Twin Peaks: The Definitive Gold Box Edition

A cultural phenomenon during its 1990-92 run, "Twin Peaks" holds up wonderfully well almost 20 years later. The gold box edition offers both the original pilot and the international version, as well as all the episodes from "Twin Peaks" all-too-brief two season run. After reading of some viewers' problems with discs, I was concerned that I might run into some of the same. Happily, that was not the case. The set that I ordered from Amazon was perfect. The episodes themselves have beautiful clarity, perhaps more so than when they originally aired, and I found the extras to be both informative and entertaining. For those not familiar with "Twin Peaks", it was a strange and exhilerating television experience, the likes of which I had never seen when it first aired. Conceived by David Lynch and Mark Frost, it is a dark and deeply disturbing journey into the psyche of a seemingly normal, all-American town. The sudden bursts of violence were shocking for a network television show in the early '90's, and those images still pack a punch today; there is an unsettling eeriness that prevails through most of the episodes, leavened by quirky, sometimes oddball humor supplied by the eccentric inhabitants of Twin Peaks. The brilliant David Lynch has stated that Twin Peaks belongs to the same universe as his underrated "Lost Highway", and there is a certain similarity of themes that are constant, I think, through not only "Highway", but "Mulholland Drive", and the earlier "Blue Velvet". They all seem to be part of a macabre world that looks familiar, but is, somehow, not our own. The cast of "Twin Peaks" is enormous and everyone seems to inhabit their characters to an impressive degree. I can't think of a villain in television history who is more terrifying than the diabolical Bob; the very sight of him slithering and cackling makes one want to scream. As played by Frank Silva, he is the essence of unending horror and the stuff that nightmares are made of. Even the madman Windom Earle (Kenneth Welsh)can't hold a candle to Bob's demonic presence. On the flip side of the coin, the series' lawmen--FBI agent Cooper and Sheriff Harry S. Truman--are wonderful, stalwart, brave men, vividly brought to life by, respectively, Kyle MacLachlan and Michael Ontkean. "Twin Peaks" was, perhaps, the finest hour for both actors. MacLachlan has gone on to lesser (I think), husbandly roles in "Desperate Housewives" and "Sex and the City", but I'll always remember him chiefly for this turn as Dale Cooper. Of the many other cast members, the great Piper Laurie is deliciously malicious as scheming Catherine Martell, with Jack "Eraserhead" Nance on hand as her clueless, cuckholded husband, Pete; Joan Chen is convincingly demur and devious as the traitorous Josie; and Richard Beymer is both touching and amusing as nutty, rich hotelier/bordello owner, Benjamin Horne. Ray Wise and Grace Zabriskie offer a touching and, ultimately, chilling portrait of a grief-stricken married couple. The younger cast members are also compelling, especially Madchen Amick, Sherilyn Fenn, Lara Flynn Boyle, and Sheryl Lee, who plays both the ill-fated Laura Palmer (whose murder sets the series in motion) and her lookalike cousin, Maddy Ferguson. In fact, it would be difficult to single out any performer in the series who isn't dead-on with their characterizations. While the pilot and Season 1 are pretty much flawless, Season 2 almost sinks a few times, due to some seemingly superfluous plot developments that do nothing to advance the plot. In fact, getting through episodes 17-22 may require some patience and a certain level of tolerance for out-and-out inanity. It's worth hanging in there for the remaining episodes because they come close to recapturing the essence of the earlier shows, and, in some cases, surpass the exhuberance and sheer weirdness that was displayed in the first season. Anyone expecting everything to be neatly wrapped up in the finale will be sorely unamused, although, for me, "Twin Peaks" is more a case of the journey being more important than the destination. I think "Twin Peaks" is as close to a television series masterpiece as has ever been produced for American television.

A landmark in television history, Twin Peaks has had a lasting impact an episodic (story-arc) television to this day. Back in the early 1990's when it was released, Twin Peaks was the only show of it's kind. It was distinctly different, weird and intelligent all at the same time. It was the kind of show that forced you to pay attention and then to try to piece together the meanings of what you had just viewed. I've just finished watching the whole series over the last few weeks, and so I've once again been reminded of just how good this show is. Twin Peaks is without a doubt, a classic! This Gold Box Edition contains every episode from seasons 1 and 2 plus the pilot movie. My recommendation on the pilot is to hold off on watching the European ending until after you have watched the whole series. There are options on the first disk to allow you to do this. The first 15 or so episodes deal primarily with the mystery surrounding the death of Laura Palmer, but at the same time introduce you the town and the characters of Twin Peaks. It is in the second half of the series that the underlying mythology of Twin Peaks is gradually introduced. The ending is fascinating and unique and will have you thinking about the series as a whole. Good Things About Twin Peaks: cinematic, mystery, story-arc, characters, weirdness, mythology, ending, philosophy, setting, dialogue, wood, coffee, pie So-So Things About Twin Peaks: brief interlude (Ben Horne) during the last third of the series that seems to drag, occasional daytime soap opera quality to the character interaction and dialogue, wondering why the population of Twin Peaks is listed as over 50,000. These are all minor problems. But in the end, this show is fantastic. The last 25 minutes of the last episode is brilliant and it is amazing. It's a final send off and payoff for the whole series. In my viewing experience, only one TV scene has had such avant-garde feel to it, the Milennium episode from season 2 called The Fourth Horseman. There are plenty of extras and the shows creator, David Lynch, seems to reveal that much of the show was created as they want along. But what they ending up creating was classic!!!

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even to someone who doesn't actually watch much of it and at last the whole series in one instead of being split. If you have already seen it or own season 1, the reason to have it is for the whole uninterrupted saga, being eight years between the first season release and this. If you haven't seen it then the series is undoubtedly one of the strangest yet classic television series ever made. The characters are unique and iconic and the Laura Palmer murder storyline compelling and easily surpasses who shot JR. The episodes up to the conclusion of the storyline, which Lynch has said should never have happened but was forced by the network to do, is compelling 'I'll just watch one more' and being able to watch 2-3 at a time uninterrupted is a pleasure. After this it undoubtedly loses its way, with only flashes of excellence in the Windom Earle storyline. It isn't difficult to find praise for the last 3 episodes on the Internet, but for me the second half of the series pales against the first and if it hadn't existed I wouldn't have missed it. The remastered picture quality is excellent played on a bluray with upscale and a 40 inch LCD. Comments on the colour tone by others are lost on me, I am not analysing it that much and it certainly looked good on a screen unlikely to have been envisaged for it to be played on 20 years ago. There are Log Lady introductions that can be played before each episode, which I didn't as they are as cryptic as her character is supposed to be, and various other extras. I am not an extras person and having viewed most of them have not changed my opinion. The deleted scenes are nothing special and other short documentaries and stills galleries are a view once and never again for me. I haven't scored them as I bought it for the series, so standard extras disappointment does not sway my opinion at all. This is the third time I have watched this series in 14 years, from memory only twice all the way through, and I will now put it away for 3-4 years to come back then and start all over again. You may not understand it and sometimes it does get silly, but ignore this and you have one of the best pieces of television ever made. And if you see Fire Walk With Me expect to be more not less confused.

Perfetto, belli anche gli extra, da vedere rigorosamente in 4:3 e in lingua originale. Il cofanetto tedesco contiene i sottotitoli in italiano, mentre quello inglese no.

Good movie.

Package completely broken/damages when I opened it. All dvds fell outside and I’m not sure if the dvds are damaged. Very poor packaging for an expensive dvd serie box! And it’s in German…not English so not the original language.