"Come on, then - my log does not judge!" - Catherine E. Coulson as The Log Lady
Twin Peaks: The Complete First Season Special Edition DVD Review
By Jonathan Boudreaux
On April 8, 1990, Twin Peaks premiered on ABC. Sprung from the minds of filmmaker David Lynch and Mark Frost, this series set in the Pacific Northwest was a soap opera unlike any other.
Closer in spirit to Lynch's film Blue Velvet than to Dallas, Twin Peaks tells the tale of mysterious goings on in a small town. FBI agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) arrives to help Sheriff Harry S. Truman (Michael Ontkean) investigate the brutal murder of prom queen Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee). Several of the burg's shady residents are suspects, but even those who are not suspects tend to be extraordinarily eccentric. But then again, no one in the town is who they seem to be. Almost everyone has a secret or two, and even its most innocent looking residents are involved in one illlicit scheme or another. But which of them killed Laura Palmer?
Twin Peaks is a triumph in style and mood over substance. Yes, the plot is engaging, but solving the murder of Laura Palmer is less important than presenting the foibles of the characters. While this is annoying to people who prefer more linear storytelling, it helps to contribute to what makes Twin Peaks such a classic.
Another contributing factor is its uniformly strong cast of old pros (Piper Laurie, Richard Beymer, Peggy Lipton, Russ Tamblyn), young newcomers (Sherilyn Fenn, Dana Ashbrook, Lara Flynn Boyle, Madchen Amick), and unique character actors (Everett McGill, Jack Nance, Wendy Robie, Catherine E. Coulson). Together with Richard Hoover's exquisite production design and Angelo Badalamenti's evocative music, they create a timeless world that looks just as fresh today as it did over ten years ago.
This set has a few unavoidable flaws. The biggest is that the original movie pilot is not included because the rights are held by another company. The accompanying booklet tries to compensate for this by including a guide to important characters from and an extensive summary of the pilot. Of course the lack of the pilot episode is not simply lamentable because of missing plot points but because it is a masterpiece of mood and visuals that helps to set the tone for the entire series. Currently the pilot is available on DVD only as an import from Asia, but the DVD is purported to be of inferior quality.
The other flaw is that these episodes offer no sense of closure. The killer was not revealed until midway through the second season. Hopefully the second season will eventually be released to help remedy this. Surely everyone who watched the show the first time around will remember the identity of the killer, but newcomers should be warned that the identity is given away in several of the supplemental materials.
The seven episodes that make up the first season are spread over four discs. The first three discs contain two episodes apiece and the fourth contains a single episode and most of the extras. The discs are housed in a digipak. A folder panel in the digipak holds a booklet which contains an interview with Sheryl Lee, a list of chapter indexes, and the previously mentioned pilot character list and summary. The digipak slides into a clear plastic sleeve which features Laura Palmer's picture as prom queen. When the digipak is removed from the sleeve, Laura's body, wrapped in plastic, is revealed in the space under the prom picture.
The menus look stunning, but they can be difficult to navigate. The menu options sometimes disappear when played on a DVD player. When played on a computer, it becomes just as hard to navigate since the clickable spaces do not always match up with their correlating space on the menu.
Video and Audio
The episodes have been given newly remastered High-Definition transfers, and they look spiffy. The rich, movie-like cinematography and soft coral tones look terrific. There are occasional glitches, but this is otherwise well done.
The audio is presented in DTS Digital Surround, 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround, and 2.0 Dolby Digital Surround. The sound is rich and full.
Extras
There are numerous extras in this set, both episode specific and on the series in general.
Each episode features a commentary by that episode's director or by another member of the creative team. These commentaries are a mixed lot, but almost all of them are worth listening to for insight into the decision making process behind the creation of the show. It is worth noting that David Lynch, as usual, does not participate in any of the commentaries or other supplemental material.
Each episode includes optional "Log Lady" introductions. These intros were filmed by David Lynch for the cable run of Twin Peaks. Log Lady Catherine E. Coulson makes weird pronouncements by way of introducing the upcoming episode, although most of them seemingly have little to do with the episode. While it is nice that these are included in the set, they do not really add much to the enjoyment of the series.
The episodes also have an "Unseen Twin Peaks" guide. This guide presents descriptions of scenes that were cut from the episode and are presented at the exact place where the scenes would have been. They can be accessed onscreen either while watching the episode with the onscreen access enabled, or all at once from the chapters screen.
"Mark Frost Interview with Wrapped in Plastic" features the co-creator of the series speaking with the editors of Wrapped in Plastic, a Twin Peaks fanzine. Frost is an articulate interviewee, providing lots of information about his collaboration with Lynch on the creation of the show. The interview is a videotaped phone conversation. This should not be a problem, but the Wrapped in Plastic video had to be completely re-shot later on due to a production snafu and edited back in. This is extraordinarily off-putting. The interviewers, while obviously passionate about the show, are not actors, and their recreated half of the interview is terrible. Aside from this flaw, the fourteen minute interview is a worthy extra.
"Learning to Speak in the Red Room" is a four minute featurette in which Michael Anderson, The Little Man from Another Place, explains the secret behind his backwards speak.
"An Introduction to David Lynch" is a twenty one minute collection of reminiscences by cast and crew members on working with David Lynch. Since he typically does not participate in supplemental materials for his DVDs, this is the closest we can get to learning about Lynch and his creative processes on the show.
"17 Pieces of Pie: Shooting at the Mar T (AKA RR) Diner" is a ten minute interview with the woman who owned the Mar T Diner in Washington state at the time that the show was filmed. The diner was used as a location in the pilot, but in subsequent episodes it was recreated on a sound stage. She details how the immense popularity of the show - and Agent Cooper's love of pie - affected the diner.
"The Twin Peaks Directory with Postcards from the Cast" is a fun addition to the set. It features a directory of characters organized by their relationships to one another. For select actors, there are links to biographies, filmographies, and "video postcards" - little snippets of interviews. These snippets are not necessarily even about Twin Peaks but instead serve to help us understand the actors' personalities. The Directory is hard to navigate, but is nevertheless worth the headache.
There are also numerous Easter Eggs spread over all four discs. See how many you can find!
Summary
Twin Peaks: The Complete First Season Special Edition is like a television course in a box. Love it or hate it, this series is a work of art. This set presents it beautifully, and then offers ample information on how it was filmed. This is a must have.
7/1/03
