Let's talk about Twin Peaks.

Since I'm basically still a fetus that was born only a year before Twin Peaks first aired on ABC, I had to watch it after the first air date. I bought it when it had it's first DVD release in 2001 on a whim because the internet seemed to be buzzing about it then. Ever since watching the show first 12 years ago it's occupied a special place my subconscious. From the low fidelity nature of the entire thing, to how that aesthetic plays off of how small the entire cast is for how big an undertaking the show ends up being. The only flaw in the entire two season run the fact that the story arc of Audrey and Cooper could not be extended. Now we know due to the fact Kyle MacLachlan was knocking boots with another female cast member at the time, which effectively ceased the opportunity for that originally planned story arc to happen. Inspite of this I can't be upset about it because it's an immaculate flaw for Twin Peaks to have because that's totally happens in the source material (soap operas) it draws from.

You think of all the stuff since Twin Peaks that draws inspiration from it, hell even Miyamoto,Takashi Tezuka and Eiji Aonuma cited Twin Peaks as a source of inspiration in various Zelda games. It's quite a show, I just watched it all again after the bombcast had their bit about it. The only plan of action now is to finally I guess play Alan Wake and/or watch the Deadly Premonition endurance run.

I know a lot of critics didn't like Fire Walk With Me, or didn't get, depending on who you ask (probably only me @Ryan and @Jeff ). Anyways what did you guys think of Twin Peaks? Twin Peaks discussion? Twin Peaks discussion.

Since I'm basically still a fetus that was born only a year before Twin Peaks first aired on ABC, I had to watch it after the first air date. I bought it when it had it's first DVD release in 2001 on a whim because the internet seemed to be buzzing about it then. Ever since watching the show first 12 years ago it's occupied a special place my subconscious. From the low fidelity nature of the entire thing, to how that aesthetic plays off of how small the entire cast is for how big an undertaking the show ends up being. The only flaw in the entire two season run the fact that the story arc of Audrey and Cooper could not be extended. Now we know due to the fact Kyle MacLachlan was knocking boots with another female cast member at the time, which effectively ceased the opportunity for that originally planned story arc to happen. Inspite of this I can't be upset about it because it's an immaculate flaw for Twin Peaks to have because that's totally happens in the source material (soap operas) it draws from.

You think of all the stuff since Twin Peaks that draws inspiration from it, hell even Miyamoto,Takashi Tezuka and Eiji Aonuma cited Twin Peaks as a source of inspiration in various Zelda games. It's quite a show, I just watched it all again after the bombcast had their bit about it. The only plan of action now is to finally I guess play Alan Wake and/or watch the Deadly Premonition endurance run.

I know a lot of critics didn't like Fire Walk With Me, or didn't get, depending on who you ask (probably only me @Ryan and @Jeff ). Anyways what did you guys think of Twin Peaks? Twin Peaks discussion? Twin Peaks discussion.

I was in high school when it first aired and I never missed an episode. It's hard to overstate just how truly new and different it felt. It was a mystery, one that was at times unapologetically bizarre and disturbing; something you didn't see on prime time network television in those days. Unfortunately, the second season suffered from trying too hard to be weird for weird's sake.

I do remember seeing Fire Walk with Me in a theater on opening night and loving it. I also bought and read the weird Laura Palmer's Diary, despite being aware that it was a cheesy cross-promotional item that was just out for my money.

Regarding Alan Wake, I felt that it was more Stephen King than David Lynch, but Deadly Premonitions wears its Twin Peaks influence proudly on its sleeve. Too bad it's not a fun game.

I really enjoyed the show up until season two. The show sort of goes off the rails in a bad way at that point.

I never finished the second season. Once they revealed who the killer was I kind of lost interest.

I fucking love Twin Peaks. Even the weird second season. I wish it had lasted far longer than it did. I too was barely walking at the time it aired, so I've only seen it in recent years (Puzzle Agent actually introduced me to it).

I was three years old when the show first came out, but I watched the golden DVD box set several years ago. I thought it was interesting at first, but then it just became weird and kind of boring about 3/4 of the way through the first season. That said, I'm not the biggest fan of David Lynch. I thought Dune was awesome but that's about it.

I watched it in recent years and loved it, thanks in part to Deadly Premonition and being told that if I loved one, I would love the other. Season 2 definitely drags, but man you cannot pass up that final episode. I loved Fire Walk with Me just for the weirdness factor.

@thabigred said:

You think of all the stuff since Twin Peaks that draws inspiration from it, hell even Miyamoto,Takashi Tezuka and Eiji Aonuma cited Twin Peaks as a source of inspiration in various Zelda games.

If you didn't know, Twin Peaks was exceedingly popular in Japan when it aired. It's influenced so many creators there that it's crazy. This comes out more prominently in some game creators like SWERY (of course) and Suda51. I didn't even realize some Nintendo guys were influenced by it as well until I read your post.

@dungbootle said:

I watched it in recent years and loved it, thanks in part to Deadly Premonition and being told that if I loved one, I would love the other. Season 2 definitely drags, but man you cannot pass up that final episode. I loved Fire Walk with Me just for the weirdness factor.

@thabigred said:

You think of all the stuff since Twin Peaks that draws inspiration from it, hell even Miyamoto,Takashi Tezuka and Eiji Aonuma cited Twin Peaks as a source of inspiration in various Zelda games.

If you didn't know, Twin Peaks was exceedingly popular in Japan when it aired. It's influenced so many creators there that it's crazy. This comes out more prominently in some game creators like SWERY (of course) and Suda51. I didn't even realize some Nintendo guys were influenced by it as well until I read your post.

That's really fucking cool. The puzzle pieces are all falling in place now.

@Jrinswand said:

I was three years old when the show first came out, but I watched the golden DVD box set several years ago. I thought it was interesting at first, but then it just became weird and kind of boring about 3/4 of the way through the first season. That said, I'm not the biggest fan of David Lynch. I thought Dune was awesome but that's about it.

Same. I got bored towards the end of the first season, and most Lynch stuff isn't my thing, but Dune was one of the first movies I remember having on DVD and I watched the shit out of it.

I actually enjoyed the Deadly Premonition ER's more than Twin Peaks.

I think it's pretty good, but watching it after playing Deadly Premonition definitely lessened the impact. Conversely, despite my dad talking about it for years, I never had the interest to seek it out and watch it until after playing Deadly Premonition.

I wish that instead of making Fire Walk with Me they had made a proper conclusion to the series as a whole. I'm not going to pass judgment on Fire Walk with Me (though I personally did find it a little on the boring side), but it's kind of superfluous in terms of the overall story of Twin Peaks.

And a lot of that second season was kinda lame too. It turned into a soap opera for a while there.

Really, that's the only flaw? I'll have to disagree with you there. Side stories built around super strong middle aged high school women and completely irrelevant con artist lovers and cross dressing Duchovny's and sterotypically accented fake Asian cover identities and a Civil War reenactment gone horribly wrong and dead end suicidal shut ins and and love triangles involving an idiot and an asshole and David Lynch with no awareness of his vocal volume all seemed like flaws to me.

I did enjoy a lot of the stuff focusing on Agent Cooper in season 2, but I thought that most of the rest of season 2 was uninteresting filler. I watched it for the first time a the summer before last. I initially gave up on the show around episode 15 of season 2, which I believe is also the where the show's ratings bottomed out and the show was put on hiatus during it's initial run.

I went back and finished it, and it did pick up again in the last 4 episodes. And I did like the movie too.

@Rolyatkcinmai said:

I wish it had lasted far longer than it did.

Remember "I'll see you in 25 years"? We're almost there, and there's been rumors of David Lynch meeting with networks. Here's hoping that it continues. ;)

It's a great show that I appreciate quite well. It can be rather slow at times but I generally liked it.

On a Giantbomb related note, I always felt that Persona 4 had a slight Twin Peaks feel to it but that may just be me.

@AndieK said:

@Rolyatkcinmai said:

I wish it had lasted far longer than it did.

Remember "I'll see you in 25 years"? We're almost there, and there's been rumors of David Lynch meeting with networks. Here's hoping that it continues. ;)

If it were to happen I wish they'd just place it 25 years later in the future with the same cast. Find someway to take that style and modernize it. That or...well I don't really see how they pull it off. I just can't...

@WalkerTR77 said:

On a Giantbomb related note, I always felt that Persona 4 had a slight Twin Peaks feel to it but that may just be me.

Totally. The absurdity with cut in between a serious crime drama with high school drama going on totally had the Twin Peaks stamp on it. I think it's why I gravitated to that as well. I actually just replayed all of that right before starting Twin Peaks.

@thabigred: Good to know I'm not alone in that, the oddness of bodies hanging from antennas felt quite peaksy as well.

I also got a bit of a Stephen Kings IT vibe too. Small town evil being fought against by a team of high schoolers; I suppose also a bit like Power Rangers in that sense.

i love twin peaks for what it is- a little oddity of a television series from a great director that had no business being in primetime. it was just so damn strange (in a really good way)- it blows my mind it survived its first season. helluva show- one of those i come back to all the time.

edit- let's all revel in the glory of this photo now:

Hey, just letting you know, if you haven't played Deadly Premonition, it's worth doing with a friend rather than watching the Endurance Run. The Crew came to that game with massive cynicism, which is undeserved. I love that game unironically, much the same way I love Twin Peaks, and their disdain for it is undeserved. No, it doesn't play all that well, but they act like it's AMY. Play it on your own.

Find a friend who'll sit through it with you. You can trade the controller or whatever. Basically, do you r own Endurance Run. It should go better than theirs.

Twin Peaks is awesome. Still haven't finished Season 2, so I haven't watched Fire Walk With Me either.

I loved almost everything about it. Although it scared the hell out of me.

also- always loved this reference from me2's shadow broker-

@pyromagnestir said:

Really, that's the only flaw? I'll have to disagree with you there. Side stories built around super strong middle aged high school women and completely irrelevant con artist lovers and cross dressing Duchovny's and sterotypically accented fake Asian cover identities and a Civil War reenactment gone horribly wrong and dead end suicidal shut ins and and love triangles involving an idiot and an asshole and David Lynch with no awareness of his vocal volume all seemed like flaws to me.

It's funny that I felt like all those things were purposefully implemented. I don't know if they were or not though.

Side note: Is the only black person in the entire show the perfume clerk that gives Audrey the number for Blackie? Seems ironic considering her nickname as Madam of J's. I don't know just thought about that.

I came to it late, via Netflix last year. It's definitely a great show, but the time between the resolution of the mystery and the end of season 2 felt a lot like dead air. The finale is golden, though, quintessential Lynch. FWWM wasn't bad.

@thabigred:

Oh they were definitely purposefully implemented but that doesn't mean they were good ideas, in my opinion. In the case of Duchovny and Lynch I think they just wanted to do something to make those characters weird and quirky but instead veered a little too close to unnecessary and annoying for my taste. The other stories just seemed like someone said "Oh shit we got 22 episodes we need to fill, what the fuck are we going to do? Quick, give me an idea for (side character X/Y/Z)!" and those were the storylines they came up with, however none of them were interesting. They just ground everything to a halt.

I've never seen Twin Peaks, though it seems like it's right up my ally. I'm gonna check it out.

Twin Peaks is my favourite TV show of all time, although flawed in many regards. In my opinion, it would have been pretty much perfect if they had ended around episode 10 or so of the second season, when the Laura Palmer story arc comes to an end. Things really fall apart after that. Luckily Lynch came back to do the series finale which makes sticking with the show until the very end worth it.

One of the quotes from the show that stuck with me is Donna telling her mother about Laura's death and how it's like "Having the most beautiful dream and the most terrible nightmare, all at once." Pretty much sums up the world of Twin Peaks what with all the Lynchian nightmare stuff combined with Badalamenti's hauntingly beautiful soundtrack.

Never finished the second season.

Wonderfully weird show though.

How's Annie?

@Pestulon said:

with Badalamenti's hauntingly beautiful soundtrack.

have you seen this? i actually was referred to the video via nicolas jaar's bbc one mix...long story short, it's a neat little vid re: the composition.

@csl316 said:

I loved almost everything about it. Although it scared the hell out of me.

As poor as the second season was, that finale was goddamn nightmare fuel.

The Peaks are Twins.

@mellotronrules: That's awesome! That music still gives me the chills.

@mellotronrules: It's such an effective song that it even makes its simple explanation seem intense and magical.

That was pretty great.

And I recognized the red room in shadow broker, but I never noticed the Volus. Also great.

.it was tsrif nehw em no rebmun a did yllaer wohs tshT

@pyromagnestir: And James and the cougar and Laura Flynn Boyle's hardcore reversal and Windom Earl and Leo in diapers with the electric dog collar and Billy Zane and...

@Kerned said:

I was in high school when it first aired and I never missed an episode. It's hard to overstate just how truly new and different it felt. It was a mystery, one that was at times unapologetically bizarre and disturbing; something you didn't see on prime time network television in those days. Unfortunately, the second season suffered from trying too hard to be weird for weird's sake.

I do remember seeing Fire Walk with Me in a theater on opening night and loving it. I also bought and read the weird Laura Palmer's Diary, despite being aware that it was a cheesy cross-promotional item that was just out for my money.

Regarding Alan Wake, I felt that it was more Stephen King than David Lynch, but Deadly Premonitions wears its Twin Peaks influence proudly on its sleeve. Too bad it's not a fun game.

Spot on!

If you guys are interested there were 212 Twin Peaks tracks released on Davidlynch.com in archival form. I don't know if they were taken down but if you google the archive other people have put them up on other places on the internet including youtube. Many of them including unreleased and/or unused tracks meant for the show but weren't implemented. My personal favourite:

My favourite track from the show has to be Audrey's dance theme though just because it was the most Chandler-esque thing in the entire series and I love all things Chandler.

@mordukai said:

.it was tsrif nehw em no rebmun a did yllaer wohs tshT

.ereht did uoy tahw ees I

Agent Cooper is one of my favorite characters in anything. Ever.

@thabigred said:

@AndieK said:

@Rolyatkcinmai said:

I wish it had lasted far longer than it did.

Remember "I'll see you in 25 years"? We're almost there, and there's been rumors of David Lynch meeting with networks. Here's hoping that it continues. ;)

If it were to happen I wish they'd just place it 25 years later in the future with the same cast. Find someway to take that style and modernize it. That or...well I don't really see how they pull it off. I just can't...

I recently read a pretty good outline of what a continuation would be like. Now, I don't usually put a lot of stock in fan ideas but this was interestingly thought out:

http://theweek.com/article/index/238491/twin-peaks-the-definitive-plan-to-continue-the-series

Alan Wake is so reminiscent

I watched the first few episodes of Twin Peaks but just sorta stopped. I guess I couldn't keep up with the lunacy. I meant to return to it but then Breaking Bad and Walking Dead happened, among many other shows.

@dungbootle said:

@thabigred said:

@AndieK said:

@Rolyatkcinmai said:

I wish it had lasted far longer than it did.

Remember "I'll see you in 25 years"? We're almost there, and there's been rumors of David Lynch meeting with networks. Here's hoping that it continues. ;)

If it were to happen I wish they'd just place it 25 years later in the future with the same cast. Find someway to take that style and modernize it. That or...well I don't really see how they pull it off. I just can't...

I recently read a pretty good outline of what a continuation would be like. Now, I don't usually put a lot of stock in fan ideas but this was interestingly thought out:

http://theweek.com/article/index/238491/twin-peaks-the-definitive-plan-to-continue-the-series

Yeah that's pretty similar to what I had running in my head. Seeing Sherilyn Fenn confined to a wheelchair for an entire season might break my heart though.

@MiniPato said:

@csl316 said:

I loved almost everything about it. Although it scared the hell out of me.

As poor as the second season was, that finale was goddamn nightmare fuel.

Indeed. That episode is creepy as shit.

In case it isn't obvious by my avatar, profile picture and this blog post where I named it my favorite show ever, yea I fucking love Twin Peaks. I don't even listen to the bombcast but will check out this weeks to see what the crew had to say about it. That last episode of Twin Peaks was outstanding. Albert was also awesome. 
  

@thabigred: Thanks! I had no idea they released all this stuff. This is great!

And yes, looks like you can still stream all these unreleased songs for free on davidlynch.com. Or you can buy the entire album in digital format for $77...

Have you guys seen the Japanese Twin Peaks themed Georgia Coffee commercials that were released with the Twin Peaks Gold Box? I think it's really cool how they made the commercials have a mini story arc.

I recently watched the first season of Twin Peaks for the first time as the show was basically first run around the time I was born.

I loved it! There's just something truly fascinating about everything and Agent Cooper is one of the best characters I've ever seen.

I've heard a fair bit of negativity about the second season, but I'm excited to go back to Twin Peaks even if it will be a little disappointing. It's just such a weird and wonderful place.

@DarthOrange said:

In case it isn't obvious by my avatar, profile picture and this blog post where I named it my favorite show ever, yea I fucking love Twin Peaks. I don't even listen to the bombcast but will check out this weeks to see what the crew had to say about it. That last episode of Twin Peaks was outstanding. Albert was also awesome.

I like your style.

@TheCreamFilling said:

I never finished the second season. Once they revealed who the killer was I kind of lost interest.

I didn't lose interest, I did get to mid of the second season but I just forgot to continue watching and I guess I won't be finishing it now.