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It feels like they had the episode written, then someone said, "Hold on, you need to include a scientific explanation for these guys," and they had to go back and force a square peg into a round hole.
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Aug 18, 2017 17:13
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inusually just assume mulder is insanely wrong, like in Humbug
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Aug 18, 2017 23:24
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Freaquency posted:It's "Detour" and yeah the Conquistador thing takes that episode off the rails real quick. It's a shame too because the part where Scully is singing to Mulder in the woods is hilarious
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Aug 19, 2017 04:00
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I always find it kind of baffling how the X-Files never did a proper bigfoot episode. Like that is arguably THE quintessential bit of American forteana outside of UFO poo poo. Then again, they never really did a chupacabra episode either.
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Aug 21, 2017 02:17
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RoboChrist 9000 posted:I always find it kind of baffling how the X-Files never did a proper bigfoot episode. Like that is arguably THE quintessential bit of American forteana outside of UFO poo poo. El Mundo Gira is a loosely-based-on Chupacabra episode
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Aug 21, 2017 02:32
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I remember being piss off at the Jersey Devil episode when I was younger because it wasn't about the cool rear end Jersey Devil
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Aug 21, 2017 03:02
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Big Mean Jerk posted:El Mundo Gira is a loosely-based-on Chupacabra episode Other than using the word 'chupacabra' and the Spanish-speaking setting there's really nothing at all in common between the plot of the episode and any of the chupacabras myths with which I am familiar. Although, fun fact, unless I'm mistaken, the X-Files predates the first claims of the chupacabras. Like that's one cryptid that rose to prominence during the show's run.
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Aug 21, 2017 03:20
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Snooze Cruise posted:I remember being piss off at the Jersey Devil episode when I was younger because it wasn't about the cool rear end Jersey Devil Yeah but you get that sweet rear end drawing of bigfoot with tits so I'd call it a wash.
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Aug 21, 2017 03:28
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RoboChrist 9000 posted:Although, fun fact, unless I'm mistaken, the X-Files predates the first claims of the chupacabras. Like that's one cryptid that rose to prominence during the show's run. You are correct, at least insofar as it entering into the public consciousness. First mention was in May of 1995.
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Aug 21, 2017 04:03
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RoboChrist 9000 posted:Other than using the word 'chupacabra' and the Spanish-speaking setting there's really nothing at all in common between the plot of the episode and any of the chupacabras myths with which I am familiar. Well to be fair, very little of the alien/UFO stuff featured on The X-Files has anything to do with "real" UFO culture in the US, either. Really, the Jose Chung episode was probably was the one based most off of it. That and Duane Barry.
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Aug 21, 2017 05:03
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The UFO poo poo was all tied up in nwo conspiracy theory, which did touch on aliens and ufos. There's a famous crazy book called Behold A Pale Horse that was probably a major inspiration for the conspiracy episodes.
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Aug 21, 2017 05:10
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I think there were fewer doomsday cults and fanatical posses in X-Files than might have been expected; they're two of the things I most associate with 90s conspiracy nonsense. There was one kinda sorta Branch Davidians / Waco siege episode, as I recall, but I guess they ended up saving most of that stuff for Millennium. Were there any Order of the Solar Temple mass suicides in X-Files? I'm sure there must have been but can't remember. Did X-Files ever mention Comet Hale-Bopp? Wheat Loaf fucked around with this message at 23:09 on Aug 21, 2017 |
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Aug 21, 2017 09:08
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Wheat Loaf posted:I think there were fewer doomsday cults and fanatical posses in X-Files than might have been expected; they're two of the things I most associate with 90s conspiracy nonsense. There was one kinda sort Branch Davidians / Waco siege episode, as I recall, but I guess they ended up saving most of that stuff for Millennium. Were there any Order of the Solar Temple mass suicides in X-Files? I'm sure there must have been but can't remember. Yeah they had the mass suicides in the field where I died
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Aug 21, 2017 23:01
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In general I think they avoided things that were too famous like Bigfoot
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Aug 22, 2017 18:17
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The X-files was all about dealing with the aftermath of the cold war and talking about all the awful stuff the US did during its height through the lens of alien conspiracies from that time. A lot of the stuff, like secret human experimentation, mind-control, cover-ups, assassinations, etc., are all direct allegories to actual known US government programs from the 50s-70s. It was all stuff people knew was happening and spread through these half-truths even before the real proof came out slowly as it was declassified, in various accidental document leaks, etc. A modern x-files would be about dealing with what happens after you win the war. It would have to deal with the half-truths today that we know are somehow true but aren't allowed to fully admit yet without being accused of conspiracy. Namely things like class warfare, total media control, cultural engineering, and the continued growth in power of the security state and its fragmentation into many privatized entities, etc. Which, if you'll notice, were all themes in the original X-files anyway. The ending of the original x-files series where the aliens are going to come destroy earth soon would have been a decent segue to this. Just say that the aliens won and took over earth in secret, but now they have no idea what to do now that they've won, and neither does Mulder. Hell, what would be really cool would be to explore through allegory the heinous poo poo the US got up to in the 90s after the fall of the Soviets. The poo poo that went down with the US and Yeltsin for instance was just insane and is rarely if ever discussed. But it's also directly relevant to today. Reality control through media control. Make that into the new thing. "We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality — judiciously, as you will — we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out." UFOs are old hat now. The new hotness (i.e. hovering on the edge of going totally mainstream) is eldritch horrors. X-Files should do that instead. Tie in the reality isn't real anymore stuff. OXBALLS DOT COM fucked around with this message at 18:26 on Aug 22, 2017 |
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Aug 22, 2017 18:21
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I have a question. I know is generally accepted now that the monster of the week episodes were the highlight of the show, but that when it was running, people cared about and wanted to get to the next episode that "mattered" in the context of the mythology arc. My question is, how did people know when an episode was going to be a mythology episode? Was it in advertisements? Was it shared on primitive Internet message boards or Usenet groups? Did people know in advance, "Oh, this is a stand alone episode; I can miss it and not miss anything" and, if so, how?
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Sep 6, 2017 12:29
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Wheat Loaf posted:I have a question. I know is generally accepted now that the monster of the week episodes were the highlight of the show, but that when it was running, people cared about and wanted to get to the next episode that "mattered" in the context of the mythology arc. My question is, how did people know when an episode was going to be a mythology episode? Was it in advertisements? Was it shared on primitive Internet message boards or Usenet groups? Did people know in advance, "Oh, this is a stand alone episode; I can miss it and not miss anything" and, if so, how? The previews for the following week usually made it clear, but sometimes it was a genuine surprise. There were also episode summaries published in tv guide and the weekly schedules that came with the Sunday newspaper. But generally you just had to tune in every week like a caveman without streaming or dvr.
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Sep 6, 2017 12:44
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business hammocks posted:But generally you just had to tune in every week like a caveman without streaming or dvr. As God intended.  (I remember in 2008 or so when everyone turned against Heroes, Tim Kring did an interview where he whinged about how TiVo was ruining serialised drama because it meant people stopped tuning in every week.)
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Sep 6, 2017 13:11
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Trailer for new season from NY Comicon. Lots of glimpses of metaplot episodes. https://youtu.be/IRdrt8nPyy8
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Oct 8, 2017 21:15
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Gobbeldygook posted:Trailer for new season from NY Comicon. Lots of glimpses of metaplot episodes. AAAH! AAAH! THEY BROUGHT KARIN KONOVAL BACK! I'm probably literally the only person who cares, but she's a scary as gently caress awesome Canadian actress, who's probably most famous for being the mother in Home. She's really good, and she's got a strong ongoing working relationship with Morgan/Wong, so she'll probably be turning up in one of their episodes. Open Source Idiom fucked around with this message at 09:18 on Oct 9, 2017 |
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Oct 9, 2017 09:10
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Open Source Idiom posted:AAAH! AAAH! THEY BROUGHT KARIN KONOVAL BACK! Weird trivia, she also plays (in mo-cap) Maurice the (male) orangutan in all 3 recent Planet of the Apes films
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Oct 9, 2017 09:15
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Shooting a scene at the laughing statues and just changing the nearby flags to American ones is a new level of "Not even pretending this isn't Vancouver".
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Oct 9, 2017 10:10
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OXBALLS DOT COM posted:The X-files was all about dealing with the aftermath of the cold war and talking about all the awful stuff the US did during its height through the lens of alien conspiracies from that time. A lot of the stuff, like secret human experimentation, mind-control, cover-ups, assassinations, etc., are all direct allegories to actual known US government programs from the 50s-70s. It was all stuff people knew was happening and spread through these half-truths even before the real proof came out slowly as it was declassified, in various accidental document leaks, etc. You're totally spot on with this. A large part of the original series, especially earlier in its run, functions as a depiction (and critique of) the emergence of the US deep state. The just-post-Cold War context makes what the series has to say all the more salient. It's actually kind of astonishing how a show with such a strong political subtext managed to become a network and pop culture sensation. As you mentioned, a newer run could explore aspects of the MIC and the continued era of American primacy through when the show actually aired and into the post-9/11 era. One thing that comes to mind is the continued expansion of NATO--this could have been the basis for a loving rad subplot. Another large part of the series is of course how it uses its premise to explore the byways of Americana--the world of sideshow performers, regional urban legends and cryptids, and in general that sense of "small town weird" as someone upthread aptly described it. The lens that the MotW episodes place on levels of regional American life is a big draw of the series. It seems like a continuation of these themes would be to explore how those same places have been affected by the rise of digital technologies, consumer culture, and deindustrialization. This is what made the Were-Monster episode so great--it directly asks if The X-Files are still relevant against these cultural tides, and whether the premise of the series is sufficient to contain them. It's no coincidence that a Darren Morgan episode would be the one to ask this, of course. It's just a shame--the original series is so densely packed with strong ideas and themes, and there are plenty of ways to extend them into a contemporary setting, but Chris Carter seems to have no idea what made the original series so great or how it managed to capture the zeitgeist like it did.
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Oct 9, 2017 14:25
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I actually wonder if Chris Carter was just a paranoid believer in all the post-Watergate conspiracy culture, or a reactionary energized by Waco/Ruby Ridge and he really had no idea that he was tapping into anything larger than his own weird interests. He seems more like an old hippie to me, but right-wing conspiracy theories were huge in the early 90s in ways that crossed back over ufo poo poo in weird ways. A lot of ufo people thought prayer and conservative christianity could fight the aliens, and that the government was enacting the new world order/UN takeover as part of some deal with satan or the antichrist. Arguably there was a stronger paranoid far right wing then than there is today.
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Oct 9, 2017 14:34
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I am doing a full rewatch on my daily commute, meaning I get through two episodes a day. However I haven’t seen all of them in the first place and what I did see was years ago so I don’t properly remember them all. I got halfway through In The Field Where I Died on my way home from work and I don’t know if I was too tired or the multiple personality schtick wasn’t working for me but I ended up turning it off. I saw in the Prime trivia notes it is one of Anderson’s favourite episodes. Is it worth persevering with? I got to the civil war speech and turned off.
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Dec 17, 2017 00:30
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Bacon Terrorist posted:I am doing a full rewatch on my daily commute, meaning I get through two episodes a day. However I haven’t seen all of them in the first place and what I did see was years ago so I don’t properly remember them all. I got halfway through In The Field Where I Died on my way home from work and I don’t know if I was too tired or the multiple personality schtick wasn’t working for me but I ended up turning it off. I saw in the Prime trivia notes it is one of Anderson’s favourite episodes. Is it worth persevering with? I got to the civil war speech and turned off.
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Dec 17, 2017 00:33
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Gobbeldygook posted:No. Gillian Anderson loves slow, meandering episodes. The one episode they let her direct is a total slog. She also wrote it. It's really really bad.
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Dec 17, 2017 01:19
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Yeah I skipped In The Field without finishing and the next few episodes are so much better (Sanginarium, Memoirs of a Cigarette Smoking Man, then a 2 parter mytharc revolving around a deadly biohazard from an asteroid piece).
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Dec 19, 2017 13:57
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That one is weird because it confirms that reincarnation exists in X-Files world and that the smoking man is doomed to reincarnate again and again somewhere around Mulder’s eternal soul, and nobody really reacts at all.
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Dec 19, 2017 14:08
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Yeah they skip over this stuff though, which is a minor bugbear of mine. Paper Harts is a great episode except it comes midway through season 4 where Mulder has had multiple counts of solid evidence on what happened to his sister and yet he doesn’t consider this when getting emotionally drawn in to Roche’s game.
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Dec 20, 2017 14:05
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reviews are out for the new season and theyre not bad. in a huge surprise the MotW episodes are good and the arc arent. http://www.indiewire.com/2017/12/x-files-season-11-review-1201908214/ quote:The season premiere, entitled “My Struggle III,” is not good — specifically, it’s not good in the same ways as the previous two “My Struggle” episodes, with slightly better pacing but a few bonus moments of bad choices and confusing plotting.
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Dec 21, 2017 08:04
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so basically the same as last season but better, then I can live with that
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Dec 22, 2017 05:25
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Ignis posted:so basically the same as last season but better, then I was prepared for the whole season to suck besides one or two MotW episodes. Better to go in with very low expectations.
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Dec 22, 2017 07:49
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My only hope is that they’ve dropped the godawful Alex Jones analogue. It’s Carter though, I know they won’t. 
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Dec 22, 2017 07:50
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Dec 22, 2017 08:18
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Big Mean Jerk posted:My only hope is that they’ve dropped the godawful Alex Jones analogue. Drop him and replace him with Tom Noonan playing an Art Bell analogue.
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Dec 22, 2017 09:06
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Loomer posted:Drop him and replace him with Tom Noonan playing an Art Bell analogue. yes, please
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Dec 22, 2017 10:57
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Loomer posted:Drop him and replace him with Tom Noonan playing an Art Bell analogue. Holy poo poo, please.
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Dec 22, 2017 16:13
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business hammocks posted:That one is weird because it confirms that reincarnation exists in X-Files world and that the smoking man is doomed to reincarnate again and again somewhere around Mulder’s eternal soul, and nobody really reacts at all. Its really weird when you consider Triangle too.
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Dec 22, 2017 23:49
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Last year I watched seasons 1-6 and kind of lost interest, then finished 7-9 just now. Holy moly the 9th season was rough to slog through, I was completely checked out for most of it (so was everyone else but Robert Patrick, to be fair). I can't believe they thought an hour long trial that consisted of thrown together clips with narration was the best way to end things
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Dec 23, 2017 14:51
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