Television programmes [2]

Old Simpsons episodes were great

Yeah

Havn't watched any new ones for a few years now.

I loved watching Father Ted so much. I was gobsmacked when Dermot Morgan died such a shame.

{{{ Loved Father Ted- heres one of my favourite episodes- and the best parody of the film Speed ever made! }}}

{{{


I realise this will not be of interest to a huge amount of folk, not at the moment anyway as I think only Blue has seen all of Peaks, but is a bit of a labour of love.  Hopefully someone might find it of interest!


I will be doing this in the chronology of events rather than of broadcast for reasons of clarity.  Therefore I will start with events known of but that accorded chronologically before the tv events (up to the end of Fire Walk With Me) before going onto cover Twin Peaks, then Twin Peaks: The Return in that order.

The purpose of this is to lay out, as I see it and for anyone who is interested, what the actual story narrative of Twin Peaks is- this is not actually instantly obvious from watching the show as there as so many mini-narratives in the construction of it; who killed Laura Palmer? what and who is Bob? What are the Lodges? whose abducting people? whose the giant guy? ect that its easy to miss over the course of the 27 years it took to tell the narrative what the overall story actually is.

I will not therefore be going much into the meaning of symbolism, or any messages I think it is trying to convey save where pertinent to story, so much as simply laying out what the sequence of events are and how they fit into the overall story narrative.

Another thing to note is what genre Twin peaks is actually in, as that too is not readily apparent at first. It is not a murder/mystery, nor is it a thriller though it contains elements of those, no at heart Twin Peaks is a sci-fi story with supernatural undertones and is best approached as such. Its closer to x-files than anything else. A show it very much laid the groundwork for in many ways.
Its an unconventional way to tell a scifi granted, but nevertheless taken as a whole narrative that is basically what it is.
Also the two tv series of Peaks both mimic, mock and utilise the devices of other popular trends in TV. In Twin Peaks this was the soap opera format, it even had a soap opera within the show- see Laura and Mandy or the entire whose the father of the baby? story line for examples of soap opera narratives utilised in Peaks.
The Return by contrast does not mock and utilise soap opera but the modern trend for hyper realism and hyper stylisation. Containing for example as it does two characters who are  well known for working with Tarantino, playing Tarantinoesque characters with Tarantinoesque dialogue and who die in an over the top Tarantoniesque bloody hail of bullets.
But like the soap thing it both mocks and utilises the techniques of these styles of narrative structures to tell its own subversive tale.

Ok best admit this now, no, this is not going to be short- there is a hell of a lot Peaks to cover- so pour your drink, settle back and off we go!


Part One- Background Narrative


Important events which occurred prior to the events televised in Twin Peaks -

3000bc Ancient Summerian texts record a mythology concerning a being called Joudy, the female form of Utukku who is described as a demon which feasted on human suffering. This demon had two forms, one female one male (Ba'al), and it was said in the myths that if the two ever joined together on Earth it would bring about the end of the world.
Over time and the myth shifting regions and languages Joudray would become Judy and Ba'al, Bob.

1927- Twin Peaks, former Scoutmaster Douglas Milford encounters a 'Giant' (the Fireman) and a man-sized owl near Glastonbury Grove. Three triangular markings appear on his forearm. He spends several years after this drowning in alcohol before sobering himself up and joining the United States Army Air Corps the day after Pearl Harbour. He was later stationed to the White Sands Missile Range in 1945.

July 16, 1945- White Sands, New Mexico at the heart of a nuclear test explosion the evil entity known as Judy breaks into our reality. She is spewing forth as she comes her eggs watched over by her consort and husband Bob. However as they both require physical forms in this reality to inhabit, and both have different means of doing so and are driven by different needs they seperate by necessity, Bob goes off to possess a human body and mind whilst Judy must await her eggs to hatch.



Unknowable Time -In the out of this reality realm surrounding the White Lodge an alarm bell goes off in the residence of the Fireman- who has the appearance of a giant man. In response to witnessing Judy and Bob's arrival in the heart of the nuclear storm he creates the spirit of Laura Palmer and sends her to earth to be born. Laura's spirit globe is a brilliant and pure gold in colour indicating her purity and strength. She is created as a martyr, as the ultimate sacrifice.



Sometime during the 1940's- in Twin Peaks the Bookhouse secret society was founded by then sheriff Fredrick Trueman. They worked partially as unofficial law enforcement, dealing with trouble when it arose in a way the law could not and partly to combat what was recognised as an 'evil' in the woods round the town. They considered this 'evil' a necessary price to pay for everything else Twin Peaks offered their community but tried to fight it however they could nonetheless.

1947- Douglas Miford is transferred to an airbase in Roswell, New Mexico where the Roswell Incident then occurs with an alleged UFO crash. Milford is promoted to Major and assigned to Project Signs by the Air Force, commanded by a General Twinnings. The project investigate UFO's and paranormal activity- including into the activity in Twin Peaks.

September the 9th 1947- Twin Peaks, three teenagers go missing whilst on a nature hike near Pearl Lakes, they were Maragret Coulson (later better known as the Log Lady), Alan Traherne and Carl Rodd (later owner of the Fat Trout Trailer Parks) they were taken to the town physician after they had disappeared for a day and were found experiencing extreme thirst and hunger, though they believed only an hour had passed. They claimed the last thing they remembered was a bright white light. All three had a raised pattern of triangular symbols on the back of the right knee.

Some time in the early 1950's- Margaret Coulson married Sam Lanterman, a woodsmen, who on their wedding night died in a fire in the forest. He had been visiting Glastonbury Grove where he claimed to have discovered an oil that would open a 'gateway'. The following day Margaret cut a log of Douglas Fir from a tree which had fallen in the fire. She would carry the log with her the rest of her life and claim it spoke to her.

-side note- The spirits known as the Woodsmen, and who aid Judy and others and occupy the convenience store have the physical appearance of Margarets dead husband- appearing in simple woodsmen style clothing with faces and hands blackened by smoke and soot.
Deputy Hawk claimed that Margret's log contained many spirits and its possible her husband was chief among them as there is precedent in Peaks narrative later for living beings to become trapped in wood.

-The Convenience Store and Woodsmen first arrive in our reality shortly after Judy and Bob do during the nuclear test-



Some time between the late 40's and early 1950's a young Leyland Palmer was vacationing at his grandfathers home near Pearl Lakes when he encountered a neighbour who called himself Robertson, the man taunted Leyland with the words 'you wanna play with fire, little boy?' This Robertson was possessed by the spirit Bob. Bob then abused and eventually took possession of the young Leyland.

August 5th 1956- New Mexico desert, at least one of Judy's eggs hatches and produces a frog/moth hybrid creature. At the same time the Woodsmen appear in the desert and close in on the local radio station from where they broadcast a repeated phrase- “This is the water, and this is the well. Drink full, and descend. The horse is the white of the eyes, and dark within,” this causes any listening to the broadcast to collapse unconscious. The same happens to the young Sarah Palmer listening to the radio in her bedroom and upon falling unconscious the strange bug enters her room and then her mouth before being swallowed.




At some point prior to 1960 Douglas Milford was moved to work on Project Blue Book were he encountered Major Briggs.

In 1964 Carl Rodd was reported missing in the earthquake and tsunami in Anchorage. He was rescued by a group of Aleuts and lived with them for five months having a spiritual awakening with the tribe. He married an Aleut woman who tragically died in childbirth along with their child a year later. In 1966 He left the tribe eventually settling in Yellowknife where he wrote songs, poems and occasionally performed as well as working as a stunt performer.

1966 -Milford is Promoted again, this time to Lieutenant Colonel and worked under Nixon, secretly continuing the work of Project Blue Book for the President and keeping it secret from the other agencies who had ceased working with the White House. When Nixon left office Douglas took up the President's recommendation of a young FBI Agent as a candidate to succeed him in his work- Gordon Cole.

1968 - Sarah married Leyland Palmer whom she had met in College. Leyland began work for the Horne family at the Great Northern Hotel as their Attorney.

1971- Sarah gives birth to a daughter, Laura Palmer containing the spirit of purity sent by the Fireman.

1975 - The Blue Rose team is first created named after the first encountered tulpa- a double of a person from the realm of the lodges- was discovered, Lois Duffy. The tulpas last words before disappearing were- 'I'm like the blue rose." The Blue Rose team was set up by Douglas, he recruited Gordon Cole to head it and Cole in return recommended agents Jeffries, Rosenfield and Desmond.

1979- aged 60 Douglas part-retired and returned to Twin Peaks and took over the local newspaper as its editor- this was actually partly so he could help to cover up the building of a secret base in the Twin Peak mountains to continue his work into the area around Twin Peaks from Project Blue Book. In particular it was dedicated to trying to discover the location of the White Lodge. This base was known as Listening Post Alpha.
Douglas brother, Dwayne, was running for Mayor. The two brothers had a long standing feud and Douglas ran editorial pieces against his own brother, who won anyway as he was standing uncontested. However when as Major Dwayne demanded an investigation into the base Douglas saw to it that the two FBI agents sent to conduct the investigation were Cole and Jeffries.

Sometime between the late 1960's and through to the early 1980's Leyland/Bob made contact with the Black Lodge and met them in the room above the convenience store. He struck up a partnership with another entity named Mike. Mike took possession of a traveling shoe salesmen and together with Leyland/Bob they embarked on a spree of rape and murder using the room above the convenience store as their base of operations. Mike had a tattoo put on his right arm to commemorate their deeds- 'Fire Walk With Me.' And the two struck a deal, Mike would place the owl ring on the intended victims, Bob would corrupt, abuse and kill them, and then the garmonbozia of the victim would be transferred to the Lodge via the ring to be shared among its denizens.

Mike had some sort of unknown encounter with the White Lodge and this caused a conversion in him. He broke from Bob and cut off the arm with the tattoo as a sign of the finality of the breaking of their pact and became an opponent of Bob. This however was also tempered by personal interest- Bob had been breaking the deal and hoarding garmonbozia from the others, and his plan for Laura would cut off their best primary source of it.
Mike moved from the Convenience Store to the Waiting Room area and was assigned as the guardian of the owl ring. He was joined in his task by a manifestation of his cut off arm, known simply as the Arm and which had the appearance of a human dwarf. Much later the Arm would evolve and have the appearance of a brain like object set atop a swaying tree conducting electricity.

1980- Carl Rodd becomes manager and part-owner of the Fat Trout Trailer Park in Deer Meadows, Washington.

1982- Milford handpicks Major Garland Briggs to run the Listening Post, and fully retires. Briggs, his wife and their young son Bobby transfer to Twin Peaks.
Cole recruits agent Cooper to the Blue Rose task force.

Also in this year Laura was given a diary on her 12th birthday by her father. From this age onwards she was also sexually abused by her father possessed by Bob.

Sometime in the 1980's Sherriff Trueman became the Head of the Bookhouse Secret Society, among its other members now were Deputy Hawk and Ed Hurley, Andy and Hank Jennings. However Hank himself fell foul of the law and was sent to prison and expelled from the group though he was said to have been one of their best.

September, 1983- Laura discovers someone has been reading her diary and stops writing until the following October.
One week later Laura and Donna meet up with three Canadians boys, Laura is introduced to drugs for the first time and Laura seduces all three boys. She suffers nightmares and stops writing again until 1985

June, 1985- Laura recounts in her diary all the ways Bob has sexually abused her.

July, 1985- Laura begins dating Bobby Briggs. She tells him she cant say she loves him because she is suppressing the 'good Laura' in order to lure out Bob with the 'bad Laura' and expose him to the world.

September, 1985- Bobby introduces Laura to Leo Johnson at a party. Laura tries cocaine for the first time and would soon become addicted to it. She also has her first lesbian experience.

November, 1986- Laura participates in an orgy thrown by Leo Johnson in return for drugs. Afterwards she encounters Bob in her room.

December, 1986- Laura begins tutoring Johnny Horne to pay for her drug habit. Donna begins dating Mike Nelson, Laura does not like this as she does not want Donna involved in her world and Mike and Bobby are selling drugs for Leo Johnson.
In return for a xmas drug present Laura begins to 'party' with Jacques Renault.

March 1987 - Laura and Donna's friendship is falling apart and Laura goes to work at Hornes department Store perfume counter where she meets Ronette Pulaski. The perfume counter is a recruitment place for 'hostesses' for One- Eyed Jacks where Ronnette already works. Laura and Ronnette become friends and they take photos and advertise themselves in the magazine 'Flesh World'

April, 1987- Laura discovers she is pregnant on her sixteenth birthday and has an abortion shortly after. She gets clean from the drugs but is offered a position by the manager of the perfume counter as a hostess at One-Eyed Jacks. After beginning work there she quickly relapses.
About this time Laura also begins delivering the Meals on Wheels from the Double R diner, where she meets recluse Harold Smith who becomes her friend and confidant.

1987- Agent Jeffries investigating a Blue Rose case in Beunos Aries comes across information relating to Judy. But before he can relay the information he disappears. At some point during his investigation, or immediately following his disappearance, he had attended one of the Lodge meetings above the convenience store-seemingly the first meeting in this reality at which Mike strikes the deal with Bob- he also appears to have visited the Red Room, where existing outside of our linear time he was witness to Agent Cooper's doppelganger. He also conveys that Judy is described as a 'young woman' in 1987 and that she has a place in Seattle. From this we know Judy has taken possession of someone hosting one of her hatched egg parasites and that it is a young woman living in Seattle. Other than at the very end of the story this is the only other time we ever know for sure the location Judy is in.

January, 1988- Teresa Banks, a seventeen year old drifter and prostitute moves into the Fat Trout Trailer Park in Deer Meadows. She gets a job at the local Hap's Diner. She is also given the owl ring by persons unknown- although the most likely candidate would be Mike using the guise of his traveling shoe salesmen doppelganger, acting as a client. Mikes motivations for this are entirely selfish, if she dies wearing the ring the lodge entities can feast on her garmonbozia and Bob will not have it all. Teresa however wears the ring on the wrong hand.

Teresa knew Ronnette and when she was approached by Leyland/Bob to arrange a threesome she enlisted Ronnette, and so Laura as the other two participants. But upon arriving at the arranged meeting Leyland/Bob seeing Laura through a window, claimed he was 'chickening out' and fled the scene.
Teresa was nevertheless still paid for the 'job' and gave the share of the earnings to Ronnette and Laura. This was the first time Laura would see the owl ring which Teresa was in possession of and wearing.

February, 1988- Laura is caught using cocaine whilst working at One-Eyed Jacks and is reprimanded for it- she threatens to one day expose the brothels owner as Benjamin Horne.

February, 1988- Teresa complains of her left arm going numb. Through a connection to Jacques Renault she asks about Ronnette and Laura's fathers, being suspicious of Leyland/Bob, and discovers he was Laura's father- information she plans to use to blackmail Leyland for money.
However instead Leyland/Bob murders Teresa, who at some point prior to her murder had removed the owl ring. Leyland/Bob caved her head in with a pipe. Leyland/Bob then placed a tiny square of paper with the letter 'T' on it under the fingernail of the ring finger of Teresa before before wrapping her body in plastic and dumping it in Wind River.

The ring finger we learn later is also the spiritual finger, and the evil version of it is indicated by a 'tainted spirit finger' represented as being blackened or tarnished. It is later used to represent Judy herself as the ultimate corrupted spiritual entity.

Bob appears now intent on killing enough people to spell out Robert, letter by letter, the placement of it suggests it is a means of advertising his presence and locale to Judy.
Bob has been seperate from Judy since their arrival in this reality and he now has a new desire and plan- he has decided that Laura would be the perfect corrupted vessel for him to inhabit, and that if he cant achieve this he will instead kill her and feast on her garmonbozia. His preferred outcome however is to take possession of her, something Laura knows deep down and tells Harold, "he wants to have me or he kill me." And with all Laura's potential turned to corruption and under Bobs influence he could use her to find and reunite with Judy.

Agent Cooper tells Cole about his dream regarding Jeffries. Jeffries make his reappearance and tries to explain what he has seen.




Teresa's body meanwhile was never claimed and two FBi agents were sent to investigate, Chester Desmond, who was a member of Cole's Blue Rose team, and Sam Stanley, an up and coming rising star of the FBI and who may be under consideration for entry to the Blue Rose team.

Upon arriving in Deer Meadow they are met by Cole in person and a woman who gives coded instructions- pinned onto her dress is a blue rose.
Desmond tells Stanley he cant tell him what that means- this tells us that Stanley is not yet an inside part of the Blue Rose team, but that this is a blue rose case.
It also gives one of the  first major clues that Cole knows a lot more than he lets on and is getting information from some other source- as on the surface there is nothing surrounding the death of Teresa Banks to indicate a Blue Rose case, yet Cole knows it is before the investigation even begins.



The two Agents discover that Teresa's ring is missing and they also discover the letter under the finger nail, implying this may be the work of a serial killer.

Teresa's body is sent to Portland for further analysis under Blue Rose team member Albert, whilst Agent Desmond returns to the Fat Trout Trailer Park where Teresa was staying. Agent Stanley rightly guesses Desmond is returning because of the Blue Rose aspect of the case. Stanley is sent with the body.

Upon arrival at the trailer park Desmond asks the owner, former Peaks resident and abductee as a child, Carl Rodds to show him to the trailer of one of the local police deputies.
Instead of going there however Agent Desmond instead is drawn towards a telegraph pole with the number 6 on it and an electrical sound accompanied by the sound of the Arm.
This pole is next to a trailer that is brightly lit within. Upon receiving no answer to knocking Agent Desmond looks under the trailer where he sees the owl ring upon a mound of earth and reaches out to take it and is engulfed in a bright light. He is never seen again. After Jeffries this makes Desmond the second Blue Rose member to mysteriously disappear whilst on a Blue Rose case.

Shortly afterwards Cole sends Agent Cooper to Deer Meadows to investigate Desmonds disappearance. At the trailer park Cooper discovers the trailer under which the ring lay is gone, but that it was occupied by an old lady and her grandson, under the family name Chalfond, and that the plot had previously been owned by Chalfonds too.
Cooper then finds Agents Desmonds car on the windscreen of which has been written the words 'Lets Rock!'
Agents Desmonds disappearance marks the real beginning of Coopers part in the Fireman's plan as the central active element and the similarities in Laura's death to Teresa's will be the main factor leading him to Twin Peaks in search of a serial killer.
The words 'Lets Rock!' indicate the commencement of Coopers involvement in the plan, but who left the message?

Well the Chalfonds are contenders as they were present. But I am inclined to think not based on the wording. It could be read as a challenge from Bob to Cooper- but there is no reasons for Bob to be aware of Cooper yet, there are no indications Bob is capable of foreseeing future events, so again I think not.
The only person we ever hear speak the words 'Lets Rock' is the Arm. The sound of the Arm can be heard at the telegraph pole next to the trailer indicating his presence in events. And the Arm will be one of the main contact points between Cooper and the Lodge entities. It is the Arm Cooper will interact with most whilst in the Lodge and who will guide his investigation and ultimately to his understanding and enactment of the Fireman's plan.
I believe therefore the message was most likely left by the Arm to prepare Cooper for the fact that the game was now on.

April, 1988- Laura begins to consult Dr Jacoby. She records audio tapes for him.

February, 1989- Laura begins a secret relationship with James Hurley. He gives her half of a heart necklace.
On the 12th Laura, James and Donna go on a picnic together.
Later in the month Laura returns home from school to discover that pages have been torn from her diary. In a panic Laura goes to the home of Harold whom she had confided in and tells Harold that Bob had taken the pages. Laura then says "Fire Walk With Me" and for a moment transforms into the almost ripe dark garmonbozia Laura that Bob's abuse has created.
The following day Laura, whilst loading up the Meals on Wheels encounters two Lodge entities, the Tremonds/Chalfonds, in the guise of an old woman and her grandson, who wears a blank mask. The woman gives her a framed photograph showing a corner of a dingy room and a partly ajar door. Whilst the boy entity informs Laura that the 'man behind the mask' is looking for her diary in its hiding place. Laura immediately goes home in time to see her father leaving the house and she finally realises that Bob and her father are the same person.

That night Laura hangs the picture on her bedroom wall and goes to bed. She seems to dream that she is inside the painting. The painting appears to be part of the interior of the Convenience Store. The Chalfonds greet her and lead her to the Waiting Room where she encounters Annie, Coopers future girlfriend- who is in the Lodge but enters it at a later point in this time line. Annie tells Laura that the good Dale is also in the Lodge, indicating another future event, and that Laura should write it in her diary. Laura does this when she awakens.



The following day whilst at the Road House with Ronnette, Jacques arranges for them to come up to his cabin in the woods that weekend.

Later that week Bob visits Laura in her room and assaults her again, she demands to know who he is and sees her father. She later dreams again of being in the Waiting Room with the Arm and a much old Cooper. She whispers in Coopers ear that Bob is her father.

Whilst out in the car with her father they encounter Mike, who shows Laura the owl ring on his hand, and tells her that Bob is her father and that he 'stole the corn'.



At the weekend Laura tapes a safe deposit key into her diary for the money from Bobby's drug deal gone wrong. She then uses the last of her cocaine and contacts James, arranging to meet him. She goes with James on his bike but leaves him when she sees something in the trees which causes her to scream.

---second time line. Cooper from the end of this realities time line is hiding in the trees witnessing Laura's departure from James. It is catching a glimpse of Cooper which causes Laura to scream. Ater leaving James, Cooper intercepts Laura and prevents her meeting Leo and Jacques. Instead by taking her with him Cooper changes the time line and Laura is abducted as part of the Firemans plan. Cooper then returns to the end point of this time line in order to follow Laura into her new reality.-----

Back in the original time line in which Cooper does not intervene Laura meets with Ronette, Leo and Jacques and goes to the cabin in the woods, passing by the Log Lady's place on the way.
They go to Jacques cabin and indulge in sex and drugs before Leyland/Bob shows up and takes the girls to the abandoned railway tracks, there in a carriage he taunts Laura that he is going to possess her. Laura is protected however from possession by the appearance of the angel, however Laura has no angel, the angel protects Ronnette from Bob, this is because Laura as the ultimate sacrifice cannot be saved, symbolised by the angel disappearing from the picture in her room earlier and failing to save her life now. The angels appearance however does suspend Bob's attack long enough for Mike to arrive in time to throw the owl ring to Laura, which she puts on.
Bob in a rage at being thwarted in his aim to take Laura brutally murders her instead. He places a piece of paper with the letter R under her finger nail, leaves a note reading 'fire walk with me' and wraps her body in plastic as he had Teresa Banks, and throws it into the river.



And that covers events from the beginning of the story up to the end of Fire Walk With Me. Next part will cover the original run of Twin Peaks.
The last part the Return, and then probably a summary and tying it all together.



The Lodge entities- what are the Lodges? Who lives there and what motivates them?

There are two lodges- The White Lodge whose doors are said to only open in response to love, and the Black Lodge which is a lot less picky.
The main lodge we see is the Black Lodge and its inhabitants, apparently, but I prefer to think of this whole area as the Waiting Room- the White Lodge does not seem to take quite such a personal physical route in our reality and we never see inside it- the closest we come is a description of how Major Briggs perceived it, and the Fireman's home probably on its outskirts.
The Waiting Room, which contains a couch and chairs and sometimes a table and a statue and other connected rooms similar in appearance with exits to different portals in our reality through identical draped corridors, is the extent of what we see of the Lodges. The Lodge is surrounded by a black void known as the place of Non-Existence. This is more likely to be the boundary around the actual Black Lodge proper.
The Waiting Room and its immediate surrounds connecting various locations is not as such a place in itself, rather it exists between worlds just as the place of non-existence does.

The inhabitants of the Lodge desire what they call 'garmonbozia' in the Lodges it seems to serve a few purposes- primarily the Lodge entities need to consume it to live- in this form it appears to human perception like creamed corn indicating its consumable nature (creamed corn because it was Laura's favourite food and she is there main source for a long time). It also used almost like a form of currency traded between members and it can be stored in some form, referred to as being 'tinned'. And when it is vomited back up it is imbued with a substance which looks to humans like engine oil. This form is the most valuable- a lodge entity who enters our reality and causes and consume garmonbozia, will upon their return vomit it back up. This garmonbozia is the highest value and the appearance of what seems to be engine oil in it indicates it has some of the properties of a fuel and may be a component in moving between realities.

But what is garmonbozia you may ask? Well it has in reality no real physical form, what we see is the manifestation of the energy produced from pain, suffering, terror and misery. The Lodge entities cause these things in people and then feed off the resulting negative energy or convert into the oil version. Everyone has good garmonbozia to start with, represented as the colour yellow or as golden corn in the show. But when a person is corrupted by their life or by an other entity it turns to blackened corn and becomes garmonbozia that the Lodge entities can feed off.

The other odd feature of the Lodges goes back to something Deputy Hawk first mentions regarding Indian lore of the Lodges-
'every spirit must pass through there on the way to perfection. There, you will meet your own shadow self. My people call it 'The Dweller on the Threshold.'

This 'shadow-self' alludes to the existence of Doppelgangers in the realm of the Lodges. The lodges are, in the words of Mike, a point where 'two worlds collide' and as such there can be two of you. A very real danger of entering the Lodge is that you end up staying there and your doppelganger goes back out into reality. Not only does anyone who enter the Lodge have a doppelganger many of the lodges inhabitants are known to have one- Mikes is the traveling salesman he uses when out in the world, Bob's is Leyland, with the 'real' Leyland kept within the lodge, the Arm even has its own dark counterpart and of course Cooper has a doppelganger when he goes in. And the Fireman himself makes use of one in the aged, very tall, waiter at the Northern hotel.

And as if that is not bad enough there are also created copies of people which can in some fashion be manufactured within the Lodge and sent out into the world like sleeper agents with tasks to perform. The creation of these copies of people, known as tulpas, appears to involve a mysterious small golden globe, a DNA sample of the person to be copied and some sort of animated spirit trapped within it to give it life. Dougie Jones and Diane are both examples of a tulpa. Whilst Bob and Mike are examples of a doppelganger. It was an encounter and discovery of the existence of a tupla which first gave rise to the Blue Rose cases.

For any lodge or otherworldly entity to exist for any time in our reality it seems they must have a physical form conforming more or less to the rules of that reality. Although in the case of Coopers doppelganger, Mr C, he seems to have increased strength, resistance and healing capabilities. Bob however is an exception in this case however as unlike the other entities we see Bob is not a native of the lodges but came from Outside with Judy.

Other examples include Mike who needs his shoe salesman doppelganger, Bob needs to possess someone or use a doppelganger as with Cooper, Judy needs to lay her bugs and then possess the hosts, and all other contact is conducted either through visions, dream states or by physically removing someone from this reality and transferring to them to another (sometimes like Jeffries never to return).

It seems some basic rules can be discerned regards entities which move between worlds.

1. The reality you are in is all consuming- what this means is that although its possible for an entity to move their consciousness from one level of existence to another they have to conform to the basic laws of the universe they find themselves in. This is the reason doppelgangers and tulpas are required.

2. Because all realities are all consuming it takes an incredible effort or energy source once in a reality for an entity to remember its former existence. As you 'tune in' more to the reality you find yourself in it becomes your new total reality, to the point your old life will fade like a dream and be forgotten in favour of the new reality.
This seems to hold true for most entities, with Judy being the possible exception. Even Bob seems to forget all about trying to find Judy in favour of his new reality as Leyland with Laura to abuse. It is not until Bob possess Cooper with his superior faculties and his knowledge, that Bob realizes a plan is afoot against him and he is focused enough to begin to undertake that task in earnest.


The other important factor is electricity. At least in our reality that's what we call it, but outside our reality it appears to be just a facet of something more complex. Electricity is utilized in some fashion to move from one realm of existence to another as well as to travel within a reality. Flickering lights and high pitched current sounds are signs that Lodge activity is taking place in our reality or is centred around something in our reality. It may also have some sort of potent interaction with garmonbozia when its the garmonbozia is in its black oil form. As in such a form it appears at Glastonbury Grove, and Laura outpouring of it in her scream seems to 'overload' the electricity holding the reality she in together.

The following clip is of the meeting above the Convenience Store witnessed by Agent Jeffries. It appears to be the first meeting in this reality.
By now a few things should catch your attention- it opens on the electricity passing down the no 6 telegraph pole accompanied by the whooping sound made by the Arm indicating the presence of Lodge activity in our reality. In the meeting itself, which takes place above the Convenience Store we can discern some interesting things. Firstly it seems that our reality is for the first time becoming apparent to the Lodge Entities. This is an old shaman idea of 'silent knowledge' when a traveler crosses worlds everything is just energy- but when they arrive in a new world they start to process that energy by the rules of that world- in short they start to perceive our world like we do. The Arm is therefore fascinated to discover the thing they are sat at is a formica table and realising it has a colour, and one of the Woodsmen comments that our universe has 'animal life'- this is information that comes with tuning into a reality- silent knowledge, knowledge without words, just knowing.
Another thing of interest is that these are the only Woodsmen we ever see who are not blackened by fire and covered in dirt and soot. This has led some to say they are not in fact Woodsmen at all, but as they are credited as such in the film I think we have to say they are- in which case there is a reason they are not like the others- I believe this reason is because this is the first meeting in our reality- Bob is present so it is after he has arrived with Judy and after he has separated from her- but Judy has to wait for an egg to hatch and find a host for her to possess. So her effect at this point is at best minimum- however once she has 'awakened' fully she seems to exercise some control over the Woodsmen who do much of and Bob's bidding, yet at other times seem more independent and to act in some fashion as door-wards to entry to the Convenience Store. I think therefore their blackened appearance is reflective of the growing influence and power of Judy in our reality.

We are also introduced to garmonbozia in this scene, in its form of creamed corn, and the deal is struck using the owl ring between Bob and the Lodge entities over garmonbozia. We then see Bob being led through the lodge and out into one of the corridors which lead to portals into our reality. This strongly suggests that Bob has not as yet found a host or a secure means of existing in our reality and that part of the deal is that the Arm is showing him a way in via the Lodge corridor.

Also electricity is hugely important here- note the Woodsman seems in some fashion to be controlling or working with electricity' in the room, as we know it plays a part in moving between worlds and that the Convenience Store can appear physically in this reality it reinforces the notion that the Woodsmen, at least originally, are a independent group who work the electricity', this would also partly explain them manifesting in 'workmans' clothing.
According to Hawk in his Indian tradition there are three types of fire- the normal sort we know, the black sort as produced by Judy and Bob and its opposite which Hawk can only describe as being something like 'what we would call electricity'.  This indicates that the 'electricity' is neither do with Judy/Bob, or the Lodges, but is a third independent factor., The Woodsmen seem to be its best practitioners, the 'electricity' experts, embodied in their Convenience Store. They also seem however to be easy to corrupt by a higher power, as Judy seems to turn most of them to her ends fairly quickly. In that sense I think they can be compared to a computer program- they are tasked with a job, but someone who knows how can reprogram them to do a different one for them.
My own personal belief is that the Woodsmen are actually another type of tulpa, with the main one we see being a tulpa of the Log-lady's dead husband- hence the soot, blackened clothing and woodsmen outfit. Given the Lodge entities can create these beings to send into other realities to perform complex tasks it seems likely they might also use them to perform, what to the Lodge entities are mundane tasks, such as working whatever tech is represented by the machinery and flashes of electricity. This may also explain Judy's capacity to turn them to her own uses almost immediately.





The Fireman's job- to put out the Black Fire that is Judy in this reality, and ideally for good.
Two- to prevent Bob and Judy from meeting and joining forces.
Three- to use Laura as bait and trap for Judy.

Laura is a sacrifice- made to be abused and turned into irresistibly potent garmonbozia. She is placed with the family of the Palmers as Leyland Palmer is possessed by Bob, and Bob will not be able to resist Laura. This also serves a secondary purpose- Bob is a creature of want- and what he wants is garmonbozia, its all that motivates him, he is a voracious appetite- Laura will keep him occupied for most of the necessary 25 years, thus preventing him from searching out and finding Judy.

The Fireman knows Bob will attempt to possess Laura, or kill her. He protects her from possession- symbolised in Fire Walk With Me by an angel protecting her. And Mike is enlisted to give to Laura the owl ring in her last moments so that upon her murder she will be transported to the Waiting Room of the Lodge- there to wait out the next 25 years until the rest of the plan is in place.
The rest of the plan largely consists of involving all the necessary players so that they have the working knowledge to be capable of carrying the final gambit against Judy out. Which is for Cooper to remove Laura from her time stream shortly prior to her murder to be placed in a pocket dimension and for Cooper and Diane to then follow her there from the original time line leading Judy with them. Whereupon Laura's memory of her suffering will be triggered and all the garmonbozia released at once collapsing the reality and everyone in it including Judy.

The Fireman uses the time line in which Laura is dead to get everyone to a place where Judy can be trapped and destroyed and a new timeline can overwrite the corrupted one.

How the Fireman does this- he recruits various players to be in the right places at the right time, and primed with the right information to move all the pieces. He builds a machine out of time and people (in Jeffries case literally making him a part of the machine) in order to set up the trap for Judy before the current timeline and everything in it is consumed by Judy and Bob's fire.

To achieve this he first abducts Douglas who goes on to work on Project Blue Book with Major Briggs and to found the Blue Rose group and recruit Cole. Then he abducts the small players in the plan- he abducts three children via the Pearl Lake portal. Margaret and Carl both go on to play small but crucial roles.

Cole is one of the Fireman's major players. Cole then recruits Jeffries who will be the linchpin of the Fireman's plan, and will eventually function as a crucial part of the literal machine the Fireman uses to put out the fire of Judy. To this end to prepare Jeffries the Fireman takes him from our reality.

The Fireman then recruits Major Briggs by contacting him in dreams and eventually abducting him too for instruction, though that comes later.
But the main tool of the Fireman, the Fireman's axe if you will in all this is Agent Dale Cooper.

The Fireman first recruits Cooper by giving him a prophetic dream, in which he gives Cooper a date and a time- the date and time of Jeffries temporary return to this reality in Coles FBI offices where Jeffries plants the seeds of the convenience store, the Lodges and the idea of there being more than one Cooper. Once within the reaches of Twin Peaks the Fireman stays in fairly constant contact with Cooper, helping him to understand the nature of the lodges and what is actually going on by helping him solve the murder of Laura Palmer thus uncovering Bob and the lodge connections.

This part of the plan is necessary because if Cooper is to effectively play his part in it he must understand the concepts involved.

So to recount the Fireman's part in things-

He is there to destroy Judy and prevent her 'dark fire' from consuming our reality. A secondary purpose is to prevent Bob and Judy meeting meantime.
The Fireman's plan is to send an irresistible feast right into Bobs path- Laura, thus distracting Bob from any attempts to pursue or find Judy. At the same time Bobs corruption of Laura will turn her pure good into black garmonbozia, black corn of the most potent variety, which when regurgitated will produce the even more potent oil imbued version which can essentially be 'set off' like a reality bomb.
Once Bob has fully corrupted Laura he will attempt to possess her and use her to spread further corruption and to go looking for Judy.
However this is prevented by the Fireman, whose protection is represented by a Guardian Angel, and by Mike who gives Laura in her last moments the owl ring- ensuring her spirit will remain safe in the Waiting Room after her death.
Bob in a fit of fury at being thwarted murders Laura and her spirit goes to the lodge.
From this moment on, as far as the Fireman is concerned this version of our reality becomes redundant save as a time line to use to set the players in action. It will otherwise be consumed eventually by Judy and her Black Fire.
From here until the end his plan is simply to manipulate time and people until all the key players have enough knowledge and are in the right places to defeat Bob/Mr C and for Cooper to go back in the time line, break the chain of events, reunite that physical Laura with her Lodge version in a new reality created from Lauras memories and mind, then have Cooper and Diane lead Judy there. Whereupon Laura's true memories can be triggered and all the corrupted black garmonbozia released at once, overloading that reality and collapsing it with everyone, including Judy in it.
Whilst in our reality a new time line unfolds from the moment Laura is taken by Cooper, one in which Laura goes missing instead of being killed and is never seen again. And a time line in which Judy and Bob do not exist.

This is the Fireman's plan.
The first part of it deals with responding to Judy and Bob's arrival. Recruiting the necessary people and manipulating them so as to create the Blue Rose team and setting up key players who provide information at key points to further the plan- such as the Log Lady or Major Briggs.
The Fireman is against the clock however- the longer the reality with Laura dead and Judy and Bob present continues the more corrupt it becomes and the more likely Bob will eventually find Judy and the entire reality will be consumed by their fire before they can be prevented.

Enter the Fireman's axe, Agent Cooper to Twin Peaks!   }}}}

Wowzers ! that was a 'letter of love' I really appreciate all that. I did watch Twin Peaks years ago but, I could only watch episodes now & again, real life definitely getting in the way. I always meant to go back & watch Twin Peaks & still haven't found the time. I do feel more spurred on since you've gone to so much trouble writing it out so well.

I really appreciate all that. - Azriel

{{And I appreciate you appreciating it! Thanks. Taken about three weeks whenever I had the spare time to put it all together and three earlier drafts that I didn't feel had enough clarity- and I haven't got to the start of the original Twin Peaks tv series yet!!! }}}

I'm a little wary of spoiling the story for myself in case I ever get around to watching Twin Peaks, but your description of it in the introductory section is intriguing and I also just want to register my appreciation for the really long essay posts that you make on a variety of topics.

{{Thanks Eldo, appreciate that too.

I have made a few additions to the above- particularly regarding the first meeting above the Convenience Store as recounted by Agent Jeffries, and regards the Woodsmen. They have accompanying clips of the scenes in question so should be easy to spot the late additions but I realised whilst going over bits of the next part it really belonged at the start! }}}

Geez, that's a lot Petty.
8,000 words of plot explanation? Lynch doesn't deserve such detailed analysis of his surrealist work!

{{Ah well not just Lynch and his surrealism with Peaks- you also have Mark Frost and he is more 'traditional' in his narrative styles. Peaks is not just surrealism- it is hung on the structure of a narrative.
But Lynch does his surrealism on top of that so well that its the reason I have included vid clips where possible- as its one thing describing in words what happens in Frosts story, quite another thing to see how Lynch conveys that on screen. }}}

Ah passion, don't ya just love it ! You can really feel the intensity pouring out from someone & its intoxicating

When Petty drinks enough, it's probably not the only alcoholic thing that pours out of him!

They say some indigenous people discovered you could get a secondary high from urine from reindeers who have had certain mushrooms who are poisonous for humans, but has psychotropic qualities.

Will get around to looking at your TP thoughts and repsonding eventually, Petty

azriel wrote:I loved watching Father Ted so much. I was gobsmacked when Dermot Morgan died  such a shame.

I think this was filmed only months before his death.



I'll add my appreciation for Father Ted, absolute madness, and absolutely wonderful.

malickfan wrote:Old Simpsons episodes were great

Having been in Spain recently and watching a lot of Simpson in Spanish dubbing, the normal voices are almost surprising. But it did have something special about it, indeed.

{{Frankie Boyles review of the year -- "Kevin Spacey really went for it, didn't he? Imagine, at this point in history being adjudged such a sex predator that you're not allowed to play the President of the United States." }}

{{Watching a vid from the same person as supplied the above Boyle one- I came across Vic and Bob reviving for a one off new year special Vic Reeves Big Night Out- but thats not what I am going to put up here (yet).

Because I reckon few outside the UK know of Vic and Bob, I have been a fan since the start of series 2 of Big Night Out which aired in 1990. There are largely only two opinions of Vic and Bob's style and humour- they are either surrealist comedy geniuses who took the 'alternative comedy' movement further than any others, or they are just complete rubbish.
I started in the latter camp and ended in the former. But I will readily admit its often hard to tell between the two with them. Like Python before them they throw everything including the kitchen sink at the wall to see what will stick. And like Python they have shown a surprising nimble footeness in both adapting their style and branching it, and themselves as performers, out into other genres.

But to the beginning- this is a 9 minute clip of the openingof a typical episode of Big Night Out.
When this aired channel 4 was the tv station for folk between 15-25 to be watching on a Friday nights- it had the best sitcoms from the US early on and then all the weird crazy shit aimed at an audience assumed to be drugged and pissed out their heads (which we were) -Eurotrash, The Word ect and into this came Big Night Out.



It was a flat mate of the time who got me watching- he fell in love with the surrealist style of humour from the off, I sat and watched episode 2 of the first series with him thinking it was the biggest pile of shit I had ever watched and wondering how on earth he could find this funny. By the end of the series I was hooked. Partly that is down to it having a reliance on repetition of material and audience familiarity- there is shades of pantomime to it- cries of "oh Vic Ive fallen' and 'whats on the end of the stick Vic?" would become as familiar as 'he's behind you!'.

Like the Fast Show, which also came out of the alternative comedy scene it distilled the styles of previous generations. In the case of the Fast Show they took the comedy sketch format of previous generations of tv comedians and distilled them to just a punchline- so a man walking out of a shed and simply saying "Today I have been mainly eating (insert food or thing randomly)' before walking back into the shed becomes a sketch, but only once the audience have watched for a few episodes and got the repetition and so the joke.
Vic and Bob however did not just distill the comedy sketch, they pretty much perverted every type of mainstream comedy and TV that came before.
Vic (and later Bob) would sit behind a desk, reminiscent of the Two Ronnies and of tv chat hosts. Sketches would be distilled to punch lines, musical numbers would become surrealist ludicrousness singing about trousers or the way horses stare or a love song to a fruit, guests stars would be ridiculed or non-existent save in name- pretty much everything form vaudeville to chat shows, to day time tv, to every mainstream type of popular comedy show which had preceded it were parodied in some fashion and made surreal. And so, if your inclined, funny.

The thing about the very rough Big Night Out was it showed quite quickly how they could refine it, it ran for only 2 series but when they decided to end it in 1991, it was popular enough to do so in a live show in Newcastle City Hall to big audiences. And although still rough in many places you can already see the refining of their style in a short few years.



Not long after they moved to he BBC and took their surrealist style into the arena of the comedy panel show- think your QI, Would I Lie To You, Have I got News For You ect format- what they did with it was as surreal and brilliant as before but much more honed on one subject, comedy panel shows. And it worked sending Bob and Vic mainstream despite it still being often utterly surreal- but part of the joy came from seeing the celebrity guest panelists, who had no idea what was going to happen in any show, in this surreal environment- it was inherently funny for many in a way Big Night was too obscure for.
You may also spot a young Matt Lucas as the score keeper, "He's a baby. A baby. A big baby!"- they still saw the value in surrealist repetition!



But they didn't stick to comedy. In 2000 they resurrected, sorry for that, Randal and Hopkirk (Deceased) playing the two main roles. It ran for two successful series. And showed that whilst they still played it light hearted there was more to them than just a surrealist comedy double act.



Which brings it all back round to now and them reviving Big Night Out for a one-off New Year Special. }}}

Watched Star Trek Discovery. Started off ok, but now going downhill. The last epicode had a good twist so shall persevere.

Also watched The Shannara series 2. Started off pretty average, but it actually grew on me. Looking forward to series 3.

{{{ Most definitely NSFW! }}

{{ Tuckers (fucking) Law- The Thick of It, words to live by!- }}}

"'If some cunt can fuck something up that cunt will pick the worst fucking time to fuck it up because that cunts a cunt.'  I have that on a tea-towel."- Malcolm Tucker

chris63 wrote:Watched Star Trek Discovery. Started off ok, but now going downhill. The last epicode had a good twist so shall persevere.

Also watched The Shannara series 2. Started off pretty average, but it actually grew on me. Looking forward to series 3.

Sword of Shannara the book was so obviously derivative of LotR I could never bring myself to read past the first half dozen chapters. Have an even harder time convincing myself to watch it. As for Star Trek Discovery...the less said the better. I gave up on the pilot after about 10 minutes.