1x01 Pilot - Twin Peaks Episode Guide

Twin Peaks

- Episode 01x01

Episode: 01x01 (pilot)
Title: Pilot
Type: Regular Episode
Production Code: N/A
First Aired: Apr. 08, 1990

Season 1 » Episode #01 - Pilot

Summary: When the body of Laura Palmer, the local Homecoming Queen, is discovered washed up on a riverbank, FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper is called in to investigate the crime and the mysterious circumstances surrounding it.

Who appeared in this episode?

Bobby Briggs	played by Dana Ashbrook
James Hurley	played by James Marshall
Jocelyn Packard	played by Joan Chen
Katherine Martell	played by Piper Laurie
Dr. Lawrence Jacoby	played by Russ Tamblyn
Leo Johnson	played by Eric DaRe
Eileen Hayward	played by Mary Jo Deschanel
Mike Nelson	played by Gary Hershberger
Sarah Palmer	played by Grace Zabriskie

Season 1 / Episode 1: - Pilot

Benjamin Horne: If you'll permit me, Sven, to repeat what you told me this morning after your run: "My air sacks have never felt so good."

Season 1 / Episode 1: - Pilot

FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper: Diane, 11:30 a.m., February Twenty-fourth. Entering the town of Twin Peaks, five miles south of the Canadian border, twelve miles west of the state line. I've never seen so many trees in my life. As W. C. Fields would say, I'd rather be here than Philadelphia. Fifty-four degrees on a slightly overcast day. Weatherman said rain. If you could get paid that kind of money for being wrong sixty percent of the time, it'd beat working. Mileage is seventy-nine thousand three hundred forty-five, gauge is on reserve, riding on fumes here, I've got to tank up when I get into town. Remind me to tell you how much that is. Lunch was, uh, six dollars and thirty-one cents at the Lamplighter Inn, that's on Highway Two near Lewis Fork. That was a tuna fish sandwich on whole wheat, slice of cherry pie, and a cup of coffee. Damn good food. Diane, if you ever get up this way that cherry pie is worth a stop. Okay. Looks like I'll be meeting up with the, ah, Sheriff Harry S. Truman. Shouldn't be too hard to remember that. He'll be at the Calhoun Memorial Hospital. I guess we're going to go up to intensive care and take a look at that girl that crawled down the railroad tracks off the mountain. When I finish there I'll be checking into a motel. I'm sure the sheriff will be able to recommend a clean place, reasonably priced. That's what I need, a clean place, reasonably priced.

[More Quotes]

MISTAKES/GOOFS

CONT: When Dale and Harry spot James and Donna on the motorcycle, a close-up of the sheriff's car shows Harry turn on the red lights and siren and start to drive onto the highway. The camera switches to a long shot of the sheriff's car turning to pursue the motorcycle, but the red lights and siren are not on. Back to a close-up and they are on again.
FAKE: During the scene where Cooper examines Laura's body for the first time, he turns to a doctor and asks him to leave him and the sheriff alone with the body. The actor, mishearing the line, replies "Jim" - his name. 'Kyle McLachlan' pauses for a moment and repeats the question and the actor apologizes and leaves. According to commentary on the 2007 DVD release, this was a genuine blooper but director Lynch liked the surreal moment and kept it in the episode. According to the same commentary, the flickering fluorescent lights in the scene were genuinely malfunctioning but Lynch felt it helped the scene so chose not to replace the lighting.
CONT: Not long after the class scene where Donna starts to cry and James breaks his pencil when they have a premonition about Laura Palmer being dead, Principal Wolchezk makes an announcement. With the previous scene in mind, he tells about Laura Palmer as their classmate, whilst actually the announcement is meant for the whole school.
CONT: In the series pilot, Laura Palmer's body is found on what is supposedly a lakeshore in front of the Packard home. During the filming sequence however, the tide lowers and the shore becomes more exposed - a highly unlikely occurrence on a lake. The scene was filmed at the Kiana Lodge on Agate Pass in Puget Sound and between takes, the tide went out.
CONT: Near the end of the episode, the sheriff turns on the siren and flashing light when chasing James and Donna on a motorcycle. In the following shot, the siren and light are off.

TRIVIA

Although Joan Chen assumed the role of Jocelyn "Josie" Packard, the character was originally written as an Italian woman named Giovanna Pasquialini Packard, with Isabella Rossellini slated for the role. This earlier version of the character appears in the first pilot script David Lynch (I) and Mark Frost (I) submitted to ABC. In this seminal draft, the series was entitled NORTHWEST PASSAGE.
This movie was originally a pilot episode for "Twin Peaks" (1990) but since it was unsure whether they would create a whole series, the ending was rewritten to create an individual movie. (The major change was that it was revealed who the killer was.) This way, they could profit on it by selling it as a self-contained movie even if the full series was never made. When the series was in fact made, it became so popular that it was decided to release the movie anyway.