The X-Files : Season X (Spoilers!)
- Thread starter Sto-Vo-Kory
- Start date
You're right, nothing's changed
You can't predict the future! If you could ABC just fired it's president, maybe you can help them out. And I'm sure every single one of the 16 million (the official number) viewers watched it because they wanted to see The X-Files and not because it was on after a football game, but then have off them ditched the following night. Maybe it's because they had to go to bed earl on Monday because they had to stay up way past your bedtime watching X-Files on Sunday.
If football had nothing to do with the viewing numbers than why was it on after football at all? I mean really.
I think Yanks meant that the revival couldn't fail because it'd (quite likely) already made a profit before it even aired through foreign market sales*, sales to Hulu for current streaming rights, and sales for future streaming opportunities to Netflix, Amazon, etc.
It's also now being reported that the X-Files is returning to syndication in the fall and will be airing old episodes on MyNetworkTV. The negotiations for these deals were also likely to have occurred before the revival ever aired and shows how the revival was almost certainly "in the black" prior to any ratings data coming in.
*The foreign market, while we're on the subject, also reported exceptional ratings for the season ten premiere -- which was seen by 50 million people worldwide and was the highest rated program in several countries -- without the benefit of an American football game as its lead-in.
It's also now being reported that the X-Files is returning to syndication in the fall and will be airing old episodes on MyNetworkTV. The negotiations for these deals were also likely to have occurred before the revival ever aired and shows how the revival was almost certainly "in the black" prior to any ratings data coming in.
*The foreign market, while we're on the subject, also reported exceptional ratings for the season ten premiere -- which was seen by 50 million people worldwide and was the highest rated program in several countries -- without the benefit of an American football game as its lead-in.
Agreed. There was so much different in it, along with certain other aspects that were just off putting to say the least. Definitely left a bad taste in my mouth.
Sure there were aspects that he was trying to tie up, but it just seemed so scattered along with just incoherent at times. It was frustrating.
I'm happy it did well, but I'm terribly disappointed with the season as a whole. 1 really good episode, 1 good episode, 2 ok to poor episodes, half of a possibly good story and a clip show to start it off. Not too impressive.
And I wish everyone would stop calling it a cliffhanger. It wasn't that at all. It was a writer that ran out of ideas but was so in love with his own set up that he said screw it and never bothered to resolve the plot.
Really, there was no where left to go. He basically destroyed everything at one time. So the Cancer Man is a super villain. Ok. People liked Monica, just turn her into sniveling lackey of the super villain. And what the hell is his motivation? He's an ecoterrorist after all? Concerned about global frickin' warming? That is so stupid.
And really, where could it go from there? Either they just take Dr. Scully's brand new Spartan-B-Gone, (patent pending) and they're all better, or they don't and the world is depopulated. I am not looking forward to anymore and I think the second movie bombing was not a fluke but setting the pattern. I'm not surprised a movie studio didn't take them up on it.
And I wish everyone would stop calling it a cliffhanger. It wasn't that at all. It was a writer that ran out of ideas but was so in love with his own set up that he said screw it and never bothered to resolve the plot.
Really, there was no where left to go. He basically destroyed everything at one time. So the Cancer Man is a super villain. Ok. People liked Monica, just turn her into sniveling lackey of the super villain. And what the hell is his motivation? He's an ecoterrorist after all? Concerned about global frickin' warming? That is so stupid.
And really, where could it go from there? Either they just take Dr. Scully's brand new Spartan-B-Gone, (patent pending) and they're all better, or they don't and the world is depopulated. I am not looking forward to anymore and I think the second movie bombing was not a fluke but setting the pattern. I'm not surprised a movie studio didn't take them up on it.
Yes. It. Did.
Was the mile wide spacecraft under the ice in Antarctica in Fight the Future an A.R.V.? That's pretty impressive. As are the thousands of aliens inhabiting it awaiting host bodies. Those weren't humans with alien DNA, those were aliens waiting to take over and use a chosen few human elites as their slaves. Cancer Man wasn't planning on being the ruler of that world, but merely intent on surviving as a pawn.
Why were the conspiracists so worried about the alien in Texas if they were orchestrating the whole thing? Were they putting on a show for the audience during their private meetings about the alien colonization? What's the deal with the 15,000-year-old black oil aliens that were the original inhabitants of Earth if it all started with Roswell in 1947? Did Dale from The Walking Dead get killed by a dude in a suit when he climbed down into that cave, even though he too was part of the conspiracy?
No, what Carter did was retcon everything back to when Mulder was all mopey and had an earlier crisis of confidence because thought the whole conspiracy was a government plot, in Season 5's Redux and Redux II. Except we've seen tons of evidence both before and after that to support the alien invasion conspiracy.
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I'm assuming that there is more to it than Mulder is aware of. Even in the first episode, his informant who was the young doctor who examined the alien body from Roswell, said that he was close but didn't have it all together yet.
I actually think that the aliens are still involved to some degree. Maybe they're actually trying to stop us from using their technology.
I actually think that the aliens are still involved to some degree. Maybe they're actually trying to stop us from using their technology.
Read my post from a few days ago, some things were actually really real aliens and others not so much. Maybe the aliens (or some subset of aliens) weren't so happy with what the cabal was carrying out in there name.
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I read your post. That doesn't address the problem that the cabal was also intimately involved in and knowledgeable of those clearly real alien events instead of them being some aliens randomly showing up and then leaving, and the cabal fearfully discussed the coming alien invasion in private meetings where they would have no reason to keep up the charade if it was all an elaborate false flag operation.
There's a terrible Halle Berry/Bruce Willis movie called Perfect Stranger where throughout the film Halle Berry acts frightened of a killer, even when she was alone in a room and had no one else to act scared for. In a Shyamalanesque twist at the end, *SHITTY MOVIE SPOILER ALERT* it turns out that she was the killer the whole time! No multiple personalities, no blackouts or brainwashing, no evil twin, it was just her being an unreliable narrator the whole time and the writer/director creating a bullshit twist that makes the first 4/5ths of the movie pointless, because it never would have happened that way if she was the killer the whole time.
That's what happened on the X-Files too, now. When I first watched My Struggle (Part One), while I wasn't thrilled with the reworking of the conspiracy, I was willing to give Carter the benefit of the doubt, since as I pointed out, this wasn't the first time Mulder turned into a Gloomy Gus about his life's quest and thought the whole conspiracy was just him being duped by the government (see S5 - Redux 1 & 2). But like the followups to those episodes, I thought My Struggle II would be where he found faith in his convictions again and rediscovered the alien conspiracy anew, ending the season on a message of renewed determination to save the world from aliens. Instead we got half a story and Mulder and Scully did really just spend the better part of their lives wasting their time falling for a false flag operation.
That's not even my biggest complaint with the season though. First, there's the half-baked stories (even the best episode —Were-Monster— was a mess of a plot, but fortunately compensated for that by being hilarious) like the Mulder on Shrooms episode which felt like a clearing house of ideas from the writer's room all combined into one jumbled mess. The bit about communicating with comatose patients was clearly something they thought up in relation to the previous episode about Scully's mom, which Scully even references. It would have worked much better there. The tone was all over the place between the dark terrorism and bigotry plots, the conspiracy hinting plot with Homeland Security which went nowhere, the interesting words have weight idea, the introduction of Mulder and Scully's junior G-Men clones, and Mulder living out Madonna's Ray of Light video while on Shrooms. And don't get me started on bringing back The Lone Gunmen for a half second blink and you miss it vision shrouded in a purple haze.
The second episode was so boring I don't even remember what it was about. Something about computers? I tuned out completely.
The homeless episode was just a rehash of the plot from the hilarious Homeowner's Association episode where they summoned a trash monster to enforce the HOA rules, except *TWIST* this time the people are homeless instead of homeowners and Banksy is involved somehow. They could have dropped the recycled plot and focused on Dana's mother the whole time and had Mulder and Scully both try their own unique philosophies of how to communicate with her in the coma. That would also allow them to actually be together for the bulk of the episode, which leads to my next complaint...
The whole season went out of its way to separate Mulder and Scully as often as possible. If I didn't know better, I'd say it came off like the feud between Juliana Margulies and Archie Panjabi on The Good Wife where they couldn't even be in scenes together in the final season. But Duchovny and Anderson aren't like that, so the reasoning here was bizarre, Why do a revival that hopes to play on nostalgia only to keep the main characters whose interaction and relationship everyone loves at a distance for most of each episode?
I really disliked what they did with Reyes. Why bring her back for two minutes only to completely ruin her character and make her a coward?
And I don't object to introducing possible younger spin-off or continuation characters, but did they have to make them such blatant clones of Mulder and Scully? Seriously, the brown-haired white guy with the bland voice is the open-minded conspiracy theorist and the red-headed female MD is the skeptic-scientist? Jesus, bit on the nose, isn't it? But hey, they changed something, because instead of two more "M and S" names they called the female partner Einstein, which had the unfortunate effect of making it sound like they were sarcastically mocking her intelligence every time they said "Agent Einstein."
Anyway, if I had to grade the whole season, I'd give it:
Episode #:
1 - B
2 - D
3 - A
4 - C
5 - D
6 - C
At least we got one really funny episode out of it.
Yup. Those that say "it" hasn't changed don't want to see it. Even if it hasn't changed, it sure as hell feels like it did.
This!!
I felt the same way. Mulder especially at times just sounded like he was just blandly spouting of crap because he was supposed too. No conviction, no nothing. Maybe that was written in and the idea all along was to portray him like that but it was a buzz killer for me. The X-Files has always been about Mulder & Scully for me, no matter what predicament or story they were in. If there isn't a "those two", then it's not the X-Files to me.
And that was a classic. Your grades pretty much mirror the grades I posted off of Rotten Tomatoes.
First off: @Locutus of Bored , great posts. I may not agree with much of your review/overview, but your insights and critiques made me re-consider some of my own thoughts on the revival. I wish you'd've popped into the thread earlier.
Yeah, this is closer to my take on the season ten bookend episodes and the series-wide mythology as well.
I see the Tad O'Malley character as a conspiracy theory nut-job that somehow got in contact with people involved in the Real Deal conspiracy of the X-Files universe, but only viewed the Real Deal through the lens of those scientists with the ARV.
The ARV team only knows that what they're working on is alien in origin and will be used in the coming endgame (as we see in "My Struggle II") by a "conspiracy of men." They probably wouldn't be privy to any alien colonization/collaboration plans by that same "conspiracy of men."
Which is not to say that the colonization won't happen or aliens aren't involved, just that Tad O'Malley and his hangar buddies are not in the loop on that information. Same with the Old Doctor. Like the proverbial blind men describing an elephant: they can only tell you what's within the limits of their arm's reach.
Locutus mentioned the "Redux" two-parter and that's the first thing that crossed my mind while watching "My Struggle I." "Redux I & II" did set off a character arc for Mulder wherein he lost all faith in alien shenanigans (thanks a lot, Kritschgau!) for a while and was indeed mopey as hell. That arc culminated in the final act of the first X-Files movie when Mulder witnesses the alien spaceship fly out of the Antarctic ice and his faith in EBEs was restored.
Mulder touching the ARV in "My Struggle I" sort of mirrors that scene in the movie. Before that moment, Mulder is at a low ebb: his life's work is belittled by that jerk Jimmy Kimmel (in front of the president, no less!), he & Scully are separated, he's suffering from depression, and 2012 came and went with no apparent invasion or colonization. He even scoffs at O'Malley's initial overtures as a kindred spirit because he can't muster that old enthusiasm anymore. Cynicism has become his default setting.
And then he lays hands on that sleek UFO.
His faith is restored. His life's work is validated. And best of all, he now has a reason to call Scully.
I think Tad O'Malley's human-only conspiracy is nonsense and we have nine seasons of evidence to bear that out, but I also think Mulder at this point would grasp at anything resembling proof of alien visitation even if it's attached to a "conspiracy of men" story that he knows to be only one piece of a bigger puzzle. Deep down, I think Mulder knows this and doesn't care.
This is his opportunity to get back in Game, get out of the house, and call Scully with vague, mysterious statements that will get her to come over late at night. It's his version of a text reading: "netflix & chill?"
All of the shit from the first nine seasons still happened and Mulder & Scully still remember what they witnessed happening -- shape-shifting aliens, faceless rebels, black oil, super soldiers, Grey corpses, etc. All of the events that they didn't see (but we, the audience, saw) still happened.
But imagine for a moment if you're Mulder.
You're lied to on a routine basis about all aspects of the conspiracy by people that present themselves as allies. You've undergone regression hypnosis multiple times and had memories altered or implanted into your brain. You've experienced lost time on many occasions, been abducted, and subjected to who-knows-what while in these states. You discover top secret info about the 2012 colonization date only for it to pass completely without incident.
If I were him, I think I'd totally buy what Tad was selling. All of the alien factions vying for the Earth, all of the strange elements and DNA, all of the bio-weapons and mind-control goo -- it was all an elaborate mind-fuck fabricated by a bunch of geezers and accomplished using reverse-engineered alien tech from a crash in the 1940s? Sure. Okay. 2012 was bullshit; maybe all of the rest was too.
We, the audience, know it's not bullshit. We saw the secret Syndicate meetings. We know what the professional liars said to one another when they thought no one was listening. I got it all here on blu-ray. It's true. All of it.
A poster upthread suggested that the Spartan virus is just the opening salvo of the actual alien colonization and, if so, this would jibe with both the 2012 date (according to Reyes) and the "chosen few remaining" stuff of both the original nine seasons and season ten.
I think an error in the revival was to have Mulder put too much stock in what Tad O'Malley and the Old Doctor said. Their belief that aliens were only briefly on the stage in the course of human history is understandable given their narrow window into the larger conspiracy, but Mulder really should know better. Mulder's acceptance of O'Malley's theories translated into the audience also giving far too much credence to O'Malley.
Just because Mulder seemingly believes O'Malley doesn't mean we should.
Yeah, this is closer to my take on the season ten bookend episodes and the series-wide mythology as well.
I see the Tad O'Malley character as a conspiracy theory nut-job that somehow got in contact with people involved in the Real Deal conspiracy of the X-Files universe, but only viewed the Real Deal through the lens of those scientists with the ARV.
The ARV team only knows that what they're working on is alien in origin and will be used in the coming endgame (as we see in "My Struggle II") by a "conspiracy of men." They probably wouldn't be privy to any alien colonization/collaboration plans by that same "conspiracy of men."
Which is not to say that the colonization won't happen or aliens aren't involved, just that Tad O'Malley and his hangar buddies are not in the loop on that information. Same with the Old Doctor. Like the proverbial blind men describing an elephant: they can only tell you what's within the limits of their arm's reach.
Locutus mentioned the "Redux" two-parter and that's the first thing that crossed my mind while watching "My Struggle I." "Redux I & II" did set off a character arc for Mulder wherein he lost all faith in alien shenanigans (thanks a lot, Kritschgau!) for a while and was indeed mopey as hell. That arc culminated in the final act of the first X-Files movie when Mulder witnesses the alien spaceship fly out of the Antarctic ice and his faith in EBEs was restored.
Mulder touching the ARV in "My Struggle I" sort of mirrors that scene in the movie. Before that moment, Mulder is at a low ebb: his life's work is belittled by that jerk Jimmy Kimmel (in front of the president, no less!), he & Scully are separated, he's suffering from depression, and 2012 came and went with no apparent invasion or colonization. He even scoffs at O'Malley's initial overtures as a kindred spirit because he can't muster that old enthusiasm anymore. Cynicism has become his default setting.
And then he lays hands on that sleek UFO.
His faith is restored. His life's work is validated. And best of all, he now has a reason to call Scully.
I think Tad O'Malley's human-only conspiracy is nonsense and we have nine seasons of evidence to bear that out, but I also think Mulder at this point would grasp at anything resembling proof of alien visitation even if it's attached to a "conspiracy of men" story that he knows to be only one piece of a bigger puzzle. Deep down, I think Mulder knows this and doesn't care.
This is his opportunity to get back in Game, get out of the house, and call Scully with vague, mysterious statements that will get her to come over late at night. It's his version of a text reading: "netflix & chill?"
All of the shit from the first nine seasons still happened and Mulder & Scully still remember what they witnessed happening -- shape-shifting aliens, faceless rebels, black oil, super soldiers, Grey corpses, etc. All of the events that they didn't see (but we, the audience, saw) still happened.
But imagine for a moment if you're Mulder.
You're lied to on a routine basis about all aspects of the conspiracy by people that present themselves as allies. You've undergone regression hypnosis multiple times and had memories altered or implanted into your brain. You've experienced lost time on many occasions, been abducted, and subjected to who-knows-what while in these states. You discover top secret info about the 2012 colonization date only for it to pass completely without incident.
If I were him, I think I'd totally buy what Tad was selling. All of the alien factions vying for the Earth, all of the strange elements and DNA, all of the bio-weapons and mind-control goo -- it was all an elaborate mind-fuck fabricated by a bunch of geezers and accomplished using reverse-engineered alien tech from a crash in the 1940s? Sure. Okay. 2012 was bullshit; maybe all of the rest was too.
We, the audience, know it's not bullshit. We saw the secret Syndicate meetings. We know what the professional liars said to one another when they thought no one was listening. I got it all here on blu-ray. It's true. All of it.
A poster upthread suggested that the Spartan virus is just the opening salvo of the actual alien colonization and, if so, this would jibe with both the 2012 date (according to Reyes) and the "chosen few remaining" stuff of both the original nine seasons and season ten.
I think an error in the revival was to have Mulder put too much stock in what Tad O'Malley and the Old Doctor said. Their belief that aliens were only briefly on the stage in the course of human history is understandable given their narrow window into the larger conspiracy, but Mulder really should know better. Mulder's acceptance of O'Malley's theories translated into the audience also giving far too much credence to O'Malley.
Just because Mulder seemingly believes O'Malley doesn't mean we should.
So we did see the Syndicate talking about the aliens, and colonization in real time? I knew we saw some scenes like that, but I was thinking maybe they were all flashbacks as people told Mulder stories.
If we actually saw all of that happening as it happened in the story, then that does pretty much rule out it all being BS.
I'm really hoping Carter does some post finale interviews somewhere along the line, and addresses all of this. It still seems to me like a really weird direction to take things after all of this time.
If they are making it all a purely human conspiracy, then I think I would have rather they just did a reboot, and they even had a perfect new Mulder & Scully in Robbie Amell and Lauren Ambrose. That way they could have changed the conspiracy without retconning nine seasons worth of story and build up.
If we actually saw all of that happening as it happened in the story, then that does pretty much rule out it all being BS.
I'm really hoping Carter does some post finale interviews somewhere along the line, and addresses all of this. It still seems to me like a really weird direction to take things after all of this time.
If they are making it all a purely human conspiracy, then I think I would have rather they just did a reboot, and they even had a perfect new Mulder & Scully in Robbie Amell and Lauren Ambrose. That way they could have changed the conspiracy without retconning nine seasons worth of story and build up.
Yes, we saw it in real time quite often.
And I'm not really sure what people think has changed. We've added new levels to the mythology, but we haven't really changed anything. There was always more going on behind the scenes than we were ever aware of.
The only reason it may feel like things have changed is because we don't know what the aliens have been doing this whole time. The Apocalypse was always supposed to happen in 2012. The point of the Apocalypse was to prime the Earth for Alien Colonization by creating alien/human hybrids to be a slave race. It seems that's exactly what's happening. But it's probably easier to colonize a planet that doesn't have 7 billion living on it. Better to cull the herd first.
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Yes, but this episode also indicated that it wasn't just the small pox vaccine. It was ALL vaccines. I was getting a weird anti-vaxxer vibe from it too.
After all, they stopped administering small pox vaccines decades ago. I've certainly never had one.
