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Review
Archives
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Today's
Date is:
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The
X-Files: The Complete First Season
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Reviewed
by: |
Nancy
Lisak |
| Genre: |
Science
Fiction |
| Video: |
Full
Screen (Standard) 1.33:1 |
| Audio: |
English
(Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround), French (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround) |
| Language: |
English;
Selected scenes in Japanese, German, Spanish, and Italian |
| Subtitle: |
English
and Spanish |
| Length: |
Pilot
plus 23 first-season episodes/1104 minutes |
| Rating: |
NR |
| Release
Date: |
May
9, 2000 |
| Studio: |
Twentieth
Century Fox |
| Commentary:
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None |
| Documentaries:
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The
Truth About Season One (11 minutes) |
| Featurettes:
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None |
| Filmography/Biography:
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None |
|
Interviews: |
A
private conversation with Chris Carter talking about 12 of his
favorite episodes |
| Trailers/TV
Spots: |
Promotional
TV spots; 12 "Behind-the-Truth" spots from F/X |
| Alternate/Deleted
Scenes: |
Two
deleted scenes from the pilot episode |
| Music
Video: |
None |
| Other:
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Special
effects clips from "Fallen Angel" episode |
| Cast
and Crew: |
David Duchovny,
Gillian Anderson |
| Screenplay
by: |
Various |
| Produced
by: |
Various |
| Directed
By: |
Various |
| Music: |
Mark Snow |
| The
Review: |
The pilot
episode and the first season of "The X-Files" introduce us to
FBI Special Agents Fox Mulder (Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Anderson).
The pilot episode partners the two agents. Mulder, through his
success with the bureau, was allowed to choose his assignment
and came across files filled with unexplainable cases (called
X-files by the FBI) of UFO sightings and alien abductions. Because
of Mulder's obsession with these cases and the government conspiracies
that he thinks are behind covering them up, Scully has secretly
been assigned to debunk all of Mulder's theories. The pilot
episode introduces the abduction of Mulder's sister when they
were children, and the entire first season really focuses on
aliens and alien sightings. Fans of the TV series have seen
the theme evolve over the years toward abnormal phenomena in
general, but this season really is quite limited in scope. Nicely
packaged on six four-episode discs with a seventh disc containing
special features, this is a great box set for fans of the show-both
those who have been fans from the beginning and those who became
fans several seasons in (like I did) who would like to see what
they missed. One thing it made me realize in watching these
episodes was how certain themes have been repeated over the
years: Mulder being "close" to the truth, Mulder and Scully
being taken off of the X-files. However, considering the cult
following this series created, I think Twentieth Century Fox
could have gone a lot further with extra features to include
interviews with the cast and maybe even interviews with die
hard fans, glimpses into X-Files gatherings, a la "The Rocky
Horror Picture Show." Episodes included: Pilot, Deep Throat,
Squeeze, Conduit, The Jersey Devil, Shadows, Ghost in the Machine,
Ice, Space, Fallen Angel, Eve, Fire, Beyond the Sea, Gender
Bender, Lazarus, Young at Heart, E.B.E., Miracle Man, Shapes,
Darkness Falls, Tooms, Born Again, Roland, The Erlenmeyer Flask.
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| Image
and Sound |
This series
was made for television so the color and sound were designed
with that in mind. The transfer to DVD gives you the crisp picture
of the medium, which considering the darkness of a lot of the
scenes (because of the nature of the series) is a definite plus.
Some of the scenes appear a bit grainy, but it's not a distraction. |
| The
Extras |
The extras
in this box set are seriously lacking, considering the nature
of the genre. The 11-minute "The Truth About Season One" features
Chris Carter and some of the other people on the production
staff, as well as one of the three Lone Gunmen, talking about
a couple of special effects, a couple of their favorite episodes,
and whether they believe in aliens. Interviews with Duchovny
and Anderson would have been more interesting. The private conversations
with Chris Carter are the closest we get to a commentary, but
they are very limited in what they offer. He only talks about
12 episodes, and the information he does provide is a general
overview at best. The deleted scenes from the pilot episode
and the special effects clip in "Fallen Angel" are difficult
to access from the discs containing the actual episodes. From
the menu, you have to "activate" the special features option,
and then you have to watch for a white "X" to appear in the
lower right corner of the screen to show them. If you're watching
the episode, they're easy to miss, and in the case of the special
effects clip, it actually shows the scene without the special
effects in place, which is comical but also detracts from the
episode. (All three of these scenes are also available on the
extra disc of special features.) The scenes included in alternate
languages are a complete waste unless you want to watch them
as part of a drunken party. The translations don't cover entire
episodes, so really there's no point in including them. The
inclusion of the TV commercials is unnecessary. One would think
you'd want to watch the entire series after spending the money
on it. Is anyone really going to go back and watch all the 10-
and 20-second TV commercials when most people avoid TV commercials
when they watch in real time? And the FX "Behind the Truth"
spots are cute, but don't provide enough real information to
be worthwhile. Being a science-fiction series, "The X-Files"
is riddled with special effects that could have been discussed
and explained. This would have been an incredible addition to
the set, and Fox made a huge mistake in not including some sort
of featurette or documentary dedicated to the special effects
of the show. The game…well, the game isn't even worth looking
at in my opinion. It plays off of clues from the episodes in
the series. If I'm going to play a game, I'd like it to be a
little original. |
| Commentary |
The closest
thing we get to a commentary is the private conversation with
series creator Chris Carter. It would have been better to include
these snippets on the discs with each episode, and it would
have been nice to have information on all of the episodes as
opposed to only half of them. |
| Final
Words: |
Diehard
fans of the current "The X-Files" will want to purchase this
set if they're interested in seeing all of the original episodes
that they haven't seen or in recognizing how the series has
really evolved over the years. Not really a must-buy for anyone
with just a cursory interest. |
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