DU's final verdict on the X-Files?

[Bossy Monkey]

When the show was actually on the air, I inclined toward reply 9 below. However, I've gotten hooked on the reruns on SciFi (though not the bouffy-haired ones on TNT for some reason). However however, the plot just careened out of control at some point never to return. It's not so much a question of jumping the shark (a phrase I detest anyway) as losing touch with any kind of believability. The problem I think is that you can only fight a nebulous conspiracy for so long, and then you have to give it some kind of definite form. Unfortunately, the form they chose got very silly very fast.

So whatcha think?

[VelmaD]

1. Best show ever until...

the last couple of seasons when it got spectacularly dumb.

[ixion]

4. I agree, VelmaD

once they got Dogget and Annabet Gish on there, the show really went downhill fast. It was still better than most television, but only a shadow of its former self.

[Ladyhawk]

17. I totally agree.

I never missed an episode until it became obvious the show was going downhill fast. I don't even know how the series ended.

Some shows should quit while they're ahead.

[freetobegay]

2. Other

Moulder is just so Damn cute!

[LadeJarl]

3. Quite frankly..

A friggin horrible piece of TV junk! I have seen several episodes from various years and I'm damn glad this stupid show is off the air (well, partially at least, I expect re-runs to continue over the next 20 or so years).
Sorry for the rant, just my personal opinion :)

[Fenris]

5. Great. Ridiculous. Briefly revived. Killed.

I thought Robert Patric brought spark back into the series after it had become so horribly convoluted. The finalé left me lukewarm, however.

[Minstrel Boy]

6. The conspiracy storyline was squandered by too much explanation.

You can't beat a vague menace for sustaining dread.

[Bossy Monkey]

11. Vague also played to William B. Davis' strengths

who is outstanding as a nebulous threat, but silly doing "Luke, I am your father" (ok, your sister's father, but still) stuff. (I should have written it so that all responses included "Long live William B. Davis!")

[buddy22600]

7. gilly is hot

[Leilani]

8. Big X-Files fan here!

When they got to the aliens with strange faces & other assorted lunacies, it was out of control.

But I love it anyway. I believe there is an X-Files movie coming out this year.

Didnt care for Robert Patrick & Annabeth Gish shows. Wasn t any chemistry.

[mouse7]

9. Not the final verdict. There's another X-Files movie coming.

Come on. You knew there would be, right?

[redqueen]

10. Used to love it

then they started doing weird storylines and after Mulder left I just couldn't bear to watch anymore.

[kmla]

12. Never watched an episode.

Probably the only person in America that can say that.

[Deja Q]

13. "Doctor Who" did it 32 years ago...

Season 7, made in 1970.

Season 7 had but 4 stories, but had a style that X-Files clearly borrowed and "Americanized".

[DeaconBlues]

14. my brilliant observations:

monster episodes: good!
conspiracy episodes: very bad!

[displacedtexan]

15. I agree.

Backstories just got in the way of great satanicsideshowgeekfatsucking-
livereatingshapshiftingvampireswithfakefangsincestuousfamily fun!

[mac1000a]

16. Seasons 1-5 were some of the best

TV in history. After that, well, I wouldn't say it sucked, but it did take a serious dive. I stopped watching after season 7, though I did catch the series finale, which is all you really need to see if you want to know the whole story of what The X-Files was about.

[nuxvomica]

18. It was a great show from start to finish

There are episodes of that series that are better than most if not all movies of it's genre. And don't forget that they predicted 9/11 all the way down to the WTC as a target.

[Rhiannon12866]

23. It wouldn't hurt to post the relevant segment of the spin-off,

the pilot episode of "The Lone Gunman." It is positively chilling. BTW, the entire episode is now available for download on their website.

http://www.attackonamerica.net/lonegunmanpilot.wmv

[nuxvomica]

25. Oops! You're right. That was "The Lone Gunman"

I didn't know the whole ep was available! Cool.

[Rhiannon12866]

28. It is now. Just check out their website.

But this is the relevant footage. I have viewed it several times and it still gives me chills.

:scared:

[BigBigBear]

19. Thumbs up overall

Carter managed to sustain and mature the conspiracy very well (not perfectly), managed to slip in some good old Kolchak monster-in-the-alley sci-fi, some really funny/touching episodes (Lily Tomlin and Ed Asner as ghosts), and even the Gish/Patrick episodes I thought were pretty good (my wife hates those). Gish and Patrick probably could have kept the showing going with decent scripts for a few more yars.

Carter kept a great vibe very well for as long as he did - not mean feat, considering he had to extend the conspiracy, keep his audience, and work with two leading actors that realy couldn't stand each other. (Duchovny and Anderson).

Mad props to Mark Snow's mournful, minor-chord soundtrack as well - deceptively central to the show's moodiness.

In the end, as a critic once pointed out, the X-Files was all about Scully and faith; in one way or another.

[kodi]

20. gotta' love a show that thinks up that inbred peacock family

actually i think all 9 years were good, some shows were fantastic, others, less so, but each show had a certain tension that i felt only as a kid when i went to the saturday morning matinees and watched monster movies.

it has been my favorite show since its first year, and i watch it when i can at midnight on tnt, and 2am on scifi

and i can tell the year of the show by scully's hair and weight.

oh, and did i mention that i'm crazy for smart redheads?

[marigold20]

21. I loved that show.

Some favorite episodes: cockroaches, freak show, the human liver fluke - at least that's what I think that thing was.

The last year or two wasn't very good and the last episode, bleh.

[djeseru]

22. Still love it...

...bought all the DVD sets so far. Not so crazy about the later seasons admittedly.

First time I ever got compared to a celebrity when Gillian Anderson started showing up in the magazines, etc. I love being a redhead!

[Delano]

24. Decent show that went on way too long.

Too many shows unrelated to the central abduction/secret alien occupation theme, too many wink-wink, nudge-nudge bits.

I wish they had wrapped it up at the end of season three with a neat ending, I really lost interest by that point.

It's the only serial show where you watch each week, a bunch of stuff happens, but the overally storyline hasn't moved a millimeter at the end of the show.

[Dedalus]

26. The Nerds Are In Here...

"X-F" was one of the best shows ever on TV when it was good (starting with season one, peaking in '96-'98, going to shit when the T-1000 hopped on board). I don't agree that the conspiracy thread ruined the show; only that it made the ruining of the show inevitable: all brilliance sows the seeds of its own crappening. When the shadowy stuff was at its height (the early Krycek threads) the show rocked. Then they just had too much to explain and there was no way to do it right--the fact that they managed to bother explaining anything was a miracle (although, even though they explained the alien stuff at the end, what does that have to do with werewolves and the Bermuda Triangle and the Loch Ness Monster and shit?) However: The whole thing leads up to Scully making Mulder Christian because her baby is alien Jesus? WEAK!!

[Ganja Ninja]

27. I watched the show for the first two seasons.

Then after seeing Mulder get hit in the head from behind for about the 20th time I decided no human being could endure that without severe brain damage. I realized that Mulder would solve the mysteries but never be able to prove anything. I lost interest after that.