Episode #1.1 

Undercurrents of passion, greed, jealousy and intrigue surface in a seemingly respectable town when a high school homecoming queen is found murdered.

Director:

David Lynch

Writers:

Mark Frost, David Lynch

Stars:

Kyle MacLachlan, Michael Ontkean, Mädchen Amick

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Kyle MacLachlan	...	Special Agent Dale Cooper
Michael Ontkean	...	Sheriff Harry S. Truman
Mädchen Amick	...	Shelly Johnson (as Madchen Amick)
Dana Ashbrook	...	Bobby Briggs
Richard Beymer	...	Benjamin Horne
Lara Flynn Boyle	...	Donna Hayward
Sherilyn Fenn	...	Audrey Horne
Warren Frost	...	Dr. Will Hayward
Peggy Lipton	...	Norma Jennings
James Marshall	...	James Hurley
Everett McGill	...	Big Ed Hurley
Jack Nance	...	Pete Martell
Ray Wise	...	Leland Palmer
Joan Chen	...	Jocelyn Packard
Piper Laurie	...	Catherine Martell

Storyline

When beautiful, young Laura Palmer is found brutally savaged, murdered, and wrapped in plastic, the death of the Twin Peaks Homecoming Queen is big news in the small town. As the news spreads, FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper travels to the Northern Washington State town to solve this and other related cases.

---

Plot Keywords:

investigation | murder | murder investigation | pacific northwest | looking at oneself in a mirror | 

---

Taglines:

A Mystery That Holds Its Secret To The Very End

---

Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

---

Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Norwegian

Release Date:

8 April 1990 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Kiana Lodge - 14976 Sandy Hook Road Northeast, Poulsbo, Washington, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$3,800,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Lynch Entertainment, Lynch/Frost Productions, Spelling Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min 113 min (video)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Dolby Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

According to Robert Fischer's German Book "David Lynch - Die dunkle Seite der Seele" ("The Dark Side of the Soul") the pilot (the "series version") cost 3.8 million dollars, was shoot in March/April 1989 on location and at City Studios in Los Angeles and had its premiere on the Telluride Film Festival, Colorado in September 1989.

---

Goofs

Agent Cooper dictates into a tape recorder to "Diane", presumably for later transcription. He constantly flipflops between calling her "Diane" and "Diana." Something this impersonal is against the nature of a detective that infrequently makes knowledgeable errors.

---

Quotes

[first lines]
Pete Martell: Gone fishing.

---

Alternate Versions

There was a theatrical release in Europe with nearly 20 minutes of extra footage which was never broadcast in the TV network version which features an extended surreal sequence of the confrontation with the One-Armed Man and Killer Bob as well as the dream-like sequence in the Red Room all of which was shown in parts in the second episode of "Twin Peaks" as a dream sequence. It is also available on video. Intended to be a standalone film, the movie version has a new ending that reveals the identity of the killer of Laura Palmer. The film version eliminates most of the supernatural aspects of the series, too, with the exception of a dream sequence at the end. Michael J. Anderson appears as "The Man from Another Place" and Frank Silva appears as Bob only in this extended version; they were introduced to the series later.

---

Connections

Referenced in Reservoir Dogs (1992)

---

Soundtracks

Falling
Lyric by David Lynch
Music by Angelo Badalamenti
Performed by Julee Cruise
Courtesy of Warner Bros. Records Inc.
By Arrangement with Warner Special Products

User Reviews

Hawk, Would You Please Put on the Kitchen Mittens

I was ten years old when this show premiered on TV. I had a hot to trot fourth grade teacher who was fresh out of college (I had the biggest crush on her---oh, Ms. Beckett, where are you now?) who would come in the morning after an episode aired and share all the details with the advanced reading group I was in. THIS WAS IT. This was the greatest TV show ever made. I don't know how I talked my parents into letting me watch it (a few episodes involving BOB gave me nightmares), but since then I've rewatched it over and over and over again. Mystery, soap opera antics, mumbo jumbo, log ladies, midgets, damn fine coffee, cherry pie, cliffhangers and the best music ever composed for a TV series made the first season (which was HUGE in the ratings, and only seven episodes long as it was a mid-season replacement) the most memorable of any TV show in history. The second season got darker and weirder (which led to a drop in ratings, time slot shifts, and naturally more drops in the ratings). After the producers were forced by the network to solve the murder of Laura Palmer half way through the season (and what a f*** you to the powers to be that revelation was), wild soap opera antics ensued as a cover up for one of the most labyrinthine mythologies ever conceived (I'll take the agents of the Black and White Lodges over aliens and government conspiracies any day), and Lynch left the die-hard fans who clung on to the very end one doozy of a cliffhanger in the very last episode (WHERE'S ANNIE?).

After turning my friends on to Lynch with "Mulholland Drive" (which was ironically a failed TV pilot turned into a brilliant cinematic f*** you to the same powers that be that tried to ruin Peaks) they can't believe it when I tell them he made a TV show back when we were kids. "That must've been weird," they say. Oh, it was, weirder and more wonderful and brilliant than you could ever imagine.

Without this show there never would've been "The X-Files", "Northern Exposure", "Picket Fences" or the idea that TV could be thrilling, ground-breaking, quirky, and weird. Also recommended: Lynch's mind-boggling film prequel "Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me" that confounds beautifully and raises more questions than answers, "Blue Velvet" (the precursor to Peaks), and of course "Mulholland Drive."