lotsofdvds

I read Jamie S. Rich's DVD review of Twin Peaks - The Second Season at http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=27228 and...

I agree with many of your opinions. The show worked best when the supernatural stuff was just under the surface. When it is shoved to the forefront, it's just too much.

One disagreement... the Nadine thinks she's a high school girl again plotline is infinitely better than the whole James/Evelyn Marsh crap.

Shannon Nutt

Funny, for the same reasons the reviewer hates the show, I love it (I love the mysterious Black Lodge/BOB/mystical stuff...I disliked the other plotlines that Jamie raved about in the review).

More importantly though, it should be noted that the episodes are in 5.1 Dolby, not 2.0 as this review states. Actually, I felt the audio was the best part about the Season 2 set.

Furthermore, I felt the video quality wasn't up to par with Season 1, although Jamie feels it's better. The overall picture looked a little "dark" to me (from what I remember from having the series for many years on VHS), and there are occassional flecks of white (video noise, possibly) every now and again in an episode...but not to the point of distraction - just several times per episode.

For those interested, you can see my own review (albiet less detailed about the episodes themselves) over at DVD Empire:

http://www.dvdempire.com/Exec/v4_ite...=1281197&tab=2

Jnuke

Totally agree. I find much of the Nadine stuff genuinely hilarious.
The subplot with James, on the other hand, is the only thing in the entire series I find myself wanting to fast forward through. It's like the "magic" of Twin Peaks totally disappears when his storyline moves to a different town, and I can't bring myself to care about Evelyn and her household at all. It would be one thing if there was some payoff to the subplot later and you saw how the experience affected James' character when he returned home, but the show was cancelled before that could happen.

I absolutely love the final episode (Lynch unleashed!), but it's not for all tastes and I can't really criticize anyone who doesn't care for it.

lotsofdvds

Yep. This plot was straight out of Falcon Crest or something. And it just went on and on and on.

I'm glad the reviewer also thinks the Diane Keaton episode is terrible. God how I wish I could pretend that episode didn't exist.

Josh Z

I disagree with a lot of the review. I think Jamie will find himself in a minority of one who likes the post-Laura Palmer episodes better than the beginning of the season.

On this point:

Each episode of the show takes place during one day of narrative time. The 12th episode of the show is the 12th day of the story. That's about as straightforward a timeline as you can possibly get. The only divergence from this is the first episode after the Palmer plot is resolved, which is stated on screen to jump forward to a few days later.

I do, however, largely agree with Jamie's opinion of the final episode. It's a favorite among fans, but I've never felt that it worked. Unlike the rest of the show, it truly is just weirdness for weirdness' sake.

lotsofdvds

I think he was just saying something that I agree with as well... that after having watched the series for a year and a half it seems rather jarring that by that point in the timeline only 12 days had elapsed.

Some of the timeline problems you can see during this 12 days is the rapid development of both Audrey Horne and Donna Hayward. Hell, in about two weeks storyline-wise Audrey went from a total ditz to being primed to run a major business.

It doesn't come across this way when watching them back to back on DVD, but it sure as hell was a momentary surprise when the show was on the air.

I've also reviewed this set recently, but it's way too long to post here. So here's the linkage: http://www.the-watercooler.com/the_w...eaks_seas.html

I already know that Josh will disagree with me as well. :-)

sb5

Yeah, I have to admit, I was surprised to read a review hailing the middle as the best part of the season.

I'd also like to join the chorus of haters of the James/Evelyn plot line...

Josh Z

True. For those really nit-picky, there are also a lot of continuity problems with regard to the teenagers going to high school on weekends. The writers were very forthcoming about the fact that they paid absolutely no attention to things like that. Windom Earle's chess match makes no sense whatsoever, and I think Harley Peyton even admitted that he doesn't even know how to play chess.

I've got to admit, I do love this line:

"Heather Graham arrives as a love interest for Agent Cooper. She becomes a better actress later in her career."



I'm inclined to say "So true", except that I'm not really sure that she does get any better.

wergo

I wasn't crazy about James romance stuff, but I just HATED super!Nadine in high school. I also hated the Diane Keaton episode, much to my surprise. But I love the finale.

I am SO happy with the "previously on" tags were cut off from this, and I can only hope they're cut off from season one when the complete box set gets released (though they'll have to do some work, because the commentaries run over them).

I'm just glad I can finally toss out the old laserdisc boxes.

jamieoni

Nice catch there. I realized when I read this that I hadn't actually written anything about the sound, that text was a placemarker in the file template I was using. It's fixed now.

Bacharach

I don't know if Heather Graham became a better actress later in her career. She did become a more naked actress, so that's sayin' somethin' ...

Josh Z

To give her some credit, Graham's performance as Rollergirl in Boogie Nights was really good, both in terms of acting and nakedness. Unfortunately, it seems to have been the one and only good performance she had in her.

Paul Mavis

I was going to weigh in on this whole Magilla about Twin Peaks, but to be honest, I got a little sidetracked by Josh and Phil's sidetrack.....

lotsofdvds

I was in a bookstore last night and saw that Peggy Lipton had written a book about herself. About 10 pages were devoted to her time on Twin Peaks. Her favorite guest director? Diane Keaton.

dr_rock

Just a couple of things I noticed about the review...
I had this problem in one dvd player (a Philips). Switching to another player, I was able to select between the two options. Choosing "previews" allows you to see the Inland Empire trailer.

Also, it seems the reviewer's feelings toward the show are definitely colored by the season finale. Of course, everyone is entitled to their opinion. But it should be noted that when that last episode was FILMED, ABC had given assurances that the show would be picked up for another season. The decision to cancel the show came after it was too late to change that final episode. It was not an artistic choice to have the show end on a down note, as much as a network decision to cancel the show with little warning.

JasonTHX

I've really been looking forward to this set for a looong time. I was impressed with the quality of Season 1 but the color was way too bright. I didn't particularly like the extras though. That learn to talk backwards with MFAP was pretty stupid.

So what am I looking forward to in the season 2 Set:

Episode 8!! That entire first 10 minutes or so is incredible.

Donna and James in the roadhouse while Julee Cruise sings "The World Spins" (Always gets me.)

Ben and Jerry reminising about their babysitter dancing with the flashlight.

I actually liked Dale and Annie's romance.

Miss Twin Peaks.

The final episode.

Things I didn't Like: Catherine dressed as the shady Japanese man

James and Evelyn

Ernie!!!!

One could say the same about Lara Flynn Boyle who did a stellar job on The Practice and was pretty good in Huff

Shannon Nutt

My recollection is that ABC told Lynch and Frost they would renew the show, but an agreement couldn't be reached about the budget...ABC was willing to bring TWIN PEAKS back, but production costs were going to have to be cut significantly. Lynch decided instead of doing another season, he'd just do a feature...I think one of the main reasons FIRE WALK WITH ME was a prequel was because everyone felt there would be more than one feature film...that, and the fact, Lynch really wanted to work with

At least that's my best recollection of how things went...

Josh Z

That's not how I remember it. The show's ratings were in the toilet by the middle of the season, not helped at all by ABC shifting it around the weekly schedule. They took it off the air for a significant amount of time, and when they brought it back almost none of the audience returned. The writing was on the wall long before the final episode went into production.

Some of the writers held out hope for a third season, and the original script for the finale was very different from what was actually shot. But I don't think Lynch was under any illusions about what was happening. He knew his episode would be the end of the show. When he came back to direct it, he basically threw out Mark Frost's script and shifted gears entirely, ending everything on a downbeat note (in accordance with how he was feeling about things at the time). It's certainly no coincidence that Fire Walk With Me opens with the image of a television being smashed to pieces.

Shannon Nutt

Here's an article from a 1992 issue of FILM THREAT that clears a little bit of this up. I guess ABC DID ditch the show, but Lynch and Frost were shopping it around to both cable and FOX, but couldn't get any network to front the 1.2 million per episode budget they needed, so they decided to do the feature at that point.

http://davidlynch.de/filmthreat1992.html

SPOILER ALERT...the above contains major plot points about both the series and feature that you probably don't want to know if you haven't watched them yet.

lotsofdvds

This part of the article blows my mind:

"Even though our last show was ranked 72nd, it was still seen by 10 million people. And if those 10 million people go to the movie, itīs a hit."

Shows today with 10 million viewers are smash hits.

lotsofdvds

Looks like this is a link to the original script for the finale:

http://glastonberrygrove.net/texts/script29.html

All the Lodge stuff is totally different, but it still ends the same way.

theWitcher

My Philips 642 had similar issues, and I assumed it had something to do with the region-free hack. (On Disk 1, there is a procession of several screens in several different languages before finally getting to the main menu. This player also has issues with the 2nd disks of the Bond UEs; the menus are only available in an Asian language that I have not identified.)

I'll have to try the disk in another player. I didn't realize I'm missing out on an Inland Empire trailer! That movie is awesome!