The angriest dog of Andalusia

"There`s a scene in an episode of Twin Peaks, David Lynch`s surreal, mystery mini-series, in which Agent Cooper is woken up by  a ringing telephone. For no apparent reason, we see that his hair is piled up into a Woody Woodpecker plume because of the way he`s been sleeping. He takes the call - which is clearly serious since this is the middle of the night - but the sheer absurdity of this vertical tuft counterpoints Cooper`s deadpan performance." (Damon Wise, Total Film January 2000)

The scene mentioned bears one of the characteristic touches of the whole series: when you wake up and open your eyes you can`t be sure that the dream is over, just like Agent Cooper snaps his fingers to the tune of the music accompanying his dream. In Twin Peaks, dreams are both frighteningly close to reality and sometimes not purely subsconscious but an expression of will ('See you in my dreams, Norma' - 'Not if I see you first') or close to psychic visions. 

"I haven`t got a clue what`s going on, but I like it"

(Homer "J" Simpson watching Twin Peaks)

Carefully prepared by a clever promotion, Twin Peaks reached its 'peak' in terms of Nielsen ratings already when it was first aired on ABC in 1990, reaching an audience of 30 million US Americans. But Twin Peaks - like any other true cult phenomen - isn`t a matter of marketing but of the audience`s love and interest. Reruns on television (like on Bravo in a series titled 'TV too good for TV'), fan-festivals and perhaps most of all video (DVD)-releases have kept Twin Peaks magically alive through the years. 

Twin Peaks works as a giant soap opera, for it is set in almost all the regular soap opera settings: restaurant/bar, sheriff`s department, hospital, nightclub, court-room and even high-school. (It even brought it to High School-fame with pupils wondering 'What`s going on in Twin Peaks?'.

'Natur och industri gor hand i hand'

(Benjamin Horne praising his Ghostwood project)

'Twin Peaks'  reflects Edward Hopper`s (one of Lynch`s favourite painters) imagery not only in single motifs (Big Ed`s Gas Station), but also as the town as a whole: with Twin Peaking being and representing the borderline between nature and civilization. This is clearly to be found in the idea of the railroad-tracks: there is no train station, the tracks are traces to nowhere.

The line between civilized territory and uncontrollable nature can be uncomfortably thin - remember Leo Johnson chopping wood in his living room?

'As black as the moon on a starless night' - 'That`s pretty black'

(Pete and Agent Cooper on their tastes for coffee)

Film noir

Twin Peaks refers to a distinctive stylistic device of film noir: the voice-over, but here it`s a road to nowhere  with Agent Cooper reporting to his tape-recorder / (imaginary) secretary Diane. Twin Peaks playfully pays homage to many film noir classics (like Otto Preminger`s 'Laura') and many other films like Alfred Hitchcock`s Vertigo and The Fugitive and actors (Rita Hayworth and James Dean).

The "Twin Oaks" - diner from the classic film noir "The Postman always rings twice" (1946)

The sign looks remarkably like the font / logo of the Twin Peaks Fire Walk With Me film

European version

There are slight differences between the footage shown in the U.S. and abroad. The 'European' pilot contains an alternate ending that Lynch and Frost filmed for a video release outside the United States in case the series would have been shelved after the pilot.

Additionally, the scene in which Madeleine has a vision of a blood stain on the carpet is superimposed with the image of BOB in the alternative version:

Maddy´s Vision (.mov, 3mb)