Twin Peaks – The Definitive Gold Box Collection
Picture:
B Sound: B Extras: A Episodes: B+
The long
awaited complete collection of the Twin
Peaks series has arrived in an ultimate DVD set. After years of fans scrambling to obtain the
briefly released First Season and
the even harder to get Series Pilot,
the complete Twin Peaks series is
available to own as Twin Peaks – The
Definitive Gold Box Collection. It
only took 6 years since the original release of Season One on DVD and 17 years since the original airing of the
series for fans to get their hands on this definitive collection. The collection is nicely presented in a 10
disc set with both seasons and the original pilot, as well as the original series
pilot. The 10 Disc set comes packaged in
a Gold Slip Cover as well as containing a nice set of collectible Twin Peaks postcards. Overall, the set is worth its weight in gold.
The series begins with the discovery of a dead body by a
lumberjack in the small, dreary town of Twin Peaks, Washington State. The young corpse is discovered to be the
local homecoming queen Laura Palmer.
Meanwhile in one state over a girl named Ronette Pulaski is found
wandering aimlessly disheveled and incoherent.
Laura Palmer’s body upon examination had some even stranger clues
hiding; like a paper ‘R’ inserted underneath her fingernail. As her friends and family are informed of her
murder, the quit little town of Twin Peaks begins to unravel. Suddenly Laura Palmer is not the wholesome
homecoming queen she used to be and so it turns out the rest of the town has
just as many misdoings. Slowly but
surely clues come together in this epic series and the investigation will not
stop until Laura Palmer’s murderer is unveiled.
Now it is true that Season
2 took quite a different turn as compared to Season One; with what David Lynch departing the series as well as
many others, but it did have its merits.
Whereas the First Season did utilize the individual town’s people
of Twin Peaks to tell a deeper story, the Second Season as
reviewed here moves away from the creative edge established by Lynch and Frost
once the killer from Season One is revealed. There is more of a
tangled romance and crazy aura that flows in Season Two that is still
great and hints at the greatness of Season One, but never lives up to
the past. This may be due to a team of new writers and ABC having too
much control over the series, but we may never know. Could Lynch have
saved this series from its short 2 Season run?
More can be read about Season 2 of Twin Peaks reviewed elsewhere on this site at the
following link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/5383/Twin+Peaks+%E2%80%93+The+Second
The
technical features on this 10 disc set are quite impressive and much care was
taken by the creators to give fans an awesome set for their collection. The picture has been nicely remastered from
the original negatives and where as not totally perfect the episodes do have
bright and fluid colors with no debris presented in their original 1.33 X 1
full screen format. Even the Season 2, which did not look as
impressive in its individual release to this reviewer, seems oddly improved in
this definitive collection. The sound is
equally impressive presented in BOTH newly created 5.1 Dolby Digital Surrounds
and the original 2.0 Stereo mix, both approved by David Lynch. The sound fits the series well and presents
the series soundtrack as well as the eerie atmosphere very well. Besides the impressive picture and sound on
this set, fans will be pleased to know that the plethora of special features
that are available on this set will be hard to beat.
Extras on
this set include the following:
- The Original Pilot (both international and US network
versions)
- Deleted Scenes
- The complete Log Lady Intros for Pilot International
Version with Alternate Ending
- Log Lady Intros for each episode
- A Slice of Lynch featurette
- Northwest Passage: Creating The Pilot featurette
- Freshly Squeezed: Creating Season 1 featurette
- Where We're From: Creating The Music featurette
- Into The Night: Creating Season 2 featurette
- Saturday Night Live Featuring Kyle MacLachlan (Monologue and Twin Peaks
Sketch)
- Return to Twin Peaks featurette
- Interactive Map (showing the series location)
- "Falling" Music Video with Julee Cruise
- Georgia Coffee Commercials (5 Spots)
- Image galleries
- TV spots
All
extras are pretty interesting. There is
nothing in the special features that is useless or uninteresting. The featurettes are especially interesting
giving a glimpse into the series from the very beginning spouting fascinating
trivia and factoids that one would never know without this incredible box
set. The Saturday Night Live segment is also quite funny (especially after
viewing all the episodes).
- Michael P. Dougherty II
