by Joel Bocko
On April 8, 1990, a new David Lynch work premiered to by far the biggest audience he’d ever receive: thirty-three million viewers on that day alone. The pilot of the new surreal mystery show Twin Peaks, a collaboration with writer Mark Frost, introduced Laura Palmer as a murdered teenager whose death might implicate the whole offbeat small town, launching a storyline that would continue over many episodes (and eventually a prequel feature film even after the mystery was resolved). Yet many elements that would come to define Twin Peaks – especially its supernatural, mythological iconography – weren’t present yet in that pilot. Or were they? Well, it depends which version of the pilot you saw. For TV viewers, and most who’ve caught up with Twin Peaks in the years since on streaming or digital boxsets, the pilot ends when Laura’s mother experiences a vision of a hand picking up a necklace in the woods. But for years on VHS and DVD – due to odd rights issues – the only available version of the pilot went in a different direction entirely: one which, while not canon would introduce numerous characters and images essential to later Twin Peaks (including the third season which followed after a quarter-century interval – the timing itself rhyming with something in this alternate ending). And most of this was inspired by momentary flashes of whimsy and inspiration on Lynch’s part, using actors and sets he had immediately onhand before constructing a whole new world which formed the heart of the show’s visual language, turning up on the series itself as a dream sequence several episodes later.
In this fifteen-minute podcast, an excerpt from my much longer Lost in Twin Peaks series covering every episode in deep detail, I explain not just what happens in this version of the pilot, but why it was shot at all, and how Lynch came up with many of these details.
(You can also listen on Spotify, Pinecast, or most other podcast platforms – unfortunately WordPress makes it very difficult to embed podcast players so I can’t actually make it playable on this page.)
This was originally part of my coverage of S1E3 (aka “episode 2), the episode which first made the “dream sequence” public. You can read/see/listen to more about that episode here, and follow Lost in Twin Peaks on various podcast platforms, including those linked above.
And you can watch the full alternate ending yourself right now:
Joel, your longstanding appreciation and authoritarian command of David Lynch – one that has persisted many years at your site and online – is a marvel. Of course, TWIN PEAKS is your specialty, and you’ve accumulated quite an archive at your place, which has included voideo excerps, trailers and brilliant analysis. My wife is wild for TWIN PEAKS, and she will be pleased when i show her your contribution to the festival. Yes, Allan, was a big fan of Lynch, and the show, and would have reacted glowingly to your exhaustive scholarly assessment of a television landmark by an iconic artist.
Thanks! I think we’ve discussed it before but out of curiosity what was Lucille’s take on season 3? While critics generally loved it, seems like parts of it at least were more divisive for many fans.
Hi Joel, thanks for this timely post. I had been waiting recently to see if a new film by Lynch would appear but that wasn’t the case. Still, nice to revisit <I>TWIN PEAKS</I>. You got me thinking with this post. I wasn’t sure which ending version I had seen but as per the clip, it turns out I saw the alternate ending. That makes sense as I had seen this originally on a VHS tape. I will check out the podcast to get more info.
That must have been confusing! Especially when you got to the next episode and suddenly no one knew the killer again or the episode after that when the whole Red Room sewuence repeated as a dream. When I first tried to watch Twin Peaks, it was pre-Gold Box and the first DVD Netflix sent was actually the second episode (called “episode 1”). Took me a while to figure out why everything was in medias res.
I admit that I have never seen a frame of any of Twin Peaks, the TV show or the movie. But the hubby has watched it numerous times and really appreciated the podcast. I admire your ability to record a very listenable podcast, something many people cannot do, so BRAVO!
Thanks! This one was initially recorded five years ago but assisted by some in-the-weeds re-editing several years after that when I made it public. I’ve often found podcasting, somewhat to my surprise, to be more time-consuming than other formats which seem more complicated.
Fascinating and definitive podcast on Twin Peaks!
Thanks!