Twin Peaks - Series 1 (DVD)

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Loved it
Story	Outstanding
Characters / Performances	Outstanding
Special Effects	Outstanding
How does it compare to similar films?	Outstanding

Advantages:	The best television show, in my opinion ever made .
Disadvantages:	Its unfortunate that this box set does not contain both series one and two .

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

In 1990 acclaimed Director David Lynch woke the TV viewing world up with an amusing but sometimes terrifying murder mystery. Set in the small town of Twin Peaks the story takes place after the discovery of a body in the river that runs through the town. It's apparent from the start that the body, that of local beauty queen Laura Palmer met with foul play; her body was wrapped in plastic sheeting and dumped in the river.

Local Sheriff Harry S. Trueman calls upon the FBI for help as the crime is way out of his league. When FBI Agent Dale Cooper arrives it becomes apparent that Laura may not be the only victim, another local girl Ronette Polaski is also missing.

Contained on this bargain box set are the pilot episode, plus the 7 follow on episodes that make up the first season of Twin Peaks. Although the episodes were never given official titles in parts of the world so as not to confuse the viewing population episode titles were given to them. In my review I have given these titles as well as the episode numbers.

Pilot AKA Northwest Passage

Pete Martell discovers the body of Laura and panic spreads across the town, but its obvious that some know more about the situation leading up to Laura's death than they would like. To the outsiders Laura was a quite and polite girl who was popular in her community and assisted in the tutoring of handicapped children, and delivered meals on wheels to the elderly. But underneath this exterior Laura was a confused mess torn between three lovers, Laura was addicted to Cocaine and sold herself to men for a very exclusive price.

FBI Agent Dale Cooper arrives to help speed up the investigation. Cooper has some unconventional methods, and a secret from his past that is obviously about to come to the surface.

When Bobby Briggs, Laura's boyfriend is arrested along with his best friend Mike, Cooper realises that they are looking for someone else. It does not take long to establish that Laura had a secret lover and instinctively also arrests James Hurley.

Episode 1 - Traces To Nowhere

Now all released James is afraid of Bobby and Mike, who now know that he was having an affair with Laura. Pete's wife Katherine a local heiress makes her plans for takeover of the Packard sawmill to her secret lover. It's discovered that Katherine who should have inherited the sawmill was cheated out of her inheritance when her brother Andrew died just a short time after marring a Japanese woman Josie Packard.

The viewers for the first time are treated to the knowledge that Twin Peaks is not a conventional murder mystery, as in a dream Laura Palmer reveals to Dale Cooper who killed her. During the dream a dwarf dances and talks in a backwards fashion to Cooper.

Episode 2 - Zen, Or The Skill To Catch A Killer

Although in a dream Cooper was told the killer, it's trapped in his sub conscious, he needs to try and break a riddle to release the answer. He takes the local police department into the woods where he uses a Tibetan mind exercise to try and break the riddle.

Meanwhile the night Laura had died it emerges that Bobby was supposed to be carrying out part of a drug run across the border. The run failed and now Bobby is in debt to Leo Johnson a local hood, worse still Bobby is having an affair with Leo's wife Shelly.

The local hotelier Benjamin Horne is relived to find that his brother Jerry has returned home to Twin Peaks after travelling away. Benjamin has been under a considerable stress, not only has his personal Lawyers daughter Laura been murdered, but Benjamin admits to Jerry that he was having an affair with Laura.

Episode 3 - Rest In Pain

It's the day of Laura's funeral and an unexpected guest arrives in Twin Peaks, Laura's cousin Maddy who as it happens is the double of Laura. The shock of Maddy's return takes Laura's parents to breaking point. And during the funeral service Sarah Palmer, Laura's mother throws herself onto the coffin to be with her daughter.

Cooper is introduced to an underground crime fighting group called the Bookhouse Boys.

Episode 4 - The One Armed Man

Benjamin's daughter Audrey becomes suspicious of her fathers actions, and decides to investigate Laura's murder herself.

Laura's best friend Donna Hayward realises that she is falling in love with James. Donna, James and Maddy also decide that the investigation is getting nowhere and decide to establish who killed Laura.

Cooper and Trueman go off in search of a one armed man, that the dwarf told Cooper about in his dream.

Episode 5 - Cooper's Dreams

Audrey in an attempt to uncover Laura's killer goes to work at Hornes department store. While there she makes an alarming discovery linking Laura to the local brothel.

Local coffee shop owner Norma Jennings, is upset when her convict husband Hank is released from prison. On arrival Hank promises that his bad days are behind him and that he wants to make things right between him and Norma. However Hank soon falls into some bad company.

In an attempt to decipher his dreams Cooper meets with the local mad woman, known as The Log Lady.

Episode 6 - Realization Time

While Audrey goes undercover at the brothel One Eyed Jacks, Cooper and Trueman plan their own undercover mission to the same location.

The local Psychiatrist Dr Jacoby receives an alarming call from the dead Laura Palmer.

Episode 7 - The Last Evening

In what must go down in history as one of the most exciting series climaxes in television history the town of Twin Peaks goes to the wall. As secrets become revealed the townspeople all turn private eye and find themselves in a variety of unfortunate circumstances. While two are trapped in a burning bar, three are shot, one is suffocated, one takes an overdose and someone faces the horrifying possibility of having to have sex with their own father.

As the episode ends it's incredibly likely that 11 of the town's inhabitants are dead.

The Cast
FBI Agent Dale Cooper: Kyle MacLachlan, Sheriff Harry S. Truman: Michael Ontkean, Catherine Martell: Piper Laurie, Jocelyn Packard: Joan Chen, Shelly Johnson: Madchen Amick, Bobby Briggs: Dana Ashbrook, Benjamin Horne: Richard Beymer, Donna Hayward: Lara Flynn Boyle, Audrey Horne: Sherilyn Fenn, Dr. William Hayward: Warren Frost, Norma Jennings: Peggy Lipton, James Hurley: James Marshall, Ed Hurley: Everett McGill, Pete Martell: Jack Nance, Lucy Moran: Kimmy Robertson, Leland Palmer: Ray Wise, Dr. Lawrence Jacoby: Russ Tamblyn, Leo Johnson: Eric Da Re, Deputy Andy Brennan: Harry Goaz, Deputy Tommy "Hawk" Hill: Michael Horse, Madeleine Ferguson/Laura Palmer: Sheryl Lee, Windom Earle: Kenneth Welsh.

The cast was a fantastic blend of stars of television and the big screen, possibly the biggest ever cast of established faces ever used in a television show.

Kyle MacLachlan had starred in three consecutive movie blockbusters Blue Velvet, The Hidden and the legendary cult Sci-Fi movie Dune. Richard Beymer was well known for his role as Tony in West Side Story. Sherilyn Fenn had a variety of TV and movie roles under her belt including 21 Jump Street, Two Moon Junction, and Cheers. Peggy Lipton was a top selling recording artist during the 70's and was married to Quincy Jones. Jack Nance was a popular figure who shot to fame in Eraserhead he was murdered in 1996 after an incident with a doughnut. Ray Wise had played a psychopath in Robocop. Piper Laurie will always be remembered as the religious extremist mother from the movie Carrie.

The best story for most of the young cast however was that it really launched there careers, and all the cast will always now be best known for their roles in Twin Peaks.

Overview

In the world of TV drama, for me Twin Peaks is up there right at the top, the pilot episode was impressively sinister building a strong basis for a story. But by the first episode the things you believe you had established from the Pilot are far off, what began as a murder mystery descends into a science fiction thriller, with a series of fantastic love stories and a horrifically terrifying conclusion. Twin Peaks is impossible to categorise as a specific genre as it touches on every element ever put on screen.

The acting talent is phenomenal, even the new comers one of which is Hollywood A-Lister Heather Graham put out fantastic performances. Under the ever watchful eye of Director David Lynch, who often puts aside the Director Mantle to allow some of Americas hottest people to direct specific episodes this includes actress Diane Keaton. It is amazing to see the formation of the characters, all of whom you grow to love as the episodes unfold. I recently heard someone say that the end of Twin Peaks was like saying goodbye to old friends, and without a doubt I agree with that comment. Even the most unlike-able characters have very positive traits.

The Special Features

The special features to accompany this box set are phenomenal; I have never seen such a list of extras complied in one box set. The box set includes one on one interview's with each and every member of the cast, with the exception of two who have died. They tell the story of how they were introduced to the concept of Twin Peaks, discuss the rehearsal stage and tell a variety of often very amusing stories about their time on Twin Peaks. This option alone lasts for over 3 hours, and the interviews are so relaxed and candid you almost feel as if you are the interviewer asking the questions.

Next are the Deleted Scenes, over an hour of unseen footage from the 8 episodes in this box set.

Each show has a Log Lady introduction; these were used when the show was shown across the world. A German dialogue version is available on each one.

There are script notes to accompany each story, showing how the story changed from original concept.

The box set is littered with Easter Eggs (hidden features) this includes scenes of spiritual reflection from the cast to the dirtiest jokes you can imagine.

There is a 16 minute interview with Mark Frost, he talks about how David Lynch pitched the story idea, and how the story turned from being a doxen episodes to a total of 30 and a big budget movie.

Learning To Speak In The Red Room is a brief documentary on how the backwards speech in the dreams is achieved and how to translate it easily.

An Introduction To David Lynch is a feature on David Lynch covering his movies from Eraserhead and The Elephant Man, through to epics like Dune and Wild At Heart.

17 Pieces Of Pie, is a nice documentary featuring on set pieces, stories of how the real location has become Twin Peaks and some sadder elements to the Twin Peaks legend.

The DVD set comes with optional additional languages in German, Spanish and Italian.

Subtitle options are Czech, Danish, German, English, Dutch, Greek, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Turkish.

The box set is available from play.com for a staggeringly low £14.99 saving you £35 on the shop retail price.

The only sad thing is that the DVD was released in 2000 and some 6 years on no company has yet made the effort to release the second series.