DVD Twin Peaks - Pilot Episode [IMPORT]
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Review(s): DVD 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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| Great pilot, horrible DVD!!! |
Wow, what a terrific pilot...so intriguing, so suspenseful, so unique and witty, and smart. This is what great TV is all about, so it shouldn't surprise anyone that the show was cancelled so soon. But while the pilot is definitely worth having, a cleaned up version should have been included on the Season 1 DVD, rather than this horrible import. The picture quality is terrible and the sound is horrible. Don't even get me started on the subtitles...UGH! They completely changed words and sentences around and use poor English, which, as a screenwriter, really bugged me!!! But of course, every Twin Peaks fan must own this and it's worth it until a better version comes along, despite the lackluster attempt of the distributors. Twin Peaks is classic television at its best!!!
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| great memories sunk by poor quality DVD |
I remember the Twin Peaks telvision series with great fondness, and have remained a dyed in the wool fan of Lynch's other films ever since. I was recently pleased to receive the entire set of Twin Peaks on DVD, and wanted to cap the experience by watching the pilot (which isn't included in the set).Turns out that may have been a bad idea. The biggest problem is the quality of the reproduction. I read the negative comments some other reviewers on this site made and thought, oh they're just being picky tech heads, I'm sure I won't even notice the difference. I was wrong. The sound quality -- and keep in mind, sound is even more vital in a Lynch film than in those of many other directors -- is so terrible that it renders the film almost unwatchable. Everything is wrapped in a tinny electronic haze, like a bad pop band running through a cheap effects box. Even plain silence comes off as a statick-y rumble. The visual quality is closer to that of high 8 video than film. Of course, every tv viewer's dream is to dispense with commercial interruptions. But watching it this way demonstrates that, when a program has been made with those interruptions in mind -- edited so that each five-minute segment between commercials is jolted at the end by a little cliffhanger -- that the pacing and feel require interruptions in order to feel "right." With so many "climaxes" -- each accompanied by the storm of an electronic crescendo of Angelo Badalamenti's score -- the story seemed overwrought and difficult to take seriously. My advice: hold on to your money for now. Perhaps a well-mixed DVD will be released someday soon.
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