Twin Peaks - The 1st Season Review

I was first exposed to Twin Peaks when I accidently taped an episode back in '91. Something must have happened in the first few minutes because I watched every episode from then on, up until the series finale. Twin Peaks is a very strange show filled with strange characters doing strange things. I love it.

This DVD set from Artisan is very, very nice. It starts with the "reveal" packaging; a 5 panel case that slides out of a clear plastic case. The clear plastic has the photo of Laura Palmer and when you slide the case out you reveal the police photo of Laura seen throughout the series. It gets better. Unfolding the 5 panel case you can see all 4 discs and the booklet insert. It's much like the case used for "The Simpsons" except the discs are even easier to remove. Each disc has characters silkscreened on it and other characters are printed on the cardboard behind the disc holders.

For the most part the menus are also very, very cool. I found the menus for the script notes and the "Twin Peaks Directory" menus to be rater confusing and frustrating. I really like the menu music.

Video

Wow, I can't say I've ever seen TV product look this good. I was a little concerned that the colors were too red, but after listening to the commentary on the first episode I learned that this was intentional. There are hardly any dust specks on the print (you could count them on one hand). I noticed a very slight strobe effect in two or three scenes in episode one. I was looking for things to nickpick about so I doubt the average person would notice or even care. The video is as near perfect as you can come.

Audio

Like the video, the audio is awesome. This is the first TV product to feature DTS sound, and that's what I listened to. I was expecting the center speaker to be used almost exclusively so I was surprised by how much the rear speakers were used. They were used for most or all of the music, quite a few sound effects and even dialog in a few places. I thought the Dolby Digital 5.1 sounded the same as the DTS with the Dolby Surround lacking a little.

Extras - How we rate extras

Commentary Tracks
Each episode contains commentary by the following people:

I've only listened to the commentary on the first episode provided by Duwayne Dunham, the director of the first episode. The commentary provided some insight into the series, technical information relating to camera angles and shots, and why they chose to give the show a red look.

Log Lady Intros
The Log Lady has something strange to say before each episode (if this feature is turned on). These introductions were shown before the episode when they aired on Bravo.

Easter Egg - You can find short interviews/outtakes for each person who contributed to a commentary track. To access the interview you need to select "Episode Features" then the menu scrolls down to reveal the episode features selections. Press up on your remote to select the fire symbol (found above the episode number text); press enter and the interview will play. Here's the list of hidden interviews and their length:

Disc 4 contains "Tibet", the extras for the set. In there you will find:

Mark Frost Interview with Wrapped in Plastic
Video footage of a phone interview with Mark Frost (Executive Producer of Twin Peaks) by "Wrapped in Plastic", a fan magazine. The interview is 14:35.

Learning to Speak in the Red Room
Michael Anderson (The Man From Another Place) teaches us to speak the way he spoke in the Red Room. This cracked me up. 3:40.

An Introduction to David Lynch
Cast and crew speak about David Lynch. 21:28.

17 Pieces of Pie
An interview with the owner of the real "Double R Diner". 9:45.

The Twin Peaks Directory
This shows the relationships between ALL the characters in the first season of "Twin Peaks". I found the menus very had to navigate, but there's a ton of information to be found here. Some of the actors have a filmography, biography and short video clips along with their character information. Below is a chart with the information found in this area along with the length of the video clip if one is included. There are also multiple characters that don't have information for the actors.

F = Filmography
B = Biography
V = Video Clip

I really liked the video clips because they weren't always about the show, but a little about the actor's lives. Artisan could have easily left these out, but I'm glad they were included.

Artisan included some really nice extras for this release. There are the commentary tracks, information about the show, the creator, and the actors. It'll be interesting to see what Artisan includes as extras in the next set.

Summary

Artisan has done a fabulous job with this set. It's unfortunate the pilot episode couldn't be included but that's part of the entertainment world, I guess. If you're a fan of Twin Peaks you'll want this set, and if you've never heard of the show before I'd strongly suggest buying it. I hope Artisan can get the rights to other shows because they obviously take great pride in releasing quality products. I'll be sending them an email asking when season two will be released but whatever the date, it won't be soon enough.