Revisiting the X-Files...

[Warped9]

I haven't watched this show in ages. And truth to tell I'm sure there were quite a few episodes I missed. I saw first season sporadically in its initial run and began to watch a bit more regularly in second season. But I never got down to being a consistent viewer.

I rather liked the show, but overall at the time I preferred the episodes where they were investigating weird shit.

Now I've picked up the first season set. I'm getting into these older shows again because candidly nothing on television these days interests me in the least...other than L&O: SVU and Mad Men, both of which I've missed the last seasons.


Anyway this evening I sat down to watch the original pilot episode and the next in line, "Deep Throat."

Right off I found myself grinning. I like the writing. And undoubtedly easily half of the stories are well crafted atmosphere. From the beginning Dana Scully thinks Fox Mulder is a nutbar, but a fascinating individual nonetheless. Another thing I like about this is the minimalism so to speak. They don't layer in anything more than you need to enjoy a mini spooky story, including the acting. And you empathize with Mulder's and Scully's frustration at having their every effort blocked or nullified when trying to unravel the mysteries.

This mightn't be deep television, but it's fun.

 

[Obiwanshinobi]

Thinking about revisiting it myself, after The Wire & The Sopranos

 

[Warped9]

Just about to watch the third episode, "Squeeze."

And I still think Dana Scully is smokin.'

 

[Lt. Brannigan]

I myself enjoy X-Files, but I was rather shocked at how clunky the overall mythology of the show is. The best I can say is watch one or two episodes a week otherwise it will get a little choppy....

Minor spoilers



Is she?
Yes. She was abducted...
Oh wait... she's dead.
Never mind CSM kidnapped her
Are you sure?
PSYCHE! She's been dead the entire time.

or something to that effect.

 

[Warped9]

"Squeeze" was pure creepy. I love how everyone else thinks Mulder is just totally off the wall because he's willing to look at any possibility.

Mulder thinking is interesting, though, because he subscribes to the notion that just because we haven't direct knowledge of something doesn't mean it can't be possible while everyone else is stuck in the notion that if we don't know anything remotely like this then it can't be real or even possible. And Scully straddles the line between the two beautifully.

 

[Warped9]

Just watched "Conduit," the fourth episode. Kind of interesting even if a paint-by-numbers way. Of course it seems fresh in its own way because I don't recall ever seeing this episode before.

This will be cool seeing episode I recall little of or have never seen at all.

 

[KB24]

We just started watching again, already up to Season 2! Outside of some hokey effects, it all holds up!

 

[Warped9]

We just started watching again, already up to Season 2! Outside of some hokey effects, it all holds up!

Thats what I thought as well. Little of it seems dated. The most obvious things are the examples of tech like the bulky cordless phones and small crt computer monitors. And so far I don't find the f/x that bad really.

 

[Warped9]

I just watched "The Jersey Devil." This one I remember and it's still cool. I love the writing and the credible portrayal of events unfolding.

I also laughed seeing Dana bored out of her skull with her wholesome "nice catch" date. Mulder's phone call in the middle of her dinner date was like a life line.

The back-and-forth exchange between Mulder and Scully is cool. And in case I haven't said it today Dana Scully is still smokin,'

 

[Harvey]

I've been re-watching select episodes for the past few months. I'm on the third disc of season six at the moment. Great series, though sometimes uneven.

 

[Warped9]

Just watched the fifth episode "Shadows." This is a straight up ghost story. Not much meat to it, but okay.

 

[Warped9]

"The Ghost In The Machine" is a classic cautionary tale of the danger of artificial intelligence. In a way it makes me think of TOS' "The Ultimate Computer" where a intelligent machine is willing to kill to protect its own existence.

"Ice" is a neat claustrophobic story of an organism infecting humans within a closed environment. And this is the kind of story that could work just as well in far future SF aboard a spacecraft or starship.

 

[Harvey]

"Ice" is a nice homage to The Thing From Another World, taking advantage of early distrust in the Mulder/Scully relationship and two great guest stars (Xander Berkeley and Felicity Huffman).

"Shadows" isn't very good--it's one of those early ghost stories that The X-Files never did very convincingly.

"Ghost in the Machine" is a mixed bag, but it does keep Jerry Hardin in play as Deep Throat, a thread which will continue throughout the first season.

 

[byron lomax]

I still love the first two XF seasons above any that came after. The low-key nature of the stories was part of their appeal. It was still about "extreme possibilities" and not just anything that came into writer's imaginations.

I'm looking forward to reading your opinion of "Space", which is widely reviled by fans, but which I actually quite like.

 

[Warped9]

I still love the first two XF seasons above any that came after. The low-key nature of the stories was part of their appeal. It was still about "extreme possibilities" and not just anything that came into writer's imaginations.

I'm looking forward to reading your opinion of "Space", which is widely reviled by fans, but which I actually quite like.

I agree the low-key approach is part of the appeal. The series seems grounded by its credible characters and approach to the extreme subject matter. It serves to lend the extreme ideas weight.

I watched "Space" this afternoon. I didn't dislike it, but it didn't really grab me. If I get it right the alien life force or whatever it was possessed the veteran astronaut in order to sabotage later attempts by humans to return to space. That seems to be the idea, but maybe I missed something.

I enjoyed "Eve" and "Fire" more. "Fallen Angel" had its moments and it was okay, but I found the paranoid "control freak" depiction of the military laughable and very cliche. Are the military ever portrayed on TV with characters with any perceptiveness and smarts? Well, maybe in JAG.

"Beyond The Sea" was rather creepy as Scully struggles with her own direct experience of paranormal phenomena.

 

[Delta1]

Mulder thinking is interesting, though, because he subscribes to the notion that just because we haven't direct knowledge of something doesn't mean it can't be possible while everyone else is stuck in the notion that if we don't know anything remotely like this then it can't be real or even possible.

What I like about Mulder's thinking is how he deals with aberrant events. Scientific thinking advises us to explain away aberrations when they don't fit into current theories. On the micro level, scientists may blame their measurement instruments. On the macro level, Scully explains aberrant events as hallucinations, hoaxes, or corner cases in our understanding of reality--freaks, but freaks that are predicted by theory.

Mulder says our theories are simply wrong, and then proposes wildly unlikely replacement theories. And he's usually right.

 

[Warped9]

"Gender Bender." I don't think I remember this episode. It wasn't bad and I admit I didn't see the end coming. I thought these were genetic mutations or aberrations of some kind. The crop circle at the end surprised me.

"Lazarus" was okay, but there were parts where I felt like drifting off.

"Young At Heart" was pretty much a crime story with a SF bent to it. I liked it.

 

[Winterwind]

Season 1 is pretty good. There were only a couple bad ones for me, "Space" being the worst of them.

 

[Warped9]

"E.B.E." Here the cat is really out of the bag and the cards are on the table. Mulder now knows the truth and he's now tasked with substantiating it. I had no idea this had happened so early in the series.

 

[byron lomax]

"E.B.E." Here the cat is really out of the bag and the cards are on the table. Mulder now knows the truth and he's now tasked with substantiating it. I had no idea this had happened so early in the series.

Fantastic episode. That and "Beyond the Sea" are probably the strongest of the first season.