Beyond the Alley of the Dolls Speculation Thread

We'll have answers, of a sort, to these questions in our next chapter. Until then, my friends, sleep well.

Every phrase that the Narrator has said in the trailers to the Devil's Playhouse episodes was actually lifted from the very end of the games; All those phrases are actually teasers to the next episode. My question is, what does our enigmatic host mean by "Sleep well?" Will Sam be hit in the head with a blackjack and dragged to a laboratory (perhaps like the image in the leftmost painting in the trailer), and tied to an operating table before a mad scientist takes his DNA to develop the Sam clones? Or perhaps the Sam clones have already been developed, and are dormant in cryogenic chambers until the next episode?

It's never too early for speculation, my friends, and we'll have some more evidence to go on once Max's Brain is available online. In the meantime, let's investigate and speculate together, and see who will reach the truth first, about the Playhouse of the Bizarre...
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Comments

  • edited June 2010
    I don't think we have much context to work with right now.
  • edited June 2010
    Nokia out gas
  • edited June 2010
    Well, one episode is entitled "the city that dares not sleep" isn't it? Maybe there is a sleep-related threat about to arrive or something. Or really, could just be an expression, too.

    I don't think it all comes from the end though. I think some of it comes from the beginning of the episode, some from the end, the way it was for Tomb of Sammun-Mak.
  • edited June 2010
    Speculating won't serve any practical purpose. It's Telltale so we know it's going to be awesome. Much better to be surprised and enjoy the content when it is released.
  • edited June 2010
    Avistew wrote: »
    Well, one episode is entitled "the city that dares not sleep" isn't it? Maybe there is a sleep-related threat about to arrive or something. Or really, could just be an expression, too.

    I think Kane has the idea
    kane wrote: »
    Knock out gas
  • edited June 2010
    Avistew wrote: »
    I don't think it all comes from the end though. I think some of it comes from the beginning of the episode, some from the end, the way it was for Tomb of Sammun-Mak.

    Sorry, I meant "every phrase from the end of the trailers" is actually used in the end of the episode. "Prepare yourself for an epic comedy saga delivered in five monthly episodes" was used at the end of The Penal Zone, if I remember correctly, and "Keep your hands and arms inside the vehicle at all times. The ride's about to get...twisty!" was used at the end of Tomb of Sammun-Mak (This I remember correctly).

    Also, I heard The Highway has a review copy of They Stole Max's Brain. Does this mean we should take his comment about the knock-out gas seriously?
  • edited June 2010
    Well, considering every title has been taken literally so far, there's probably going to an Alley of the Dolls, and we're probably going to go beyond it.
  • edited June 2010
    By that logic, "The City That Dares Not Sleep" sounds like an Invasion of the Body Snatchers type thing.
  • edited June 2010
    or dream le-voles wher Yog Soggoth is the bogeyman and that mens View-Master's Precognition is more relative menig not is-act
  • edited June 2010
    or dream levels where Yog Soggoth is the boogeyman and that means View-Master's Precognition is more relative meaning not exact

    actually, that would be a pretty cool idea, like unhypnotizing Sam in 101 but on a larger scale
  • edited June 2010
    Avistew wrote: »
    Well, one episode is entitled "the city that dares not sleep" isn't it? Maybe there is a sleep-related threat about to arrive or something. Or really, could just be an expression, too.

    I think it's New York, after all... Who would sleep in that city?

    Also, a speculation thread is to early at this point, we have no content for Episode 4 and no information from Episode 3 to give us some slight hint what's going to happen "Beyond the Alley of the Dolls".
  • edited June 2010
    yes but the ideas are fun in there Owen
  • edited June 2010

    Also, I heard The Highway has a review copy of They Stole Max's Brain. Does this mean we should take his comment about the knock-out gas seriously?

    fixed.
  • edited June 2010
    splash1 wrote: »
    I think it's New York, after all... Who would sleep in that city?

    I slept in it every night for ten days >.>
  • edited June 2010
    Avistew wrote: »
    I slept in it every night for ten days >.>

    So did I, but I meant if you were living in a unstable neighborhood like Sam & Max do, after all; explosions, giant robots, inhuman space gorillas attacking the city with giant laser eye canons.. Insurance Men. I don't think I'd sleep through any of that!
  • edited June 2010
    At least it would be more exciting than seeing Phantom of the Opera. That was the biggest waste of time during my trip to New York. I could've seen The Producers, or Avenue Q, or Spamalot, but nooooooooooooooooo... And then the show didn't even have the decency to be interrupted by a giant robot smashing through the wall.
  • edited June 2010
    At least it would be more exciting than seeing Phantom of the Opera. That was the biggest waste of time during my trip to New York. I could've seen The Producers, or Avenue Q, or Spamalot, but nooooooooooooooooo... And then the show didn't even have the decency to be interrupted by a giant robot smashing through the wall.
    ...certainly, you didn't go into Phantom expecting a comedy? Because, and I'm not completely sure you've realized this, your listed alternatives are all comedies.
  • edited June 2010
    Personally, if I were in New York I'd go see "The Fantasticks". Then again I wouldn't be dragged to an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical if you paid me.
  • edited June 2010
    I knew exactly what I was getting into with Phantom. I was vocally opposed to seeing Phantom from the beginning. My stubborn dad wanted to see it, and the rest of the family loved it. I feel like I wasted my trip to Broadway.
  • edited June 2010
    I knew exactly what I was getting into with Phantom. I was vocally opposed to seeing Phantom from the beginning. My stubborn dad wanted to see it, and the rest of the family loved it. I feel like I wasted my trip to Broadway.

    I don't get why you had to go with everyone else? Couldn't you get a ticket to something different at the same time or just sit it out? We did that all the time when I still lived with my parents.
  • edited June 2010
    Eh, my dad would've had a fit if I'd even suggested that, and I wouldn't have enjoyed it if I'd seen any of those on my own. I did end up seeing Spamalot when it came to Denver, and I got to see a really well done production of The Producers at a dinner theatre in Boulder, so I really only missed out completely on Avenue Q, but I had no chance in hell of talking any of my family into that one anyway.
  • edited June 2010
    That's funny, I enjoy stuff like that better when I'm alone so nobody keeps poking my shoulder to tell me what happens next :p
    But I'm also the kind who prefers going the restaurant alone, because if I'm with other people, I want to have a nice homemade meal. So I guess I'm weird :p
  • edited June 2010
    Oh man. A lot of Sams. And Anubis is exactly like him! (In a way!) What's happened?

    (Just bumping the thread up now we have something to talk about it. And, What the hell is Papierwaite? Appart of still been somewhat awesome =P, a bug like Sal but altered by Norrington?)
  • edited June 2010
    This is so confusing me right now ... and I'm gonna be away next month around when the new ep will be out :( Still, I have that to look forward to when I get back.

    Aside from random guesses and wacky theories, I don't think there's any way that we can figure out where Telltale are going with this. But I doubt that's going to stop anyone trying!
  • edited June 2010
    Whoever said the titles are to be taken literally, 204 had no chariots and only two dogs. Additionally, NYC is widely known as the city that never sleeps, harking to a film title I've long since forgotten. I'm not good on films. :(
  • edited June 2010
    if you do you recherché you wood thine out sum of the gods related to Yog Soggoth stores are in dreams and a dream has a wind to the mind and shoal
  • edited June 2010
    tbm1986 wrote: »
    Whoever said the titles are to be taken literally, 204 had no chariots and only two dogs. Additionally, NYC is widely known as the city that never sleeps, harking to a film title I've long since forgotten. I'm not good on films. :(

    AND, Moai Better Blues did NOT have BLUES!

    ...>->


    ...Well, I think it's worthy to be speculated that there is the word 'dolls' in the title and there are a bunch of Sams. Maybe they're not clones, but dolls that are animated by some sort of magic.

    It IS weird that there are a lot of Sams as since this point, Max had all the importance and anomaly. I mean, if one could make clones -or dolls- and wanted to use them, they'd do Max clones instead. I wonder what makes Sam so special right now. Is it his bodily strength? If so, why not making Skunkape clones? I'm not bitching about it, instead I REALLY want the writers to give something more special to Sam, and I feel like I'm about to get what I want.
  • edited June 2010
    Does Sam have much bodily strength? Also I LOVED interrogating perps! I realize it couldn't have held up for the whole game, but by golly, wouldn't it have been nice to try? (With a pilot episode, maybe?). I'm going to go back and try depressing everybody, again :D
  • edited June 2010
    Falanca wrote: »
    It IS weird that there are a lot of Sams as since this point, Max had all the importance and anomaly. I mean, if one could make clones -or dolls- and wanted to use them, they'd do Max clones instead. I wonder what makes Sam so special right now. Is it his bodily strength? If so, why not making Skunkape clones? I'm not bitching about it, instead I REALLY want the writers to give something more special to Sam, and I feel like I'm about to get what I want.

    Oh, yeah, that's true. Why Sam's clones? Why not someone else? I'm thinking is maybe a confusion about how he can keep Max under control for a while, considering Max is supposenly to destroy the universe and what not.
    Lena_P wrote: »
    Does Sam have much bodily strength? Also I LOVED interrogating perps! I realize it couldn't have held up for the whole game, but by golly, wouldn't it have been nice to try? (With a pilot episode, maybe?). I'm going to go back and try depressing everybody, again :D

    I LOVED try to depress everyone. But the reason goes in the support group thread. I mean, he was so *AWWWWWWWWWW*
  • edited June 2010
    Lena_P wrote: »
    Does Sam have much bodily strength?

    After Skunkape lets his guard down, Sam did pummel the crap out of him. Sure, he was knocked out cold, but still, he's not affected by bullets and all that. Even being able to punch him hard and twisting his neck a little counts as something.
  • edited June 2010
    Maybe Max altered reality and that's how the clones/dolls/whatever they are came into being? I mean SamunMak changed the entire world, why not max altering it right after he was put back into his body. Just a thought.
  • edited June 2010
    Well, SammunMak did it intentionally. And I'm pretty sure Max would at least be in control of his own mind...
  • edited June 2010
    We're talking about Max, I think he can control his mind, but not his impulses. Maybe one of those was the thought that more sams would be better?
  • edited June 2010
    i think we might go back in the office, seeing how the penal zone mark II isnt there anymore
  • edited June 2010
    Falanca wrote: »
    ...Well, I think it's worthy to be speculated that there is the word 'dolls' in the title and there are a bunch of Sams. Maybe they're not clones, but dolls that are animated by some sort of magic.

    Magic, or someone. I still say that Charlie Hotep is alive and is controlling the clones/dolls as a villain.
  • edited June 2010
    i think we might go back in the office, seeing how the penal zone mark II isnt there anymore

    I hope so, I kinda miss the office for some strange reason...
  • edited June 2010
    Maybe Sammun-Mak's mind is capable of creating a reality, but I don't think Max's mind is. Sammun-Mak always used no one's mind but his own, the only thing he used that wasn't his was Max's body, and Max's body's not the Psychically gifted thing.
  • edited June 2010
    I'm pretty sure Max can do it too. Sammun-Mak had to use the whole Devil's Toybox, complete with the other powerful toys gathered from the vacuum device created by Skunkape and Papierwaite.

    We never saw Max even using the box.
  • edited June 2010
    GinnyN wrote: »
    Oh, yeah, that's true. Why Sam's clones? Why not someone else? I'm thinking is maybe a confusion about how he can keep Max under control for a while, considering Max is supposenly to destroy the universe and what not.

    That's a good point. I think it's also worth mentioning that Sam is one of the most powerful puzzle-solving forces in the universe, so cloning him would be handy.

    But hm, how does
    Norrington fit into all of this? He could be the guy cloning Sam, which could also explain how Papierwaite is still alive, but if that was the case then why would Papierwaite seem surprised at the appearance of his boss' minions?

    Also, does anyone else think that
    Norrington might end up being someone we've seen before, like the Narrator or Foreign Guy?
  • edited June 2010
    That's a good point. I think it's also worth mentioning that Sam is one of the most powerful puzzle-solving forces in the universe, so cloning him would be handy.

    If you are a character which are that medium aware, I guess you should know the "Player Character" is the powerful puzzle-solving force in the universe and cloning him will make no effect, because the clones will be NPC. And the Sams aren't that bright as far I can see. But I guess that character isn't that medium aware anyway.

    I found hilarious the fact Papierwaite was basically running for his life when the clones appeared, shouting "The Sam's are here" or something among those lines, indicating those Clones aren't recent, but they were made some time ago. Also, I'm wondering if the Toy Store from "The Penal Zone" has something to do here. Maybe those clones are actually dolls like some people was saying some time ago.

    (Thank goodness we still have Puzzle Agent for the rest of this month. The waiting for the Episode I was actually waiting for is killing me now!)
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