Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (SPOILERS) (1 Viewer)

[Patrick Larkin]

No comments? I finally got mine in the mail last night and WOW, it looks and sounds terrific!

The first thing I did was watch the documentary. Interesting but subpar. I think I could have made a more compelling doc with the raw video and iMovie!

The trailer. Geez, even the trailer would completely RUIN the series if you never saw Season 2.

Back to the movie. I am so glad to have this on DVD and the quality is great. BUT...

WHAT IS WITH THE SNAPPER CASE!

Also, I'm disappointed that the deleted scenes didn't make it - especially after hearing the cast talk about some of them in the documentary. Why no other extras? How much effort would it have taken to dig up something - even promotional materials, commentary, or critical reaction? Discussing the movie vs the series would have made great stuff...the one armed man summed it up pretty good at the end of the doc.

Its all about getting paid. Thanks for the disc New Line!

 

[Matt Stone]

Looks like there will probably be a R2 Special Edition coming out in France later this year...with the deleted scenes. My only hope is that they make a R0 like the pilot.

Now though, I honestly could care less about the extras....I want them eventually, but right now all I'm concerned with is watching the movie. The only other placed that I had seen it was on IFC a couple times, with really crappy picture quality...this DVD Transfer is a nice drink of water!

 

[Duane M Davis]

Well, remember, when the movie came out, the killer had already been revealed in the series and was not a secret anymore. That it could be considered a spoiler now is a new phenomenon. Other than Star Trek and Dark Shadows, were there any "series" on video? The movie is all about that "spoiler" and little else, really. The much desired deleted scenes are mostly the stuff that wasn't about how Laura died.

Other than that, yeah. I can't believe there is no discussion about the movie, but I suspect its because the timing is off. Those of us who can discuss it in the proper context saw it a decade ago along with the series. I could have told you every detail about the film and how it either contridicted the series or just misrepresented stuff. I love it and all, but there are so many things that bother me. Like, what happened to Jacques' blood on Leo's shirt?
It was a major part of the plot in the series. And the biggest one for meonna getting a taste of the darkness in Laura's life. In the series, she's completely innocent and it comes as a surprise to her about how deep Laura was really into this stuff. In the film, Donna is there!


Maybe we should have a spoiler alert in the title so we can actually discuss it.

 

[Bill McA]

WHAT IS WITH THE SNAPPER CASE!

My Canadian version comes in a keepcase!

 

[John Sullmeyer]

"Looks like there will probably be a R2 Special Edition coming out in France later this year...with the deleted scenes. My only hope is that they make a R0 like the pilot."

Keep in mind that they are only negotiating with Lynch to do the Deleted Scenes. Lynch has said that he doesn't think any movie company wants to pay for the scenes to be done right, so we are getting people to show their support to MK2 so they will see there is a demand and put down the extra cash it costs.

 

[Matt Stone]

Duane,

In regards to Donna's interlude into Laura's "dark side" ... in the series she did say something to the extent of "I knew more than she though" to James.

 

[Duane M Davis]

Yeah, but that still implies that Laura didn't know that Donna knew. In the movie, Donna is there with her. Donna in the series seemed to think that the biggest secret Laura had was seeing James on the sly and seeing Jacoby secretly. If she knew about the Pink Room and stuff, why was she so intent on thinking Dr. Jacoby was in on it? Later on, Donna's investigation goes into Laura's relationship with Harold Smith. There's nothing about her going to Canada and knowing Jacques and such. Watch the first few episodes. There's no way that is the same Donna who cavorted drunk and topless in some strange Canadian bar. Her biggest concern is her guilt over falling in love with James. The Donna in the movie is not the same Donna that was in the video James shot. Part of Donna's arc was her delving into the depravity of Laura's secret life. I've always looked at the film as a kind of altered reality of what happened. Ten years later, it's hard to remember all the details, so I'm going nuts waiting for the rest of the series so I can have a better base on which to discuss it.

 

[David Lambert]

You think YOU guys have problems? I HAVE seen the entire series. I've never seen the movie, but I know "all the details" unfortunately due to friends who blew the whistle on it in my precense all those years ago! :rolleyes
But I don't get to watch this DVD yet until my wife watches Season 2, because all of this is new to her! ARRRRRRGH!
All-in-all, though, from what I know about the film, it seems to be rather contradictory to what was shown in the TV series about many details (I understand Donna does some things that don't jibe with her character in the TV show; I have NOT read the spoilers posted above). Also, doesn't it show Cooper coming to town before he does in the TV series? Yet in the series it was all new to him!
Maybe this is an "alternate universe" version of what happened in the week leading up to the TV series...

 

[Duane M Davis]

No, Cooper doesn't come to Twin Peaks before he's supposed to. There are some necessary changes because of his unwilling to appear more in the movie. Stuff like Chris Isaac and Keiffer Sutherland investigating the Theresa Banks murder instead of Cooper. I was just reading an old article on stuff that was cut from the film and there are a lot of really funny exchanges that were lost. Things that might have made it a little more loved.

 

[Britton]

Cooper shows up briefly in Deer Meadow, Oregon where the Theresa Banks murder occured.

 

[Jodee]

Cooper appearing was one of the things that bugged me about the movie. In the beginning of the series, you get the impression that Cooper has never been in this part of the country before. ("I've got to ask what kind of trees they've got growing here.")

But according to the movie, he was nearby only the year before.

It seemed very contradictory, especially the stuff with Donna. I am a huge Twin Peaks fan, but I always was disappointed in FWWM. I always thought it would have been better to make the movie as a "wrap-up" to the series. There were lots of loose ends from the series finale that should have been addressed in a movie. If they wanted to show more of Laura's life before the murder, they could have done that with flashbacks or something.

I can't wait for Season 2 to come out. I am way more anxious to own that.

 

[Duane M Davis]

Yeah, he was there briefly, but he didn't investigate the murder. Just the new mystery.... It doesn't really fly in the face of continuity with the series directly, like some of the other things. Just with the peripheral info, such as the Cooper tapes where he talks about directly investigating the Theresa Banks murder himself. It was because Kyle MacLachlan didn't want to be typecast as Cooper, so they were only able to talk him into a couple weeks shooting. I forgive the necessary changes because of casting problems. Sherilyn Fenn was unavailable, for instance but her scenes would have been cut out like everyone else's, anyway. So was Lara Flynn Boyle, but I like Moira Kelly as Donna. There were lots of really minor nit-picky things, I wish I could remember more. Like, didn't Laura keep the tapes to Jacoby in her bedpost? Here, she has a metal framed bed. Norma's hair was really short, but hair really can't count, because there's changes just in the Pilot to the series, like Audrey's hair. I only count stuff that affected the Plot. Stuff like the Bird Waldo pecking at Laura and calling, "Laura", the blood soaked rag with Fire Walk With Me, The Jacques' blood on Leo's Shirt.
It's such a shame we weren't given those deleted scenes, because several of them enlighten the film and other mysteries. In the script, there was an actual continuation from the last scene of the series! That said, I do love the film and this is the most gorgeous I've ever seen it. It blows my laserdisc away, with the exception of one scene. On the DVD, the sound is mastered lower so you have to turn up the volume to compensate. This was the same as the theatrical prints. Each print came with a note to the projectionist to turn up the volume so the dialogue would be normal while the loud scenes would be that much louder. Well, the scene in the Bar (Welcome to Canada), in the theater and on laser, the music was so loud that it was hard to make out the dialogue, so it is subtitled. The DVD however remixed the sound in that scene so now the Music is not overwhelmingly loud and the dialogue is perfectly clear, cancelling the need for subtitles.

I also miss the Fade to white when Chris Isaac disappears.
It was that way only in the theatrical prints. On all video prints, it's a fade to black.

 

[Michael Reuben]

I've edited the thread title to contain a spoiler warning. I also added the phrase "Twin Peaks" to ensure that the thread gets picked up in searches.

M.

 

[Patrick Mirza]

Lara Flynn Boyle apparently didn't want to do the film when she read nudity would be required.

 

[SteveGon]

But then she turned around and did a topless scene in The Road to Wellville did she not?
BTW, was the disappearance of Chris Isaak's character ever explained? The movie just kind of left it hanging.

 

[Duane M Davis]

Chris Isaac's disappearance was supposed to be explored in the next movie.

 

[Ryan_TD]

Alright, I barely remember seeing Twin Peaks(the TV series). I might have caught an episode here and there but obviously I coundn't possibly follow it by not seeing it all in order. I also saw the movie years ago as well. But I don't really remeber much of it now.

My question:

Since a lot of the movie contradicts the series(based on some of the posts on this thread) is it safe to say one could maybe watch 'Fire Walk With Me' on its own and have it still maybe make some sense?

I'd be interested in getting the series but I understand the pilot is not included(not sure if that makes a difference either...)

 

[David Lambert]

The movie shows the events leading to the killing of Laura Palmer. Most people won't assume that the movie is an "alternate reality" or otherwise stand-alone story. Therefore, they will know who the murderer is...and they will be correct as to that person's identity.

Hence, it's still a spoiler, even if other aspects are "wrong".

 

[Duane M Davis]

On a superficial level, the story is about an abused girl who has disassociated her abuse from her father to a feral, mysterious man who sneaks into her window at night. The movie shows this girl involved in drugs, prostitution and worse. When one misses the series, one misses how she is set up as perfect. She is homecoming queen, her boyfriend is the captain of the football team. She tutors the handicapped, she tutors an immigrant in English, she set up a Meals-on-wheels program, she councils shut-ins. Beneath the surface, though, she has secrets. Her abuse has manifested in the behavior we witness in the movie.

Laura is a microcosm of Twin Peaks. Twin Peaks, on the surface is a perfect town. Agent Cooper represents us. He comes to this town and falls in love with its beauty, charm and warm hospitality. But like Laura, the town has secrets. The investigation of Laura is the catalyst for uncovering the town's secrets. We are seeing what was hidden just beneath the surface.

Also, without the series, we don't learn the nature of BOB. On one level, BOB symbolizes how abuse is transferred through generations. Leland talks of meeting BOB as a child, a thinly disguised description of molestation. Leland continues this molestation and eventually kills Laura when she realizes that it is him. He'd always assumed she knew, but when he read her diary and saw that she had been deluding herself, he knew he had to kill her. He was unable to control his impulses because he was "possessed" by BOB. The series focuses less on this and presents BOB as a corporeal demon that lives in the Black Lodge with other demons. Without exposure to the series, these Black Lodge demons make even less sense than they did in the series. The film helps us finally understand what BOB really is. BOB is simply a metaphor for molestation and the Black Lodge is the symbolic home of all evil.

 

[Duncan_N]

Can anyone say 'spoiler'?