This book was put out in a hurry to capitalize
on the dwindling Peaks mania,
and it shows. A desktop publisher
could produce a book with far better
production values than this one.
There is literally not a single page that
isn't filled with typos, bizarre
hyphenation, formatting errors, duplicate
paragraphs, conflicting information,
multiple spellings of characters' and
actors' names, or (worst of all)
horrible grammar.
(In its partial defense, the book covers
plot events up through Leland's
death, so they got the book out to stores
in less than two months.)
This is put out by a company that specializes
in books for die-hard fans. The
back pages contain ads (Couch Potato Book
Catalog) for titles such as "The Dark
Shadows Tribute Book," "Monsterland Fear
Book," "The Trek Crew Book," "The
Doctor Who Encyclopedia," and "The Lost
in Space Technical Manual."
According to his biography, Altman is a
"prominent film and television
journalist" who writes for such magazines
as Starlog and Cinefantastique,
and wrote the scripts for the films "Moving
Targets" and "Moving Targets II."
It also notes: "As a 1988 graduate
of Brandeis University, the author never
knew or met Diane Shapiro." Nor
did he take any English composition classes,
apparently.
The copyright page also tells us that the
book is not licensed by Lynch/Frost
Productions and it is "a scholarly work
intended to explore an American
cultural phenomenon and use "Twin Peaks"
as a case study in the exploration of
a cult television show." Yeah, right.
There are a fair number of black and white
production still photos (most of
which we've seen in other magazine or
newspaper articles) and a number of Peaks
related magazine covers.
What it lacks in polish, it definitely
makes up for in enthusiasm and new
information. Altman has spent time
talking to the production team and provides
lots of background on the producers and
writers as well as nearly all of the
directors. There is some insight
into the locations used for various scenes
and some set details that haven't been
noticed before. And he apparently had
an extensive interview with Miguel Ferrer,
whom he quotes often.
Best of all, there are lots of plot, casting,
and production tidbits that I
haven't seen discussed anywhere, even
on the net. I'll list some of those
later. In short, this is a "must
have" for the true Peaks Freak.
Contents:
- Introduction - "I'd Rather Be Here Than
Philadelphia"
- Chapter 1 - The Genesis of Twin Peaks
- "Wrapped in Plastic"
discussion of Lynch's previous
work and how the pilot came about
- Chapter 2 - First Season - "She's Full
of Secrets"
introduces the production team,
themes explored, Peaks mania
- Chapter 3 - Second Season - "The Owls
Are Not What They Seem"
similar coverage for second season
(up through Leland's death)
- Chapter 4 - The Cast - "I Hate Cherry
Pie . . . Really"
brief biographies of the major
cast members
- Chapter 5 - The Creative Team - "Look,
It's Trying To Think"
more on Lynch, Frost, Harley Peyton
(producer/writer), and Robert Engels
(executive script consultant)
- Chapter 6 - The Merchandising - "Dear
Diary"
the diary, audio tape, and future
merchandising plans
- Chapter 7 - After Laura - "The Woods
Hold Many Spirits"
recurring themes and conventions,
plot developments, new characters
- Chapter 8 - The Ten Best Theories About
Who Killed Laura Palmer
nothing that hadn't been discussed
on the net
- Episode Guide - plot summaries for the
pilot and episodes 1 through
16 (Leland's death)
- Appendix A - A Twin Peaks Freaks Filmography
a short list of films with Peaks
actors, writers, directors, and themes
- Appendix B - Glossary
a fairly comprehensive list of
characters and places, with many 'one scene'
minor characters
New revelations from the book:
- confirms that Mark Frost purposely delayed
revelation of Laura's killer
as a means to force ABC to renew
for a second season
- Lynch first wanted to set the show in
North Dakota, but Frost convinced him
it was "a flat barren place that's
very cold"
- the only change ABC has imposed was
changing the town's population from
Frost's original 5,201 to 51,201
- the first choice for Sheriff Truman
was David Strathairn (Moss on "Molly
Dodd", later appeared as a quirky
sheriff on Wiseguy)
- Frost confirmed that the show's title
refers to "a male joke about women's
breasts," whose in particular he
did not say
- Ben & Jerry's sent ice cream to
them, and Lynch and Frost suggested a new
flavor containing donut pieces,
the sale of which would benefit the fight
to save the spotted owl
- Gordon Cole is the name of a character
in the movie "Sunset Boulevard"
- William S. Burroughs expressed interest
in playing a part and they
wanted to get him to play the mayor's
brother, but it didn't work out
- Frost directed all the "Invitation to
Love" segments; they were dropped
due to episode running time constraints;
at one point they considered
having the lead actors from the
soap vacation in Twin Peaks
- Madchen Amick originally auditioned
for the part of Donna; Shelly was
only to be a minor character in
the pilot, but her part was expanded
- Dangling subplots were not forgotten,
according to Peyton: Ronette's
coma only lasted a week and Mike
Nelson only disappeared for a few days
in Twin Peaks time
- Director Todd Holland reveals that it
was the oriental man (Jonathan)
who was watching Josie and Truman
make love during the thunderstorm
- James' alcoholic mom became the subject
of a running joke on the set;
they actually filmed a scene with
her, but had to keep cutting it out
due to time constraints
- Likewise, a scene filmed for episode
3 was cut: Cooper visited Laura's
grave and an old caretaker explained
"that if you put your ear to the
ground, you can hear the dead 'singing'
as the wood of the casket expands
beneath the sod"
- future merchandising is to include a
computer game, Cooper's autobiography
(consisting of every tape recording
he's made since the age of 17), and
a guidebook to Twin Peaks, describing
walking tours and "where to get
a really good donut"
- of Bob's ability to possess a human
soul, Frost says:
"It's kind of like the relationship
between an artist and an angel. He is a
creature from somewhere else and
maybe he's only from within Leland. We
don't exactly say where he was
belched up from. He is somebody who kind of
went along for the ride.
"When Leland talks about knowing
Bob as a child and says this was someone who
invited me to play and I invited
him in, there's a certain classic type of
vampire myth that comes into play
when a soul that invites something into it
to take part in its life cannot
then refuse it anything. That's a myth that
goes way back before pre-Christian
times and that's one possible explanation
. . . the other is that Leland
is just completely whacked out of his mind.
"We want you to decide what you
think is right because I don't know for sure
that things like that exist and
I don't know that they don't."
- a note in the summary for the first
season finale says: "The assailant
who attacks Dr. Jacoby was never
revealed on the show, but it was indeed
Leland possessed by Bob, according
to Mark Frost. He sees Maddy leaving
the house and follows her.
Fearing that Jacoby is going to attack her,
he strikes the doctor and is forced
to leave when James and Donna arrive."
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If you can't find this in your local bookstore,
you can order it from the above
address. Send check or money order,
and add $3.25 for postage ($7.00 if you
want rush service). |
