Northwest Passage: A Twin Peaks Fanedit

May 14, 2011 @ 5:06 pm

At five hours, you might be wondering if this edit is worth your time. If you like David Lynch’s work generally–his off-kilter take on small-town America, odd and dreamlike characters and situations, fondness for surrealism, hints of the supernatural–then the answer is yes.

I’d say this edit has three phases. First, an introduction to the setting, main characters, and the crime event that is at the focus. Then a long central segment where characters are introduced and fade away, plot lines start up and disappear, while the main investigation chugs along in an episodic way. This central segment is relatively shapeless and unorchestrated; it just flows along like a broad, deep river. Finally, the ending draws together with some surreal sequences and a resolution of the crime mystery.

The first phase was my favorite, as it has the most humor, mystery, and atmosphere. I enjoyed the finale too, even though the surreal parts ran on a bit. The central phase could have been shorter and more suspenseful. Because some of the plot lines come and go without much resolution, and because Dale Cooper tends to solve things with flashes of insight that come out of nowhere, more material could be cut without much disruption. I agree with Emphatic that the Orchid Guy could have been cut… the key diary page doesn’t come from him. Maybe the entire Maddie character could have been cut.

Flaws are few. There are a few transitions that flow less smoothly than I would have liked, but the disruption is minor. A few scenes near the end are in the wrong aspect ratio. Sound work is excellent. Overall, Q2 has done a fine job of assembling many disparate scenes into a coherent and absorbing narrative. 9/10

June 3, 2011 @ 9:11 pm

*This rating was given before reviews were required*

AV Quality: I left this score as a 10, but on the mp4 version I watched, the volume levels were extremely low. On my stereo, I normally have the volume at 9. Some discs or channels I might have to up it to 12. This video I had to turn my volume up to 18 to hear it. This didn't negatively affect the viewing experience at all, just a minor inconvenience at the start.

Visual: Again, I left this at a 10, but there was at least 1 error I spotted. Specifically, there was a video transition where the fade out scene, there were a few flash frames where you could see the start of the deleted next scene in the fade out.

Audio: There were 5-10 transitions where unfortunately the audio really gave away that these scenes were pasted together and didn't originally air that way. Usually it involved the first scene having a heavy score and the 2nd scene starting with no music. So the change was pretty abrupt. Not 'hard cut' abrupt, but enough to be somewhat jarring and remind that this is an edit.

Narrative: Narrative was strong, but I downgrade do a 9 because there were some plotholes. But cutting that much material, its pretty much inevitable, and the editor probably did about as good as could be done.

Enjoyment: For reference, I would score Twin Peaks Season 1 a 9, this edit a 7, and Twin Peaks Season 2 a 3. So I liked this edit much better than season 2. However, next time I am in the mood for rewatching, I will just watch season 1 again. Generally, with this sort of cult classic show, they tend to get better with each rewatching. I expected to love this edit since the Laura Palmer arc really was the most important one and many of the others were real stinkers (ie 40 year old cheerleader). But my favorite part of Twin Peaks was the quirky humor, and cutting out all the side plots cut out most of the humor (along with cutting out all the garbage). This edit has its comedic moments, but it was pretty serious most of the time. I hadn't really noticed before how much of the comedy was built into the side plots.

Recommendation: I would recommend this edit for someone who has already seen Twin Peaks (at least season 1). Being able to watch a completely story during a single afternoon really is nice, even if its not everything I may have hoped it could have been. However, I would not recommend this edit for someone who hasn't seen season 1 yet. This edit really starts off slow for at least an hour, so I could definitely see somebody new to the series getting bored and giving up.

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Pros: The story is much better paced, focusing on who killed Laura Palmer. The transitions are very well done.

Cons: Some scenes aren't needed and could be removed. While cropping the film gives it a new and interesting look, the loss of visual quality is not worth it.

In conclusion, this is a must-watch fan edit.