The X-Files 20 years on

krudler

So it's the 20th anniversary of The X-Files, going to start watching it again on netflix since my dvd boxsets are buried someplace. I've watched a few random episodes here and there at various times but may as well start it properly.

Anyone got any favourite episodes? I usually preferred the freak of the week style ones instead of the conspiracy/goverment ones. I found the conspiracy episodes were too spaced apart between the standalone ones you might go 4-5 eps between a story arc, so it was easy to forget what was happening in the black goo/government/aliens storyline when there was little to no mention of it in most episodes week to week. Which was a strange setup for a show really, things would happen in one episode and be forgotten about the next in favour of a single case setup.

It was a pretty seminal show, dark most of the time but could be hilariously funny as well (the episode about the vampires told from two differing perspectives from Mulder and Scully is brilliant) and had guys like Vince Gilligan, Glen Morgan of Final Destination fame and James Wong (American Horror Story) among it's writers over the years.

Myrddin

Loved the show, it's really due a re-watch too. Though like yourself, my box sets are buried somewhere I also preferred the individual episodes, rather than the bigger arc ones.

basillarkin

Serious show, one of my favourites, well due a rewatch at this stage.

wandatowell

Never got into it. But always enjoyed accidentally coming across an episode on tv so I might give this a spin.

LiamKK1982

People these days always mention The Wire, Breaking Bad or The Sopranos as the greatest shows ever, yet they pale in comparison to The X Files, the show was pure genius.

krudler

LiamKK1982 wrote: »

People these days always mention The Wire, Breaking Bad or The Sopranos as the greatest shows ever, yet they pale in comparison to The X Files, the show was pure genius.

It's not without it's low points, it kinda fizzled out once Mulder left and if it had finished on a high in the 5th or 6th season it would have been much better off. It must also have a record of how many times a lead character was knocked unconscious at convenient moments :pac:

Some favourite episodes of mine would be Squeeze and Tooms, one of the creepiest characters ever in Eugene Tooms and the follow up episode.
The one with the parasitic creature living in the sewers, Humbug the one with the circus freaks being murdered.
Bad Blood, where Mulder and Scully tell two different versions of their recollection of events about a rubbish vampire, probably the funniest episode ever.
The groundhog day episode, the one where the diseased piece of meat is delivered to the prison and sparks an outbreak. The murderous cockroach episode and the one where they're on the ship in the 1930's to name but a few. The movies weren't bad either, the last one was more of an extended episode really though.

Professey Chin

Still one of my favourite quotes about the Flukeman episode :pac:

The concept of the Flukeman, as characterized in "The Host", was thought up by Chris Carter after he had been closely studying his dog's worms and had been reading a story about Chernobyl and the extinction of species.

Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny did an AMA together recently. Check it out here.

RoadRunner

"John Doe" in the 9th season was a fav.

from wiki: John Doggett awakens inside an abandoned warehouse to find a man in the process of stealing one of his shoes. Doggett chases the man outside, where he summons two Mexican police officers. One of the policemen hits the man with his nightstick, while the other demands his identification. When Doggett finds he has no papers, the officer asks him his name. Doggett is shocked to realize he can't remember his own identity...

brevity

Huge fan of The X-Files but I think that it hasn't aged well at all.

I really loved Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man, Tooms, Jose Chung and the feature length 3 parter episodes were terrific I thought.

Just looking at the episode list on imdb brings back some memories. Seasons 1-6 were cracking television.

LiamKK1982

For anyone interested Zavvi have all 9 seasons plus the movies box set for 60 quid (free delivery). It's a shame they're not remastered and released on blu ray.

http://www.zavvi.com/dvd/the-x-files-seasons-1-9-plus-movies/10640120.html

The X-Files was just one of those shows that never got the ending that it deserved. Then again, they had been building it up for so long that anything short of astonishing would have been disappointing. Crazy to think that it is 20 years now! That show used to scare the bejesus out of me.

jester77

LiamKK1982 wrote: »

For anyone interested Zavvi have all 9 seasons plus the movies box set for 60 quid (free delivery). It's a shame they're not remastered and released on blu ray.

http://www.zavvi.com/dvd/the-x-files-seasons-1-9-plus-movies/10640120.html

I looked into this before as I wanted the remasterd collection, there are rumours that they will create a blu-ray version but I also read that some of the original prints no longer exist.

ReacherCreature

Only watched half of series one but 'Ice' was an excellent episode along with 'Space'. The show creeped me out!

ixoy

Was a huge fan but it definitely was an example of a show that should have ended before it did - quality really did drop when Mulder left. The mythology arcs, once the highlight of the show, also began to fluctuate a lot in quality and became highly convoluted as they kept asking new questions without always answering old ones (Samantha Mulder's arc was a bit rubbish in the end!).

Still though a classic show. I'd love to see them wrap up the alien invasion storyline since they should be here by now and it was the show's cliff hanger.

For those of you interested, the show has continued on in comic book in a tenth season. The season is canonical and the stories are penned by Chris Carter himself.

mike65

I kept with it until shortly after Mulder left at which point it collapsed. Should have wound it up at about series 5 or 6 Was the decline also due to shifting filming to LA from Vancover I wonder? The dark and damp of BC suited X Files.

Frank Black

Loved the show back in the day and watched it again (first 5 seasons) about 4 years ago. It stood up really well I thought.




For me the biggest mystery surrounding the show was Gillian Anderson - was she incredibly hot


or not?

Myrddin

I really enjoyed the episode where the baseball player from the 60's is really an alien.

Frank Black

Did Mulder's Dad have a thing for 1980's Page 3 girls when naming his kids 'Sam' and 'Fox'?

krudler

Frank Black wrote: »

Loved the show back in the day and watched it again (first 5 seasons) about 4 years ago. It stood up really well I thought.




For me the biggest mystery surrounding the show was Gillian Anderson - was she incredibly hot


or not?

Definitely hot, she's gotten better with ago too, absolute fox

mightyreds

20 years on god I was only around 8 when I started watching that's hard to believe.

Favorite's of mine were driver recently seen it was bryan cranston in it. The one with cher I loved for some reason, cant remember the name and the one where the flies only come out in the dark ,light scared them off,
I may go back watching it I remember the final ep airing I loved it, but I was a kid then and it was my favorite show.

brevity

Frank Black wrote: »

Loved the show back in the day and watched it again (first 5 seasons) about 4 years ago. It stood up really well I thought.




For me the biggest mystery surrounding the show was Gillian Anderson - was she incredibly hot


or not?

So hot!

FHM's Sexiest Woman in the World in 1996

krudler

mike65 wrote: »

I kept with it until shortly after Mulder left at which point it collapsed. Should have wound it up at about series 5 or 6 Was the decline also due to shifting filming to LA from Vancover I wonder? The dark and damp of BC suited X Files.

Yeah I agree about the filming, every other episode was set in some forest area or two bit town and it really added to it when they shot it in Vancouver.

The episode where the guy could regenerate his own body was cool as well, think it starts with him walking out of a morgue with no head.

I don;t remember much of the later seasons, only watched it sporadically then was totally lost once it hit season 7 as I hadn't kept up

Dice75

"Home" - probably one of the more disturbing episodes, if you saw it you'll remember the song below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IH0_XfxnXWI

PauloConn

So many great episodes, absolutely loved the show and still pick out an episode or 2 from the collection when flaking out on the couch.
Both Tooms episodes, Pusher episode as well were my favs. But so many great ones. Loved the Krycek character too, he was such a merc. Loved the one off's more than most of the conspiracy ones but some of the earlier ones were very good.
God i love it so much

brevity

PauloConn wrote: »

So many great episodes, absolutely loved the show and still pick out an episode or 2 from the collection when flaking out on the couch.
Both Tooms episodes, Pusher episode as well were my favs. But so many great ones. Loved the Krycek character too, he was such a merc. Loved the one off's more than most of the conspiracy ones but some of the earlier ones were very good.
God i love it so much

Whenever I see the actor Nicholas Lea (Krycek) in a movie or TV show, I'm immediately suspicious of him.

GorillaRising

Dice75 wrote: »

"Home" - probably one of the more disturbing episodes, if you saw it you'll remember the song below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IH0_XfxnXWI

Was just going to post this. Fantastic episode. The music when they go to attack the Sheriff - love that contrast.

Really enjoyed the one in the haunted house too. Can't remember what it was called. Too many to mention off the top of my head!

Edit: "Bad Blood" was a great episode!

Going to start it from the top later!

Tipsy McSwagger

There was one episode that was seriously fcuked up and creepy as hell. I think it was 3 inbred hillbilly brothers living in a house in the middle of nowhere who were murdering people (as Dice75 says it's Home). I also remember taping the episode 'anasazi' and watching it around 20 times.

Dice75

GorillaRising wrote: »

Was just going to post this. Fantastic episode. The music when they go to attack the Sheriff - love that contrast.

Johnny Mathis refused to let them use his version of the song because of the nature of the script so they had to re-record it with someone else singing

PauloConn

brevity wrote: »

Whenever I see the actor Nicholas Lea (Krycek) in a movie or TV show, I'm immediately suspicious of him.

How could anyone trust him.... in anything. Don't they know he's just a gun for hire. Although haven't seen him in much else.

Home episode, i remember them showing that extra late on TV cause of the extreme graphic nature. And it was scary as hell too.

GorillaRising

Dice75 wrote: »

Johnny Mathis refused to let them use his version of the song because of the nature of the script so they had to re-record it with someone else singing

Yeah I read that not long ago when I rewatched it. Great tune though.