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The online film magazine Combustible Celluloid offers new movie reviews, DVD reviews, film reviews, actor interviews, actress interviews, director interviews, film books and all things cinema related for the thoughtful and passionate. Online for ten years! Over 3000 reviews!

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Twin Peaks: The First Season (1990)

Rating: 4 Stars (out of 4)

Damn Good

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Buy Twin Peaks: The First Season on DVD.

"She's dead... wrapped in plastic," says Jack Nance (star of Eraserhead) -- thus beginning the weirdest and second-greatest TV show of all time (after "The Simpsons"), "Twin Peaks: The First Season" (1990, Artisan, $59.98). David Lynch and Mark Frost ostensibly based the premise of the show around solving the murder of Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee), but it was just an excuse to build a bizarre collection of soap opera characters who could function on their own even without a murder mystery. Our key into Twin Peaks, was of course, FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) who was just weird enough himself to fit in.

This DVD box contains only the first seven episodes (out of 29 total) and glaringly omits Lynch's 2-hour pilot episode (currently available only on import DVDs). The various directors, from Blue Velvet editor Duwayne Dunham to River's Edge director Tim Hunter, provide commentary tracks, but Lynch himself -- who directed episode 2 -- does not. Nevertheless, what's here is still enough to tingle our senses and make us beg for more.

Starring: Kyle MacLachlan, Lara Flynn Boyle, Sheryln Fenn, Michael Ontkean, Madchen Amick, Dana Ashbrook, Richard Beymer, Warren Frost, Peggy Lipton, James Marshall, Everett McGill, Jack Nance, Kimmy Robertson, Ray Wise, Joan Chen, Sheryl Lee
Written by: David Lynch, Mark Frost, etc.
Directed by: David Lynch, Duwayne Dunham, Tim Hunter, etc.
MPAA Rating: Unrated (suitable for TV)
Running Time: 336 minutes
Date: February 1, 2002