PARAMOUNT: Twin Peaks Pilot DVD? (1 Viewer)

[Jay Gregory]

According to a recent update at Dugpa.com, Paramount currently owns the rights to the pilot episode of the TV series "Twin Peaks."
Artisan has recently released a beautiful special edition DVD set of the first season of this series, but it is missing the pilot episode which was directed by David Lynch. It would be fantastic to be able to watch the pilot episode as it originally aired in a transfer that is of similar exceptional quality as the episodes in the Artisan set. An interesting supplement might be the "European" ending that has appeared on previous video releases of this pilot in the US.
If Paramount does own these rights as reported, is there any possibility of seeing a DVD release in the future? A release of this film, which has been described as some of Lynch's best work, would certainly complement your stellar recent release of Lynch's The Elephant Man.
New Line Home Video is planning on releasing the theatrical movie Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me on DVD in February, and hopefully Artisan will release the second season of "Twin Peaks" in the near future. There is certainly a devoted following for Twin Peaks-related releases.
Thanks for any response.

 

[Patrick McCart]

New Line Cinema owns the pilot and it's coming soon.

 

[Gord Lacey]

Hmm...that's interesting that they report Paramount owns the rights. I wonder where they got their info from?

I'm sure we'll see a post from Martin when he gets a chance.

Gord

 

[Craig S]

New Line Cinema owns the pilot and it's coming soon.

No, New Line owns the "prequel" movie, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, which is indeed coming soon. There's been some confusion about this in other threads - TP:FWWM is NOT the pilot!
I thought Warner owned the pilot? The previous VHS & LD releases of the pilot (with the European ending) have been from Warner.
Edit: OK, just read the linked update. Interesting.

 

[SteveGon]

I've heard that the TP first season boxed set is selling well so I imagine we won't have to wait much longer for the pilot...

 

[John CW]

Yes, *please* Paramount -- RELEASE THE PILOT!!!

I own the Hong Kong disc and although the image is just about acceptable (although it pales in comparison with Artisan's discs) the audio makes it almost unbearable to watch!

A commentary by Mark Frost would also be great if that's possible!

I NEED a decent version of this excellent film!!!

Thanks,

~ John

 

[John Sullmeyer]

I had heard that Paramount is the current owner of Twin Peaks as an intellectual property, so this makes sense. Warner's right must have expired in the last year or so. Paramount, please release this, and
WITH THE TV ENDING AND NOT THE HORRID EURO ENDING
Thanks !

 

[Patrick McCart]

My Fair Lady just became a Paramount property (The video rights started with CBS Video, then Fox Video, then WB (the DVD), and now Paramount.

I was wondering why the new DVD cover has no WB logo on the front.

There must have been a small package of CBS stuff WB owned for a short time that went back to Viacom.

All these rights switches are confusing!

 

[Mark Edward Heuck]

Step aside, gents, here comes the clarifier...

Viacom, the parent company of Paramount, now owns the libraries of Republic Pictures and Spelling Entertainment, the previous rightsholders of TWIN PEAKS. However, Artisan is handling the DVD release of the series due to a previous license agreement made before Viacom took over the assets. There has been strides to fuse the libraries under Paramount's roof, but that will take years.

Warner Bros. quietly kicked in money to Spelling Entertainment years ago to make the pilot for TWIN PEAKS, in exchange for European theatrical rights and U.S. home video rights. They still own them. However, I think there is one of those legal catch-22's that would prevent them from putting on the U.S. ending, as that was part of the "series" owned by Spelling and not the "film" owned by WB; this is roughly the same catch-22 that keeps Artisan from putting the pilot on their set.

CBS, before their Viacom buyout, was involved in video co-ventures first with MGM, then with Fox (CBS Video was just an aux imprint of their Fox venture). The only reason WB released the DVD of MY FAIR LADY was that they handled the original theatrical release, and at the time Fox did not want to release titles on DVD, so a one-time deal was made for WB to handle this film, since there was a history of sorts. It will likely be a few years before this can be released by Paramount on DVD; the other CBS titles could hypothetically come out tomorrow if they so chose.

 

[John CW]

Wow, that's pretty interesting. Is that all true? Mr. Blythe are we really not likely to see the "proper" version of the first episode of Twin Peaks any time soon?

~ John

 

[Martin Blythe]

If it's part of the Republic library, it will be a while. That's all I can say for now, but I will look into it.

 

[John Sullmeyer]

It's the only one of the series that is supposed to be owned currently by Paramount. This is the reason why Artisan couldn't release it, as they did not have the rights, and they claim Paramount does.

 

[Mark Zimmer]

Please look into it, Mr Blythe. With Artisan working on Season 2, it would maximize Paramount's assets to have the pilot released about the same time. But take a look at what Artisan did with Season 1 to get an idea of how this should be handled. Or just license it to Artisan.

 

[Martin Blythe]

Again, this is tied up in the way many collections are when they move studios or companies. It will quite some time before this is sorted out.

 

[Rich Malloy]

In the meantime, of course, there's the wholly adequate, region 0 release that's going for a fair price on eBay ($19.99 shipped).

A little PAL speedup here, some poor audio authoring there, but, all-in-all, a helluva lot better than nothing.

And considering Mr. Blythe's unfortunate news about any potential region 1 release, this looks to be the way to go. The only way to go.

And it's too bad. As one can clearly see from the numbers on Artisan's Season 1 set (and the excitement over New Line's upcoming FWWM even without deleted scenes), someone stands to make a bundle on this.

 

[Peter Canavese]

As always, much love from us home video fanatics, Martin, for your time, effort, and forthrightness. I hear your messages of patience in this thread, but do keep us posted on any clarifications that become apparent or any developments.

Twin Peaks fans have waited a looong time for a decent home video release on this (the import is, in my opinion, pretty crappy), and DVD theoretically provides a great venue to provide real fanatics with both the European ending AND the original TV ending (via seamless branching or a deleted scene).

I realize this is the sort of situation where it seems entirely out of your hands and legally tied up. You may not be able to say a word more than you have. Nevertheless, it seems crazy that no one has the rights to ANY domestic release of the Twin Peaks pilot right now (Euro. cut or no)--when and if you figure it out, let us know if you can! Thanks again!

 

[John Sullmeyer]

Yes, please fill us in when the information becomes available.

 

[Mark Zimmer]

We understand the rights tangles when these things change hands and will try to be patient. But, Mr. Blythe, I'm sure you've gotten the idea by now that Twin Peaks probably ought to be at the head of the list of things in the Republic catalog to straighten out first. There's a pile of money to be made if it's released on DVD soon by piggybacking off Artisan and New Line's publicity for their releases. Thanks for checking.

 

[Donald W]

Thanks for the posting about this...there is one thing that doesn't make sence to me...I have the pilot on VHS from WB and I taped most all of season 1 and 2 when they were on TV...it lists that Twin Peaks was done by WB TV...so unless this is all true then WB does still have the pilot or New Line has it....

 

[John Sullmeyer]

Any news of this title ?