Twin Peaks has had a storied history on DVD, but this fine set remedies that. This new set finally collects the entire television run including the full-length pilot episode and the international version that offers the solution to the crime in abbreviated form.
First a short history of Twin Peaks on DVD, the rights for Season One resided with Artisan Entertainment and they put out a set of those episodes in 2001. The problem was that the rights for the full-length pilot were somewhat in limbo since foreign markets got a movie length version (that wrapped up the mystery rather quickly) and different studios had those rights overseas.
So the set went out without the full-length pilot episode, much to the chagrin of fans. Paramount released a Season Two set earlier in 2007. Now the rights issues have obviously been resolved since this definitive set collects the pilot, international version of it, and all the episodes of the television run.
Cheatingly, what I said about the show in my Season Two review [with new thoughts in brackets]: “Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee) is dead. She was found wrapped in a plastic tarp on the banks of a river. The local constabulary led by Sheriff Harry S. Truman (Michael Ontkean) is brought to the scene and the FBI is called. The Bureau sends Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) to investigate the murder of the Homecoming queen. We find out that the town is full of strange goings on and that Laura was not the perfect person that the town made her out to be.
In fact, Twin Peaks holds a great deal of secrets that are revealed over the course of both seasons of the groundbreaking show. The mystery of who (or what) killed Laura Palmer is the hook that captured audiences and it was decided to reveal her killer during this second season of the show (from what I’ve heard against David Lynch’s wishes, the network demanded it be done [this was basically the death knell of the show according to the new documentary]).
Unfortunately, after this revelation the show seemed to stumble and seemed to embrace weirdness for the sake of weirdness. I guess that it had to be revealed and fans would go nutty if it was never revealed as Lynch seemingly wanted to do, but the show seems to run out of steam after the big revelation and limps to an ending that still really doesn’t wrap everything up. [Lynch and Frost were distracted by other projects during Season Two and couldn’t guide the season, they did return for the final few episodes that do set up well for a Season Three that alas was not to be.]
The town’s strange residents include Leland Palmer (Ray Wise), Laura’s father, Sarah Palmer (Grace Zabriskie), her mother, and Maddy Ferguson (Sheryl Lee), her identical twin cousin, mill-owner Josie Packard (Joan Chen), businessman Benjamin Horne (Richard Beymer), Audrey Horne (Sherilyn Fenn), his teenage daughter, Doc Hayward (Warren Frost), Donna Hayward (Laura Flynn Boyle), his daughter and Laura’s best friend, and a whole cast of townsfolk and characters.
Wow, even just a list of characters would take up a large amount of space, suffice it to say that there are many stories, mysteries, and strange things happening in the small town of Twin Peaks. Agent Cooper’s deranged mentor Windom Earle (Kenneth Walsh) also shows up to play havoc with our wily agent.
Needless, to say the show does start off with an interesting mystery, interesting characters and situations (although definitely on the weird side).”
Twin Peaks is presented in fullscreen as it was originally aired on television and has been remastered from the original negatives under the supervision of Lynch himself. The major new special feature is the inclusion of the pilot and international version of the pilot on disc one.
The log lady introductions done for when the series aired on Bravo are present as an option on the pilot and episodes on discs one thru nine. The special features on this ten-disc set really begin on disc nine with 5 minutes of deleted scenes and a collection of production documents.
Disc ten begins with the 30 minute “A Slice of Lynch” in which the iconic director sits down with Madchen Amick, Kyle MacLachlan, and post production coordinator John Wentworth to discuss the show. The next slice of pie is the most tasty, the hour and forty-five minute “Secrets from Another Place: Creating Twin Peaks.”
It has interviews with co-creator/co-executive producer Mark Frost, line producer David Latt, casting director Johanna Ray, Sheryl Lee, Ray Wise, Kimmy Robertson (“Lucy Moran”), Joan Chen, Kyle MacLachlan, Gary Hershberger (“Mike Nelson”), Michael Horse (“Deputy Tommy “Hawk” Hill”), Piper Laurie, Catherine E. Coulson (“the Log Lady”), editor/director Duwayne Dunham, production designer Richard Hoover, producer Gregg Fienberg, producer Harley Peyton, director Lesli Linka Glatter, director Todd Holland, Sherilyn Fenn, editor Jonathan P. Shaw, director Caleb Deschanel, composer Angelo Badalamenti, John Wentworth, Madchen Amick, Miguel Ferrer (“Agent Albert Rosenfield”), producer Robert Engels, Charlotte Stewart (“Betty Briggs”), singer Julee Cruise, associate producer Philip Carr Neel, Carel Struycken (“The Giant”), Mary Jo Deschanel (“Eileen Hayward”), Don S. Davis (“Major Garland Briggs”), Kenneth Welsh, and assistant to the art director Julia Bell.
Next is the 12 minute monologue and Twin Peaks sketch that MacLachlan did on Saturday Night Live. The Twin Peaks festival section contains a 19-minute “Return to Twin Peaks” documentary about the festival and an interactive map that shows the real life locations.
The Black Lodge Archives section contains the 4-minute “Falling Music video,” 3 minutes of Japanese coffee commercials featuring Peaks characters, image galleries, 5 minutes of on-air promos/spots, 22 minutes from a 900 number that gave Peaks hints, and 40 seconds of Lucy Bumpers (audio of the nutty secretary played before commercial breaks).
There are also a collection of Twin Peaks postcards and an advert for Lynch’s signature coffee.
The Gold Box edition does finally bring all the bits of Twin Peaks together (save the Fire Walk with Me movie) and adds some really great special features. Those that hold the other releases might want to hold on to them since they contain different special features.
However, if you’ve held off then this new edition is the one to have since it offers the complete TV run and some excellent documentaries, especially “Secrets from Another Place.”
Twin Peaks - The Definitive Gold Box Edition (The Complete Series) is now available at Amazon . As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.
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