Pilot (Twin Peaks episode)

Infobox Television episode | Title = Pilot
Series = Twin Peaks


Caption =
Season = 1
Episode = 1
Airdate = April 8, 1990
Production = 1.000
Writer = David Lynch & Mark Frost
Director = David Lynch
Episode list = List of Twin Peaks episodes
Prev =
Next = Traces to Nowhere

"Pilot" is the first episode of "Twin Peaks", which originally aired on April 8, 1990. It was written by Mark Frost and David Lynch, and directed by Lynch. It deals with the discovery of popular high school student Laura Palmer's body.

Plot

In the feature-length pilot episode, the small town of Twin Peaks, Washington is gripped by the murder of 17-year-old homecoming queen Laura Palmer, whose naked corpse is found wrapped in plastic. The eccentric and unorthodox FBI Agent Dale Cooper arrives in town to help Sheriff Harry Truman and his deputies solve the crime. Meanwhile, Laura's family and friends struggle to come to terms with her death, and wonder how it might have come about.

European version

An alternate version of the pilot was aired in Europe as a stand-alone television movie. This version is identical to the U.S.-aired version up until the last several scenes, when the killer of Laura Palmer is revealed. Here, Killer Bob is depicted merely as an ordinary serial killer; at the end of the movie, he is gunned down in the hospital basement by Mike, who then inexplicably drops dead. After Bob dies, the screen fades to black and then fades into The Black Lodge, the audience sees Cooper's dream from Episode 2, and the film ends, without any context given for the dream. Lynch was so pleased with the footage shot for the European ending that he would later incorporate some of it into Dale Cooper's famous dream sequence.

Reception

In the 1990 Emmy Awards, the "Twin Peaks" pilot episode was nominated for six awards, including Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series (David Lynch), Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series (Kyle MacLachlan as Dale Cooper), and Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series (Frost and Lynch). The pilot won two awards, Outstanding Costume Design for a Series (won by Patricia Norris) and Outstanding Editing for a Series - Single Camera Production (won by Duwayne Dunham). [ [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0278784/awards Awards for Twin Peaks pilot] on the Internet Movie Database. Accessed on October 14, 2007.]

The episode also won a 1990 Peabody Award. According to the Peabody Awards online archive, this was because " [f] rom its unpredictable melding of comedy and tragedy, to its inventive visual imagery and sound montage, the "Twin Peaks" premiere episode set new standards and expectations for the medium." [ [http://128.192.29.189/archives/search.asp Peabody Awards search] - search for "Twin Peaks" in "title". Accessed on October 14, 2007.]

Home video release

Because of rights issues, the American pilot was not released for the US home video market until 2007. The European pilot has been released on VHS and laser disc years earlier.

Both versions of the pilot are included in the "Twin Peaks: Definitive Gold Box Edition" DVD set, released in the US on 30 October 2007 [ [http://www.movieweb.com/dvd/news/18/21718.php Twin Peaks: The Definitive Gold Box Edition Debuts on DVD October 30 ] ] .

References

External links

*
* [http://www.notcoming.com/reviews/tppilot Twin Peaks Pilot review] at [http://www.notcoming.com/ notcoming.com]
* [http://www.notcoming.com/twinpeaks/index2.php A Guide to Twin Peaks]
* [http://www.glastonberrygrove.net/info/episodeguide.html Twin Peaks Episode Guide]
* [http://www.greetingsfromtwinpeaks.com/ Official Twin Peaks: Definitive Gold Box Edition DVD set website]