Twin Peaks: Definitive Gold Box Edition DVD Set Review

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Title: Twin Peaks: Definitive Gold Box Edition

Region: One

Genre: Mystery Thriller Prime-Time Soap Opera Cult TV Series

Stars: Kyle MacLachlan, Michael Ontkean, Joan Chen, Laura Flynn Boyle, Sherilyn Fenn, Mädchen Amick, Jack Nance, Sheryl Lee, Richard Beymer, Rus Tamblyn, Don S. Davis, Frank Silva, Ray Wise, Catherine E. Coulson, Dana Ashbrook, Peggy Lypton, Everett McGill, Eric DaRe, Wendie Robie, Ian Buchanan, Michael J. Anderson, and Piper Laurie

Guest Stars: Miguel Ferrer, Dan O’Herlihy, Heather Graham, Michael Parks, Carel Struycken, Don Amendoilia, Billy Zane, Kenneth Welsh, Hank Worden, David Duchovny, David Warner, Chris Mulkey, Al Strobel, Clarence Williams III, Ted Raimi, Julie Cruise, and David Lynch

Writers: Mark Frost, David Lynch, Harley Peyton, Robert Engels, Barry Pullman, Tricia Brock, and Scott Frost

Directors: Dwayne Dunham, David Lynch, Tina Rathbone, Tim Hunter, Stephen Gyllenhaal, Jennifer Lynch, Lesli Link Glatter, Caleb Deschanel, and Mark Frost

Executive Producers: David Lynch and Mark Frost

Feature length: 25 Hours

Extras: Both US Network And International Versions Of The Pilot, Deleted Scenes, Secrets From Another Place Documentary, A Slice Of Lynch Retrospective, Return To Twin Peaks Documentary, Interactive Maps, The Complete Log Lady Introductions, Saturday Night Live – Kyle MacLachlan’s Monologue And The Hilarious Twin Peaks Comedy Sketch, Falling Music Video With Julie Cruise, On-Air Promos, TV Spots, Production Documents, Bumpers, Japanese TV Commercials, T-Shirt Ad, Holiday Greeting, Patriot Greeting

Languages: English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and Stereo Sound, Spanish, and Brazilian Portuguese Mono Sound

Subtitles: English Closed Captions and English, Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese Language Subtitles

Packaging: Ten Disc Book Style Digipack Within A Gold Glossy Cardboard Slipcase

Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, Stereo Sound, and Mono Sound

Years Of Television Broadcast: 1990-1991/DVD Release: 2007

Home Video Distributor: CBS DVD and Paramount Home Entertainment

MPAA Rating: Not Rated

Reviewer: Mark A. Rivera

“I love Twin Peaks and it’s world.” – David Lynch

Twin Peaks went off the air a little over fifteen years ago, but is still alive and well in the hearts of the show’s devoted fans, the cast and crewmembers who worked on the series, and on DVD, where the series has truly never looked or sounded better in the four NTSC incarnations released for Region 1/0 users. Created by David Lynch and Mark Frost, the series helped to redefine television programming in the 1990s and was a trendsetter in many different areas beyond the scope of the TV series. Some people have likened Twin Peaks as being a little bit like Lynch’s feature film, Blue Velvet, which dealt with the dark secrets buried within the seemingly idyllic American small town, but as the series progressed it distanced itself in many ways from Blue Velvet enough that while comparisons can be drawn, ultimately both Lynch creations are quite different. The series was essentially a quirky soap opera with an ensemble cast including many who had appeared in previous David Lynch projects before and would go on to do so as well. The best way to view Twin Peaks though is just to approach it with no expectations, an open mind, and make what you will of it. Some elements of the show’s style might not seem new or original to the first time viewer, but this is because many television shows and filmmakers duplicated the look, style, and sometimes even the content in one form or another for over a decade since the show first premiered, but David Lynch and Mark Frost truly did set a milestone for others to follow when Twin Peaks debuted on ABC in the spring of 1990.

All 29 episodes plus both the original U.S. version of the pilot and the International version are presented with a brilliantly remastered picture created from the original negative and a newly created Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound as well as the original Stereo Soundtrack both personally approved by David Lynch. The show’s beautiful northwest setting and wood covered interiors just jump out at the viewer and are presented here in the original (1.33:1) aspect ratio of their network television broadcast. Unfortunately the DTS 5.1 Digital Theatrical Surround Soundtrack that was features in the original 2001 Artisan Home Entertainment first season special edition DVD release have not been carried over, which is a shame since sound plays an extremely important role in all of David Lynch’s projects. However the 5.1 Surround Soundtrack is still stunning to hear with English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack and Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese Language Monaural Soundtracks encoded as options along with English Closed Captions for the Deaf and Hearing Impaired and English, Spanish, and Brazilian Portuguese Language Subtitles encoded onto all ten discs as options. The extra value features outside of all of the Log Lady introductions shot for when the series was in syndicated reruns on Bravo, none of the Director commentary tracks and other extra value features from both the 2001 Artisan first season DVD set and the CBS Video/Paramount second season DVD set are carried over so super fans who have the now out of print first season set and the second season set will want to hold on to hold on to their DVD collections, but I think if all of the elements were carried over and this box set were just a merging of the two previous sets, the super fans would want to hold on to the original DVDs anyway.

Now I read a review where the Journalist questioned the validity of whether or not this new DVD set is truly definitive because it does not include the older extras previously available. While I can understand why someone would question the validity of the set’s definitive quality, I actually think that this is worthy of being dubbed the “Definitive Gold Box Edition” because the quality of the episodes as well as the sound presentation is at least as good if not better on these ten DVDs and the extra value features included here for the most part are things fans and casual viewers alike will appreciate and enjoy and undoubtedly the super fans have been waiting for. Just because something is Definitive does not mean it has to include all of the previously available extras, which is why I haven’t carried over my personal analyses of the series as a whole for this review. You can read those reviews for the individual season one and season two DVD sets by clicking on the highlighted links above. I mean I love the Alien films, but not all of the extra value features from the original Alien Legacy DVD box set from 1999 were carried over into the 2003 Alien Quadrilogy DVD box set Fox released. So as a fan of that movie franchise, I kept box DVD sets and I feel this new set is the best yet not just because the sturdy glossy packaging and picture and sound presentation, but the quality of the extra value features here are by the best yet not only with regard to the Twin Peaks series, but to just about any David Lynch related title available on DVD in Region One, North America.

The discs cover art like the packaging itself is gold in color and has an image related to the ten themed menus for all ten DVDs. The settings are as follows:

Disc One – The Saw Mill

Disc Two – Big Ed’s Gas Farm

Disc Three – The Great Northern Hotel

Disc Four – The Double R Diner

Disc Five – The Palmer Residence

Disc Six – One Eyed Jack’s

Disc Seven – The Twin Peaks Sheriff’s Department

Disc Eight – Windom Earle’s Cabin

Disc Nine – The Ms. Twin Peaks Pageant

Disc Ten – The Black Lodge

By far these menus are the nicest using real film images of the various locales from the series complete with animated transitions to interactive still frame menus and all are easy to navigate. Previously only available on DVD as a region free NTSC import, the Twin Peaks: Definitive Gold Box Edition includes the complete U.S. version of the pilot as well as for the first time on DVD ever in Region One North America, the International Version with the closed ending, which should only be viewed after you have seen the entire series on DVD box set. The International version’s conclusion can also be seen separately (22:45), but again I must stress that new viewers should not see this version until watching the entire series. The Log Lady Intro on this disc is only for the U.S. network version of the pilot. I guess they never shot one for the other version.

The extra value features were produced by Charles de Lauzirika and these new documentaries and featurettes are all presented in a 16 by 9 enhanced widescreen (1.78:1) aspect ratio and even feature clips from both versions of the pilot as well as both TV seasons reframed to (1.78:1) as well. Now I realize most people are going to disagree with me, but as much as I believe that the episodes should be shown in their original (1.33:1) broadcast aspect ratios, I kind of wish they were available in reformatted (1.78:1) aspect ratios too because they don’t look bad from what I can see. Perhaps if the series is ever released on HD DVD, this option will be considered. Aside from the two versions of the pilot and all of the log lady introductions, the extra value features are on discs nine and ten with the bulk being on disc ten. Disc nine features a still gallery of rare production documents and four deleted scenes that can be viewed individually or through a “Play All” feature (5:42). With cast and crewmembers receiving only their necessary sides instead sides instead of completed scripts during the production of season two and with alternate scenes being shot though never intended the be used, much of the deleted scenes are long lost because the DVD market and value of saving these types of things for television was not really considered back in the early 1990s. Thus the four deleted scenes are rather weak and do little to expand the important storylines, but I am glad what was discovered is presented here and I think fans will be too.

Disc ten has what I think is the best of the extra value features included within the set. A Slice Of Lynch (29:59) is an amusing look back at the series in an informal fashion with David Lynch actually participating as opposed to be usually shown in behind-the-scenes footage. When I first saw the beginning of this featurette, I thought for a second Lynch was reprising his memorable character of Gordon Cole, once again visiting Twin Peaks and perhaps lamenting all that had passed in the years that the show ended, but then as if they arrived through some unseen porthole from the Black Lodge, Kyle MacLachlan, Mädchen Amick, who is still as beautiful as ever, and Lynch’s former personal assistant John Wentworth discuss the show over cups of coffee and cherry pie. This is supported by the feature length documentary Secrets From Another Place (1:45:.51), which can be viewed as a whole or in four parts covering the creation of pilot, the first season, Angelo Badalameni’s reflections on coming up with the score for Twin Peaks and David Lynch’s encouraging guidance and then cast and crew reflections on what went wrong in the second season and what might have been if a third season been picked up. Everyone involved agrees that Lynch in the last few episodes with Frost brought the series back on track even though no one ever expected the show lasting longer than it did. Among the participants with new interview clips for this documentary are Kyle MacLachlan, Mädchen Amick, Ray Wise, Joan Chen, Sherilyn Fenn, Sheryl Lee, Don S. Davis, Miguel Ferrer, Kenneth Welsh, Carel Struycken, Julie Cruise, and Mark Frost along with other series production crewmembers.

Next is a featurette covering the devoted fans that attended the 2006 Twin Peaks Festival (19:41), an interactive map of the locations used for the series, the music video for “Falling” sung by Julie Cruise (4:20), three image galleries, Five campy Japanese TV spots for Georgia Coffee (3:25), which tell a little story of their own collectively and feature cast members reprising their character roles from the series including an almost saccharine Kyle MacLachlan, eight ABC television TV spots for the series (5:51) and six voice over bumpers for the show (: 40). The feather in the cap is Kyle MacLachlan’s Saturday Night Live monologue and the hilarious Twin Peaks sketch. Included within the set is a packet of beautiful collectible Twin Peaks Trading Post Cards. There is also a limited gold card I got lucky in finding. The card is marked at the lower right hand corner 16G and #21 of 160. You can order cards from the set by visiting www.greetingsfromtwinpeaks.com and there is also an ad for David Lynch’s Signature Cup Coffee Beans, which can be purchased by visiting www.davidlynch.com/coffee. A reel of previews for other CBS Video/Paramount Home Entertainment TV on DVD products that include Dexter: The First Season, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CSI: Miami, CSI: New York, NCIS, Numbers, Ghost Whisperer, Medium, The 4400, and Mission: Impossible: Season Two (3:52) wrap up the bonus features within this DVD Box Set.

Twin Peaks: Definitive Gold Box Edition is available on DVD-Video now at retailers on and offline courtesy of CBS Video and Paramount Home Entertainment.

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