FaceInTheLeaves wrote:David Lynch only directed a few episodes of Twin Peaks so his dislike of commentaries is neither here nor there.
Actually, it is. As I said, Lynch is supposedly involved in the new set. It's got less to do with his role as episode director and more to do with his role as series co-creator/executive producer.
And while he doesn't like to give interpretations of his work, there's nothing to stop him documenting his thoughts on Twin Peaks a la Stories from the Eraserhead 2000 DVD.
Oh, I'm sure he'll appear in some kind of featurette. But no way will there be commentaries in this new box set. And I'm not sure I mind.
FaceInTheLeaves wrote:David Lynch only directed a few episodes of Twin Peaks so his dislike of commentaries is neither here nor there.
Actually, it is. As I said, Lynch is supposedly involved in the new set. It's got less to do with his role as episode director and more to do with his role as series co-creator/executive producer.
It all depends which camp you align yourself with I suppose. There are those who think his involvement in the making season two was minimal, hence the series losing its way. Then there are those who believe he was still heavily involved with the series, but they're in the minority. I'm intrigued by what exactly people want him to talk about. The directors can discuss technical aspects of individual episodes and DL has already talked quite extensively about the creation of Twin Peaks etc. in Lynch on Lynch and Wrapped In Plastic and he's made it clear he doesn't want to give interpretations. There's very little that hasn't been talked about somewhere and that in a nutshell why I can live without DL commentaries.
Similarly there are two camps when it comes to talking about Twin Peaks. There are fans who love the mystery and in a way like not knowing what things mean because answers limit the possibilities, and then there are the (mostly newer) fans who want everything explained in commentaries and featurettes. I still haven't listened to the commentaries on season one because behind the scenes information is somehow detrimental to my enjoyment of the series.
I've been a Twin Peaks fan for so many years, I'm probably a bit set in my ways. I'd love to see the deleted scenes from FWWM and could listen to DL talk about his films for hours but there's always a tension between the knowing and not knowing. I've spent half my life (literally) mulling over what the blue rose means, who Judy is, where Chester Desmond has gone... if DL gave me concrete answers now it would kill the mystery. I'd still love Twin Peaks but the space it occupies in my head wouldn't be quite so vast.
I've finally started making my way through the S2 discs and, while I'm not "absolutely disgusted" I don't think there can be any questions that the transfers are disappointing.
They're NOT terrible. They are a HUGE improvement on my old recorded-off-TV VHS and downloaded-from-torrent AVIs.
But, having taken so long, and having heard (I'm pretty sure) that Lynch approved the transfers...well, they could have been better. I don't know that it's the 4-episodes a disc thing though that could be it. I know other shows also do this but TP, being older seems to be a bit longer (47-48 mins an ep vs. today's 44) so maybe that extra 10 mins per disc is part of it.
Mostly what I notice is a kind of shimmering or instability in the background, particularly in darker scenes (and there are a few of those on this show).
Also, when you watch S1 and then S2 back to back (as I'm doing) the change in the orange tones is huge. I know they used filters in S1 so I don't know if they stopped using them or if this is because of digital colour correction or what...I have no idea which is the Lynch-Frost ideal for colour palette (or if either is!) but the change is noticable.
Someone with actual tech knoweldge can no doubt elaborate on these things...
I'm not COMPLAINING - I'm happy to have them. If not for the S1 DVDs I might just assume it's a 1990 show and that's the best quality we could expect but clearly there is a point where they stopped worrying about making the transfers look the best they possibly could and that is somewhat disappointing.
