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[veronica2199]

Chronologically first entry?

[lonsumtravlr]

Enttry 37 is one of the handful that really bug me because of how manipulated (IG) they seem. But that's getting off topic. I don't even consider 37 anymore because I'm of the opinion that it may have been fabricated by someone to connect Alex to TO.

Can't pin it down, but my thought was either Entry 2 or Entry 12. The former makes the most sense, as he's talking to someone (maybe narrating for himself?) and talking about seeing "a very tall guy" (quoted from memory) by a street light. Entry 12 is one on which he seems to be unaware of who TO is, as do the others on set. I can't help but wonder whether that might somehow be the "origin" of Alex's relationship with TO (assuming Enttry 37 is a plant).

[veronica2199]

Enttry 37 does seem fabricated, possibly to intimidate Alex.

I don't keep up with entry numbers, but the one where Alex and Jay location scout seems like it would be first or second because Alex acts perfectly normal even though it's assumed that TO is near.

!!!!!! Or, based on a theory I have:
Tim was stalked by TO most of his life and when he joined MH crew, TO wanted to stalk Alex because it would be easy for him to lead the other cast members "to the ark," the ark being a place where TO can take victims. So the entry with Tim's apartment and TO appears, unnoticed, is first, since that's when TO notices Alex. It's also plausible that Tim just brushes off TO since he's used to it.[/quote]

[lonsumtravlr]

That's Entry #5. I was thinking about that one too, but the presence of the distortion makes me think that maybe TO had taken interest in Alex (and maybe Jay) already.

It does seem a bit odd, though, granted, that they'd go location scouting after starting to film. But we don't know enough about the process in which the MH movie was put together, so maybe entry 12 came first and then there was a script revision that necessitated some new scouting? I don't know--I know next to nothing about making a film, I must admit. I like the sort of meta aspect of the earlier entries--the doomed film within the doomed film (you can tell that Troy at least is a David Lynch fan, because Lynch loves that conceit).

[Marble Hornets]

Entry 37 clearly takes place first unless it's a recent video of some other kid named Alex edited to look like an old one. Whether it is canon to the story or not is another thing entirely, but if it is baby footage of alex, it does take place first by definition of the word


Other than that, nobody can say for sure. My best guess is entry 2 or 5. Entry 20 also has to be up there.

13 doesn't strike me as first bc he runs towards/away from the operator depending on how you want to look at it, and if it was first, a man in the distance shouldn't warrant that reaction

[lonsumtravlr]

 

[Marble Hornets]

[lonsumtravlr]

Marble Hornets: Was this a response to me? I was thinking of Entry 12, where they're filming some scene of Alex and Brian walking along the river, and there's a strange distortion, at which points Tim arrives and then Alex sees TO in the distance (doing that weird head tilt that usually means he's going to do something), and Alex doesn't know who he is (or seems not to), and walks off toward him shouting, "Hey, buddy!"

But you're right--maybe Entry 20 did come first, because Tim is sick and Brian's house is still well lit. It's before Alex flipped his shit (and also, Tim gets noticeably better physically around when Alex becomes imperious and impossible to work with). But if entry 20's a possiblility, then entry 55 should be, too, because in the latter a phone call from Tim's doctor interrupts a shoot, and he's obviously not as sick yet as he was in 20 (when he's taking the pills).

I still think Entry 2 or Entry 12 would be the candidates for the earliest entries (that are relevant to the plot and not fabricated by anyone IG--yes, you're right that it would be the earliest simply because of when the tape was purportedly made). But you make good points. This is hard.

[lonsumtravlr]

[veronica2199]

I remember seeing a theory somewhere that said the whole cast was investigating TO but he made them all lose their memories, so they just stopped, but Alex didn't lose his because TO needed him as a way to lead the others "to the ark." that might be something to consider in this?

[Marble Hornets]

#12 was not first. That was during production, the filming stage. That would in no way come before all the pre-production stuff we saw.

#54 wasn't first because that is also during production phase, given by seth's line about alex having the tapes they just shot footage on

#55 is also during the production stage, so not first. also, you say he wasn't as sick, but tim mentioned having all the sickness symptoms on the phone call, something we know he was dealing with since childhood

[lonsumtravlr]

Totally forgot the fact about the tapes in #54. I was more thinking about how one might see it as coming early because of the way TO showed up in Tim's apartment. It's an episode that could confirm TO's interest in Tim before anyone else (I realize that grammar doesn't make sense, but it's easier to type more text than to correct a mistake).

I may not have been clear in my statement about the degree of Tim's sickness in Entry #55 (in fact, I see that I apparently ran together a comment on Entry #54 with a comment on Entry #55, and that's just confusing--I guess I think faster than I type, lol); I meant that he didn't seem as apparently ill as he did in #20, where everyone was concerned about his health and he was defensive. So what I'd meant to say (I think) was that if #55 came after #20, either Tim had a rapid (enough) recovery from his most apparent symptoms or that maybe they lowered in intensity because TO had found a new target of interest in Alex (?)...

Yeah, you're right about Entry #12 most probably following some of these. The reason I still think it's pretty early (though, I know, the thread is devoted to the "chronologically first" entries) is the type of distortion in the entry leading up to TO's (and to Tim's) appearance. Shortly before both are noticed there's a strange flash of light, and then the contrast and colors deepen. It's as if something or someone has been aggravated or antagonized. And then after that, when TO shows up, he does that head tilt that often precedes someone being teleported or abducted or having memory wiped. I know the TTA videos aren't necessary to an understanding or appreciation of the plot, but the "There Was More" makes me think that something really did happen shortly after the camera cut out that's crucial to the entire series.

Entry #2 seems to precede, maybe immediately, the entries depicting TO stalking Alex's house. They're not necessarily the same night, but I wouldn't surprised. But there's the question of why Alex was filming right then--maybe he had some side project? Maybe he'd started to film himself obsessively before TO actually reveled himself? Maybe the obsessive filming is an earlier behavior that's actually unrelated to TO's influence in Alex's case (on this, we really only have Jay's own observation about obsessive taping and then his own revelation that he'd begun the same behavior in the course of his investigation)? Entry #5 is early (never disputed that), but it just seems to me that it comes after Alex and the MH crew attracting TO's attention (I read somewhere long ago, and I don't know if it was on unfiction or reddit or what, speculation that #5 might be first and might be a record of TO somehow being disturbed or awakened or angered--but that presumes that the Red Tower has much more pertinence to the doomed MH film shoot than it may have).

So... Entry #20? OK, you've sold me. Or do we just step back at this point and take the default Sunday School position in the face of a noodle scratcher: "It's a mystery..."?

EDIT: On reviewing my posts, I made two different ones and then apparently tried to distance myself from blatantly inappropriate sections of them. I should just go back to bed.

[Sidenote]

Also, #70 is high up there as Alex mentions that they were discussing shooting locations, so they were still quite early in the production. Maybe this is one of the earlier TO meetings, after #4?

[lonsumtravlr]

Alex tells Amy he's "really tired from shooting today" and says he was at home, though he was really heading to the playground to confront The Operator. I wonder why he lied to her, unless he reasoned to himself both that he was coming up with an alibi in case he'd needed it and also that he was setting her mind at ease, even though she knew nothing about The Operator...? (Or maybe he was settling hi sown mind at ease?)

Agreed that this is fairly early, but it seems that it's before Alex had a stronger sense of what The Operator was and how he "operated." It seems that he either thought that he could somehow reason with or even intimidate TO or at least that he was trying to muster up some courage to figure out what the heck was going on with this lanky oddball.

[Marble Hornets]

70 and 4 were definitely early on, as it was Alex going after the operator. At some point he figures out what's going on and becomes scared of the operator rather than curious by it.

Those definitely come after 2 though.