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The publishers of Wow Bob Wow present an in-depth Twin Peaks magazine - here on the Web!
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You can see that the features include a News section, for updates to the site as well as the webmasters' comments on anything that happens to be going on at the moment.
There's also an Episode Guide, detailing every episode of the Twin Peaks TV series. There are pages on the main Players of Twin Peaks, and a bio of each of the two Creators.

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The main feature, of course, is the Webzine itself! Linked from the main site is the most recent issue of Wow Bob Wow. Each issue contains a Contents page, a guide to what's in the issue itself. Also in each edition is a 'Back Issues' page, where you can link to any previous issues of the 'zine - so you won't have to miss out on a thing!
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Wow Bob Wow!

Issue #9 now on-line!

Issue #9 Contents

Page 1 - Contents page

Page 2 - Let's Rock

Page 3 - "Dune: Reloaded"

Page 7 - "Focus on: Michael Ontkean"

Page 9 - Wow Bob E-mail

Page 10 - Wrapped Up

Page 16 - The Twin Peaks Playground

Page 18 - JD's Smackdown

Page 19 - Back Issues

Page 2

Let's Rock
So here's the sitch.
FOX began airing what was easily the most creative, fun, and enjoyable television series since the beginning of the television season in fall 2003. Then, after only 4 episodes and some schedule-shuffling, they cite poor ratings and give the series the axe. And so yet another innovative and fascinating new show fails to get a chance to survive.
I'm talking, of course, about Playing it Straight.
No, wait, no I'm not. Um, I mean Wonderfalls. That hilarious and touching new series starring Caroline Dhavernas that started on Fridays, moved to Thursday, then moved right off the schedule. (See "Wrapped Up" for a review of this show.)

Will this kind of behavior never end? Every single year the best series gets canceled without being given a chance. This year, FOX axed Wonderfalls. Last year it was Firefly, from Buffy creator Joss Whedon. And earlier that season by far the best series had been ABC's Push, Nevada. Guess what? Axed.
It seems any time a really good series - with even the slightest touch of genius, that gets high critical praise, and seems ready to break TV programming out of its narrow bounds - gets made, the network gets uneasy and yanks it before it even gets a chance to prove itself. It isn't difficult to name series from the past to which this has happened. Boomtown. Freaks and Geeks. American Gothic. And, oh yeah, there was this little television show called Twin Peaks. Perhaps you've heard of it?
(Yeah, I know Peaks got two seasons - but the first was only seven episodes. You can bet that if it had been even as many as thirteen that the network would have pulled the plug before the end of that run.)
No wonder all the good shows are airing on cable, eh? Not only are the censorship rules different on cable, but the cable networks at least seem ready to give innovative shows a chance. Broadcast networks seem to believe that if a show doesn't pull in 8 million or so for the first episode that it won't be worth the commitment. No wonder they're hooked on the fast-food scheme of reality TV. Get in, get out after 6 episodes, get on to the next "exciting" series. That way, each series only has to keep viewers' attention for a handful of episodes. They can't lose.
Needless to say, the future does not look bright for television. And don't even get me started on the WB canceling Angel...

Grumble, grumble. Get on with the magazine now - I'm too depressed to go on

Page 3

Dune: Reloaded

In 1965 Frank Herbert published his seminal science-fictional classic, a novel called Dune. This tale of a prophet in a far-off planet captured the imagination of millions of readers around the world, and it was only a matter of time before Hollywood cashed in.
David Lynch's Dune

In 1984, David Lynch - backed by Dino and Raffaella de Laurentiis - brought his version of Dune to the big screen. While impressive in many ways, it disappointed fans and baffled the underwhelmed majority of cinema-going audiences. David Lynch's Dune died a silent death at the box office.

Then, almost 20 years later the SciFi Channel created its own version of the classic - a mini-series, written and directed by John Harrison. This longer take on the novel, including much more of the depth of its source, rung more true for fans of Herbert, though most audiences still found the tale dull, and felt entirely unconnected to the tale of Paul Atreides: Muad'Dib of Dune. A more kinetic follow-up (Children of Dune) was more pleasing, though it attracted far less attention in general.

These versions of Herbert's tale had varying degrees of success, each in different areas. But throughout these we could not help but feel that Paul's tale had yet to be truly told in cinematic form. Now, can we say that it finally has been told (and in much more successful, and popular, form) as the Wachowski brothers' Matrix trilogy?

Past Attempts
In Frank Herbert's novels, Paul Atreides' story spans three separate books. In Dune, the first and almost inarguably greatest of the series, Paul is moved from his home of Caladan (a water-rich world) to Dune (Arrakis) - a place with no water at all. When his family is betrayed, Paul and his mother flee into the desert where they are taken in by the cave-dwelling Fremen. These are primitive but wise free people who revere Paul as their Messiah, giving him the name "Muad'Dib". By the end of this novel, Paul has set himself up as Emperor and claimed his role as Mahdi (Messiah) among the Fremen.

The next book, Dune Messiah tracks Paul's fate through an attempt on his life which blinds him, the birth of precocious twin children by his concubine Chani, and his eventual walk out into the desert to die.

In Children of Dune, a mysterious blind Preacher comes back to Arrakeen, denouncing the late Muad'Dib and his sister Alia who rules as regent until Muad'Dib's children come of age. The story follows the twins, Leto II and Ghanima, but it is ultimately revealed that the Preacher is Paul who has recanted his previous position. Eventually he is killed, but not before being horrified to learn that his son will complete the path that Paul could not bear to - the horrible Golden Path that will free humanity, but at what cost?

The SciFi Channel Dune

None of the Dune adaptations have really covered the entirety of this story. Lynch's version only covers the first part, up to Paul's ascendance, but even this has been altered. Lynch hits the finale harder, punching up Paul's destiny such that he not only claims his role as god - he has become god. He seems here headed down the Golden Path that Leto II walked in Herbert's version.

The Dune mini-series goes much the same as Lynch's version, insofar as Paul's story is concerned. It doesn't hit the climax as hard, but still ends up deifying Paul more than the novel did. (Note that both versions show Paul as being able to produce water miraculously - something Herbert would have abhorred, I think.)

Children of Dune finishes this tale, though due to its amalgamation of novels number 2 and 3 it seems to lose a lot of the power of Paul's story in favor of Leto and Ghanima's. That is not unexpected - and probably in its favor - but it does leave the arc feeling decidedly unfinished.

Clearly the SciFi miniseries had an edge over David Lynch in their scope. More time, and more books covered. And yet somehow in the end they still feel more unfinished in this respect than Lynch's motion picture. Can a new trilogy redress the balance?

The Matrix Reloads
The Matrix trilogy probably needs no introduction. But here goes anyway.

The first Matrix introduces us to Neo (aka Thomas Anderson). This young man is ripped from his stable world into a nightmare
Neo
reality where a group of rebels against a machine empire hail him as their savior. Neo comes to accept his role as their Messiah, and at the end of the film he wields the power necessary to defeat humanity's oppressors.

The next film, The Matrix: Reloaded brings a new threat to humanity. Not only are they being enslaved by the machines within the artificial world of the Matrix, but now a quarter of a million sentinel droids are headed for Zion - the last human city. Neo journeys into the very heart of the machine reality to confront the Matrix's creator. But he comes face to face with the "truth" of his own origin, and his future is uncertain.

The finale, The Matrix: Revolutions, has Neo forced to journey into the physical center of the machine world. He is blinded, though his connection to the machine world allows him still to see the machines, and ultimately he gives up his life to destroy the false reality that humans live in. At the end, both machines and humans are uncertain of their future in its newly defined state.

We can see from this rough synopsis the essential qualities of the Paul Muad'Dib story. We will look at the specifics in a moment, but allow me to show the close relationship of this series to the Dune story by giving this different synopsis:

A young man is taken from his comfortable life, and thrust into the ultimate power struggle. In a world distrustful of machines, the young man is taken in by a group of cave-dwelling primitives who hail him as their Messiah. He comes to accept this role, and as he comes into his own he challenges the rule of the oppressors. However, the young man's messianic roots lie in the cultural manipulations of a sinister force and he must face the realities of his god-like nature. Ultimately, in the power struggle, the young man is blinded, though his powers allow him still to see. His life is sacrificed in the last struggle, and humanity is set onto its uncertain path.

Sound better?

As you can see, the first Matrix sets the stage, giving many of the elemental aspects of the Dune world but leaves the majority of Paul's actual story untold. It is only in The Matrix: Reloaded and The Matrix: Revolutions that Neo's story really comes to reflect that of Muad'Dib.

The One
As we have seen from the rough comparisons of the tales above, Neo very much fits into the Paul Atreides role for the course of the Matrix movies. He is a young man with a destiny, told he has (essentially) the powers of God, worshipped by a (deliberately) primitive society. When he accepts his role as their Messiah, he leads them as an army against the domineering forces to unleash their destiny.

Is he the One?
We can run a checklist along the way to see how many points of similarity there are, but this would be ultimately useless. Any number of surface similarities can arise by mere coincidence. But it should be obvious from any study of Neo's journey that the Wachowski brothers relied heavily on Paul Atreides' journey in plotting that of Neo. In a very real sense, Neo is Muad'Dib.

Can we say, then, that the Wachowskis have put on screen the most complete (and relevant) portrayal of Muad'Dib's story yet seen?

Certainly they have covered all the bases. Like the SciFi channel mini-series, Paul/Neo's story is told from beginning to end. From his innocence in his comfortable world, to his rude awakening to the harsh reality of his new one. The cave-dwelling society that hails him as their god, his reluctance to accept it at first, and the religious leader who leads him to the truth (the Oracle/Sayyadina). When Neo accepts that he is the One, he announces himself to the oppressors that he has set himself up in opposition to them, as a god who will free his people.

The movies take him through this, to the full awakening of Neo's powers and the realization of the path that awaits him. In a treacherous attempt on his life, Neo is blinded, though his abilities allow him still to see. Heroically, Neo walks off into the "desert" of the machine world, knowing it will be his end. Confused over the nature of the origins (and the future) of his abilities (and knowing the horrific nature of the future if he makes the choice that fate seems to have decided for him) Neo turns his back on his destiny and essentially commits suicide, but in doing so he opens up humanity's future to new possibilities.

No Dune adaptation, not even the SciFi versions, portrayed such an in-depth version of Paul Atreides' journey. But the Wachowskis don't stop with merely portraying the outward steps of this journey. No, their Messiah slogs through the same heavy philosophical waters, battling possible futures that he may not even have a choice in, and weighing free will against evil consequences every step of the way. Many critics have whined over the pseudo-psychological ponderings in the Matrix movies, but much of the concerns and their voicing seem almost to come from the pages of Dune. But where Herbert merely "computerized" his villains (making them cold, distant, cruel, single-minded and bent to the same imposition of their private sense of order as the machines which threatened humanity in Dune's distant past), The Matrix goes more explicit and presents the enemy as a very anti-Butlerian order of actual machines.

The One (cont'd)
The timetable of Neo's journey, however, does not track exactly with that of Paul Atreides. Let us look at the section of Paul's journey protrayed in David Lynch's film.

The Lynch movie runs parallel to the first Dune novel all the way (excepting the climax which twists the character out of the realm of Herbert's works). At the end of Lynch's Dune, Paul is in his most prideful state, having accepted the full role (and all the power) of his "godhood".

On one level, The Matrix would seem to have done exactly that. In the finale, Neo announces to the ruling power that he is the One and that he has the power to wake
Coming into his own
humanity up and overthrow their overlords. Just prior to this, Neo demonstrates his complete superiority by easily defeating the once-unstoppable agents - and seemingly destroying Agent Smith forever. As he sees the world around him (the Matrix, rather than the "real" world) in its pure code form, he is accepting his full divine role in a display almost exactly like that of Paul in Lynch's film who stands proudly over the former powers (having just slain his own enemy, Feyd-Rautha, also in personal combat) and displays his divine ability by causing it to rain.

However, there's a quirk in the timeline here. In fact, Neo does not here have full knowledge of his past (the supposed origin of the One at the hands of the Architect - similar to Paul's biological and theological basis in the eugenics and Missionaria protectiva of the Bene Gesserit) nor of the actual extent of his powers. It is not, in fact, until the climax of the second film (The Matrix: Reloaded) that Neo acquires full knowledge of his past, his destiny, and his complete power over the machines. Thus, his Muad'Dib-like ascendance in the first Matrix is actually incomplete - not arriving until the second film, but then in a very different form.

In Dune, both the novels and the SciFi Channel mini-series, Paul's second-act epiphany is a more pessimistic one. Realizing the awful destiny ahead of him, Paul rejects his Messianic role and walks off into the desert to die. Since the Wachowskis have held off the complete ascendance of Neo until the second Matrix movie (which diminishes the Muad'Dib moment at the end of the first movie) they run into trouble when trying to also end their second part at the same stage as Muad'Dib's journey. What we arrive at in the end is an intriguing mix of both Dune's ending, and that of Dune Messiah. Neo achieves full comprehension of his history and of his own self, but also gets the unsavory glimpse of the path chosen for him and rejects it - to the possible detriment of mankind.

It is at the third and final stage of the Muad'Dib journey that The Matrix, while including more specific elements of Dune, veers the most from it. While it is in The Matrix: Revolutions that Neo goes through the assassination attempt that blinds him - while retaining the power of "sight" through his supernatural abilities - he also achieves a more noble and heroic goal than Paul Atreides.

Paul dies from an attacker's crys-knife, and leaves it to his son to walk the Golden Path and lead humanity into a darkness that must come before true freedom. But Neo, while walking the same essential Golden Path, sacrifices himself willingly in a fight that allows humanity instantly accessible freedom. Their fate is not certain (as the Matrix has not been destroyed, but a merely unstable compromise with the machine oppressors reached) but it is far more promising than the ugly Golden Path ahead in the future of Paul's world. Nonetheless, the path is ultimately ended at close to the same moment - death at a time that provides the ultimate route for freedom for humanity. And like Paul Atreides, Neo rejects the path set for him (the Architect's "Golden Path" would have Neo - much like Leto II will do - give up his people for slaughter, in order ultimately to save them), though in Neo's case this has a happy ending, while Paul must die knowing that his son is following this horrible path for the most noble of goals.
The God-Emperor

In the end, Lynch's version of Paul's story is a disturbing tale of a young man caught up in his power and grasping godhood - a boy turned into a monster to free his people.

The Wachowskis have their "Paul" stuck in more of a tragedy, guided by fates into a role no-one could live in, ending in a sadness that wins humanity's freedom. In most ways, Paul's journey is shown much more truly and exhaustively in this version than in David Lynch's.

The Free Men
In order to present Paul's journey properly in their films, the Wachowski brothers found ways to "reflect" the world (and many of the themes) of Herbert's Dune novels in their story. One of the (seemingly) most obvious points of comparison are the Fremen.

As my synopses above have shown, the Fremen can be summed up like this: "A group of deliberately primitive, cave-dwelling people who worship [Paul/Neo] as their Messiah and rely on him to lead them into victory against their evil oppressors." There is more to them than that, but as far as their relationship with Paul is concerned this is a fairly accurate sum-up.

By now, readers of this essay should be able to recognize the extreme points of similarity between this description of Herbert's characters and the people of Zion in The Matrix. In this new trilogy, the people of Zion have rejected technology (for the most part - the philosophies start to get muddled in The Matrix: Reloaded, but for now let's stick with this description) and live humble lives in underground caverns (only by great restraint not referred to as "sietches"). Their religion (provided by their own Sayyadina - the Oracle) tells them of a chosen One who will have the power to manipulate the universe itself and free them from their enslavement.

It is obvious that Morpheus takes on the Stilgar role. He is the tough, deep-voiced, and wise leader of the "sietch" where Neo ends up. The closest supporter of Neo, and a leader in the underground community, he is Neo's closest friend and ally. Indeed, in many ways the relationship between Neo and Morpheus better reflects the Paul/Stilgar dynamic than either Lynch's Dune or the mini-series managed.

The Matrix's Fremen
In The Matrix: Reloaded there is a scene that almost blatantly cries out that Zion is meant to reflect the Fremen. When Morpheus stands up in a cave and preaches his religious message of the hope that Neo brings, the gathering devolves into a sexual/religious dance frenzy that looked like nothing so much as a Spice orgy. (This element of the Fremen never made it into Lynch's adapatation, of course, but the intensity and energy of the Matrix sietch orgy is far better realized than the stagy one in Frank Herbert's Dune on the SciFi Channel.) Indeed, it is so blatant that this moment was the one that opened my eyes to the parallels between Dune and The Matrix.

Of course, it is the larger societal status that bonds the Fremen to the people of Zion. It is one of the few failings of Frank Herbert that his naming of Paul's followers is so unabashedly blatant: "Fremen" = "free men". Of course, Zion is the last human city, populated by those who have escaped the confines of the Matrix and declared themselves as the only "free men" left on Earth. They are the proletariat, the overlooked masses of the common worker, who will uprise and overthrow the most hideous oppressors - for it is only this group who are truly free.

Lastly, some issue has been made of the statistically unnatural (today, at least) high percentage of black people among the inhabitants of Zion. Most of the free people seem to be of African descent, and some have wondered if there is a deeper underlying reason. Roger Ebert theorizes that the Wachowskis know that young audiences merely consider black people more "cool". I have in the past (rather politically incorrectly) wondered if we make a more personal connection to the theme of "slavery" when such a high percentage of the enslaved are black - if it seems somehow more relevant and real when it relates so strongly to something in our (regrettably recent) history.

But there is another possibility, of course. Frank Herbert's Fremen were rooted in Islamic culture and religion. Is it possible that the Wachowskis ultimately decided to take the same route for their "free men", choosing the racial background of their heroes to reflect the cultural history of Herbert's Fremen? Unlikely, perhaps, but notable

Levels of Control
One of the key themes in The Matrix: Reloaded is "Levels of Control". Neo talks about this with one of the council members in Zion, as they discuss their use of machines. Indeed, they all but quote Dune's classic: "He who can destroy a thing, controls a thing." They assure themselves that the computers which they use will never control them, because they have the power to destroy them. (For humans caught in the Matrix, this situation is reversed.)

His true nature revealed
Later on, Neo finds out through the Architect that instead of the One being the intrument of humanity's freedom, he is instead just one more level of control. The Architect designed the One as part of his plan to keep the Matrix running smoothly. (It is a complex and confusing situation, but essentially due to the non-linear nature of humanity, the One was an inevitable outcome so the Architect engineered him as a way to keep humanity in check and reduce the ability of Zion to rebel.) Even Neo himself is just a tool for the computers to keep humanity under their control.

This theme is of course central to Dune - indeed, without it Paul has no journey. Everything about the story is a tangled web of control. From the Harkonnens who use brute force to conquer, to the Fremen who control their own existence by holding loose reins, to the Bene Gesserit who not only have a physical form of control (the Voice), and have manipulated genetics for generations to produce their One (the Kwisatz Haderach), but they have set into the Universe their Missionaria Protectiva which is a system of religions which allows them to control other populations. Paul's power is one of control, but produces a loss of control. (Every time he sees the future, he is locking himself into that future and losing more individual control all the time.) The Matrix has greatly simplified this set-up, but has still used it as the basis for the struggle of the One. Without it, there is no journey of Muad'Dib.

All Natural
It should be obvious that one of the themes of both Dune and The Matrix is the emphasis on nature over machinery. Dune has its Butlerian Jihad, which produced rules that limit the use of machinery. The Matrix has its heroes rejecting machinery as it is the force that keeps man enslaved. (In this way, The Matrix seems to reflect the ancient story of the Butlerian Jihad more than the "modern" setting of Dune.) This is all tied in to the "control" theme, but also extends beyond it.

It is difficult to sum up the nature of this theme (for that, one really ought to read the Dune novels) but essentially the message is that the more technology we use, the less human we become. It is not merely a matter of control, but of the nature of man. Whereas Herbert's novels protray this through subtle sub-plots and agricultural musings, The Matrix (being, as it is, a film and therefore primarily visual in nature) shows this idea more upfront, in contrasting the inhuman nature of one caught in the machine world (bald, wet, covered in metal access ports) to the pure and natural human of Zion. Less subtle, but more appropriate for the nature of a movie.

Other Themes
There are, of course, other touchpoints of similarity between Dune and The Matrix, but many of them could be coincidental, or arising from parallel consideration of the similar premises.

Facing the future
Nonetheless, when one considers the portrayal of the futility (and, in Dune's case at least, downright evil nature) of a Messiah and how its essence is in human construct rather than divine providence, one cannot normally help but see a link.

Similarly, all the dealings with the nature of the future, seeing the future and what it means for the free will and destiny of mankind, are integral to both tales. Again, without this aspect we would not be able to have a portrayal of Paul's journey.

Most of these ideas managed to present themselves in Lynch's movie as well as the SciFi mini-series, besides making their way into the Matrix trilogy.

Final Comparison
It is clear then, looking through the comparison between The Matrix and the Dune novels, that essentially they have preserved Muad'Dib's story in a more complete way than David Lynch managed (or the SciFi channel with its longer runtime).

In the end, though, the Wachowskis' tale is muddled both in timeline, focus, and plot development. It is overall thematically unclear, quite inconsistent in tone (and pace), and ultimately (as many reviewers have noted) comes across (despite much philosophical pontificating) as rather shallow.

On the other hand, David Lynch's Dune (which jettisoned much of Paul's story and veered thematically into new territory) is more consistent in tone and theme. It is slow-paced (like the novel; unlike The Matrix's furious action), very moody, and moving. Artistically, David Lynch's movie is far more sound than those of the Wachowski brothers.

So, The Matrix in the end portrays Paul's story better than any official adaptation of Dune has yet done. But when it comes time to watch one of these tales, I'll take David Lynch's work of real art any time.

- JD Burton