The X-Files

Pretty much when Duchovny leaves.

Been watching Season 1 on Netflix Streaming. I agree the series holds up a lot better than I'd have thought (I didn't care for the 1st Season when it broadcast). I actually think the production values are pretty decent apart from some dodgy FX.

I liked the Killer Elevator episode, it was goofy fun. The Face on Mars episode is LOLworthy tho, especially the scene where Ed Lauter is driving his car and being pursued by a Giant Face from Mars.

The first couple of episodes with Robert Patrick taking over for Duchovny are pretty good but then it gets bad..

There are some good episodes spread out through the Dogget years.

Yeah I was one of those creepy X-Files fans back when it was on. To be fair I was in high school, and as Twilight has taught us teens are prone to crazy fan syndrome when in high school. But I dropped it like a rock when Duchovny left.

Then about two years ago I noticed my sister had the entire series and borrowed it. Watched it from beginning to end and was thoroughly delighted.

Pretty sure CSI, Bones and the other "gory forensics" shows owe a lot to X-Files. As do shows like The Mentalist and Castle (kooky super smart guys and the girl Fridays who save their asses on a regular basis). Oh and those mythology shows too.

The show is rock solid great TV first season (ignoring the two eps you mentioned which are largely considered some of the worst of the entire show). Then it gets better. It peaks around fourth season, has a strong fifth season and then the production moves to California and the supporting cast takes a leap in recognizability and talent. Sixth and Seventh season are decent. And the eighth and ninth seasons have some good points but are ultimately forgettable.

Still Gillian Anderson doesn't phone it in. She brings her A game to every single episode and turns overwritten and overwrought monologues into works of art. And Robert Patrick does such a good job after Duchovny leaves that you almost don't miss him (teenage me just came from the past and slapped me for saying that).

From a historical perspective the show is kind of special. Other "serious" shows had dabbled with serial storytelling and season/show long mysteries but X-Files embraced it (though it definitely stood on the shoulders of Twin Peaks in that respect). And the lighting and cinematography of the show were heads and tails better then most of what was on television.

And then there was Scully. A competent female investigator who frequently saves the day? Kind of a big deal.

I always thought that the main problem in the latter years was less Robert Patrick and more the fact that the show chased its mythology up its own asshole. As a casual watcher, I found the convolutions not worth the time or effort to untangle.

Oh, and if you haven't seen it, "Jose Chung's From Outer Space" is fucking great.

Season 2 is where it really gets going. A lot of the stories in season 1 are hokey, the Scully/Mulder dynamic isn't fully working yet, and the digital effects are atrocious. If I had seen them when they had first aired, I probably would have loved them all though.
I did enjoy the conspiracy storyline stuff from season 1 quite a bit though, and there are a bunch of "is that who I think it is?" guest roles in the first few seasons. I agree. It's been a while since I watched the whole series, but I actually thought one of the Dogget seasons was better then Mulder's last (full)season. Hated the Reyas character though.

For a couple of years all I could remember from the eighth season of X-Files was Reyes making whale noises to comfort Scully. Many of my friends insisted it didn't happen.

It did.

Yeah, I didn't dig the Reyes character either. Though one of my favorite episodes from the last season was mainly her and Scully, it was a odd episode. Burt Reynolds guested on it.

I'm about halfway through season 3 right now and completely hooked. Despite all the great elements of the show, to me, Duchovny is really what takes it from good to great. Mulder and his paranoid ramblings could easily come off as forced or annoying, but Duchovny pulls it off exceptionally.

Thus far, "Tooms" from season one is my favorite episode. "Home" from season four is also fantastic, and probably the hardest episode of the show to watch.

I'm already terrified of seasons 8-9, but I'll probably end up watching it out of loyalty. And for the T-1000. Based on what I've heard, I think I'll pass on "I Want To Believe".

I love that they put manfluke in the porto-potty. He doesn't get any kills there and the scene only serves to take him to the sewage plant, but now porto-potties are just that much more horrifying.

I love that the Flukeworm was one of the better writers on the show. I think he even won an Emmy at one point.

Scully was very much a breakthrough character...but maybe just for geeky girls? There really wasn't another female character like her on television. She was definitely one of the heroines of the 90s girl power movement (then Xena and Buffy bitchslapped her and took it a step further what with not being nuns and saints).

Season 2 is where a bulk of my favorite episodes are in. "Firewalker" "Fresh Bones" of course the spectacular "The Host" "Die Hand Die Verlzet" and a few others that I can't say off the top of my head. If it hadn't been for the Alien conspiracy, it would have passed for a horror show.

Thanks to Netflix Instant I saw 2 later episodes "Hungry" and "The Goldberg Variations" that I had only seen pieces of before.

I still say that season 9 was pretty strong, and that the Alien Replacement storyline was good and giving off an Invasion Of The Body Snatchers vibe that I liked a lot.

Absolutely. Pretty much all the hot action female investigators you see on TV these days owe something to Dana Scully (Castle, Criminal Minds, The Mentalist etc). And in terms of pop culture impact, Scully is very much the Emma Peel of the 90s.

Any episode that says "written by Darin Morgan" is something to salivate over.

And if you're a Breaking Bad fan, please enjoy the Season 6 opener with Bryan Cranston guest starring as a man driven insane by the sounds in his head. Written by BB showrunner Vince Gilligan, no less!

The Darin Morgan rule also applies for 'Millennium', show which I loved over 'The X Files'.

I just started watching the show again and you can't help but laugh at the 90's fashions (Scully in shoulderpads!). There's also the slightly out of place scene that shows Scully in her Bra in the pilot. Interestingly, I love that they show the Cigarette smoking man so early in the pilot episode, he's right there when Scully gets her assignment.

The only thing is that it's hard getting caught up in the show knowing that the mythology takes a running jump at some point.

X-Files is actually a show that benefits from being watched via Netflix or DVD. The mythology is much easier to follow when you're watching it over a few weeks rather then 9 years.

I remember loving the hell out of the first 4 or so seasons of this show when I was younger. The monster of the week type stories were what really got me hooked. It was after the first movie I stopped watching. Mulder is still one of my all-time favorite characters but after he left, I just stopped caring.

This was the first time a TV show genuinely disturbed me. The sheriff getting beat to death by the inbred guys while the wife watches from under the bed, and that creepy fucking song. Really freaked me out as a kid.

One of these days I'm going to download all the key mytharc episodes and watch them back to back to see if they make even a lick of sense.

@ Dr Murder: I'd be interested in your findings, though I'll be leaning hard on the "its all fucking nonsense" side of the fence. Though this is based on the fact that "Space" was written by Chris Carter. Horrible season 1 episode.

I was a loyal viewer from about halfway through season 1 on. Though when Mulder left the show along with me going to college I skipped out on the last 2 seasons (with the exception of the craptastic finale).

It certainly is an excellent show that has flashes of whats to come in season 1 but really finds it footing around season 3. Darin "Flukeman" Morgan is the unsung hero of this show. Episodes credited to him are among the best in the series, and he's got 2 memorable characters on the show to boot.

"Humbug" is an episode I never got to see during the original run but recently caught thanks to Netflix. I'd heard a lot about it and it was a great episode after all, encapsulating all that the X-files had going for it: the dark horror vibe, black humor, and of course the Mulder and Scully dynamic.

Edited to add: I just saw mentioned above the episode "Home" another one I regretted never seeing in full due to my VCR crapping out on me back in the day (Fucking VCRs. How do they work?!) Anyway thanks for the reminder. Off to Netflix!

A couple of years ago my buddy picked up the complete DVD set and we did exactly this. The first two seasons are fairly cohesive as far as the mytharc episodes go, but the further you get, well, if you were frustrated with LOST's lack of answers this is that x10.

Don't get me wrong, The X-Files is probably my favorite show of all-time-ever, but they got to a point in seasons three and four where they didn't know if they were coming or going.

Honestly, X-Files would benefit immensely without any Mythology episodes. I can't recall a single one that didn't feel pointless and dramatically inert. The best X-Files episodes are the ones that are afraid to do new and weird things with the style of the show. Stuff like Bad Blood and Post-Modern Prometheus.

I don't know, the mythology gave Mulder his drive, so I think the early ones about him looking for his sister and aliens and all that were good. Without the mythology would you have gotten Deep Throat and X?

On a slighter note, one of the first few episodes of (I believe) the first season ends with Mulder breaking down while looking at a picture of his sister in a church, the audio overlaid on top is Scully listening to one of Mulder's regression tapes. It was one of those scenes that really helped shape some kind of empathy for the character. For me anyway.

It's been a while since I've seen the entire run, but intentional or not, I think that Deep Throat ended up being rather significant.

The X-Files is one of the cornerstones of my childhood and high school entertainment and something I still watch.

What thing I think is interesting is I think people either have forgotten or taken for granted how completely unique and groundbreaking this show was at the time. I remember watching "Ice" in the first season which the first time I had ever seen the show and being completely blown away. There was nothing on network that had this spooky and cinematic atmosphere to it. I was hooked immediately and I still connect a lot of fond memories to it.

I guess the production values can look a bit dated through todays eyes but they were extremely well done for the time.

Also, I should say that while this is not an excuse for bad storytelling in season 8-9 I always thought the concoluted mythology benefitted from the story they were telling. Looking back its hard to believe that anyone expected to find answers as the shows outlook on government bureacracy and the good winning over the bad was always sort of bleak. I always got the sense that Mulders and Scullys search for justice was fruitless and Mulders "The Truth is Out There" poster was sort of irionic. The truth is out there and its protected by red tape, government diplomacy, different factions of bad guys fighting over each other, and many other things.

There's also a fantastic counterpart in MILLENNIUM (S2?) called "Jose Chung's Doomsday Conundrum".

I'm on a rewatch binge, myself, having finished S1 up last week. I'm on S2 now, and am being surprised at some of the stuff that I would have placed later in the timeline if you'd asked me. X and Krycek both show up in the first few eps of S2? Whaa?

Anyway, I am eager to get to S4, as I know that had some of my favorites of all time in it. I saw a bit of "D.P.O." on Chiller the other day, and I can't wait to give that a proper rewatch, whenever I get there.

Oh, and regarding "Home," some of you whippersnappers may not know this, but the episode was actually banned from rerun after the initial airing. It never played again on Fox, and was left out of the reruns on FX for a few years. They eventually brought it back into rotation on a "pick your favorites" marathon, where there was the #1 vote-getter. Yeah, creepy damn episode, but really funny in a couple of spots.

James Wong and Glen Morgan really did do some of the best episodes of the series, as well as the second season of Millennium. It's really disheartening they ended making some shit movies though, Final Destination excluded.

The song used during home is "Wonderful Wonderful" used in Home. Its a absolutely perfect song during the scene where the sherrif and wife are beaten to death. Incredibly disturbing scene.

And of course who can forget mom under the bed.


I'm a big fan of "The Amazing Melini(sp?) Since its 7th season nobody talks about it but its a neat little con artist story with a great turn by Ricky Jay.

Also anybody a fan of Dreamland. Michael Mckean's whole impression of whole lame Mulders life is and how he can spruce it up always cracks me up.

I love that one! I'm an enormous sucker for Ricky Jay, though. It works despite at typically (late series) somnambulistic performance from Duchovny.

There's an excellent, lengthy series of write-ups on X Files episodes happening at the AV Club right now. They're mid season 3, and if you like the show, you really ought to check them out.

Another big innovation X Files was kind of at the forefront of was the TV on DVD thing, which changed just about everything about TV. X Files was the first major show to release season sets.

I thought I was the only one. So this is how it feels when doves cry. AV Club's feature inspired me to get going on a re-watch so I can catch up with them...it's fun to read their analysis after watching an episode. I'm about to start season 3.

I think the series gets a little too spotty after season 5 and many of the overtly comedic episodes are downright terrible, but "Dreamland" is a huge exception. I think my favourite part is the Marx Brothersesque routine Duchovny and McKean do in front of a mirror, but that episode is filled with brilliant comedic moments, like Mulder's massive failure at being a family man and Morris Fletcher's attempts at hitting on Scully. " 'Baby' me again and you'll spend the rest of your life peeing through a tube", she says.

True story. My grandmother had a trundle bed. After watching this episode with my brother (who was waaaaaay too young to have watched it) I squeezed myself on the bed and waited. When my brother came into the room I slowly rolled myself out and started talking like the mother.

The look of horror on his face still warms me to this day.

"Bad Blood" is another huge comedy exception. Great great episode although to really appreciate it you have to really have followed the show from the beggining.

"Y'all must be the GUV'ment people!"

I love it.

Re-watching it, I couldn't help but love how broad Scully's medical expertise became over time.

Between the Dreamland episodes and Small Potatoes (Darin Morgan again!) Duchovny certainly did have a good time poking fun of himself and his character on the show.

The more episodes I episodes I revisit, the more I think I love the series. I haven't watched the finale since it originally aired but up until now I hadn't been able to get the horrible taste of it out of my mouth. At the time it really did sour my outlook on the whole series. Of course as the series wound down the mythology episodes took center stage and there was no way it could end satisfactorily.

Holy shit, Jose Chung's "From Outer Space". Mulder's scream killed me.

So, i started watching this on Netflix (slow ass canada. its a canadian made show, i mean really. sigh) and did I just see Mulder and Scully investigate the Thing arctic site??? like...really?? I remember this show being creepy as fuck, but that's a whole new level of awesome.

 

carry on.

The first couple of seasons had a lot of homage episodes like that.  God, I'd give anything to see The X-Files for the first time again. 

I hated the Mythology episodes. But on a whole i loved this series. Gillian Anderson really gives her best in all her eps.

 

Anyone remember that Burt Reynolds ep? It was from Season 9 i think. What the hell was that all about?

The mythology episodes have their moments but Carter ran that into the ground by not only doing a big two (sometimes three) parter to bridge the seasons but he would also trot them out mid-season for the may sweeps. It had potential but they milked it to death. The one off episodes are where the gold is. My favorite episode is "Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man" but the episode "Blood" had my favorite ending............."All done. Bye-bye!". That creeps the shit out of me.

 

You know, X-Files and Buffy were the last vestiges of quality Horror TV entertainment. We used to get tons of that stuff in the 70's and 80's and while X-Files and Buffy padded out the 90's, this last decade has seen a dearth of Horror TV. Sure, there have been attempts like Masters of Horror but most of that was shit.

 

As for the X-Files franchise, I thought that they made a HUGE mistake by not continuing with features after Fight the Future and, say, doing two one-off stories before going back into the mythology and continuing with that model. If they could have gotten one of these out every two years we'd be looking X-Files Part 8 in 2012.

 

I loved the last movie, but since it was essentially a feature-length "monster of the week" episode, the public did not love it.  They expected the arc story and aliens, so it tanked.  I really hope Fox goes for one more feature at least.  Chris Carter and the two leads have hinted about it but ultimately it's up to Fox. 

 

There's a box set out there with all the seasons on it but it's a little rich for my taste.  BBC America has just started airing it on the weekends.  It's low res and has commercials but I'm DVR-ing it -- I'm watching Squeeze right now.  It's so funny to watch from the beginning considering how much it changed over the years.  I stumbled on it during the first season and watched till the bitter end, but it did get ridiculously bad through some seasons with an occasional bright spot.  The episodes written by Darin Morgan were great, and the ones Chris Carter wrote, usually. 

 

The Lone Gunmen series was terrible, Millennium was occasionally interesting and I could never get into the space show that Morgan and Wong did, but The X Files was great TV.  If they brought it back with a different cast it wouldn't be the same, just like that terrible attempt to reboot The Night Stalker.  I really hope they go for another feature.