Just started watching season 7 here.
Some episodes are hit and miss as its not as good as the other seasons but I had the miss fortune of seeing First Person Shooter last night and this one was just terrible.
I nominate this one so far out of all as being worst.
I can't remember the seasons now. However, I remember reading that the original plan was to have 5 seasons. I think that would have been about the right length as it certainly dragged in the last few. There's only so much you can do with this type of show.
I like seasons 1-6 the most, even though there are a few duds here and there. Seasons 7-9 aren't necessarily bad, they just didn't give me the same 'feeling' like the previous seasons did.
Massive X files fan. I have them all on DVD. Fully agree with what you have said, but seasons 7-9 still have some good episodes in. Even though the show was no longer as good.
Reading this thread is making me want to watch them all over again. At least the first 5 seasons anyway,
Space is simply dreadful and is the only episode of the early series I skip when I do my re-watches. It's hated among fans anyway.
Glad you are getting into the show Salv.
My favs from season 1 are
Shadows
Eve
Fire
Beyond the Sea
Season 1 is often looked down upon because of how little mythology is explored, but regardless, it's an impressive first season imo
I liked Eve and BTS not a fan of Shadows though.
I watched Little Green Men and The Host and a fantastic start to S2. LGM was the first time we got to actually see something I'm actual alien form? Surprised me. The Host is that episode you know of without watching the show. I remember seeing images of the Fluke man pop up online and on my old VHS tapes of things like Buffy. So creepy.
Having never watched more than the odd episode I tried starting at the beginning as all the seasons appear to be included with Amazon Prime Video.
Got through the first 3 or 4 and decided procedural (monster of the week in this case) shows are no longer for me. I gave up on Elementary for same reason. I've been spoilt by story arc based shows that are popular these days.
Maybe I'll give it another go sometime and stick to the mythology episodes for the story arc:
It saddens me when people look down on procedurals. Nothing wrong in them. It never did XF any harm and it's standalones were regarded a lot better than the arcs. But if you can't be asked to shift through the nine original seasons, it may be best to just watch the mythology episodes and return to the standalone episodes at another time. Give me The X Files over most of today's sci-fi rubbish any day.
Salv, for me Season 2 is my fav season. It just has an incredible run of episodes both myth and standalone. The upcoming storyline with Scully was really well put together and is essentially when people sat up and took notice, even if it was born out of panic to cover Gillian Anderson's maternity leave.
I can't wait to discuss more with you during your descent into the amazing world of Mulder and Scully.
Not keen on Dod Kalm but it is not what I consider awful but can see why some do.
I think for me it's got worse on repeated viewing over the years.
Thinking about it, Fearful Symmetry is another one like that from season 2. First time I saw it I felt it wasn't too bad, but all these years and viewings later it's a stinker.
Im about to start watching the X Files later i seen the pilot last night and thought it was very good its held up very well for a 1992 si fi pilot.
It needs to be in HD but theres noting i can do about that LOL
Anyways iv heard the usual about this show it gos way off the boil in its later half but without spoiling what are its best seasons???
just so i can look forward to it lol
Ha thanks for bumping my really old thread
well its on blu now and im watching the show again now IN HD YAY back on season 1 again haha it looks amazing on blu all i need now is buffy and angel.
must continue my little thoughts on the other seasons when I first watched the show
s7 was okish few good eps.
S8 was actually really really good I thought Mulder taking a time out would make me hate it but the story they used was interesting and the show defiantly should have stopped at the S8 finale.
S9 was the worst and second movie was also bad
The new mini series is very good it feels refreshed and full of energy again.
SEASON 9 + 2nd movie are the xfiles at its worst IMO
Loved the first 5 seasons, thought the first movie was ok but then it started to decline as bit.
Still had some very good episodes in 6 and 7 but they were less frequent compared to previous seasons. Didn't like the Mulder less seasons as much but I didn't mind Doggett.
The X-files could be very hit miss with it's stories throughout the whole series, some episodes worked and some didn't but that was part of it's appeal it was willing to try different stuff and explore different story-lines. In the first 5 series IMO they had way way more hits than misses.
I've just done a rewatch (skipping a few episodes so I had the time to fit it all in before the miniseries kicked off) and have re-assessed which were my favourite and least favourite. It's largely unchanged, but I'm in a minority that not only really loved all nine seasons, I also really enjoyed the often criticised latter seasons...
So from favourite to least favourite...
Season 6 - the sixth season is my absolute favourite. Some compromises in tone were made at this point as the show relocated production from Canada to the US, but it balances a sense of familiarity and also allows for a reinvention of the kinds of stories being told. There are plenty of fantastic standalone stories here, and some very decent 'mythology' stories as well that actually went somewhere. Favourites: Drive, Triangle, Dreamland I & 2, How The Ghosts Stole Christmas, Tithonus, Monday, The Unnatural
Least Favourites: Arcadia, Alpha
Season 8 - this is perhaps the tightest and bravest season in terms of writing. Certain plot developments meant it had the toughest job of any of the eight seasons up to this point at winning over viewers. Many were not won over, but the whole thing captures the tone of the darker, eerier early seasons without feeling tired. The ongoing mythology was starting to really unravel, but was still held together with fantastic acting and character-driven stories. Favourites: Within, Without, Roadrunners, Invocation, This Is Not Happening, Essence, Existence
Least Favourites: Patience, Badlaa
Season 9 - the most maligned season of all also had the toughest task of all in working around major issues behind the scenes. It didn't deal with it in the best way, and again the ongoing mythology was very weak at this point too. But the actor commitment was there, and when Season 9 was brave enough to distance itself from the aspects it insisted on clinging onto it was actually very good. With a stronger mythology or a more consistent vision of what it was trying to do it could have been better. Favourites: 4-D, John Doe, Hellbound, Audrey Pauley, Improbable, Sunshine Days
Least Favourites: Underneath, Jump the Shark
Season 3 - the point at which the show really had the confidence to play around with its structure for the first time. There were some superb standalone episodes here, perhaps some of the best ever written. The ongoing mythology was also at the peak of its mystery, at a time when it didn't have to worry about going off on wild tangents to stay relevant. It was, in all, the benchmark for a 'solid season'. Favourites: Paper Clip, Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose, War of the Coprophages, Pusher, Jose Chung's 'From Outer Space', Quagmire
Least Favourites: The Walk, Grotesque, Teso dos Bichos
Season 2 - with a clearer vision than the first season, the second has a real sense of scale, ambition and development to it. It dabbled in some of the more fun and experimental ideas that would become a staple of later seasons, and involved some of the most memorable and distinctive plot turning points that still drive the show in its current format today. Favourites: Little Green Men, Duane Barry, Ascension, One Breath, Die Hand Die Verletzt, End Game, Humbug
Least Favourites: 3, Aubrey, Our Town
Season 1 - still finding its feet structurally, some of the finest episodes can be found in the first season, whilst it comes with the retrospective promise that it's just the beginning of something huge. But it also comes with a long haul of standalone stories, the majority of which are very good but not paced as well with fewer mythology stories to break it all up. Favourites: Deep Throat, Shadows, Ice, Eve, Beyond the Sea, Darkness Falls, The Erlenmeyer Flask
Least Favourites: Space, Gender Bender
Season 5 - somewhat the end of the first half of The X Files before some fairly large tonal changes, the fifth season covered some new and interesting ideas - a couple of episodes were very imaginative. By this point the mythology was somewhat in need of a kick up the behind, which came with the movie that followed, but in places it lacks the strong sense of interesting mystery that earlier seasons carried so well. Favourites: Unusual Suspects, Detour, The Post-Modern Prometheus, Chinga, Bad Blood, Folie á Deux, The End
Least Favourites: Schizogeny, Travelers
Season 4 - the fourth season was the point at which the mythology of the show lost a bit of its coherency - where the mystery didn't feel like it was developing quite as succinctly as it had before. For the first time the standalone episodes were clearly ahead of the game, and from here each season would balance the two aspects of the show to varied levels of success. Favourites: Home, Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man, Paper Hearts, Small Potatoes, Gethsemane
Least Favourites: Teliko, The Field Where I Died, Kaddish
Season 7 - the seventh season, whilst still very good, began to struggle under the weight of everything that had come before. It harboured the distinct impression that interest in the show had declined, and it wasn't at its most inventive. It strongest stories, though still strong, would have been quite weak in the strongest seasons. It felt tired, and though Season 8 would give it a big reinvigorating kick up the backside, this was in many ways the end of The X Files in its original, unaltered format. Favourites: Hungry, Sein und Zeit, Closure, X-Cops, En Ami, all things, Je Souhaite
Least Favourites: Millennium, Signs and Wonders, Theef, Fight Club
Some unpopular opinions there for sure, but there you go
Thanks for all of the replies. I've only seen the first 3 eps of s2 as of now. I kind of enjoyed Blood but watching in 2016 it seems very old. Also I'm sure they had a similar episode in s1 with technology trying to kill.
I've heard a lot of great stuff about the last episode of s2, Home and Bad Blood are three episodes that come up amongst my friends.
So... I watched Duane Barry and Ascension.... fantastic!! I feel this is the turning point of the series. Just like Angel losing his soul on Buffy in pretty much the exact same place (mid-ish S2).
It was so good that I barely paid attention to the episode 3 which followed. I wanted it to end (wondering if anyone felt the same) If it was a standalone episode I'd have enjoyed it more but I wanted to watch One Breath.
I love hearing how a newbie is loving the X Files in 2016. Amazing to hear salv.
I watched One Breath and even though I obviously knew Scully would survive but it was still tense! Happy to see she's OK and you could really tell in this episode more than any other that Mulder really cares for her.
I'm back after watching Firewalker and Red Museum.
Hmm, that was a bit of a comedown. Firewalker was OK I guess, it was pretty creepy and disgusting (how it just pops out of their neck, urghh). Red Museum was really poor.
Am I alone in thinking that? Red Museum was just so boring. It's the Space of Season 2. I'm going to see if I can fit in both Aubrey and Irresistible later. It's a bit difficult for me as I am also on First watch for Prison Break and I just started the 3rd season. When I finish Season 4, I'd be able to zoom past X Files as I do plan on watching all 9 seasons of X Files + the current season by the time summer comes.
Can i be harsh? Forget crappy Prison Break and remain focussed on X-Files.
Ok, i take that back. But it's up to you.
As for Red Museum, I can't give an opinion on that episode. I don't remember it. It has been a few years since I did an XF re-watch to be fair. But i still retain the knowledge on the mythology and many other standalone episodes to able to have jumped into season 10 so easily.
Comments
Some episodes are hit and miss as its not as good as the other seasons but I had the miss fortune of seeing First Person Shooter last night and this one was just terrible.
I nominate this one so far out of all as being worst.
Season 2 was my favorite
But Season 1 - 6 I feel were such a strong run to be honest.
Season 4 may be personally my favourite series of the show.
Massive X files fan. I have them all on DVD. Fully agree with what you have said, but seasons 7-9 still have some good episodes in. Even though the show was no longer as good.
Reading this thread is making me want to watch them all over again. At least the first 5 seasons anyway,
As for S1 I really enjoyed. Favourite episodes for me are Squeeze, Ice, Tooms and the last episode of S1.
But my lord, Space is awful. I struggled to stay awake.
Glad you are getting into the show Salv.
My favs from season 1 are
Shadows
Eve
Fire
Beyond the Sea
Season 1 is often looked down upon because of how little mythology is explored, but regardless, it's an impressive first season imo
I liked Eve and BTS not a fan of Shadows though.
I watched Little Green Men and The Host and a fantastic start to S2. LGM was the first time we got to actually see something I'm actual alien form? Surprised me. The Host is that episode you know of without watching the show. I remember seeing images of the Fluke man pop up online and on my old VHS tapes of things like Buffy. So creepy.
Got through the first 3 or 4 and decided procedural (monster of the week in this case) shows are no longer for me. I gave up on Elementary for same reason. I've been spoilt by story arc based shows that are popular these days.
Maybe I'll give it another go sometime and stick to the mythology episodes for the story arc:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mythology_of_The_X-Files
Having watched Fringe back in the day I can see the comparisons that were made at the time but Fringe's story arcs give it the edge for me.
Salv, for me Season 2 is my fav season. It just has an incredible run of episodes both myth and standalone. The upcoming storyline with Scully was really well put together and is essentially when people sat up and took notice, even if it was born out of panic to cover Gillian Anderson's maternity leave.
I can't wait to discuss more with you during your descent into the amazing world of Mulder and Scully.
Beyond The Sea
E.B.E
Ice
The Erlenmeyer Flask
And I've always had a soft spot for Darkness Falls.
Agree about Space. Easily the worst of season 1 and one of the worst ever.
Seeing as Salv* is now watching season 2, my favourites there are:
The Host
One Breath
Die Hand Die Verletzt
Colony/End Game
Humbug
Soft Light
Anasazi
And the worst being Død Kalm or Dud Kalm as it's not so affectionately know. Terrible episode.
Favourite season is 4 for me. Although I won't argue with anyone that picks one of the first 4 seasons as their overall fave.
Duane Barry/Ascension/One Breath
Excelsis Dei
Die Hand Die Verletzt
Humbug
Softlight
Not keen on Dod Kalm but it is not what I consider awful but can see why some do.
I think for me it's got worse on repeated viewing over the years.
Thinking about it, Fearful Symmetry is another one like that from season 2. First time I saw it I felt it wasn't too bad, but all these years and viewings later it's a stinker.
Ha thanks for bumping my really old thread
well its on blu now and im watching the show again now IN HD YAY
must continue my little thoughts on the other seasons when I first watched the show
s7 was okish few good eps.
S8 was actually really really good I thought Mulder taking a time out would make me hate it but the story they used was interesting and the show defiantly should have stopped at the S8 finale.
S9 was the worst and second movie was also bad
The new mini series is very good it feels refreshed and full of energy again.
SEASON 9 + 2nd movie are the xfiles at its worst IMO
Still had some very good episodes in 6 and 7 but they were less frequent compared to previous seasons. Didn't like the Mulder less seasons as much but I didn't mind Doggett.
The X-files could be very hit miss with it's stories throughout the whole series, some episodes worked and some didn't but that was part of it's appeal it was willing to try different stuff and explore different story-lines. In the first 5 series IMO they had way way more hits than misses.
So from favourite to least favourite...
Season 6 - the sixth season is my absolute favourite. Some compromises in tone were made at this point as the show relocated production from Canada to the US, but it balances a sense of familiarity and also allows for a reinvention of the kinds of stories being told. There are plenty of fantastic standalone stories here, and some very decent 'mythology' stories as well that actually went somewhere.
Favourites: Drive, Triangle, Dreamland I & 2, How The Ghosts Stole Christmas, Tithonus, Monday, The Unnatural
Least Favourites: Arcadia, Alpha
Season 8 - this is perhaps the tightest and bravest season in terms of writing. Certain plot developments meant it had the toughest job of any of the eight seasons up to this point at winning over viewers. Many were not won over, but the whole thing captures the tone of the darker, eerier early seasons without feeling tired. The ongoing mythology was starting to really unravel, but was still held together with fantastic acting and character-driven stories.
Favourites: Within, Without, Roadrunners, Invocation, This Is Not Happening, Essence, Existence
Least Favourites: Patience, Badlaa
Season 9 - the most maligned season of all also had the toughest task of all in working around major issues behind the scenes. It didn't deal with it in the best way, and again the ongoing mythology was very weak at this point too. But the actor commitment was there, and when Season 9 was brave enough to distance itself from the aspects it insisted on clinging onto it was actually very good. With a stronger mythology or a more consistent vision of what it was trying to do it could have been better.
Favourites: 4-D, John Doe, Hellbound, Audrey Pauley, Improbable, Sunshine Days
Least Favourites: Underneath, Jump the Shark
Season 3 - the point at which the show really had the confidence to play around with its structure for the first time. There were some superb standalone episodes here, perhaps some of the best ever written. The ongoing mythology was also at the peak of its mystery, at a time when it didn't have to worry about going off on wild tangents to stay relevant. It was, in all, the benchmark for a 'solid season'.
Favourites: Paper Clip, Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose, War of the Coprophages, Pusher, Jose Chung's 'From Outer Space', Quagmire
Least Favourites: The Walk, Grotesque, Teso dos Bichos
Season 2 - with a clearer vision than the first season, the second has a real sense of scale, ambition and development to it. It dabbled in some of the more fun and experimental ideas that would become a staple of later seasons, and involved some of the most memorable and distinctive plot turning points that still drive the show in its current format today.
Favourites: Little Green Men, Duane Barry, Ascension, One Breath, Die Hand Die Verletzt, End Game, Humbug
Least Favourites: 3, Aubrey, Our Town
Season 1 - still finding its feet structurally, some of the finest episodes can be found in the first season, whilst it comes with the retrospective promise that it's just the beginning of something huge. But it also comes with a long haul of standalone stories, the majority of which are very good but not paced as well with fewer mythology stories to break it all up.
Favourites: Deep Throat, Shadows, Ice, Eve, Beyond the Sea, Darkness Falls, The Erlenmeyer Flask
Least Favourites: Space, Gender Bender
Season 5 - somewhat the end of the first half of The X Files before some fairly large tonal changes, the fifth season covered some new and interesting ideas - a couple of episodes were very imaginative. By this point the mythology was somewhat in need of a kick up the behind, which came with the movie that followed, but in places it lacks the strong sense of interesting mystery that earlier seasons carried so well.
Favourites: Unusual Suspects, Detour, The Post-Modern Prometheus, Chinga, Bad Blood, Folie á Deux, The End
Least Favourites: Schizogeny, Travelers
Season 4 - the fourth season was the point at which the mythology of the show lost a bit of its coherency - where the mystery didn't feel like it was developing quite as succinctly as it had before. For the first time the standalone episodes were clearly ahead of the game, and from here each season would balance the two aspects of the show to varied levels of success.
Favourites: Home, Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man, Paper Hearts, Small Potatoes, Gethsemane
Least Favourites: Teliko, The Field Where I Died, Kaddish
Season 7 - the seventh season, whilst still very good, began to struggle under the weight of everything that had come before. It harboured the distinct impression that interest in the show had declined, and it wasn't at its most inventive. It strongest stories, though still strong, would have been quite weak in the strongest seasons. It felt tired, and though Season 8 would give it a big reinvigorating kick up the backside, this was in many ways the end of The X Files in its original, unaltered format.
Favourites: Hungry, Sein und Zeit, Closure, X-Cops, En Ami, all things, Je Souhaite
Least Favourites: Millennium, Signs and Wonders, Theef, Fight Club
Some unpopular opinions there for sure, but there you go
I've heard a lot of great stuff about the last episode of s2, Home and Bad Blood are three episodes that come up amongst my friends.
It was so good that I barely paid attention to the episode 3 which followed. I wanted it to end (wondering if anyone felt the same) If it was a standalone episode I'd have enjoyed it more but I wanted to watch One Breath.
And I'm off to watch that in the next hour or so!
I watched One Breath and even though I obviously knew Scully would survive but it was still tense! Happy to see she's OK and you could really tell in this episode more than any other that Mulder really cares for her.
Hmm, that was a bit of a comedown. Firewalker was OK I guess, it was pretty creepy and disgusting (how it just pops out of their neck, urghh). Red Museum was really poor.
Am I alone in thinking that? Red Museum was just so boring. It's the Space of Season 2. I'm going to see if I can fit in both Aubrey and Irresistible later. It's a bit difficult for me as I am also on First watch for Prison Break and I just started the 3rd season. When I finish Season 4, I'd be able to zoom past X Files as I do plan on watching all 9 seasons of X Files + the current season by the time summer comes.
Ok, i take that back. But it's up to you.
As for Red Museum, I can't give an opinion on that episode. I don't remember it. It has been a few years since I did an XF re-watch to be fair. But i still retain the knowledge on the mythology and many other standalone episodes to able to have jumped into season 10 so easily.
Aubrey is a good one. Irresistible is brilliant IMO.