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It all cannot be saud aloud now

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(@waldolydeckerjr)
Posts: 31
Eminent Member
Topic starter
 

 Now that the series has ended I rewatched episode 1. In the first scene the fireman says "It all cannot be said aloud now."

Is it any clearer now what this means? What is the "it"? Why "cannot"? Is it impossible or is it prohibited? Why "now". Could it be said aloud in the past but no longer? Or does it mean it can't be said aloud yet but it can be said aloud later.

 

And what about "Listen to the sounds"? I have seen some people describe the sounds as a record skipping or as the sound of the frog-moth from episode 8, but it doesn't sound like either of those to me. I slowed down the sounds and they remind me of something but I can't quite place it.

 
Posted : 07/09/2017 7:50 pm
(@jackswift)
Posts: 51
Trusted Member
 

At the end of the episode the record player ( I believe) has the same sound coming out of it as the car when Cooper is driving the long drive back to TP.

 
Posted : 07/09/2017 9:03 pm
(@frogmoth)
Posts: 16
Active Member
 

the sound on the record player already exists in the twin peaks world

Watch the pilot episode of the original series

Audrey is sitting in the great northern, in the scene before she goes to tell the Norwegians about her friend dying. She is twisting a pencil into a styrofoam cup of coffee. that exact sound is what is coming out of the record player. Oddly enough in this same scene she says Okay Bob, Okay Bob. 

 
Posted : 08/09/2017 12:40 am
(@waldolydeckerjr)
Posts: 31
Eminent Member
Topic starter
 
Posted by: Frog Moth

the sound on the record player already exists in the twin peaks world

Audrey is sitting in the great northern, in the scene before she goes to tell the Norwegians about her friend dying. She is twisting a pencil into a styrofoam cup of coffee. that exact sound is what is coming out of the record player. 

It definitely sounds very similar, but I don't think it is the same sound.  The record player sound turns up in episodes 17 and 18 when Cooper is leading Laura by the hand and she disappears.

 
Posted : 08/09/2017 4:56 pm
(@b-randy)
Posts: 2608
Member
 

I almost wonder if this command, "Listen to the sounds" wasn't something that Lynch was trying to tell the audience since sounds was such an important part of the show and Lynch even emphasized how  the showed should be listened to.

 
Posted : 31/05/2018 9:19 pm
(@nostar)
Posts: 127
Estimable Member
 
Posted by: WaldoLydeckerJr

 Now that the series has ended I rewatched episode 1. In the first scene the fireman says "It all cannot be said aloud now."

Is it any clearer now what this means? What is the "it"? Why "cannot"? Is it impossible or is it prohibited? Why "now". Could it be said aloud in the past but no longer? Or does it mean it can't be said aloud yet but it can be said aloud later.

 

And what about "Listen to the sounds"? I have seen some people describe the sounds as a record skipping or as the sound of the frog-moth from episode 8, but it doesn't sound like either of those to me. I slowed down the sounds and they remind me of something but I can't quite place it.

I don't know how "clear" it is, but one explanation for "it cannot all be said aloud now" is:

"It" probably refers to the plan(s) to confront Judy - Briggs', Jeffries', Cooper's and Cole's plan and/or the Fireman's plan (if it's a different plan).

It can't be said aloud or in any detail because Judy/Black Lodge is always listening. Throughout the season references have been made about the danger of discussing things over the phone etc.

On a related note, Cole's Jowday/Judy exposition dump at the start of Part 17 seemed clumsy and an example of poor writing to many (including me). But someone on Reddit (sorry, I can't find the post to link) made the interesting observation that Cole has an almost ridiculous number of listening device clustered around him when he speaks (3 or 4 phones, a computer or 2). This poster's idea was that Cole wanted Judy to hear about the plan to confront her, maybe to draw her out, make the first move, lead her astray etc.

 
Posted : 02/06/2018 4:33 pm
(@nostar)
Posts: 127
Estimable Member
 
Posted by: Brandy Fisher

I almost wonder if this command, "Listen to the sounds" wasn't something that Lynch was trying to tell the audience since sounds was such an important part of the show and Lynch even emphasized how  the showed should be listened to.

I think you're right.

I don't know how many of you have done this, but listening with headphones (or I assume a great sound system) really adds to the overall experience. For one example out of hundreds, the sounds Jeffries' machine makes are wonderfully strange and eerie.

 
Posted : 02/06/2018 4:40 pm
(@nostar)
Posts: 127
Estimable Member
 
Posted by: WaldoLydeckerJr
Posted by: Frog Moth

the sound on the record player already exists in the twin peaks world

Audrey is sitting in the great northern, in the scene before she goes to tell the Norwegians about her friend dying. She is twisting a pencil into a styrofoam cup of coffee. that exact sound is what is coming out of the record player. 

It definitely sounds very similar, but I don't think it is the same sound.  The record player sound turns up in episodes 17 and 18 when Cooper is leading Laura by the hand and she disappears.

My ears were probably playing tricks on me, because I don't think anyone else has mentioned this, but it seemed to me that gramophone sound turned up a lot. In Part 2 for instance, the sound when Cooper tried to open the curtains but they were "locked" seemed to be the same sound except for being a little lower pitched.  That lower pitched version happened a few more times but I can't remember the exact circumstances offhand. Did anybody else hear it like that?

 
Posted : 02/06/2018 4:47 pm
(@julie_loader)
Posts: 551
Honorable Member
 

I don't think yhe gramophone sound has been repeated except for in ep 17.

I believe it is the sound of timeline change.

I believe that the fireman warns him of this sound because it means things change with the time change. 

Also agree that Lynch was telling us to listen.

 
Posted : 02/06/2018 6:35 pm
(@elihathaway)
Posts: 5
Active Member
 

I really think it is a rotary phone dialing, with some type of effect over it. 

 

These phones are also used all throughout the show. 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzFiqPUHTkM

 
Posted : 06/06/2018 12:31 pm
(@functional_dougie)
Posts: 55
Trusted Member
 
Posted by: elihathaway

I really think it is a rotary phone dialing, with some type of effect over it. 

These phones are also used all throughout the show. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzFiqPUHTkM

I find this explanation quite convincing.  I noticed while recently watching Season 3 that multiple characters (Log Lady, Gordon, Assassin Secretary) have two landline phones right next to one another, one of them being cordless.  Is the other model rotary?  The backwards dialing rotary phone in Mulholland Drive could be a precedent of sorts, a sign of paranormal communication in the literal sense of the term.

On a less technical level, I think the gramophone sound in E1 shows just how far removed Dale is from the "music of the spheres" coming out of the same gramophone in E8.  (Like the Fire Man says: "You are far away now.") He's in deep trouble - much more so than he realizes.

As for "It all cannot be said aloud now" ... when is that not true? 

Seriously, though, I think this phrase is kind of like the cousin of "Better to listen than to talk" from Season 2.  I doubt that the Fireman perceives time and space the way human beings do.  He's compacting his phrases in a way that makes them as helpful as possible, providing clues that will unfurl as linear time progresses.

The phrase that gets me is "It is in our house now."  This could refer to the gramophone sound (as in, "finally, the White Lodge input has reached this cul de sac!") . The possibility that really scares me is that the Black Lodge has infected the gold pearl factory somehow.

Some slightly off-topic additions:

1) Re: importance of sound design ... listen really closely (with headphones, if possible) to the dime flipped by the Bomber Jacket Drug Dealer... then keep watching and see if you hear the same sound somewhere else.

2) What are people's thoughts on whether the Grey Room from E1 and Andy's "abduction" is part of the Gold Pearl Factory, rather than a separate-but-related realm of its own?

 
Posted : 10/07/2018 6:54 am
(@octaviolemos)
Posts: 215
Estimable Member
 

Two noticeable events related with (rotary) phones:

- Mr C was "extracted" from the Dutchman when he answered a call on a rotary phone. 

- I keep thinking what would've happened if Cooper/Richard had answered to that phonecall (not a rotary but most likely a landline phone) while he was at Carrie's. Could he and Carrie have been pulled from the Odessa timeline/universe. Did he "forgot" to listen to the sound?

 
Posted : 10/07/2018 3:16 pm
(@functional_dougie)
Posts: 55
Trusted Member
 

So it turns out the title of the song Leland begins to play just before saying "We have to dance for Laura" is a telephone number!  "Pennsylvania 6 5000" by the Glen Miller Orchestra (Sarah reminds Leland to get Glen Miller tickets sometime in Season 2 ... I think when Maddy's in the golf club bag?)

From Wikipedia: "PEnnsylvania 6-5000 is a telephone number in New York City, written in the 2L+5N (two letters, five numbers) format that was common in the largest US cities from approximately 1930 into the 1960s... The two letters, PE, stand for the numbers 7 and 3, making the phone number 736-5000, not including the later area code 212 for Manhattan... Its owner, the Hotel Pennsylvania, claims it to be the oldest continuing telephone number in New York City..The number also inspired the pun title Transylvania 6-5000, used separately as titles for a 1963 Bugs Bunny cartoona 1985 full-length live-action film, and a sketch by Wayne and Shuster."

So we've got a lot going on here! 

The rotary phone & record player connection is confirmed. 

The song title itself utilizes at least two different coding/transmission techniques, combined: expansion for the sake of transmitting a significant sub-unit (Pennsylvania = PE) and substitution of letters for numbers (PE = 73). 

Implicitly assumed context is not communicated (212 area code).

Since this same episode includes the line "All work and no play makes Ben and Jerry Dull Boys," we can assume the presence of the hotel is significant. 

Believe it or not, the Bugs Bunny parody not only has plot elements that link up with both  Twin Peaks and The Shining, it also employs substitution/permutation of codes to magical effect.  And it also has seemingly nonsensical use of everyday items for magical effect, just like the rock-and-jug procedure used earlier in this episode:

"Although Bugs is only looking for a telephone to call his travel agency, the Count leads him to a guest room beckoning him to rest... The Count sneaks up behind him and is just about to strike when Bugs says "abracadabra", turning the Count into a bat... Fed up with the situation, the Count confronts Bugs and reveals his true identity as a vampire, resulting in a duel of "magic phrases"... By mixing the magic words to "abraca-pocus" and "hocus-cadabra", Bugs causes the Count to become a mixture of human and bat body parts. Afterward he uses "Newport News" and turns him into Witch Hazel. Unimpressed ("Wow, I can do better than that"), he uses the incantation "Walla Walla, Washington", and the Count is turned into a two-headed male vulture."

I know I'm already straining credulity here, but I think it's not insignificant that Laura's photo frame breaks and cuts Leland's left hand, leading Sarah to freak out and scream, "What's going on in this house?"

What we're witnessing is a crossing of multiple invisible wires, resulting in an excess of "electricity": Leland is trying to re-establish contact with his dead daughter, his dead daughter is trying to finger him as the killer, and the song title is talking to us about ... lots of things.

One can object that there's no way Frost & Lynch could be compacting this much meaning into a seemingly insignificant detail, but 1) yes they could be 2) it doesn't have to be Frost & Lynch that's doing it.

Consider this: when Cooper calls out "Leo Johnson," and smashes the bottle, it's not a trick shot.  There's a great interview with Kimmy Robertson (Lucy) where she says that this was done in one take, that Lynch was confident the bottle would break, and that when it did, "it felt like the universe was making that shot."  (Can't find this interview - please post if you know where it is.)

My main point is that I think the themes of coding, transmission, and "bleed-through" of messages are central to Twin Peaks.  My secondary point is that - in Twin Peaks, at least, and perhaps elsewhere - there are too many methods of coding and transmission to count.

Anyways, great detective work on the rotary phone business, elihathaway.

 
Posted : 15/07/2018 12:59 am
(@dobbshead)
Posts: 338
Reputable Member
 

The rock throwing done in one take is true, but isn't maybe as glorified as all that.  I do like how Lynch is a master of expectations - he giveth and he taketh away. 

A personal favorite moment is when Cooper throws rocks at bottles in order to narrow down suspects in the Laura Palmer case...

Yeah, me too. (Laughs.) It was such a great day. We were outside, drinking coffee, having fun, and I was just there throwing rocks at bottles. There are few things as satisfying as throwing rocks at a bottle, with the expectation being that if it hits, it's going to explode. It was really perfect, actually. David had no problem just rolling. We were burning film in those days. We were burning through thousand-foot mags, as I kept throwing rocks. He was shooting from behind me so he could see the whole thing. I missed a ton. And I said, "David, are you sure you don't want to cut?" And he goes, "Nope, we'll keep rolling." I threw a bunch, and I finally nicked a bottle or something. It took a while. There were a few very close ones. But what he was capturing, and I didn't realize this, is that everyone was watching me, and each time I threw a rock there would be a [collective gasp from the crew]. You think it's going to happen! You never really get tired of watching, because you think, "This could be the rock that breaks the bottle!" I realized later that that's what he was going for. He was going for that moment of expectation that would hopefully be fulfilled. It just took me a very long time before I made it happen. (Laughs.) And then he gave everyone else a chance to throw rocks. We didn't film that, but everyone had their chance. It was such a fun day.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/twin-peaks-star-kyle-maclachlan-reflects-agent-coopers-past-looks-his-future-1004393

 

 
Posted : 16/07/2018 12:08 am
(@functional_dougie)
Posts: 55
Trusted Member
 

Thanks for throwing some lukewarm water on me there.  Just promise you'll post the Kimmy Robertson version if you come across it - print the legend!!!

P.S.  I still think Bob-in-the-mirror story is justification enough for allowing coincidental connections in as evidence.

 
Posted : 16/07/2018 12:16 am
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