• From: Iceland
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Topic: X-Files - Rewatch (Spoilers for X-Files)

My gym just updated their gear this month and one feature of the new cardio equipments it that you can watch your own tv shows or movies via iPods, smartphones or any old USB for that matter. Now I've never been able to stay on them machines longer than 20 minutes because it's just boring as hell. But now I can watch something and I've decided to revisit the X-Files. I've not seen them since they orginally aired here in Iceland in 1995 (we were late with TV shows then. Now we sometimes show popular TV shows the day after they air in USA or the UK).

So many things in modern television can be traced back to the X-files that I thought it might be interesting to note down a little bit about each episode as I work my way through them one cardio session at a time. I don't intend to recap them as they have been recapped well enough. I just want to jot down few things that I find interesting about each episode. Please feel free to correct me or add to my musings. I would love any input you have on the X-Files.



Pilot - S01E01

Plot:
Rough episode. The acting was stiff and the story was weak. It's the episode where Mulder and Scully are teamed up and they investigate the death of teenagers who had disappeared in the forests around an Oregon town. The story had it all, conspiracy, alien abduction, Roswell, The Smoking Man, Scully in her underwear. Ultimately though it was a ho hum of a story witch reminded me of sub par Dean Koontz story which is in my books a sub par Stephen King.

http://ashdigital.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/XFilesPilot1.png

Trivia:
William B. Davis appears in his role as the The Smoking Man, puffing on his herbal cigarettes. Or did he start with tobacco and the move over to herbal cigarettes? I used to know these things when I watched the show eons ago.

http://ashdigital.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/XFilesPilot2.jpg

X-File Rating: XX
Not bad but still finding it's footing. All the elements are there and the deep background impressed me. I would love to see the story bible they set out with. How deep into the rabbit hole did Vince Carter go before he started shooting the show?



Deep Throat. S01E02

The X-Files theme - One of the greatest TV theme song in history.

Notable Guest Stars:
Seth Green - In one of the funniest moments of the episode Seth Green playing a UFO watcher/stoner predicts the government is experimenting with something flying the army is going to roll out for Desert Storm II to drop bombs on Saddam. Chris Carter is talking about drones and the second Gulf War in 1993.

http://ashdigital.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/xfiles-DeepThroat_01.jpg

Scully and guns: - Dana leaves her firearm on the table when she leaves her motel room when her phone line is not working. Did the FBI not teach this stuff in school?

X-File Rating: XX
Ok episode but nothing to write home about.



Squeeze - S01E03

Plot:
Tooms was this genetic mutant who hibernated for cycles of 30 years and then needed to consume livers to sustain his chemical imbalance. He was a stretchy little fella. Then he got caught…

Notable Guest Stars:
Donal Logue: As the slimy FBI go getter Tom Colton. Wow... Donal Logue as a young man! What a journey from this to his performance in Terriers.

http://ashdigital.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/xfiles_donal_logue.jpg

Doug Hutchison: As Victor Tooms. Creepy then, creepy later (might remember him in The Green Mile as Percy Wetmore) and creepy as fuck today (when he married an 16 years old girl).

http://ashdigital.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/xfiles_Doug_Hutchison.jpg

Scully and guns: Scully has a holster for her firearm, but before she climbs down a hole in the wall she puts her gun in her pant string. Tsk, tsk...

X-File Rating: XXX
The first episode I remembered from seeing it originally. Creepy and with a lot of low budget cinematographic tricks.  Loved the throwback montage when Mulder and Scully are doing old fashioned investigation through archives and microfilms when they use the film noir flashing documents and graphics floating over them like in the old detective movies of the fifties and sixties.

Last edited by AshDigital (2013-10-19 13:13:06)

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I would never lie. I willfully participate in a campaign of misinformation.

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  • Registered: 2010-11-12
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Re: X-Files - Rewatch (Spoilers for X-Files)

I recently got all nine seasons of the show on DVD for an insanely low price (Amazon clearance), and I'm rewatching a couple per weekend. I was really struck upon re-viewing it just how bad the pilot is. Besides the weak script, I was especially surprised at how subpar the acting was. Duchovny wasn't too bad, but then again Mulder was never really a complex character; Gillian, though, was very stiff and awkward, which surprised me as she's generally the much better performer of the two.

"Squeeze" is always the episode I use to introduce people to the series. It might be the best non-comedic Monster-of-the-Week episode of the show's run, in my opinion; Hutchison's performance as Tooms is wonderfully creepy, Tooms himself is a very original creation, and the script is a perfect showcase of the blend of humor and horror that the best episodes possess. The regular actors are still finding their feet a little, I think, but they're already far better than they were two episodes ago.

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  • From: Iceland
  • Registered: 2011-12-05
  • Posts: 642
  • User Karma: 230

Re: X-Files - Rewatch (Spoilers for X-Files)

So second week of X-files at the gym for me. I had planned four cardio sessions but the gym was full this morning so I just mailed in a bro-session on the weights skipping the cardio. So 3 episodes for this week.

Conduit S01E04

Plot:
Girl disappears under mysterious circumstances.  Mulder becomes hones in on the case as it has the same elements to the disappearance of his sister. The girls younger brother has abilities. Ruby returns... Mulder cries in a church, under a stained glass window... wanting to believe.

http://m0vie.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/xfiles-conduit2.jpg

The show has it all... UFO, Abductions, NSA, Mulders sister but over all it was not a memorable show. It is all a little to random. Not bad per say but not good either. Nothing is explored.
What about the bikers? Nothing about the brother´s ability to pick up signals and decode them. Mulder just leaves when Ruby comes back... like he would not be all up in that.

http://m0vie.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/xfiles-conduit4.jpg

Scully and guns: Scully wakes up in the middle of the night. There are strange men outside her room. Where is her firearm? On the other side of the room!!! What is it with that woman and guns.

http://ashdigital.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/5580110048_57f151b77b.jpg

X-File Rating: XX
Over all it was a shallow episode, eventually throwing together few random events that did not make a compelling story. Usually considered one of the stronger episode in the first season I did not feel it was all that good. On a positive side, Gillian Anderson, although still wooden is getting a little more comfortable in her role. The other positive thing I took away from the episode is that it shines a light on Mulder's personality and lays a lot of pipe for the writers to explore.

http://m0vie.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/xfiles-conduit15.jpg

The Jersey Devil - S01E05

Plot:
Homeless man is killed and partially eaten in New Jersey: Mulder goes all "The Jersey Devil"! It's a girl, devil in no dress... she's killed, cause' you know... gambling. Also... Mulder and Playboy magazine.

http://m0vie.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/xfiles-jerseydevil2.jpg



Notes:
Wayne Tippit as Detective Thompson is excellent playing a real prick.

Michael MacRae as Ranger Peter Boulle chews the scenery with ferocious appetite. His big acting chops Reminded me of Charlton Heston in Waynes World.

http://hexdimension.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/X-Files-The-Jersey-Devil-img-3.jpg

It has an honest to god shoulder roll, not by one but both leads. Mulder and Scully sholder rolling... watch it for that if nothing else.

http://ashdigital.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/xfiles_jerseydevil_drawing.jpg

X-File Raiting: X
Bleh...

http://basementrejects.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/x-files-season-1-5-jersey-devil.jpg

Shadows - S01E06
Loved this episode. The show is finally finding it's stride.

Plot:
Simple story. Random mugging leads to Mulder and Scully being called in to advise on a matter of possible national security. Later dismissed Spooky Mulder believes he's on the trails of a poltergeist. Lauren, the damsel in distress is being haunted/protected by an entity that turns out to be her former boss, believed to have committed suicide. He was actually murdered and Lauren is in danger from the same bad guys. Confused? Don't be, it's all rather simple and neat when you see the episode. It's a little spooky but whole lot of fun.

http://www.chrisnu.com/s1/gal/shadows/Screenshot70.jpg

Notes:
Trey Stokes friend, Lisa Waltz was good as the damsel in distress. I've only seen her in Pet Sematary II so I don't know what happened to her but I liked her performance in the episode.

http://www.chrisnu.com/s1/gal/shadows/Screenshot14.jpg

Favorite quotes:
Mulder: Do you know how hard it is to fake your own death? Only one man has pulled it off: Elvis.

Scully: Are you saying Lauren Kyte crashed our car?
Mulder: Either that or a poltergeist.
Scully: They're heeeere...

http://medianerdalert.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/shadows.jpg

X-File Raiting: XXXX
Although rated C-/C+ in the X-Files realms I loved this episode. This episode had the right mixture of humor and creepiness for me.

Last edited by AshDigital (2013-10-19 18:24:33)

---------------------------------------------
I would never lie. I willfully participate in a campaign of misinformation.

AshDigital's Website

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