Review Detail

9.2 34 10
TV-to-Movie April 05, 2011 20055
(Updated: September 12, 2014)
Overall rating
 
6.8
Audio/Video Quality
 
8.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
6.0
Narrative
 
5.0
Enjoyment
 
5.0
The first thing that perplexes me about this fan edit is how a 300 minute running time qualifies as being re-imagined as a feature film. When was the last time you saw a five hour movie at the show? The second thing that perplexes me is why Q2 thought editing out all of the subplots and character digressions in Twin Peaks was a good idea since that is actually where a good amount of the entertainment value lies.

Some of the viewers who gave this rave reviews claim to not like David Lynch and that is likely the best audience for this fan edit. Anyone who enjoyed Blue Velvet or Lost Highway would be doing themselves a disservice by watching this version instead of the complete program. On the other hand, if David Lynch isn't your thing and you still for some reason want to watch Twin Peaks then I guess this is the version for you.

The plotting from series one episodes is clean and if you aren't familiar with the program it's likely you won't even notice that anything is missing. Q2 had more problems editing down season two. Leo Johnson is depicted as a major suspect but is shot off-screen. The attempts by Donna, Madeleine and James to investigate Laura's murder are so muddled it would have been better to cut them completely. Their first person of interest, Dr Lawrence, has a heart attack off-screen. Their second investigation, of the agoraphobic Harold Smith, suffers from abrupt jumps in time and culminates in a scene where its difficult to tell exactly what Donna, Maddie and James are even trying to do.

Northwest Passage largely rights itself after Harold's death as the focus shifts away from Laura's friends back to Agent Cooper and his attempts to solve the case. The reveal scene is no less powerful in this version than it was in the original series and provides one of Twin Peaks greatest moments of horror and tragedy.

I'm honestly on the fence about whether this fan edit is worth watching or not. You do get 5 hours of mostly excellent Twin Peaks, which is nothing to sneeze at, but so much that is wonderful and strange about the show is missing--seeing characters I loved when first watching the show pop up for one scene and then disappear completely is frustrating.

Q2 also did the Fire Walk With Me fan edit that added 90 minutes of deleted footage. That version improved on the original because it allowed you to spend more time in the Twin Peaks universe. It's counter-intuitive to me that the same person who made that would also chop down the Twin Peaks television program to create a subplot free version. How could somebody with an affinity for Twin Peaks do both?


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