My log saw something—and it’s wrapped in plastic. Could it be….TWIN PEAKS: THE ENTIRE MYSTERY, a new Blue Ray set that includes the long lost 90 minutes of missing and alternate footage from Fire Walk With Me?
Between Hill Street Blues, justout on Blu-Ray, and Twin Peaks, you have the momma and poppa of everything you like on TV now. Hill Street Blues introduced the ongoing storyline format, recurring characters and jarring, gritty drama. Twin Peaks introduced great direction, lingering mysteries and eccentric humor.
Unearthing the dark secrets of a seemingly normal town somewhere in the primordial rain forests of Washington State, Twin Peaks followed the lantern jawed G-men and angora-sweatered high school girls as they confronted dreams, darkness and dwarves. Following up on the themes from Blue Velvet, director David Lynch made a show so addictive that Agent Cooper’s coffee fixation is said to have helped fuel the Starbucks boom.
Twin Peaks proved that you didn’t have to explain EVERYTHING for a show to make sense. Unfortunately, network executives of the time (1990-1991) did not get this and forced creators Lynch and Mark Frost to solve the central mystery of Laura Palmer’s death. The result was a silly show that had its guts ripped out and ended smack dab in the middle of a cliffhanger never to be resolved. The show was followed by a film called TWIN PEAKS: FIRE WALK WITH ME that was, um, confusing, borderline awful. BUT NOW FINALLY the truth can be revealed as CBS is releasing a 7 disc Blue Ray set that includes 90 minutes of out takes and an alternate ending supervised by Lynch himself:
David Lynch and Mark Frost’s groundbreaking cult phenomenon, TWIN PEAKS — THE ENTIRE MYSTERY, arrives on Blu-ray July 29th with the debut of nearly 90 minutes of deleted/alternate scenes from Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. The long-awaited missing pieces from the original version of the film is often referred to as the “holy grail” of Twin Peaks fandom, and can only be found as part of this collection.
Presented as a feature-length experience, “The Missing Pieces” has been directed and edited by Lynch exclusively for this release. Capping off more than 30 deleted/alternate scenes is an epilogue providing a fascinating glimpse beyond the cliffhanger finale of the TV series.
With the July 29th timing, I’d expect to see ALL the stops run out for this at San Diego. Just a guess. And I need to be at that party!!!
Twin Peaks and Buffy are the cornerstones of 90s nostalgia. I rewatched the entire Twin Peaks opus five or six years ago and it held up amazingly. I can’t help but wonder why networks are so much smarter now? I guess HBO showed that you could do smart television without second guessing the people making it, and everyone followed suit.
Twin Peaks may have been equalled but never surpassed, and just in time for flannel shirts and doc martins, the original is back.
CBS Video has set up a tumblr called andthemissingpieces.tumblr.com/ where you can follow along at home.
…and how many fans will buy two sets, and keep one shrinkwrapped?
Actually the second season of Twin Peaks followed exactly the season arc of Dynasty or Dallas – resolve the cliffhanger from last season, wander around for most of the middle and then pull things together for another cliffhanger at the end.
No doubt about the show’s influence. EVERY US telefantasy show since owes something to it.
Do those extra 90 minutes resolve the final cliffhanger from the show? Fire Walk With Me was mostly a prequel to the TV show if I remember right.
“The show was followed by a film called TWIN PEAKS: FIRE WALK WITH ME that was, um, confusing, borderline awful.”
Sorry, you have a typo there…it should read “was and remains Lynch’s best work.”
Ditto the: Sorry, you have a typo there…it should read “was and remains Lynch’s best work.”
It’s easy to understand how fans of the TV show wouldn’t embrace the movie off the bat, because the movie lacked so much of the silliness and comedic elements that made the show so noteworthy. It was a very harsh and in-your-face look at the last seven days of Laura Palmer’s life. It was quite jarring for me when I first saw it because I didn’t think it accurately portrayed the Laura Palmer that we had seen in the show, but then I realized the Laura we saw in the show was just mostly memories of how people wanted to remember her, which is typical in grief.
As someone who has never seen Twin Peaks, we do exist, should I watch the prequel film first?
Brian, you should begin with the show, then watch the prequel.
Watching “Fire Walk With Me” is more like “how it all began, leading up to the first episode” than “start here for seamlessly watching it chronologically and getting the whole experience.”
Beginning with FWWM would be like watching the flashback sequences from The Godfather Part 2, then Godfather.
Cheers for that
This is the definition of “Shut up and take my money.”
In these days of Buffy Season Ninety, or whatever the hell it is, I don’t understand why someone can’t get Lynch and Frost to either write or authorize a continuation of Twin Peaks in graphic novel form. It would SELL!!
I don’t know … Twin Peaks was so of it’s time, I’m not sure I want to revisit. The movie was a mess, and the last episode of the show was so bizarre I thought it was Lynch just flipping the bird at TV execs. I may just let this one be a mostly positive memory.
If memory serves, Lynch and Frost ended the second season that way deliberately, thinking it would force ABC into a renewal. That plan did not work!
The scenes set in the future inside the Black Lodge took place 25 years later. That 25 years is up next year. Get Lynch and Frost writing now to resolve that cliffhanger and let’s see a new movie.
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