Tag: twin peaks

WonderCon 2015: Wayward Pines Panel

by Kari Lane

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A new show coming to TV will be the creepy and mysterious, Wayward Pines, which is based on the international bestselling book series by Blake Crouch. Executive producer, Donald De Line, explained how the show was conceived after he read the book and loved it; he said he could not put it down. De Line felt the material was “better served over a longer period of time” because there is too much for just a movie. The other big force behind this show is M. Night Shyamalan who liked the books even more because he could not guess the twist.

Reed Diamond, who plays Harold Balinger, chimed in that he read the book in one sitting. He also explained that early on you find out what is going on and the complexities just expand instead of a long build up only to deflate. After watching the pilot during the panel, the show is definitely intriguing and it is nice to hear that you get some clarification early on instead of being strung along blindly. Tim Griffin, who plays Adam Hassler, added that the show is “very generous on exposing secrets early on.”

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They started to make the show after the first book came out and you learn the truth of what is going on around episode 5, but episode 10 will be just as exciting. It is great to hear that they plan to keep the audience engaged while still satisfying curiosities. For those who are wondering about how closely the show follows the book, the “overall truth is similar to the book” according to Donald De Line. This is a show where they have already outlined where the final episode would go and planned in advance instead of just writing as they went.

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When you are basing a show or movie on a book there is an easy way to find out what most likely will happen. Reed Diamond joked that he felt like the only actor who read the book. He also commented on hearing interviews with cast members from Game of Thrones who have said they do not know what will happen to their character. Which surprised him because “you can find out!” Diamond also added that what the characters think and say are different and that is fun for an actor – lot of subtext to play with. Tim Griffin mentioned another talented actor on the show, Terrence Howard, did not want to know anything about his character. Griffin said he started out the same but then he got desperate and cornered Shyamalan to find out what happens to his character. All of the directors on the show were helpful to the actors by pointing them in the right direction without being too obvious and ruining the surprise.

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This show was a first, in a way, for its creators because Donald De Line had never produced and M. Night Shyamalan had never done television. Shyamalan wanted to do something that was not like what was already on television. So why now? Donald De Line said it is because the show has a “fantastic story” and with a good show, it is all about the story. Reed Diamond agreed saying it is a “high quality show” and what better way to tell a great story than with A-list talent who want to bring the story to life.

Asked to sum up the story, De Line said it is a “great suspense thriller where nothing is what it seems to be but everything reveals itself…in a scientific way.” It does have the vibe of Twin Peaks meets The X-Files. On that alone, I am sold plus the pilot was pretty awesome so I will check it out for sure!

Wayward Pines premieres on May 14th on FOX.

Twin Peaks: Why Now Is The Time For A Series Revival

by Eric Diaz

This past week, rumors spread like wildfire on the internet that filmmaker David Lynch was planning a revival of his seminal  1990’s television series Twin Peaks for NBC. Strangely, the source for all these rumors ended up being from an anonymous post on 4chan (not the most reliable source, I grant you.) But couple this with recent remarks made by series co-creator Mark Frost about being open to a return to Twin Peaks, and suddenly it seemed like this might really be possible. For a few hours at least, I was elated. My favorite television series of all time, one which ended on a rather spectacular cliffhanger I might add, might finally have some kind of resolution? I was jumping for joy. Well, that elation didn’t last too long. Within hours, after being bombarded with questions by rabid fans, Mark Frost took to his twitter account and had this to say:

Dear Internet: You are very good at spreading rumors. Truth is more valuable and much harder to come by. Sincerely yours,@mfrost11

While not a complete denial, further inquiry revealed that there had been no talks at all with NBC. Basically, someone made the whole thing up. (and whoever you are, this hardcore Peaks fan would like to punch you in the face for getting my hopes up like that. Jerk.) One of the first alarm bells that this story might be bogus was that Lynch was said to be talking with NBC executives about bringing back the show. Now, NBC is maybe the least likely place for Twin Peaks to make a comeback, despite the fact that the series is now showing on Hulu, which is partially owned by NBC. The show originally aired on ABC, and they had all kinds of problems with network interference back then. It is hard to imagine Lynch and Frost going to a broadcast network first in this day and age.

Twin Peaks was ultimately not the forerunner of any big changes in network television as many predicted it would be; in the twenty-odd years since it went off the air, the kind of dense, multi-layered storytelling has become a staple of cable television instead. Everything from The Sopranos to Mad Men, Breaking Bad, The Wire, Boardwalk Empire, Dexter and even genre shows like True Blood and Battlestar Galactica can be called the spiritual children of Twin Peaks. And lets not even talk about The Killing. Meanwhile, as cable television has become more and more interesting and daring, network television has gotten dumber; lots more reality shows and sitcoms, and less serialized and compelling dramas and more “one and done” procedurals about lawyers and doctors. (there are always outliers, like Lost, but they are very few and far between) So if Twin Peaks were to come back to television in some form, it would almost certainly be on a cable network, or possibly as a straight-to- Netflix series like the soon-to-be resurrected Arrested Development, and not on broadcast. And the next couple of years would be the perfect time to make this finally happen, and here is why:

“I’ll See You Again In 25 Years”

The show’s most famous moment is perhaps the dream sequence from episode three, where an older FBI Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) is shown in a room with red drapes, with a backwards-talking dwarf and the spirit of dead homecoming queen Laura Palmer, whose murder he has come to town to investigate. Even if you’ve never seen the show, you probably have come across this sequence, if only being referenced somewhere else like The Simpsons. The episode states that the events of the dream occurred “25 years later.” In the final episode of the series (uh, SPOILERS I guess) Dale Cooper is trapped in the other worldly realm known as the Black Lodge (which looks like the very same red room from the dream) for what he is told will be twenty-five years. While the series ended in 1991, making the twenty-five years later fall on 2016, the actual events of the series take place over the course of just over a month, from February to March 1989…which actually makes 2014 the right time for the whole “twenty-five years later” business to actually take place.

And so, here we are, only a year away from the date that the series set forth. In a recent interview with Sci-Fi Now magazine (via Moviehole) series co-creator Mark Frost seems to at least be optimistic to the possibility of more Peaks, saying  “Who knows what will happen in the future.” Apparently, bringing the show back is “something we talk about from time to time. If we ever do decide to move forward, I know we have a rich trove to draw from.” Series writer/producer Robert Engels has made similar comments in recent years as well; “I get a call once every six months or so from someone asking, ‘What do you think about doing Twin Peaks again?’ but it’s not my call. If David and Mark are in, then yes.” So while the whole NBC rebooting Twin Peaks story might have been bogus, it seems that maybe…maybe…something is finally going on. This isn’t the first time a rumor like this has popped up in the past few years, and as they say, where there is smoke there is usually fire.

The one big monkey wrench in any plan to bring back Twin Peaks has always been series co-creator David Lynch. Despite speaking fondly of the show in almost every interview, he seems to resist the idea of returning just as much. Much of this is said to be because of the way the public and critics reacted to his theatrical prequel film, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me when it came out in 1992. Many fans hated it, critics were mostly harsh, and according to many, Lynch took all of this very personally. He scrapped any and all plans for further films set in that world, despite the fact that series ended with multiple cliffhangers that were meant to propel the series to a third season’s worth of stories. But the truth is, none of Lynch’s films since have made much more money than Fire Walk With Me did. His biggest success was 2001’s Mulholland Drive, which made only $7 million at the box office, only two million more than Fire Walk With Me, and that’s with a host of Oscar nominations to its name. His last film Inland Empire was hard to watch for even the most hardcore Lynch fan, and made less than a million in theaters. So it can’t be that he’s still butthurt over the reaction to the Fire Walk With Me, especially considering that the cult following for the film has only grown with time.

Artwork done by artist Matt Haley for a proposed Twin Peaks graphic novel that David Lynch had nixed.

Nevertheless, David Lynch has put a stop to any and all attempts at any Twin Peaks continuations over the past twenty years. In the early 2000’s, a company called Phoenix Media was seeking to finance a new set of Twin Peaks films called Twin Peaks: With a Thousand Angels, only to have no cooperation from Lynch and Frost, therefore nipping that one in the bud. And when the complete series came out on DVD in 2007, a comic book artist named Matt Haley proposed a graphic novel conclusion to the series, based on story notes for a proposed third season from original series writer Robert Engels. He even got Engels to agree to write the graphic novel himself, which would have been included with the DVD set. Series composer Angelo Badalamenti was even going to make a soundtrack to the graphic novel, and Mark Frost gave his blessing as well. All his ducks were in a row, until David Lynch put a stop to the whole thing. All of this just means David Lynch is either really mean and hates his fans and simply refuses to throw them any kind of a bone….or, he has plans of his own for Twin Peaks. And I’m starting to think it may really be the latter.

 The Stars Are All Aligned For This To Happen Now

On the series, it was explained that the doors to the mystical Black and White Lodges could only be opened when certain planets and stars were aligned. Well, right now it seems all the right stars are aligned for a Twin Peaks revival to happen. And here are just some of the reasons why I think this should happen sooner rather than later.

The Major Players Are All Still Around

Some twenty-three years since the show premiered, most of the major creative players of the series are not only alive and kicking, but still viable and working. David Lynch hasn’t directed a film since 2006’s Inland Empire, but he continues to work making music and painting, with the occasional commercial here and there. Mark Frost has just started a series of young adult novels called The Paladin Prophecies, and more recently wrote the two Fantastic Four movies (but try not to hold that against him.) Angelo Badalamenti, whose iconic score is such a vital ingredient to the show’s sucess is also still scoring movies at the age of seventy-five. And Kyle MacLachlan is still acting, most recently in the show Portlandia. The other stars of the series are almost all also still around too, with a few notable exceptions, and have expressed interest in coming back. It seems everyone is just waiting for that phone call from Mr.Lynch.

Given the enduring global popularity of Twin Peaks, especially in Japan and Europe, a revival stands to make more money for David Lynch than another perfume commercial. So stop being a grumpy old man David, and give the fans what they want. If you do, I’ll even pay money to see Inland Empire 2, and promise not to kill myself during the movie.

The Real Town Itself Hasn’t Changed Much

In the series, the town of Twin Peaks was seemingly frozen in time. While the show was set in 1989, the way the town appeared (and the way some characters dressed) was straight out of 1950’s Norman Rockwell America, as if time had left the town of Twin Peaks far behind. Ironically, some twenty-four years since the pilot for the series was shot, the town of Snoqualmie Falls in Washington state (where all the exteriors were shot) looks almost exactly the same, as if time really has been frozen all these years, at least for all the major locations used for the series. It’s almost like the town is begging for Lynch and Frost to come back and shoot some more, and left all the major sets still standing just in case. Many before and after pics of the series’ main locations can be found over in the great website InTwinPeaks.com, so one can see for themselves.

(ABOVE) The Double R Diner, in reality Twede’s Cafe, as it appeared in the pilot episode of Twin Peaks (BELOW) The same diner today. Not much has changed.

 Twin Peaks’ Reputation Has Only Grown  With Time

In the years since Twin Peaks went off the air, its reputation as one of the most influential shows has only grown. The series’ availability on DVD and on Netflix has made it so the show could be discovered by a whole new generation of fans, many of whom would be eager to see more. At the show’s 20th Anniversary art exhibit a couple of years back, I was shocked at how many younger fans the show had, many who could not have been around when the show first aired. In fact, one fan named Joe Powers, who re-discovered the show on Netflix Instant Watch, has started a campaign to Bring Back Twin Peaks, and has received a fair amount of publicity doing so, especially in recent days.

If David Lynch and Mark Frost wait too much longer, the essential ingredients for a return to the world of Twin Peaks won’t be around anymore. Now is the time to reward loyal fans and pay off long standing plot threads, and remind everyone out there just who is responsible for the modern cable television landscape. The reaction online to news that there would be more Peaks caused a minor uproar…. now imagine if all that excitement were for something that was actually happening. So Misters Lynch and Frost…it us now up to you to make it happen.

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me – 20 Years of David Lynch’s Nightmare Vision

by Eric Diaz

This week marks the 20th anniversary of the North American release of David Lynch’s Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, the prequel to his revolutionary television series Twin Peaks. Two years ago, on the 20th anniversary of the premiere of the television series, there were dozens of articles online about the significant cultural impact the series had, not only in popular culture at the time, but also in television in general over the subsequent next two decades. Needless to say, there probably won’t be that many articles besides this one talking about Fire Walk With Me. When the movie came out twenty years ago, it opened at number eight at the box office, and only playing in 691 screens. It never went up from there, making only $4 million in it’s theatrical run. And for the most part, critics hated the film when it was released. Only the LA Weekly seemed to get what Fire Walk With Me was really about, and I remember the writer of that review even said that the collective whole of the Twin Peaks television series combined with the movie represented the work of David Lynch’s life. Two decades later, I still agree with that sentiment.

I don’t think that Fire Walk With Me as a film is Lynch’s best work, or even his second or third best film. It relies too much on knowledge of the television series to work on its own as a film really (although I do know people who came into Peaks fandom through the film first, which always seems weird to me) David Lynch’s two finest movies are almost always cited as Blue Velvet or Mulholland Drive, and I firmly believe that either one of those fits the bill.  Fire Walk With Me doesn’t even stand on its own enough to really even be superior to Lynch’s 1990 road picture Wild at Heart. But while Wild at Heart is ultimately more solid as a film, but it also has less going on subtextually than Fire Walk With Me, and it doesn’t get under your skin the way Fire Walk With Me me does either. In that sense, Fire Walk is one of Lynch’s most memorable movies.

Thank you David Lynch, for making me terrified of noisy ceiling fans for the rest of my life

Before I go any further, I must put massive SPOILER warnings here; If you are one of those people who is still discovering Twin Peaks on Netflix streaming or via the DVD box set (and I know there are a lot of you out there based on the tons of new people joining Twin Peaks fandom every year, many who could not even have born when the series debuted) then please DO NOT READ THIS ARTICLE. As Fire Walk With Me is a prequel to the television series, there is no way to talk about it without giving away the show’s biggest secret. The television series is completely built around the question “Who killed Laura Palmer?”  However, the movie assumes that the audience already knows that answer, in all its gory detail. So if you have not seen Twin Peaks, please…go watch it, or at least the first seventeen episodes or so, then watch the movie, and then come back and read this piece. It’s all good, it’ll still be here, barring a zombie apocalypse or whatever.

The Spectacular Rise and Fall of Twin Peaks, and the Birth of Fire Walk With Me

When David Lynch and Mark Frost’s Twin Peaks  premiered on ABC in April of 1990, it was an instant phenomenon, greeted with an outpouring of love from critics who hailed it as the show that would save television. But it wasn’t just the critics who loved the show, audiences watched the premiere episode in record numbers, and the pilot was among the highest rated pilot episodes to any series of the 90’s. The series was built up mostly around the question “who killed Laura Palmer?”, a beautiful 17 year old town beauty, who washes on shore one morning, wrapped in plastic. During that first season, the question of who killed Laura was on everyone’s lips, and Twin Peaks was on the cover of every magazine under the sun in the Spring of 1990. When the first season ended with no answer to the question of who killed Laura, mainstream audiences were furious. Think people were mad about the end of season one of The Killing last year? That ain’t got nuthin’ on how mad America was when Peaks failed to resolve their central mystery at the end of their first year.

The combined success of Twin Peaks and Wild at Heart in 1990 got Lynch so much attention that he made it to the cover of Time Magazine that year. It was the closest to mainstream success he would ever have in his career. Soon after that, it was back to being an outcast.

When Twin Peaks aired its final episode in June of 1991, the series ended with multiple cliffhangers, hoping that would force the network to order a third season. They had used a similar tactic at the end of season one of the series a year prior, and it worked. It didn’t work this time. Almost as soon as the final episode aired, the news was announced that David Lynch would reward loyal Peakers with a big screen follow up. But instead of bothering to answer any of those series cliffhangers, David Lynch decided his big screen Twin Peaks movie would go back to the storyline that was at the heart of the show’s original success, and make the film a prequel to the series. The movie would focus on the last seven days of Laura Palmer’s life, ending where the series began, with her muder.

Birthing Pains

Pre production on Fire Walk did not go smoothly. Series co creator Mark Frost felt strongly that loyal viewers were owed a resolution to the series’ many cliffhangers, and didn’t agree with the prequel route. He gets a producer credit on Fire Walk, but in reality had nothing to do with the movie. Fire Walk With Me is pure David Lynch, from start to finish. Then there were the cast problems; Both series stars Lara Flynn Boyle and Sherilyn Fenn refused to return as well. Lara Flynn Boyle’s character of Donna Hayward, Laura Palmer’s best friend, was recast with Moira Kelly from The Cutting Edge. Sherilyn Fenn’s character of Audrey Horne was easier to write out of the film, as the television series established that Laura Palmer and Audrey were not close friends. However, Fenn’s character of Audrey was so iconic and was such a big part of the appeal of the show that her absence was keenly felt. I can’t tell you how many hard core Peaks fans I’ve met who have told me flat out they simply don’t like the movie “because Audrey isn’t in it.” I’ve yet to hear one person tell me they dislike the movie based on any other single cast omission.

The final straw for Lynch was when series star Kyle MacLachlan refused to return as FBI Agent Dale Cooper. This decision forced Lynch to recast the part of the lead FBI agent with musician turned actor Chris Isaak. Lynch had given Isaak his big break when he included the song Wicked Game on the soundtrack to his movie Wild At Heart. Wicked Game eventually became a huge hit, and as a thank you to Lynch, Isaak agreed to play the part. But all of these cast desertions were said to feel like a slap in the face to Lynch, who who helped get all those actors started in their careers. Eventually, due to his friendship with Lynch, MacLachlan agreed to return to play Dale Cooper, and did one week’s worth of shooting for the movie (instead of firing Chris Isaak though, Lynch simply had multiple FBI agents in this story) Lynch had discovered MachLachlan when casting Dune, and even though that movie bombed, he gave him the lead in Blue Velvet and eventually, Twin Peaks. Lynch pulled the “you owe your entire career to me” card, and Machlachlan caved. Rumor has it though, that their friendship never really recovered, and once can only point to the fact that MacLachlan never was asked again by Lynch to participate in any project again after Fire Walk With Me as proof.

Director David Lynch, along with Sheryl Lee (Laura Palmer) and Moira Kelly (Donna Haywayrd) on the set of Fire Walk With Me in the Fall of 1991.

For every cast member from the show that didn’t come back though, they were replaced by a well known name. Veteran character actor Harry Dean Stanton has a small part, as does Kiefer Sutherland as an obsessive compulsive FBI agent. And blink and you might miss him, but even David Bowie shows up as a dimension hopping FBI agent in one of the movie’s trippiest sequences. Despite all these obstacles, production finally got underway in the Fall of 1991 in Washington state, where the original pilot had been shot. Perhaps most importantly, also returning was composer Angelo Badalamenti, whose iconic score for the series had proved so popular.

The Horror Film No One Expected

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me debuted at the Cannes Film Festival in the Spring of 1992, a mere two years after Lynch had won the Palme d’or there for Wild at Heart.  There have been anecdotes for years that the screening was greeted with boos from the audience, but that has been refuted by movie screewriter Robert Engels and well as others in attendance.  If anything, it seems the audience was baffled; the movie only really makes sense if you’ve seen the series, and yet many fans of the series hated the movie, too, for its lack of quirky humor that was a hallmark of the show, and the film’s unrelenting dark tone. Fire Walk With Me is David Lynch’s first straight up horror film, and it seems no one was expecting that.

The Italian release poster for Fire Walk With Me certainly emphasized the movie’s horror angle more than any other poster.

While the movie was never advertised as such, Fire Walk With Me is a flat out horror movie. It follows almost all the classic horror tropes; a beautiful young woman stalked and victimized by a horrible monster, only to be killed by the same monster in the climax of the movie. Peppered in between are tense moments of genuine terror, especially one particular moment when Laura Palmer silently tip toes through her house, only to open her door and slowly find the demon BOB in her room. And yes, BOB is in all caps. Don’t ask me why, that is just how it is spelled.

Due to the production running behind schedule,the climactic scene of Laura’s murder was pushed to Halloween night. By sheer coincidence, Halloween was the birthday of both Frank Silva (Killer BOB) and the Little Man from Another Place, Mike Anderson. Eerie.

The opening shot of Fire Walk With Me is that of a television set getting smashed in with a lead pipe. Not very subtle, but it hammered the point home that this was not television Twin Peaks anymore; the gloves were officially off. The movie would show the audience things that could only be hinted at in the show. While the Twin Peaks television series certainly had elements of supernatural horror bubbling beneath its surface, the series also had lots of comedic moments, as well as standard prime time soap opera elements to entice the casual viewer as well. For all it’s weirdness and surrealism, chances are your mom could still follow the series if she wanted to.  Fire Walk has almost none of that whimsy or standard television tropes at work, and the horror elelments only hinted at in the series are in full display in the theatrical film.

The real reason that Fire Walk is such a harrowing experience though, more than almost any other modern horror movie, is that at its core, it is the story or how a young girl copes with her ongoing sexual abuse at the hands of her own father, a sexual abuse she isn’t even aware is  even coming from her own father till it is way too late. In the film, Laura Palmer describes a feral man named BOB who has been “having her” since she was 12 years old. BOB, who looks like a rejected member of the Manson family crossed with some crazy meth head biker, creeps into her window at night and molests her for years, leading Laura to a series of self destructive relationships, drug abuse, and prostitution. When Laura Palmer finally discovers the true identity of BOB, there is no turning back, leading to her untimely and brutal demise. Unlike so many standard horror films though, Fire Walk follows Laura after her death, as she is greeted by angels in the afterlife. In a sense, death was Laura’s happy ending, as she is now free from the cycle of abuse for good. Not the way your average Nightmare on Elm Street sequel ended, that’s for sure.

In between the first two seasons of the series, David Lynch’s daughter Jennifer wrote The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer, chronicling Laura’s life from age 12 till her death, and all the abuse at the hands of BOB that happened during that time.Much of this book informed the details of Fire Walk With Me.

The film and the series clearly come down on the side that BOB is an actual supernatural entity that possesses Leland Palmer and forces him to do unspeakable things to his only child. But the movie also hints strongly that Leland is at least partially knowledgable of what BOB does, and is complicit to a certain degree, making Leland just as much of a monster. Incest and child abuse are subjects that American entertainment almost totally stay away from, despite the fact that there are thousands of survivors of such abuse all over the country. It is a real life horror that goes on in places you would never expect it to, and Twin Peaks, both the series but especially in the film, shine a light on this horror and force you to look. And clearly, judging from audience and critical reactions twenty years ago, people were not happy about being forced to look.

The Movie We Didn’t See

Despite noticeable absences from Sherilyn Fenn, Richard Beymer, Lara Flynn Boyle and Piper Laurie, almost the entire rest of the cast from the series returned to shoot scenes for the movie. Something like a dozen other members of the main television cast shot scenes, in what would end up being their last moments as Twin Peaks characters ever. But due to time (at one point the movie was running nearly four hours) almost all of those scenes had to go. Ever since then, those scenes have been like the Holy Grail for Twin Peaks fans. Back in the Laserdisc days, petitions were made to include those scenes on a potential special edition disc, only to have that never materialize. Then, around 2001, New Line Cinema decided it would release Fire Walk With Me on DVD, with seventeen of the deleted scenes included. But while New Line wanted to include them as raw footage, Lynch wanted to master the visuals and audio for each scene and present them as separate Twin Peaks vignettes on the DVD. New Line balked at the price it would cost to master those scenes, so they went back in the vault, where they have remained for twenty years now.

With Blu ray the last bastion of physical media for movies, the hope is that maybe a Blu-ray release of Fire Walk With Me will finally include those long wanted scenes. New Line Cinema effectively no longer exists, and the hope is that Warner Brothers will license out the movie to CBS HomeVideo as part of a complete Twin Peaks Blu-ray set. It would be a great incentive to get fans to double dip on the Twin Peaks complete set if the scenes fans have waitied twenty years to see are included.

The Legacy of Fire Walk With Me

While Fire Walk With Me was more or less reviled when it was released, the attitude towards the movie has changed considerably over the past twenty years. For the most part, the movie is now seen as essential part of the the overall Twin Peaks viewing experience. Contemporary bands like Mike Patton’s Fantomas did a cover version of the theme song from the film, and You Say Party’s video for their song Laura Palmer’s Prom was inspired not only by the show, but clearly the movie as well. (Not to mention shot on many of the original locations) And just this year, Fangoria magazine ran a cover story on the movie’s 20th Anniversary, which they now regard as a horror classic. Fans online are still coming up with new theories regarding many of the movie’s key mysteries, some which even long time original fans like me never even pondered before.

Most recently, this year Corpo Gallery in Santa Monica held a Fire Walk With Me themed art show, with dozens of artists contributing pieces inspired by the movie. When I attended this show, it was a packed house, and several members of the cast of the series showed up, proving how time has altered the perception of this movie. Sure, Fire Walk might have been beaten at the box office that long ago opening weekend by the Nicolas Cage/Sarah Jessica Parker rom/com  Honeymoon in Vegas, but you don’t see many gallery shows dedicated to that one these days, do you? David Lynch’s vision of the horror behind the facade of small town America continues to live on now in ways that few movies will ever get to achieve. Once it gets into your brain, it stays there, the mark of a something that will truly stand the test of time.

All photographs of the Corpo Gallery show are by Alicia Friedman.

Geekscape Roundtable: Fictional Characters We’d Bang… PART ONE!

by GeekscapeStaff

Yeah, that’s right. Part 1. This is such an in depth topic that it’s getting a sequel.

Everyone has a fictional character they’d bang, whether it’s someone from a movie, a comic, or a car insurance company. So the Geekscape staff put together their top 5 lists, High Fidelity style. We even got The Devastator’s Geoffrey Golden in on the action!

Molly ‘Mayhem’ Mahan

Rambo: I actually poised a similar question to my mother the other day (we have that kind of relationship), only it was “Rocky or Rambo?” She went with Rocky and I couldn’t disagree more. While I do love the Italian Stallion, few things get me going more than a man who knows how to wield a bow (It’s the Dinah Lance in me). I remember watching the fourth one (yes, with Old Man Stallone) and the minute he whipped out the compound bow and started laying waste to the enemy, I melted. Additionally, he’s a soldier who disdains the government and authority, but still accepts (or at least performs) his mission, meaning he knows how to follow orders even if he thinks it’s a little weird and will go out of his way to perform. Hardly sounds expendable in the bedroom to me, amiright? And don’t tell me that guy isn’t in some serious need of sexual healing. Bow chicka bow wow.

Ares, God of War: As played by the late-great Kevin Tod Smith on Hercules and Xena: Warrior Princess (did you seriously think you’d get away with me not talking about Xena?). Though a complete and utter asshole on Herc, when the God of War showed up on Xena he was still a bastard, but a lovable one at that. I watched this show during my formative years, so the heat and passion between the two was always something I wanted for
myself, and at times seemed like the ideal. And he could be as sweet as a teddy bear at times, too, so he wasn’t all bad. I watched the show religiously during my formative years, so Ares became without a doubt the embodiment of what I found (and still find) sexy.

Tyrion Lannister: All the other fangirls can have their Jon Snows and Jaime Lannisters, I’ll go with the half-man who has proven time and time again that he knows what to do with a woman. Bonus: he doesn’t feel bad about it nor have incestuous leanings. That clever
tongue of his ain’t half bad either.

Jason Todd: Pre-boot, post-resurrection, and in the Hush black leather costume, please. The man’s got daddy issues, has died and come back, and is hell bent for vengeance. Don’t even try to tell me the sex wouldn’t be crazy awesome. Also, I think that random which patch of hair he had in that costume was cool, I don’t care how little sense it made, it was a neat aesthetic. Plus, banging one of the Robins (especially the one that has been the source of such angst in Bat-lore) just feels so awesomely perverse, I can’t help it.

Saotome Ranma from Ranma 1/2: Although a dude, he can change into a girl when hit with cold water. That must be experienced. Preferably by me.

Looking back on this collection, I realize that I may have some anger issues.

Dave Biscella

Dagger: I’m one of the few that LOVE Cloak & Dagger, so I figure that will give me an in. Plus I could use the line, ‘My addiction to you is one addiction you can’t cure.’

Ariel: She’s clearly pretty confident based on the way she dresses. She’s got beautiful red hair and a nice singing voice. Also, always wet.

Harley Quinn: It’d be like hooking up with a hot Juggalette without having to listen to ICP blare in the background.

Tinkerbell: Petite. Blonde. Looks good in green. Can fly. Can’t talk. Perfect mate.

Ryan Gosling in Drive: He won’t let anybody hurt me.

Ben Dunn

Mystique: The only correct answer to the “Which Fictional Character Would You Bang” question is Mystique. I include all incarnations of this blue skinned she-devil. Movies, comics, video games. The reason being that she can fulfill any sexual fantasy you have. Want to bang Kate Upton? Scarlett Johannson? Ros from Game of Thrones? She can be all of those! You would never have to look elsewhere again.

Echo (Dollhouse): Same reason as Mystique, only she gets to keep Eliza’s amazing body.

Jess (New Girl): Not only is she hot like Zooey Deschanel, but she’s super adorkable! Plus, it seems like she is up for whatever. Definitely couldn’t take her after a few days, so this would probably have to be a one nighter.

Alishia Bailey (Misfits): Her super power seems a bit redundant really, a super hot chick who’s power is to make you want to have sex with her? It’s like a delicious cake having the power to make you want to eat it. Stupid. That being said, I don’t care if I don’t remember it afterward, would still bang.

Thorn (Bone): She has curves in all the right places. Plus she hangs out with a bunch of white Smurf rip-offs, so I would probably be HUGE by comparison!

Editor’s Note: Matt Kelley has called shenanigans on Ben, citing the ‘wishing for infinite wishes’ rule for naming Mystique. This brings up a lot of ethical issues: what do you think, readers?

Eric Diaz

Will Hunting: The titular character of Gus Van Sant’s movie Good Will Hunting, and probably actor Matt Damon’s breakout role. Will Hunting is a rough around the edges, smart ass blue collar type, who is secretly hiding a genius level brain and a sensitive soul. Combined with Damon’s then baby face, floppy blonde hair and lips that look like they were put on this Earth to do one thing, it is all pretty much my own personal form of kryptonite.

Audrey Horne: For twenty years now, Sherilyn Fenn’s portrayal of Twin Peak’s black haired sex kitten in saddle shoes and pleated skirts Audrey Horne has been my go to answer for “if you had to go hetero for one night, who would it be?” My answer will always remain Audrey. Either sultrily smoking cigarettes in high school bathrooms, rolling her eyes at those around her and their small town ways, or causing trouble by going undercover in Canadian brothels, Audrey was always the very definition of sex bomb to
me. It is also possible I really just want to BE Audrey more than bang Audrey…. And that’s not a crime.

The Vampire Lestat: Possibly my favorite fictional character period, Anne Rice’s vampire protagonist is tall, blonde, and kind of a prick (all weaknesses of mine with men) but ultimately a noble soul when it counts. Ya know, except for the whole killing people thing. Instead of brooding about his vampiric condition, he mostly enjoys it and loves all the sensual new pleasures it brings him. Lestat is the prototype for vampires like Spike on Buffy and Eric Northman on True Blood. Although portrayed on screen twice-first by Tom Cruise in an admirable attempt, and later by Stuart Townsend in a movie I’d burn every reel of if I could, neither could come close to evoking the novel’s version of Lestat’s
ambiguous omni-sexual nature. It remains the novel version alone that really gets my juices flowing.

Aquaman: I’m talking classic Aquaman, with the orange shirt, clean shaven face, with the short hair and the big trident (the hippie look Aquaman was a big turn off. I hate long hair on guys most of the time). Why Aquaman? Why not? He’s muscular, super strong and rules 75% of the Earth. Also, he’s tall and blonde, and that’s been my type since I first saw Sam J. Jones in Flash Gordon as a young kid, and got excited for the first time down there. I should mention that runner up in the comic book category has gotta be Dick Grayson/Nightwing. I mean, he’s an acrobat. Do the math.

Chris Evans as Captain America: I’ve never been all that crazy about Cap in the comics, at least not enough to get turned on by him, by Chris Evans’ portrayal of the aw-shucks do gooder with a heart of gold trapped in a little guy’s scrawny body, who then gets turned into sex on a stick gets me going every damn time. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve paused that Blu ray in the scene where he emerges from the super soldier transformation all shirtless and sweaty and hot and…yeah, I’d better stop now. I will
admit, this entry is 50% “omg I really want have sex with Chris Evans” so I don’t know how much of that is him being Cap or not, but I figure I’d get less flack if I posted Chris Evans as Cap and not Chris Evans as Johnny Storm. Who I would also happily have sex with.

Shane O’Hare and Joshua Jackson

Rarity.
Rarity.
Rarity.
Rarity.
Sweetie Belle.

Special Guest Geoffrey Golden: A Girlfriend Approved Sex List

Let me preface this by saying that Amanda, my girlfriend and co-founder of our comedy magazine The Devastator, is not looking over my shoulder as I write this.

The only fictional characters I want to have sex with are ones that won’t make my beautiful, amazing girlfriend jealous. For example, Rosie the Robot from The Jetsons, a robot and not even a particularly attractive one at that (like, say, Lisa from Weird Science, who I definitely never fantasized about every day of 8th grade). Another robot I’d have sex with is Dot Matrix from Spaceballs, voiced by Joan Rivers, a trailblazing comedienne whose work I greatly respect.

Other characters I’d have sex with: Princess Fiona from Shrek, but only in ogre form, because I value inner beauty over outer beauty; the Librarian Ghost from Ghostbusters, assuming the physical contact we could make would be largely unpleasant; finally, Gaia from Captain Planet, who – according to Amanda – would be like having sex with a faint breeze. You know what, I’ll take it! On a related subject, do they make Captain Planet cockrings?

Some women do not want to read the phrase “Captain Planet cockrings” on a computer monitor.

Our culturally significant world changing discussion on cartoons we’d eff continues next week! BE THERE!