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Twin Peaks: Bootleg Pilot Episode -Republic Pictures (1990)
Summary: Laura Palmer is found dead and it’s the only time in the entire series her Mom doesn't act like a lunatic! My Thoughts: If you've read my Twin Peaks First Season Special Edition box set review, then you already know that I'm a big fan of the series. My biggest qualm with that release was that because of all the ownership problems, the pilot episode was not included. This is a critical complication for anyone who had never seen the series when it first aired. You are effectively thrown into the overly complex storyline neck deep, with only a booklet to help save you. This necessitates the viewing of the first episode to completely get you up to speed. Thank you, complex copyright issues. If you want the pilot episode on DVD you have about three options: Have a DVD player that can play Region 2 DVDs for the European release (and decode the PAL format), pay a ton of money on eBay for a more official region free DVD release, or buy a reasonably priced bootleg. Despite my better judgment after the wake of the Star Wars: A New Hope bootleg purchase, I decided to give a rather dubious eBay auction a shot. Not willing to pay forty dollars or more at the time for an "official" regionless Chinese release, I went for the more economical twenty buck version.
The bootleg arrived in a cheap case that actually had a decent color cover insert. Most surprisingly of all was that it was shrink-wrapped, although it was one of the worst shrink-wrap jobs I've ever seen. The quality of this bootleg is better than I thought it would be, considering how much of a fiasco the Star Wars bootleg was. This time the DVD (which has a suspicious blank label) actually works in my DVD player! The pilot episode started playing right away, and it was clearly evident that it in no way compares with the first season box set in terms of quality and sound. While coming in clear, many of the colors are muted, giving me the impression of watching a BBC airing of Sherlock Holmes or one of those other BBC productions on A&E. The sound quality is equally poor, with the almost passable mix being in Dolby Digital 5.1, but having an audible hiss throughout the length of the episode. There's not much to say about the actual show that I didn't say in my review of Twin Peaks: First Season. It’s more of the same goodness, but it lays the entire groundwork for the series as everyone copes with the discovery of Laura Palmer's murder. The only real knock I have against this release (besides slightly poor quality) is that it doesn’t include the unaired alternate ending to the series, which is of course is available on a Laserdisc version if things weren’t complicated enough already. Extras: When you buy a bootleg you’re lucky enough to get the thing to play, much less have some extras. This disc is no different. There are no motion menus, and there’s a pathetic attempt at extras. There’s a group of trailers for films that seriously look really old, and much like the video quality of the episode, look like they belong on A&E or the Hallmark Channel. There’s a section labeled “Characters” that’s basically two filmographies. With a colorful cast that’s so huge it’s a joke to only have two filmographies on this disc. One of them just happens to be the Chinese actress Joan Chen, which is no wonder since this is a Chinese release. The other is for Kyle MacLahclan whom I will always think of as Paul Atreides from Dune. "PAUL! THEY SAID YOU WERE DEAD!" That’s it for extras, unless you count the chapters. If you get this bootleg, you must check them out for the headings. Each chapter is labeled in a weird Asian to English translation that includes such gems as: Murder in Little Town, Diary Secret, Reveal Worries, Trace Investigation, and Death All Together. Score: Episode: 8.5 Extras: 2.0 Edition: 6.0 I can only recommend going this route for die hard Twin Peaks fans. If you really want to check out the episode and don't care if its on DVD or not, there are much cheaper VHS versions floating around. -Paul
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