Twin Peaks - Summer Watching Club (Discussing Pilot/Watching Episodes 1-3)

Here's the meeting notice I sent to my office-based TPSWC. Anybody here that wants to play along is welcome to. I'll try to post relevant info from one group to the other.

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Okay, so the first meeting of the TPSWC (tip-swock) will be next Friday, 22 Apr. That gives you all one (1) week to watch the Pilot/First Episode/Zeroth Episode/TV Movie/Northwest Passage. It’s 94 minutes and I think it will give us plenty to talk about for our first lunch. It is the first episode on Netflix on-demand, but don’t make the mistake of watching "Episode 1"/"Traces to Nowhere" since that is the first episode that takes place AFTER the TV movie. If that is too confusing, then you probably shouldn’t be watching this show in the first place.

Also, if presented with the option, don’t watch the European cut (116 minutes) since it features an "ending" (what is this I don’t even) to the mystery which is 100% different than the TV show that followed.

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Oh, and no reading ahead.  :)

The schedule will basically be (until we change it):

Season0: TV Movie              22 Apr (90 minutes)
Season1: Episodes 1-3       29 Apr (120 minutes)
Season1: Episodes 4-5         6 May (80 minutes)
Season1: Episodes 6-7       13 May (80 minutes (season finale cliffhanger))
Season2: Episode 1            20 May (90 minute season opener)
Season2: Episodes 2-4       27 May (120 minutes)
Season2: Episodes 5-7         3 Jun (120 minutes)
Season2: Episodes 8-10     10 Jun (120 minutes)
Season2: Episdoes 11-13   17 Jun (120 minutes)
Season2: Episodes 14-16   24 Jun (120 minutes)
Season2: Episodes 17-18     1 Jul (120 minutes)
Season2: Episodes 19-21     8 Jul (120 minutes)
Season2: Episode 22           15 Jul (40 minute season finale cliffhanger) 

And then maybe a Fire Walk With Me dinner.

I want to participate, as Twin Peaks is an all time favorite of mine.  Only problem is that I plan to be in Hawaii for the first two weeks of this. I'll try to join during week 3. If that is ok?

FF

I killed Laura Palmer.


Sorry.

This is awesome, I've never seen it so I can't wait, already got a copy of Northwest Passage.  One question, how/where will said "lunch" take place?

We'll have to squeeze this into the end of the schedule perhaps:
Northwest Passage: A Twin Peaks Fan Edit by Q2

I think we ought do a Skype call to simulate the lunch if you guys would be up to it.

webcamless :(   but maybe i could borrow one

The lunches will be in the breakroom at Mod-A.  The one with 3 vending machines.

Don't be late!

So how's this really goin down?      (aka bump)

Well... I say start watching the TV movie and you can come here and discuss it whenever. 

Perhaps an *******Up to Episode X SPOILERS********** at the top of your e-mail would be warranted.

I need to watch it again.  Maybe I'll do that tonight!

(And none of you are really invited to my office for lunch.  Just in case that wasn't clear.)  :)

Wait. You're on the internets whilst driving?? Isn't that kinda dangerous???

If you're unskilled.

Just finished Northwest Passage, and I have to say I was pretty blown away.  Details later.  I'm off to work now, just a reminder bump for everyone else.

I watched this very late at night a few days ago and never got around to writing about it, so this is all from memory.  Here goes nothin'.

The first thing that really caught my attention was the music.  It's beautiful and haunting, and creates quite the aura of mystery around the show.  I can't remember the last time I liked a TV show's soundtrack so much.

I loved the slow reveals of Laura's death to the different characters.  Each character had their own emotional response that was very believable, which I think is a credit to both the acting and directing, but in this case it's more due to directing.  Lynch takes his time to the extreme degree.  Since there is a limited amount of time to tell a story with the TV format, things tend to get rushed, and there isn't really time to explore character revelations to such a degree.  Whedon was very good at doing just that in his episodes (see Buffy 5.16 "The Body"), but it's nothing compared to this.  The show was very visually stunning as well, with a lot of cool angles and tracking shots and such.  Just a couple examples.  It was much more like a movie than a TV show, almost like watching a Twilight Zone episode.

The leisurely pace also helped heighten the mystery.  The whole time all I wanted was to hear the whole story - who is Laura Palmer,  who are her friends, what happened to her, why does she have that lockbox with porn!  I just want to know it all now!  It reminded me of Veronica Mars a LOT in that way, but VM is way more of a fast-paced show.  Still, I can see how much it drew from Twin Peaks just from the pilot alone (P.S., if you've never seen Veronica Mars, do  yourself a favor and watch it now).

Other thoughts:

• Most of the acting was good, some of it wasn't so much at all.
• I love agent Cooper, he's hilarious.  Harry Truman ironically looks like a young George W.
• Finding the letter under the nail was awesome!  Is the killer re-tweeting? :p
• Watching James makes me want to get my Vulcan out - damn April showers!
• Barking Bobby was very weird and creepy...
• That last scene, while very startling, was so confusing.  Who took the neclace, who even knew to look there - how did her mom have a 'vision' of this, if that's even what happened!?
• I can't believe this was shown on network television in the early 90's.

That is all for now, what do you think?  Anyone else still planning on keeping up with the tipswock?  Or is this just a practice in futility...

Woot!

I'm actually watching episodes 1-3 (Netflix 2-4) right now!  Oh man, I love the rock throwing scene.

And watch out for that Cherry Pie... IT WILL KILL YA!

Hey xhonzi, how about editing the OP with "up to episode X discussion/spoilers" whenever we move on?  A mystery show is the last thing anyone wants to get spoiled!

*edit: awesome, thanks :)

I just got ahold of the whole first season - starting the show proper soon, and very excited about it.

Well, I'm a little late to this thread, but I'm in the middle of watching Twin Peaks right now, so I'm glad this got revived so I can contribute to it.

Granted, while I say I'm watching it right now... what I really mean is that I was hooked for a while, got a few episodes past the part where the Laura Palmer murder is solved, and then I got bored and lost interest.  Hopefully I'll come back to it soon.  But up until that point, this show was really hooking me like no other.  I've never had a show make me feel so simultaneously amused and ashamed of myself for being amused than the funeral scene where Leland throws himself on the casket.

Also:  "This must be where pies go when they die."  Love that line.