Eulogy To Fallen Guest Stars: "Tempus Fugit" and "Max" On The X-Files" Improves With Age!

The Good: Plot, Moments of performance, Concept
The Bad: Nothing extraordinary on the character front
The Basics: When alien abductee Max Fenig returns, he is killed along with an airplane full of people and Mulder and Scully must *yawn* investigate why.


Sometimes, I think that being a guest star on a science fiction television series is the way to go. After all, on the average science fiction show, it seems if your character is killed off, it virtually guarantees you another three appearances. Then again, on The X-Files, with the clones, abductees and the sheer number of bottle episodes, there are so many loose ends that could be picked up at any moment to give a guest star hope for more work it must have been a very exciting series for guest actors to appear on.

Take for example Scott Bellis, the actor who played Max Fenig in the first season episode "Fallen Angel" (reviewed here!). After a three year absence from the show, his character is resurrected not for one episode, but for two. Good deal! Of course, in the case of Max Fenig, he was such a popular guest character that when he reappeared on the series in the episodes "Tempus Fugit" and "Max," the writers and producers do not even bother with reminding the audience of the circumstances under which Fenig entered and left the series before. This, however, is a curtain call for the beloved character and rewatching the episode again for review, I was struck by how much more I enjoyed the episode on the last (approximately third in my lifetime) pass and how average the episode is, despite having big things happen to a number of recurring characters.

In "Tempus Fugit," a flight carrying Max Fenig crashes in Upstate New York and on Scully's birthday, Mulder and Scully are approached by a woman claiming to be Max's sister who clues them into the idea that Max may be the reason the flight went down. Joining the NTSB investigation, Mulder stands out by immediately postulating that Max is involved in the crash (instantly discounted because Fenig used an alias on the flight, this soon becomes more and more likely). The investigation takes a turn toward the paranormal when Mulder discovers a nine-minute discrepancy between the claimed time of the crash and the watches of those aboard the flight.

Soon, though, it becomes clear that Mulder and Scully are not the only ones searching for Max and other people aboard the flight - including an assassin working for people out to thwart the investigation. When the military becomes involved, Mulder and Scully become privy to new details: stress patterns on an emergency door that show that the door was removed from the outside and the presence of a second aircraft, the existence of which sends Mulder searching for a second crash site and Scully to attempt to protect a military officer from an NTSB assassin!

In "Max," the FBI agents lose an ally when an agent takes a bullet for Scully while protecting the air traffic control officer. Mulder is captured by the military after finding the second crash site at the bottom of a nearby lake. Convinced now that the original flight was brought down as the result of the government shooting down a UFO, Mulder begins searching through Max's possessions for some clue as to what the radioactive device he was carrying was.

The clue comes in the form of Max's "sister" and fellow abductee who reveals that Max did, indeed, steal a piece of alien technology and one more piece still exists. This sends Mulder to Syracuse, NY to recover the final piece in the puzzle, unaware that he is being hunted by an assassin who will stop at nothing to recover it!

I remember pretty much loathing this two-parter when it originally aired, but rewatching it now, I'm less bothered by it and more unimpressed. I'm sure with the body count in this episode the producers were not exactly aiming for indifference from their audience, but that seems to be where I'm falling more than into the camp of enthusiastic viewer. I'm deciding - as always - not to ruin the surprise of which recurring guest star bites the dust in this two-parter on top of Max, but there is a pretty significant body count in these two episodes.

What there isn't is a whole lot of sense. I live right near Syracuse, New York and I drive down to Washington, D.C. a couple of times each year. I can make it in about six hours. I mention this because the resolution to "Max" involves such a gap of sensibility on Mulder's part that he ought to have had his FBI credentials revoked for his stupidity. In fact, for a man determined to hunt the truth so that the deaths of those on the civilian plane that was downed are not wasted, Mulder essentially replicating the conditions in the last act of the second episode is so foolish as to make one wonder if the writer was high, stupid or on such a timetable that they forgot what show they were writing for! The X-Files was well-known for having fans who pay attention to all sorts of things . . . like details and what is actually going on. Trying to suddenly make Mulder an idiot or unthinking is an utter disappointment.

Moreover, for two episodes that on the surface focus on a character from the first season, there is remarkably little in the way of character development in these two episodes. Instead, this is a very plot-intensive two-parter and it is much more about piecing together the plot than any deep character work.

Moreover, what little character work there is in the episode falls drastically short of sensibility for the Scully character. Scully has been watched by a fellow agent for over a season and we are meant to believe that she never knows that he is pining for her. That's good, that works. Given that, the emotional reaction to him being shot at in this two-parter is absolutely baffling. There is care for a comrade and then there is care for a friend or someone you know is pining for you and Scully exhibits the latter when all prior episodes she was more indifferent to him.

That said, the most significant character in this two part episode is that this is where Scully (more or less) comes around. If one needs a point where Scully accepts the overwhelming evidence Mulder always seems to come up with for the existence of extraterrestrials and UFOs, "Tempus Fugit" and "Max" is the point where there is enough scientific evidence to sway Scully. In these episodes, Scully supports Mulder when he begins to elaborate on the conspiracy aspects of the flight being brought down and when Mulder and a video of Max explaining what is going on involve alien technology, Scully does not discount the existence of it.

That said, this two part episode is still a tough sell. There are decent chase scenes and the idea is not a bad one - but the episodes seem to mortgage important character elements in favor of simply explaining an elaborate plot. While those who love The X-Files will certainly want these episodes, those who have never heard of Max Fenig will easily be able to pass on the experience.

Because of the detailed crash reconstruction, this two-parter ended up with the distinction of being the most expensive episode(s) of The X-Files. Sadly, it does not make them better and next time, the producers ought to invest a little more in the script writing than the sets.

[Given that VHS is a rapidly dying medium, a far better investment would be The X-Files - The Complete Fourth Season, reviewed by me here!
As well, those who already love The X-Files will find The X-Files - The Complete Series to be an even better buy, here!
Thanks for reading!]

"Tempus Fugit" - 5/10
"Max" - 5/10
VHS - 5/10

For other television series or episode reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Scully's Death Sentence Begins With "Leonard Betts" And "Memento Mori!"

The Good: "Memento Mori" is an amazing Scully episode!
The Bad: Special effects in "Leonard Betts"
The Basics: Scully and Mulder encounter a man who has the capacity to regenerate due to a strange form of benevolent cancer,which leads the agents to learn something important about Scully!


While doing some research on The X-Files for one of my reviews, I came across the little factoid that "Leonard Betts," which aired after the Super Bowl in 1997 became the most-viewed episode of The X-Files ever. Go figure. I suppose it was a smart move on the part of FOX and the producers of The X-Files, to do a "monster of the week" episode, but still . . . it's "Leonard Betts!" On VHS, "Leonard Betts" and "Memento Mori" kick off the explicit character arc that is one of Scully's two big arcs for the series.

Unfortunately, on the original VHS release, there is some necessity to pairing "Leonard Betts" which ends with an insinuation that seemed obvious without the final scene, with "Memento Mori," wherein Scully is officially diagnosed. For those unfamiliar with The X-Files who might want the surprises that come with all of the various character arcs on the series, now is a good time to stop reading, because it is impossible to discuss "Memento Mori" without revealing what is going on with Scully.

In "Leonard Betts," an EMT is driving and becomes amazed at the skill of the paramedic she is driving to the hospital and gets the ambulance in an accident which results in the paramedic being decapitated. His name is Leonard Betts and his untimely death is followed rather rapidly by his body being stolen from the morgue. However, it appears his body was not stolen so much as it walked out on its own volition.

Mulder and Scully begin their investigation of Betts only to discover his cells appear to be riddled with cancer, leading Mulder to hypothesize that Betts is actually able to regenerate lost limbs, including his head. As they attempt to explain this genetic mutant, the FBI agents discover that in addition to being made entirely of cancerous cells, Betts appears to feed on discarded cancer cells of others. Drained from regenerating so frequently, Betts begins to remove cancerous tissues from victims he comes in contact with, ultimately leading him to a showdown which puts Scully's life in danger!

In "Memento Mori," Scully is hospitalized having been diagnosed with a cancerous tumor in an inoperable portion of her brain. Having had the scans determining that the tumor will be lethal, she and Mulder head to Pennsylvania to meet with the M.U.F.O.N. members who Scully met the prior year. Unfortunately, all but one of the members of that group have died of cancer and Scully sidelines herself to get treatment from Dr. Scanlion, who thinks he can save her life.

While Scully is getting treatment, Mulder enlists the Lone Gunmen to infiltrate a facility that seems to have information on the abductees, including Scully. Mulder works with a young man who seems as determined as Mulder to protect the information gathered by the M.U.F.O.N. and when he breaks into the medical facility, Mulder discovers the reason for the man's determination that the information not fall into the hands of the shadow conspiracy. Inside, Mulder makes a terrifying discovery about the nature of what was done to Scully and the other women and Skinner sets down a dark road he would not allow Mulder to travel on.

"Leonard Betts" is a remarkably simple "monster of the week" style episode and it is a fair one, to be sure. The necessity of the episode only comes in the last few moments of the episode and the truth is, "Memento Mori" is just as good without sitting through the lead-up. (As well, there was an episode aired in between the two episodes and it works with or without the Scully Cancer Arc).

This is the beginning of an arc that seemed inevitable given that when the M.U.F.O.N. was encountered by Scully in "Nisei" and "731" (reviewed here!), all of the members had implants like Scully's that had been removed and they were all ill. The speed and severity of their cancer is painted as menacing and the implication is truly terrifying; that what was done to Scully would be so insidious and obviously malicious.

What makes "Leonard Betts" worthwhile outside the whole introduction of the Scully Cancer Arc is that Betts is painted as one of the more human, humane and likable "monsters of the week." Whereas prior bottle-episode characters have almost all been killers and demented beyond their physiological differences, Leonard Betts is a likable guy who has done a pretty decent job of blending. He works a job, he hurts no one by eating the biowaste cancer tumors and he illustrates a genuinely high level of morality, like when he calls the medics after operating on his mother.

It's unfortunate; because left to his own devices, Leonard Betts never needed to do anything that would have put him on the FBI radar. Of course, one has to wonder why he didn't just move to a different area and hospital after being decapitated so as not to run into problems like he did, but that's nit-picking. Less nitpicky is the idea that The X-Files never followed up with this episode with one of the more obvious sequels possible; after all, if the headless corpse can regenerate a head and the whole man can create a duplicate, wouldn't the thumb he tore off himself have the ability to regrow into another Leonard Betts?

The real winner on this video, though, is "Memento Mori," one of the best Scully episodes of the series. If only "Paper Hearts" (reviewed here!) had been put on the same tape as "Memento Mori," that would have probably been the only video from the fourth season the viewer needed! Just as "Paper Hearts" was an intense Mulder episode, "Memento Mori" gives Scully a powerful episode as she is diagnosed with cancer and deals with the emotional ramifications of that. While Mulder runs around looking for solutions and external evidence to try to save Scully, Scully begins keeping a journal where she works to accept her impending death.

Actress Gillian Anderson is absolutely amazing in "Memento Mori" as the wounded and ill Scully. While I seldom do this, the unfortunate aspect of this video is that it is missing one of the most amazing performances by Anderson. The DVD release of this episode includes a deleted scene where Scully and her brother have a quiet argument and Anderson has to seethe and play exhausted, which she does masterfully. Still, it is a great episode and Anderson's performance is impressive without the scene. It's just there is more to her performance than we get to see.

"Memento Mori" is a quiet, contemplative episode in The X-Files mythology and it continues the whole concept of the alien invasion being largely about colonization. It's a strong enough episode on its own to lead one to recommend this video.

[Given that VHS is a rapidly dying medium, a far better investment would be The X-Files - The Complete Fourth Season, reviewed by me here!
As well, those who already love The X-Files will find The X-Files - The Complete Series to be an even better buy, here!
Thanks for reading!]

"Leonard Betts" - 7.5/10
"Memento Mori" - 9.5/10
VHS - 8/10

For other television program reviews, please visit my index page on the subject!

© 2011, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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In "Tunguska" And "Terma," Mulder And Scully Find A Variant Of The Black Oil Creature!

The Good: Good character work, Freaky acting, Decent special effects
The Bad: Story gets a bit convoluted here.
The Basics: When Krycek reappears, so does the Black Oil (sort of), and The X-Files's mythology gets a little skewed.


The X-Files had a slow arc to greatness and a pretty long collapse for its decent. This is a belief I held for some time, but never realized just how derailed the show became until I had the opportunity to watch the episodes closely repeatedly. As I am going through the entire series again, I think that I might have found the precise moment the show began to derail and that is in the fourth season two-parter "Tunguska" and "Terma."

"Tunguska" and "Terma" mark the return - sort of - of the Black Oil organism that was first seen in "Piper Maru" and "Apocrypha" (reviewed here!). The thing is, the properties of the entity in this particular episode are both more clear (as in its origin) and much more convoluted. Outside the special effect that defines this creepy organism, there is little that links the creature in these episodes and the prior two. And while I can respect not giving all of the answers right away, the plot of this episode ends up making no real sense with a cursory examination of the events.

In "Tunguska," a diplomat is stopped in New York City with a pouch that is opened by customs. It appears to possess the black oil and the diplomat is appalled when it attacks a custom's agent. Elsewhere in New York, Mulder and Scully make a raid on a small group of domestic terrorists that Mulder has been clued in on. One of the leaders of the raid is none other than Krycek, rescued from the missile silo by this militia. When Mulder is content to let Krycek rot, the former FBI agent lets Mulder know that the bombs they recovered in the raid are only ones that he told Mulder about.

While Scully investigates a second diplomat and his meteorite containing the black oil alien, which has left a scientist in comatose condition, Mulder turns Krycek over to Skinner, who keeps him at his apartment in protective custody. Protective custody is a relative term and Krycek ends up throwing an assailant off the balcony of Skinner's apartment and he and Mulder flee to Russia in the attempt to find the source of the meteorite fragments that are being smuggled into the U.S. and divine the purpose of their arrival in the U.S.

In "Terma," Mulder remains a captive of the Russians who have infected him with what his cell neighbor calls the Black Cancer. When a nursing home patient in Boca Raton, Florida attempts to euthanize herself, she inadvertently exposes the U.S.'s attempt to find an inoculation to the same organism, which appears to be the point to smuggling more of the organism into the U.S. As Mulder attempts to escape the facility in Russia and exact revenge upon Krycek, Scully testifies in front of a Senate subcommittee.

Held in contempt of congress, Scully formulates the connection between the diplomatic pouches, the deaths and the organism that has left a scientist comatose. As she threatens to expose this to the Subcommittee, the Cigarette-Smoking Man and the Well-Manicured Man hunt their Russian counterpart who has arrived to thwart their plans.

This is where the mythology of The X-Files begins to go astray. Things that the careful viewer can easily understand is that this organism is not the same one as the prior Black Oil creature. The Black Oil in the prior two episodes had been living under the sea in the body of a World War II American pilot. The Black Cancer comes from a meteorite. But outside that, the entity seems more or less identical. It can be divided and recombine, it absorbs into the host body and is visible in the same way when the victim blinks. This version, however, leaves its victim paralyzed instead of allowing the entity to control the body. Okay, we can live with all of these discrepancies because this incarnation appears to be an ancient version of the same organism (the exact number of thousands of years old the entity appears to be is mentioned in the episodes, while it appears the previous creature came in a spaceship to Earth in the 1940s). But why the entity reacts so differently within the hosts is not satisfactorily explained in this episode.

Far more problematic is what the episodes reveal about the conspiracy that defines the mythology of "The X-Files's" larger story. In the fourth season premiere (reviewed here!), the viewer is told that this conspiracy is about alien colonization and it is implied that the colonizing aliens will use bees and plants to spread themselves. This makes sense with an organism like the black oil or cancer. What makes less sense is the nature of the actual experiments.

In Russia, prisoners are being used to try to find a vaccine to the Black Cancer. This makes no sense considering that the Russians already have a vaccine, as illustrated in the second part. I can buy the whole idea that the Russians and the shadow conspiracy in the U.S. are using the primitive "black cancer" entity as opposed to a fragment of the "black oil" creature if for no other reason than it makes sense that if this creature has some form of hive mind, those working with it can't exactly ask for a sample to try to inoculate themselves against the thing. But why the shadow conspiracy members - specifically the Well-Manicured Man - allow their allies in the Senate (which is used, rather annoyingly, interchangeably with "Congress" in these episodes) to begin an investigation makes no sense. After all, they are trying to keep their equivalent experiments quiet. The only way the episodes make any real sense on the plot front is that Krycek has arranged to import the meteorite fragments in order to expose the shadow conspiracy. After all, the shadow conspiracy people don't need to import the rock and the organism inside; they already have it in Boca Raton.

If this sounds like a lot of nit-picking or overly complicated untwisting of the events of the episode, you're realizing my problem with it. "Tunguska" and "Terma" are terribly unclear in the broad strokes of the episode. The nature of the entity in this two-parter is not explored well enough to make it clear and the fact that none of the characters who encountered the black oil entity compare it to the black cancer entity here is utterly ridiculous. In other words, it has the feel of the writers and producers making up the storyline as they went along, which is largely what is happening. Unfortunately, these two episodes feel exactly like that; assembled on the fly without a respect for the larger storyline.

Moreover, in terms of the plot, because the two-parter begins with Scully testifying to the Subcommittee, the viewer spends much of the time simply waiting for her to get back to the beginning!

What the episode does have is character. Krycek ascends to the level of real villain and there is something wonderful about how his intense and well-conceived plan still ends up turning out badly for him personally. It also eliminates all doubt that Krycek is a badass whose initial appearance of being a green FBI agent was a clear and troublesome cover. Just as Krycek comes into his own as a lethal and advanced mind in the conspiracies of The X-Files world, the Well-Manicured Man and the Cigarette-Smoking Man both become more developed as they expose some of the deeper plans of their organization.

Skinner is given only a few brief scenes in "Tunguska" and "Terma," but here he again proves himself a strong, if torn, ally to Mulder and Scully. Rather satisfying for those who are fans of The X-Files is the moment when Skinner encounters Krycek and has the chance to deck him, whatwith Krycek nearly killing him in the prior season.

But, of course, Mulder and Scully move much of the episode and in this two-parter, the pair are separated as they often seem to be. Scully illustrates an incredible loyalty that is nothing short of loving for Mulder in these episodes, risking her career and ultimately admitting the existence of an extraterrestrial life form on Earth. Similarly, Mulder's outburst in the climax of the episode is a reciprocal act of love and protection, preventing Scully from being discredited for the scientific evidence she has uncovered to back up her assertions.

Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny give decent performances, Duchovny especially as he makes the viewer believe he is being tormented, infected, and pretty well beaten up. But ultimately, this is not an outstanding two-parter, even though it is part of the essential The X-Files if for no other reason than to explain how Krycek got out of the missile silo and . . . .

[Given that VHS is a rapidly dying medium, a far better investment would be The X-Files - The Complete Fourth Season, reviewed by me here!
As well, those who already love The X-Files will find The X-Files - The Complete Series to be an even better buy, here!
Thanks for reading!]

"Tunguska" - 7/10
"Terma" - 5.5/10
VHS - 5/10

For other television episode or DVD set reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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The Colony Exposed And One Of The Most Horrific Hours Of Television With "Herrenvolk"/"Home!"

The Good: Decent continuation of story and character for "Herrenvolk," Video bonus footage
The Bad: Almost everything about "Home," Medium issues
The Basics: An average season premiere is trumped by the unredeemably gross second episode which may be done well, but is not worth anyone's time.


It's interesting sometimes to see what we take from our experiences, especially the effect of art and media on our personal development. I say this because in the documentary Fahrenheit 9/11, there is a scene where an officer mentions his objections to returning to Iraq because he does not like what he was exposed to there did to his person, his character. I never needed to go to war to know I would not like it (just like I don't need to go to Abu Ghraib to know I wouldn't like to be treated the way the prisoners there were treated!). But far from the political things, that phrase from that officer comes back to me whenever I encounter something so terrible that it disturbs me and I realize I never, ever want to subject myself to that experience again.

Since seeing Fahrenheit 9/11, there have been a number of movies or television shows I have seen that I will never again subject myself to. The only one I promised myself never to watch again before I saw that movie was an episode of The X-Files: "Home." "Home" is so graphically violent, creepy and outright disgusting that I will not ever watch it again in my life. Indeed, watching the footage of the episode included in the bonus feature on this video was enough to remind me why. The other episode on this tape, the fourth season premiere, "Herrenvolk" is one that is much better and I enjoy rewatching. But its quality cannot match the pure vileness of "Home."

In "Herrenvolk," a telephone line repair man dies from bee stings, despite not being allergic to bee stings. This death happens at virtually the same time that Mulder, Scully, and Jeremiah Smith are facing off with the shapeshifting Alien Bounty Hunter. After a prolonged chase and Mulder apparently killing the Alien Bounty Hunter, Mulder and Jeremiah head for Alberta, Canada and proof of the sinister agenda that the shadow conspiracy is working on.

Unfortunately for Mulder, the Alien Bounty Hunter was not killed by the coveted weapon Mulder jammed into the back of its head and it captures Scully, determined to find Jeremiah Smith and Mulder. Jeremiah, however, brings Mulder to a farm in Alberta where bees are being used to pollinate an alien plant and the caretakers of the farm are drones . . . one of whom is a clone of Samantha Mulder!

In "Home," Mulder and Scully investigate the Peacock family, an inbred family who keep their deformed mother under a bed and roll her out to have sex with her. The Peacocks are killing people and Mulder and Scully are part of a team sent into their house to capture them for prosecution while avoid being killed by them.

So I can get off the topic of "Home," this episode is essentially a haunted house story where Mulder and Scully fight for their life against mutants who are inbred and gross. If one has been subjected to the movie Wrong Turn, it is essentially like that movie. "Home" had a parental warning before it when it aired and might have the distinction of being the only episode to bear one.

"Home" was aired two weeks before the pilot episode of Millennium and was intended to prepare audiences for the graphic violence of that show. But what made Millennium so good was not its level of gore or how creepy it was (and it was!), but rather how effectively it used the chance to show serial killers, abductions and violence. Carter terrorized audiences with Millennium not by grossing them out, but by scaring them. It's like the difference between a horror movie and a gore flick. "Home" is a gore flick and it is a huge disappointment. It did, however, do what it set out to do so effectively that I know I will never watch it again. I do recall, however, that even at the time I thought it deserved to win an Emmy for Musical Direction as their use of the song "Wonderful World" enhanced the creepiness of the episode expertly.

But "Herrenvolk" is what most fans would want this video for anyway. Picking up where the third season finale, “Talitha Cumi" (reviewed here!) left off, "Herrenvolk" finally answers some key questions of The X-Files while asking new ones. The fact that Samantha Mulder ended up cloned is finally confirmed as the female alien drones are Samanthas. The viewer learns more about the Alien Bounty Hunter and the connection between it and Jeremiah Smith is more or less confirmed, especially in the episode's final moments. And, yes, this is not a safe episode! If the third season did not exactly end with a bang, the fourth season sure opens with one!

"Herrenvolk" continues the story of Jeremiah Smith, a defector from the secret agenda the U.S. government has in cahoots with the aliens Mulder has had hints of on Earth before now. And it's a good episode. Unfortunately, it is not a great episode. While it is arguably part of the essential mythology of The X-Files, it is not one of the best episodes in that arc. Mulder, Jeremiah Smith and the Alien Bounty Hunter spend the first act largely running around in a dark building. It is visually confusing; it is shot in a way and in lighting so dark that there are long stretches where it is almost impossible to tell what is going on.

As well, "Herrenvolk" is a bit light on character for my tastes. Mulder pays lip service to using Jeremiah to save his mother's life, but when push comes to shove, he and Jeremiah flee to Canada rather than actually saving Mrs. Mulder. The Cigarette-Smoking Man, whose own lung cancer was implied cured by Jeremiah in the prior episode, has only a bit part in "Herrenvolk." This is rather problematic when the episodes are played back to back and the vital character of the first part is only minimally in the second.

Scully's own search, one that leads her and Agent Pendrel to conclude that everyone with a smallpox inoculation is tagged and catalogued, seems to go nowhere and the implication of her discovery is buried. In other words, Scully picks up a vital piece of the mythology mystery, but it means little or nothing in the context of this episode.

Conversely, Gillian Anderson gives a pretty awesome performance in "Herrenvolk." In the scene where Scully tries desperately to warn Mulder to not give her any information over the phone, the staging of the shot tells seasoned viewers that the Alien Bounty Hunter is behind her. But long before that dawns on the viewer, it is Anderson's performance, the intensity of her eyes and body language that tell the viewer she is being menaced by something off camera. It is a perfect and intriguing performance that works wonderfully for her.

David Duchovny plays Mulder as exhausted and wounded throughout "Herrenvolk," something we've seen him play before a number of times. He does it well, though.

In "Home," there is little acting; it's mostly running, ducking, dodging and shooting. At least they don't put up a pretense of it being more than it is. Sadly, what it is is enough to sink this video enough for me to recommend strongly against anyone buying it. Then again, those who purchase it can choose to watch the episode that follows "Herrenvolk," but I suspect that the vast majority who do will only go that far in the tape once.

[Given that VHS is a rapidly dying medium, a far better investment would be The X-Files - The Complete Fourth Season, reviewed by me here!
As well, those who already love The X-Files will find The X-Files - The Complete Series to be an even better buy, here!
Thanks for reading!]

“Herrenvolk” – 7/10
“Home” – 0/10
VHS - 3/10

For other television episode reviews, please be sure to visit my index page on the subject by clicking here!

© 2011, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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The Perfect Dark Two-Parter Starts Off The Myth Of The Black Oil With "Piper Maru"/"Apocrypha!"

The Good: Character, Acting, Plot, Video bonus features, Pacing
The Bad: None that I can find! (Medium)
The Basics: Two great episodes of The X-Files introduce a new alien villain in "Piper Maru" and "Apocrypha!"


Those who follow my reviews know that it is a rare thing for me to rate something with a 10/10 and declare it "perfect," especially a two-part television episode. I happily rate "Piper Maru" and "Apocrypha" with the perfect rating because this is when The X-Files got it right. In fact, in these two episodes, they get everything right and part of that is because this is the establishment of the conspiracy mythology that would follow through the remainder of the series. It is episodes like these two that would later be forgotten or mortgaged as the series went on and it's too bad; this is an intense two-parter that deserved the attention of anyone who likes great science fiction!

In "Piper Maru," a French salvage vessel finds a downed American plane on the bottom of the ocean, but the diver who finds it discovers something more down there. The diver returns, possessed by an entity whose only indication of its presence within him is a black oil that can appear in his eyes and that coats him when it eventually leaves his body. The French diver is the only member of the Piper Maru's crew to not suffer incredible radiation burns, which are killing most of the crew of the ship. Mulder gets word of this the same day that Scully learns from Skinner that her sister's case is being made inactive. Distressed by that fact, Scully reluctantly accompanies Mulder to San Diego where the crew of the Piper Maru is being treated.

In San Diego, Scully finds a medical mystery that defies her explanation and she goes in search of one of her father's friends, who might be able to tell her what the French were looking for on the bottom of the ocean. Mulder, for his part, begins to investigate the salvage company that sent the Piper Maru to the same location as the Talapis. His search takes him to Hong Kong where he finds himself faced with Krycek, the man who killed his father!

In "Apocrypha," Mulder returns with Krycek only to be driven off the road by shadowy operatives who the infested Krycek easily dispatches. Having learned of the mission in 1945 that cost a naval vessel most of its crew, Scully returns to Washington, D.C. to find that A.D. Skinner has been shot and she soon learns that his assailant is the same one who shot her sister. Mulder's search for the long-lost digital tape (which Krycek was using to sell secrets, like the one that sent the Piper Maru to the Talapis' salvage location) leads him to a meeting with the Well-Manicured Man, whose interests also lay in finding Krycek.

With everyone suddenly hunting for Krycek, the infested rogue seeks out the Cigarette-Smoking Man for a trade: his space ship for the digital tape. As Mulder and Scully hunt him for the answers they seek, Skinner's life is once more put in jeopardy, with only Scully to save him!

"Piper Maru" and "Apocrypha" do what the best two-parters do; they tell a single story, as opposed to stretching a story out for suspense over the course of two weeks. No, in this case, the story is one that is well-developed conceptually and given the freedom to develop and be properly explored. In this case, as well, the episode is one that depends rather heavily on seeing other episodes of the series. The character arc that Scully goes through in this episode only makes sense if one has seen "Paper Clip" (reviewed here!). Similarly, the importance of the digital tape is laid out in that episode, but the mission of the Talapis (which, to be fair, only occupies a passing reference in this episode, despite the vital importance of its salvage) which came up in "Nisei" (reviewed here!) helps to enrich the plot of this episode.

"Piper Maru" puts Scully in a rather defensive position from the outset, which is something she might be used to given the outrageous theories Mulder often comes up with. However, in this case, her sense of being an outsider is much more based upon actual character elements. She is deeply frustrated over the treatment of her sister's case and when it is closed, she - who has been involved in catching villains with far less evidence to go on than what was left by the killer of her sister - rails against Skinner and becomes more melancholy and withdrawn.

The treat for fans of Scully is to see how she is able to take control of the situation in "Apocrypha." In that episode, when Skinner is gunned down, she fills the power vacuum and it makes for a wonderful bit of character work where we see her in an authoritative position and she handles herself admirably. Scully's ability to take charge works and it is a shame we seldom see that side of her in the course of the series; actress Gillian Anderson seems perfectly comfortable with her character being assertive and she moves with a strength and dignity that the viewer seldom sees her with on The X-Files.

As powerful as Scully taking charge in this two-parter is the sense of something that I seldom address in my reviews of The X-Files. Part of what makes "Piper Maru" and "Apocrypha" so stark is that Mulder and Scully are running around on essentially separate missions the whole time. Mulder and Scully - largely in the "mythology" episodes - frequently seem to be working on separate things, something I've only been catching as I go through the series this time. In fact, I'm surprised by how it never registered with me before how often they are actually doing separate investigations; fans tend to think of them as partners and almost constantly together.

The serialized nature of these episodes might make it difficult for non-fans to get into them, but the truth is, anyone who loves great science fiction or even just creepy action adventure stories, will find something to like about this two-parter. It is also worth noting that the "mythology" that The X-Files created, which was populated by various alien races, never tied up all of the loose ends, which was good. However, it is seldom noted that the black oil creature in these episodes has many of the same powers (like the ability to essentially nuke people where they stand) as the unseen alien in the first season's "Fallen Angel" (reviewed here!).

Part of what lends the entire episode credibility is the quality of the acting. In addition to Gillian Anderson's powerful performance as an assertive Dana Scully, Nicholas Lea, John Neville, William B. Davis, and Mitch Pileggi all give amazing supporting performances with their recurring characters who are each given fairly juicy scenes. Davis -whose character of the Cigarette-Smoking Man - had been somewhat weakened by events early in the season, comes back with a confidence that makes his character once more seem unstoppable. Pileggi's Skinner is given a meaty part and the mature actor gives a surprisingly realistic performance while bedridden!

David Duchovny caps off "Apocrypha" with a beautiful exchange with Anderson that reminds viewers of all of the potential of the chemistry between the two characters. Duchovny and Anderson play off one another remarkably well and after an hour and a half of running around as Mulder, the more cerebral scene suits Duchovny well.

This two-parter marks the first appearance of the black oil entity and sets up a vital component of the conspiracy arc for the series.

[Given that VHS is a rapidly dying medium, a far better investment would be The X-Files - The Complete Third Season, reviewed by me here!
As well, those who already love The X-Files will find The X-Files - The Complete Series to be an even better buy, here!
Thanks for reading!]

"Piper Maru" - 10/10
"Apocrypha" - 10/10
VHS - 8/10

For other television reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission

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The First The X-Files Comedy And Another Conspiracy Episode Appears With "Humbug" And "Anasazi!"

The Good: "Humbug" is funny/quirky, "Anasazi" is dark and dangerous, Acting, Concepts, Extra features.
The Bad: Both are a little light on character development for my tastes.
The Basics: In another fairly incredible video of The X-Files, Scully and Mulder do comedy and end up at one another's throats with "Humbug" and "Anasazi!"


The wonderful thing about The X-Files might well be that the series did not take long to attempt to find its footing and simultaneously reinvent itself. On the one hand, The X-Files began to develop its own mythology, figuring out exactly what the government conspiracy was in relation to the existence to extraterrestrials on Earth. That mythology framed the larger arcs of the series and was balanced by bottle episodes with a monster-of-the-week. The monster-of-the-week stories essentially came in two types: one where the viewer knows the monster from the beginning of the episode or one where the viewer follows the clues with Mulder and Scully to figure out just who or what the creature of the week is.

"Humbug" became the first bottle episode to change that and it did it by playing with the whole concept of The X-Files. Instead of a serious, tense murder mystery, it has the distinction of being the first comedic episode of the series. As a result, there is a ramped up amount of wordplay, physical jokes and, indeed, a lighter tone to the piece than most episodes of The X-Files. And because it worked so well, the series would (at least attempt to) produce one comedy episode per season. Also on this video is "Anasazi," the second season finale, which was designed to top the first season ender and manages to give it a fair run for its money with a solid conspiracy mythology episode.

In "Humbug," Mulder and Scully investigate a murder in Florida that is part of a string of murders going back over forty years. The victim in the latest murder is a carnival freakshow performer and much of the mystery in the case revolves around the lack of easy access to the various victims as well as a lack of pattern in the people being killed. This puts the FBI agents in a small town with a carnival where virtually everyone in the park is a suspect.

Mulder's initial fascination with the Fiji Mermaid quickly gives way to Scully suspecting that the killer might well be an extreme personality or circumstance. Amid contortionists, geeks, and sadly disfigured individuals, the pair hunts for perhaps the most unusual killer yet.

In "Anasazi," Mulder has been behaving erratically for days when he loses his temper and attacks Assistant Director Skinner. Relieved of his duties for the attack and his suspected receipt of the Defense Department's MJ files (all of the proof of extraterrestrial contact that the U.S. government has), Mulder is called to Martha's Vineyard by his father, who attempts to confess to Mulder his role in the conspiracy to keep the knowledge in the MJ files private.

As Scully works to salvage Mulder's career and to translate the MJ files from Navajo, Mulder's father is killed by Krycek and Mulder begins a hunt for the rogue. In the process, Mulder and Scully find themselves closer to the truth than they ever have been before and Scully uncovers the reason for Mulder's behavior, but finds herself met with paranoia and a life threatening situation.

On the plot front, both episodes work very well. "Humbug" is clearly an episode with a pretty light plot: it's a creature feature with a fairly obvious antagonist. Instead of belaboring the investigation, "Humbug" plays with the characters Mulder and Scully encounter as they attempt to track down the killer. Virtually from the beginning, the general location of the killer is known and it is simply a matter of figuring out who among the carnival folk might have done it.

The result is a very effective comedy. Gags include such things as a Siamese twin peeking at Scully's breasts while Scully tries to sneak a peak at his conjoined twin, Mulder assuming that a man of short stature once worked the freakshow circuit only to be given a lecture on prejudice wherein the man surmises that Mulder could be an FBI agent, and Mulder and Scully's attempt to find the killer leads them to exhume . . . a potato. "Humbug" is funny and it manages to be funny in a way that maintains the general spirit of The X-Files while still being a remarkably rewatchable comedy.

In fact, watching "Humbug" now has the added flavor of seeing Michael J. Anderson in a carnival freakshow setting long before there ever was Carnivale (reviewed here!). As always, Anderson is articulate, funny and able to perform in a way that makes his character's appearance memorable. He is almost as memorable as Floyd "Red Crow" Westerman, who makes his debut on The X-Files in "Anasazi" as Albert Holsteen. This is the first of several appearances Holsteen makes and Westerman embodies the Navajo elder in such a way that the viewer becomes glad that he is not simply a one-shot character. Instead, Albert seems instantly layered as a Navajo who has a clear understanding of how nature works and he seems able to commune with the desert.

"Anasazi" also puts Nicholas Lea back in play as Krycek, who disappeared early in the second season after aiding the shadow conspiracy forces in facilitating Scully's abduction. Krycek's role here is simple: he's come to kill Bill Mulder and this foreshadows well how Krycek will be utilized in the future. Nicholas Lea is able to play cold-blooded and efficient with an intensity that is believably murderous. Krycek may well be the villain most fans of The X-Files love to hate, but Lea plays him perfectly!

"Humbug" helps to illustrate something that actress Gillian Anderson has not - classically - been allowed to exhibit, namely her sense of comic timing. Instead of being relegated to Mulder's expository soundingboard, Anderson's Scully is portrayed as quick-witted and able to deliver the witty lines with the best of them. Anderson - or the episode's editor - has a great sense of comic ability and is able to emote humorously with facial expressions and body language as well as deliver great funny lines while in character.

Similarly, "Anasazi" gives David Duchovny the opportunity to strut his stuff and show off his acting chops. Duchovny is saddled with playing Mulder consistently on edge, which involves a lot of Mulder yelling at, well, everybody. Duchovny manages to play the scenes with a genuinely dangerous quality and he keeps it interesting by making his character's body language sag slowly over the course of the episode. As Mulder becomes more and more deranged, Duchovny shows is with his performance beautifully.

Of course, the whole point of "Anasazi" is to set up a cliffhanger and it manages to do that, going out with a bang that will leave fans of The X-Files clamoring for more. Even on video, "Humbug" and "Anasazi" come with a bonus feature, which is a little featurette about each episode called "a private conversation with Chris Carter," where he discusses some behind-the-scenes aspects of the episodes. They are interesting and those who have not, traditionally, been fans of The X-Files will enjoy the stories of such things as Gillian Anderson's sleight of hand and painting the Vancouver hills red.

"Humbug" and "Anasazi" are definitely episodes for fans of science fiction more than those who like straightforward drama or straightforward comedy. But for those looking to expand their horizons, you could do a lot worse than these two episodes!

[Given that VHS is a rapidly dying medium, a far better investment would be The X-Files - The Complete Second Season, reviewed here!
As well, those who already love The X-Files will find The X-Files - The Complete Series to be an even better buy and my review may be accessed by clicking here!
Thanks for reading!]

"Humbug" - 8/10
"Anasazi" - 9/10
VHS - 7.5/10

For other television episode, season and series reviews, please check out the organized listing of them on this index page!

© 2011, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Preludes To Millennium Fail As The X-Files Episodes: "Irresistible" And "Die Hand Die Verltzt"

The Good: Good acting, Mood, Occasional effect
The Bad: Stories, Lack of character development, Predictability of plot
The Basics: While effectively creepy, these two The X-Files experiments fail as out of context for the series. Predictable plots and lack of character development kill the episodes.


"Irresistible" and "Die Hand Die Verletzt" are two of three episodes of The X-Files that act as precursors to Chris Carter's second show Millennium. The third episode is entitled "Home," which is the second episode of The X-Files season 4, and is - to date - the most vile hour of television ever filmed. No exaggeration; it's the most disgusting, senselessly gross hour of television and even though that episode isn't being reviewed here (I refuse to watch it EVER again after the first time it aired), consider it a freebie with a STRONG recommendation AGAINST watching it. That episode was entitled "Home."

"Irresistible" and "Die Hand Die Verletzt" (A German phrase that, alas, I am unable to translate for you) are both getting significantly softer recommendations for avoidance. The remainder of my review will explain why.

"Irresistible" follows the exploits of a serial killer named Donnie Faster who is wonderfully acted. The actor should have been nominated at the very least for awards for the role. He's creepy. Donnie, having been fired from a funeral home where he has previously satisfied his fetish for hair and fingernails, begins to escalate his behavior, hunting live victims, cleaning their hair and killing them. He's a pretty sick guy. Mulder and Scully become involved when a local FBI branch officer believes an exhumed body could be the work of extra-terrestrials. Mulder, being the smart man that he is, figures out quickly that such is not the case. "Irresistible" also marks Scully's first case back following her abduction. This becomes problematic as she is still traumatized by that and I'll get into that in greater detail in just a moment.

"Die Hand Die Verletzt" is an episode that cheeses off every Wiccan in the world because it focuses on a town where there is witchcraft being practiced. And while the episode contains a wonderful disclaimer by Mulder about how witches aren't evil and even Satanists wouldn't sacrifice people the way people in this town have recently been found dead, I've yet to know a Wiccan fan of The X-Files that was satisfied by that. Go figure. As it stands, Mulder and Scully are exploring the murder of a high school student in a town where the PTA is run by some very faithful people devoted to Dark Forces. As they go through students and staff, they ricochet between truth and fiction, leads and false memories, trying to determine just who ought to be arrested. The climax to the episode is one that is impressively bloody, but not terribly gory at all.

The ending is not where the true horror of the episode exists, however. That comes in the middle when one of the students who was in the woods the night her friend was killed, after being haunted by a pig mid-dissection, begins to remember events from her childhood. In sufficiently disgusting detail, the young woman recalls sexual abuse and being forced to be a part of the dark rituals of her stepfather (who, as an aside, is very well played by Dan Butler). The young actress is convincing, breaking down in tears while relating the horrible things done to her at age ten. It's a scene that's extraordinarily troubling to anyone with any real sensitivity. If you have a heart, that scene will turn your stomach and make you want to vomit.

I'm a fan of things that make the viewer feel something, so why am I panning these two episodes? The answer is simple; they're not good.

Chris Carter, in a pre-episode interview on the tape, admits that "Irresistible" offered him the chance to develop Millennium. As a fan of that extraordinarily dark series, I suppose I ought to be quite happy. The thing is, I'm not. Why? They're two different shows. In a print interview after Millennium was released, Carter said something to the effect that The X-Files was a young adult experience into the paranormal, while Millennium was intended to be an adult (or Middle Age) exploration of the nature of evil in the world. The two work best at those two things. That's not to say The X-Files shouldn't be ambitious. It ought to be. But when it does, it needs to deal with these things in the appropriate context. In simple terms, these two episodes are probably so unsatisfying because they are younger adults attempting to understand the evils that surround them. Ask a teenager about what evil is and I'll bet you the answer doesn't satisfy you. Especially if you're over 35. This is not to say the teen's answer won't be insightful, but it will - most likely - be lacking in some depth.

So, too, are these two episodes. First, the very troubling "Irresistible" has Scully returning from an abduction by unseen forces only to be abducted by a man who is an incarnation of pure evil. While Scully finally breaks down, it's still not enough. It doesn't read as real. Anyone who has ever been around anyone with a government job (much less in intelligence or investigations), is going to question why Scully is back at work. No one in their right mind is going to put a woman physically and psychologically scarred back out in the field so quickly. This was a perfectly appropriate time to explore 1. The emotional aftermath of being abducted, 2. The uncertainty of not having those memories, and - if they wanted to push it - 3. Scully's frustration at NOT being allowed back into the field. Instead, her abduction is somewhat glossed over, the resolution is ultimately unsatisfying because it doesn't realistically express the full depth of human - of her - experience(s).

"Die Hand Die Verletzt" has some of the same problems, but with less sensitivity. Scully's abduction is not even mentioned and there's no discussion between Mulder and Scully about the experiences of the young woman who was victimized as a child. The complete neglect of a dialogue between the two about that cheapens it. In witnessing some rather horrific and downright spooky acts, it's pathetic writing for a quasi-serial show to not address the larger psychological issues these things raise. In the last season (Doggett's first, the seventh season) of The X-Files the show, as a whole solved this problem by containing episodes that usually ended before the last act, allowing the characters time - and dialogue - to discuss the ramifications of the events. It's a shame that when these two episodes were released no one on the staff was so sensitive.

The utter lack of character development in these two episodes is troubling. They would have made fine episodes of Millennium, but they simply weren't X-Files. The inappropriateness of these episodes to the series is roughly equivalent to putting Andy Sipowitz in the courtroom of Ally McBeal.

[Given that VHS is a rapidly dying medium, a far better investment would be The X-Files - The Complete Second Season, reviewed here!
As well, those who already love The X-Files will find The X-Files - The Complete Series to be an even better buy and my review may be accessed by clicking here!
Thanks for reading!]

“Irresistible” – 3/10
“Die Hand Die Verletz” – 1/10
VHS - 2/10

© 2011, 2008, 2001 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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The Ultimate Science Fiction Fan's Heresy: The X-Files: The Complete Series Does Not Hold Up!

The Good: Some brilliant writing, Interesting characters, Some great acting, Some nice DVD bonuses
The Bad: Wildly inconsistent, "Mythology" is not well-conceived, Starts rocky and degenerates quickly
The Basics: While generally better than most stuff on television, The X-Files holds up poorly as an overall series making it a tough sell for drama fans.


As those who read my reviews might well know, I grew up on science fiction and fantasy. I grew up with a heavy diet of Star Trek: The Next Generation (reviewed here!) when it was in its first run and I had a voracious appetite for science fiction. I was into The X-Files for years and I even put up with their shenanigans of releasing the DVDs as $100 boxed sets before later releasing the same boxed sets cheaper, slimmer and without the bonus features before releasing select episode arcs in pathetic mini-sets. Now, The X-Files has released the definitive collection with The X-Files - The Complete Collector's Edition, which includes all fifty-nine previously released discs, plus the first The X-Files film and a bonus disc compiling the materials unique to the four "Mythology" boxed sets. This is the definitive boxed set for fans of The X-Files.

As a fan of the series, I am about to commit the ultimate blasphemy. Rewatching the sixty-one disc set, I'm forced to admit that The X-Files is simply not as good as I remember it. Indeed, I find I now prefer the quirky menace and intrigue of Joss Whedon's Angel to the much more expansive and convoluted The X-Files by Chris Carter. Rewatching the entire series, The X-Files is the model of meteoric success for a strange show and its pop-culture death when it fell . . . hard. And ultimately, the problem is the way it all comes together, or fails to.

Allow me to explain.

Deep in the bowels of the FBI is a room with unsolved cases, known as X-files. These cases are unexplained, usually paranormal in nature and have become the life's work of FBI Agent Fox Mulder. Mulder is a geek who is digging into cases that involve extraterrestrial contact, government-manufactured organisms and mutations unlike anything that has been exposed to the general populace. Unfortunately for Mulder, his digging into the unexplained has led him to get too close to secrets a small cabal of government agents would like kept.

Agent Dana Scully, a medical doctor recruited by the FBI, is assigned to the X-files to keep an eye on Mulder and debunk his work. Mulder and Scully hit it off and begin to explore the world through a lens of trying to explain the unexplainable. In that pursuit, Scully is exposed to organisms with DNA that does not conform to the known base pairs, mutations that illustrate corporate or government corruption and ultimately an invincible army whose nature and goals seem highly suspect.

The pair is kept on a long leash by Assistant Director Walter Skinner, who is monitored by a mysterious Cigarette Smoking Man, who works for the secret syndicate that seems to control the world from the shadows. After years of working together, when Scully has opened up to the probabilities that otherworldly forces are at work on Earth, Mulder is abducted by one of the competing extraterrestrial groups and Scully is paired with the straightlaced John Doggett and the adventures go even more awry.

The X-Files suffers deeply because its success was not guaranteed. Conceived by Chris Carter, the nine seasons of the series began being shot in Vancouver and by the second season, the show was the ONLY thing to watch on Friday nights (so much so that no other show on Fox could hold the timeslot beside it and the network went through a plethora of shows there). Because its success was not guaranteed, the first season is largely a collection of bottle episodes; standalone adventures investigating the truth behind things that go bump in the night. The season climaxes with the first hard evidence of extraterrestrials to truly shake Scully's skepticism.

The show then becomes loosely serialized with multiple-episode arcs exploring the extraterrestrial mythology and the various forces working on Earth with the knowledge (and often aid) of the secret government that works behind the U.S. (and other world) government(s). The larger story of the X-files that Mulder and Scully investigate soon becomes a mystery that has to do with the government utilizing alien technology, employing alien bounty hunters and sometimes getting involved in conflicts between various extraterrestrial races as their wars are carried to Earth.

The problem, then, is that Chris Carter and his staff clearly had no idea what they were getting into when they began the series. Instead of mapping out who the players were, what their goals were, who their enemies were, how the government was involved and having a clear idea from the outset, the show flounders horribly. A good contrast to this is Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Joss Whedon and his staff clearly knew where they wanted to take the show. In the second season, Whedon and his team plant threads that are paid off in seasons three, four, five, six, and seven. Whedon didn't know if he was going to get his seven seasons, but he mapped the ideas out as if he would get it and he planned ahead. Innocuous comments like Principal Snyder referencing the Mayor in the second season (the Mayor becomes the big bad of season three) illustrates a clear sense that Whedon had ambitions and was ready to develop the show to its fullest potential, if given the opportunity.

Not so with Chris Carter's The X-Files. Carter starts the series without knowing the backstory. Nowhere is this more clear than with Mulder's backstory. Mulder is an investigator into the paranormal because he witnessed his sister, Samantha, being abducted when they were both children. In the course of the series, what actually happened to Samantha is revealed, but it does not add up. In short, if one watches the five or six episodes that focus on trying to find the truth about Samantha, the early episodes do not lead to the final one and the final one makes no sense given the facts presented in the prior episodes. Similarly, major players in the alien/supersoldier conspiracies are radically altered as the series goes on. So, for example, the alien bounty hunters, shapechangers who work for the highest bidder, who are introduced in "Colony" bear no resemblance (outside employing actor Brian Thompson) to who they are in the latter seasons when they suddenly become a rebel army.

The result is, when watching the series it seems sloppy and slapped together somewhat haphazardly. Individual episodes and the early-mid seasons might still be phenomenal, but as a series, it holds up as something strangely average and often underachieving. It never seems as good as a whole as some of its parts were originally.

What binds (most) of the series, because it fails to be cohesive on the plot front, are the characters. In traditional science fiction form, those who are killed do not necessarily stay dead, but in traditional serialized drama form, the best elements come in the form of the characters who evolve as the story progresses. The principle characters throughout the nine years of the series can be whittled down to:

FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder - A loner and something of a geek, he is incredibly smart and talented and is ridiculed by his peers for wanting to investigate the paranormal X-files. Called "spooky" behind his back, he is brooding and methodical but believes in forces that are currently unexplained. He lost his sister at a young age to what appeared to be extraterrestrials and has been obsessed with finding her since. He is often willing to put himself in danger in pursuit of the truth and soon becomes fiercely loyal to Scully, risking his life and his job to find the truth and protect her,

FBI Special Agent Dana Scully - A medical doctor and one who has not traditionally believed in the unexplained, she uses a strong scientific methodology to explain all she sees and experiences. A woman of deep faith (she's a Christian from a military family) she slowly opens up to the extraordinary not by losing her viewpoint but rather by applying it to the world she experiences. She is loyal to Mulder, Skinner and the FBI, but she soon works to present reality as opposed to debunking Mulder, which often puts her on the same hit list from the syndicate that Mulder is on,

FBI Assistant Director Walter Skinner - The face of the FBI, his experiences with the extraordinary soon compels him to make the leash Mulder and Scully are on as long as possible. Despite protecting the interests of the FBI, Skinner works to keep the X-files project on-line and focused, though he is often manipulated by the Cigarette-Smoking Man or his associates,

The Cigarette-Smoking Man - The face of the secret government conspiracy, he is a man who possesses the answers to all of the cases Mulder and Scully are investigating, though he usually only pops up to attempt to thwart them. It soon becomes clear that he is part of an old order that may have made a deal they cannot all live with . . .,

The Lone Gunmen - A trio of technical wizards and conspiracy theorists who are even more eccentric than Mulder, they publish an underground newspaper called "The Lone Gunmen." Almost never seen separately, the trio assists Mulder and Scully in gaining access where they are not supposed to be,

and FBI Special Agent John Doggett - When Mulder is abducted by aliens, Doggett takes his place in the basement office. He lost his son and is searching for him, often using the resources of the FBI and the X-files to work on his search. His associates seem to be at the very heart of an emerging threat; supersoldiers who cannot be killed by any ordinary means.

The characters are wonderfully portrayed by actors who had been neglected or were fairly new to the scene when the show began. Doggett revitalized the career of Robert Patrick, previously best known as the T-1000 from Terminator 2: Judgment Day. The show made the non-Hollywood faces of Mitch Pileggi (Skinner) and William B. Davis (The Cigarette-Smoking Man) famous and recognizable.

But because so much of the show is focused on Mulder and Scully, it largely rests on the shoulders of David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson to sell the reality of the show and for the most part, it is the success of their acting that makes the show worth watching. David Duchovny instantly establishes Mulder as a man who in some ways seems like he deserves to be buried in the basement of the FBI building. Duchovny does not, in the strictest sense (at the beginning of the series) have the Hollywood good looks or the swagger. He plays Mulder as a strangely secure sunflowerseed-eating loser whose life is devoted to things that make the stranger elements walking around Star Trek conventions look reasonable. Duchovny does this by committing his body language and bearing to the role, making both the intelligence and crazy devotion of Mulder seem real and in reasonable balance to one another.

But it is Gillian Anderson who ultimately does much of the heaviest lifting on The X-Files. As Scully, Anderson plays a skeptic ruled by hard reason exploring a world where reason points to the extraordinary. In my latest run through the series discs, what once frustrated me about Scully now becomes one of the best parts of the series; how long Scully refuses to believe all that is around her. This works in large part because of Anderson's performances. Gillian Anderson makes Scully a woman of faith and reason and of deep humanity. She performs some of the series' most touching and human moments when Scully is diagnosed with cancer and when Anderson loses members of her family (usually tangential to Mulder's search for the truth). It is Anderson who makes the show into a drama as opposed to a simple and convoluted science fiction piece.

As a whole, The X-Files still holds strong as a better-than-average science fiction series. But as an entire series, it is less of a strong drama; its duds are bigger than some lesser shows I've watched lately, even though its successes vastly outstrip some of the best episodes of better received shows. The result is a shaky series that averages out to . . . well, average.

On DVD, the series - and the movie - are the original pressings of the series, so these discs have commentary tracks on selected episodes, a slew of featurettes, including the original featurettes that were created for the VHS versions of the show, and all of the bonuses from the latest anthology collections. These features are often insightful and enjoyable (unlike some commentary tracks that degenerate into simply watching the shows). Anyone who had been holding out on buying The X-Files on DVD will find this to be definitive and worthwhile set.

Though, fans who moved on when the series was finished will likely find that the parts are greater than the sum.

For more information on exactly what this series entails, please check out my reviews on the individual seasons at:
Season One
Season Two
Season Three
Season Four
Season Five
Season Six
Season Seven
Season Eight
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5/10

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© 2011, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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It's Always That Random Element: "When The Bough Breaks" Flounders!

The Good: Interesting plot, Some good acting, Some good character development
The Bad: Adult guest acting, production design, alien characters.
The Basics: Sunk by substandard acting, aliens and production design, "When The Bough Breaks" significantly advances the character development of two of our regulars.


In some ways, Star Trek The Next Generation shot its wad on the characterization of Picard in the first season. That is, the opening episode establishes that Picard is not good with children, he doesn't much like them and yet, every other week he is either interacting with Wesley Crusher and loosening up or he's encountering other children and is forced to see the value of their human life that loosens him up to them. This transition, by which Picard becomes more accepting of children in only one year, could only happen on television.

"When The Bough Breaks," then, is the next installment in the first season where Picard is forced to see the merits of children aboard his starship. In this case, it takes the most literal form of value when the Enterprise arrives at a legendary planet that has a cloaking device and discovers Aldea. The mythical planet decloaks and the inhabitants let themselves be known long enough to make contact and abduct all of the children from the Enterprise.

Trapped on Aldea by a shield that even the Enterprise's weapons could not penetrate - though being philosophers and worried that the planet will simply cloak itself if they try, then don't make the attempt - the Enterprise children are divided up by family units that acknowledge the hidden potentials of each of the children. Picard and Dr. Crusher negotiate with the planet's leaders for the release of the children, stalling in the attempt to find a way to beam the children back. Wesley Crusher uses the stalling tactics to organize some passive resistance with the other kids and the Aldeans begin to freak out and realize their plan might not have been the best idea.

The subtext throughout the episode is the Aldeans doing what they feel they must do in order to survive. They come across as rather civil, despite being kidnappers. They want to compensate the Enterprise for their children, without acknowledging they've done anything wrong. Instead, they offer technology in exchange and were it not for the incredible human cost, it would have been the best deal the Federation ever made. The root problem is the Aldeans are dying and their quest for privacy has ruined their ability to reproduce.

It's not exactly the most compelling question. In fact, it was only done a few weeks before on the show with the Bynars in "11001001." We get that desperate times call for desperate measures.

It seems, then, that the point of the episode is to put Wesley Crusher into a leadership role and have Picard see the value of the children that occupy his ship. The former works well. In fact, given the Traveler's prediction in "Where No One Has Gone Before," Wesley Crusher's development makes a lot of sense. Aware now of Crusher's potential, Picard has been putting Wesley in situations where he will attempt to tap that growth and now given the chance, it makes a great deal of sense that Wesley rises to the occasion.

But Picard? Well, it works, but only because of the dire circumstances the Enterprise children find themselves in. It would have worked far better a few episodes down the line or in the second season. Spread the development out.

What sinks the episode is the production design. Aldea is an advanced planet with an attention to art and yet every installation we see in the planet is sterile and the most awful puke yellow color. It's distracting how drab the planet appears. The outfits people wear are similarly uninspired. It's bothersome and it does detract from watching the episode.

While I'm a fan of Jerry Hardin's work (he played "Deep Throat" on The X-Files and he will later return to Star Trek The Next Generation in an amazing performance as Mark Twain), this episode does not use his talents well. In fact, most of the adult guest actors aren't nearly on par with the child actors on this one (and I'm someone who doesn't like kids!).

Even more disturbing than the guest acting, is the guest characters. The Aldeans are a supposedly advanced culture, yet they lack basic empathy for others. They never acknowledge how wrong the kidnapping of the children is and that's disturbing. They can't seem to see what we see moments into the episode about the morality of the situation.

Nor can they see the obvious technological cause. At this point in Star Trek The Next Generation, one of the overall thematic problems is it's ALWAYS the random element. That is, the aspect of the alien of the week that makes them different from every one we've already seen is always the cause of their problems.

A bit dry and philosophically heavy for non-Trek fans and not one of the best for those of us who are.

[Knowing that VHS is essentially a dead medium, it's worth looking into Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Complete First Season on DVD, which is also a better economical choice than buying the VHS. Read my review of the debut season by clicking here!
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3.5/10

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© 2010, 2007, 2002 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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