x-files

The X-Files (Movie)

The definitive American television series of the '90s comes to the big screen with an anticlimactic whimper. And how could it be otherwise? Why should material so perfectly realized in one medium necessarily translate well into another? The series is crisply and thoughtfully executed in just about every detail, but the heart of its appeal lies in the elegant handling of complicated and evolving ongoing story lines, which is not something movies are especially good at. The big-screen drive for closure cramps the creative style, though it may also help nonfans get a grip on the proceedings. We do get some invigorating thrills and chills, however, and a more satisfying sense of the scale of an all-enveloping human-alien conspiracy than ever before, but there's no more plot development here than in an average two-part season-ending. FBI black sheep Mulder and Scully have been temporarily transferred from the X-Files project to an anti-terrorist unit to investigate an Oklahoma City-style bombing. They uncover a new wrinkle in the Syndicate/Cancer Man conspiracy--basically an attempt to help one bunch of (benign?) aliens fight off another bunch who want to colonize Earth. A spectacular, ice-bound finale thrillingly staged by series-veteran director Rob Bowman offers Mulder (but not a conveniently unconscious Scully) his first clear look at a You Know What, which in some quarters qualifies as an epochal event. Martin Landau offers the agents some crucial clues, and several familiar TV faces (including the Lone Gunmen and Mitch Pileggi's indispensable Assistant Director Skinner) turn up briefly to wink knowingly at faithful fans. --David Chute

The X-Files: Pusher/Jose Chung's "From Outer Space"

This pair of stand-alone episodes from the third season spotlights the two sides of the series. "Pusher" (episode 17) is the gripping tale of a killer who uses his voice to control men's minds in this literal battle of wills between Mulder (David Duchovny) and the self-described "American Ronin" Robert Modell, who calls himself Pusher (Robert Wisden). Helmed by Rob Bowman, one of the series' strongest directors, this sleek, spooky thriller leaves the conspiracy aside for a tale that combines science and the supernatural in the form of an evil, amoral genius who uses his gift to terrorize and menace. "Jose Chung's 'From Outer Space'" (episode 20), from the fevered mind of Darin Morgin, sparkles with imaginative wit and playful twists on convention. The story, of a possible alien abduction that may in reality be a cover-up for secret air force experiments, is told from the differing points of views of witnesses, all interview subjects of "reality book" author Jose Chung (Charles Nelson Reilly). Morgin takes the premise a step further, transforming the re-creation of events according to the teller of the tale: Rashomon with a satirical slant. With Bowman at the helm delivering Morgin's inventive screenplay with deadpan accuracy, this episode's dry wit and satirical skew has become a fan favorite. --Sean Axmaker

The X-Files - Small Potatoes/Gethsemane

The X-Files (Movie)

The definitive American television series of the '90s comes to the big screen with an anticlimactic whimper. And how could it be otherwise? Why should material so perfectly realized in one medium necessarily translate well into another? The series is crisply and thoughtfully executed in just about every detail, but the heart of its appeal lies in the elegant handling of complicated and evolving ongoing story lines, which is not something movies are especially good at. The big-screen drive for closure cramps the creative style, though it may also help nonfans get a grip on the proceedings. We do get some invigorating thrills and chills, however, and a more satisfying sense of the scale of an all-enveloping human-alien conspiracy than ever before, but there's no more plot development here than in an average two-part season-ending. FBI black sheep Mulder and Scully have been temporarily transferred from the X-Files project to an anti-terrorist unit to investigate an Oklahoma City-style bombing. They uncover a new wrinkle in the Syndicate/Cancer Man conspiracy--basically an attempt to help one bunch of (benign?) aliens fight off another bunch who want to colonize Earth. A spectacular, ice-bound finale thrillingly staged by series-veteran director Rob Bowman offers Mulder (but not a conveniently unconscious Scully) his first clear look at a You Know What, which in some quarters qualifies as an epochal event. Martin Landau offers the agents some crucial clues, and several familiar TV faces (including the Lone Gunmen and Mitch Pileggi's indispensable Assistant Director Skinner) turn up briefly to wink knowingly at faithful fans. --David Chute

The X-Files: Humbug/Anasazi

The X-Files: Squeeze/Tooms

The X-Files Boxed Set - Vol.7 (Herrenvolk, Home, Unruhe, Paper Hearts, Tunguska, and Terma)

This outstanding set of six episodes from the fourth (1996) season of The X-Files offers an equal balance of superior stand-alone stories and intricate chapters of the show's ongoing conspiracy "mythology," providing viewers with an opportunity to savor consistently excellent writing and direction. The primary reason to own this set is the inclusion of "Home," an episode so unsettling that it was banned from Fox-TV after just one network broadcast (thus making it the most cherished episode for collectors). But the good news here is that all of these episodes are equally outstanding, representing the series cast and crew at their seasoned best, when the show had fully settled into the tantalizing complexities of its overall structure (most evident here in the related episodes "Herrenvolk," "Tunguska," and "Terma"). These shows also give David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson some of their finest moments, both dramatic and deliciously sarcastic, as the Scully-Mulder dynamic reaches its most satisfying level of comfort and teasing ambiguity.

From deeply disturbing plots to the brand of offbeat levity that gives the show its unique appeal, these six episodes reveal the series at peak maturity, willing and able to push the limits of terror as never before seen on television. Certainly not for every taste (since they're sure to prove unsettling for the uninitiated viewer), but for die-hard X-philes, this is arguably the finest boxed set available. --Jeff Shannon

Episodes include: Herrenvolk, Home, Unrone, Paper Hearts, Tunguska, and Terma.

The X-Files Boxed Set - V.5 (The Blessing Way, Paper Clip, Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose, War of The Coprophages, Nisei, 731)

Volume 5: "The Blessing Way/Paper Clip," "Nisei/731," and "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose/War of the Coprophages."

The X-Files: Herrenvolk/Home

Destined to become the most collectible video among fans of The X-Files, this two-episode cassette is from the show's excellent fourth season--the first episode presenting a pivotal chapter of the series' conspiratorial "mythology" and the second offering a stand-alone plot so twisted and bizarre that it was banned from Fox TV after its original broadcast.

Scripted by series creator Chris Carter (who is interviewed on this video), "Herrenvolk" is packed with crucial events that link it to previous and subsequent episodes concerning the conspiracy of alien colonization that runs throughout the series. (Because of this, the following synopsis will only make sense to the show's loyal fans.) While Mulder attempts to protect the mysterious Jeremiah Smith (Roy Thinnes) from an alien bounty hunter, he witnesses a secret farm community where clones--including a replica of Mulder's missing sister--carry out some unknown task. Meanwhile, Scully learns the astonishing truth about Smith, and Agent X is gunned down as a traitor, staying alive just long enough to leave Mulder a vital clue to the ongoing investigation. Dealing another trump card in the unfolding conspiracy, Cigarette Smoking Man orders the miraculous healing of Mulder's dying mother, on the logic that "the fiercest enemy is the man who has nothing left to lose."

While "Herrenvolk" is a first-rate chapter with intricate connections to The X-Files mythology, "Home" is a stand-alone episode that surely qualifies as one of the most outrageously bizarre hours of drama in the history of prime-time television. It begins when Mulder and Scully investigate a horrible case of infanticide in the seemingly peaceful town of Home, Pennsylvania. The tiny, malformed corpse leads the agents to investigate the mysterious Peacock family, a trio of hideously deformed brothers who maintain a legacy of inbreeding with their equally disfigured mother, a quadruple amputee who is kept hidden on a rolling platform in the Peacock home. Brilliantly scripted by Glen Morgan and James Wong, "Home" posed a horrifically clever challenge to network censors, and managed to get away with murder in terms of what is implied and actually revealed. The Peacocks are both repugnant and oddly compelling (the writers may have been inspired by the documentary Brother's Keeper), and their loving mother (arguably the most freakish human ever depicted on mainstream TV) will go to any length to continue her family's mutated bloodline. What's most amazing is that "Home" covers this terrible territory with outrageous humor and the appropriate touch of tragedy--not only can Scully ponder the horrors of the Peacock legacy, she can crack wise by quoting the movie Babe while maneuvering through the Peacock's pigpen! And if you think the surviving Peacock brother is just keeping mommy comfortable in the trunk of his Cadillac, well... you haven't been paying attention. --Jeff Shannon

The X-Files - Tempus Fugit/Max

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