The X-Files

[SaitoRyo]

14 hours ago, SuperBacon said:

Also, the woman he gets off with in 3 is well fit.

She certainly was! And she was also Duchovny's IRL girlfriend at the time. 

I remember fans being quite pissed off about it, feeling it was bad form to go macking when Scully had, you know, seemingly been abducted by aliens in the previous episode.

I enjoyed the episode though. Silly fun and quite stylish IIRC. 

[Loki]

Gillian Anderson looked, to an adolescent, a lot older and more serious as Scully than she actually was.  But watching back as a 40 something man, holy shit.   And yet to be fair to them, she was very unusual as a female character at the time in that she WASN'T blatantly sexualised and clearly there as a love interest for Mulder.  

I remember the slow progress of their sexual relationship being very slow, subtle, often off-screen and not really made a big thing of, which is pretty bold storywriting.

[SuperBacon]

That's why the FHM covers were genuinely shocking, as up until that point she wasn't presented as anywhere near sexy, and there she was in her smalls! 

Which is mental, as she is one of the sexiest women that there has ever been. Even in those drab suits and big beige jackets.

I remember buying this and being in awe. Might have been the first one I bought.

Edited July 14, 2023 by SuperBacon

[johnnyboy]

2 hours ago, SuperBacon said:

I remember buying this and being in awe. Might have been the first one I bought.

I sold the first one (black lingerie cover) to a guy in Holland.  I advertised it in the small ads of SFX magazine and my parents' phone rang off the hook.  Some guys who missed out sounded close to tears when I said it had already gone.  I hope it served you well Dutch Bart.

[DavidB6937]

My dad owned a newsagents around that time. I had to be very careful with what I borrowed.

[SuperBacon]

Alright lads. Time for a serious question. 

Would we all shag the Mulder and Scully in Dod Kalm?

Yes or yes?

[Rule One]

Where have you ended up with this @SuperBacon ?

I've recently cleared the lot, all in order. When it's good, it's very good but even what's considered the worst of it is still passable.

I forgot how amazing the first season actually was and you can see why it encapsulated so many people when they first saw it, just banger after banger. After season 3 it was became inconsistent with the tipping point for me being after S5 E5, The Great Mutato. Robert Patrick got done dirty in S9 but it was on fumes at that point, he tried his best though.

Seasons 10 and 11 were just a payday for Duchovny but he had his moments, especially when he 'takes' LSD and the ensuing happenings that come with it.

if you take the best of each season, there's a solid 4/5 seasons worth of gold to be had. I was surprised by the amount of actors that passed through in bit parts.

I would however like to know how much Mulder and Scully's medical bills must have cost the FBI over the years. No wonder they were always trying to be fucked off.

[SuperBacon]

Just passed Musings Of A Cigarette Smoking Man which I always found a bit on the nose, but really enjoyed a lot this time.

Some episodes in Series 3 were an absolute chore to get through, but I've loved Series 4 so far, especially Teliko and Unruhe. 

A great rewatch all round.

Edit: on the bit part actors who have popped up, here is who has so far, I've been noting them.

Spoilered in case people want to be surprised. 

Spoiler

Seth Green
Kenny Bania
Janice from Friends
Bloke who scuffs Bugging Outs shoe in Do The Right Thing
Hank from BB
Tony Shalhoub
Giovani Ribisi
Jack Black
JT Walsh
Kaylee from Firefly
Ryan Reynolds
James Wong
Lucy Liu
Jesse Ventura

 

Edited August 8, 2023 by SuperBacon

[Keith Houchen]

I’ve been watching this for the first time and I’m on season 6. I enjoy the overarching ongoing storyline but I do like the way the monster of the week episodes keeps them special. I’d imagine if they had more non MOTW ones, it would get boring. 
 

Favourite characters are Smoking man, Skinner, and the lone gunman boys. Mulder can’t half be a dickhead at times. The way Scully asks him something and he doesn’t answer or is vague then walks off / hangs up is shit, but the exasperation and fondness on Scullys face sums it up. 
 

I too enjoy spotting actors in supporting roles. Usually WhatsApping @SuperBacon with the latest. Michael McKean is always wonderful and him body swapping with Mulder and taking advantage of his new body and looks by playing Tiger Woods all day and being a top shagger was hilarious. 
 

I will spoiler this out of courtesy I’m on S6ep12. 

Spoiler

The group/committee/syndicate/illuminati who smoking man is with all got torched by the rebel aliens. I may have missed something but surely the rebel aliens are the good guys if they’re trying to hamper the efforts of the colonisers?

 

[SaitoRyo]

I randomly stuck on a couple of episodes this weekend and had a good time. 

First was The Rain King, which was a lot funnier than I remembered it being. Not the strongest storyline, but had a few big laughs in it for me. 

Second was the notoriously great Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose, which I think is generally considered one of the best standalone episodes of the show. I'd seen it a bunch but hadn't watched it in a while and it was even better than I remembered it. Peter Boyle was just fantastic in this. 

[Keith Houchen]

Oh yeah, forgot to say, I read the creator of the show wanted it to end after five seasons, with the movie being the end. But the network were like nah mate, we are making a shitload of money so it’s continuing. 

[Loki]

22 hours ago, Keith Houchen said:

I will spoiler this out of courtesy I’m on S6ep12. 

  Hide contents

The group/committee/syndicate/illuminati who smoking man is with all got torched by the rebel aliens. I may have missed something but surely the rebel aliens are the good guys if they’re trying to hamper the efforts of the colonisers?

 

Don't bother trying to follow the lore on this, it's completely incomprehensible, and somewhere around where you are it all just kind of dissolves into semi-spiritual nonsense.  I think all the bad guys from the first 5 seasons turn out to be the good guys, or some such nonsense, but then continue to be the bad guys.

At the risk of putting you off your watch through, it's pretty much straight downhill from here.  Every season has a couple of good moments but they get fewer and further between.  Mulder disappears for a lot of it, I think Scully is out for a bit, and the replacements, whilst good actors, just aren't given much to work with.

At about this point Chris Carter was off writing and producing Millennium, which was WAYYY better than X Files at this point, and seems to be one of those series along with The Lone Gunmen that has slipped between the cracks as it's not available ANYWHERE to stream.

[SuperBacon]

6 minutes ago, Loki said:

At about this point Chris Carter was off writing and producing Millennium, which was WAYYY better than X Files at this point, and seems to be one of those series along with The Lone Gunmen that has slipped between the cracks as it's not available ANYWHERE to stream.

I remember a massive deal being made about Millenium, but at the time to 11yo me it looked very "grown up" and therefore boring, and it had an old man and no Mulder or Scully, so I swerved it. 

I think maybe I watched 1 or 2 episodes but yeah would like to give it all a watch at some point.

[SaitoRyo]

4 minutes ago, Loki said:

At the risk of putting you off your watch through, it's pretty much straight downhill from here.  Every season has a couple of good moments but they get fewer and further between.  Mulder disappears for a lot of it, I think Scully is out for a bit, and the replacements, whilst good actors, just aren't given much to work with.

I've hardly ever went back and watched anything from seasons 8 and 9, despite buying the DVD boxsets of them (basically to complete the set) many moons ago. It's just not the same without Mulder and Scully consistently together, for me

The quality and consistency does take a big dip after season 6, though there are a few choice episodes from 7. 

I'm talking specifically about X-Cops, The Amazing Maleeni, The Goldberg Variation, Hollywood AD and Je Souhaite. 

Having just looked at the episode list for S8&9, I may have to now go back and check some of them out. I cannot remember the episode with Burt Reynolds (Improbable), for a start, Also the one where Scully gets stranded in a small town (Roadrunners) sounds ace.

[SuperBacon]

14 minutes ago, SaitoRyo said:

The Goldberg Variation

Oh the irony of your avatar pic.