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Wizchine posted:There was nothing remotely close at the time on tv. Yeah, this. The X-Files changed a lot about genre television; pretty much every serial sci-fi drama since then owes something to it and wouldn't have been possible had it not existed and been a huge hit.
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Feb 1, 2014 19:20
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I haven't watched most of these episodes since I was a kid, but the show as a whole so far has held up remarkably well. The physical effects were well done, the writing (even in the mediocre episodes) is competent, and I love the general atmosphere. The only weak point is the music, but for me it just adds to the nostalgia. Someone earlier mentioned that as a kid they identified more with Mulder but upon rewatching started to side with Scully more, and I have to agree. Especially in the first season, when Mulder routinely makes such enormous leaps to connect cases to the supernatural.
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Feb 1, 2014 20:38
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haveblue posted:Yeah, this. The X-Files changed a lot about genre television; pretty much every serial sci-fi drama since then owes something to it and wouldn't have been possible had it not existed and been a huge hit. It also managed to survive the Friday Night Death Slot when it got a second chance on Sundays.
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Feb 1, 2014 21:49
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Big Mean Jerk posted:I haven't watched most of these episodes since I was a kid, but the show as a whole so far has held up remarkably well. The physical effects were well done, the writing (even in the mediocre episodes) is competent, and I love the general atmosphere. The only weak point is the music, but for me it just adds to the nostalgia. Someone earlier mentioned that as a kid they identified more with Mulder but upon rewatching started to side with Scully more, and I have to agree. Especially in the first season, when Mulder routinely makes such enormous leaps to connect cases to the supernatural. What do you dislike about the music? I'm curious because I posted earlier that I'd forgotten just how good it is. It's perfect atmosphere music. I don't notice it most of the time, but when I do, I enjoy it. The special effects are really good too. I just finished watching 'F. Emasculata' (young Dean Norris!) and it's quite gruesome.
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Feb 1, 2014 21:51
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Octy posted:What do you dislike about the music? I'm curious because I posted earlier that I'd forgotten just how good it is. It's perfect atmosphere music. I don't notice it most of the time, but when I do, I enjoy it. Ugh, I forgot how gross that episode is. The blisters and whatnot are so nasty looking and well done. I remember watching that episode and thinking, due to the name, that there would be a reveal that it only affected men for whatever science reason, Mulder would get it and Scully would have to find a cure. I think in the episode, too, only men got infected, but they never actually say that so it was probably just a coincidence. I dunno. I got pretty  -y while I was watching it last time.Gotta do a rewatch. I might only do MOTW episodes, since they were always my favorite. I remember the mytharc getting really good around the time when the psychic chess kid shows up, though, and I liked the Scully in Africa episodes even though I'm pretty sure I'm in the minority on that. We'll see.
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Feb 1, 2014 22:15
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I think the greatest contribution X-Files had on genre TV is the "cold open death." 1) Redshirts show up on screen 2) Something creepy is lurking in the shadows 3) Redshirts die in a violent and gruesome way *credits* Open scene is our main characters arriving at the investigation. Supernatural has aped this down to a science Fringe did it frequently as well.
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Feb 1, 2014 23:12
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Nothus Infelix posted:Then, for better or worse, the entire mytharc was ignored for the last movie, save a throwaway line about the FBI dropping charges against Mulder. Which makes me think the writer of that movie turned off the series finale halfway through, and wasn't really paying attention to the first half. But it was the same writer that ran the show for 9 seasons, and also wrote the finale. My guess is they just decided to pretend that ending didn't happen so they could start over with a clean slate, and dumping a load of mytharc references on a cinema audience who wouldn't know or care about it was not in their minds. As it was, I remember a certain amount of confusion among my friends about references to Scully's baby and Mulder & Scully now sleeping together, as they'd all pretty much stopped watching long before that. Not that it mattered anyway, as the film still tanked. In retrospect, I really think cinema was the wrong venue to relaunch the X-Files. "I Want To Believe" felt in pretty much every respect like a TV movie, and if they'd gone down that route I think it might've had a chance, instead of being the final nail in the franchise coffin. Just looked on IMDB, I'd forgotten Xzibit was in there. Haha.
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Feb 2, 2014 02:24
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Octy posted:What do you dislike about the music? I'm curious because I posted earlier that I'd forgotten just how good it is. It's perfect atmosphere music. I don't notice it most of the time, but when I do, I enjoy it.
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Feb 2, 2014 02:28
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QuickbreathFinisher posted:Ugh, I forgot how gross that episode is. The blisters and whatnot are so nasty looking and well done. I think you're right about it only affecting men, but it's not revealed so much as implied.
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Feb 2, 2014 03:36
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I'm doing a rewatch of this on netflix at the moment. When it first aired I was a kid, but I absolutely loved it. Some (hell most) of the motw were really scary for me at the time, but the bees and black oil were really poo poo scary. The bees in particular were like "how can we make am insect people are generally fearful of even worse? I know!" And they did just that. The x-files really appealed to me as a kid. I remember actually wanting to be mulder because the idea of investigating the paranormal and aliens seemed awesome. Curse you adulthood for ruining my childhood dreams! Fringe is the only show that almost replicated the awesome of x files, but I don't think it could ever replicate how successful the series was. You say x files to anyone they will know what you're on about.
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Feb 2, 2014 13:54
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Mister Kingdom posted:It also managed to survive the Friday Night Death Slot when it got a second chance on Sundays. It was responsible for creating the Friday night death slot. Executives kept putting niche shows there because they remembered how well the x-files did and wanted to replicate that success. The x-files is unintentionally responsible for the deaths of probably dozens of shows partially inspired by it. Only within the past few years has Friday become what it was before the x-files: a dumping ground for reruns and old tv-edited movies.
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Feb 2, 2014 18:12
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My mum just revealed today that she watched Twin Peaks when I was teething, because I mentioned to her that I was marathoning it again. I feel like this had some significance to me going apeshit for the X-Files when I was little and still binge-watching the entire thing every 2 years or so to this day. A Goode Mum.
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Feb 2, 2014 18:29
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WMain00 posted:I'm doing a rewatch of this on netflix at the moment. When it first aired I was a kid, but I absolutely loved it. Some (hell most) of the motw were really scary for me at the time, but the bees and black oil were really poo poo scary. The bees in particular were like "how can we make am insect people are generally fearful of even worse? I know!" And they did just that. I had an allergic reaction to a bee sting when I was 9, so you can imagine the horror I went through watching this show as a child. I still get the heebie jeebies when I watch those episodes and the movie, and I still run and cower like a little girl when I see a bee. It's hard for me to compare Fringe to the X-Files. Fringe was more polished and despite some inconsistencies, it was more consistent, but I don't think the chemistry between Mulder and Scully, and the atmosphere of the X-Files can ever be replicated. I'll be interested to see how well Fringe holds up in 10 years.
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Feb 2, 2014 22:04
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Exploder posted:It's hard for me to compare Fringe to the X-Files. Fringe was more polished and despite some inconsistencies, it was more consistent, but I don't think the chemistry between Mulder and Scully, and the atmosphere of the X-Files can ever be replicated. I'll be interested to see how well Fringe holds up in 10 years. My problem with Fringe is that everyone immediately accepted the existence of otherworldy phenonema. Whereas with The X-Files, the scepticism on the part of everyone who wasn't Mulder kept the show interesting, beside the government conspiracy. I still liked Fringe, but will I be rewatching the whole thing in five or ten years? Probably not.
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Feb 2, 2014 22:32
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Was going through my dvd collection and found my season 1 box-set. The 'Tooms' mutant thing in addition to the x-files theme song terrified me as a kid. Still unnerves me now.
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Feb 2, 2014 23:26
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Octy posted:My problem with Fringe is that everyone immediately accepted the existence of otherworldy phenonema. Whereas with The X-Files, the scepticism on the part of everyone who wasn't Mulder kept the show interesting, beside the government conspiracy. I still liked Fringe, but will I be rewatching the whole thing in five or ten years? Probably not. At some point, though, Scully's arbitrary scepticism became downright annoying. "Mulder, I've held an alien life-form in my hands and seen men killed in front of my eyes because they got in the way of people possessing it. We've seen all kinds of freaky poo poo that I've even accepted your explanations for in the end, but I'm still going to assume you're flat-out wrong about this case."
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Feb 2, 2014 23:40
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It really depends on the writer, but overall Scully is noticeably more open to Mulder's theories from season 5 onward.
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Feb 2, 2014 23:47
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He's also usually completely wrong when he does that. Like, he thinks it's vampires and she thinks it's a rare disease, but actually it's some weird blood-drinking animal that hibernates for 20 years at a time or something. Scully makes him way more responsible by demanding some evidence-based arguments from time to time. Skepticism doesn't mean off-hand rejection of anything not typical: it means that you make claims based on the available evidence, and if the inquiry leads to bigfoot then Scully goes along.
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Feb 3, 2014 00:27
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bull3964 posted:I think the greatest contribution X-Files had on genre TV is the "cold open death." Let me tell you a little about this show called Law and Order.
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Feb 3, 2014 00:31
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And Castle and CSI and every other crime procedural in existence.
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Feb 3, 2014 21:37
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scary ghost dog posted:And Castle and CSI and every other crime procedural in existence. Well yeah, but X-Files predated those shows. Law and Order pre-dated X-Files, however.
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Feb 3, 2014 22:45
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Wizchine posted:Well yeah, but X-Files predated those shows. Law and Order pre-dated X-Files, however. I think The X-Files mastered the art of having people die in a violent and gruesome way, though. I used to watch Law and Order pretty regularly in the 90s and they never topped anything seen on The X-Files.
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Feb 4, 2014 00:22
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Castle Radium posted:But it was the same writer that ran the show for 9 seasons, and also wrote the finale. quote:Just looked on IMDB, I'd forgotten Xzibit was in there. Haha. Octy posted:I think The X-Files mastered the art of having people die in a violent and gruesome way, though. I used to watch Law and Order pretty regularly in the 90s and they never topped anything seen on The X-Files. Since then, the grotesque has been sanitized by CSI and made into farce by Bones. They can be fun, but they don't get under the skin or let you into the characters' headspace the way XF and MM did. The violence is just a story hook, or voyeurism (see also Dexter, Sons of Anarchy). They don't feel real to me. The killer isn't real, their motivation isn't real, the victim isn't real, and the violence is just splatter.
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Feb 4, 2014 04:01
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escape artist posted:Let me tell you a little about this show called Law and Order. Law and Order very rarely, to never, showed the actual murder that each episode revolved around. The opens were always the Bickersons stumbling across a dead body.
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Feb 4, 2014 04:40
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Im doing a rewatch at the moment and was watching Patient X and The Red and the Black (midway season 5) yesterday. And i was surprised with how the show, within the span of those two episodes, goes from 'well there might be aliens, but it might also be ~*THE GOVERNMENT*~ to 'welp, alien colonists are real and also here are other aliens who dont need eyes to see'. Also, Mulder suddenly going 'nope, no aliens and other weird stuff, it was all a lie and i was a dummy' was a bit weird. Especially with him going all 'vampires!  ' the episode before.Also, where does Mulder sleep? His apartment doesnt seem to have a bed.
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Feb 4, 2014 07:15
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The first third or so of S5 is completely amazing. The ending to the frankenstein/elephant man episode was so great. I'm about to start s6, first time watch, and I think I'll watch that and seven before taking off. No Mulder, no deal, and from what I've read pretending s8 and nine don't happen is probably for the best (especially if the best characters are The Lone Gunmen)
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Feb 4, 2014 07:23
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Charlie Mopps posted:Also, where does Mulder sleep? His apartment doesnt seem to have a bed. He does have a bedroom and in season 6 he gets a waterbed.
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Feb 4, 2014 07:28
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haveblue posted:He does have a bedroom and in season 6 he gets a waterbed. And presumably his landlord asks him to get rid of it not long after that.
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Feb 4, 2014 07:48
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kingturnip posted:And presumably his landlord asks him to get rid of it not long after that. Indeed, he gets chewed out for it (repeatedly) in "Monday" which I think is in season 7.
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Feb 4, 2014 07:54
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And he is even shown sleeping on it, apparently naked, with Scully getting dressed next door. Seriously, this show rivals friends in terms of the whole will they/won't they bit, which as far as I can tell was a first for a non-sitcom show. Hell, I even read an interview with Spotnitz about the second movie where he talks about changing the script a bit to make it ambiguous if they were together for the 1st 1/3 of the movie, only to have the whole scratchy beard scene. Even the much criticized all things is better understood as a long troll on shippers (the episode starts with the aforementioned naked mulder sleeping and scully getting dressed, then goes back in time a week or so and does not end with whatever led to them sleeping together).
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Feb 4, 2014 08:03
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Does Scully earn more money because of her medical degree? Her place is so much bigger and nicer than Mulder's. I'm sorry. In all the years I've watched this show this is the first thread on it I've seen in forums I frequent. I've had nowhere else to go to ask my inane questions. 
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Feb 4, 2014 11:09
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Octy posted:Does Scully earn more money because of her medical degree? Her place is so much bigger and nicer than Mulder's.
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Feb 4, 2014 11:27
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Octy posted:Does Scully earn more money because of her medical degree? Her place is so much bigger and nicer than Mulder's. I'm pretty sure it's more of a character thing and a nice illustration of their differences. With all the weird poo poo she sees on a regular basis, Scully's place is meant to be a shelter and an abode of normalcy, in which she can (pretend to) be a conventionally successful government operative. Mulder, on the other hand, just doesn't care about having a nice place, it's just a base of operations for him. It's reiterated a lot that he has no life because he's too busy pursuing THE TRUTH to give a poo poo about material comforts, living space, decoration, or keeping tidy in anything but his files. Or his porn collection. One of the best things about Mulder is that for all the charm and secret agent training, he can be a complete loving goon sometimes 
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Feb 4, 2014 14:15
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joepinetree posted:Seriously, this show rivals friends in terms of the whole will they/won't they bit, which as far as I can tell was a first for a non-sitcom show. Hell, I even read an interview with Spotnitz about the second movie where he talks about changing the script a bit to make it ambiguous if they were together for the 1st 1/3 of the movie, only to have the whole scratchy beard scene. Even the much criticized all things is better understood as a long troll on shippers (the episode starts with the aforementioned naked mulder sleeping and scully getting dressed, then goes back in time a week or so and does not end with whatever led to them sleeping together). This is something I actually love about the show, their getting together sort of happens off-screen. Those characters feel like they would be extremely discreet about that.
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Feb 4, 2014 15:47
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Guildencrantz posted:Or his porn collection. One of the best things about Mulder is that for all the charm and secret agent training, he can be a complete loving goon sometimes One of my favorite gags is the scene in Jose Chung where Mulder is in bed, presumably watching porn, then the camera pans around and the screen is showing the Patterson Bigfoot film. But I really like your analysis of their living spaces. One of the best things about the show was how much the writers left unsaid. You don't see that kind of subtlety on a lot of shows these days.
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Feb 4, 2014 16:09
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Yannick_B posted:This is something I actually love about the show, their getting together sort of happens off-screen. Those characters feel like they would be extremely discreet about that. I agree that things happening off screen is nice. Most of the time they handled the relationship pretty well, like in Pusher, or Je Souhaite, where they imply the feelings and everything without making it the focus. But when they wanted to troll people with the "will they wont they" part, boy was it terrible. My point was about the times they specifically mess with the story to sort of fake out that something will happen on screen. In "all things," the entire plot is there precisely to tease showing them together on screen. Or, as I mentioned, the second movie: there was an interview with either Carter or Spotnitz where they discuss both editing the script and the movie to play up them being in bed together. They intentionally made their on screen relationship early in the movie a bit chilly so people wouldn't know that they were together, and then specifically edited the bedroom scene so that them being in bed together was a surprise. And then there is the worst culprit of all: trust no 1, which is about Scully missing Mulder so much she asks him to come back, and the entire story is about whether or not he is in the train that is going her way.
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Feb 4, 2014 19:41
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big business sloth posted:No Mulder, no deal, and from what I've read pretending s8 and nine don't happen is probably for the best (especially if the best characters are The Lone Gunmen) At least the S10 comic has them canonically back to life with the explanation that they faked their death. Now they just need to do the same for Krycek... somehow
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Feb 4, 2014 19:51
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Being where I am in the story so far, I really like their relationship as a platonic yet sexually tense deal. I don't really view it as a will-they-or-won't-they thing at this point, because it feels like they've moved past that questiion, even though they recognize that it definitely would have worked as a thing at some point. It's a refreshing male/female lead dynamic to keep them as close friends without venturing into that territory, and it clearly takes a lot of restraint to not put them together, which is why it's too bad that they fall into that later apparently (and retcon it so that they were up to things even before then, I think I've gathered?). The one where Mulder gets switched out by that body-doubler and tries to get with Scully is especially effective because of this dynamic. It was incredibly awkward to watch that scene.
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Feb 4, 2014 19:58
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big business sloth posted:(and retcon it so that they were up to things even before then, I think I've gathered?). It's more that unlike a lot of shows they never show the exact moment where they decided to give it a go, instead they just reveal at some point that they've become an item in the recent past.
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Feb 4, 2014 20:07
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Ok, sure. As deftly as that was worked into the plot though, I think it's a much better choice that they aren't together, despite how close they clearly are. It works with the larger idea that what they do is not understood by anyone else but themselves, in how they both are also rarely shown pursuing other romantic interests. When do they "reveal" that?
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Feb 4, 2014 20:31
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