Wild Palms
Encyclopedia
Wild Palms is a six-hour mini-series, which first aired in May 1993 on the ABC network
in the United States
. Written by Bruce Wagner
, who (with Oliver Stone
) was also the executive producer, Wild Palms was a sci-fi
drama
about the dangers of brainwashing through technology
and drugs. It was based on a comic strip
written by Wagner and illustrated by Julian Allen
first published in 1990 in Details magazine
. The mini-series starred James Belushi
, Dana Delany
, Robert Loggia
, and Angie Dickinson
. The episodes were directed by four people known more for their feature film
s: Kathryn Bigelow
, Keith Gordon
, Peter Hewitt
, and Phil Joanou
.
in 2007 in Los Angeles
, living with his wife Grace, a formidable suburban housewife
and boutique owner, and their two children: Coty, television
addict and upcoming sitcom actor, and Deirdre, a slow developer who has yet to speak a word. Wyckoff's mother-in-law, Josie, is a socialite radiant with charisma.
At night, Wyckoff is plagued by strange dreams in which he is pursued by a rhinoceros
and has visions of palm trees.
One day, he is visited by a former lover, Paige Katz, who asks for his help in tracking down her son Peter, who disappeared five years earlier. As Paige works for the Wild Palms Group, which Wyckoff's firm is going up against in court, their meetings raise suspicions and cost Wyckoff a promotion. After this, he gladly accepts the job offered to him by Paige's employer, Senator Tony Kreutzer, as head of the business department of his television station Channel 3, though he is puzzled by the Senator's role as the founder of the Synthiotics religion
and philosophy of New Realism.
Kreutzer plans to use a new virtual reality
technology developed by company Mimecom in Channel 3 broadcasts, so that the action will take place in the living room of the viewers, who will be able to interact with the actors. The first program of this format will be Church Windows, a sitcom including Wyckoff's son.
However, all is not well in the world. In a restaurant with his old college friend Tommy, Wyckoff sees another patron forcibly dragged away by a group of men. Strangely, no one else pays any heed to it. Wyckoff witnesses similar events happening with police around town. Though disturbed by this, Harry has no feelings of empathy for the victim, but finds himself "rooting for" the attackers, without knowing why. When Coty goes to stay with Josie, she asks if he has had "the rhinoceros dream." When he responds that he has, she tells him to keep it secret, since it means he is special.
Then, in Grace's presence, Deirdre utters her first words: "Everything must go." The peculiarity of this is furthered when Senator Kreutzer tells Wyckoff of a group called the Friends who killed his father shortly after the man had a fire sale
, with a banner saying "everything must go." At a dinner party, Grace and Wyckoff run into Tabba (a co-star of their son) and her "consort", Tully Woiwode. Tully is there with his sister Maisy, whom Harry recognizes as the woman who had been dining with the man who was abducted in the restaurant. When Wyckoff confronts her, she denies this.
Wyckoff continues to be stunned by the bizarre occurrences going on around him. Grace sinks into depression over what she fears is a relationship between her husband and Paige; she and Wyckoff separately learn about the two political groups: the "Friends", and their enemies, the fascistoid "Fathers", who had been known to steal the children of their enemies. Grace comes to fear that Coty is not her son, but one who was put in his place when her real son was abducted.
Wyckoff slowly discovers that the Fathers, led by Josie, the Senator and Paige, are developing a grand plan involving the Mimecom technology and a hallucinogenic drug called Mimezine, and that the Friends — one of whom is Grace's incarcerated father, Eli Levitt - are trying to fight back.
From this start, a deadly web of intrigue, betrayal and murder surrounds Wyckoff.
.
described the comic strip that his mini-series was based on:
Executive producer Oliver Stone explained why Wagner's Wild Palms comic strip caught his eye:
:
The New York Times
called it "terrific" and a "truly wild six-hour mini-series" resembling "nothing so much as an acid freak's fantasy, drenched in paranoia and more pop-culture allusions than a Dennis Miller
monologue." It was described as "rich and insinuating as a good theatrical film
, albeit harder to follow" and said to "vibrate with an inventiveness that rarely flags."
Readers of the British trade weekly Broadcast were much more negative, calling it one of the worst television shows ever exported by the U.S. to the U.K.. It placed fourth on their list, exceeded only by Baywatch
, The Anna Nicole Show
and The Dukes of Hazzard
. TV Guide
also blasted it, offering the interpretation that Oliver Stone
was condemning television while covertly lauding cinematic films.
laserdisc
in March 1995 and on VHS
in multiple releases. It was released in Region 1 and Region 4 DVD
format in October 2005 and in Region 2 in March 2008.
The series was originally released on VHS in the UK by BBC Video in 1993.
before the series aired. It included time lines, secret letters, and character biographies. ABC, concerned that viewers might get "hopelessly lost in the tangled story line", arranged for
the primer
to be published. It also included writing supposedly from the “world of the series." Contributors included:
author William Gibson
has a cameo appearance
as himself. When the author of Neuromancer
is introduced as the man who invented the term "Cyberspace", he remarks, "and they won't let me forget it." Oliver Stone also has a cameo, in which he appears as himself - being interviewed on television in 2007 - after the release of files pertinent to the assassination of John F. Kennedy
reveal that Stone's film, JFK
, was right. Stone also referred to "the late Jack Valenti
" in the scene in the 1992 movie. Stone hired musician, body-modification pioneer, and occultist Genesis P-Orridge
as a consultant for the series.
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Written by Bruce Wagner
Bruce Wagner
Bruce Alan Wagner is an American novelist, actor, screenwriter, producer, and director based in Los Angeles known for his acerbic view of the Hollywood entertainment industry.-Personal life:...
, who (with Oliver Stone
Oliver Stone
William Oliver Stone is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Stone became well known in the late 1980s and the early 1990s for directing a series of films about the Vietnam War, for which he had previously participated as an infantry soldier. His work frequently focuses on...
) was also the executive producer, Wild Palms was a sci-fi
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
about the dangers of brainwashing through technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
and drugs. It was based on a comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
written by Wagner and illustrated by Julian Allen
Julian Allen
Julian Allen was a British-American illustrator. He has covered various "secret history" stories, including the Watergate scandal and the Yom Kippur War...
first published in 1990 in Details magazine
Details (magazine)
Details is an American monthly men's magazine published by Condé Nast Publications, founded in 1982. Though primarily a magazine devoted to fashion and lifestyle, Details also features reports on relevant social and political issues.-History:...
. The mini-series starred James Belushi
James Belushi
James Adam "Jim" Belushi is an American actor, comedian, and musician. He is the younger brother of comic actor John Belushi.-Early life:Belushi was born in Chicago...
, Dana Delany
Dana Delany
Dana Welles Delany is an American film, stage, and television actress, producer, host and health activist.After various roles in the early career, Delany garnered her first leading role in 1987 in the short-lived NBC sitcom Sweet Surrender and achieved wider fame in 1988–1991 as Colleen McMurphy...
, Robert Loggia
Robert Loggia
Robert Loggia is an American film and television actor and director.- Early life :Loggia, an Italian American, was born on Staten Island, the son of Elena Blandino, a homemaker, and Benjamin Loggia, a shoemaker, both of whom were born in Sicily, Italy...
, and Angie Dickinson
Angie Dickinson
Angie Dickinson is an American actress. She has appeared in more than fifty films, including Rio Bravo, Ocean's Eleven, Dressed to Kill and Pay It Forward, and starred on television as Sergeant Suzanne "Pepper" Anderson on the 1970s crime series Police Woman.-Early life:Dickinson, the second of...
. The episodes were directed by four people known more for their feature film
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
s: Kathryn Bigelow
Kathryn Bigelow
Kathryn Ann Bigelow is an American film director. Her best-known films are the cult horror film Near Dark , the surfer/bank robbery action picture Point Break , the science fiction/film noir Strange Days , the historical/mystery film The Weight of Water and the war drama The Hurt Locker...
, Keith Gordon
Keith Gordon
Keith Gordon is an American actor and film director.-Life and career:Gordon was born in New York City, the son of Barbara, an actress, and Mark Gordon, an actor and stage director. He grew up in an atheist Jewish family and was inspired to become an actor at the age of twelve, after seeing James...
, Peter Hewitt
Peter Hewitt (film director)
-Filmography:*The Maiden Heist *Chuckle Bears *Zoom **aka Zoom: Academy for Superheroes*Garfield **aka Garfield: The Movie*Thunderpants *Princess of Thieves...
, and Phil Joanou
Phil Joanou
Phil Joanou is an American film director. He is also well known for his work with Irish rock band U2, having directed their rockumentary/live tape Rattle and Hum, one of three videos filmed for "One", and the video for "All Because of You"...
.
Plot synopsis
Harry Wyckoff is a successful patent attorneyPatent attorney
A patent attorney is an attorney who has the specialized qualifications necessary for representing clients in obtaining patents and acting in all matters and procedures relating to patent law and practice, such as filing an opposition...
in 2007 in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, living with his wife Grace, a formidable suburban housewife
Housewife
Housewife is a term used to describe a married woman with household responsibilities who is not employed outside the home. Merriam Webster describes a housewife as a married woman who is in charge of her household...
and boutique owner, and their two children: Coty, television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
addict and upcoming sitcom actor, and Deirdre, a slow developer who has yet to speak a word. Wyckoff's mother-in-law, Josie, is a socialite radiant with charisma.
At night, Wyckoff is plagued by strange dreams in which he is pursued by a rhinoceros
Rhinoceros
Rhinoceros , also known as rhino, is a group of five extant species of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. Two of these species are native to Africa and three to southern Asia....
and has visions of palm trees.
One day, he is visited by a former lover, Paige Katz, who asks for his help in tracking down her son Peter, who disappeared five years earlier. As Paige works for the Wild Palms Group, which Wyckoff's firm is going up against in court, their meetings raise suspicions and cost Wyckoff a promotion. After this, he gladly accepts the job offered to him by Paige's employer, Senator Tony Kreutzer, as head of the business department of his television station Channel 3, though he is puzzled by the Senator's role as the founder of the Synthiotics religion
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
and philosophy of New Realism.
Kreutzer plans to use a new virtual reality
Virtual reality
Virtual reality , also known as virtuality, is a term that applies to computer-simulated environments that can simulate physical presence in places in the real world, as well as in imaginary worlds...
technology developed by company Mimecom in Channel 3 broadcasts, so that the action will take place in the living room of the viewers, who will be able to interact with the actors. The first program of this format will be Church Windows, a sitcom including Wyckoff's son.
However, all is not well in the world. In a restaurant with his old college friend Tommy, Wyckoff sees another patron forcibly dragged away by a group of men. Strangely, no one else pays any heed to it. Wyckoff witnesses similar events happening with police around town. Though disturbed by this, Harry has no feelings of empathy for the victim, but finds himself "rooting for" the attackers, without knowing why. When Coty goes to stay with Josie, she asks if he has had "the rhinoceros dream." When he responds that he has, she tells him to keep it secret, since it means he is special.
Then, in Grace's presence, Deirdre utters her first words: "Everything must go." The peculiarity of this is furthered when Senator Kreutzer tells Wyckoff of a group called the Friends who killed his father shortly after the man had a fire sale
Fire sale
A fire sale is the sale of goods at extremely discounted prices, typically when the seller faces bankruptcy or other impending distress. The term may originally have been based on the sale of goods at a heavy discount due to fire damage...
, with a banner saying "everything must go." At a dinner party, Grace and Wyckoff run into Tabba (a co-star of their son) and her "consort", Tully Woiwode. Tully is there with his sister Maisy, whom Harry recognizes as the woman who had been dining with the man who was abducted in the restaurant. When Wyckoff confronts her, she denies this.
Wyckoff continues to be stunned by the bizarre occurrences going on around him. Grace sinks into depression over what she fears is a relationship between her husband and Paige; she and Wyckoff separately learn about the two political groups: the "Friends", and their enemies, the fascistoid "Fathers", who had been known to steal the children of their enemies. Grace comes to fear that Coty is not her son, but one who was put in his place when her real son was abducted.
Wyckoff slowly discovers that the Fathers, led by Josie, the Senator and Paige, are developing a grand plan involving the Mimecom technology and a hallucinogenic drug called Mimezine, and that the Friends — one of whom is Grace's incarcerated father, Eli Levitt - are trying to fight back.
From this start, a deadly web of intrigue, betrayal and murder surrounds Wyckoff.
Cast
- James BelushiJames BelushiJames Adam "Jim" Belushi is an American actor, comedian, and musician. He is the younger brother of comic actor John Belushi.-Early life:Belushi was born in Chicago...
as Harry Wyckoff - Dana DelanyDana DelanyDana Welles Delany is an American film, stage, and television actress, producer, host and health activist.After various roles in the early career, Delany garnered her first leading role in 1987 in the short-lived NBC sitcom Sweet Surrender and achieved wider fame in 1988–1991 as Colleen McMurphy...
as Grace Wyckoff - Ben SavageBen SavageBennett Joseph "Ben" Savage is an American film and TV actor and child star of late 1980s and 1990s. Savage is best known for his role as lead character Cory Matthews on the TV sitcom Boy Meets World from 1993 to 2000....
as Coty Wyckoff - Robert LoggiaRobert LoggiaRobert Loggia is an American film and television actor and director.- Early life :Loggia, an Italian American, was born on Staten Island, the son of Elena Blandino, a homemaker, and Benjamin Loggia, a shoemaker, both of whom were born in Sicily, Italy...
as Senator Tony Kreutzer - Angie DickinsonAngie DickinsonAngie Dickinson is an American actress. She has appeared in more than fifty films, including Rio Bravo, Ocean's Eleven, Dressed to Kill and Pay It Forward, and starred on television as Sergeant Suzanne "Pepper" Anderson on the 1970s crime series Police Woman.-Early life:Dickinson, the second of...
as Josie Ito - David WarnerDavid Warner (actor)David Warner is an English actor who is known for playing both romantic leads and sinister or villainous characters, both in film and animation...
as Eli Levitt - Kim CattrallKim CattrallKim Victoria Cattrall is an English actress. She is known for her role as Samantha Jones in the HBO comedy/romance series Sex and the City, and for her leading roles in the 1980s films Police Academy, Big Trouble in Little China, Mannequin, and Porky's...
as Paige Katz - Ernie HudsonErnie HudsonErnest Lee "Ernie" Hudson is an American actor known for his roles as Winston Zeddemore in the Ghostbusters film series, Sergeant Albrecht in The Crow, and Warden Leo Glynn on HBO's Oz.-Early life:...
as Tommy - Nick MancusoNick MancusoNicodemo Antonio Massimo "Nick" Mancuso is a Canadian cinema and stage actor.-Career:Mancuso was born in Mammola, Calabria, Italy and immigrated to Canada in 1956...
as Tully Woiwode - Bebe NeuwirthBebe NeuwirthBeatrice "Bebe" Neuwirth is an American actress, singer and dancer. She has worked in television and is known for her portrayal of Dr. Lilith Sternin, Dr. Frasier Crane's wife , on both the TV sitcom Cheers , and its spin-off Frasier...
as Tabba Schwartzkopf - Aaron Michael MetchikAaron Michael MetchikAaron Michael Metchik, also credited as Aaron Metchik, is an American actor, writer, and director, known for his role as Steven Floyd Torkelson on The Torkelsons.-Biography:...
as Peter Katz - Brad DourifBrad DourifBradford Claude "Brad" Dourif is an American film and television actor who gained early fame for his portrayal of Billy Bibbit in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and has since appeared in a number of memorable roles, including the voice of Chucky in the Child's Play franchise, Younger Brother in...
as Chickie Levitt - Charles HallahanCharles HallahanCharles John Hallahan was an American film, television and stage actor best known for his performances in Going in Style, The Thing, and Dante's Peak.-Life and career:...
as Gavin - Robert MorseRobert MorseRobert Morse is an American actor and singer. Morse is best known for his appearances in musicals and plays on Broadway. He has also acted in movies and television shows. His best known role is that of J. Pierrepont Finch in the 1961 Broadway musical, and 1967 film How to Succeed in Business...
as Chap Starfall - Beata PozniakBeata PozniakBeata Poźniak is a Polish-American actress, film director, painter, fashion model and activist who is now based out of the United States.-Biography:...
as Tambor - Bob GuntonBob GuntonRobert Patrick "Bob" Gunton, Jr. is an American actor. He is known for playing strict, authoritarian characters, with his best known roles as Warden Samuel Norton in the 1994 prison film The Shawshank Redemption, Chief George Earle in 1993's Demolition Man, and President Juan Peron in the original...
as Dr. Tobias Schenkl - Charles RocketCharles RocketCharles Rocket was an American film and television actor, notable for his tenure as a cast member on Saturday Night Live as well as for his appearances as the villain Nicholas Andre in the film Dumb and Dumber; as Dave Dennison, the father in Disney's Hocus Pocus.-Early life and career:Rocket was...
as Stitch
Influences
The futuristic self-help movement Synthiotics seems to be Wagner's caricature of Scientology founder L. Ron HubbardL. Ron Hubbard
Lafayette Ronald Hubbard , better known as L. Ron Hubbard , was an American pulp fiction author and religious leader who founded the Church of Scientology...
.
Episodes
ABC aired the mini-series over five consecutive nights though it was originally designed to air as six weekly episodes:- Everything Must Go (90 minutes) - directed by Peter HewittPeter Hewitt (film director)-Filmography:*The Maiden Heist *Chuckle Bears *Zoom **aka Zoom: Academy for Superheroes*Garfield **aka Garfield: The Movie*Thunderpants *Princess of Thieves...
- The Floating World (45 minutes) - directed by Keith GordonKeith GordonKeith Gordon is an American actor and film director.-Life and career:Gordon was born in New York City, the son of Barbara, an actress, and Mark Gordon, an actor and stage director. He grew up in an atheist Jewish family and was inspired to become an actor at the age of twelve, after seeing James...
- Rising Sons (45 minutes) - directed by Kathryn BigelowKathryn BigelowKathryn Ann Bigelow is an American film director. Her best-known films are the cult horror film Near Dark , the surfer/bank robbery action picture Point Break , the science fiction/film noir Strange Days , the historical/mystery film The Weight of Water and the war drama The Hurt Locker...
- Hungry Ghosts (45 minutes) - directed by Keith Gordon
- Hello I Must Be Going (45 minutes) - directed by Phil JoanouPhil JoanouPhil Joanou is an American film director. He is also well known for his work with Irish rock band U2, having directed their rockumentary/live tape Rattle and Hum, one of three videos filmed for "One", and the video for "All Because of You"...
The comic strip
Creator Bruce WagnerBruce Wagner
Bruce Alan Wagner is an American novelist, actor, screenwriter, producer, and director based in Los Angeles known for his acerbic view of the Hollywood entertainment industry.-Personal life:...
described the comic strip that his mini-series was based on:
- "I used the cartoon as a sort of surreal diary. It was dreamlike and hallucinatory. I put my friends in it. I put famous people in it. I didn't care about the story. It was a tone poem."
Executive producer Oliver Stone explained why Wagner's Wild Palms comic strip caught his eye:
- "It was so syncreticSyncretismSyncretism is the combining of different beliefs, often while melding practices of various schools of thought. The term means "combining", but see below for the origin of the word...
. It was such a fractured view of the world. Everything and anything could happen. Maybe your wife isn't your wife, maybe your kids aren't your kids. It really appealed to me."
Reception
Three of the stars of the mini-series characterized it for Entertainment WeeklyEntertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
:
- Jim Belushi: "It's very tough, very challenging—a lot of viewers probably won't dig it. I shot the show for 12 weeks, looped it, watched it, and there are still things I'm not catching."
- Dana Delany: "It's a futuristic melodrama with a dash of virtual reality. You shouldn't even try to make sense of it. Just let it wash over you, enjoy each scene, and by the end it'll make sense."
- Robert Loggia: 'For me, the piece is reminiscent of Elizabethan blood-and-thunder plays like The Duchess of MalfiThe Duchess of MalfiThe Duchess of Malfi is a macabre, tragic play written by the English dramatist John Webster in 1612–13. It was first performed privately at the Blackfriars Theatre, then before a more general audience at The Globe, in 1613-14...
. Or a Greek play like MedeaMedea (play)Medea is an ancient Greek tragedy written by Euripides, based upon the myth of Jason and Medea and first produced in 431 BC. The plot centers on the barbarian protagonist as she finds her position in the Greek world threatened, and the revenge she takes against her husband Jason who has betrayed...
. Plays where you're dealing with incest and treachery and tearing somebody's eyes out."
The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
called it "terrific" and a "truly wild six-hour mini-series" resembling "nothing so much as an acid freak's fantasy, drenched in paranoia and more pop-culture allusions than a Dennis Miller
Dennis Miller
Dennis Miller is an American stand-up comedian, political commentator, actor, sports commentator, and television and radio personality. He is known for his critical assessments laced with pop culture references...
monologue." It was described as "rich and insinuating as a good theatrical film
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
, albeit harder to follow" and said to "vibrate with an inventiveness that rarely flags."
Readers of the British trade weekly Broadcast were much more negative, calling it one of the worst television shows ever exported by the U.S. to the U.K.. It placed fourth on their list, exceeded only by Baywatch
Baywatch
Baywatch is an American action drama series about the Los Angeles County Lifeguards who patrol the beaches of Los Angeles County, California, starring David Hasselhoff. The show ran in its original title and format from 1989 to 1999, sans the 1990-1991 season, of which it was not in production...
, The Anna Nicole Show
The Anna Nicole Show
The Anna Nicole Show is an American reality sitcom starring former model and Playboy Playmate Anna Nicole Smith. The series debuted on August 4, 2002 on the E! entertainment television network and ran for two seasons.-Synopsis:...
and The Dukes of Hazzard
The Dukes of Hazzard
The Dukes of Hazzard is an American television series that aired on the CBS television network from 1979 to 1985.The series was inspired by the 1975 film Moonrunners, which was also created by Gy Waldron and had many identical or similar character names and concepts.- Overview :The Dukes of Hazzard...
. TV Guide
TV Guide
TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...
also blasted it, offering the interpretation that Oliver Stone
Oliver Stone
William Oliver Stone is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Stone became well known in the late 1980s and the early 1990s for directing a series of films about the Vietnam War, for which he had previously participated as an infantry soldier. His work frequently focuses on...
was condemning television while covertly lauding cinematic films.
Video releases
Wild Palms was released on CLVConstant linear velocity
In optical storage, constant linear velocity is a qualifier for the rated speed of an optical disc drive, and may also be applied to the writing speed of recordable discs. CLV implies that the angular velocity varies during an operation, as contrasted with CAV modes...
laserdisc
Laserdisc
LaserDisc was a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. Initially licensed, sold, and marketed as MCA DiscoVision in North America in 1978, the technology was previously referred to interally as Optical Videodisc System, Reflective Optical Videodisc, Laser Optical...
in March 1995 and on VHS
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
in multiple releases. It was released in Region 1 and Region 4 DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
format in October 2005 and in Region 2 in March 2008.
The series was originally released on VHS in the UK by BBC Video in 1993.
Book
A book, The Wild Palms Reader was published by St. Martin's PressSt. Martin's Press
St. Martin's Press is a book publisher headquartered in the Flatiron Building in New York City. Currently, St. Martin's Press is one of the United States' largest publishers, bringing to the public some 700 titles a year under eight imprints, which include St. Martin's Press , St...
before the series aired. It included time lines, secret letters, and character biographies. ABC, concerned that viewers might get "hopelessly lost in the tangled story line", arranged for
the primer
Primer (textbook)
A primer is a first textbook for teaching of reading, such as an alphabet book or basal reader. The word also is used more broadly to refer to any book that presents the most basic elements of a subject....
to be published. It also included writing supposedly from the “world of the series." Contributors included:
- Norman SpinradNorman SpinradNorman Richard Spinrad is an American science fiction author.Born in New York City, Spinrad is a graduate of the Bronx High School of Science. In 1957 he entered City College of New York and graduated in 1961 with a Bachelor of Science degree as a pre-law major. In 1966 he moved to San Francisco,...
- radical sci-fi writer of Bug Jack BarronBug Jack BarronBug Jack Barron is a 1969 science fiction novel written by Norman Spinrad, and was nominated for the 1970 Hugo awards.The book was serialised in the British New Wave science fiction magazine New Worlds during Michael Moorcock's editorship...
& the Adolf HitlerAdolf HitlerAdolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
"novel" The Iron DreamThe Iron DreamThe Iron Dream is a metafictional 1972 alternate history novel by Norman Spinrad.The book has a nested narrative that tells a story within a story. On the surface, the novel presents an unexceptional pulp, post-apocalypse science fiction action tale entitled Lord of the Swastika... - Genesis P. Orridge - Psychic TVPsychic TVPsychic TV or PTV, is a video art and music group that primarily performs psychedelic, punk, electronic and experimental music...
, Throbbing GristleThrobbing GristleThrobbing Gristle were an English industrial, avant-garde music and visual arts group that evolved from the performance art group COUM Transmissions... - E. Howard HuntE. Howard HuntEverette Howard Hunt, Jr. was an American intelligence officer and writer. Hunt served for many years as a CIA officer. Hunt, with G...
- Nixon era scandal, writer of spy/sci-fi novels - William GibsonWilliam GibsonWilliam Gibson is an American-Canadian science fiction author.William Gibson may also refer to:-Association football:*Will Gibson , Scottish footballer...
(who appears as himself in the series) - Poet - Brenda LaurelBrenda LaurelBrenda Laurel is a pioneering writer, researcher, designer and entrepreneur in the fields of human-computer interaction, interactive narrative and cultural aspects of technology ....
- Virtual reality consultant on the mini-series - Spain RodriguezSpain RodriguezManuel Rodriguez , better known as Spain or Spain Rodriguez, is an American underground cartoonist who created the character Trashman. His experiences on the road with the biker gang, the Road Vultures, provided inspiration for his work, as did his left-wing politics.-Biography:Born in Buffalo, New...
- Underground 60’s comics artist illustrates the Mimecom backstory - Hans MoravecHans MoravecHans Moravec is an adjunct faculty member at the Robotics Institute of Carnegie Mellon University. He is known for his work on robotics, artificial intelligence, and writings on the impact of technology. Moravec also is a futurist with many of his publications and predictions focusing on...
- The science of Wild Palms, backdated to the 70’s and an email conversion between the fathers of two characters
Cameos
CyberpunkCyberpunk
Cyberpunk is a postmodern and science fiction genre noted for its focus on "high tech and low life." The name is a portmanteau of cybernetics and punk, and was originally coined by Bruce Bethke as the title of his short story "Cyberpunk," published in 1983...
author William Gibson
William Gibson
William Gibson is an American-Canadian science fiction author.William Gibson may also refer to:-Association football:*Will Gibson , Scottish footballer...
has a cameo appearance
Cameo appearance
A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...
as himself. When the author of Neuromancer
Neuromancer
Neuromancer is a 1984 novel by William Gibson, a seminal work in the cyberpunk genre and the first winner of the science-fiction "triple crown" — the Nebula Award, the Philip K. Dick Award, and the Hugo Award. It was Gibson's debut novel and the beginning of the Sprawl trilogy...
is introduced as the man who invented the term "Cyberspace", he remarks, "and they won't let me forget it." Oliver Stone also has a cameo, in which he appears as himself - being interviewed on television in 2007 - after the release of files pertinent to the assassination of John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
reveal that Stone's film, JFK
JFK (film)
JFK is a 1991 American film directed by Oliver Stone. It examines the events leading to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and alleged subsequent cover-up, through the eyes of former New Orleans district attorney Jim Garrison .Garrison filed charges against New Orleans businessman Clay...
, was right. Stone also referred to "the late Jack Valenti
Jack Valenti
Jack Joseph Valenti was a long-time president of the Motion Picture Association of America. During his 38-year tenure in the MPAA, he created the MPAA film rating system, and he was generally regarded as one of the most influential pro-copyright lobbyists in the world...
" in the scene in the 1992 movie. Stone hired musician, body-modification pioneer, and occultist Genesis P-Orridge
Genesis P-Orridge
Genesis Breyer P-Orridge is an English singer-songwriter, musician, writer and artist. P-Orridge's early confrontational performance work in COUM Transmissions in the late 1960s and early 1970s along with the industrial band Throbbing Gristle, which dealt with subjects such as prostitution,...
as a consultant for the series.
Poetry
The series includes references to the following poetry:- "The Palm at the End of the Mind", by Wallace StevensWallace StevensWallace Stevens was an American Modernist poet. He was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, educated at Harvard and then New York Law School, and spent most of his life working as a lawyer for the Hartford insurance company in Connecticut.His best-known poems include "Anecdote of the Jar",...
is used as a mantra. - "Running to Paradise," by W. B. YeatsWilliam Butler YeatsWilliam Butler Yeats was an Irish poet and playwright, and one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature. A pillar of both the Irish and British literary establishments, in his later years he served as an Irish Senator for two terms...
, is quoted by Senator Kreutzer in conversation with Harry Wyckoff: "The wind is old and still at play / While I must hurry upon my way, / For I am running to Paradise" - "The Hollow MenThe Hollow MenThe Hollow Men is a major poem by T. S. Eliot. Its themes are, like many of Eliot's poems, overlapping and fragmentary, but it is recognised to be concerned most with post-World War I Europe under the Treaty of Versailles , the difficulty of hope and religious conversion, and, as some critics...
" by T. S. EliotT. S. EliotThomas Stearns "T. S." Eliot OM was a playwright, literary critic, and arguably the most important English-language poet of the 20th century. Although he was born an American he moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 and was naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39.The poem that made his...
features Kreutzer's last words "This is the way the world ends / Not with a bang but a whimper". - "O Captain! My Captain!O Captain! My Captain!"O Captain! My Captain!" is an extended metaphor poem written in 1865 by Walt Whitman, concerning the death of American president Abraham Lincoln.-Analysis:...
" by Walt WhitmanWalt WhitmanWalter "Walt" Whitman was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse...
is repeatedly alluded to and recited after the Fathers' demise.