I didn't post this here until now because, well, it seemed fairly obvious that no one on this site would have this particular problem. But it occurred to me that some of you may run across people, on social media or whatnot who do and want to help. This is the guide I created for those lost souls who downloaded FWWM and ended up with something else:
No, they are usually getting either the Missing Pieces or a different fanedit. Most often, the Missing Pieces. Presumably with the opening credits taken off unless they are just really dense.
I haven't watched FWWM yet and I'd like to hear more opinions from people who have seen it.
I was actually considering watching the 3.5hr fanedit first, but that link made me reconsider.
Do you all agree I should watch The Missing Pieces first, then FWWM?
Owl wrote:I haven't watched FWWM yet and I'd like to hear more opinions from people who have seen it.
I was actually considering watching the 3.5hr fanedit first, but that link made me reconsider.
Do you all agree I should watch The Missing Pieces first, then FWWM?
Definitely not. FWWM and then The Missing Pieces. And then if you feel like it, the FanEdit.
Owl wrote:I haven't watched FWWM yet and I'd like to hear more opinions from people who have seen it.
I was actually considering watching the 3.5hr fanedit first, but that link made me reconsider.
Do you all agree I should watch The Missing Pieces first, then FWWM?
Definitely not. FWWM and then The Missing Pieces. And then if you feel like it, the FanEdit.
I would be shocked if anyone who posts here would advocate watching it any other way than this.
Owl wrote:I haven't watched FWWM yet and I'd like to hear more opinions from people who have seen it.
I was actually considering watching the 3.5hr fanedit first, but that link made me reconsider.
Do you all agree I should watch The Missing Pieces first, then FWWM?
Definitely not. FWWM and then The Missing Pieces. And then if you feel like it, the FanEdit.
I would be shocked if anyone who posts here would advocate watching it any other way than this.
Well, LostInTheMovies, who made the fantastic Journey Through Twin Peaks video series (linked below, because it's essential viewing), is very big on the idea of watching The Missing Pieces before FWWM. I agree with him on a great many things, but I don't share his opinion on this. I feel that after the series it's best to go FWWM -> MIssing Pieces (and then the optional fanedit). Not only is this logical, but it's as David Lynch presented it.
Jasper wrote:
Well, LostInTheMovies, who made the fantastic Journey Through Twin Peaks video series (linked below, because it's essential viewing), is very big on the idea of watching The Missing Pieces before FWWM. I agree with him on a great many things, but I don't share his opinion on this. I feel that after the series it's best to go FWWM -> MIssing Pieces (and then the optional fanedit). Not only is this logical, but it's as David Lynch presented it.
I couldn't imagine how confused I would be watching The Missing Pieces first. FWWM presents enough questions and puzzles already...watching something with no context would just be a waste of time.
Jasper wrote:
Well, LostInTheMovies, who made the fantastic Journey Through Twin Peaks video series (linked below, because it's essential viewing), is very big on the idea of watching The Missing Pieces before FWWM. I agree with him on a great many things, but I don't share his opinion on this. I feel that after the series it's best to go FWWM -> MIssing Pieces (and then the optional fanedit). Not only is this logical, but it's as David Lynch presented it.
Ah, I haven't had a chance to watch part 4 yet... I'd be interested in hearing the case for that. I'm struggling to come up with a devil's advocate argument for it, but that's not to say there isn't a legitimate one out there.
EDIT: Okay, I just looked at the blog at the top and saw the argument is that The Missing Pieces works as a transitional piece from the television show to the movie. But I agree that it would seem disjointed and confusing without at least some of the narrative precursor from FWWM to put it in context. I never had issues getting acclimated to the movie so I can't say I see a pressing need for TMP to act as a transitional buffer.
Yeah under no circumstances would I recommend someone watch the fanedit before (or worse, instead of) the actual movie. Lynch presented them as separate entities for a reason.
As for watching the Missing Pieces first, its complicated but ultimately I would probably advise first-time viewers to see the film and then watch the deleted scenes as footnotes (only if you are rewatching the entire series & film would I enthusiastically suggest squeezing the Pieces between them).
I had a much longer post about this but it kept getting blocked. I guess this one has better luck.
Just to expand a bit, I do think that for people already familiar with the film, the Missing Pieces fit much better as a bridge between series and FWWM than as a coda to the whole experience.
The reason it works better this way for me (at least on a rewatch) is that the Missing Pieces do not make an effective conclusion to the experience of watching the pilot through the film. After starting with Laura's mysterious corpse and ending with the last image of FWWM to suddenly rewind and say "Oh yeah, and look at this fight in Deer Meadow! And Cooper's still in that bathroom too!" feels like an anticlimax/afterthought to put it mildly. In that sense the Missing Pieces can only be footnotes/addenda to the Twin Peaks saga, or a teaser for the next phase in 2016. I think they can potentially offer more than that, but certainly not if placed at the end of the viewing experience.
On the other hand, aesthetically and narratively, they exist almost perfectly in between the film, nudging us into Laura's world while sticking to Lynch's more distanced, formal approach from the series (wide shots, long takes) and keeping us rooted in the wider community in a way FWWM does not.
As for first-time viewers, it does seem like watching the deleted scenes first provides too much of a mental hurdle ("these are bits and pieces from something I haven't seen yet!") although I think I've only heard from people who watched them this way by accident, thinking that they were watching FWWM until it was over.
In a way, I think it's a pity people can't get past the "deleted scenes" aspect because if taken as standalone glimpses of Twin Peaks before Laura died, the vast majority of the Pieces depend on no larger context (which is indeed why they were cut in the first place). The only scenes that would really suffer without seeing the film first are the Deer Meadow ones since we haven't been introduced to these characters. Almost everything else makes perfect sense even if one has only seen the series.
Certainly this is unarguable when it comes to the other townspeople - I don't think anyone would claim Ed & Norma or the Sheriff's Station "make more sense" after seeing the movie. If anything, they make less sense because you wonder how they were ever supposed to fit into it!
Ultimately I think the Missing Pieces, whatever order one watches them in, work best when divorced from their original purpose/context and embraced as their own separate experience. Certainly this is how Lynch cut and mixed them in 2014, crafting something new and fresh from what could have been merely cast-offs. They are "missing pieces" from the overall saga, but they are not missing from Fire Walk With Me, nor do they need to miss it (except in the sense they lead on/back to it).
Not to overpost here, but after writing the last message it occurred to me that maybe the most fundamental difference between me and many other fans of The Missing Pieces is not what order I watch them in but how I see them as a whole: not as deleted scenes from FWWM but as an independent standalone entity, maybe akin to a short story collection vs. FWWM's novel.
That's one reason I really haven't warmed to the fanedit idea. It feels kind of...vulgar. Like if someone took Raymond Chandler's early detective stories and "intercut" them with The Big Sleep. Not a perfect analogy, but you get the picture.
I guess a fanedit is fine as an analytical experiment (a very rough approximation of what could have been), but I hate the idea that it could be a substitute.
But it occurred to me that some of you may run across people, on social media or whatnot who do and want to help. This is the guide I created for those lost souls who downloaded FWWM and ended up with something else:
