northwest passage: a fan edit.

[qbin2001]

Do you have to register? How does one watch it?

At the bottom of this article there is a link to sub-site where dlc (jdownloader program) file are to download - DVD9, DVD5 and mp4 (this one is 6GB and that one I'm downloading now).

[qbin2001]

can someone explain exactly what this is? I saw the first two minutes of it a few months ago, and not sure what the intent is. Not knocking it, but not sure why someone is reediting the pilot or the series- the pilot and first season is already perfect.

I haven't watched it yet, but I believe the intent is to reedit the entire series into a movie, basically. To condense the essence of Twin Peaks into about 2 hours, right? Somehow I suspect that neither Little Nicky, Evelyn Marsh or Lana made the final cut...

It's fan re-edited 300 min. version of Twin Peaks series, focused ONLY on Laura's murder and folowed investigation. Other plots are axed. It should be fun.

[Jerry Horne]

Do you have to register? How does one watch it?

At the bottom of this article there is a link to sub-site where dlc (jdownloader program) file are to download - DVD9, DVD5 and mp4 (this one is 6GB and that one I'm downloading now).

Thanks qbin!

[qbin2001]

Just scanned through whole "film". Impressive! And still have Twin Peaks mood. I'll watch it whole soon.

[Exy]

I can only find the trailer and the 10 minute version - can anyone post the link for the full mp4 version here?

[qbin2001]

I can only find the trailer and the 10 minute version - can anyone post the link for the full mp4 version here?

There's no direct link.

1. Go http://fanedit.info/
2. Choose MP4 under the "Norhwest Passage" poster. Unpack rar file (there's 'dlc' file).
3. Download jDownloader. Install.
4. Open unpacked 'dlc" file in jDownloader. Start downloading (play button). It will download almost 7GB from megaupload site.
5. Wait... and wait... and wait! (It took mi few hours do download all - I don't have premium account on megaupload so it's slow).
6. When jDownloader will finish downloading it will unpack mp4 file.
7. Watch movie (almost 5 hours long). Enjoy!

[garethw]

Just watched the whole thing last night and it left me kind of cold. Which is unfortunate, because I was really looking forward to seeing it, and I really wanted to like it.

It's technically pretty well done, and accomplishes what it set out to do - tell the LP story and little else. But curiously, in so-doing, it doesn't really feel like Twin Peaks any more. The editor says that some "purists" will be upset by the absence or near-absence of many important characters, but a very important "character" was lost on the editing room floor - the town itself.

I don't really know much about these "fan-edits" and the community that produces them, but I understand that it really started with something called "The Phantom Edit" - a version of the first Star Wars prequel re-edited anonymously by a professional editor that fixed or minimized a lot of the more egregious horrors that marred that particular film. George Lucas, true to form, made some spectacular errors in judgment in making that film, and it was widely held that "Phantom Edit" improved the film.

But in this case, the editor has taken material that many regard to be a masterpiece and extracted one thread from the larger canvas. I'm sure many of us have fantasized about editing Evelyn March right out of Twin Peaks, but that's not what's going on here. The LP mystery is the sole focus, and while cleverly edited in parts to change the manner of the reveal, the resulting piece seems unsatisfying - it just isn't Twin Peaks.

It actually strikes me as arrogant to take on such a project at all - to deign to think one is worthy to casually take a work of considerable artistic merit and chop it up to one's liking. Not only that, but to pre-announce it ("Coming in March!") to build anticipation. Perhaps it comes from growing up in an era before pop songs were built on pre-existing works ("Ice Ice Baby", anyone?), but it seems to me disrespectful to both the creative minds and the rank and file professional crew that go into making something like Twin Peaks.

It's a shame, though - the guy clearly put a tremendous amount of work into putting it together. I'm just not sure it was his place to do so.

I'm still looking forward to his sequel, "Little Nicky and the Last Seven Days of Evelyn Marsh".

[iar]

That's interesting. I haven't watched it yet, but my fear was something like what you outlined. That in losing the scenes that are not immediately important to the LP mystery, you lose Twin Peaks. I was thinking about this earlier. The LP mystery, whilst it holds everything together, really just serves as a gateway into this world. We're not watching CSI after all. And that is exactly the difference between an average Whodunnit and Twin Peaks.

However, I am more than willing to reserve judgement about this particular edit until I have seen it. It does seem to be technically excellent and an interesting experiment. I don't find it to be arrogant because I think that after we've all seen it, we'll have a much deeper appreciation for why TP works and how Lynch works. It isn't until something is absent that you realise how important it is.

[garethw]

It's most definitely an interesting technical feat, and it is probably worth watching. There are a few somewhat abrupt cuts, but I think that's natural, given the source material he has to work with.

I didn't suggest that it might be arrogant because I don't think it was entirely successful; rather, I don't think it is all that respectful to original artists to take their work and re-fashion them without their permission, particularly if it detracts from their original artistic vision - which, in my opinion, this does.

Maybe Lynch and Frost would endorse this anyway. Some artists seem to be okay with it, or at least the money that potentially comes with it (Sting didn't seem to have a problem with Puff Daddy stealing "Every Breath You Take" for his dead friend's tribute, rather than honouring him with actually writing a song of his own).

I hope that Lynch (and Frost) do hear about, and maybe even get to see this edit. I'd like to hear him asked about it in an interview. I might well be proven wrong.

[Exy]

It actually strikes me as arrogant to take on such a project at all - to deign to think one is worthy to casually take a work of considerable artistic merit and chop it up to one's liking. Not only that, but to pre-announce it ("Coming in March!") to build anticipation. Perhaps it comes from growing up in an era before pop songs were built on pre-existing works ("Ice Ice Baby", anyone?), but it seems to me disrespectful to both the creative minds and the rank and file professional crew that go into making something like Twin Peaks.

This is my view exactly and I'm only downloading out of curiosity to see what has been omitted - for instance is Maddy even still in it? I am also mildly interested purely from a technical point of view. I also think that they haven't gone far enough if the running time is still 5 hours, that is something that the average person couldn't comfortably sit through in one go. If they could have got it down to 180 minutes then that would have been an impressive feat.

[MysteryMan]

It actually strikes me as arrogant to take on such a project at all - to deign to think one is worthy to casually take a work of considerable artistic merit and chop it up to one's liking. Not only that, but to pre-announce it ("Coming in March!") to build anticipation. Perhaps it comes from growing up in an era before pop songs were built on pre-existing works ("Ice Ice Baby", anyone?), but it seems to me disrespectful to both the creative minds and the rank and file professional crew that go into making something like Twin Peaks.

This is my view exactly and I'm only downloading out of curiosity to see what has been omitted - for instance is Maddy even still in it? I am also mildly interested purely from a technical point of view. I also think that they haven't gone far enough if the running time is still 5 hours, that is something that the average person couldn't comfortably sit through in one go. If they could have got it down to 180 minutes then that would have been an impressive feat.

I agree as well, at least in part. Seeing Twin Peaks (the series) as one feature film is something I have fantasized about ever since the series ended, and I was really excited to see this finally happen although it was just an unofficial fan edit. However I too was quite disappointed having seen the final product. Technically it is very nice to watch and I respect all the time and hard work that has gone into the editing. However for me some of the things that have been cut are hard to swallow, and given the film is 5 hours long there is no reason why they shouldn't be there. Most importantly Audrey's venture to One Eyed Jack's to find out who killed Laura, and Donna, James and Maddy's quest to find the killer by luring Jacoby out of his office. I would say the two first hours are excellent, very well done, then after this more and more stuff are being cut and what you get is incoherent storylines that after a while don't make so much sense because of the scenes building up to it were cut (especially Donna's scheme to steal Laura's secret diary). It seems they kept a lot in from the first season (until the last two episodes) and then almost butchered up the second season. Watching it you almost get the feeling the editor was running out of time. Therefore the "film" feels a bit inconsistent. So maybe it just isn't possible to edit Twin Peaks down to a film, and if you are going to do it maybe it should be even shorter (2 or 3 hours). Although after seeing this I respect David Lynch's and Mark Frost's work even more if that is possible. Maybe the way to go would be to extend it instead by including deleted scenes if they would ever become available....

[garethw]

*SPOILERS AHOY*!

I agree as well, at least in part. Seeing Twin Peaks (the series) as one feature film is something I have fantasized about ever since the series ended, and I was really excited to see this finally happen although it was just an unofficial fan edit. However I too was quite disappointed having seen the final product. Technically it is very nice to watch and I respect all the time and hard work that has gone into the editing. However for me some of the things that have been cut are hard to swallow, and given the film is 5 hours long there is no reason why they shouldn't be there. Most importantly Audrey's venture to One Eyed Jack's to find out who killed Laura, and Donna, James and Maddy's quest to find the killer by luring Jacoby out of his office. I would say the two first hours are excellent, very well done, then after this more and more stuff are being cut and what you get is incoherent storylines that after a while don't make so much sense because of the scenes building up to it were cut (especially Donna's scheme to steal Laura's secret diary). It seems they kept a lot in from the first season (until the last two episodes) and then almost butchered up the second season. Watching it you almost get the feeling the editor was running out of time. Therefore the "film" feels a bit inconsistent. So maybe it just isn't possible to edit Twin Peaks down to a film, and if you are going to do it maybe it should be even shorter (2 or 3 hours). Although after seeing this I respect David Lynch's and Mark Frost's work even more if that is possible. Maybe the way to go would be to extend it instead by including deleted scenes if they would ever become available....

Didn't want to get into any spoilers, in case anyone is keen to see it fresh. But I completely agree with your specific examples - the "other" investigations (Donna/James, Audrey, Jacoby to some extent - who no longer has any particular reason to be in the hospital! ) are very much part of the LP story. Also, the episode 14 material, in editing it to change the reveal, lost a considerable amount of emotional impact. Which is kind of an unfortunate thing to do to the most shocking sequence I've ever seen on TV.

[Exy]

The thing that got my back up straight away was the title credits "A Film by David Lynch" - no it isn't and I'm sure Lynch would swiftly replace that caption with "A Film by Alan Smithee" if he ever saw this?!

As for "spoilers" the very notion that somebody would watch this before or instead of the genuine article is more than enough reason for this not to exist in the first place; an interesting idea but one that is thoroughly questionable.

[garethw]

The thing that got my back up straight away was the title credits "A Film by David Lynch" - no it isn't and I'm sure Lynch would swiftly replace that caption with "A Film by Alan Smithee" if he ever saw this?!

As for "spoilers" the very notion that somebody would watch this before or instead of the genuine article is more than enough reason for this not to exist in the first place; an interesting idea but one that is thoroughly questionable.

I meant spoilers for the edit, but yes, I agree. A couple of folks responding to it on the fanedit site said it *was* their first exposure to Peaks (and one said that he didn't think much of Lynch, but this changed his mind!)

[jlyon1515]

I watched this back when it came out, and I thought it was very well done. I don't find it arrogant at all. It was a task to see if it could be done (and made into widescreen!) and they absolutely accomplished it. Though, it definitely not something to replace watching the true series. It is just a new way of looking exclusively at the Laura Palmer story.

And for those that think "remixing" old work into new content is something new, I would point out the following mini documentary:
https://vimeo.com/14912890

I mean, by that same logic any of the Twin Peaks artwork is inappropriate and arrogant because it's a "bad" derivitive of the original photos and doesn't capture Twin Peaks in the same way.