MykolaYeriomin's profile
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Wednesday, February 14th, 2024 7:41 PM

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Catastrophic state of Twin Peaks episodes

In a scenario that persists at least once a year at this point, someone yet again added alternate titles to every single episode of "Twin Peaks" (1990-1991) against IMDb policies which clearly state:

The title: as it appeared on screen for that particular episode. If an episode title is not shown on screen, the given titles on the supporting press releases during their announcements or on their original digital TV listings are acceptable, however note that we don't currently allow episode titles to be added if they were retrospectively given (e.g. the "Twin Peaks" German DVD release titles).

As you can see, "Twin Peaks" (1990-1991) is even an example of that rule, and yet somehow the titles still got approved in case of every single episode.

My favorite part is the pilot: since it doesn't have an alternate title created specifically for German broadcaster, it just gets named by these delusional people with a working title of the series as a whole.  Which makes no logical sense whatsoever, since it was a proposed name of the city before it got the name Twin Peaks. 

To add an assorted number of additional problems to already existing:

  • the pilot now has a main release date of 1993;
  • it became Episode 1 instead of Episode 0, despite the next episode is officially Episode 1;
  • it got cloned into a separate title with a correct release date of 1989, which I would've applauded if not for "video" status. Because said pilot was first shown at Cannes Film Festival in 1989 and later had theatrical distirbution in at least two countries.

This is a huge mess to untangle right now and it absolutely requires the IMDb staff to look at.

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9 months ago

@Col_Needham​ Hello. Great thanks, for taking the time to address the issue. 

This appears to have been fixed now?

Kinda yes and no. From Google Chrome where I'm not signed in at the moment, 1993 is still there. This issue perishes while signed in, so it might just be a cached version problem.

To what does “it” apply here?  Please provide a link to the title showing this error on IMDb?

I think I already did?.. On every screenshot "Northwest Passage" (previously and correctly "Pilot") is labeled as Episode 1. In order to eliminate confusion it probably/arguably should not be, because officially, the following episode is Episode 1, by production number ("001").

Pilot was excluded on a VHS box-set release, as well as on DVD, as detailed here (famously, the pilot was even released separately). The problem originates in TV syndication and is really confusing, but essentially "Twin Peaks" began with a pilot labeled special event and what is now labeled "Traces to Nowhere" being the first regular episode of the series. Pilot was also distributed by Warner Home Video, while the rest of the series by other entities.

So, considering what guidelines say, the pilot should be Episode 0, which it was, on and off, for decades, as far as I remember visiting the page.

The separate title appears to be justified here given various factors including being released separately ahead of the series as a stand-alone title with significant new footage.

That's not the issue for me, to be honest, as I always wanted to see a separate title for this version since at least 2015. It's a closure nine years in making.

Do you have a source for the Cannes 1989 screening as it is not recorded onhttps://www.festival-cannes.com/en/retrospective/1989/(it does seem to have screened at Telluride in September 1989 though).

My bad here, mix-up was probably because of later association the series had with a festival for both the feature spin-off and the Return season on Showtime.

However, as you've mentioned, the pilot was indeed screened on festivals and Telluride (September 1989) is only one of them (if the earliest), which is not reflected as of now. In February of 1990 it was also shown on Miami Film Festival,  Mubi also confirms Stockholm and Rotterdam Film Festivals in 1990 and 1991 respectively. There is also evidence that suggests that International Pilot from 1989 aired as a separate television film, which would likely make it (TV) rather than (V).

FWIW, the working title point can be argued either way since it title derives from the same concept (and footage) which had this working title.

Except, I'm afraid, working title was never used officially up until some of the later releases, as is the case with all the episode titles. They were not even originally in English, which makes some of the formulations a bit wonky from standpoint of grammar and meaning.

Because titles given as a note to German broadcaster were then translated into English again. They've only became commonplace titles when the fandom started to use the Internet and cobbled them together in order not to use production numbers. I believe none of the current official physical releases which received creators approval have the German titles, either.

(edited)

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@Bethanny​ 

It seems that you're new to this problem. It's not the issue of alternate titles on episodes existing despite they should not. It's the issue of alternate titles blatantly added as the main ones, despite they should not.

The titles you can see on the episodes right now are not original release titles. 

While they are used right now on Netflix and elsewhere, they were actually half-officially assigned to episodes during German re-broadcast in 1991, as I've mentioned, this repeating case is so against IMDb policies (which is to state original episode titles) it became an example in guidelines.  

Original episode titles start with what is now Season 1 Episode 2, but it is actually titled (and always were) "Episode 1". What is now Season 1 Episode 1 is actually Season 1 Episode 0, because it is a feature length pilot.

I can submit the information, yes. But at that scale it will inevitably at least partially bounce and as I've mentioned, this problem is persisting for years and is only solvable via IMDb staff on a full scale. I'm writing that because I've been there and I'm not the only one. 

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@MykolaYeriomin​ Thanks for the background here. However, we are unclear on some of your points above, sorry, and we need clarification (perhaps some edits have been accepted since you posted):

To add an assorted number of additional problems to already existing:

  • the pilot now has a main release date of 1993;

This appears to have been fixed now? 

  • it became Episode 1 instead of Episode 0, despite the next episode is officially Episode 1;

To what does “it” apply here?  Please provide a link to the title showing this error on IMDb?

  • it got cloned into a separate title with a correct release date of 1989, which I would've applauded if not for "video" status. Because said pilot was first shown at Cannes Film Festival in 1989 and later had theatrical distirbution in at least two countries.

The separate title appears to be justified here given various factors including being released separately ahead of the series as a stand-alone title with significant new footage.  The video tag also seems accurate for the era and the release plan.  Do you have a source for the Cannes 1989 screening as it is not recorded on https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/retrospective/1989/ (it does seem to have screened at Telluride in September 1989 though).  FWIW, the working title point can be argued either way since it title derives from the same concept (and footage) which had this working title.

Let us know on the above and it will help with the clean-up.  

 

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@Col_Needham​ Hello. Great thanks, for taking the time to address the issue. 

This appears to have been fixed now?

Kinda yes and no. From Google Chrome where I'm not signed in at the moment, 1993 is still there. This issue perishes while signed in, so it might just be a cached version problem.

To what does “it” apply here?  Please provide a link to the title showing this error on IMDb?

I think I already did?.. On every screenshot "Northwest Passage" (previously and correctly "Pilot") is labeled as Episode 1. In order to eliminate confusion it probably/arguably should not be, because officially, the following episode is Episode 1, by production number ("001").

Pilot was excluded on a VHS box-set release, as well as on DVD, as detailed here (famously, the pilot was even released separately). The problem originates in TV syndication and is really confusing, but essentially "Twin Peaks" began with a pilot labeled special event and what is now labeled "Traces to Nowhere" being the first regular episode of the series. Pilot was also distributed by Warner Home Video, while the rest of the series by other entities.

So, considering what guidelines say, the pilot should be Episode 0, which it was, on and off, for decades, as far as I remember visiting the page.

The separate title appears to be justified here given various factors including being released separately ahead of the series as a stand-alone title with significant new footage.

That's not the issue for me, to be honest, as I always wanted to see a separate title for this version since at least 2015. It's a closure nine years in making.

Do you have a source for the Cannes 1989 screening as it is not recorded onhttps://www.festival-cannes.com/en/retrospective/1989/(it does seem to have screened at Telluride in September 1989 though).

My bad here, mix-up was probably because of later association the series had with a festival for both the feature spin-off and the Return season on Showtime.

However, as you've mentioned, the pilot was indeed screened on festivals and Telluride (September 1989) is only one of them (if the earliest), which is not reflected as of now. In February of 1990 it was also shown on Miami Film Festival,  Mubi also confirms Stockholm and Rotterdam Film Festivals in 1990 and 1991 respectively. There is also evidence that suggests that International Pilot from 1989 aired as a separate television film, which would likely make it (TV) rather than (V).

FWIW, the working title point can be argued either way since it title derives from the same concept (and footage) which had this working title.

Except, I'm afraid, working title was never used officially up until some of the later releases, as is the case with all the episode titles. They were not even originally in English, which makes some of the formulations a bit wonky from standpoint of grammar and meaning.

Because titles given as a note to German broadcaster were then translated into English again. They've only became commonplace titles when the fandom started to use the Internet and cobbled them together in order not to use production numbers

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5 months ago

Just a reminder that this problem is still there and is still in complete denial and opposition to IMDb title guidelines. 

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Hi @MykolaYeriomin​ -

My apologies for the late resolution here.  The episode titles have now been corrected and there are protections in place to help prevent this issue from recurring.