The Truth Is Out There: The X-Files Discussion Thread

I love all of the seasons. Although 8 & 9 weren't as memorable as many of the earlier seasons, however I always really liked Doggett and Reyes. They might not have been as flashy and funny as Mulder but they were very solid characters.

I always thought that Robert Patrick did a great job playing the ultra skeptic who, much like Scully, learned to believe.

Reyes was, rather like Scully pointed out, like Melissa rather earthy crunchy. The last seasons did move away from the monster episodes and focused more on psychological scary stuff. I loved the episode (can't remember the name) where Reyes and Doggett chased a guy through 2 parallel universes.

I think that a new series could've fully been formed and existed w/o Mulder and Scully if they'd waited a few years to launch it w/ Gish and Patrick as the leads. People overall were just hurt and angry w/ the show for daring to go on w/o Duchoveny to really give the show a chance after he left.

 

They've been talking about doing a second movie forever. Are they really going to do it? I'd cast my lot in with the non-conspiracy type stories. Those episodes were always so much more fun. Just thinking of Bad Blood makes me want to crack up.

 

Bad Blood is so funny, i think the standalones, motw are the more intresting.

 

Everything I've found on the net says late '05 and early '06 for film no.2.

http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/news.php?id=1969

I have to say I'm sceptical about whether it will happen or not!

 

I don't think there's anything solid for a new film. I'd love to see it though. It would be nice if it was a mythology story and not a monster tale.

I think that in the next 5 years it might be time to launch a new series. They could create a follow-up set in the future with William joining the FBI and unwittingly taking over his parent's work and legacy. The then Director Walter Skinner could watch out for him

 

i would LOVE to see a new series! i think by now fans would be willing to accept it, mulder and scully in it or not. i know i would look forward to it!

 

I love my dad's X-Files Coffee Mug, it is so awesome. Sometimes I think I buy him things so I can have them later on and use them. lol I'm sure the same is vice versa cause I'll get a gift like the X-Files PC game, it was like um dad I don't think I'll play this, that much. lol

~PK~

 

Classic show, one of the best ever on television.

I just recently finished watching through the first season DVD set again and I just happened to write a review for every single episode.

I might post those here, if people wouldn't get offended.

 

Offended??? You'd be preaching to the choir Rogue

Bring 'em on!

There were a few duds in season 1, Space and Ghost in the Machine, but there were also some great, stand out episodes Pilot, EBE, Tooms, Beyond the Sea.

 

Okay, a few words about format. I wasn't sure how to format my reviews when I started, so I did the pilot in two different formats and then decided on the one I liked better. And then I did the next several episodes in that style (which is suited to people familiar with the episodes).

I then decided to go back to the original and did the last few eps of the season in the original format.

So, in short, we've got two reviews of the Pilot and we change format midway through the season.

And I hope to hear comments on these reviews!

Pilot

Agent Dana Scully is assigned to work with Agent Fox Mulder who is pursuing a project outside the mainstream, the so called X-Files. Their first case takes them to Oregon to investigate a string of deaths among a group of young people who graduate high school at the same time.

It?s rather startling to see the pilot of any show most of the time. Many times, between pilot and actual series, changes will be made at times quite fundamental ones. That makes this pilot particularly striking. Not because so much was changed, but because so very, very little was. All the fundamentals are there and the driving force of the series, the emotional arc of the characters, etc, is all established here and very well. The characters emotions are toned down a bit in favor of slight underplaying, rather than the at times overt acting on display here, but other than that, things remained as they were here for the entire run of the series.

Scully and Mulder are instantly established as diametrically opposed characters in their entertaining first meeting where they snipe at each other about college thesis, chemistry and spies. They?re obviously feeling each other out and with good reason, given that, as Mulder suspects, Scully has been assigned to debunk his work by scowling Sector Chief Scott Blevins, wonderfully played by Charles Cioffi and the mysterious Cigarette Smoking Man, beautifully and iconically assayed by William Peterson.

This is the only episode to bear the trademark Fox prelude that the following is based on ACTUAL DOCUMENTED EVENTS, a charge which I?m sure is as spurious as all those Animal Attack specials.

There are a lot of truly great moments to be found here: the newly exhumed coffin rolling down the hill, David Duchovny (who reportedly did not like sunflower seeds) surreptitiously taking them out of his pocket and throwing them down, the hilarious conversation in the rain, Mulder?s impassioned speech about his sister in the darkened hotel room, the closing scenes of the Smoking Man filing the evidence away, the great moments revolving around the orange X Mulder paints on the highway.

There are moments of profound emotion as well. Who can forget the moment when Scully stops, caught by Mulder?s glance, as the duo seem to lock eyes through a one way mirror, something that shouldn?t be possible.

All in all, this is a truly masterful episode, a great precursor of things to come that stands on its own very well.

*** ½ out of **** stars.

 

Season 1 is different than the following seasons, just has a different feel to it. If i remember i think Ice was my favorite.

 

*This episode is the only episode that begins with the proclamation, ?The Following is based on actual documented events.? On the one hand, this episode is vague enough that it could be. On the other, this is Fox Network, not a network renowned for its honesty.

*A great teaser, low key, but sets the template. I especially like the closing line, ?Would that be the class of 89, Detective? It?s happening again, isn?t it?? That last sentence, that?s just never a good sign.

*No theme song this time, just straight into the action.

*And the first appearance of Dana Scully, for a long time the best female character on television, played by one of the all time great, great actresses, Gillian Anderson. We?ll hear more about her later. So much you?ll be sick of it, to be honest.

*The first appearance of Sector Chief Blevins, as played by the sold Charles Cioffi and also of the mysterious Cigarette Smoking Man, as beautifully assayed by William Peterson.

*And the set up? Agent Fox Mulder has become obsessed with a project outside the bureau mainstream, the X-Files, and Agent Scully is being assigned to work with him and against him, investigating with him and debunking the cases.

*The first meeting of Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully is just so much fun. All jabs, pokes, and snarky quips, it?s a true joy to behold and it begins that magnificent and somewhat unbelievable chemistry that the two would share. From word one, charming.

*Mark Snow?s music is also up to its usual stuff on this very first episode. Great composer.

*And a great conversation between Mulder and Scully in the car and the first time we see Mulder cracking those sunflower seeds.

*One of those moments that, seeing for the first time, you just know this is going to be a great series: the car shorts out, Mulder exits and paints a huge orange X on the highway to mark the place, Scully says, ?What the hell was that?? Mulder?s response, ?Oh, you know, probably nothing.? At once hilarious and mythic.

*And a true classic moment with an exhumation gone wrong culminating in the coffin rolling down the hill and breaking open. Just a great moment of true bizarre humor.

*And I love the fact that you can see David Duchovny, who apparently doesn?t care for sunflower seeds, just taking them out of his pocket, looking at them and throwing them down throughout this sequence. Way to get in character, Dave.

*Scully?s first autopsy and apparently her actual ?first? since she remarks that she?s never had the pleasure and isn?t sure who squeamish she?ll be. This from the woman who would eventually perform an autopsy standing in the chest cavity of a dead elephant.

*Okay, what weird ass book is Peggy O?Dell reading to Billy Miles that contains the phrase: ?aerial it wasn?t dark it was sand??

*Ah, yes, the first nose bleed. Good times. Good times.

*And a great argument ensues about Scully having to report on what they decide.

*Nice moment when the car stalls out again and our duo lose nine minutes and right over the X that Mulder previously painted on the highway. Mulder?s freak out in the rain is a bit over the top for the character that Mulder would be in the meat of the series but it?s still fun.

*And a laugh out loud moment when Scully?s nattering about the laws of physics and then suddenly their car, that they?re standing several feet from, starts on its own. Just a great, great moment.

*And a rather jarring moment of Scully stripping to her underwear. This show generally is above that sort of thing. This is the Pilot, so they?re not sure yet, I guess. For what it?s worth, they made the right decision to shy away from this kind of cheap pandering.

*Though it is rather funny when Scully enters Mulder?s hotel room, saying, ?I want to show you something? and then proceeds to disrobe.

*And Mulder?s story about his sister unravels for us for the first time.

*The nosebleed in the restaurant is really well done. Great stuff.

*The first time the evidence is destroyed. It won?t

 

*And the episode ends with the Smoking Man filing the last bit of evidence away, an image we?ll see again a bit later.

I've always felt that this was an iconic image of the X-Files. I wished they showed him doing that more often.

The following episode, "Deep Throat", is the best of the first season up to "The Erlenmeyer Flask". DT had such an atmospheric quality to it with some great shots of Mulder in the grass along with excellent music by Mark Snow.

 

I love the Pilot episode for THE X-FILES.

We get our first introductions of Scully the skeptic and Mulder the wild-theory believer.

My favorite line ever is in the episode w/ their first moment of meeting "No one down here except the FBI's least wanted!" "Who'd you piss off to get this detail, Scully?"

Scully and Mulder have fantastic chemistry together, they have a light-hearted playfulness in the beginning as they try to feel each other out and test their individual beliefs.

One of the the interesting things to note about the first season is that Scully is very much the fresh-faced, optimistic, green agent. She may have been trained as a pathologist and feels comfortable around bodies, but it's not until she starts to be exposed to the real monsters out there - Tooms (Squeeze & Tooms), Donnie (Irrisistable), Boggs (Beyond the Sea, etc that we start seeing her greenness wear off. The murder of her sister, her abduction, her discovering that she's barren, and the constant threat on her life more than explains how this once naive and happy young woman turns into one of televisions most notable serious leading ladies.

 

love the reviews Rogue1-and-a-half! keep em' coming! i just saw the pilot episode again for the first time in years, and i was suprised with how well it held up.. great start to a great series!

 

Oh man... I've started watching through Season Four of the show again. Some wonderful episodes in there. Boy, some of this stuff is so brilliant that the fact it didn't get the conclusion and send off it deserved is really heartbreaking.

 

The pilot was awesome and i can see how it'd be based on an actual experience. I mean there are enough UFO abductions (real, fake or just attention whores) that have occurred to make this quite likely to be based on an actual event.

 

Thanks for all the comments, guys.

Deep Throat

Mulder and Scully investigate the latest in a string of disappearances plaguing test pilots.

*I have always found it rather ironic that the first episode is called ?Pilot? because it is the pilot, but has nothing to do with pilots. And the second episode is called ?Deep Throat? and is about . . . pilots.

*This is the teaser where the SWAT team member says he?s going to count five and then, using his hand, he counts: Five! Three! Two! One! Cracks me up every time.

*The only things that?s really changed her is Scully?s hair. Otherwise, the series meshes with the pilot perfectly.

*And . . . here?s DEEP THROAT!!

*Words cannot begin to express the talent of Jerry Hardin. The man should be a great big star, frankly. He?s perfect for this part, seeming equal parts ruthlessness, world weariness and mystery. His craggy face, that incredibly beautiful voice, it just adds up to a gravitas.

*?The Government is not above the law.? Oh, Scully, you?re so darn cute. Yes, they are. They make the laws. By definition, they are above the law.

*The character of Paul Mossinger, the reporter with a secret, just made me long for Peter Coyote.

*I love Scully?s reaction in the background when Mulder asks Mossinger in the foreground where he might find some UFO nuts.

*And that scene of the two aircraft in the sky performing absolute incredible manuevers is just magical. I love that.

*And it?s very interesting to see Seth Green in a small role here. He?s playing, surprise, a stoned teenager. And, even more surprisingly, he?s actually very funny and very good.

*Especially his crack about Sadaam. He looks just like a guy I went to both high school and college with when he does that.

*A cool moment when Mulder deduces what?s wrong with Colonel Budahas.

*I love the way the man in black just repeats his line with exactly the same intonation and expression as before when Mulder ignores him.

*Oh, the first appearance of Gail, the source that the duo will use from time to time for help.

*And a hilarious moment when Scully tries to convince Mulder to leave. Mulder agrees, says he?s going to get a shower and then pack. He exits. Pause three beats. Sound of car door, sound of engine starting, Scully races to door to see Mulder pealing out of the parking lot. WOOHOO! First ditch! Get used to it, girl.

*I love the fact that, as Scully is walking back to her hotel room from the lobby, having just discovered that all the phones are down, there is clearly someone in that payphone booth in the background. I mean, you just live for stuff like that. It?s like the time those aliens stopped the whole world, stopped every machine in that one movie and while the main characters are talking about it a car drives past them in the background.

*Oh, man, the debut of gun-wielding, tough talking, charge taking Scully. She gets me so hot . . .

*Don?t you love how people at gunpoint always take so long to follow orders on tv? I swear, I?d be like Speedy Gonzalez on a situation like that.

*And Mossinger gets off a great line: ?Everything we do here is equal to the protection we give it. You are the ones who?ve acted inappropriately.? This has always been an interesting level to the show for me: namely the idea that Mulder?s quest to get the truth to the public is perhaps not really in the public?s best interest. Is it really important that we know this stuff? The actor who plays The Smoking Man maintains that he has always played his episodes as though he were the hero and Mulder the loose cannon villain who is intent on wrecking all the plans by divulging them to the public. This is an interesting philosophical idea and we see it raised here, very early in the show?s run.

*And for a low profile meeting between an upper level government power broker and a loose cannon FBI agent, there is no place so appropriate as the middle of a track field.

*And if you want to make it even less conspicuous, wear a three piece s

 

Prompted by these reviews, and a really good deal, I've just ordered the first series of the X-Files on DVD. Should arrive in a few days. Can't wait to get stuck in.

 

Squeeze

When Scully is asked to help a classmate out on a case involving a serial killer who removes his victims livers, Mulder spots a tie to murders committed over a hundred year period.

*Ah, yes, the episode that set a new template. I recall reading a review on the internet by a fellow who, after he had seen the first two episodes, decided that this would be a fun show for he and his young daughter to watch together, a nice UFO show, as he called it. So they set down to watch this episode. Presumably, the little girl is still in therapy.

*Even today, after all these years, and after having seen this episode probably upwards of six times, it still chills. This is just a masterpiece.

*A truly terrifying opening as we slowly zoom into a drain on a street curb and slowly realize that those are EYES looking out at us.

*Also, the first appearance of Mark Snow?s incredible ?little creepy crawly thingies? music.

*Donal Logue is excellent as Scully?s ladder climbing friend, Tom Colton. He?s perfectly cast and one of those guys you just love to hate.

*I also like when Colton mentions that a friend has been bumped up. ?How?d he manage that?? Scully asks. ?Lucked into the World Trade Center bombing,? Colton replies. Yes, I think that spelled luck for a lot of people . . .

*Do you have any idea what liver and onions go for on Reticula? HAHAHAHAAH!

*Truly great moment when Mulder pinpoints the previous murders as taking place in the sixties, thirties and at the turn of the century.

*And we realize that this isn?t always going to be about aliens when Mulder answers Scully?s snarky accusation by saying that he sees no evidence of alien involvement.

*Hmm, Mulder?s unarmed because he?s off duty. FBI agents, last I heard, carry their weapons at all times.

*And Doug Hutchison, who would later give another great performance in The Green Mile as the sociopathic guard Percy, is one of the most frightening villains in the series as Eugene Victor Tooms. Man, he?s creepy.

*A great moment when Mulder simply says, ?You were right,? to Scully. People forget that Tooms was actually caught because of Scully?s profile.

*I love Tooms? polygraph test: ?Are you over one hundred years old?? ?That must be a control question.? ?I had them ask it.?

*And I like that when Tooms is asked if he?s afraid he?ll fail the test, that he answers yes. Because really, wouldn?t you be? Even if you were totally innocent.

*Ah, yes, the iconic necklace of the cross . . .

*Ironically, this is not the necklace that will play such a pivotal role in getting at the heart of Scully in later seasons. It?s a much longer one. I?m not sure when the change happens. I suppose we could argue that after the experience she has with the necklace in this episode that she switched to a smaller one, but then apparently, given the information from that magnificent Christmas two-parter, it was a gift from her mother . . . I suppose we could say that she hadn't been wearing it, but after her father?s death . . . well, since I don?t know when the actual physical switch happened, this conjecture is pointless.

*That chimney sequence is just painful.

*One of my all time favorite exchanges from the series: Colton: Let?s run a check on liver transplants in the next twenty-four hours. Maybe this thing is black market. Other Agent: Come on. That thing was ripped out of there. Colton: Look at this point I?m willing to give any theory a shot. (turns and sees Mulder enter) Any sane theory.

*And Frank Briggs, another great character from the first season, the detective who investigated Tooms? murders in both the thirties and the sixties. This is a great idea and it just feels very legendary, very mythic.

*When I walked into that room my heart went cold, my hands numb. When I first heard of the death camps in 45, I remembered Powhatton Mill. When I read about the Kurds and the Bosnians, that room is there.

*I used to carry the above, a severely truncated version of Frank Brigg?s monologue, i

 

Squeeze and Tooms had me glacning around the house at night for a long time.

 

I love Squeeze and Tooms. Tooms is one of the best, scariest creature/humans that the creative team ever created. The whole Tooms vs. Mulder and the 2 of them trying to out-think and out-smart each other makes for great heightened excitement and tension in both episodes.

Scully also gets her first hand experience w/ being the target of one of many of their X-Files subjects.

My sister who has a fear of escalators cringes every time she sees "Tooms."

 

1 X 03 Conduit

When Mulder initiates an investigation into a teenage girl who disappeared, leaving a young brother behind, Scully believes he is becoming dangerously obsessed, seeing the case as a way to save a child from the Mulder?s own fate.

*I think the first time I saw this episode, I was too young to really appreciate the tragic undertones of it. I didn?t really care for it the first time I saw it, but on repeated viewings it?s become one of my favorites of the first season.

*A nice Close Encounters style teaser.

*The second appearance of Charles Cioffi as the forgotten character of the X-Files, Sector Chief Scott Blevins.

*Ah, yes, Lake Okiebogee . . .

*A moment more than a bit reminiscent of Poltergeist as Kevin sits in front of a static television.

Ah, in Deep Throat, we saw Scully call Gayle, the friend who would stay in the shadows but help the duo over the years. Now, we see Mulder calling ?Danny,? another friend who wouldn?t ever appear, but would do great things. Interestingly, on the fax sheet, his last name is given, something I never noticed before. Bernstein, if you care.

*One of the major strengths of this episode is the sheer volume of red herrings that it throws out there. The girl who disappears is a troubled girl, given to running away . . .

*And she was pregnant!

*I love the way Mulder and Scully blend right in at that biker bar. Way to keep a low profile, Mr. And Mrs. Three Piece Suit.

*I love the bit where the biker shows the agents his disfigured ear.

*Great, great moment when Mulder finds out what the binary code he got from Kevin really is.

*And here we see Scully trust the government and tell them what they need to know and then see her trust misused and betrayed. This is a seminal moment for Scully, I think.

*The double helix, Da Vinci?s Universal Man, a fragment of the Brandenberg Concerti . . . this is mythic stuff.

*And Scully says it?s a statistical aberration. Yeah, an eight year old boy writes downs binary code and it just HAPPENS to be a digitization of Da Vinci?s Universal Man. Happens all the time.

*Mulder fires his first gunshot, into the air to frighten away wolves. Yes, into the air. Okay, don?t do that. The bullets going to come down somewhere, okay?

*And a shallow grave! I love this ep.

*A nice interrogation scene with Mulder playing bad cop.

*A truly stunning moment that still gives me chills when Scully realizes that the ones and zeros Kevin has been drawing in fact form a large scale picture of Ruby.

*And the climax is beautiful with Kevin going toward the light and Mulder pursuing him.

*And the beauty of Mulder?s emotional moment with the boy where he tells him that he wishes that Kevin could have a different life than Mulder himself has had.

*I love the moment when Darlene says that the truth has done her nothing but bad. Again, this is devestatingly deep stuff . . . truth can do harm?

*And this ending remains probably the best of the first season as we hear Mulder?s hypnosis tapes as he relates hearing a voice when his sister was abducted, a voice telling him that she would return and all would be all right. ?Do you believe?? the doctor asks as we see Mulder alone in a darkened church, crying. Fade to black and Mulder?s voice comes. ?I want to believe.?

*This kind of deep emotional story is truly groundbreaking for television and to see something so simple as Mulder?s motto tied back to his own personal heartbreak is just shattering. It still makes me tear up.

*I think in large part this resonates because this is the human cry . . . we do WANT to believe, even when it is hard. I do believe in God, but there are days when I want to believe more than I am able to. Pain cripples us and we often do strive to believe more than we do or can. This just resonates with me to a huge degree.

*As I said, the first time I saw this episode, I didn?t like it.

*I think I was too young. For lack of a better way to put it, I hadn?t suffered enough and I didn?t appreciate the beau

 

I just picked up Fight the Future, and I can't really recall exactly where the film fits in regards to the regular series plot happenings. Right now I'm making my way through the second Mythology boxed set, Black Oil, and I'm pretty sure the film takes place after all those episodes being that the last in the set had a 97 air date. If anyone knows off the top of their head exactly where movie fits in, I'd appreciate some insight.

 

the film takes place between the the end of season 5 and the beginning of 6.