A Few Words About A few words about...™ Twin Peaks - The Entire Mystery -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[Robert Harris]

Twin Peaks could easily be classified as a network TV catalog title.

It could be. Most wouldn't dare.

I certainly wouldn't.

In 1990-91, Twin Peaks grabbed television viewers by their throats, and didn't release its continuously confusing, befuddling, and frustrating strangle-hold for 30 47-minute episodes.

This was not your typical TV police procedural.

There must have been a waiting list of filmmakers desiring to direct episodes.

Among those on tap, 6 by David Lynch, 4 by Lesli Linka Glatter, and more from cinematographer Caleb Deschanel, Tim Hunter, Todd Holland, Uli Edel, James Foley, Diane Keaton and others.

The new Blu-ray from Paramount via CBS is something to behold. Beautifully packaged in a sturdy box, but there are a decent number of nicely packaged Blu-rays out there. It's what's inside that matters most. This is not a product that was rushed to Blu-ray, mastered from whatever film elements were easily available.

All 1,503 minutes were scanned from original negatives, and fully cleaned and restored. Color balance, black levels, shadow detail is all in place. Audio has been re-mixed to DTS-HD MA 7.1 -- something decidedly different for a production in it's original TV aspect ratio of 1.33:1

Grain structure is perfect.

As with the series, the feature version --Twin Peaks: Walk Fire with Me, also had its image harvested from the original negatives -- this time accessing the elements in Europe, to create the finest presentation possible.

Imagery was digitally restored, with a final result that stands beautifully next to the series, with proper color, densities, and grain structure intact.

I've only had a chance to touch the surface of this release, which is filled to overflowing with extras.

Finally, one of the great Events in television history, has made its way to Blu-ray, with everything intact.

Twin Peaks on Blu-ray is a class act, and may possibly be the Best Blu-ray of 2014 featuring TV product.


Image - 5

Audio - 5

Highly Recommended


RAH

 

[Charles Smith]

Best possible words.

Thank you.


(Mine happens to be getting delivered this evening.)

 

[JoeDoakes]

Twin Peaks on Blu-ray is a class act, and may possibly be the Best Blu-ray of 2014 featuring TV product.

We'll see come November. Stay tuned.

 

[Charles Smith]

An incredibly beautiful package. I'm dead tired after a rehearsal, but I must have a peek at an episode and the film before calling it a night.

 

[Dave MJ]

This is a dream release for me. I have been watching some of it every night since release. Most of the episodes look amazing, but there are a number of shots which are clearly not sourced from the negative and are upconverted from what I suppose are the original broadcast masters. They are mostly brief special effects shots for which I assume the negative could not be located. Most are not that noticeable but there is one long sequence in the first episode of the second season in which Cooper narrates the last night of Laura Palmer's life. The scene is a series of dissolves and superimpositions and unfortunately the whole thing is upconverted and looks pretty bad when surrounded by pristine HD shots. I haven't finished the series yet, but that is the worst offender so far.

Still, the overall image quality is mostly top notch and far beyond what I ever imagined was possible back when I was watching my murky VHS copies in the 1990s. It is an absolute pleasure to see this amazing series in HD on a 100" screen and 7.1 DTS-MA sound. I have seen every episode numerous times and I am noticing many details and textures I haven't seen before.

Fire Walk With Me looks and sounds fantastic and the image has a very natural film look and feel. I have never been a huge fan of the film, but seeing it in HD for the first time I saw it in the theater in 1992 has increased my appreciation. The 90 minutes of deleted scenes are presented with the same quality with finished sound and picture. If you are a Twin Peaks fan there are some great moments. I have also seen a new bootleg cut with the deleted scenes restored and while some of them slow things down, they mostly work in context. However there is no way Lynch could have released the movie with a 3hr 45min run time back in 1992 so it is clear why they were cut. I never thought we would ever see them, much less in this quality and finished by Lynch himself, so I am thrilled.

Definitely my blu-ray release of the year.

 

[AshJW]

I already watched it all - from Friday to Friday - and I'm delighted. I just could do it again.

 

[TravisR]

This is a dream release for me. I have been watching some of it every night since release. Most of the episodes look amazing, but there are a number of shots which are clearly not sourced from the negative and are upconverted from what I suppose are the original broadcast masters. They are mostly brief special effects shots for which I assume the negative could not be located. Most are not that noticeable but there is one long sequence in the first episode of the second season in which Cooper narrates the last night of Laura Palmer's life. The scene is a series of dissolves and superimpositions and unfortunately the whole thing is upconverted and looks pretty bad when surrounded by pristine HD shots. I haven't finished the series yet, but that is the worst offender so far.

I've already said it in the Twin Peaks thread over in the TV section but I'm just happy that they fixed the zoom-in on Dr. Jacoby's eye in the S1 finale. I think the handful of upconverted shots still basically work since the video effects are shots of something odd but that zoom-in on the eye should just be a regular shot and now it is.

For my money, the shot in the S2 premiere is the most noticeable of the upconverted stuff since it's onscreen the longest.

 

[Charles Smith]

A godsend.

And oddly, kind of an unexpected one for me. When the announcement was made (it seems like fairly recently), I was overjoyed. It just happened that I'd finally gotten around to marathon-watching the entire gold box DVD set during this past winter, renewing all the excitement for the series I'd felt in 1990. That in itself was so satisfying that I put it back on the shelf figuring we'd be lucky if/when we ever saw it on BD. And here it is.

When a project like this one is undertaken with such obvious love and care, it trounces everything and demands new attention.

Television has enjoyed a few golden ages, but the short-lived Twin Peaks event stands unique.

This release is a gift, and RAH's words are the wrap -- exactly what I needed on my way out the door yesterday evening with the delivery of my set less than an hour away. Couldn't be happier.