Twin Peaks - The missing pieces

Twin Peaks - The missing pieces 

This past Tuesday, July 29th I raced to my local Bullmoose (a video, record, and book store) and bought the newest re-release for David Lynch's epic cult classic television show Twin Peaks along with it's prequel Fire Walk With Me. Transferred into crystal clear HD, along with tons of killer extras, and best of all, the uncut scenes, nearly an hour worth from FWWM which featured most of the original cast which was left on the cutting room floor after the film was released.

I think I've said it before, I'm a massive fan of Twin Peaks. After Friday the 13th the series it's my all time favorite show. Yet again another show from the past that only lasted a few brief seasons and was taken away far before it's time. Twin Peaks is a show that still remains just as popular as it was back in the 90's and has gathered a massive cult following. Just last month I got a Twin Peaks themed tattoo, and knew getting this brand new box set would be well worth it no matter what the price. Lucky for me I had a ton of Bullmoose points that I racked up and low and behold I got it for next to nothing. In fact I'm still down right stunned I got it for as cheap as I did.

Tuesday night as tired as I was, and as blurry as my contacts were I stayed up watching all the missing footage from FWMW. My thoughts?

Pretty interesting!

I myself first rented Fire Walk With Me after only watching the first season of Twin Peaks which left with the cliff hanger of Cooper getting shot. Even though this was a prequel I was more than a little confused and wasn't exactly getting Lynch's very strange way of storytelling. Time passed and I became a huge fan of Lynch's film Blue Velvet and finally decided to buy the Twin Peaks' Gold Box Set which was released a few years back. One winter after having the flu I re-watched the entire second season finally finishing and getting finally somewhat closure on what went down. My heart ached there was never a third season, and I was a little mad that the film FWMW wasn't a story that took place after everything happened in the massive cliffhanger of season 2. Still I did like the idea of a prequel being able to watch the final days of Laura Palmer. I've re-watched Twin Peaks (the whole two seasons I believe a total of four or five times) Twin Peaks is my "sick" show meaning I mostly watch it all in one sitting them I'm puking my guts out with the stomach bug. I mean come on, where else can you find a show so strange it somehow makes more sense when you have a fever. (I also love hitting the "play all" button and not having to crawl out to bed or switch the discs.) Over time I've gotten a few friends into the show and just love geeking out talking about it. In fact this past winter, the friend who originally showed me the first season back in high school began meeting up with me every Friday to re-watch the entire second season. I honestly don't think I've ever laughed so hard.

After re-watching it this winter I decided to finally give FWMW another try. I never really cared for it and decided that it deserved another chance. I watched it and believe it or not it wasn't nearly as bad as I expected. There were certain moments that truly made the film as strange and out there as it was. One of my favorite scenes was when Mr. Palmer goes to hook up with Theresa at the motel and he sees his daughter. I loved the expression on his face. Or how we're finally explained what that body was doing in the middle of the woods in the first season, and of course the murder. After watching the show first and then that, it's downright heart breaking. These extras scenes I feel would have made the movie MUCH better and explained a few things.

It was pretty cool to see Chester and Sam together again, mostly seeing that asshole sheriff get the ass kicking he deserved. I liked seeing more of the original cast featured in the show even though some of the scenes were silly (like the wood cutting scene) I hated that Audrey wasn't featured or Ben even though I learned why they weren't involved with the film. It was nice to see more of the town, and a little more of Laura and how she was going further and further down into a dark abyss filled with sex, drugs, and murder. I even found that scene when she visits Bobby and begs him for coke somewhat sad, and even made me look at their relationship in a different light. I loved seeing Laura with Donna's parents and how Donna's rather reads the passage about her seeing an angel. The best scene of course are between Dale and Annie. My heart broke at the scene when Dale is in the Black Lodge and he asks the man from another place where he is and how he can leave? Very sad to see the Dale Cooper we all know and loved stuck between two worlds in some sort of limbo all because he was trying to save the girl he loved. The best is the shot from the teaser trailer as well with Annie covered in blood being wheeled in and then taken to the hospital. I feel had they kept these few scenes of Annie and Dale FWMW wouldn't have felt so far removed from the series. In fact I would have liked the movie a whole lot better. I loved seeing that scene of Harry and Donna's father breaking down the door on Cooper after he smashed his head in the mirror. Gives you a tiny taste of how awesome a third season would have been, and of course Annie repeating the same lines in the hospital she says in the original movie. Classic. As a massive Twin Peaks fan I loved them all but the winner of cut scenes has to go with the one of Laura when she sneaks out the night she's killed hiding in the bushes and how she sees her father almost in a trance walking up to the house and how terrified she looks as he approaches. Then how she hears James' bike and how scared she gets softly trying to will him inside as he stares right at her. Truly haunting stuff. It gives more of a punch since we know exactly what was  going on between them, and to that cut scene of Mr. Palmer teaching Laura and his wife German and how happy these all seemed. Great stuff.

I watched one episode of Twin Peaks last night without any of the extras and all ready I know I'm going to have to re-watch the entire thing soon. The image is crystal clear and I can't wait to start the special features! A must for any Twin Peaks fan out there for sure.

The best part of course with this release as dorky as this sounds is the box. For a while I had been wondering about what the re-release would look like. There were tons of teasers this winter, since Laura had promised Cooper she would see him in 25 years (fitting since the release happened this year.) and this one by far was the best. Such a killer cover, and the inside is breath taking (even though it's a bit of a pain in the ass trying to flip through it. I love the images they picked and of course the tiny strip of paper at the bottom saying Fire Walk With Me.