MPs departure and the BC&SL cover art

[Ytsejammin]

ON the cover of BC&SL there appears to be a boy looking out of a room with a Majesty logo on the floor. Could the room symbolize the world of Dream Theater? Could the boy be looking out the door to seemingly nicer , bluer skies? If MP was originally involved at all in the art direction of this cover art (possibly hinted at on the Making of The Whirlwind DVD), could he have been hinting at a desire to leave the world of Dream Theater?

In an old issue of Images and Words fanzine ( I think #9 or 10) JLB refers to MP as "like a big kid". Could the boy on the cover symbolize MP? Is this artwork strangely prophetic?

Well of course I'm over-analyzing! I'm a fan! 

[SnakeEyes]

No. 

[cyberdrummer]

Could the boy on the cover symbolize MP? Is this artwork strangely prophetic?

No, I think not.

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

Yes. Every Dream Theater album up to Black Clouds was a concept about Mike leaving the band.

[Perpetual Change]

Cool theory. I don't think it was intentional, but Mike was definitely a key player in the process of album art selection, and I wouldn't be surprised at all if he were somehow drawn by the symbolic cues you mentioned.

The kid being drawn out of his own (secure DT) room is an awesome analogy for Mike and his decision to leave.

[WDADU]

Yep, and Mike Mangini just strolls in on a tightrope, dressed a clown, while Mike is on the plane that we see on the cover, leaving the world of Dream Theater.

We just all be eating ass and balls with our Dream Theater McNuggets!

[jammindude]

No...

I'm sure it just had to do with the fact that he had just lost his father, and was looking forward to better days after coming out of such a dark period.

The idea that he was prophetically looking forward to leaving Dream Theater is ludicrous.

[SnakeEyes]

I just assumed it was about the Catholic sex abuse scandals.  Was I wrong?

[Elite]

- The boy on the cover of WDADU is the world, being branded with the Dream Theater logo, the start of their journey.
- The cover for I&W shows the childhood of this new thing; hearts will be set aflame with their music.
- Awake shows that DT's music has to power to take people to the moon, where some strange things happen.
- The binoculars on FII show the diverging relationships of the band members, only being able to work together from afar. Being near each other would have them falling.
- The cover of SFAM tell us that there are many people in this world that all make up Dream Theater; the band, the business and all of the fans. Everybody is important in his whole scheme.
- On the cover of SDOIT, the band experimented with what it would be like to have a sixth band member. Dramatic cover-art ensues.
- Train of Thought is the dark alley of DT covers, where you're being watched from eyes all of the place. It's the paranoia and megalomania that comes with fame, depicted very darkly here.
- The girl on the Octavarium cover symbolises every band-member, who has to duck for the ever-swinging balls of Dream Theater.
- The ants on the SC disc symbolise a dramatic movement of business.
- The boy on the cover of BC&SL clearly symbolises MP, as the OP pointed out correctly.
- The cover for ADTOE features Mike Portnoy as a clown, who's falling from very high, with the the rest of the band in an airplane, albeit a little less high, they won't fall down. Kind of like Daedalus and Icarus; MP drove his unicycle too close to the sun and the rope snapped.

---

I hope that clears some up.

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

 

[Scorpion]

And.... Rich wins the thread.

[?]

And.... Rich wins the thread.

[puppyonacid]

So am I right in thinking then that the cover art for the new album is after the rope snapped on the cover of ADTOE?

This would basically relate to MP discovering that he is full of helium and get's to observe the planet as a whole as a new age of DT rule unfolds?

Or am I missing something?

[Ice9ine]

Yep, and Mike Mangini just strolls in on a tightrope, dressed a clown, while Mike is on the plane that we see on the cover, leaving the world of Dream Theater.

We just all be eating ass and balls with our Dream Theater McNuggets!

"strolls in on a tightrope dressed as a clown"

haha

[aprilethereal]

Well of course I'm over-analyzing!

You are.

[me7]

Posts like this are the reason why I love this forum. Keep on over-analysing

[BlastParadigm]

This theory is silly, but I admit it: I love it.

[Perpetual Change]

Oh come on guys. Just look: a boy standing within the walled confines of a universe defined by DT, gazing with trepidation out an open door to clearer horizons.

Sure, I doubt it was an intentional thing, but I certainly can appreciate the irony and unintended symbolism of it all, just like the music video for "Wither" views like a tribute to the time Mike Portnoy spent in DT in retrospect, even though I'm sure that was not the original intention.  I think it's a cool thing the OP pointed out. I mean, sheesh, does everything on this side of the forum have to devolve into a spamfest these days?

Note: The theory works especially well if you apply it to the anniversary tour shirts, which, you guys will remember, featured BC&SL art loaded up with even more DT nuggets.

[ZKX-2099]

The new album cover is seen from Portnoy's point of view...

Now far away looking back the Dream Theater world.

[Ytsejammin]

Thanks for the responses everybody! Yes Rich...you win.

[SystematicThought]

I think it's kind of a neat way to look at it, and I'm sure MP would find it ironic

[puppyonacid]

The new album cover is seen from Portnoy's point of view...

Now far away looking back the Dream Theater world.

Hence my argument that he's filled with helium.

Looking back on a world he created that he's no longer part of.

I am so winning this thread now.

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

The new album cover is seen from Portnoy's point of view...

Now far away looking back the Dream Theater world.

Hence my argument that he's filled with helium.

Looking back on a world he created that he's no longer part of.

I am so winning this thread now.

BTW this took me embarrassingly longer than I intended, I suck at photoshop.

[ArchVile]

ROFL 

hey guys, im thinking now such a thing:

-The kid do not represent Mike Pornoy, but the Dream Theater without mike portnoy, i mean... after the Portnoy Crisis in the band, it reborns as a new kid with new hopes and looking for a new clearer sky.
-the room is the dark tiranny of mike portnoy, which is full of:
  *lyrics writen by MP, who writes only about his old memories (elephant on a pile of books)
  * Alcohol Bottles, which means the  excesses in the life of MP
  *eye and crow... obiously represents the evilness and madness of controlling of MP.
  * Dark sky and faded majesty logo...it means that inside the mind of MP lies a unperfect notion of the band (just a shadow)
The DT (kid) is about to leave this dark room.

And the clown of ADTOE is the kid, but grown up and trying to know if he is able to survive outside his old room (portnoy tiranny) and trying to cross to a more safe place (dt trying to know if they will survive as a band after MP's departure)

just a theory 

[aprilethereal]

the dark tiranny of mike portnoy

wtf

[MoraWintersoul]

the dark tiranny of mike portnoy

wtf

Wtf aprilethereal have you been living under a rock we've been under the tyranny of the dahhhk mastaaaah for yeaaaars and years

[?]

Luckily in September 2010 the DT guys finally had the guts to say "we do not fight for you, you fucking dick"

[DarkLord_Lalinc]

[Daso]

Luckily in September 2010 the DT guys finally had the guts to say "we do not fight for you, you fucking dick"

The theory is certainly interesting, but we have to consider the fact that Portnoy wasn't actually planning to leave the band, he wanted DT to be in hiatus for some time. Which could still work, if we thought about the cover as MP wanting to leave the room temporally into a "sky-huge" world of chances of making different music.

[aprilethereal]

I love you guys

[ytserush]

- The boy on the cover of WDADU is the world, being branded with the Dream Theater logo, the start of their journey.
- The cover for I&W shows the childhood of this new thing; hearts will be set aflame with their music.
- Awake shows that DT's music has to power to take people to the moon, where some strange things happen.
- The binoculars on FII show the diverging relationships of the band members, only being able to work together from afar. Being near each other would have them falling.
- The cover of SFAM tell us that there are many people in this world that all make up Dream Theater; the band, the business and all of the fans. Everybody is important in his whole scheme.
- On the cover of SDOIT, the band experimented with what it would be like to have a sixth band member. Dramatic cover-art ensues.
- Train of Thought is the dark alley of DT covers, where you're being watched from eyes all of the place. It's the paranoia and megalomania that comes with fame, depicted very darkly here.
- The girl on the Octavarium cover symbolises every band-member, who has to duck for the ever-swinging balls of Dream Theater.
- The ants on the SC disc symbolise a dramatic movement of business.
- The boy on the cover of BC&SL clearly symbolises MP, as the OP pointed out correctly.
- The cover for ADTOE features Mike Portnoy as a clown, who's falling from very high, with the the rest of the band in an airplane, albeit a little less high, they won't fall down. Kind of like Daedalus and Icarus; MP drove his unicycle too close to the sun and the rope snapped.

---

I hope that clears some up.

All except A Change Of Seasons....

[tarkusman]

I think the cover artwork of the latest album clearly refers to Portnoy in some way. On the back there are a couple of spinning plates which, to me, seems to imply the many projects he was working on at any one time.

[BlobVanDam]

I think the cover artwork of the latest album clearly refers to Portnoy in some way. On the back there are a couple of spinning plates which, to me, seems to imply the many projects he was working on at any one time.

That makes much more sense than implying the clown spinning plates, because clowns never do that.

[bosk1]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rxO_lbAsmI

[theseoafs]

Oh, sure, you go on Youtube and find a video of the one clown that spins plates.