The X-Files 20 years on

Also X-Cops, the crossover of Cops and the X-Files.

Tipsy McSwagger

I remember an episode where some guy in a trailer park wishes his friend who died in a hit and run was still alive. His friend then enters the trailer in an awful mess and won't stop screaming.

tunguska

I cant remember too much about specific epsiodes but the one thing that stands out for me was how atmospheric the X-files was. Great photography that really set a noir-esque tone.
I wonder would the X-files be a hit today? Or would it get cancelled after one season. I think studios are way more trigger happy now as opposed to 20 years.

Zombienosh

Best show ever. I recently watched the whole show from start to finish.

krudler

humanji wrote: »

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!

Or when Scully finds Mulder drugged on the motel floor and he starts singing Shaft. cut back to the current time as she's telling him the story and he just goes "I.did.not..." Or Scully doing the autopsies over and over "lungs...liver...ah whatever" lol brilliant episode.

mewso

Someone mentioned it above - Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose is my favorite - with Peter Boyle on great form as a man who can see how and when people will die. One of the funniest episodes imo.

Galwayguy35

The Smoking Man was one cool customer.

mike65

"Cancer Man" when I was watching!

Marje

Gillian Anderson & David Duchovny are interested in making a third movie - it's up to Fox to decide seemingly. http://insidemovies.ew.com/2013/10/14/david-duchovny-gillian-anderson-x-files-movie/

Watched the first few seasons, never got around to watching the last 2 seasons. Will have to have a look out for a box set.

Ziycon

Great show, loved it. Got the boxset as a present earlier this year so just need to get time to start watching it!

The Black Oil

David and Gillian always say that about the third film, they don't want to disappoint the fans, same as a lot of actors that are asked about projects.

Re Bad Blood mentioned above, yes, brilliant episode.

Time for some clips.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0sVps-bRsA

Vinz Mesrine

It's currently in HMV for €59.99, every episode and the movies. I think I'll be purchasing on Friday.

What was the episode with the guy in the back seat who kept getting blinding pains in his head unless Mulder drove in a certain direction ?

The Black Oil

Drive, the Bryan Cranston episode. Season 6.

Caprica

Hard to believe it is 20 years old. Bought the box set a few years back in HMV, some of my favourite episodes are

The Post Modern Prometheus
Clyde Bruckmans Final Repose
Irresistible
The Unnatural
Je Souhaite
Audrey Pauley

Vinz Mesrine

The Black Oil wrote: »

Drive, the Bryan Cranston episode. Season 6.

Bryan Cranston and Vince Gilligan, no wonder it was my favourite episode and the one that sticks in my head the most

DazMarz

Of course... The Cigarette Smoking Man. What a sinister legend.







and in The Simpsons:



"Musings Of A Cigarette Smoking Man" is also another classic episode!

nazzy

Itching to watch it again after reading through this thread!

I remember randomly coming cross it on maybe a Tuesday night at 11 oclock on BBC2 or something. I was so obsessed with it, my French teacher just called me 'x'.

But I did find it fizzled out.

'the host', 'tooms' and I think one called 'ice' were my favourite episodes.

Might have to dig out my old trading cards ;-)

Spent the past year or so thinking that it was time to rewatch the series and grabbed the boxset from atop my wardrobe a number of time but something more interesting always came up. At home at the minute and can't sleep so made a cup of tea and settled in by a still warm fire to watch something. Flicking through Netflix, looking for something short and I thought what better time to once again start The X-Files. Half way through episode one and it remains a truly fantastic slice of 90s TV. Sure it's dated as hell, it looks cheap and some of the acting is poor but the writing is string and there's a real sense of mystery to it that's hard not to embrace.

Hoping this time that I get all the way to the end as the last few times I've started the series I've only gotten to series 7. The dip in quality in series 6 was just too hard to overlook and once Mulder started swapping bodies it got just a little too ridicolous. I did enjoy many of the Doggat episodes when they aired and if memory serves I think that series 7 or 8 was one of the best.

Sunglasses Ron

First seven or so seasons were brilliant, not just the drama but from memory pretty much every episode included some sardonically hilarious line or two from Mulder :pac:

The later episodes were unwatchable rubbish mind.

DazMarz

There was a dip in quality during and after Season 6, no doubt. But there were still some absolutely classic episodes from those seasons. Including:

"Drive" (S06 E02). Written by Vince Gilligan and guest starring Bryan Cranston. An absolute classic episode that brought the creator and star of Breaking Bad together for the first time.

"Tithonus" (S06 E10) A photographer searching for a way to die is photographing people in their last moments, trying to find the face of Death himself. Brilliant episode.

"Two Fathers"/"One Son" (S06 E11/E12) A conspiracy episode two-parter. Excellent episodes.

"Monday" (S06 E14) The "Groundhog Day" episode. Excellent stuff.

"Hungry" (S07 E03) A young man is actually a brain-eating mutant. That the mutant in question is played with such doe-eyed innocence by Chad Donella (who was only 20 at the time of production) makes it even better. Added to the mix is that this episode is told largely from Donella's point of view and Mulder and Scully are hardly in the episode at all. Also added is that Donella's character is aware his actions are morally wrong and is trying to stop, but simply cannot help himself. A really strong, excellent episode.

"Je Souhaite" (S07 E21) A genie comes into possession of two idiots and then Mulder and havoc is created through this. Another Vince Gilligan episode and one of the best.

"Within"/"Without" (S08 E01/E02) The introduction of Doggett and of course the abduction of

Mulder

by Alien Bounty Hunters. This is an excellent episode (well, two episodes) and opens the penultimate season with a bang. Robert Patrick was brilliant in his role. I loved Doggett. Really thought he was excellent and it was a brilliant shift as Mulder (a believer) was gone, Scully (a sceptic but now a believer) is now partnered with Doggett (a sceptic).

"Roadrunners" (S08 E04) One of my favourite all time episodes. The religious cult keeping 'Our Saviour' (a horrible, worm-like creature) alive by implanting it into a human body is here. Of course, the human host quickly weakens and dies due to this. Scully, on her own for much of this episode, is placed in jeopardy while investigating this cult. Doggett then must save the day. Helps to build the relationship between the two and has some genuinely creepy and unnerving moments. Excellent episode.

"Per Manum" (S08 E13) Alien babies and government conspiracies and Scully's fertility problems all come back in this episode, but this is a cracker. It's so well done and it harkens back to the 'Trust No One' days of not being sure who's a friend and who's a foe. A truly brilliant conspiracy/myth-arc episode.

"This Is Not Happening"/"DeadAlive" (S08 E14/E15) The return of the King, as such and a wonderful episode that sets up the Super Soldiers storyline better and has some wonderful drama and tension. One of the best two-parters out there.

"John Doe" (S09 E07) Doggett awakens in a Mexican town with no wallet, identity papers, nothing. And a strong case of amnesia. An excellent, gripping episode that gives an insight into Doggett's background and once again strengthens the bond between him and Scully. A cracker.

"Release" (S09 E17) Another episode showing insight into Doggett. Can't say much about it as it'd be riddled with spoilers, but an excellent and jarring episode that ties up a few threads before the end was nigh.

Only a handful of episodes from the last three seasons of the show, but ones that stood out for me as essential.

Sunglasses Ron

Is it sad that I used to feel a bit like Mulder answering my brand new mobile phone as a young fella 13 years ago? :pac: I reckon it must have been the first TV show to have characters very regularly using mobiles (Only Fools may have been but Del's was a brick mobile ). The yanks caught on to common man mobile usage a few years later than the rest of the world, even the first season of The Sopranos and The Wire had them all stuck to landlines and payphones!

DazMarz

Well, in fairness on The Sopranos and The Wire, payphones were used as mobiles could be tapped easier and all that. Even to this day, payphones are used by people who are worried in case other lines are tapped.

Sunglasses Ron

DazMarz wrote: »

Well, in fairness on The Sopranos and The Wire, payphones were used as mobiles could be tapped easier and all that. Even to this day, payphones are used by people who are worried in case other lines are tapped.

The US only caught on to anonymously bought pre paid mobiles a few years after Europe did. I had mates in the US two years after we all had mobiles that said that apart from businessmen and whatnot the average Joe was still tied to the landline. I'm surprised they allowed them at all post 9/11.

The Black Oil

For the uninitiated, the Scully song. :pac:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zu2kX4MvDTQ

Dirty Dingus McGee

My favourite episodes are "Ice" and "Darkness Falls" both are season 1 episodes.

Overall I preferred the one off episodes but the smoking man episodes got better as they went along and the simpsons x-files episode was one of the best Simpsons episodes of all time

GorillaRising

Half way through season 2 now. It's my favourite thing to watch right now and I'd include season 4 of TWD, which has been excellent.

So this must mean that the spin-off show Millennium, which I still can't spell without a spell-checker, is also nearly 20 years old. That was a great show, from what I remember.

Burgo

Millennium was great a lot darker than the x files was.

Speaking of spin-offs anyone else watch the lone gunmen spin off. Was pretty weak overall but had one or two decent episodes. The episode which shows how they first met mulder was quite good.

P.Walnuts

Recently finished the whole thing again from start to finish...

So many great episodes, although 1-5 were clearly the best. After the move to California the episodes just didn't have the same atmosphere.

Ice, Home, the episodes with the disabled girls (angels) being hunted by the devil? Awesome

I'll be honest I skipped a few episodes, especially ones that were basically re hashes or earlier episodes, really disliked some of the possession ones or body swaps.

Overall though an absolutely monumental series.

Forgot about the Lone Gunmen series!