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The X-Files

post #1 of 42
2/3/09 at 4:34pm
Thread Starter 
I've been watching reruns on Sci-Fi, and my God was this show incredible. It helps that it's only on the beginning of the 6th Season, which was probably the peak of the show. Last night's episode was Triangle.

Seriously, what other sci-fi show has an episode-long homage to Rope?

Why can't they make a show like this anymore? Something that's not afraid to be playful, scary, suspenseful, or even downright silly, depending on the mood?

Post your favorite X-Files memories here. It's time to walk down memory lane.
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post #2 of 42
2/3/09 at 4:39pm
The Clyde Bruckman (ep?) is one of my favorites in the entire series. Seasons 3-4 were pretty fucking great.
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post #3 of 42
2/3/09 at 4:42pm
Recently I just started rewatching this from the beginning thanks to Netflix, and man, I forgot just how great the show was pretty much right out of the gate. Honestly, I remember liking this show a lot, but I am completely blown away by how much it has exceeded my memories of it.

"Squeeze" (the introduction of Eugene Toombs) is far and away one of my favorite episodes. It serves as an example of how taut and downright scary the show could be, while still maintaining a playfully fun attitude (primarily thanks to the interplay between Mulder and Scully, which started off strong, and just got better as the show went on).

Such a great series.
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post #4 of 42
2/3/09 at 4:48pm
Thread Starter 
Jesus, remember Home? I caught it when they re-aired it one Halloween, it fucked me up good.

The cold opening featured a bunch of inbred hicks birthing a child by cutting into the (limbless!) mother with forks and scissors and tearing the child out of her and burying it while it was still alive. Fucked me up real good.
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post #5 of 42
2/3/09 at 4:50pm
I maintain that "Home" inspired the movie Wrong Turn.
Prove me wrong!
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post #6 of 42
2/3/09 at 4:55pm
Do you watch "Lost", Patrick?

At its peak, "X-Files" was event T.V. You'd get together for a party to watch. Good times.

Too bad the mythology episodes sucked the life outta the show.

Fox Moulder was such a great character. Still a favorite.

What a big disappointment the reunion movie was! You reassemble for that??
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post #7 of 42
2/3/09 at 4:56pm
Some complain about the convoluted mythology (I mostly bailed after ther first movie so never saw where it went from there) but early mytharc episodes like "The Erlenmeyer Flask" and the Scully abduction eps were what really drew me in.

But the really smart humor of the show was the best part - everything from the Stupendous Yappi to "The War of The Coprophages," they weren't afraid to go WAY over viewers heads with the humorous homages and nods. Great show.
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post #8 of 42
2/3/09 at 4:59pm
I watched the entire series on DVD a few years back and had a great time. Hell, I even enjoyed the last couple seasons. "Triangle" is particularly amazing though.

I would argue that there are still shows willing to go from playful to scary to suspenseful. Supernatural and Doctor Who are two that come to mind, but I'm sure there are others that hop from genre to genre with great success.
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post #9 of 42
2/3/09 at 5:02pm
Thread Starter 
I don't watch Lost because I missed the first seasons and it's too daunting to try to enter the show this late. But does it have a similar sense of humor as The X-Files? It never came across that way.

I have Fight the Future on in the background right now, and it's not NEARLY as good as the show. Someday I'll see I Want To Believe, but it's not very high on my to-do list.
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post #10 of 42
2/3/09 at 5:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Patrick Ripoll View Post
Jesus, remember Home? I caught it when they re-aired it one Halloween, it fucked me up good.

The cold opening featured a bunch of inbred hicks birthing a child by cutting into the (limbless!) mother with forks and scissors and tearing the child out of her and burying it while it was still alive. Fucked me up real good.
Yeah, "Home" messed me up pretty good when I first saw it. It was just one of those "I can't believe they got away with this shit" episodes for me. So creepy. So awesome.
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post #11 of 42
2/3/09 at 5:15pm
RE: "Lost"
You'd probably love it (if you start from the beginning). It does have a similar playful, self-referential sense of humour.

Guess, if your show has a dense mythology, you almost have to.

One of the great things about classic "X-Files" was the writing staff. A great collection of talent. Frankly, I'm shocked they haven't gone on to make a bigger splash--especially Darren Morgon(?).
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post #12 of 42
2/3/09 at 5:36pm
It lost it's magic after the first film (and subsequent move from Vancouver), but the first five seasons were greatness. The MythArc episodes were pretty great until you realized that Carter didn't have a clue where he was going with the story.

Humbug (S2), Jose Chung's "From Outer Space" (S3), Bad Blood (S5) stick out as most memorable, probably because of the unexpected humour.

Home was one of those episodes that made you turn on the lights and check the lock on the door. They kept the 'mother' under the bed, right?
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post #13 of 42
2/3/09 at 5:39pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rob Rocco View Post
Home was one of those episodes that made you turn on the lights and check the lock on the door. They kept the 'mother' under the bed, right?
Yeah, according to Wikipedia, it was inspired by a story from Charlie Chaplin's Autobiography:

Quote:
This episode was inspired by a tale in Charlie Chaplin's autobiography, about the time he stayed at a tenement home while touring in a British musical theatre. After dinner, the family took him upstairs to meet their son - and pulled him out from under a bed. The son had no arms and legs and flopped around while they sang and danced.
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post #14 of 42
2/3/09 at 5:50pm
Patrick, I was the same way as you on Lost. I'd missed the first season and just never got started. Two weeks ago, though, I started watching Season 1 and I loved it. Every episode is available streaming from the ABC website so it's an easy way to watch the first couple episodes and see if you want to commit. I basically power watched the whole first 4 seasons only taking breaks to work (sometimes leaving it on in the background while working).

There is definitely a sense of humor to it. Most of it comes from a subset of the characters though. With as many regulars are on the show though, that's pretty understandable.

It's mythology heavy but it's amazing how well thought out everything is. If you've got the time I'd highly recommend it. I wouldn't really compare it to X-Files except to say that it's a clear example of how to have a complex mythology implemented in a show--something that BSG could learn from as well--but you'll probably enjoy it.
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post #15 of 42
2/3/09 at 5:52pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Patrick Ripoll View Post
Someday I'll see I Want To Believe, but it's not very high on my to-do list.
Wherever it is on your to-do list, move it down a few notches. I started buying up the seasons on DVD after seeing it to remind me why I loved this show in the first place.

The Host is still one of my favourites, Flukeman is a classic.
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post #16 of 42
2/3/09 at 5:53pm
Thread Starter 
Always planned on catching it eventually, but I didn't know the first season was available on ABC. I'll try to watch it when I get the time.
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post #17 of 42
2/3/09 at 5:56pm
Yep, every episode of Lost is up there and it's even in 'HD' which was never 720p for me but still looked better than DVD.
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post #18 of 42
2/3/09 at 5:59pm
Besides the aforesaid greats, "Pusher" is probably my favorite monster-of-the-week. Cerulean Blue.

Ceruuuulean.
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post #19 of 42
2/3/09 at 6:05pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by James Kimbell View Post
Ceruuuulean.
Hahahahahaha. That's a long-running joke with me (is it a joke if no one else gets it and just thinks I'm weird about that word?).
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post #20 of 42
2/3/09 at 6:22pm
As a kid, I was scared more by that episode and its human baddie than any amount of eldritch abominations. Pretty much every word imprinted on my brain, including, yeah, "cerulean" and also Scully's delightful request: "Please explain to me the scientific nature of the whammy."
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post #21 of 42
2/3/09 at 6:48pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rob Rocco View Post
Jose Chung's "From Outer Space" (S3)
That episode is one of humanity's finest achievements.

"Your scientific illiteracy makes me shudder!"

I was always a mythology guy, and found the M.O.T.W. episodes a pointless distraction from the "real" show. I think I'm really in the minority, at least here at Chud. I also lost interest after Fight The Future. A few of the Mulder-less episodes are pretty good, but the magic just wasn't there.
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post #22 of 42
2/3/09 at 6:56pm
Lots of love for the series, even though it went wildly off the rails in later seasons and the conspiracy arc never coalesced into anything exciting. For me, it all comes down to individual episodes and special moments.

The humorous episodes - Humbug, War of the Coprophages, Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose, Jose Chung's 'From Outer Space', the vampire colony, the Great Mutato, Michael McKean's MIB, etc. My overall favorites, and one of my medium-term dvd collection goals is to get all the funny episodes for my library.

Home is arguably the best hour of horror produced for network tv. To this day I can't hear "Wonderful Wonderful" without recalling the home invasion scene. I have chills right now thinking about it.

The only alien episode that really stands out for me is E.B.E. The sight of that small empty bed, and Deep Throat's revelation of the ET execution policy, just affect me deeply.
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post #23 of 42
2/3/09 at 7:07pm
Thread Starter 
As long as they were able to keep the plates spinning and the suspension of disbelief to a minimum (Mulder and Scully went directly against superior's orders and broke the law so often that I'm amazed they weren't fired, demoted, or just seperated) the Mythology shows were a lot of fun. I really like the sense of scale some of them were able to portray, that they were working at the enemy from inside the system was very interesting.

But the Monster of the Week shows were what put the show over the top. If it was just Monster of the Week, or just Mythology, I think it'd get rather dull. It was the show's willingness to be flexible (with tone, suspension of disbelief, storytelling approach, etc.) that made it as great as it was. In the end, it's this great pairing of characters who can be put in a number of situations to different effect. If they only toyed with the one-note conspiracy/thriller route, it'd get real dull real quick. As it was, we got a vérité episode where Mulder and Scully are on Cops, we got horror stories like "Home", we got more private character driven pieces like "all things", we got silly stuff like "How the Ghosts Stole Christmas".

I'm not as down on the Mythology as most, but you can't dismiss the Monster of the Week as "pointless".
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post #24 of 42
2/3/09 at 7:30pm
Never understood the "Supersoldier Hybird" storyline.

(SPOILER) I though the Invasion plan was to infect everyone with the Black Oil Virus?
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post #25 of 42
2/3/09 at 8:10pm
I tried to do the entire series over the course of last summer and just lost momentum at the beginning of season 5. Then I ordered it on netflix again recently and disk one came cracked.
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post #26 of 42
2/3/09 at 8:16pm
My all-time favorite TV show, bar none. While I think there are shows that are arguably better overall, this is the one I'd take to a desert island.

The first season is very uneven, but by the end of season two it's a classic show. For me the show peaked around season four. After the fifth season and the first film the show just started to lose it's steam. For a long time I hated the last seasons without Mulder. Rewatching them now that the show's been off the air for seven years they work a lot better, and the quality drop-off isn't quite on the level of The Simpsons for example.

A lot of my favorite episodes have already been listed, some not mentioned yet are Ice (although it's pretty much a rip-off from The Thing), Beyond the Sea, Paper Hearts, Small Potatoes and Drive.

I also urge you Patrick to check out Lost. I think it was the first show after the X-Files that hooked me the same way.
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post #27 of 42
2/3/09 at 8:22pm
This is still my favorite show. One thing I loved about it was how they would have standalone episodes as well as the ongoing mythology eps, while both would develop the characters over time. Too many modern shows(many of which went for the cinematic flair of shows like this and Twin Peaks) go for nothing but an ongoing storyline, so if you miss a handful of episodes or get a late start, you're boned.

So yeah, basically, I wish more shows were like this. I love the Shield, and have heard great things about Battlestar(never got into Lost or 24), but I can't stand the lack of shows with standalones nowadays. Lots of individual X-Files episodes were like perfect short films.
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post #28 of 42
2/3/09 at 8:50pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nexus-7 View Post
I can't stand the lack of shows with standalones nowadays. Lots of individual X-Files episodes were like perfect short films.
I always felt this was The Soprano's strength as well. It balanced character arcs and standalone episodes very very well.
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post #29 of 42
2/3/09 at 9:13pm
I've come to like "Hungry" quite a bit, it's done from the perspective of the monster of the week, "Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man" is another favorite and "Bad Blood" was a good vampire episode.

and two of the later season episodes that I enjoy are "Roadrunner" about a some wierd cult in the desert that thinks some big 'ol parasite is the second coming of Jesus and "Improbable" which I've only ever caught twice, it's a weird one with Burt Reynolds in it.
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post #30 of 42
2/3/09 at 9:33pm
The Burt Reynold's one was "Numbers". A weird Season 9 episode.

"Triangle" deserves a mention. Especially the long 5 min tracking shot of Scully running around FBI Headquarters.
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post #31 of 42
2/3/09 at 9:38pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by felix natalya View Post
"Triangle" deserves a mention. Especially the long 5 min tracking shot of Scully running around FBI Headquarters.
The whole episode is an homage to rope, made to look like one fluid shot, with clever edits made here and there, where you can't tell.
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post #32 of 42
2/3/09 at 10:44pm
Pretty much any episode that was written by Darin or Glen Morgan & James Wong were usually always great. Final Destination aside you would think that they would have done some better stuff on the big screen, horror wise at least, I mean they wrote "Home".
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post #33 of 42
2/4/09 at 2:25pm
The very first X-Files episode I ever saw was "Home." I was hanging out with some friends in college, flipped around the TV, and there it was. I was hooked after that, although I bailed on the show after the first movie.

Watched I Want To Believe recently. Terrible.
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post #34 of 42
2/4/09 at 2:27pm
What's the consensus on Millenium (the Carter series, not the awesomely bad Kristofferson movie)?
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post #35 of 42
2/4/09 at 2:30pm
Guys who are talking about standalone 'sodes versus ongoing mythology, might I suggest reading the Mad Men thread. Or watching Mad Men. In that show Matthew Weiner is continuing to develop his style, from the Sopranos, of making little digressive short stories that also permanently change the characters.
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post #36 of 42
2/4/09 at 2:57pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by BrianM View Post
What's the consensus on Millenium (the Carter series, not the awesomely bad Kristofferson movie)?
From memory ...

Good first season. They were warming up for the second, which was by far the best. Still, some great episodes, like the Pilot.

Excellent second season. One of the best seasons ever on television, if not for the episodes "Jose Chung's Doomsday Defense" and "Somehow Satan Got Behind Me" alone. Absolutely loved the first episode, "The Beginning and the End". Fantastic episode to end the season as well ("The Time is Now", I believe it was called); pretend the show ends there and you'll be fine.

Bad third season. Just dull overall and not very engaging. Wasn't a huge fan of the partner they teamed up with Frank; she simply wasn't all that interesting, nor did I think she really had much chemistry with Frank ala Mulder and Scully.
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post #37 of 42
2/5/09 at 2:46am
Yeah, "Somehow Satan Got Behind Me" is just great, pretty much my favorite episode of that an entire series.
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post #38 of 42
2/5/09 at 3:17am
"Get in that kitchen woman and make me some pie"

Me and my brother used to quote that line to each other all the time, just brilliant.

This was one of the few shows we'd watch as a family, I stopped watching once Mulder left. I still remember the episode where we get a day in the life of Cancer Man, he was one of the most powerful men in the world and he couldn't get a book published, it actually made CM human.
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post #39 of 42
2/5/09 at 3:30am
I know it's been mentioned a few times now, but I was a young kid when I first saw Home. Many of you probably had Alien, or Jaws to fuck you up as kids. Home was the one that got to me.
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post #40 of 42
2/5/09 at 3:41am
I was 10 or 11 when "Home" was first aired, I watched it with my mom and there was just this 'what the fuck did we just see.'
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post #41 of 42
2/9/09 at 10:30am
Watching Seasons 3 and 4 right now. The standalone episodes still tend to stand the test of time. Even after all these years.

In retrospect, Scully remains a kind of role model. A strong, confident woman that adamently believes in science. Very admirable even now.

It's also nice to know that the Muler and Scully's relationship will remain strong even 10 yrs later . As seen in the X-Files: I Want To Believe movie. Watching that film was like revisiting a few old friends. Almost made me forgive its many flaws.
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post #42 of 42
2/9/09 at 11:43am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Busey View Post
From memory ...

Good first season. They were warming up for the second, which was by far the best. Still, some great episodes, like the Pilot.

Excellent second season. One of the best seasons ever on television, if not for the episodes "Jose Chung's Doomsday Defense" and "Somehow Satan Got Behind Me" alone. Absolutely loved the first episode, "The Beginning and the End". Fantastic episode to end the season as well ("The Time is Now", I believe it was called); pretend the show ends there and you'll be fine.

Bad third season. Just dull overall and not very engaging. Wasn't a huge fan of the partner they teamed up with Frank; she simply wasn't all that interesting, nor did I think she really had much chemistry with Frank ala Mulder and Scully.
The second season was great. They really screwed up the third season by taking Morgan and Wong of the show and getting them back to work on X-Files again.
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