From: jgp@raid.Rational.COM (Jim Pellmann)
Newsgroups: alt.tv.twin-peaks,rec.video.releases
Subject: Re: TP Laser Disks?
Date: 10 Sep 92 21:41:28 GMT
Followup-To: alt.tv.twin-peaks

xepo@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (Scott R Violet) writes:

>	I heard mentioned that over in Japan they have the entire
>series released on LD.  Can any one confirm, or deny this?  And if it
>was released in Japan, does it have subtitles, I know most Japanese
>speak English, but I not sure.  Also, if they do exist what format are
>they in?  IE are they boxed, or on a per episode basis.  And lastly,
>any one know where to buy them from if they exist?

One more time (sigh, where is the FAQ?):  yes, there is a Japanese
laserdisc set (I'll include Jerry's review below); no, it is sold
out and virtually impossible to get (I read somewhere there were
only 2000 sets made); yes, there is *supposed* to be a US laserdisc
release (*possibly* by Voyager), but it is has NOT been announced.

-- Jim

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From: boyajian@ruby.enet.dec.com (The fox so cunning and free)
Newsgroups: alt.tv.twin-peaks,rec.video.releases
Subject: TWIN PEAKS SET (the Japanese laserdisc boxed set)
Summary: Definitely worth it
Date: 17 Feb 92 03:10:28 GMT
Followup-To: alt.tv.twin-peaks

OK, I finally picked up my copy of TWIN PEAKS SET: 29 EPISODES (well,
that's what it's titled on the box). I haven't had the time to start
watching the set yet, though I popped around the various discs playing
specific scenes. Here are some comments about the package (warning,
there'll be a fair amount of obsessive detail). Overall, I am *very*
impressed, and glad I splurged the considerable amount of money for it.

The set comes in a nice outer box, with a photo of Laura Palmer (dead)
on the outside. The contents include:

15  12" LDs
1    8" "LD single"
1   large booklet

(and a flyer advertising a package tour to Twin Peaks country. :-))

As noted before, the pilot (either the broadcast version or the extended
"Euroversion") is *not* included in the package, just ("Just". Right.)
episodes 1-29.

I.

All the discs are in CLV, have digital sound, and are in stereo. Only
the second season episodes have surround sound, but the first season
wasn't done in surround in the first place. There's no chapter encoding
-- well, actually, there is, but "Chapter 1" lasts the entire side. All
of the episodes have their original English dialogue tracks and are
subtitled in Japanese kanji. During the Red Room sequences in which
English subtitles appeared for the backwards-speech dialogue, those
English subtitles are retained, with the kanji appearing as side-titles.
The transfers are about as good as one would expect of a non-digital
transfer. I've noticed some shots have a little noticible grain to them,
but certainly nothing to get bothered about (I used to think my Beta
tapes were decent until I popped one in to check something against the
disc, and I almost threw up at how bad it was).

I expected the discs to be in poly-lined paper sleeves sitting loose
inside the box, like various domestic boxed sets, but that's not the
case. Each of the 15 discs comes in its own cardboard jacket (as sturdy
as any regular LD jacket), with the inner sleeves being of the plastic
"U" variety). Each jacket is individually labelled, so that if you
prefer, you can place them on your shelf individually rather than in
the box. Given the box's dimensions, I've done this and saved a little
shelf space (it also makes accessing them easier, which is quite possibly
why it was done this way). Each jacket has a photo of one or more of the
characters from the series, some being stills from an episode, others
obviously being posed publicity stills. For the record, here's a list
of the jacket photos ("*" indicates a publicity still rather than an
episode scene):

Disc    Photo                         Disc    Photo

1     * Coop & Harry                  9     * Bobby and Shelly
2     * Josie, Catherine, & Ben       10    * Josie and Harry
3     * Donna, James, & Audrey        11    * Windom Earle
4       The Giant ("Noooooo...")      12      JJ Wheeler and Audrey
5       Leland (white-haired)         13      Nadine
6       Audrey                        14      The Man from Another Place
7       Donna                         15    * Killer Bob
8       Dream-Laura in the Red Room

The back of all the jackets is mostly blank, with a small photo of David
Lynch in the center.

All of the episodes retain the "previously on TWIN PEAKS" pre-credits
teaser, but none have any of the next episode previews; they go straight
from the closing shot into the closing credits. Because of the way the
episodes are laid out, Episode #8 -- the 2-hour second season premiere
-- is split between discs 4 and 5 (for the record, they did *not* kludge
up an extra set of credits to close the first half or open the second
half with). Episodes 28 & 29 have their individual opening and closing
credits, instead of the combined set that we got on the US broadcast,
since they were shown as a single 2-hour "movie". The other notable
thing about Episode #8 is that it has an "alternate version" of one
scene. It was noted long ago in alt.tv.twin-peaks that when the episode
aired in Britain, the scene of Maddy looking down at the rug and seeing
the (what seemed to be) blood stain was slightly different than in the
original US broadcast. It was said that in the UK airing she saw an
image of BOB in the stain. Sure enough, the superimposed image of BOB
comes rippling into view over the stain. One supposes that this episode
was late in post-production, so it was printed for US airing without
this shot being completed. I haven't noticed anything else different,
but as I said, I haven't watched the set straight through yet.

II.

The 8" LD single is amusing, but no more than that. Titled "Clues to the
Mystery", it has numerous short chapters, each about one or another of
the characters, with clips from the series of that character. There are
also squibs about various "clues", such as "Dale's ring". Unfortunately,
the disc is narrated in Japanese, so I've no idea what's being said
about the characters or the "clues". As a toss-in freebie, it's nice,
but I'll probably never play it all the way through.

III.

The booklet. *Real* nice. It's 11.5 x 11.5, and 36 pages long. The only
real problem is that (naturally) the text is almost completely in
Japanese, so I'm only guessing at what some of it is about (I've noted
below what's in English). The cover is neat: it's a shot looking down at
the top of a coffee percolator, with a fish sitting on top of it. :-)
The back cover is a shot of two donuts.

Pages 2 through 17 appear to be synopses of all of the episodes, two
per page (except #8, which runs a whole page), each with a header strip
running from top to bottom with a couple of photos from the episode in
question and the writing & directing credits. They also include one for
the pilot, and interestingly enough, they label it "Episode 0" -- the
first time I've seen the pilot designated this way outside of the net
(after all, who but a computer person would think of starting a count
with 0 instead of 1? :-)).

Page 17 also has a strip labelled "see the other side, hear the other
side", but I have no idea what it's about. However, there are two quotes
by the One-Armed Man that are printed in English. What makes one of them
interesting to Peaks Freaks is that it's the "Fire, Walk With Me" poem,
and in the third line, they use "one chants out" instead of "one chance
out".

Pages 18-19 are a huge chart of all the characters with their various
interconnections. It's much more extensive (and complex) than the one
in PEOPLE MAGAZINE back during the show's first season broadcast. The
interconnectivity legend is in English, too.

Pages 20-21 are three maps of Twin Peaks and the surrounding area. The
notations on the maps are in English, though the legends underneath are
only in Japanese. First is a town map, second a map of the forest area
surrounding the town, and the third a regional map of Washington,
including the abutting parts of Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and British
Columbia. I suspect that these maps were reproduced from THE ACCESS
GUIDE TO TWIN PEAKS, but as I (oddly enough) never got around to picking
up a copy of the ACCESS GUIDE, I don't know for sure. There's also a
mileage chart from Twin Peaks to various points around the globe (but
not, strangely enough, Tokyo).

Pages 22-29 contain info-boxes of all the major and most of the minor
characters (and the actors who played them) that have appeared on the
show. In the case of many of the minor characters, it even mentions
which episode they appeared in.

Pages 30-31 are biographical sketches of David Lynch, Mark Frost, and
Angelo Badalamenti. For Lynch, the sketch includes a filmography, as
well as lists of his other work.

Pages 32-33 are frustratingly titled "Dale Cooper is not what he seems".
But it's all in Japanese.

Page 34 looks to be -- judging from various dates noted therein -- a
production timeline for the series. Accompanying photos are of some of
the merchandizing products. They show a copy of THE ACCESS GUIDE TO
TWIN PEAKS, the collector's card set, British and Japanese editions of
THE SECRET DIARY OF LAURA PALMER, a newspaper called TWIN PEAKS TIMES
(which I suspect is merely a Japanese edition of THE TWIN PEAKS GAZETTE)
and some Japanese TP *fanzines*. There's also a chart listing the
episodes with their original US broadcast dates.

Page 35 has a cast list for the forthcoming theatrical film. It's obviously
not complete, as at least two people we know to be in the film (Pamela
Gidley as Teresa Banks and Phoebe Augustine as Ronette Pulaski) are not
listed. The complete title seems to be "Twin Peaks Fire Walk With Me,
Teresa Banks and the Last Seven Days of Laura Palmer".

(I'll be posting the cast list as a separate article, but only to
alt.tv.twin-peaks.)

All in all, a damn fine package.

-- 

"They say the best things in life are free."

	"Free!?  Hamton, this is the 90's. Take out a loan and buy a clue."

--- jayembee (Jerry Boyajian, DEC, "The Mill", Maynard, MA)

    boyajian@ruby.enet.dec.com

From: boyajian@ruby.enet.dec.com (The fox so cunning and free)
Newsgroups: alt.tv.twin-peaks
Subject: TWIN PEAKS: FIRE WALK WITH ME cast list
Date: 17 Feb 92 03:17:24 GMT

As mentioned in my description of the TWIN PEAKS laserdisc set, the
booklet included with it has a cast list for the forthcoming movie.
Here's the list as it appears in the booklet (a couple of spellings
corrected):

	Kyle MacLachlan            Agent Dale Cooper
	Kiefer Sutherland          San [sic] Stanley
	David Bowie                Phillip Jeffries
	Joan Chen                  Josie Packard
	Michael Ontkean            Sheriff Harry Truman
	Harry Dean Stanton         Carl Rodd
	Peggy Lipton               Norma Jennings
	Chris Isaak                Chet Desmond
	Sheryl Lee                 Laura Palmer
	Ray Wise                   Leland Palmer
	Moira Kelly                Donna Hayward
	Dana Ashbrook              Bobby Briggs
	Grace Zabriskie            Sarah Palmer
	Frank Silva                Bob
	James Marshall             James Hurley
	Al Strobel                 Philip Michael Gerard
	Miguel Ferrer              Albert Rosenfield
	Madchen Amick              Shelley Johnson
	Harry Goaz                 Deputy Andy Brennan
	Eric Da Re                 Leo Johnson
	Everett McGill             Ed Hurley
	Warren Frost               Dr. Hayward
	David Lynch                Gordon Cole
	Rick Aiello                Cliff Howard
	Heather Graham             Annie Blackburn
	Richard Beymer             Ben Horne
	Kimmy Robertson            Lucy Moran
	Wendy Robie                Nadine Hurley
	Catherine Coulson          Log Lady
	Jack Nance                 Pete Martell
	Michael Horse              Tommy "The Hawk" Hill
	Russ Tamblyn               Dr. Jacoby
	David Patrick Kelly        Jerry Horne
	Robert Bauer               Johnny Horne
	Charlotte Stewart          Betty Briggs
	Mary Jo Deschanel          Eileen Hayward
	Don Davis                  Major Briggs
	Julee Cruise               Roadhouse Singer
	Gary Hershberger           Mike Nelson
	Lenny von Dohlen           Harold Smith
	Michael Anderson           Man From Another Place
	Walter Olkewicz            Jacques Renault
	Frances Bay                Mrs. Tremond
	Jan D'Arcy                 Sylvia Horne

Notes by me:

1.  Moira Kelly is replacing Lara Flynn Boyle who was unable to do
    the film due to other commitments.

2.  Sherilyn Fenn was also unavailable. I guess that they considered
    her less "replaceable" than Boyle (more likely is that the character
    of Donna is more essential to the events of the film, given her
    close ties with James and Laura) so the character of Audrey won't
    be in the film.

3.  I'm sorry to see that Sheryl Lee won't be doing "double duty" as
    both Laura *and* Maddy.

4.  A curious absence is Pamela Gidley, who is supposed to be playing
    Teresa Banks in the movie. And Phoebe Augustine (Ronette Pulaski)
    is supposed to be in it as well.

5.  Still no Diane. :-(

-- 

"They say the best things in life are free."

	"Free!?  Hamton, this is the 90's. Take out a loan and buy a clue."

--- jayembee (Jerry Boyajian, DEC, "The Mill", Maynard, MA)

    boyajian@ruby.enet.dec.com

From: boyajian@ruby.enet.dec.com (The fox so cunning and free)
Newsgroups: alt.tv.twin-peaks,rec.video.releases
Subject: Re: TWIN PEAKS SET (the Japanese laserdisc boxed set)
Date: 20 Feb 92 06:45:17 GMT

[I'm re-cross-posting this to rec.video.releases, since I've gotten a
fair number of mail messages asking these same questions.]

In article <16343@awdprime.UUCP>, ken@batman.austin.ibm.com writes...

} Would you let us know where we might find such a gem of a set and how
} much we might expect to pay for it? (I know it's rude to ask how much
} something costs, but I simply must have this)

I ordered my set through Sight & Sound (in Waltham, MA -- phone number
is 617-894-8633), my usual laserdisc pusher, who deals regularly in
Japanese imports.

(Disclaimer: I have no connection with them, other than as a customer.)

Note, though, that they do not have any currently in stock. When the
set was announced, they up and ordered 10 of them, but all 10 quickly
got reserved. No doubt as they get more requests, they'll order more,
but you may have to wait a month or two for them to arrive. I ordered
my set in November.

As for the price, I paid (not including the 5% MA tax I had to pay, or
shipping, which I didn't need, as I picked mine up in person) $672.80.
Now, a few people will say that the list price of 61,800 Yen should
equal only about $500, but keep in mind that S&S has to pay for shipping
from Japan (and once you've hefted one of these babies, you'll realize
that the shipping cost was probably not small) plus import duties. They
also don't get a very large profit margin on imports (which is why they
never offer standard discounts on them, as they do with domestic releases),
so there's a mark-up involved there as well. An extra $200 is certainly
cheaper than a flight to Tokyo. :-)

If you can find someone else that can sell you one cheaper, by all means
go for it.

Regardless, the price I paid is still worth it. The price works out to
be about $45.00 per 2-episode disc. I paid the same or more for import
discs of THE TWILIGHT ZONE (80's) and MAX HEADROOM, and even in comparison
with the following prices for television series material on domestic
laserdisc, while the price may be on the high side, it isn't grossly out
of line:

ST:TNG                $35 for a 2-episode disc
AMAZING STORIES       $35 for a 3-episode (half-hour each) disc
                      (this is proportionally equivalent to the TP
                       import disc price)
THE PRISONER          $40 for 2 single-episode discs
TWILIGHT ZONE (60's)  $40 for 4-episode (half-hour each) disc

It's a large gulp to make all at once, but I think it's worth it.

-- 

"They say the best things in life are free."

	"Free!?  Hamton, this is the 90's. Take out a loan and buy a clue."

--- jayembee (Jerry Boyajian, DEC, "The Mill", Maynard, MA)

    boyajian@ruby.enet.dec.com

--
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I lived in my head mostly."                | Jim Pellmann (jgp@rational.com)
"That's not a bad neighborhood."            | RATIONAL
"There were some pretty strange neighbors." | Santa Clara, California