Twin Peaks: Classic or Dud?

It was eerie and surreal. I like the way the main character (I'm terrible with names), always slept in such a perfect manner. And the dream sequences with the midget were cool.

Show it again, powers that be!

Him in general -- hey, even Dune had its moments. But let me confess I still have never seen Eraserhead.

I liked the TP giant who appeared to say: "It's happening again!"
And the rude cop, Albert.

I lived in Seattle for a year, and that year coincided with the year of Twin Peaks' first season. We went to all the joints on the show, the hotel, the waterfall, the diner. Classic.

The second series: If I remember correctly it was a lot longer than the first, and it started off really well and the last episode or two is great as well, but there is this monstrously dull section in the middle where it turns into a tiresome soap opera. Soap operas are not cool.

The film: complete genius. what modern horror is meant to be like.

David Lynch generally: I think he's great.

Re: the second season: yes, the soap-opera bits were atrocious. But in retrospect, I think of them so fondly. That ridiculous part where James leaves town and gets involved in the weird love-triangle with the woman and her abusive husband? And then just comes back to Twin Peaks, as if nothing had ever happened?

"And Clint Beefsteak as Montana."

Whilst still a student I lived with someone who had all the episodes on video. In our third year, due to freak timetabling I finished my exams earlier than everyone else I knew. For three days I sat on my own and watched series one and two back to back, only speaking to stressed flatmates when they came down to make coffee.

By all accounts I was a little odd at the end of it.

I *knew* there would be a Twin Peaks thread on here somewh

I know what you mean, but seeing as there is no ending it's a bit unfair to pick on it for being a crap one. "Nonexistent" would be better.

Last week I watched episodes of On the Air, the surprisingly sitcommy show Lynch developed after Twin Peaks. Slapstick. Most of it played out like the Twin Peaks beauty pageant. Very torn as to its classicness versus dudness.

Classic, of course. I wish David Lynch had the energy to involve himself in each episode, however. The ones he directed are a world apart from the rest of the series.

The actor who played BOB (Frank Silva) died not long after Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me came out, so no danger of spotting him on the street. The scene where he crawls over the coach to Maddy's horror is terrifying.

I'll try and chase the second season.

Classic. Classic. Classic.

the seldom seen Hayward sisters Harriet (twee and so hilarious - 2 scenes) and her piano playing sister Gersten (awesome boogie woogie retainer speech affect - sadly one scene).

https://media.mstdn.social/media_attachments/files/112/238/312/179/988/757/original/31fb1cc1cddf0e1e.jpeg

It first aired in Australia a little later in Feb 1991 - I was 14 and Twin Peaks + Northern Exposure was my ~entire~ personality in high school

I basically dressed and wore my hair like Bobby Briggs for a year or two

My friend's band played their first show on 4/8/1990* and THEIR 2ND GUITARIST stayed home to watch Twin Peaks instead lol.

*openers: The Melvins & TFUL282!

for my 15th birthday that year my friends gave me THE SECRET DIARY OF LAURA PALMER

xp The second guitarist, in his final moments:

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/twinpeaks/images/8/8e/Rusty_Tomasky.jpg/revision/latest/thumbnail/width/360/height/360?cb=20161029002620

my mom watched the pilot and immediately roped me in for the first real episode. i was obsessed with Bobby and fancied myself more of an Audrey Horne type which, in retrospect, is kind of disturbing. But not surprising.

To this day I am spooked by men who look even remotely like BOB and I think it's because I was 14 when I saw him for the first time creepin out from behind the furniture

Imagine being the copywriter who had to figure out how to try to explain what Twin Peaks was in a newspaper ad.

I was 11 when I first watched the show and I literally threw the remote control out of my hand at BOB's first appearance.

The owner of the Palmer house is now doing paid tours of it, and has set up a BOB mannequin looming inside a cracked-open closet door.

She seems cool, I've seen her social media postings and whatnot

My wife and I stopped outside that house several years ago. Her license plate is TREMOND.

Did you see creamed corn on that plate?

Was watching The Searchers and there’s a log lady scene about an hour or so into the film to an equally horrifying effect.

Still blows my mind that Hank Worden (who plays Mose Harper in The Searchers) is also the waiter in Twin Peaks. I think that was his last role too. Anyway, he's in a lot of John Wayne Westerns.

My wife and I just spent some time in Washington and we went on a tour of loads of twin peaks locations. Felt very surreal being in these places we both new so well, huge recommend for the fans.

It was quite amazing how many of the scenes in woods were filmed in the same very small area.

that's cool, was looking into doing that myself. Did you stay in the Salish?

We looked into it and decided that was too much money, but we did take pics outside of the waterfall. Most things we looked at on the same day by a Twin Peaks fan who does tours, it was very well done: https://www.twinpeakstour.com/

On another day we took the ferry out and went to Kiana Lodge where the interior shots for the pilot were filmed (they rebuilt it in a soundstage later). The same place is also where Pete Martell’s house exteriors were filmed, and the large log is still on the beach.

We could have also gone to the Palmer’s House which is a bit of a drive out from central Seattle - you can even pay to go inside if you like. But we didn’t get around to that bit.

Amazing work.

TWIN PEAKS promotional poster from Ghana pic.twitter.com/xgAdkeyfId

— Black Lodge Cult (@BlackLCult) August 22, 2024

j’adore

obsessions movies chicago

Yeah, that's the bit I don't understand. Why is that on there? It's a real store, right?

The fwwm one is even better

The shop commissioned dozens of posters from Ghanaian artists, many of which were collected in the book Deadly Prey from Perfectly Acceptable Press, and the former owner of Odd Obsession now runs Deadly Prey Gallery selling prints of even more. Here are some of their Peaks posters.

Ah, so it wasn't ever used in Ghana, it's a sort of postmodern thing?

Just finished watching season 2 with my 14 year old daughter.

Seeing her shock at “HOW’S ANNIE? HOW’S ANNIE?” was so gratifying. I’m making her wait until she’s 16 for FWWM and Season 3.

That last episode was so damn good.

you should make her wait the full 26 years imo

Picked up this for next to nothing on Boxing Day--quick read, and of course I want to start a rewatch very soon (even though I'm in the middle of two other things).

https://ecwpress.com/products/wrapped-in-plastic

Funnily enough I re-watched 'Fire walk with me' yesterday at the cinema. Its a real punch to the gut, the way this switches from the lol humour in the first half hour to such sadness and tragedy..

On my last rewatch I developed an appreciation for Dick Tremayne. The little Nicky storyline is dumb but Dick and Andy are pretty good together.

The James leaves Twin Peaks storyline and the Civil War nonsense is the worst. Pine Weasel rules.

I had the same reaction to Dick and Andy on my last rewatch a year ago!

Ha ha the Cival War stuff was bat shit

Started S1E1 for the first time last night - the strings that Moby sampled are so distracting in a new context.

You've never watched it (or just the pilot)? I'm envious that you get to see it for the first time!

I’d never seen any of it! A couple of years too early on the initial TV run and then I just never got around to watching it somehow.

Hopefully you haven't read too much or set your expectations too high...I undertook The Sopranos, Mad Men, and Breaking Bad years after the fact and loved them all, so none of that was a problem.

I assume you've started with the pilot and not episode 1.

Jealous you get to see it for the first time.

yes, if you really started with S1e1 leap back!

Er, yes, the pilot. Didn’t know there was an Episode 1 as well.

Pilot played US festivals from seven months before the April 1990 airing, and the extended version with sort-of-an-ending added was released on VHS in Europe in '89. For related reasons, the pilot was skipped altogether on VHS and DVD releases of the series until a 2007 box set.

The pilot is just some 20 minutes added on to Ep 1, and the international pilot gives away some of the ending, so just start with Ep 1 and go from there

The whole point of watching the first 2 seasons of Twin Peaks (1990-1991) for me was it as an introduction to Twin Peaks: The Return (2017), which was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen

i mean thats a hard sell

much of what comes before, especially fwwm, is amazing in its own right

but the return is incredible yes

Even harder for me...I warmed to The Return somewhat the second time, but not close (especially vs. S1). It would be like viewing the first two Godfathers as a warm-up for the third.

RONG!

both are great but I really do think the return is the best part of twin peaks. taken as a whole maybe the best thing lynch has done period

otm

Same here. As much as I enjoyed Twin Peaks the first time around, it was overall less interesting and much more uneven than Lynch's best work, much of which had to do with the nature of network television production. (Lynch was always a showrunner but didn't actually direct most of the episodes, and it's been made very clear that he became more frustrated and less interested in the show during it's second embattled season - even without knowing this, the uneven nature of his engagement was pretty visible as the second season wore on.) The Return was much, MUCH better and reflected how much he grew across all the films he's done since Twin Peaks. I had a friend who didn't like it and wanted a repeat of the old TV show, but it speaks volumes that she knew nothing of his other work. You watch Inland Empire and how far The Return travels from the old TV show is much less of a surprise. It reminds me of what Alan Leeds said about Prince - there are tons of Purple Rain fans who are just that, fans of Purple Rain who (foolishly) pass on anything else Prince has done. It's the same way with the old Twin Peaks TV show and David Lynch.

Dougie...ugh.

Xp Ha yeah I finally got around to Inland Empire as a NYE treat to myself and it is definitely like a primer / companion piece to TP: The Return (which remains one of the most thrilling and unexpectedly great art experiences of my life)

I’ll agree that the dougie of the first few episodes is rough. but it pays off

The guy who wrote the book I linked to above does a good job, I think, of capturing how unprecedented TP felt when it first aired, and then tracing its lasting influence into The Sopranos and lots of other shows decades later. The third season to me felt a little like Lynch was well aware of that--of how what was unprecedented in 1989 was now everywhere--and that he had to outdo himself and stay ahead of that. That's all I'll say. I remember these arguments when The Return first aired, and I was very much in the minority.