Subject: TP: Frequently Answered Questions From: swsh@ellis.uchicago.edu (Janet M. Swisher) Date: 1991-01-29, 09:52 Newsgroups: alt.tv.twin-peaks,rec.arts.tv TWIN PEAKS FREQUENTLY ANSWERED QUESTIONS Last revision: 1/29/91 (Many of these concern what various people said. Many thanks to Bart J. Geraci, the man with the closed caption decoder.) WARNING: This article may contain references to any episode up to and including the most recent one shown in the U.S. New or changed lines begin with #. Meta-question #0: Why should we accept the closed captions as authoritative? Don't the people who enter the captions just type what *they* hear? --The closed captions for most pre-recorded network shows that have them are created from scripts. Despite all the script-secrecy surrounding Twin Peaks, it is reasonable to assume that TP's captions are created the same way. 1. What's this "secret diary" that everybody keeps referring to? --_The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer_ was written by Jennifer Lynch (David's daughter), and is published in the U.S by Pocket Books, and in the U.K. by Penguin Books. It's supposed to be the text of the diary that was discovered in the *second* season of the show. 2. a) What language was the little boy with the creamed corn speaking? -- French b) What did he say? -- J'ai une ame solitaire: I have a solitary soul (according to the closed captions). c) Didn't he look an awful lot like David Lynch? -- Yes, that's because he's Austin Jack Lynch, David Lynch's son. (For handy reference, look at Gordon Cole (Cooper's boss): he's played by David Lynch.) 3. What was that ditty Leland was singing, and what does it mean? -- The full lyrics of the song are: Mairzy doats and dozy doats and little lambzy divy. A kiddly divy, too, wooden shoe? Now if the words sounds queer, and funny to your ear, a little bit jumbled and jivy, Sing: Mares eat oats and does eats oats and little lambs eat ivy. A kid'll eat ivy, too, wouldn't you? 4. Wasn't the Giant also on Star Trek: The Next Generation? -- Yes, he is Carel Struycken, who played Mr. Homm. No, he did not play Lurch on the Adams Family (although it has been reported that he will play Lurch in an upcoming AF movie). 5. Who was standing outside the window while Josie was seducing Harry? -- The majority of posters believe it was the Mysterious Asian Gentleman, also known as "Jonathan", Josie's "cousin" from Hong Kong. Those who have suggested other people are pushing it. 6. What were the three predictions that the giant made to Cooper? -- a man in a smiling bag the owls are not what they seem without chemicals, he points The giant also said something about "Leo locked in a hungry horse," and that there was a clue at Leo's house. However, these were not the "predictions" which were to be fulfilled before Cooper gets his ring back. The former refers to the fact that Leo was in jail in Hungry Horse, Montana when Theresa Banks was killed, and the latter refers to the Circle Brand boots that were found with the cocaine at Leo's house. 7. Has anybody mentioned the possible connection between: * BOB and J. R. "Bob" Dobbs of the Church of the Subgenius? * All the donuts they eat on Twin Peaks, and JFK's "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech? What he literally said was "I am a jelly donut." * Agent Dale Cooper and D.B. Cooper, the guy who hijacked a plane and then parachuted over Washington State with a whole bunch of money and was never found? * Ben and Jerry Horne and Ben and Jerry's brand ice cream (in one scene the brothers Horne are even shown eating ice cream)? * Sarah's vision of a white horse, and Mr. Ed? * " " " " " " " Laura' pony, Troy? * " " " " " " " Death, which "rides a pale horse"? * " " " " " " " heroin, also known as "white horse" (maybe Leland/BOB shot her up with heroin)? -- Yes for all of the above. 8. What was the poem that "Mike" recited in Cooper's dream, and later at the sheriff's station? -- "Through the darkness of future past the magician longs to see one chants out between two worlds 'Fire walk with me.'" (There has been much debate over whether the second-to-last line is "one chants out" or "one chance out". The closed captions indicate "chants".) 9. How were the funny voices in Cooper's dream done? -- Before shooting the scene, the actors were recorded reading their lines. The recording was then played to them backwards, and they memorized how to imitate it. Each shot in the scene was acted in reverse order, with the actors saying their "backwards" lines. The film was then reversed so that the actions came out in the right order, and the words came out double-reversed. Unfortunately, the words weren't very intelligible, so subtitles were added. 10. What year is the show set in? -- References in the first season placed it in 1989. However, _The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer_ places the action in 1990. Sources on the production team (i.e., Scott Frost) indicate that it's been sort of miraculously moved up to 1990. Apparently, the producers and directors have trouble keeping track of what day it's supposed to be in Twin Peaks, never mind what year. 11. Maddy notices a burning smell just before she's attacked by Leland/BOB. Didn't Jacoby say he smelled burned oil in the hospital when Jacques was killed? Does this mean that Leland was BOB when he killed Jacques? -- No. Later, under hypnosis, Jacoby corrected himself and said that he smelled the burned smell just before he was attacked at the gazebo, but not at the hospital. However, this does leave open the possibility that Jacoby was attacked by BOB. 12. a) Where is Twin Peaks supposed to be? -- It's in the State of Washington, but where exactly is not clear. In Cooper's initial monolog to Diane as he's driving into town, he states that it's five miles south of the Canadian border and twelve miles west of the state line. That would seem to place it in the northeast corner of the state. However the surrounding geography is like that of the Cascade Mountains in western WA. References to cities such as Seattle and Tacoma, but not Spokane, also seem to place it in western WA. The show's creators seem to have smooshed the state so that it all fits west of the Cascades. # Many of the outdoor shots were filmed in Snoqualmie, WA, which is in the Cascades, not too far from Seattle. The waterfall is there; the #Great Northern Hotel is really the Salish Lodge (although it doesn't #look like the GNH on the inside); and the RR Diner is really the Mar-T Diner, which really does have heavenly cherry pies. b) How big a town is Twin Peaks? -- Again, that's not exactly clear. The population sign that's shown at station breaks and on the Twin Peaks sound track indicates 51,201. However cues in the show seem to indicate that it's much much smaller than that. For instance, it doesn't have a resident circuit court judge, which any town of 51K+ in the U.S. would; it has a sheriff's department but no police department. On the other hand, it does have its own hospital, a fancy department store, and a large hotel. It seems the creators haven't worried too much about being consistent on this point. 13. Has anybody noticed that Julee Cruise's "Floating Into The Night" album gives special thanks to, among other people, Bob (no last name)? -- Yes. 14. Is the first season two-hour pilot considered the first episode, or is the first one-hour show the first episode? Do the episodes have names? What the best way of referring to episodes? -- The episodes are not named. Whether it's the best way or not, Lynch/Frost number the episodes with four-digit numbers, where the first digit is the season number, and the others are the order within that season. This system was apparently adopted after the pilot was produced, so the pilot is 1000, the first one-hour episode is 1001, and so on. However for the second season, the two-hour season premiere is 2001. 15. Can a person's hair really turn white "over night" like Leland's did between the first and second seasons? --Generally, only folklore supports this ("it happened to a friend of a friend of mine"). Since hair above the scalp is dead matter, it can't change color without dyes or bleaches. It's possible that a person with mixed gray and dark hair could lose all their older, darker hair over a short period of time (a few days or weeks) due to a physical or psychological trauma, which would leave them with just gray hair. Or a dark-haired person might lose all their dark hairs and grow in gray ones over a similar span of time, but "over night" seems physically implausible. #16. Is Miguel Ferrer (the actor who plays Albert Rosenfeld) related to Jose #Ferrer, the movie actor? #--Yes, Miguel is Jose's son. #17. Was there or wasn't there an episode of Twin Peaks broadcast in the US #on 1/26/91? #--If you have to ask, please see a doctor or a professional comedian #for treatment of humor impairment. -- Janet SwisherInternet: swsh@midway.uchicago.edu University of ChicagoPhone: (312) 702-7608 Academic and Public ComputingP-mail: 1155 E. 60th St. Chicago IL 60637, USA