Funny how all the disturbing episodes I remember involve fungus.
That underground fungus they got trapped in and tripping out of their minds.
The Chupacabra episode.
Them being trapped at some science station with a big fungus growing inside someone's body and erupting out of the throat.
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physi_marcPositron TrackerIn a nutshellRegistered Userregular
Oh, X-Files! I started watching around Season 4 (and eventually watched the first 3 seasons) and kept up with it until the very end. It still remains one of my favourite TV shows of all time. The standalone episodes of the last two seasons are somewhat palatable and I actually really liked Robert Patrick's character.
Anyone remember that Stephen King episode with the killer doll? To this day, I still think of that episode whenever I hear the Hokey Pokey song.
I wish I could erase Scully's baby's storylines from my memory, though. Dreadful.
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The show really jumped the shark when they were trapped in a video game (episode with the lone gunmen and vr and stuff). I stopped watching for the most part after that episode.
Its like - guys you already did this plot years ago, with a rogue AI hiding in a trailer and it was so much better then this. Whyyyyyyyy?
Tooms is still the best "villain" in the show's history. I was always pumped when Krycek showed up. You knew shit was about to go down when he appeared.
Funniest part looking back: The diner scene where Mulder eats a whole pie asking one question between slices. That whole episode is just great.
Scariest part: Woman in an apartment alone is woken up at night, goes to her window. Oh it's just some workcrew going about their business. They all look up at her at once and they have no faces. Then they start walking through the ever-loving walls!
The vampire pizza delivery kid episode was just the best.
They won comedy awards for that episode if I remember correctly, and DD was really confused accepting it but gracious.
Also, there is an episode where the movie chronicle is literally the exact same plot just without shaky cams.
I'll repeat the sentiment, only the monster of the week episodes were good. I liked that they took an episode (in the last season?) to give the lone gunmen closure after their show got canceled. holy shit the x-files got direct spin offs, I forgot about that.
As a kid watching this, I absolutely loved the conspiracy-building episodes. I know everyone pisses all over them now, wanting the MotW stuff, but back then I couldn't wait to find out who was doing what behind the scenes. Reading this thread is making me want to hunt down the complete series and go through it all again. Then again, I'm a couple of series' down on Supernatural, so I've got plenty of "hunting weird stuff in the woods" to keep me entertained.
As for memorable episodes, anybody mentioned the guy with the black-hole shadow? That one was good.
I recall there being some really beautiful camera work in the episode that Anderson directed, "All Things."
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FakefauxCóiste BodharDriving John McCain to meet some Iraqis who'd very much like to make his acquaintanceRegistered Userregular
edited August 2013
Hindsight is 20/20, but looking back on the show part of the big let down with the "conspiracy" is how simple it was.
The aliens are planning to invade.That's it. We'd had hundreds of alien invasion movie before the show came out.
It wasn't an interesting or novel concept, it wasn't mysterious. As soon as you realized that's what the conspiracy was about, it instantly became less interesting.
They really should have dug deeper into Ufology. If they had revealed that the "aliens" were actually John Keel style ultra-terrestrials, it might have made a great fourth season rug-pull.
Of all the spin offs (okay well, Chris Carter shows within the same universe as the X-Files, not all are actually X-Files spin offs except TLG) I think only Millennium was any good? Harsh Realm is kind of just dull as dirt and I never bothered with The Lone Gunmen but I haven't heard good things. At least they had good episodes within the main show.
The vampire pizza delivery kid episode was just the best.
Was that the episode where Mulder got drugged and managed to spill his seeds and the OCD vampire guy was all "oh, you are SO dead when I'm done counting these!"?
Loved, loved this show growing up. I've been meaning to do a re-watch for the longest time, but I haven't been able to get the time.
I liked the conspiracy episodes just about as much as the MotW episodes for the first few seasons, but there was a point (after the movie/S5? I'm fuzzy on when the various conspiracy events took place on the show. I think after the mass burning of a certain group) that it became a chore to watch. But I still remember there being some good MotW episodes after that point, even all the way to the Mulder-less years.
So, is The Lone Gunmen worth looking into at all? I'm sorta interested in it just because it's the last bit of the X-Files universe I missed out on, and because of Vince Gilligan's involvement with it.
I definitely like the "Monster of the Week" episodes a lot more than the "super soldier" episodes that wind up tied into that big plot arc with the alien colonists and the film and Mulder leaving the show and Scully becoming the believer and Mulder coming back later.
I especially recall liking Kaddish (the golem episode), Signs & Wonders (the snake handlers episode), Bad Blood (the OCD vampires episode), and Jose Chung's From Outer Space (the Pale Fire episode). The great thing about Monster of the Week is, of course, that you get the whole story in one sitting, so if it's great, you walk away feeling good about yourself, and if it's bad, you don't have to sit through another few episodes of it.
The thing I really like about X-Files is that there was so much breadth in the kind of stories they could tell in that format. I mean, detective stories generally offer a lot of leeway in terms of scifi/fantasy/horror elements. And government agents can encounter all kinds of sketchy things because of their access. And they obviously gave their writers and effects doods a lot of creative freedom to explore.
Also worth a look, Kolchak: the Night Stalker, the ol' 1970s show about a two bit reporter seeking out paranormal mysteries, which almost certainly inspired X-Files.
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scherbchenAsgard (it is dead)Registered Userregular
I only started watching this show a couple of years ago when my girlfriend wanted to watch it with me. I knew nothing about the over-arching story other than "aliens and conspiracies!!!". The pilot was interesting, and I watched through the first couple of episodes, and then dove through them before getting incredibly bored with it at about season 5, when the fourth season finale
was shown to be mostly bullshit
and things started to feel like they were dragging on. The feel of the show was great and I should probably finish it now, though it is hard to watch after seeing shows like Buffy, Angel, and especially Supernatural, which totally borrow from the show heavily in feel.
About the it all being in Mulder's head theory, how does that explain stuff like the general conspiracy, where he is onto something and the government is hiding quite a bit, considering stuff like
X and Deepthroat getting murdered, scenes in episodes where Mulder isn't around and crazy shit happens, the talking with dead people that Scully goes through, the weird alien bounty hunter, the pilot episode where time stops at one point, people are getting abducted, the crazy body deformity corpses, the fire, etc. While the being in Mulder's head theory does sound interesting, even in the early seasons there is quite a bit that is pretty fucked up to show that something more is going on, and the monster of the week monsters sometimes really are pretty crazy.
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FakefauxCóiste BodharDriving John McCain to meet some Iraqis who'd very much like to make his acquaintanceRegistered Userregular
About the it all being in Mulder's head theory, how does that explain stuff like the general conspiracy, where he is onto something and the government is hiding quite a bit, considering stuff like
X and Deepthroat getting murdered, scenes in episodes where Mulder isn't around and crazy shit happens, the talking with dead people that Scully goes through, the weird alien bounty hunter, the pilot episode where time stops at one point, people are getting abducted, the crazy body deformity corpses, the fire, etc. While the being in Mulder's head theory does sound interesting, even in the early seasons there is quite a bit that is pretty fucked up to show that something more is going on, and the monster of the week monsters sometimes really are pretty crazy.
See, this is where I feel the ultra-terrestrial idea would have really tied things together.
Loved, loved this show growing up. I've been meaning to do re-watch for the longest time, but I haven't been able to get the time.
I liked the conspiracy episodes just about as much of MotW episodes for the first few seasons, but there was a point (after the movie/S5? I'm fuzzy on when when the various conspiracy events took place on the show. I think after the mass burning of a certain group) that it became a chore to watch. But I still remember there being some good MotW episodes after that point, even all the way to the Mulder-less years.
So, is The Lone Gunmen worth looking into at all? I'm sorta interested in it just because it's the last bit of the X-Files universe I missed out on, and because of Vince Gilligan involvement with it.
The Lone Gunmen was like 13 episodes I think? I just HAD to have Lone Gunmen when it came out on DVD mostly for nostalgia. I remember the tone being more comedic and taking itself less seriously than X-Files. It features a prominent character named "Jimmy Bond" if that tells you anything. I always loved TLG episodes, so I looked past all of the faults of the series. I haven't watched it in a long time, but if you like TLG, then absolutely check it out.
RocketSauce on
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Element BrianPeanut Butter ShillRegistered Userregular
I watched the first season firefly bug episode in washington last night because i wanted to feel home sick.
Also the episode where they move into the suburbs is fucking hilarious and if you don't like it then i dont like you
Was that the episode where Mulder got drugged and managed to spill his seeds and the OCD vampire guy was all "oh, you are SO dead when I'm done counting these!"?
There are two episodes that stick with me. One was Ice, where they were stuck in an Alaskan outpost with a murderous alien worm, because holy fuck that was terrifying. The other was the one where Mulder got stuck in an passenger ship in the past, while Scully was in the same ship (now abandoned) in the present, because the way they cut between the two times was awesome and brilliant.
I also loved anything to do with Cancer Man. He was such a great character. All you had to do was take any scene, any one at all, and stick Cancer Man in a corner smoking a cigarette, and suddenly that scene is a thousand times more interesting. Because what is he doing over there? Probably something super shady and interesting!
I submitted an entry to Lego Ideas, and if 10,000 people support me, it'll be turned into an actual Lego set!If you'd like to see and support my submission, follow this link.
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AchireIsn't life disappointing? Yes, it is.Registered Userregular
Wasn't there supposedly a Lone Gunmen episode about a plane flying into the WTC? Never really watched the show.
Anyway, looks like I'm going to have to get my DVD box sets back from a friend.
The pilot episode depicted a plane being flown into the New York World Trade Center; it originally aired six months before 9/11. Foreshadowing a number of conspiracy theories which would arise in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks, the plot of the March 4, 2001 episode depicts a secret faction within the US government plotting to hijack a Boeing 727 and fly it into the World Trade Center by remote control. The stated motive was to increase the military defense budget by blaming the attack on foreign interests. In the episode, the plot is foiled by the protagonists, who board the doomed plane and deactivate the malicious autopilot system just seconds before the plane would have reached the World Trade Center.[3]
I submitted an entry to Lego Ideas, and if 10,000 people support me, it'll be turned into an actual Lego set!If you'd like to see and support my submission, follow this link.
The show really jumped the shark when they were trapped in a video game (episode with the lone gunmen and vr and stuff). I stopped watching for the most part after that episode.
Its like - guys you already did this plot years ago, with a rogue AI hiding in a trailer and it was so much better then this. Whyyyyyyyy?
While that episode is particularly awful, there's still a great part:
When Mulder is in the rural police station, and just to piss off Scully he plays along with the model cat-calling.
"Ice cold,"
Scully's 'You're unBELIEVABLE!' reaction was played-out perfectly.
There are two episodes that stick with me. One was Ice, where they were stuck in an Alaskan outpost with a murderous alien worm, because holy fuck that was terrifying. The other was the one where Mulder got stuck in an passenger ship in the past, while Scully was in the same ship (now abandoned) in the present, because the way they cut between the two times was awesome and brilliant.
I also loved anything to do with Cancer Man. He was such a great character. All you had to do was take any scene, any one at all, and stick Cancer Man in a corner smoking a cigarette, and suddenly that scene is a thousand times more interesting. Because what is he doing over there? Probably something super shady and interesting!
the best part about cancer man is the episode where they show him trying to submit his book and reveal his backstory doesn't diminish him
usually the reveal makes a villain less interesting, but with this guy we have simultaneously one of the most mysterious knowledgeable and dangerous men on the planet, and he's kind of pathetic because he's clearly sacrificed anything resembling a life for it. He doesn't even get what a politician or general gets, there's no prestige, nobody knows who he is
All part of the coordinated government smokescreen plan to further distance themselves from suspicion. Because of course if they allowed it to be portrayed in fiction they - I can't keep this up any more.
The vampire pizza delivery kid episode was just the best.
They won comedy awards for that episode if I remember correctly, and DD was really confused accepting it but gracious.
Also, there is an episode where the movie chronicle is literally the exact same plot just without shaky cams.
I'll repeat the sentiment, only the monster of the week episodes were good. I liked that they took an episode (in the last season?) to give the lone gunmen closure after their show got canceled. holy shit the x-files got direct spin offs, I forgot about that.
So, I met Patrick Renna this summer, and mentioned that episode to him, because as a kid I had connected with him so much through sandlot, that I think i got freaked out thinking he died in that episode.
usually the reveal makes a villain less interesting, but with this guy we have simultaneously one of the most mysterious knowledgeable and dangerous men on the planet, and he's kind of pathetic because he's clearly sacrificed anything resembling a life for it. He doesn't even get what a politician or general gets, there's no prestige, nobody knows who he is
And he couldn't even keep the Bills out of the Super Bowl.
"Because things are the way they are, things will not stay the way they are." - Bertolt Brecht
The episode I always remember that freaked me out as a kid was the one where they were in the backwoods and there were those bugs that sucked you dry if you weren't standing in a lit place because the light made them go dormant and it turns out the were on everything.
Towards the end they are huddled in a cabin under a lamp watching the fuel in the generator run out.
The show is pure gold for about 3 seasons, with the writers more or less letting you draw the assumption that either Mulder is right (hahaha no) and there is an effort by corrupt officials to cover-up alien and other paranormal forces antagonizing humanity, or that Mulder's perspective is totally warped and we're being shown this warped reality, with occasional flickers of truth coming from Scully. This 3-way tension of belief between the viewer, Scully and Mulder just works on so many levels (and is even directly addressed in some episodes, the most notable being, "Bad Blood").
It's still charming, sort-of, after the X-Files movie and Season 4. But it's clear at this point that the writers have decided to abandon the ambiguity (Mulder is RIGHT! There are ALIENS! This show is now SCI FI HORROR!), and from then on it's just a fucking train wreck. If you can even make it through the last two very badly crafted seasons, the series finale is just dreadful. And, unfortunately, since most seasons end on a cliffhanger, it's not exactly easy to just pretend that everything is over after S3 or S4.
I don't buy this shit.
As much as Mulder is often TOO out there, the show very much establishes that SOMETHING is actually going on. There's ambiguity about what exactly is happening but there's little ambiguity that Mulder is on to something.
Hindsight is 20/20, but looking back on the show part of the big let down with the "conspiracy" is how simple it was.
The aliens are planning to invade.That's it. We'd had hundreds of alien invasion movie before the show came out.
It wasn't an interesting or novel concept, it wasn't mysterious. As soon as you realized that's what the conspiracy was about, it instantly became less interesting.
They really should have dug deeper into Ufology. If they had revealed that the "aliens" were actually John Keel style ultra-terrestrials, it might have made a great fourth season rug-pull.
They are actually sorta ultra-terrestrials as I remember. They are trying to colonize Earth after having left ages ago due to an ice age or something.
Anyway, I thought it was an interesting idea for the most part. The very basic idea is pretty standard but the overall shape of the colonization plan is pretty interesting. They are returning and the government conspiracy is various people trying to hedge bets against an invasion they don't believe they can stop.
The problem is X-Files stretched that main arc shit out far too long and got far too complicated and weird and basically was alot of foot-dragging and lack of planning. It's sorta like Lost really, except they probably pulled it off better.
Also, even as a kid I disliked the comedy episodes. I think they really messed with the feel and tone of the show.
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Linespider5ALL HAIL KING KILLMONGERRegistered Userregular
I loved the X-Files growing up. Not to mention there was a time on FX where, basically every night. it would be possible to watch like four episodes back to back on syndication. Great late night stuff.
Tried watching in on Netflix now, and, I'm shocked to say the show doesn't do it for me as well these days. I can't give a substantial reasoning beyond:
1) A lot of what's there, underneath the mythology, is often depressing as fuck in terms of the toll it takes on Mulder and Scully and the air of helplessness that often pervades damn near everything going on in the Big Story;
2) The unfortunate truth that, when it gets down to the wire, Chris Carter shows a crippling affinity for wispy-washy feel good new age garbage when he isn't being reigned in by other writers. Carter basically ruined the entire Mulder's Sister plot line in the end, among other things.
The X-Files was a very good show for its time, but it lived and thrived in the culture that formed with it, spanning the full length of the Clinton Administration, a time we're a long, long way away from now.
Posts
That underground fungus they got trapped in and tripping out of their minds.
The Chupacabra episode.
Them being trapped at some science station with a big fungus growing inside someone's body and erupting out of the throat.
Anyone remember that Stephen King episode with the killer doll? To this day, I still think of that episode whenever I hear the Hokey Pokey song.
I wish I could erase Scully's baby's storylines from my memory, though. Dreadful.
Nintendo Network ID: PhysiMarc
Its like - guys you already did this plot years ago, with a rogue AI hiding in a trailer and it was so much better then this. Whyyyyyyyy?
Funniest part looking back: The diner scene where Mulder eats a whole pie asking one question between slices. That whole episode is just great.
Scariest part: Woman in an apartment alone is woken up at night, goes to her window. Oh it's just some workcrew going about their business. They all look up at her at once and they have no faces. Then they start walking through the ever-loving walls!
They won comedy awards for that episode if I remember correctly, and DD was really confused accepting it but gracious.
Also, there is an episode where the movie chronicle is literally the exact same plot just without shaky cams.
I'll repeat the sentiment, only the monster of the week episodes were good. I liked that they took an episode (in the last season?) to give the lone gunmen closure after their show got canceled. holy shit the x-files got direct spin offs, I forgot about that.
As for memorable episodes, anybody mentioned the guy with the black-hole shadow? That one was good.
They really should have dug deeper into Ufology. If they had revealed that the "aliens" were actually John Keel style ultra-terrestrials, it might have made a great fourth season rug-pull.
Hm. Apparently. :P
Basically just CM being mopey, smoking, and being involved in various history making events (which of course require aliens).
Was that the episode where Mulder got drugged and managed to spill his seeds and the OCD vampire guy was all "oh, you are SO dead when I'm done counting these!"?
I remember wondering why the ground itself was unaffected by his shadow.
I liked the conspiracy episodes just about as much as the MotW episodes for the first few seasons, but there was a point (after the movie/S5? I'm fuzzy on when the various conspiracy events took place on the show. I think after the mass burning of a certain group) that it became a chore to watch. But I still remember there being some good MotW episodes after that point, even all the way to the Mulder-less years.
So, is The Lone Gunmen worth looking into at all? I'm sorta interested in it just because it's the last bit of the X-Files universe I missed out on, and because of Vince Gilligan's involvement with it.
I especially recall liking Kaddish (the golem episode), Signs & Wonders (the snake handlers episode), Bad Blood (the OCD vampires episode), and Jose Chung's From Outer Space (the Pale Fire episode). The great thing about Monster of the Week is, of course, that you get the whole story in one sitting, so if it's great, you walk away feeling good about yourself, and if it's bad, you don't have to sit through another few episodes of it.
The thing I really like about X-Files is that there was so much breadth in the kind of stories they could tell in that format. I mean, detective stories generally offer a lot of leeway in terms of scifi/fantasy/horror elements. And government agents can encounter all kinds of sketchy things because of their access. And they obviously gave their writers and effects doods a lot of creative freedom to explore.
Also worth a look, Kolchak: the Night Stalker, the ol' 1970s show about a two bit reporter seeking out paranormal mysteries, which almost certainly inspired X-Files.
what the hell is that thing behind you?
About the it all being in Mulder's head theory, how does that explain stuff like the general conspiracy, where he is onto something and the government is hiding quite a bit, considering stuff like
See, this is where I feel the ultra-terrestrial idea would have really tied things together.
The Lone Gunmen was like 13 episodes I think? I just HAD to have Lone Gunmen when it came out on DVD mostly for nostalgia. I remember the tone being more comedic and taking itself less seriously than X-Files. It features a prominent character named "Jimmy Bond" if that tells you anything. I always loved TLG episodes, so I looked past all of the faults of the series. I haven't watched it in a long time, but if you like TLG, then absolutely check it out.
Also the episode where they move into the suburbs is fucking hilarious and if you don't like it then i dont like you
Arch,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_goGR39m2k
Yes!
That's "Bad Blood".
I also loved anything to do with Cancer Man. He was such a great character. All you had to do was take any scene, any one at all, and stick Cancer Man in a corner smoking a cigarette, and suddenly that scene is a thousand times more interesting. Because what is he doing over there? Probably something super shady and interesting!
Anyway, looks like I'm going to have to get my DVD box sets back from a friend.
Yeah, the first episode, aired 6 months before 9/11:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lone_Gunmen_(TV_series)#September_11_parallel
Never knew Jihadis were X-Files fanboys.
While that episode is particularly awful, there's still a great part:
When Mulder is in the rural police station, and just to piss off Scully he plays along with the model cat-calling.
"Ice cold,"
Scully's 'You're unBELIEVABLE!' reaction was played-out perfectly.
the best part about cancer man is the episode where they show him trying to submit his book and reveal his backstory doesn't diminish him
usually the reveal makes a villain less interesting, but with this guy we have simultaneously one of the most mysterious knowledgeable and dangerous men on the planet, and he's kind of pathetic because he's clearly sacrificed anything resembling a life for it. He doesn't even get what a politician or general gets, there's no prestige, nobody knows who he is
All part of the coordinated government smokescreen plan to further distance themselves from suspicion. Because of course if they allowed it to be portrayed in fiction they - I can't keep this up any more.
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
So, I met Patrick Renna this summer, and mentioned that episode to him, because as a kid I had connected with him so much through sandlot, that I think i got freaked out thinking he died in that episode.
Arch,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_goGR39m2k
And he couldn't even keep the Bills out of the Super Bowl.
Towards the end they are huddled in a cabin under a lamp watching the fuel in the generator run out.
I don't buy this shit.
As much as Mulder is often TOO out there, the show very much establishes that SOMETHING is actually going on. There's ambiguity about what exactly is happening but there's little ambiguity that Mulder is on to something.
Anyway, I thought it was an interesting idea for the most part. The very basic idea is pretty standard but the overall shape of the colonization plan is pretty interesting. They are returning and the government conspiracy is various people trying to hedge bets against an invasion they don't believe they can stop.
The problem is X-Files stretched that main arc shit out far too long and got far too complicated and weird and basically was alot of foot-dragging and lack of planning. It's sorta like Lost really, except they probably pulled it off better.
Tried watching in on Netflix now, and, I'm shocked to say the show doesn't do it for me as well these days. I can't give a substantial reasoning beyond:
1) A lot of what's there, underneath the mythology, is often depressing as fuck in terms of the toll it takes on Mulder and Scully and the air of helplessness that often pervades damn near everything going on in the Big Story;
2) The unfortunate truth that, when it gets down to the wire, Chris Carter shows a crippling affinity for wispy-washy feel good new age garbage when he isn't being reigned in by other writers. Carter basically ruined the entire Mulder's Sister plot line in the end, among other things.
The X-Files was a very good show for its time, but it lived and thrived in the culture that formed with it, spanning the full length of the Clinton Administration, a time we're a long, long way away from now.
Damn I feel old. Again.