So I spent last weekend watching season 1 of Twin Peaks. It’s been a very long time since I’d watched it first time around, and even then I hadn’t watched the whole thing. So it was a bit of a shock seeing the clothing and hair styles, but once I’d gotten over that, I had to ask the question whether the whole concept was dated.
Since the first time I watched it, I was quite young (well clearly younger than I am now), so I’m not sure I picked up on the subtle humour. In watching it, you’ve really got to ask whether it was meant to be that funny. Well, when I say funny, it was at the point of cringeworthy. Like the day after Dale has the first dream and lines everyone up in the forest to throw stones at a milk bottle. Seriously?
Of course, it only lasted for two (very short) seasons, so there was only one real story line to compare it with. It was all everyone talked about at school, we shouldn’t have really watched it. I recall one episode from season 2 with Bob in that gave me a very sleepless night and probably put me off slasher movies for the rest of my life. It was just so ahead of its time in so many ways that it made it really appealing.
It could be quite easy to compare the series with films like Silence of the Lambs, but beyond that, there really wasn’t anything that came close to it. Now moving forward 18 odd years, you’ve got a plethora of programmes that hit the mark with the teenage market. Instead of one concept however, you’ve got many different types of the same theme. Namely Vampires.
Now, if I were a teenager, around the same age I was when I watched Twin Peaks, would I be addicted to The Vampire Diaries and True Blood? The second is probably the kind of illicit watching that I’d like to get away with at that age. I’ve not seen either so I can’t really commit to saying how good (or bad) either might be. I guess the problem with The Vampire Diaries is that it looks rather lame, and the problem with True Blood is that, Anna Paquin’s accent drives me nuts.
Anyway, I’m rambling here, and with no real point to make, merely an observation on how one thing that was probably ahead of its time, gave so much of what we see now a clear path to follow. Quite impressive. I wonder what the less successful members of the cast are up to now?!?
