How a lost David Lynch script explains the divisive Dougie

The unproduced 1987 film One Saliva Bubble might be the clue to unlocking one of Twin Peaks’ most polarising new characters

http://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article/36961/1/how-a-lost-lynch-script-explains

WARNING: spoilers ahead

Twin Peaks fans are divided. While most viewers would agree that season three has met and miraculously surpassed expectations, there’s still contention around the character of Dougie. Some people hate him. Really hate him. After all, we’re 12 episodes into the new season and Agent Dale Cooper is still nowhere to be found. Cooper was supposed to be the hero, the audience’s cipher into David Lynch’s impenetrable subconscious. But instead we get Kyle MacLachlan oscillating between Cooper’s evil doppelganger and the blank, adult-baby that is Dougie. We’ve somehow seen more of Michael Cera, Moby and the previously off-screen Diane than a living, breathing Agent Cooper in the real world.

For those not caught up on Dougie, he’s effectively a decoy created by Cooper’s doppelganger between seasons two and three. If you recall, season two ended with the ‘Good Dale’ imprisoned inside the Black Lodge, while a menacing lookalike took his place in Twin Peaks. This exchange was supposed to last 25 years – when time’s up, order would be restored. But to cheat the system, the evil doppelganger manufactured a doppelganger of his own called Dougie Jones. (A bit like the guy who created the ScarJo robot, perhaps.) The plan worked: after 25 years, Agent Cooper returned to our dimension and found himself transported into Dougie’s body instead. The problem is that, inside Dougie, Cooper appears to be braindead.

The clue to unlocking all this can perhaps be found in One Saliva Bubble, an unproduced screenplay by Lynch and Twin Peaks co-creator Mark Frost. The pair wrote the film in 1987, and it was nearly Lynch’s follow-up to Blue Velvet. Steve Martin and Martin Short read a draft and agreed to play the leads. “I was casting it,” Lynch said. “We went location scouting, and I was going to shoot it. And then (producer) Dino (De Laurentiis)’s company went bankrupt.”

So instead, Lynch and Frost wrote the pilot for Twin Peaks. But what became of One Saliva Bubble? Well, sifting through a copy of the script (the version circulating online dates back to May 1987) reveals a prototype for the Dougie storyline we’re now all enjoying and/or suffering through. Lynch called it “a nutty film, a sort of family comedy where nothing scary took place”. Elsewhere, he deemed it an “out-and-out wacky, dumb comedy… Mark and I were laughing like crazy when we wrote it.” Trust me, it’s bizarre.

As the elevator pitch goes, One Saliva Bubble is a body-swapping caper about a neighbourhood in Kansas populated by Dougies. It begins in a military bunker with scientists fussing over a computer panel. One immature guard cackles at a joke (“So she said to him, ‘poo-poo on your pee-pee’…”) and he in turn produces a single bubble of saliva that floats through the room and shorts a circuit. A satellite then emits a lightning bolt towards the town of Newtonville.

Here comes the Twin Peaks-y bit. Just as Dougie emerged from a plug socket (think back – in episode three, Cooper is brought back to Earth via electricity), the laser beam causes the residents of Newtonville to literally find themselves in each other’s shoes. Horton the hitman swaps bodies with Wally the boring family guy. Professor Hugo switches places with the not-so-smart Newt Newton. A white woman and a black man exchange outfits. A group of Chinese acrobats and 35 employees of Heinz ketchup take each other’s positions. And so on.

The ensuing chaos basically foreshadows Twin Peaks: The Return. Specifically, it’s the running gag that no one bats an eyelid at Dougie’s zombie-like behaviour. For instance, we’ve seen Cooper, trapped inside Dougie, inadvertently navigate three separate worlds: he fixes his marriage and sex life with Naomi Watts; he escapes death by gifting a pie to crooked criminals; and he produces gibberish drawings that transfix the boss at his corporate office job.

Interestingly, these three scenarios are all predicted by One Saliva Bubble: Horton-as-Wally, now manlier, seduces his wife and “marches her upstairs to you-know-where”, Wally-as-Horton teaches trigger-happy gangsters to swap their guns for delicious pies, and Newt-as-the-professor has his infantile activities scrutinised by scientists searching for hidden meanings. Furthermore, the body-swap repercussions are emphasised by characters wearing ghastly green suits around the workplace.

One Saliva Bubble also contains a few fun nuggets for Twin Peaks obsessives. There are characters called Gordon Cole, Mike, Ike and, most notably, Bob. This Bob, a cab driver called Bob McNabb, seems suspiciously like Killer Bob. Instead of swapping bodies, he’s turned evil by the lightning bolt. A piece of scene description goes: “His ‘good’ side controls the foot on the brake, the ‘demonic’ side pumps the accelerator like Buddy Rich assaulting his bass drum pedal.”

Bear in mind that episode eight of Twin Peaks: The Return (AKA the WTF one set in 1945) hints that Killer Bob originated from a nuclear blast. If we read between the lines, Lynch is telling us that Bob is a manmade creation and the embodiment of human nature’s self-destructive technology. It’s corroborated by One Saliva Bubble when the-professor-as-Newt writes up an equation on how to generate a plutonium bomb: “II x PIG^2 x C = (BOB)”. Did this iconic villain of pop culture get his name just because it’s one letter away from “bomb”?

Of course, the big question everyone wants to know is when Agent Cooper will return. One Saliva Bubble concludes with the Pentagon fixing the town by firing more laser beams, while the professor invents a new type of ketchup that transforms Heinz 57 into Heinz 58. That’s probably not going to happen in Twin Peaks. But there’s something in how One Saliva Bubble breaks the rules of comedy: it’s 140 pages and therefore 140 minutes, with the body-swapping not undoing itself until the final few moments. Is Dougie a satire of white male privilege? No, it’s just that Lynch and Frost will happily stretch out a gag beyond what conventional standards dictate.

This is setting myself up for humiliation if I’m proven wrong this Sunday, but I wouldn’t expect to see Agent Cooper until the season’s final episode. I’m not exactly placing money on this, but my takeaway from One Saliva Bubble – other than it’s a hilarious screenplay that every Lynch fan should read – is that he perceives body-swapping as an act of wish-fulfilment, and not just a straightforward imprisonment of Cooper’s soul. Lives are improved and experiences are widened. Dougie’s bright jacket lightens up every room he enters and he brings genuine happiness to everyone he encounters. Besides, it’s the same conclusion of Mulholland Drive and Lost Highway: the grass is always greener when you’re inhabiting somebody else’s body.

9 hours ago, Rdeyahlxp said:

I hope the last episode being boring means the next one will be awesome again, since part 11 was amazing too. I don't get why Lynch keeps introducing new characters, but I guess I'm getting "L Y N C H E D".

 

The random girls popping on screen at The Roadhouse is infuriating. Maybe these are just vignettes with the only context in to show how dangerous of a place Twin Peaks has become. Lynch is a big believer of not everything has to have context.

On 7/31/2017 at 5:01 PM, dontdamnmeuyi2015 said:

Audrey is back! She still looks amazing.

Gordon and Albert were so funny last night.

No sign of Cooper, bad or good.

All things point to Twin Peaks! I hope the finale has all the characters meeting up there.

I don't know why or how Audrey married that troll of a husband of hers? Very weird indeed. Bring back Billy Zane.

Audrey, one of the most iconic characters, had such a lackluster reintroduction. Her scene went on for way too long. The scene with Gordon and Albert went on long as well but the payoff was great. You could see how Albert's face saying "really man?" and how he put his hand to his forehead. Audrey's husband (Charlie) said there was some sort of marriage contract between them. To set the record and tie up the confusion, the guy named Billy (who Audrey was messing around with) is someone from the band Trouble. If you remember in Part 5, a guy named Bing, ran into the Roadhouse and yelled out Billy's name and then left.

So the whole cast meeting up in Twin Peaks could be like Resevior Dogs LOL

And for God's sake NO BILLY ZANE!! The only purpose he ever served was taking Audrey's virginity LOL

22 hours ago, dontdamnmeuyi2015 said:

I think when Diane, Albert and Gordon get together it's just so funny.

I wish they would be more specific about her relationship with Dale Cooper, since that must have been off camera.

I also want to know when Audrey came out of her coma and does she know her crazy son Richard killed someone?

Anyway, I still am waiting for Bobby, Sheriff Truman and Hawk to go to that place that Bobby's father said in the message. Glad dopey Jerry finally got out of the forest. lol

Well it seems to me she is either helping Evil Coop or Phillip Jeffries. Just for the fact that she stood by and let Hastings get his skull crunched by one of those woodsmen is a kind of stain on her character.

I also do not understand why they have not, on camera, said who Richard is in relation to in the Horne family. Ben, Jerry, Sylvia, nor Audrey have ever spoke of him in a familial way. Even if it is a off hand comment it would tie up that loose thread.

I think the best part of this episode is they finally explained what The Blue Rose was. Phillip Jeffries, Chet Desmond, Dale Cooper, and Albert Rosenfeld were a part of it. This is why neither Chet Desmond or Cooper wouldn't tell Sam Stanley (Keifer Sutherland) from Fire Walk With Me what it was. Now Tammy is a part of Blue Rose. But think about it when Albert said he was the only one left from Blue Rose and know that the guy playing him is IRL dead. That's some heavy shit.

2 hours ago, ChineseDemocracy2004 said:

Jack Rabbit's Palace?

When did Hawk show the sheriff his map? Part 11 or part 12? I can't remember.

Does anybody know what the title of part 13 is yet?

Hawk's map was in Part 11

Here are the rest of the parts titles

Part 13 - What Story Is That, Charlie?

Part 14 - We Are Like The Dreamer

Part 15 - There's Some Fear In Letting Go

Part 16 - No Knock, No Doorbell

Part 17 - The Past Dictates The Future

Part 18 - What Is Your Name?

20 hours ago, AxlsFavoriteRose said:

the young Nancy Sinatra is my Poppy  

If that is the case then that makes Nancy Sinatra even more hotter than she was back in the day.

Lee Hazelwood & Nancy Sintara - Some Velvet Morning

"One of the strangest, druggiest, most darkly sexual songs ever written - ambitious, beautiful and unforgettable.

Juliana Hatfield - This Is The Sound

Amy Shiels - WOWIE KAZOWIE!!!!

She's done some live action material but she's mostly known as a voiceover artist

On 7/19/2017 at 4:14 PM, dontdamnmeuyi2015 said:

Has anyone heard if Lynch will continue the show beyond this year? SHO should stick with it as long as Lynch is willing to do it.

 

 

He hasn't said anything about it but I guarntee you that this is Lynch's swan song. There's been too many call backs and references to his filmography and with this original series. Also it has steadily dropped in live viewership week after week. The streaming numbers are good but that is not what the money men want to hear. The casual fans are gone and even hardcore fans are even quitting, like unsubscribing from Showtime. If you read in the ending credits alot of who financed it was French investors. It's almost like Showtime is just it's distributor. All I can say is I'm glad that this was shot like an 18 hour movie or else Showtime would have cancelled it by now.

On 7/20/2017 at 3:38 PM, dontdamnmeuyi2015 said:

Just read online that Sheriff Harry S. Truman will not be back on Twin Peaks. Michael is not coming back. I love Robert Forster too, but it would have been cool to see Sheriff Harry Truman and Cooper reunite to take down bad cooper and Bob.

Well if that is so then why is he constantly being mentioned by phone conversations? Michael Ontkeen's character might end up just being a character that is done over the phone, kinda like they did Suzanne Summer's character in Three's Company. He might help with this investigation that way. I dunno I just feel like with all of these references I don't see how they couldn't work him in-person.

On 7/21/2017 at 5:04 PM, dontdamnmeuyi2015 said:

I read S. Finn who played Audrey is returning to Twin Peaks. I don't know if she's been in a coma all this time or living somewhere else.

Hopefully, Twin Peaks will tie things together unless David Lynch is coming back next year for a whole new season. That would be awesome to continue. I've grown used to seeing these crazy characters.

Sherylnn Fenn didn't really have any kind words with what direction they went with Audrey. She got on Twitter and was very upset. Now she didn't spoil anything due to the strict non-disclosure agreement but I doubt she will be the same old character as she was before.

Good for you for sticking this out, even though you watched this whole thing in backwards order LOL. I have yet to run into anybody who started with this season first before the original series.

Public Enemy - Black Steel In The Hour Of Chaos

13 hours ago, toroymoi said:

Again, that's how you view things from your own perspective and mindset. You have no idea what his inner demons were making him think and feel.

I was agreeing with you. I should have said "the act of ending your own life, in and of itself" is one size fits all.

13 hours ago, Bono said:

My brother committed suicide. The thing people  don't realize or understand is that you can't start to rationalize it in a  way that suggests 'they should know better and think about their family". The reality is that's exactly what they are doing. People who commit suicide are not in the right frame of mind and quite often they are committing an act that in their minds is coming from a  place of love. You might think that sounds fucked up but they genuinely feel they have become a burden to those around them.  They feel the lives of those they care about would be better off without them. That's a fucked up mindset and to be in that place something has to be incredibly wrong. So to sit there and say it's selfish and they're not thinking about the effects it has on others just isn't true. They are thinking about all those things but in the depths of their despair they genuinely feel this is the only way out and it's the best for everyone.  It's something nobody can really judge or comment on until you've made the choice to end your own life as well. Then and only then will any of us truly understand what those who commit suicide are actually going through inside their minds. 

You have my condolences dude. I know it is painful and I hope you have been able to cope with that. I've had family members take their own lives as well. My own brother offed himself slowly by becoming obese, mainly through booze. Everybody did their best to help him but in the end he chose his own vices over his family and his own kids. What he did has fucked them up over the past 20 years. His youngest did herself in by ODing because she never got over what he did. That's my brother, I love him but he is still a selfish son of a bitch for what he did. I had a cousin blow his brains out right in front of me when I was 21. I got mental issues of my own where the thoughts of suicide will intrude upon me, and I could be in the best mood of the day and that shit will happen. Even my ex-wife wished I would have killed myself. Read her note she left. In short I know very well about how people who are suicidal think. I've thought that it would be a huge favor for everyone around me if I decided to erase myself. I tried it twice and ended up being TDO in psych wards for long amounts of time. Anyways, we are going to have to agree to disagree and not go around the mulberry bush with this conversation. I wish all of you well and if someone here is contemplating please seek help. Dark days do not last forever.

2 hours ago, toroymoi said:

Respectfully speaking, you're not Chester and Chester isn't you. Depression and mental health in general is not 'one size fits all' in terms of how it affects each individual person. Not everyone is built the same.

You are right in that mental illness is not "one size fits all" but do you want to know what is? Ending your own life. Those are going to be the scars that his 6 children will have to bear for the remainder of their lives. I hope his kids and his family will be able to cope and that THEY find peace.

Poppy - Interweb

On 7/17/2017 at 3:30 PM, dontdamnmeuyi2015 said:

Yeah, last night's episode was okay.

The last 7 minutes of that woman singing was horrible. I had to change the channel to watch something else and then when I get back, the show was showing the credits. I was pissed that the last minutes were of this woman singing and not telling more story.

So if that crazy bastard who ran over the kid and killed that woman is Ben's grandson, does that mean Audrey was pregnant?  I really hate that guy and want him to die a horrible death.

So Diane might be with Bad Cooper after that text message.

I really want to see the White Lodge that the Major talked about.

I also want to smack good Cooper in the back of his head in hopes it will make him remember his life. I like it better when everyone is in Twin Peaks working together.

This all over the place is annoying. The doctor rants are super funny.

Shelley's daughter is very stupid to let that guy hit her and tell her off. I wonder who her dad is?

Anyway, I'm just going with it because it seems David Lynch might not give us all the answers we are seeking and likes to keep us guessing. It's entertaining for the most part.

I think Part 10 should have been 2 hours because it ended rather abruptly. I don't think the woman singing (Rebekan Del Rio) at the end was bad. It is a beautiful song and she is an incrediable singer, but it was definately filler. How The Roadhouse was used before there was always something happening, even in the periphery. Hell there were plots that happened in The Roadhouse and said plots involved the place. Now The Roadhouse is simply being used as a flow stop to showcase bands and mark where an episode ends.

I think Richard being Audrey's son was pretty much confirmed. My speculation is that

It's very hard to say if Diane is in cohoots with Evil Cooper. If she is then that whole exchange between her and Evil Cooper was just a red herring.

LOL, if Cooper getting his brains fucked out isn't snapping him back to reality then what will?

Dr. Jacoby is now Alex Jones. What I'm glad about is Nadine FINALLY got her patent for the silent drape runners. If she is with Big Ed still is a mystery.

Shelly's daughter Becky is a "fruit doesn't fall too far for the tree" thing. Shelly was a victim of domestic violence with Leo and Becky is now being abused by Steven. Abusive realtionships don't start up at the beginning. They turn into them and are hard to escape from for a multitude of reasons, one is fear of being killed. It's not stupidity but being scared. All I want to know is why, in the first part, those women that were with Shelly in The Roadhouse were saying "Everybody likes Steven"? He can't hold down a job, is abusive, and looks like a tweaker so that makes no sense to me.

As far as who is Becky's dad is that is hard to say. So far we've had no interaction between Bobby and Shelly.

I'm in on this until the end but I will be pissed if good Cooper doesn't come back until the last 20 minutes of the last part.

4 hours ago, ChineseDemocracy2004 said:

Did anybody enjoy part ten?

I liked it but given that this episode was titled "Laura Is The One" made this underwhelming. The moments of horror and the humour REALLY swung like a pendulam. My only complaint would be using that stock footage of Laura Palmer from Fire Walk With Me. It had that horrible picture in picture effect, and it looked very cheap. I mean they have Sheryl Lee there, why not shoot something new and insert it where that stock footage of her was being used.

I also caught an Easter egg. When we see Agent Tammy Preston walk down the hall, when she gets around the door where Cole and Albert are you can see what looks like a glitch on the door. So does that mean Laura was there as a ghost? Also that change in music and how Tammy was shown in slow motion walking down the hall makes me think she gonna end up dying. Then again that could be Lynch giving me a mind fuck LOL

I'm trying to finish a movie (which is being edited into web series episodes) and i need some advice. I have about 75% of it shot but I've ran into some financial difficulties. Now I'm not asking anybody here for $$$ help but I'm trying to figure out how to do a Kickstarter campaign. The dollar amount I'm asking for MIGHT reach 1000 bucks. Yeah it seems paltry but I'm broke as fuck and I've already spent alot here and there on finishing it. I already have some episodes of it already completed if a backer wants to preview if he/she wants to see what I have done already. I'm trying to figure out the perks but what kind of perks can I give for something that is basically a microbudget project? I was thinking of if someone donates $10 dollars they will get a limited edition DVD with it being in episodic and movie format plus extra features and for $20 a Blu-Ray of what I just mentioned. If it wasn't a matter of I might not get this completed I wouldn't even bother but I've been working on this, off and on, for a year and a half.

The money is for any potential recasting, specialty props like a camera that will allow me to film exterior shots of driving both days and nights. Props like break away glass, and a broken down trailer that I can pay one month rent for and furnish it with Goodwill stuff like a fridge, 2 beds, and other household amenities. Hopefully i will be able to convince a trailer owner to let me shoot if I turn it into a furnished place cause I have zero intentions of keeping any furniture that is to be used. I need to make the place to have the appearance of it being lived in. I really don't care if I make a profit off of this because this is just a labor of love.

Anyways let me know if I'm on the right path or give me any recommendations on what to do with this Kickstarter campaign. It is something I deffo don't want to fuck up.

Here is a screengrab of what I got. There is a reason I call this psychedelic horror instead of surrealistic.

Black Eyed Peas - Joints And Jam

Listening to this makes me wonder what the fuck happened to them and why the change in direction? This is actually some funky flowing shit that'll make your head nod. BEP were actually cool as hell at one point, kiddos.

Sonic Outlaws - Documentary covering early sample based artists. Features interviews with: Negativland, John Oswald, Tape-beatles and more.

2 hours ago, dontdamnmeuyi2015 said:

I actually think season 1 and season 2 might make more sense. I watched all of season 1 and the movie Fire Walk with me and it was actual stories.

I'm on episode 6 of Twin Peaks season 2 and so far there are a lot of good stories. Still some crazy shit too. lol

that Japanese man or woman, looks like Melissa McCarthy, but I'm pretty sure it's Piper Laurie in disguise. Anyway, I have a lot of more episodes to go, but I will watch them when I can.

Does anyone know how many episodes will be in the new season. I think tonight is episode 9.

I think Cooper and the sheriff were so funny together.

The new sheriff is played by Robert Forster, does anyone know why the original actor didn't come back? And is Robert Forster's sheriff the original sheriff?

Well there is zero way they could have done season 3 this way back in 91, even if the technology was available. No network would have greenlit what Twin Peaks is right now.

Yeah Mr. Tojamura is Piper Laurie LOL. They even created a fake actor's name (Fumio Yamaguchi) and credited "him" as Mr. Tojamura. Even way back when they took precautions to make sure nothing was spoiled or leaked.

This season will be 18 episodes total

Cooper and Harry Truman was an awesome bromance LOL.

Actually Robert Forester was the first pick to play Harry S Truman back in the day but he couldn't commit to it or something. What I like about this is that they made a new character instead of trying to do a recast for what Michael Ontkeen played.

You asked why some of the older characters didn't come back. The main reason is because alot of them died from old age but also Lynch/Frost couldn't come up with any ways to bring certain characters (like Josie, Catherine, Hank) back in. Why the dancing dwarf wasn't brought back in was a money issue (he asked for waaayyy too much) and for stooping so low as to say Twin Peaks was based on Lynch raping his own daughter and somehow having Jack Nance (Pete Martel) set up to be murdered. The only 2 characters I hope they bring back, as a complete surprise, is Sheriff Harry S Truman and Annie Blackburn.

Listening to a live album, yes.

Watching a live show on DVD/Blu-Ray is a different thing.

There are bands/solo artists that sound 1000 times better live than they do on a studio album. Lynyrd Skynyrd, Black Oak Arkansas, and Waylon Jennings for starters

Raging Slab - Sexy Gasoline

Southern fried boogie rock by way of New York City

This encounter happened moreso through marriage than anything else. My wife's (now ex-wife) mother is related to Donna Summer. They are 2nd cousins or some shit. I went to New York to meet her one time back in 2000. Donna was very sweet and cordial. Plus she was an Amazon

I don't know if this would be considered "old school" or not but I base this off of Lauryn Hill not releasing an album in 20 years. This song came out in 2013 so technically it's not olld but I would love to see her come back in a big way and show these other chicks how it is done

39 minutes ago, wasted said:

All Ive got is up to ep 7. But on wiki it says 31 eps. 

Lynch definitely does something that is just watchable, even just a shot of a gas station. It might be that atmosphere thing he talks about. Even the silence is changing. 

there's a lot of elements, comedy, surrealism, horror, supernatural, but then he does the crime elements really cool as well. 

It's weird though True Detective I was more obsessed with who didit. But with Lynch I'm more hypnotised more like when I watch Broke Girls. 

It's 18 episodes for this new series. The original had 30 if you include the pilot.

I can tell you why Lynch's stuff is watchable and it's because he films like they are moving paintings. You could grab just about any shot and could frame it.

I also think Mark Frost deserves accolades as well because he knows how to lay the foundation and keep things grounded. Lynch is able to take Frost's contributions and shape them. They both work very good together.

Chrysta Bell

She is the femme fatale. She's got a hell of a voice and is a pretty good actress.

Melissa Reese - Girlfriend