: - ) ALL Cooper's Room Key - Room 315, The Great Northern

[OneMoreChapter]

Let's discuss Cooper's room key and why it's so different in the original series than in The Return!

A simple goof - prop/continuity error?
A meta in-joke?
A metaphysical or supernatural explanation involving the lodges?
Some combination of all or some of the above?

Here's a rare glimpse of the key in the original series (courtesy of @Mr. Reindeer here)

And here's Jade examining it in The Return (front and back):

An unlikely but fun explanation - Cooper spent so much of his time in Twin Peaks loudly and cheerily proclaiming that the Great Northern was a "clean place, reasonably priced" that Ben or one of his staff heard it and liked it around the time they also just happened to be placing orders for upgraded keys. Or Ben (or more likely Audrey - though she was in a coma so maybe not unless it was after she recovered) had them printed up as tribute to Cooper after he went missing.

 

[sneakydave]

Maybe the budget was so tight that they just picked up an existing piece of merchandise instead of fashioning a new one to look like the original.

I mean, they did have the blue rose task force sit in one room for half the show so money must have been an issue..

Seriously though, it IS an odd one. And is very meta. And another nod towards the potential unreality of what we are seeing. Im still not sure Cooper ever left the lodge.

 

[Tulpa]

@Mr. Reindeer, Is that the only time the key shows up in the original series?

 

[Rainwater]

Maybe the budget was so tight that they just picked up an existing piece of merchandise instead of fashioning a new one to look like the original.

I mean, they did have the blue rose task force sit in one room for half the show so money must have been an issue..

Seriously though, it IS an odd one. And is very meta. And another nod towards the potential unreality of what we are seeing. Im still not sure Cooper ever left the lodge.

Yeah, it looks like something you'd find on Etsy. It always just screamed "merchandise" to me, and seeing it in the show was jarring. It's certainly an.. interesting choice.

 

[Mr. Reindeer]

@Mr. Reindeer, Is that the only time the key shows up in the original series?

I believe so. I remember keeping a close eye out for it during my rewatch.

 

[MoondogJR]

Yeah, it looks like something you'd find on Etsy. It always just screamed "merchandise" to me, and seeing it in the show was jarring. It's certainly an.. interesting choice.

Yep: Twin peaks key | Etsy BE

 

[AXX°N N.]

It always just screamed "merchandise" to me, and seeing it in the show was jarring. It's certainly an.. interesting choice.

A replica was in fact sold immediately after on the official Showtime store.

It seems more in-line with actual hotel key fobs compared to the briefly seen original. Lynch seems to have a liking for them, as around 2011 he designed one that was included in a special edition of Chrysta Bell's This Train album. You can see it in 'more images' here: Chrysta Bell - This Train

Looks pretty similar, so he probably designed the TP one.

 

[SaltedGinger]

Continuity doesn't seem to be David's strong suit, especially in regards to Twin Peaks.

 

[Tulpa]

This isn't a big deal at all. The key wasn't a major or even minor factor before.

If the one glimpse we get is purely incidental (and accidental?) it serves no one to constrain themselves in the writing stage because of a few frame of footage. Frames showing a key fob that's only really discernable in the 2014 restorations anyway. And even then, barely. You have to really try to make out the key design in the original series.

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Not even Marvel Studios go this far to maintain continuity. Hogwarts Castle's entire architectural structure changed every year in the Harry Potter series. And those aren't series that lean into narrative/logical/mnemonic/biographical inconsistencies the way Twin Peaks does in each medium it occupies: television, film, books.

Very interesting to know and a great bit of trivia. Would love to know more backstory on the original key (and the new one!).

But it's not something to be upset over.

 

[Rainwater]

A replica was in fact sold immediately after on the official Showtime store.

It seems more in-line with actual hotel key fobs compared to the briefly seen original. Lynch seems to have a liking for them, as around 2011 he designed one that was included in a special edition of Chrysta Bell's This Train album. You can see it in 'more images' here: Chrysta Bell - This Train

Looks pretty similar, so he probably designed the TP one.

Interesting, yeah, that does look very similar.

The thing that always stood out to me the most is the Cooper quote on there that Jonah already talked about. I wonder what the intention was, if in Lynch's mind there's an "in-world" explanation, or if it's an intentional meta/4th wall thing, or if he even gave it much thought at all.

 

[Mr. Reindeer]

This isn't a big deal at all. The key wasn't a major or even minor factor before.

If the one glimpse we get is purely incidental (and accidental?) it serves no one to constrain themselves in the writing stage because of a few frame of footage. Frames showing a key fob that's only really discernable in the 2014 restorations anyway. And even then, barely. You have to really try to make out the key design in the original series.

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Not even Marvel Studios go this far to maintain continuity. Hogwarts Castle's entire architectural structure changed every year in the Harry Potter series. And those aren't series that lean into narrative/logical/mnemonic/biographical inconsistencies the way Twin Peaks does in each medium it occupies: television, film, books.

Very interesting to know and a great bit of trivia. Would love to know more backstory on the original key (and the new one!).

But it's not something to be upset over.

I get the sense that what bugs most people is not so much the lack of continuity, which as you say is completely negligible in the grand scheme, but the bizarre “winking”/referential nature of the prop used in TR. I certainly never would have even given the keychain a moment’s thought during my rewatch, if Lynch’s use of such an intentionally attention-grabbing prop in the new show hadn’t piqued my interest. It’s just such an odd, distracting choice, which in turn made me curious whether or not the keychain had ever even appeared on the old show.

 

[Tulpa]

I get the sense that what bugs most people is not so much the lack of continuity, which as you say is completely negligible in the grand scheme, but the bizarre “winking”/referential nature of the prop used in TR. I certainly never would have even given the keychain a moment’s thought during my rewatch, if Lynch’s use of such an intentionally attention-grabbing prop in the new show hadn’t piqued my interest. It’s just such an odd, distracting choice, which in turn made me curious whether or not the keychain had ever even appeared on the old show.

Yeah I was surprised to find it wasn't in the original. It was played as if it was.

 

[Dom]

I always take the view that the original key fob was what the key looked like when Twin Peaks was a network TV series and the new key fob is what it looks like when The Return was a cable series. So, if the original series had been a cable series, they key would have looked like the one in The Return. It might have looked different in FWWM too! Such is the way reality bends between the different media!

 

[Tulpa]

For me the odd thing is the slogan. Clean Place Reasonably Priced is a Cooper thing not a Great Northern Hotel jingle. Why would it be on a keychain produced before he knew where Twin Peaks even was?

If you don't want to merely read it as an easter egg then I guess it gives some credence to the "season three was all in Cooper's head" theories.

 

[Larry Lee Moniz]

Interesting, yeah, that does look very similar.

The thing that always stood out to me the most is the Cooper quote on there that Jonah already talked about. I wonder what the intention was, if in Lynch's mind there's an "in-world" explanation, or if it's an intentional meta/4th wall thing, or if he even gave it much thought at all.

I actually own one of these "Showtime" keychains. It is exactly like the one shown in "The Return."

 

[Jordan Cole]

I do too! I love that keychain. It's for my car keys. Always makes me happy!