Twin Peaks - Pilot Episode [IMPORT]

Rating:
Summary: must have dvd!
Review: I bought this a couple of weeks ago in the mail from hong kong when i found out the new box set didn't have the pilot. Its absolutely necessary to view this if you're lookin to get into twin peaks. And, trust me, its worth it. Twin Peaks was the best tv ever got. And the best thing about this disc is they didn't tag on the ending you find on the Twin Peaks video warner put out. It ends exactly the way it did when it first aired. If you love twin peaks purchasing the new box set is imperative in order to get the entire show on disc. And since you won't have the pilot there, well , you should get this too.
I'm glad I did.

Rating:
Summary: Will it ever be re-released in better quality?
Review: Having never seen the pilot, this was an unexpected pleasure. I had completely missed Twin Peaks on TV. Later in life I discovered the entire series in the "cult" section at my local video store. I immediately became hooked and watched the whole series three times through over the next couple of years without knowing the pilot was missing.

I read in another review that the original two-speaker sound track is missing and it definitely sounds like it. On two speakers (my only option), the sound is down right annoying, with constant hiss and sound effects that are obvisouly too loud. A slight flange effect is heard throughout, like hiss through heard through a length of pipe. The overall sound is similar to playing an audio tape originally recorded with Dolby NR with the Dolby switched off.

Video quality was also disappointing. Faint, fixed pattern noise appears in the dark scenes and the overall random noise level is arguably worse than a VHS tape. Definitely not worthy of the DVD medium and no comparison the the outstanding first season DVD .

My only regret: I wish I had bought a used copy.

-Roy

Rating:
Summary: Great pilot episode so-so sound, no extras worth noting
Review: Without the pilot episode of "Twin Peaks" the boxed set is useless. Sure for those of us who have videotaped copies or laserdisc copies of the pilot, there's recourse but the chillig pilot episode needs to be seen to appreciate the rest of the series. I imagine that the second season would have seen release and the boxed set would have sold better if the pilot had been included.

The picture quality varies a bit in quality. Overall, it's not bad but it doesn't compare to that of the high definition transfer that's a highlight of the boxed set. The sound is pretty bad but you can listen to it. I really didn't notice that the pitch of the voices was all that different but it's probably due to the fact that overseas video is in a different format (PAL) than the U.S. (NTSC). The differences in the two formats would certainly explain that issue.. That would explain the incorrect pitch and the fact that it's a bit too fast to some folks. Color is an issue in some scenes as the picture does appear too yellow in others but overall the picture quality is good but far from great.

Someone commented earlier that this is an edited version of the pilot. No, actually it's the entire pilot run a slightly higher speed. The original pilot ran roughly 90 minutes (two television episodes average about 43 minutes a piece and that pilot was essentially two episodes back-to-back).

Unfortunately there's no extras to speak of except some really bad preview trailers and some information on the cast. Reportedly Paramount resumes control of the "Twin Peaks" license in 2005 so my guess is we'll see the pilot repacked with the first season (and available separately hopefully) along with the second season of the show.

5 stars for the pilot which created a mixture of an oblique mystery and an inversion of the traditional sopa opera and 2 stars for the transfer.