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Review
Archives
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Today's
Date is:
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The
X-Files - Season 6
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Reviewed
by: |
David
Litton |
| Genre: |
Television
Sci-Fi |
| Video: |
1.78:1
anamorphic widescreen |
| Audio: |
English Dolby
Digital 2.0, French Dolby Digital 2.0 |
| Language: |
English,
French |
| Subtitle: |
English,
Spanish |
| Length: |
Approx.
940 min |
| Rating: |
Not
Rated |
| Release
Date: |
11/5/2002
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| Studio: |
Twentieth
Century Fox Home Entertainment |
| Commentary:
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"Triangle"
episode commentary with Chris Carter, "Milagro" episode commentary
with Kim Manners |
| Documentaries:
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See below |
| Featurettes:
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"The Truth About Season
6," "Featurette on Season 6," "X-Files Profiles: The Cigarette-Smoking
Man" |
| Filmography/Biography:
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No |
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Interviews: |
No |
| Trailers/TV
Spots: |
TV spots |
| Alternate/Deleted
Scenes: |
Deleted scenes
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| Music
Video: |
No |
| Other:
|
Special effects
vignettes, DVD-ROM interactive game |
| Cast
and Crew: |
David Duchovny,
Gillian Anderson & Others |
| Screenplay
by: |
Written By
Chris Carter/Vince Gilligan/Frank Spotnitz/John Shiban/Davis
Amann/Kim Manners/Daniel Sackheim/Michael Watkins/Rob Bowman/Peter
Markle/Bryan Spicer/David Duchovny |
| Produced
by: |
Assorted Writer &
Directors |
| Directed
By: |
Chris Carter/
Kim Manners/Rob Bowman/Micheal Watkins/Daniel Sackheim/Peter
Markle/Bryan Spicer |
| Music: |
Mark Snow |
| The
Review: |
Season 6 Shows are: The Beginning/Drive/Tringle/Dreamland
1&2/How The Ghosts Stole Christmas/ Terms Of Endearment/The
Rain King/ S. R. 819/Tithonus/Two Fathers/One Son/Agua Mala/Monday/Arcadia/Alpha/Trevor/Milagro/The
Unnatural/Three Of A Kind/Field Trip/Biogenesis*******
Season 6 of "The X-Files" saw a
sudden change in the feel of the show. After the box office
entry bridging Seasons 5 and 6 failed to gather the enthusiasm
and attention of the show's followers, things began to look
rather glum. David Duchovny seemed to have lost interest in
the series, leaving his coster Gillian Anderson and the writers
and creators to come up with more original and inventive material
to captivate the followers of the show. But, as with any aging
TV series, the episodes of this later season run the gamut
from watchable to watch-it-because-I-have-to. *** Basically,
by this time around, it's just more of the same stuff, searching
for answers, thwarting authorities and hunting for clues,
amidst eerie settings and sinister supporting characters played
by high-profile guest stars. When it came time for a sixth
installment, most people just watched for the sake of saying
they did; after all, why quit when you're so close to the
end? In the case of "The X-Files," will there ever be a true
end? Could there be?
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| Image
and Sound |
With
the 6th season's DVD release, the quality takes a significant
step down, most notably in the image, which is commendable,
but could benefit from improvement. The 1.78:1 widescreen video
transfer is stocked with solid blacks and good contrast for
such a dark show, while colors are resilient and saturated,
perhaps a bit too much for comfort. Fleshtones tend to be red
in tone, perhaps as a stylistic influence, but unlikely considering
the abundance of such a flaw. Compression artifacts tend to
get in the way of fadeouts and special effects, while detail
is acceptable but nowhere near as good as it should be. ***
The sound is mastered in Dolby 2.0 Surround, and the lack of
a 5.1 track is felt throughout. Don't get me wrong: the 2.0
track does have a nice spatial quality to it, with imaging that
is commendable and a nice recording of the score, but it lacks
the oomph of a true 5.1 experience. Dialogue sounds clean and
natural, and integrates well with the sound effects, which are
pleasing in some instances, lacking in others. |
| The
Extras |
I'm running out of things to report
on with each of these releases, so I'll begin by briefly stating
that much of what has been included here fits with the season's
episodes, but it's not much different from the material of
the previous editions. Continuing with "Truth About" series
of featurettes, Season 6 is broken down through cast and crew
interviews and attention devoted to significant episodes from
the season, hopping from place to place to cover as much as
it can in its all-too-brief running time of 20 minutes. It's
not as long as those before it on the previous seasons' sets,
but it does provide some nice backstory. Commendable but ultimately
unneeded are the two small featurettes "Featurette on Season
6," a generic promo, and "X-Files Profiles," which focuses
on the episodes "Two Fathers" and "One Son" and contains a
few short words from Gillian Anderson. ***
The special effects of various
episodes are also broken down by producer Paul Rabwin, who
provides commentary to accompany the effects plates detailing
the evolution from background plates and green screen to the
final image. Totalling thirteen in all, and running one to
four minutes in length, these should provide a nice look at
just how much effort is put into the show's technical details.
***
The deleted scenes are a bit of
an odd duck, however, presented in black-and-white with the
widescreen enhancement, and available on the discs where the
requisite episode is housed. You have the choice of viewing
them separately, or accessing them during playback of the
episode, which is kind of weird considering the contrast between
black-and-white and color. Then there is a collection of over
40 television promo spots, and a booklet that comes with the
packaging.
|
| Commentary |
Two
screen-specific commentaries accompany the episodes "Triangle"
and "Milargo," featuring Chris Carter and Kim Manners, respectively,
discussing each episode's nuances. Manners provides some nice
insight, but in the face of the fact that "Triangle" was the
show's live episode with all manner of visual sights, Carter's
information proves to be more engaging. -- |
| Final
Words: |
If
you've remained a devoted follower by purchasing the previous
box sets for the seasons of "The X-Files," then surely you won't
want to pass this one up. Admittedly, this one is a bit miniscule
compared to the rest of the sets (there are only six discs here
as opposed to seven on the others), but the supplements and
episodes themselves should provide any X-Filer with the entertainment
they seek. |
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