moment. But if you surrender to wherever it is he’s taking you, than by the time he says action, you realize that he has taken you somewhere. He’s taken you exactly where he wants to take you and he starts the scene from that place. It’s like a brushstroke that he’s just painted across you. And then, when you’re in the world with him for a while, you get that this man really is brilliant. For me, logically and with my mind, I can sort of develop certain aspects of a character, but when it comes to playing that character, there’s a surrendering that has to happen, a letting go. I have to get out of the way so that the energy of that character can express itself through me, and that is not a logical mind process.
Andy Burns: On that note, how much did Jennifer Lynch’s book, The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer, help you to develop that character?
Sheryl Lee: Oh, it helped tremendously. Part of my education as an actor was to write bios for my characters, and of course, I didn’t write anything as eloquent as Jennifer did. But just the little notes I had taken about who Laura was before I played her, it was so synchronous. I hadn’t told anybody. I felt like Jennifer was in my head, meaning Laura’s head. And I always feel this intimate connection with Jennifer because of that. There’s something there that connects us, having experienced that character that way.
Andy Burns: I read the book when I was 13 and I read it one way, and then I read it again as an adult and I took something new away with. It’s the same with the show. You can watch it as a quirky series one time, and then the next time, you can view the way it does things so differently than any other show. At the time you had Dallas or Dynasty and their nighttime soap opera family interactions, and then you have Twin Peaks, with families acting unlike anything you’d ever seen before.
Sheryl Lee: Oh my gosh! And can we, just for a minute, talk about the brilliance of Grace Zabriskie and Ray Wise. I’m still in such of awe of both of them. I still feel like I got to work with master actors. And both of them have this ability to go as dark as you possibly go, and as light as you can possibly go. The palette is infinite for both of those actors. And to sit at their feet and watch them and work with them the way I was blessed to do; they were two of my greatest teachers. Still are.
Andy Burns: Do you remember playing the scene when we find out who killed Laura Palmer?
Sheryl Lee: When I was Maddy, being killed again?
Andy Burns: Yes.
Sheryl Lee: (Laughs) That scene, I remember very well. That might have been one of the longest days of my whole career. We had to film Maddy’s death scene with three different actors, because David didn’t want the crew to know who killed Laura either. So we filmed it once with Ray, once with (Richard Beymer’s character) Ben Horne, and once with BOB, Frank Silva. That was all on one day. It was a brutal day.
Andy Burns: It’s got to take an emotional toll, I would think.
Sheryl Lee: It really does. I had a brilliant doctor tell me that the only part of an actor that knows that they’re acting is their mind. So, if you’re crying real tears, your body still goes through the chemical response of real tears. If you’re acting afraid, if you’re feeling fear, which most actors are in that moment, than whatever chemicals are released when your body is afraid, the adrenaline, all that stuff that goes on, it really does take a toll on your system.
Andy Burns: To me, and a whole world out there, you’re an icon. Long after we’re both gone and the world changes but art lives on, you’ll still have created a character that’s already stood the test of time and that’s going to continue to do so. Is that difficult to fathom at all?
Sheryl Lee: First, I have to tell you, again, nobody has ever asked me that question in the twenty-six years of doing interviews, so good on you (laughs). You’re coming up with these awesome questions. And I honestly have never thought about it in that way. Even though I played Laura, there’s a part of me, well, most of me, that is completely separate from her. So I don’t think of myself as an icon or anything like that, I think of that character and that show. It doesn’t really have anything to do with me. I was there and I filmed it and I brought whatever I could to it, but it’s almost like, I painted a painting and gave that painting to somebody else and the painting lived on, but I went ahead and died. It’s that piece of art that lives on, and I was fortunate to be a part of that piece of art, but that it’s not me.
Moby is making his feature directorial debut with Punk Rock Vegan Movie, a doc that explores the relationship between punk rock and animal rights. The superstar DJ and 35-year vegan activist tells the story of how veganism became so intertwined in the hardcore punk scene. More importantly, it educates viewers and raises awareness for the cause of animal rights. Punk Rock Vegan Movie features such luminaries as Ian Mackaye, HR, Dave Navarro, Tony Kanal, Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein, Amy Lee, Captain Sensible, plus a plethora of others. It is set to premiere on January 20 in Park City, Utah, for the 2023 Slamdance Film Festival. After the film premiere, Moby will be giving the doc away for free, which is pretty much the ultimate punk rock move. I had the absolute pleasure of chatting with Moby about all things Punk Rock Vegan Movie, his journey of getting into punk rock and veganism, why he’s focused on having the film be available for free and so much more.
Jeromme Graham: Punk Rock Vegan Movie is your feature directorial debut. You’ve done so much in your career. When did you decide that you wanted to make a film about the relationship between punk and veganism and animal rights?
Moby: Well, in a weird way and maybe I shouldn’t say this, I didn’t want to make this movie. And what I mean is about five or six years ago, I was having dinner with some friends. I used to have a restaurant here in LA called Little Pine. We were having dinner, and I was talking about the history of punk rock and animal rights. I was with a bunch of activists, and no one I was with knew about this history.
I was so surprised because, from my understanding growing up with the guys from Youth of Today and other bands, I guess I’d always been aware of the fact that especially in the hardcore scene, there was always a strong animal rights component to it. I was really sort of surprised and taken aback that so few people were aware of this. Most people thought animal rights tended to be skinny vegans and hardcore punks tended to be people in leather jackets jumping off of stages. I realized no one had told this story to a slightly general audience before and so I thought ok, I guess I’ll try to make this documentary. In the spirit of full disclosure and honesty, I kind of hoped that someone else would make this movie. But at some point, I realized no one else is telling this story, so I guess I should.
Jeromme Graham: You’re kind of the perfect person to tell that story. Touching on how you sort of grew up with the guys from Youth of Today, casual listeners or fans of dance associate you primarily with electronic music and helping to really take that sound to the next level in North America in the 90s. How did you initially get into punk and the punk scene way back when?
Moby: My first introduction to it was so weird and obscure that I doubt anyone will remember this. In the late 70s, there was a writer for Saturday Night Live called Michael O’Donoghue. I think he was the guy behind Mr. Bill, and he was this super-odd SNL writer. He put out this movie called Mr. Mike’s Mondo Video, and it was basically a collection of the weirdest video clips that he could find. Obviously, this was pre-internet. This was pre-everything. He just took his favourite video clips, had a clip show and called it a movie. My mom and I went to see it in a theatre in Norwalk, CT. We were the only people in the theatre. It was everything from someone throwing cats into swimming pools to teach them how to swim. If you’re really bored, look up Mr. Mike’s Mondo Video because it’s very strange.
One of the clips was Sid Vicious singing “My Way.” And that was my introduction to the world of punk rock. I’d heard of The Clash, and I’d heard of The Sex Pistols. But I saw this footage of Sid Vicious singing “My Way,” and I was just fascinated. Around that time, a friend of mine’s brother went to England and came back with the Sex Pistols album Never Mind The Bollocks and loaned it to me. Between Sid Vicious singing “My Way” and listening to Never Mind the Bollocks, that was my introduction.
And then what happened was that sort of milieu back then was very uncompartmentalized. What I mean by that is you would go to a club in New York to see a punk rock band and the DJ beforehand would be playing reggae, then the DJ after would be playing disco or hip-hop or anything. It was just this culture in a blender musical world, especially in New York. The club Danceteria would be the perfect example of that. I remember one night seeing Bad Brains there, and Mission of Burma was also on the bill. There was a gay disco DJ, I want to say Larry Levan, but I don’t think it was Larry, and then an early hip-hop DJ and someone playing gothic new wave videos. This world was all these different genres mixed up into one in the same venue and the same places. In a strange way, my introduction to electronic music happened roughly around the same time I was introduced to punk rock.
Jeromme Graham: Did your intro to veganism also come out of the music that you were listening to then?
Moby: The first tour I ever did, if you can call it a tour, was in 1982. I believe it was late 1982. I remember because it was cold. I was playing in this band, The Vatican Commandos, and we got into a van with two other bands. It was C.I.A. and Reflex From Pain, two other Connecticut punk rock bands. We drove 10 hours overnight to Akron, OH. We played a show at a pizza parlour in Akron, and no one came, of course. We spent both Friday and Saturday nights in a vegan squat. I remember being horrified. I had heard of vegetarianism, obviously, but I’d never heard of veganism. At this point, I was a 16-year-old kid, and I only wanted to eat McDonald’s. At that point, they were just eating a lot of lentils, and I just had so much disdain for that. And then, lo and behold, a few years later, I joined them as being a fellow lentil-eating vegan.
Jeromme Graham: One thing that I love that you touched on in the film was touring as a vegan before that became more common. Everyone seemed to have horror stories or different hacks that they had to employ to ensure that they had something to eat on the road. When you started touring as a DJ in the early 90s or so, what was that like for you then?
Moby: I became a vegan in 1987, so I guess I’ve been a vegan now for 35 years. In some places, being a vegan on tour in 1990 or 1991 wasn’t that challenging. If you went to London, it really wasn’t that hard. There were health food stores; you could get soy milk, you could get bread, you could always get oatmeal. I have to say that in the decades I’ve been touring, the one constant is oatmeal. You can get it anywhere, and you can make it delicious with anything. If you’re in an airport in the middle of nowhere and you have oatmeal, you can find nuts. You can find raisins. You can find brown sugar. Oatmeal has been my best friend as a touring vegan.
Touring as a vegan in the early ’90s was challenging, but it was borderline impossible, and I don’t know how I ate when you’d go to Eastern Europe. Or when you’d go to Southeast Asia or Brazil. Going to places where veganism was just so unheard of. That would just involve a lot of hopeful naive explanations. Trying to explain to people that I don’t eat meat and I don’t eat dairy. You’d sometimes have these conversations in broken English, and the people’s response understandably would be: “well, what do you eat?” Sometimes the food was disgusting. I remember one time in Poland, getting a bowl of undercooked white rice and some overcooked carrots, and that was the best they could do. I was like, well, it’s food, and I can’t complain. It’s 1991, and I’m starving and will eat anything that’s put in front of me.
Jeromme Graham: That’s a far cry from the vegan options that are available today.
Moby: Nothing makes me feel more like an old person than talking about stories of touring before the internet. Because we also didn’t have cell phones, we didn’t have faxes. You just had to trust. You’d have a phone call with someone in Ireland, you’d get on a plane and hope that the show would actually happen.
Jeromme Graham: In Punk Rock Vegan Movie, you start it out with a brief refresher on the history of punk music; you trace it back to Gene Vincent and Little Richard in the 1950s. I’d never heard Little Richard be referred to as an architect or early influence on punk before. Can you tell me a little more about that?
Moby: In a way, to me, it seems so clear. Like you just listen to the beginning of “Tutti Frutti.” I remember the first time I saw or heard Little Richard; I felt the same way as when I first saw or heard Sid Vicious. What in the world is this? I guess it’s that sort of gleeful chaos. That screaming and barely constrained approach towards performance. I’m sure that some people would disagree with me when I cite Little Richard as one of the early progenitors of the punk ethos, but to me, I’d also put Marcel Duchamp in there, possibly. It’s been going on for quite a long time. The people who are gleefully and chaotically anti-establishment, but in those weird moments, the establishment somehow catches up to those anti-establishment weirdos. That certainly happened in the case of Gene Vincent and Little Richard.
Jeromme Graham: Totally. That makes sense. Them being brought up threw me at first. But then, thinking about bands like the New York Dolls and acts that would follow after that, I can see a bit of a throughline.
Moby: It’s like that theatrical chaos. The anti-establishment theatrical chaos. The people like Little Richard or Iggy Pop who just feel like they couldn’t do anything else. Just imagine Little Richard or Iggy Pop trying to have an office job. The people for whom, if they weren’t standing on stage shirtless and screaming at the top of their lungs, they would be institutionalized.
Jeromme Graham: Punk Rock Vegan features everyone from Davey Havok and Tony Kanal to Captain Sensible, HR, and John Joseph. How did you go about rangling everyone for this? That’s a lot of big characters, so I can’t imagine it was easy.
Moby: Yeah. And especially because I’m not saying I did this well, but I had to do everything myself. When I was at college, I went to UConn for a little while, but I also went to this school called SUNY Purchase, and I had a bunch of friends in the experimental films department. That was around ’87, I guess. We started working on really incredibly strange low-budget student films. I was living in an abandoned factory at the time and was as broke as broke can be. I was a squatter in an abandoned factory with no running water. The films we made back then were so low-budget. We would get Super 8 film, and we would borrow a Super 8 camera. And we’d borrow money to develop the Super 8 film. That would be the movie. That approach is kind of both what I know, but I also thought it served the nature of this movie to have it be that sort of DIY low-budget approach. So that meant I either had to do everything or figure out how to do everything.
In terms of booking people for the interviews, it was just me running into people at venues. Running into people at vegan restaurants, running into people at movie theatres. And just email and text. Scott from Earth Crisis, it took me like two years to finally figure out a way to sit down with him and interview him. It was constant, to the point where I was irritating. Ian MacKaye gets irritated easily; he probably just agreed to do the interview so that I would shut up and stop bothering him. With some people like Davey and Tony, it was a lot easier. They live in LA. They used to go to my restaurant. It’s much easier if it’s Tony Kanal and he’s having brunch with his wife and kids in my restaurant; I walk up to him and say, “hey, when can I come interview you?”
And the other thing I will say is because the movie was about veganism and animal rights, a lot of people who are committed to the cause of animal rights were very receptive. I feel like if I had gone to Doyle from The Misfits and said, “can I interview you about punk rock?” he would’ve just said no. But because he’s so committed to animal rights, he was much more receptive.
Jeromme Graham: Are you excited to open the 2023 Slamdance Film Festival? Does the feeling compare to how you feel when you’d drop an album or kick off a tour?
Moby: This is different. First off, aggressively, in the interest of sanity and self-preservation, I don’t pay attention to reviews or comments. If I did, I would lose my mind. I just have this categorical approach to things that I make. When they go into the outside world, I don’t read reviews or articles. And that way, if someone hates me, I never know about it, and it’s blissful because I know a lot of people don’t like me. OK fine. Luckily, as long as I ignore it, it doesn’t drive me crazy.
In terms of releasing movies or releasing anything, once it’s released, I don’t pay attention. And it’s not saying that I’m above it or that I don’t care; it’s saying that if I pay attention, I will lose my mind and have to be locked up somewhere. Premiering the movie at Slamdance, my only hope is that somehow I’ve done a good job creating something that will, in its own small way, move the conversation about animal rights forward. That’s the only goal. I don’t care if anyone thinks I’m a good director. With the movie, to me, it all has to be in service of animal rights. If I hadn’t done a good job there, that to me would feel like a failure. If I haven’t served the cause of animal rights well, that would be the only possibility for failure.
The plan when I was making it, and especially now that we’re getting ready to release it, is to make sure that there’s no way for me to ever make money from it. That’s why I’m the cameraman, I’m soundman. I had to teach myself how to do stop-motion animation. Just to keep the costs as low as possible to enable me to give it away. Partially, it’s just the spirit of DIY punk rock. But also, I don’t want to create a barrier for anyone anywhere to see a movie about animal rights, essentially and especially on a global level. There are a lot of people who are really financially struggling, and I don’t want to have a financial barrier between them and something they might get something from.
Jeromme Graham: Has anyone tried to discourage or dissuade you from doing that?
Moby: Yeah, it’s almost impossible to do this. Like the mechanism doesn’t exist. We’ve looked into a bunch of free distribution platforms, and they all have strings attached. The landscape of trying to give away a movie is so much harder than you’d think. There are the YouTubes of the world. There’s Vimeo. As we get into it, I’m hoping that we’ll find more and more platforms that will enable me to just distribute this for free.
Jeromme Graham: Totally. I think that’s a great idea, and as you mentioned, it really gets it out there to the people that need to see it but also economically can’t really afford to rent it or pay to see it.
Moby: And even if it’s just like someone saying, “oh, you helped me save 99 cents or a few dollars.” Why not? People are struggling. If you can, in a tiny way, try and reach people in a way that’s not financially onerous, why not do that? The last thing I’ll say there is, to be fair, it’s not like Disney+ or any of these places are banging down the walls to buy a super obscure low-budget idiosyncratic punk rock vegan movie. It’s not like I’ve taken the high road and said no to the millions of dollars I’m being offered. Even if I tried to sell it, there’s a good chance I wouldn’t be able to. So we just figured, why not bypass that completely and give it away for free without even trying to sell it in the first place?
Jeromme Graham: Hopefully, it’ll be well received once it’s out in the world.
Moby: Luckily, I will never know.
Jeromme Graham: Right, there you go. Lastly, I was listening to “Go” after I saw the news that Angelo Badalamenti had passed away. You sample “Laura Palmer’s Theme” on that one. What did Angelo and his work mean to you? And can you say a bit about him?
Moby: Oh wow. Yeah. I can’t say a bit about him; I could say a lot about Angelo. I remember one of my first celebrity encounters, and I remember this so clearly; it would’ve been 1990. I was living on Mott Street. I lived on Mott Street for a long time in a bunch of different apartments in New York. There was an A&R person who had heard “Go,” and he also worked with Angelo and with David Lynch and Julee Cruise. He wanted to sign me. This was so interesting. He called me, it was a Sunday night, and he said, “Moby, you’re not going to believe this. I’m in front of your building with Angelo.” I was like, “what are you talking about?” And so I went downstairs, and Kevin, the A&R person who oddly enough lives up the street from me now and I still see him hiking with his dogs; he and Angelo had been out to dinner, and Angelo wanted to meet me. He was so generous. When I got into his car, I thought he was going to yell at me, like how dare I mess with his composition, but he was so gracious and so complimentary. We became friends, and our paths just kept crossing over the years.
I know, obviously, people generally speak well of the dead, but he is just an enthusiastic and childlike musician. Go back and listen to all the work he did with David Lynch, from “The Pink Room” and Fire Walk With Me to David’s solo records to Julee Cruise’s records. Clearly, just so gifted. Not just with film music but in terms of working within pop idioms and bending them in such a way. I feel like I’m stating the obvious, and I’m a little ashamed at how platitudinal I’m being, but he had this ability to craft music in a way that just worked perfectly over and over again. It’s very easy to say nothing but wonderful things about Angelo.
For more information on Punk Rock Vegan Movie’s premiere at Slamdance Film Festival, check out: slamdance.com
