New Twin Peaks Box Set as Good As Cherry Pie

"She's dead, wrapped in plastic!" And so begins the relentless journey through Twin Peaks, for the new devotee and longtime fan alike to ask and someday answer the eternal question; "Who killed Laura Palmer?" When they said "definitive version" they really meant it, as every scrap of Twin Peaks related paraphernalia is included on the Twin Peaks Definitive Gold Box Edition. The master of ceremonies, David Lynch himself, says on the back cover, "I think this is a great definitive Twin Peaks Gold Set..."

Set in the small fictional town of Twin Peaks in the foothills of the Washington State Cascade Mountains, Special Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) is sent to investigate the death of high school prom queen Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee). The show reads as a simple, straightforward plot, but things are never what they seem. The search for Laura's killer evolves into a complicated search for answers in an increasingly nonsensical world, with coffee in one hand, cherry pie in the other. Twin Peaks is incredibly funny, moving, and evokes a perfect sense of nostalgia for a world that many of us have never known, the small close-knit town where everything appears perfect, but upon closer inspection is fraught with lies, deception, and mystery. Tragically, the series was canceled before a third season could be put out, leaving the show on a cliffhanger ending that may never be truly answered.

Because of different licensing issues, for many years the two-hour pilot was not included in any releases of the series (including the VHS tape release in the mid-'90s), but was only available as a separate entity. The pilot is crucial to an understanding of Twin Peaks; without those two hours, the entire series makes very little sense. The Twin Peaks gold box set is the first to include the pilot, which puts it far ahead of the other editions right off the bat. The main problem is that they just recently released season one and two separately, sans pilot. Most of the Twin Peaks fans I knew dropped a good $80 picking up both seasons, when shortly after the second season released a comprehensive compilation was put out.

This set is perfect for the true die-hard fans of the series, who want to hear hours of discussion about the show, and intimate and previously unknown details about Twin Peaks. The menus, the transitions, and even the packaging itself is very sleek and well done, a big improvement over previous editions. Every episode is here. with much improved picture quality, newly re-mastered from original negatives, with higher quality audio.

As far as extras go, David Lynch waxes philosophical in an interesting conversation with Kyle MacLachlan, Madchen Amick, and his assistant John Wentworth. Viewers experience what it would be like to visit the annual Twin Peaks convention held in Snoqualmie, Washington, where cast and fans gather for a weekend of Twin Peaks fun. Also, we are treated to a comprehensive "Making Of" featurette which shows the beloved cast and crew prominently, includes the complete set of "Log Lady" intros, and a series of strange extras that include Georgia coffee commercials made for the Japanese market, production notes, and much more.

Overall, this is a wonderful edition. The people who love Twin Peaks have loved it steadily, and it's truly marvelous to see that such obvious care and attention has been put into making this the last word on Twin Peaks. As Dale Cooper would say, it's "a damn fine" thing to have the series available, whole and complete at long last.

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Amanda Mae Meyncke is going to be Laura Palmer for Halloween!

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