The Film Experience

Diane, 11:30 AM, February 24. Entering town of Twin Peaks. Five miles south of the Canadian border, twelve miles west of the state line. Never seen so many trees in my life. As W.C. Fields would say, I'd rather be here than Philadelphia. It's 54 degrees on a beautiful sunny afternoon. Weatherman said rain. If you could get paid that kind of money for being wrong 60% of the time it'd beat working. Mileage is 79,345, gauge is on reserve, I'm riding on fumes, have to tank up when I get into town, remind me to tell you how much that is. Lunch was $6.31 at the Lamplighter Inn, that's on Highway 2 near Lewis Fork. That was a tuna fish sandwich on whole wheat and a slice of cherry pie and a cup of coffee. Damn good food. And if you ever get up this way, Diane, that cherry pie is worth a stop."

If you're like me and are a bit of a Twin Peaks nerd, then today is a big day. It has been exactly 25 years to the day since Laura Palmer was murdered, to be found some hours later amidst the lonesome sound of a foghorn, wrapped in plastic and washed ashore on a pebble beach in the town of Twin Peaks. Furthermore, just three days ago on the 21st was the 25th anniversary of David Lynch and company starting directing the scene. Although the famous pilot episode (which I maintain is better than 99.9% of films released before or since) wouldn't air for another year in April of 1990, it's February 24, 1989 that Twin Peaks mythology tells us is the day everything changed.

The number 25 is, of course, very important to the series. It was the number of years given in a dream that could help unlock several mysteries, although (much like everything else in the show) who can honestly tell? To celebrate the 25 years, the series is finally making its way to Blu-ray in a box set alongside the much-misunderstood prequel, Fire Walk With Me, and the rumoured deleted scenes that fans have been begging for for years and years.

Like I said at the top, I'm a bit of a Twin Peaks geek. I went to the annual convention in North Bend, WA, where the pilot and film were made (there I am to the left at Snoqualmie Falls where the exteriors of the Great Northern were taken). It was an incredible experience and I wrote about it for an Australian magazine called The Big Issue (you can read it at my website). I thought of Twin Peaks yet again upon reading Emily Nussbaum's incredible New Yorker article about True Detective and this weird, instinctual necessity to claim every new gritty, man-centric show as the greatest thing ever. Even us die-hard fans no the second season was loopy, but it remains a rather unfathomable moment in time that a show like this - murder mystery meets high gloss soap opera - could capture audiences in the way that (at least) season one did. One can only imagine the op-eds that would be written about Twin Peaks now: "David Lynch Endorses Teenage Drug Use!"; "Twin Peaks Makes Me Ashamed To Be A Woman!"; "Too Much Girly Stuff, Not Enough Men Smashing Stuff!". "Twin Peaks Soap Opera Shenanigans Too Boring!" etc etc.

If you're feeling deflated by television right now - I'd suggest that anybody who claims TV is better than film clearly doesn't watch the 95% of TV that is unwatchable garbage - then give Twin Peaks another watch. It's a series that actually rewards revisits, unlike most series that everyone just has to be watching right now so they can claim they're the best/worst thing ever. It's a show that remains so alive and full of strange, quirky, fascinating, engaging, subliminal, scary, funny, weird, happy, sexy, bizarre and gorgeously beautiful images. Laura Palmer changed TV, and on the 25th anniversary of her (fictitious, sure) passing, I think we should all go back and revisit why.