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| Dvdivas
was founded by John Gabbard in 2000. It's purpose has been and
remains to be to provide you, the entertainment community with
the latest dvds and movie reviews. It will continue to be your
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“The X-Files
Mythology, Volume 1-Abduction“
|
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Reviewed
by: |
Wayne A. Klein |
| Genre: |
Science fiction
|
| Video: |
1.33:1 Full
screen |
| Audio: |
Dolby Digital
2.0 |
| Languages |
English |
| Subtitles |
English |
| Length |
Approximately
720 minutes |
| Rating |
NR |
| Release Date |
6/7/05 |
| Studio |
20th Century
Fox Home Entertainment |
| Commentary:
|
by writer
R. W. Goodwin on “Anasazi” plus commentaries by writer/creator/producer
Chris Carter and writer/producer Frank Spotnitz |
| Documentaries:
|
“Threads
of Mythology Part 1” |
| Featurettes:
|
None |
| Filmography/Biography:
|
None |
|
Interviews: |
None |
| Trailers/TV
Spots: |
None |
| Alternate/Deleted
Scenes: |
None |
| Music
Video: |
None |
| Other:
|
None |
| Cast
and Crew: |
David Duchovny,
Gillian Anderson, Mitch Pileggi, William B. Davis, Tom Braidwood,
Dean Haglund, Bruce Harwood, Sheila Larken, Steve Railsback
|
| Written
By: |
Chris Carter,
David Duchovny, Frank Spotniz, John Shiban |
| Produced
By: |
Chris Carter,
Frank Spotniz , Paul Rabwin |
| Directed
By: |
Rob Bowman,
Chris Carter |
| Music:
|
Mark Snow
|
| The
Review: |
Now that
the series has been completely milked for each season, it
makes sense for Fox to put out these theme driven sets. For
those fans that were big fans of the mythology episodes and
tolerated all the other ones between them, this is the perfect
set to own. It also makes “The X-Files” more affordable with
16 episodes running the span of the series. The mythology
story arc focused on the fact that extraterrestrial aliens
have been among us since the beginning of time. These episodes
were built initially around Mulder’s sister who was, he believes,
abducted by aliens. His search pushes him forward into a dark,
mysterious world where it turns out that aliens are the dominating
force in every government throughout the world. It seems that
they have plans to colonize Earth. Why and how is what Mulder
and his FBI partner Scully must discover. ---
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| Image
and Sound: |
With sixteen
episodes spread over the set, the image quality is exceptionally
good throughout. It appears as if these are the same transfers
that Fox used for the entire series when it first brought them
out on DVD. While they’ve been tweaked a bit here and there
they do also suffer many of the same flaws including halos,
edge enhancement and other digital issues. The 2.0 soundtrack
is crisp and clear with nice reproduction of the dialog and
the music by Mark Snow. --- |
| The
Extras: |
In
the new 30 minute documentary Carter comments on how Gillian
Anderson’s real-life pregnancy impacted the storytelling arc
of the series. Suddenly, Carter and his crew had to create
a series of episodes built around her abduction and her unavailability
for shooting. There’s also a discussion on the development
of the Cigarette Smoking Man throughout the series. When Bill
Davis first appeared in “The X-Files” the writers didn’t know
how good an actor he was because they hadn’t seen most of
his work. So the episode where Mulder threatens the Cigarette
Smoking Man with a gun had tension not only because o the
conflict but because they weren’t sure how the scenes would
truly play out. “Colony” and “Endgame” are two of the most
popular episodes due to the creativity of Carter, Frank Spotnitz
(who was brought in when Carter needed help on the series
in developing the mythology). The two in collaboration created
much of the complex narrative. There’s interviews with Brian
Thompson who played the Alien Bounty Hunter gives his take
on the character. “Anasazi” one of my least favorite of “The
X-Files” two parters takes on new life (pardon the pun) due
to some of the comments from Carter and Spotnitz. Inspired
by a trip to Sedona, Arizona where he saw images that reminded
him of drawings of aliens, Carter crafted the cliffhanger
for season two advancing the series again. The complexity
between the first season vs. the second season is like comparing
learning the alphabet to reading whole sentences; both are
important but one expressed sounds the other ideas. ---
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| Commentary:
|
Featuring
new commentary tracks by the directors and writers of each episode,
this set is more than just a reissue or repackaging. Fox has
attempted with these new commentary tracks and short documentary
to provide additional value much as they did with the season
boxed sets. On the other hand, it is a selling point designed
to move more product among fans. Director R. W. Goodwin does
the commentary track for “Anasazi” . We learn, for example,
that the sequence where the boxcar was discovered is actually
a quarry far from Arizona which Goodwin hadhis crew paint to
match the sand in Arizona. They painted about a mile of the
area. What the Indian community discovers there and what it
brings to them changes that community forever but it also has
an impact on the life of Agents Mulder and Scully. Carter’s
commentary as always is intelligent and insightful for his tracks.
--- |
| Final
Words: |
A creative
show that fell on hard times by the 7th season, “The X-Files”
was a fresh, vital series prior to that time frame. Most of
the best mythology episodes are drawn from seasons 2 through
7. Honestly, the first season episodes are probably the worst
as they are assembling a very unsteady “mythology” and frankly
I don’t think Carter knew what he was doing at that stage. In
many respects the first season struck me as being only slightly
better than the two 1970’s TV series (and one of its inspirations)
“Project Bluebook” and “Kolchak: The Night Stalker”.. Combing
that series with the dark conspiratorial tones of the post-Watergate
era, these episodes are among the best in the story arcs Carter
established. |
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