The X-Files 20 years on

krudler

Home was only shown on British tv once as far as I remember, it's the reason the season 4 boxset is 18's and the other seasons are 15's too. Definitely one of the darkest episodes of a tv show ever. I love the bit in Bad Blood where Scully's version of the story has Luke Wilson as this dashingly handsome sheriff and Mulder's version has him as a buck toothed hillbilly :pac:

mloc123

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

This one stands out for me.

The Tooms episodes were great. At the time I preferred the main story episodes but looking back now the once off ones were probably best.

gerrybbadd

Loved the conspiracy /UFO episodes. Memorable ones for me were when they were in the Arctic, with the parasitic worm.

ibstar

Episode named "The Host". Used to s*%t myself going to the toilet. Still remember this episode to date.
*pun semi intended*
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Host_%28The_X-Files%29

Can't find the name of the episode, but there was a village where people were slowed down in time, or something along the line. Turned out it was from some local herb they were all eating.

tunguska

krudler wrote: »

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.

Bloody hell I'd completely forgotten about the X-files(surprising considering my username) but you're right, well due another watch right from the start. Reckon crimbo is a good time to start. Honestly I cant even remember most of the episodes so it'll be like watching it for the first time. From what I remember though it was ridiculously popular for a while but then the general public seemed to forget about it completely. Personally I think it maintained its quality even after Duchovny split.

krudler

tunguska wrote: »

Bloody hell I'd completely forgotten about the X-files(surprising considering my username) but you're right, well due another watch right from the start. Reckon crimbo is a good time to start. Honestly I cant even remember most of the episodes so it'll be like watching it for the first time. From what I remember though it was ridiculously popular for a while but then the general public seemed to forget about it completely. Personally I think it maintained its quality even after Duchovny split.

It was a tv phenomenon at one point, interest definitely dwindled in the later seasons but for the first few years it was massive. I'm actually looking forward to getting up to the post Duchovny stuff as I remember barely any of it.

RobertKK

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

Remember that well, they kept it in the family....

8-10

ReacherCreature wrote: »

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

Ah here Space was dreadful. Easily the worst X-Files episode IMO

I loved the Duane Barry 2-parter, post modern Prometheus and bad blood are always funny from season 5. First movie was excellent too

DazMarz

Absolutely one of the best TV series ever. I remember as a kid having to sneak in episodes, because my parents hated it.

I never remembered much of the episodes. I was always under the impression that we were never explicitly told that there were aliens, or that it was never shown at all. Always smoke and mirrors and "just missing" something and so on.

How wrong was I when I got the boxset off Amazon for something sick like €60 (compared to when I'd checked the price in HMV and it was €360; is it any wonder they closed down? :P).

Watched it from beginning to end over the course of a summer and fell in love all over again. Absolutely brilliant.

Unlike some, I LOVED the government/conspiracy/myth-arc episodes and storyline. I've always loved stuff like that. So I loved this angle of the show. Yeah, it was spaced out too much and it was difficult to keep track.

Solution: what me and a friend did one time. Barricading ourselves into my apartment with a few days' supply of junk food, a widescreen TV and a DVD player, we did a marathon. Every conspiracy episode (and the first film) back to back. And no, we're not COMPLETELY sad.

T'was brilliant, though.

One of the best shows ever committed to the small screen.

The Truth Is Out There...

steve_r

I've never watched this but also meant to. Wasn't the creator of Breaking bad one of the writers?

I don't think it's on Irish Netflix though so might have a looksee for a boxset.

Dermighty

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.

No, they don't.

8-10

steve_r wrote: »

I've never watched this but also meant to. Wasn't the creator of Breaking bad one of the writers?

He was indeed. Watch Drive from Season 6, Vince Gilligan-written episode with Bryan Cranston compelled to drive west because of a low-frequency screwing up his brain. Vince said he wouldn't have cast Cranston in Breaking Bad if he hadn't seen him act in that episode. (Average enough episode to be honest but the opening which is a Fox News live police chase was cool, might have fooled audiences at the time.)

He also put some X-Files references in Breaking Bad, the Cradock Marine Bank and Erlenmeyer Flask being the obvious ones

Nonoperational

God I remember watching it on network 2 when it came out first. Terrified for the night after. Had to leave the lights on.

Sudden Valley

recently was watched up to xfiles up to season 6, i think he had the best stand-alone episodes of any long running series with a great mix of supernatural, horror, comedy and criminal investigation elements. I don't think the Wire, Shield, or breaking bad had the opportunity to mix these elements given their genre.

My favourites would be "clyde bruckmans final repose" (fortune teller killings) "Pusher" , "bad Blood" , "Folie A deux" (giant insect brainwashing!) and a high, Jose Chungs from outerspace" and that episode involving school teachers satanic cult.

How Soon Is Now

Loved the X Files will always be one my favorite tv series Mulder and Scully will go down as one of the best on screen duos of all time.

The show really dropped off though when Mulder started only being a bit part you could really see just how much the storys needed him when he wasnt there.

The X Files without Mulder would be like if they took Homer out of The Simpsons!

I actually rewatched it not long ago with my girlfriend as she didnt see the second half of it originally.

Would love if they could sort out a 3rd film and finally give the fans a proper ending to the main story!! The ending to the series is one of the main reasons the show will never be held up there ultimately with the very very best.

mocata

remember when I was in the halls of residence it was always TV night on Wednesday,X-files for us nerds and Friends for the girls.

biggebruv

only watched the whole show about a year back its a long watch at nine seasons long and two movies

1st 5 seasons are a blast absolute top notch

6 and 7 are ok but theres a definate dip

season 8 i actually really loved i thought it was back on top form Robert Patrick did a great job as a replacement for mulder
Scully searching for Mulder while pregnant was a great storyline then when he returned in the end of season 8 it just felt right to close the show there with that season finale of them with the baby all together and happy it was the perfect ending

then season 9 came along and it was terrible IMO it felt like it went nowhere and fully tried to move on from both scully and mulder but that is really taking the pee out of fans they returned by the shows finale but it felt lazy and went out with a wimper

then we got the second film which was alright but nothing really major happened in it that movie should have been the proper end we deserve

heres hoping Fox will bring it back for a 12 episode short final season like they are doing with 24

cena

Nearly on season 5 of the box set. Have it about 2 years. I can never understand how my parents let 8 year old me watch this when it came out.

I love this show.

How Soon Is Now

biggebruv wrote: »

only watched the whole show about a year back its a long watch at nine seasons long and two movies

1st 5 seasons are a blast absolute top notch

6 and 7 are ok but theres a definate dip

season 8 i actually really loved i thought it was back on top form Robert Patrick did a great job as a replacement for mulder
Scully searching for Mulder while pregnant was a great storyline then when he returned in the end of season 8 it just felt right to close the show there with that season finale of them with the baby all together and happy it was the perfect ending

then season 9 came along and it was terrible IMO it felt like it went nowhere and fully tried to move on from both scully and mulder but that is really taking the pee out of fans they returned by the shows finale but it felt lazy and went out with a wimper

then we got the second film which was alright but nothing really major happened in it that movie should have been the proper end we deserve

heres hoping Fox will bring it back for a 12 episode short final season like they are doing with 24

Another season wouldnt work now its been to long since it finished. It wouldnt get the same attention as it did back then the fan base now a days is totally different.

A film would be the only and best option.

If there was ever gonna be another season it should of been done years ago anything now would ruin the show even more.

biggebruv

How Soon Is Now wrote: »

Another season wouldnt work now its been to long since it finished. It wouldnt get the same attention as it did back then the fan base now a days is totally different.

A film would be the only and best option.

If there was ever gonna be another season it should of been done years ago anything now would ruin the show even more.

but would a big feature film even pull off nowdays i think maybe a 2hour TV special then TV is impressive nowadays so it could work

How Soon Is Now

biggebruv wrote: »

but would a big feature film even pull off nowdays i think maybe a 2hour TV special then TV is impressive nowadays so it could work

Anything short but full of great content and well written could work.

Thats why i think a film or one or two feature length episodes would work.

Any more would be overkill.

The Black Oil

Without question, my favourite show of all time. I'm not oblivious to its faults, but I'll defend it until the day I die. It landed at the right time, early on in my teens and was one of those zeitgeist catching shows like ER and NYPD Blue.

It was pretty much the first online fan base, and being a part of that was great. That said, I can't pretend I've much time for the more extreme shippers, or the Chris Carter haters who seem somewhat bitter. I'm not an obsessive fan - as in, I don't know the names of all the episodes, or the names of the children of the actors, nor do I write fan fiction, but I do love the show. Do not ask me how much I paid for the season 5 DVD set when it first came out.

I've time for mytharc and standalone episodes, I'm happy to drift between the two, though tbh, it's been years since I've watched the show. Even quite early on into its run in managed to balance straight up drama, odd, off the wall and comedy episodes.

To say it hasn't aged well, I'll give you that on season 1, certainly. Maybe even season 2, but the visual sophistication of the show jumped forward a lot even in the early years. Look at something like Max/Tempus Fugit (season 4) at the sense of scale, which would probably be done with CGI now (the crash site, specifically). But the 90s was a very good time, imo, can you imagine it now - Mulder and Scully with iPads every week? Feck that.

If it were up to me, I'd have ended at the 5.20 - The End, but it so was successful for Fox they had to keep it going. Regarding the move from Vancouver to LA, I think this was partly down to Duchovny, or else it was for tax reasons. The crew changed as well, so there was a tonal shift.

Will there be third film? I don't think so due to Fox. They were useless at marketing the last one and put it up against The Dark Knight.

Shout out to the late Kim Manners who also directed episodes of Supernatural.

GorillaRising

Watched the first three episodes last night. Forgot about 'Squeeze'. Love that one and the second part of it - 'Tooms'.

I'm liking the conspiracy episodes a bit more these days.

Next up - Jersey Devil!

Tipsy McSwagger

I'm on S1 E6 Ghost in the Machine. It's perfect viewing at this time of the year with the evenings getting darker.

wawaman

Seasons 1-3 are brilliant televison and completely original at the time. Seasons 4 & 5 were good but once Mulder left and Robert Patrick (part of me didnt like him at the time was he was the "bad" Terminator!) came in it went downhill fast imo

humanji

Man, I want to watch this again now. When they did comedy episodes, you could really tell they were loving it. As said above, the Bad Blood episode is brilliant:

Skinner: Ronnie Strickland's body has gone missing from the morgue, in conjunction with this the coroner's been attacked. His throat was bitten.
Scully: The coroner's dead?
Skinner: [uncomfortably] No... his throat was... bitten. Just sort of... gnawed on.

I also loved the islation episodes, where they were stuck somewhere trying to solve and survive a mystery. The two that stand out for me (and I can't remember the episode names) were the one where they were in an arctic drilling research lab that unearths a bacteria that drives them mad, and one where they were in a cabin in some woods where light sensitive flesh eating insects had them trapped. They were f*cking terrifying!

brevity

Remember that episode when Scully's dog got eaten by the crocodile?

Mulder and Scully sitting in the boat, chatting for ages. They hear loud splashing in the water and some guy just walks over to them. Loved that scene.

Or that episode with the cockroaches?

Scully's in a supermarket where loads of people are panicking, a box of chocolates spills on the ground, everyone goes nuts and runs out of the shop.

"Mulder, this town is nuts"

Basq

Bought the boxset and did a huge rewatch a few years back.

So hard to pick a favourite episode.. but "Home" was definitely up there.

They also did the best "Will They? Won't They?" with regards to Mulder and Scully than any TV show ever has. It was constantly building in such an unbelievably natural way until finally, nearly 7 years after the show first aired, they kiss. It definitely beats the whole Ross/Rachel thing from Friends.

GorillaRising

Thought of another great one - the one where this guy is working in an office and he's convinced his boss is an alien.

I think he holds people hostage or something in the office, one of them being Mulder...