Cheap Twin Peaks - Pilot Episode [IMPORT] (DVD) (Jonathan Sanger, Kyle MacLachlan) (Uli Edel, Mark Frost, Graeme Clifford, James Foley, Stephen Gyllenhaal, Duwayne Dunham, Caleb Deschanel, Tina Rathborne) Price

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Customer Reviews of Twin Peaks - Pilot Episode [IMPORT]

Sound Quality is Awful, But It's Better Than Nothing
This is the best the Twin Peaks Pilot has ever looked. (Well, aside from the big screen at last years Twin Peaks Fest) The disc has a surprisingly crisp and clean picture. I played this with a switchbox against the Warner Bros. Pilot Laserdisc, and the DVD did to the Laser Disc what Agent Desmond did to Deputy Cliff in FWWM. However, beware there are noticeable artifacts, and minor distortion is apparent in some scenes. Why this is, I'm not sure. they are not so horrible, that they detract from the presentation, but they are noticeable. The dark scenes were done very well IMHO. Minor dust specs on the print every once in a while, but much cleaner than the laserdisc.

Audio:

The audio has received a FULL aggressive 5.1 remix. Lots of the sound effects are appropriately panned to the rear surround speakers. One thing you definitely want to do is turn your back speakers down a bit, as they can often be distracting. The bass seems to be a bit much at times, but again, a slight adjustment on your Home Theater system can easily correct this. One specific moment that was a good use of the rear surround is when the translator mentions how "Health und Industry They Go Hand De Hand". The response laughter of the Norwegians are panned to the back speakers and give a "Room Full of Laughing Norwegians" effect. It is clear that whomever remixed the sound did so from a sound reel master.

Now the DOWNSIDE. There are a few things that bother me about the sound. First off, when comparing it to the Laserdisc, I noticed right away it seems that whoever mastered the movie (I assume) transferred it from a PAL Master. It's the only explanation I can think of for why the pitch of the sound is about a half step too high. Also, the sound although pretty good for the most part, sounds definately out of phase in the Center Speaker during parts with music in the background. Although it is annoying at times, it is not completely a loss. So be warned !

Supplements:

Well, there's not a lot here. You get a nice Scene Access menu, along with Character Biographies for Joan Chen and Kyle MacLachlan. You also get treated to some awful Republic Pictures trailers for "One Against the Wind", "Class Cruise", "Live Nude Girls", and "Witchboard 2: the Devil's Doorway". My advice... skip them.

Parting Thoughts:

All I can say is that I was very surprised by this release. Although 4% faster than it should be, is a nice addition to a Twin Peaks Fan's collection. The DVD comes only with a 5.1 soundtrack, as the original 2-Speaker Surround soundtrack is absent. The picture is great minus the artifacting, and the sound is bad, but not a total loss. Expect lots of phase problems in the center speaker. Finally having the Pilot as it aired on Television as opposed to the extended European version is a Twin Peaks Fan's dream come true. I would recommend this to any Twin Peaks fan that wants to get a clean copy of the Pilot on DVD. For now, this is as good as it gets. At this point, who knows when Paramount will be getting their act together.

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All or Nothing?
...I was very happy to receive my copy but was nervous about just how bad the quality would be.
I have to say, it certainly won't impress anyone where clarity of picture and sound are concerned but for me, just having it is good enough. I am a very big David Lynch fan and an even bigger fan of Twin Peaks specifically. So for me, while I would certainly love to have a copy of the pilot that looked and sounded as good a the first season DVD set, it really doesn't matter because I'll take any way I can get and right now this is the only way to get it.
I watched it with stereo sound on a system capable of producing 5.1 channel sound (currently the center and rear channel speakers are not connected) and while there was A LOT of distortion it was not so bad as to make the disc unwatchable. So, in my opinion some of the criticism here may be a little harsh.
The picture does fare better than the sound but is far from usual DVD quality. I would have to agree with another reviewer's description of the picture quality as somewhere between VHS and DVD. It's not at all offensive but is disappointing.
While the disc may not be of great or even pretty good quality the one thing it is is an important part of any Twin Peaks fan's DVD collection. If you already have a nice VHS copy you may be able to afford to wait and see if we ever do get a better DVD release but if you don't and you're a fan there's really no reason not to go ahead and order this.
Personally, I like knowing that if I have someone over who's never seen the genius that is Twin Peaks I won't have to start them two hours into the fun.

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Here is the missing pilot you're looking for!
Like many other Twin Peaks fans, I was thrilled to learn that the first season was being released on DVD; and, like many fans, I was dismayed to learn that that set did not include the pilot. Unfortunately, due to legal snafus so complicated it makes Enron look simple, the only way to get this pilot is through this import. It's worth it. The transfer is almost as good as the deluxe boxed set of the first season. Also, a pleasant surprise: This is NOT the European version--with the annoying extra 15 minute ending--but the EXACT pilot first aired on ABC years ago! So, in other words, it's the perfect companion to the set. I guess I'm preaching to the choir here, but this pilot episode is some of the finest TV ever produced: haunting, beautiful, richly thematic, wonderfully wrought in every sense of the world. Treat yourself, and pick this up as an essential companion to the first season set. Caveat: There are no extras on this disc, but that's the price to pay to get this must-have pilot.