X-Files - anyone still watching it?

hamster

Hi,

Well as far as the X-Files goes... I've been living in a hole for the past 14 years. Recently I got a lend of a friend's XFiles season 1 DVD collection. I was not particularly interested in watching it... but lo behold I was hooked by episode 3....
Two months later and now I'm starting Season 3 watching 3 episodes a week. Only 198 episodes to the end of Season 9 to go - 66 weeks or over a years worth of watching - wow!
Seriously though - just finished the ending of season 2 and the opening of season 3 and I must say it was very good. It's the episode where Muller was killed off by Cancer Man in a cart box - only to have escaped at the start of season 3... the end of the opening episode has Scully and Skinner pointing guns at each other. A lot for one episode!

qwertplaywert

Saw alot of the eps scattered , in no real order, starting watchnig from the start on dvd recently, seen seasons 1 to 3 so far, excellent, nearly up there with Babylon 5 in terms of quality 90s tv

hamster

Yes, watching the complete series one after the other much easier than watching it on TV with ads and all the rest - no wonder! Easier to follow now and work my way through it. Have to slow the pace down though. 2 years done already and I want to slow it down to enjoy to at least season 7. Many people think it Jumped the shark after season 7.

ixoy

The shark jumping began around S6 and was in full swing in later years. I was a religious follower of the show in its early seasons and its full of classic moments - all of which you're uncovering now. Later years were plagued with problems - cast changes, a ridiculously overburdened and tangled mythology amongst others - and the show really lost its way.
Sadly I think "The X-Files" is held up by many as an example of how a show should quit when its ahead.

hamster

ixoy wrote:

The shark jumping began around S6 and was in full swing in later years. I was a religious follower of the show in its early seasons and its full of classic moments - all of which you're uncovering now. Later years were plagued with problems - cast changes, a ridiculously overburdened and tangled mythology amongst others - and the show really lost its way.
Sadly I think "The X-Files" is held up by many as an example of how a show should quit when its ahead.

Thanks for the insight - so you personally reckon yourself that xfiles was good up to most of season 6 - and then went rapidly down hill? Did season 7,8,9 still have the odd good episode from your pov? I notice from listings that in the ending 1hr episode Muller comes back.

ixoy

hamster wrote:

Thanks for the insight - so you personally reckon yourself that xfiles was good up to most of season 6 - and then went rapidly down hill? Did season 7,8,9 still have the odd good episode from your pov? I notice from listings that in the ending 1hr episode Muller comes back.

Yes it still had some good episodes and Dogget and Reyes aren't actually bad - they didn't create any rot (despite being blamed for it often), it was there already.
I think one of the disappointing angles from me is that I used to love the arc episodes the most, as the alien mythology was expanded and we uncover what CSM is up to. By S6 however (after the movie) it became too convoluted and I began to dislike them, as we learnt nothing new and further twisted and contradicted what had come before.

However, there was still fun to be had in the many disconnected episodes - there's funny episodes, intelligent ones, etc. - it's just that they're not quite as classic as years before. Some of its losing writers (there were never enough Darin Morgan ones) and others it's probably just creative tiredness. It's going from looking forward to every new episode to just watching it because you always have, a disappointing transition. But there's still fun to be had - just don't expect a climatic end to the show.

lostexpectation

yeah the first 3 series are the best, some good scary ones if the first few series...

anybody watching eureka as a replacement to xfiles?

its much more lightweight, not as funny or clever, but its that same sort of mysteries, it worth watching for glimpses of murdoch and the two gorgeous women in the form of the mayor and the deputy sheriff

Wertz

Going through my avi collection for the third time right now....have to agree with ixoy, although I still watched it even after it got bad....I love the humour in some of the later eps, especially in S7 (?)
The story arc kind of ruined the rest of it in the end but TBH without that arc it would have ran out of original material several seasons earlier.
DVD sest seem to be a good price of late, might just buy a few....the older avis are badly compressed...

~Marky~

I heard somewhere that they are making a x-files film soon..will be interesting to see if they do anybody else hear this?

TelePaul

hamster wrote:

Thanks for the insight - so you personally reckon yourself that xfiles was good up to most of season 6 - and then went rapidly down hill? Did season 7,8,9 still have the odd good episode from your pov? I notice from listings that in the ending 1hr episode Muller comes back.

By season 9 Chris Carter had written himself into a corner. He had to tie up the best story arc - the syndicate - to prevent things from going stale. Sadly, the story lines written to replace the mythology arc were lacking. They really didn't tie in with....anything. Doggett - Robert Patrick - really was a breath of fresh air, though he and Reyes as the hanger-onner couldn't replace Mulder. There are a good few MOTW episodes , and it's worth seeing the finale because things to get resolved once and for all, for better or worse.

User45701

it may have gone downhill but it was still enjoyable to watch.

Again my fav episode is "Musings of a ciggerate smoking man" Its just a perfect episode.

X-files did have some bad episodes and ye the cast changes did mes sit up a bit too all together though it was a great series

qwertplaywert

~Marky~ wrote:

I heard somewhere that they are making a x-files film soon..will be interesting to see if they do anybody else hear this?

Theres been rumours about a second X-Files movie for years, but with all the recent confirmations from it from The Dub, Anderson and Chris Carter it looks like its going ahead
Could be good if they stick to thier promise of it not being arc related

Skinfull

I was a fan, a huge fan and yes I guess I still am (she says clutching her dvd box sets) and I loved the movie...but c'mon!!!!
I dont think I could sit through an older Mulder and Scully bumbling through another movie!

missingtime

Since they finished the series in the way that they did (avoiding spoilers for those still watching it) the only way the could do a have decent movie would be to do some sort of

lost file/episode going back to earlier episodes

Skinfull

So with make up to make the actors look much younger that they really are?
cringe!

_Kaiser_

Skinfull wrote:

So with make up to make the actors look much younger that they really are?
cringe!

By all accounts it's working for Harrison Ford in the upcoming Indiana Jones movie

(They obviously skimped on this for the Enterprise finalé's "special guest stars" though!)

Skinfull

oh god yeah! Old/young riker....barf! although the whole final episode was barf inducing!

Somehow I'm not appalled by old Ford playing Indy...but old Mulder playing young Mulder? I dunno!
Having said that I'll be there to see it in the cinema!

redmosquito

Bump!!

Greatest tv show of all time. One of my best ever buys was buying the complete boxset nearly two years ago, finally being able to put my vhs seasons away for the last time!! Since then ive watched through start to finish twice (one of the times was 3 eps a night, four evenings a week in college!) and currently on season six again, going through, just the mythology episodes this time. Next time im gonna pick my fave MOTW eps!

The new film is moving along fairly well, its a horror MOTW style film, out the end of july in the states!! Cant wait!
A good up to date site for new movie news is:
http://www.xfilesnews.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1

and for anyone who wants to know all the x-files timeline, you need this site!:
http://www.themareks.com/xf/
well worth a look!

lostexpectation

caught the lightning boy episode again, reminded me why I watch it and mention it soft often its brilliant giovanni ribisi is brilliant, the slow southern boy teen he plays and then he gets upset and boom.


ms kivet, im not messing any more, ms kevat!!!

hamster

Yea - up to middle of season 5 now - watching 2 or 3 episodes a week. Haven't tired of it yet. Good to hear about the new movie making headway too.

Tha Gopher

ixoy wrote: »

The shark jumping began around S6 and was in full swing in later years. I was a religious follower of the show in its early seasons and its full of classic moments - all of which you're uncovering now. Later years were plagued with problems - cast changes, a ridiculously overburdened and tangled mythology amongst others - and the show really lost its way.
Sadly I think "The X-Files" is held up by many as an example of how a show should quit when its ahead.

Indeed. ell, maybe S 7.

Up to then it was intriguing, gripping stuff with always at least one hilarious Mulder quote per episode.

By the time the series was canned I dont think anyone gave a sh1te what had happened. But the first few series are brilliant.

Basq

Currently re-watching them too.. bought 9 seasons and the film for 85 euro at Amazon.co.uk around Christmas time.

It's really a lesson to my girlfriend as to how great a show it was.. but she's starting to tire of it in season 5. She didn't even enjoy 'The Post-Modern Promotheus' - blasphemy, it's an absolute classic!

Still, the show had more filler episodes than I care to remember. It's still an amazing show and I watched it (almost) religiously when I was younger but can't remember it having this much boring unimportant episodes.

Currently 6 episodes into Season 5.. and still going!

eamon234

will be interesting to see what the new movie is about

Wertz

Currently re-watching episodes at random on the PC at night....anything to stop me burning through new eps of Jericho and The Wire too fast.
At this stage I've seen every ep at least 3 times and some of them a good few more times.
New movie....hmmm, where can it really go only to follow on from either close of S9 or where Fight the Future left off...

sailorfoley

I went through an x-files re-cap a few years back in college. In seasons 6 onwards where the lesser characters become the main stars some people think it drags but i enjoyed them. I particularly enjoyed season 8 but wont reveal any spoilers. For anyone re-watching them watch the movie after season 5 as that's where it fits in.

there is also DVD's you can buy that have the episodes of just the mythology and not the stand alone episode if anyone is not in the mood to go through the 190+ episodes.

Basq

Bumpity-bump for this but just after finishing an absolute classic of an episode which I never saw when it was originally airing: Triangle.

This episode probably fell through the cracks somewhat in early season 6. But it's absolutely fantastically directed, written and shot.

It's filmed very tightly.. mostly on faces. Scenes (like Scully going between Skinner and Kersh's office are slow and drawn out.. but work well, as they're without cuts). The accents are OTT and it's all quite comical, but the way it was shot is just mesmerising.

And when I watched the split-screen moments, I couldn't help but be reminded of one of my favourite band's (Semisonic) music video for 'Secret Smile'. Turns out it was Chris Carter's inspiration for the episode.

Seek out this episode if you've never seen it..

Wertz

Aye by cooncidence I watched Triangle the other night too. One of the ones I'd seen less of, and didn't think it was as good then as I did after watching again.
Dreamland I & II that follow Triangle are favourites of mine too....I love the whole body swap gimic and it's done really well in this storyline...

pickarooney

Never got into it when it was first on. Started watching it recently from the beginning but still can't find the interest. For some reason the leads, whom I love in other programs, send me to sleep when I listen to them in X-files.

SirLemonhead

I plan on watching series 1 once i've finished watching all 3 series of Millennium

I never got the complaints about the "monster of the week" episodes too much aliens and conspiracy stuff bored me to tears.