The Secret History of Twin Peaks

[mtwentz]

Let's face it folks- at this point it is looking like as much a 'reboot' as I is a 'continuation'. We should no longer criticize the us of the term reboot since Frost has made direct continuity from the original series near impossible now.

[bowisneski]

Still reading, but one line that bummed me out(because I love the scenes) is

"A well-liked and simple fellow; Pete played checkers, not chess."

I was also wondering about the Fat Trout but made the same assumption everyone else has.

And it appears that some of the names and facts in "Oh, What a Tangled Web..." by Robert Jacoby conflict with the history section in The Access Guide. However Agent Preston does note that the book is a "slice of Chamber of Commerce civic puffery" that is "pure fiction". So I'm just gonna combine the facts to make them work since they're both from sources external to the show.

Other than that, any issues I've come across so far have been small and easily brush off-able as Briggs being misinformed or misremembering. That's the path I've chosen to take with the above Pete line.

[N. Needleman]

Some continuity errors in a book does not a reboot make. If that were the case we'd have been in that territory 24 years ago thanks to other bits of fluid tie-in continuity. The old books contain some similarly slipshod stuff, though none quite as blatant at what appears to be a gloss-over of part of Ben's subplot and some of Ed and Nadine's backstory.

The new show is a direct continuation of the existing series, period. Until and unless we hear from Frost on some of these points of background in the book it's up to each of us to decide how we reconcile the show to the discrepancies or changes here. Personally it's not worth getting that worked up over to me especially since the book is great, though I wish someone would clarify whether they checked some of this stuff. I take both sources as canon, but when the book occasionally does not adhere to the onscreen material I go with what is onscreen. Same as I did with Laura's diary or Cooper's tapes, or whatever else from back in the day.

If the show turns out to have had its timeline slightly and overtly altered when it airs next year I'll eat crow, but I really think a cigar is just a banal cigar. They goofed. It's always happened with this franchise's merchandising. There are people out there who swear by the birthdates on the trading cards.

[Aqua]

Wasn't hard to believe we will not see Jefferies functioning fully in the real world again, but CDesmond is news, we did indeed see him on the surveillance screen returning to the FBI building after Deer Meadows in at least some edits of Fwwm (is it a final one for today?).

[Mr. Reindeer]

It's really odd what aspects of the Access Guide history Frost decided to keep vs. changing. I personally would have been fine with him throwing out the Access Guide altogether, personally -- I find the Access Guide to be much too tongue-in-cheek, and I'm more concerned with continuity with the show. But he adheres slavishly to it in some places, then suddenly diverges (i.e., he keeps the famed 1968 HS football team and all of its members, but changes most of the players' positions, and the season record). Very odd. At this point, I really do think Frost is just reshaping the TP world to his own image now that he and Lynch are fully back in control.

One thing I dislikie is that he seems to stick with the Access Guide timeline for the opening of the Great Northern. (In the Access Guide, it's 1927; Frost doesn't give a specific date, but strongly implies that it was pre-Depression). This contradicts the 1950s groundbreaking with Ben & Jerry present on the show, nullifying one of my favorite scenes. Blah.

Another grievance: Some of the Archivist's writing does not sound like Briggs ("Bun in the oven"? "Hall of shame"?).

I am enjoying the book immensely overall, though!

Edit: Briggs writing "hot young girlfriend"? Ugh. Mark, Mark, Mark.

[Hockey Mask]

Decided to cancel my preorder on the book. Maybe I'll look into it after I've seen Season 3. Consistency is important to me.

[Ross]

In the end, I'm sorry to say, I found the book more frustrating than anything else. The concept is great, the design is great, and the parts not detailing what we saw and know from the original are great.
But a large chunk of the book acts as sort of a summation of the original- season 2 in particular. Unfortunately, it reads as someone half remembering it years later. Relaying some of the broad strokes, but getting most of the details wrong. So much of it doesn't line up that it's baffling.
Maybe I'm being too harsh- but that's my knee-jerk response.

[Qubism]

Hi all,

Good to finally hear a bit about any of the Access guide being used/stuck to.

I wonder if we have a case here of not "Oh My God, Frost made a bunch of mistakes", but shouldn't we be wondering if it is just Major Briggs that doesn't know all these family details precisely or got some mixed up?

There is the concept of the "unreliable narrator" which is becoming quite common in novels and TV/Films. Agent TP is worried that her report may get her fired because of some inconvenient truths, and could she have reported anything differently deliberately?

The thing to bear in mind is as said above with the access guide, is it not all a bit of fun? It ain't the bible or something. I know I do honestly think Twin Peaks is my favorite TV show/film/book series etc. I guess its a phenomenon, and like I said before, with the books especially, so many writers will lead to discrepancies. I doubt there was a "bible" for the series for anyone to refer to when writing LP's diary, Coop's tapes, the Access guide and the Secret History Vol 1 and 2..... so, I hopefully will just enjoy them all for what they are, different facets of a story of a place and it's people...... and the atmosphere, the wind in the trees........

[Ross]

I wonder if we have a case here of not "Oh My God, Frost made a bunch of mistakes", but shouldn't we be wondering if it is just Major Briggs that doesn't know all these family details precisely or got some mixed up?

Actually no. Many of the details come from the characters themselves: Cooper, Jacoby, Hawk, Audrey, Truman, even Agent TP.

[Panapaok]

As soon as the book is out everywhere, someone should ask Frost on twitter about the retconing of those things.

[Mr. Reindeer]

The date of Cooper's "Josie" file is 3/15/89 - i.e., around the time of Episode 18. I'm trying to remember the sequence of events, but I don't think Cooper would have been knowledgeable about Josie's criminal past beyond maybe broad inklings at that point - right?

And if he DID have this information prior to Josie's death, wouldn't he be obligated to notify the CIA and INTERPOL? (I know, he was technically on leave, but I can't see our Coop just sitting on this information and letting a "patricidal sociopath" continue to operate.)

Another little nitpick: Frost occasionally loses track of what info the Archivist knows vs. what info TP knows. Briggs says the "Andrew Packard" dossier is by an unknown author, but then says Hawk's journal was found next to "Cooper's work." Minor stuff like this annoys me because if I can catch it on a first read, someone else in the editorial process should have picked up on it.

EDIT: Sorry, I'm posting as I make my way through the book. OK, so Josie died on 3/11. That makes Coop's notes make more sense - but completely goes against the series timeline. Oy.

EDIT 2: And the Mill fire occurred AFTER the bank explosion? Ugh. I guess we can chalk that one up to sloppy research on TP's part. Even within the four corners of the book, the dates are contradictory - Catherine selling the Mill on March 23 is "weeks after" the bank explosion on March 28. Really damn sloppy, to quote Jurgen Prochnow in Dune.

[Ross]

The Josie stuff, like most of it, doesn't really line up. And Cooper (and Truman) knowing about Andrew. And Truman's note stating he was somehow there when Andrew talked to Josie, and Andrew talked to Ekhardt.... what!?

You can't really figure things out by the dates either, as they don't really work.

[BEARisonFord]

So I received the book yesterday, made a gigantic cup of coffee and stayed up until 3am reading it with Badalamenti's soundtrack playing in the background, in true nerd form.

I should say upfront, reading all the negative commentary on continuity issues is a little disheartening. This is a REALLY fun book for a Twin Peaks fan, and for me, to get caught up in those inconsistencies would have really detracted from my enjoyment, so I would encourage anyone who hasn't read it yet to go in with an open mind. While I think some of the errors are literally just made in error, some of the inconsistencies are so blatant that one can only assume that Mark Frost had some direct reasoning for the changes. Whether I agree with his unknown motive is irrelevant at this point since we don't know what those motives are. I'm sure we'll find out more in the coming weeks/months.

As for the actual book, here's some initial thoughts:

I was a little hesitant with all the deep historical elements like Lewis & Clark being introduced into Twin Peaks lore but after several pages was really engrossed. Reading the stuff about the "white indians" arriving before Lewis & Clark, as well as the introduction of the ring was fascinating.

Probably my favorite part of the book was Wayne Chance's journal entry recounting the discovery of Owl Cave. Obviously introducing a character named "Denver Bob" being one of the first people to discover Owl Cave raises a truckload of eyebrows. This is the kind of stuff I love about Twin Peaks, when they increase the mystery and prompt you to ask more questions with no promise of answers. Same goes for Andrew Packard's Strange Camping Trip article and excerpt. Really fun stuff seeing how some of these characters have connected to the mythology in the trees over the years.

I will admit I was a little taken aback that Doug Milford took such a central role in this, and it seems a little at odds with his characterization in the show which is goofy and incidental. Part of me wishes they had chosen another already-deceased character for this vessel, since Doug Milford's role is now of such importance that it seems incredible Cooper didn't interact with him if he was this important. Regardless, Frost tries to neatly tie it all together at the end, and I'm ultimately pretty forgiving because they needed to choose someone, and his story is so engrossing. A minor gripe, overall.

All of the 20th century real world intermingling worked really well for me. As someone who has read a fair bit about the JFK assassination, Nixon, L. Ron Hubbard, and JPL/Jack Parsons, including all of these elements into Twin Peaks mythology was really fun. That being said, I wasn't super wild about Milford, Nixon and Jackie Gleeson seeing an alien in captivity. Juuuuuuust a little too "bad X-Files episode" for me.

One thing I noticed a lot was the amount of space given to Harry's brother, Frank Truman and his history with Twin Peaks. I liked this and am pretty stoked about what it means for S3.

Loved reading about the incidental characters as well like Carl Rodd. I admit I didn't really expect Kiefer Sutherland to return as Sam Stanley in S3, but it was still a little disheartening to read of Sam Stanley's fate. Was not bummed that Hank Jennings died.

Anyway, this is a really fun book. I fully expect some things in S3 to directly contradict what we read in it, just like the book contradicts some stuff in S2 but really, for me the enjoyment of Twin Peaks has never been about the details. I would happily read another volume. Also, as others have said, this thing is gorgeous.

[Mr. Reindeer]

I should say upfront, reading all the negative commentary on continuity issues is a little disheartening. This is a REALLY fun book for a Twin Peaks fan, and for me, to get caught up in those inconsistencies would have really detracted from my enjoyment, so I would encourage anyone who hasn't read it yet to go in with an open mind.

Everyone is different. I'm personally glad I went in aware of some of the more glaring inconsistencies, because if I'd encountered them for the first time while reading, it would been a serious buzzkill. Knowing that they're coming makes it easier for me to accept the book as is, and enjoy the terrific bits (which is most of it!). I'm generally not crazy about spoilers, but I like spoilers that will help me to necessarily lower my expectations.

I will admit I was a little taken aback that Doug Milford took such a central role in this, and it seems a little at odds with his characterization in the show which is goofy and incidental.

I take your point, but I'm amused that Dougie of all people had such a colorful past. Plus, it will give me something to think about next time I rewatch those tedious Lana scenes.

[BEARisonFord]

I should say upfront, reading all the negative commentary on continuity issues is a little disheartening. This is a REALLY fun book for a Twin Peaks fan, and for me, to get caught up in those inconsistencies would have really detracted from my enjoyment, so I would encourage anyone who hasn't read it yet to go in with an open mind.

Everyone is different. I'm personally glad I went in aware of some of the more glaring inconsistencies, because if I'd encountered them for the first time while reading, it would been a serious buzzkill. Knowing that they're coming makes it easier for me to accept the book as is, and enjoy the terrific bits (which is most of it!). I'm generally not crazy about spoilers, but I like spoilers that will help me to necessarily lower my expectations.

I will admit I was a little taken aback that Doug Milford took such a central role in this, and it seems a little at odds with his characterization in the show which is goofy and incidental.

I take your point, but I'm amused that Dougie of all people had such a colorful past. Plus, it will give me something to think about next time I rewatch those tedious Lana scenes.

I agree 100% on both points. I'm all about tempering expectations, my point is more letting those inconsistencies taint the view of the final product. As far as Doug, like I said, I really enjoyed reading about his adventures, so it was an extremely minor gripe. Gripe aside, I do appreciate that Frost chose someone for this vessel that we already knew and Dougie was a logical choice considering he's only in the show for a short amount of time.