The X-Files - The Complete Third Season (Slim Set)

I wasn't blown away by the X-files when it debuted in 1993, but I did see its potential. And all these years later it is still a little fun to see how it all began.
However I don't think it really took off until the second and third seasons. In a way, it has become required viewing to see how Mulder and Scully met, and there are half a dozen episodes out of the 24 that I think are quite good.
My favorite episode from season one? Darkness Falls, one of the many variations on "The Thing" that The X-files did. Mulder and Scully investigate the disappearances of an entire camp of loggers. Mulder says: "That's a lot of flannel to choke down, even for Bigfoot." I won't reveal much more except to say that their disappearance wasn't due to eco-terrorists but something they unintentionally stirred up in the forest.
The X-files is something that, if you love unconventional sci-fi with interesting creatures, you HAVE to appretiate, even in this developing phase that is the first season.
But the REALLY good stuff (the Fluke Man, Scully's abduction, and Jose Chung's From Outer Space) come after this warm-up, as interesting as it is for a starting point.

Is this not one of the best shows ever made. The first season was a bit dry starting out, but once the chemistry really kicked in it was magic.

The X-Files is one of the best TV series centering around the paranormal/bizarre/UFOs/conspiracy theories out there. The pairing of skeptic Agent Dana Scully [Gillian Andersen] together with Agent Fox "I Want to Believe" Mulder [David Duchovny] makes one of the best pairings in TV history.

The First season makes for a great introduction to the show, and there are some amazing episodes. Some of my favorites are:

1.Pilot - Scully is assigned to work with Mulder, she looks for the rational & logical, he is open minded to all possibilities, both in the realm of the real and unreal. Their first assignment takes them to rural Oregon, where they investigate the strange deaths of high school students, which Mulder believes is tied in to alien abduction.

3. Squeeze - one of my all-time favorite X-files episode. Scully enjoins Mulder to help her friend's investigation of a bizarre murder. Mulder finds a striking similarity between the present crime and one committed thirty years ago, by the same suspect. The suspect turns out to be a genetic mutant that needs a certain kind of nourishment to regenerate itself.

11. Eve - Mulder & Scully investigate the strange deaths of two men, apparently unrelated, but then find that both men have identical eight-year-old daughters who seem 'innocent' enough.

14. Genderbender - the agents investigate the murders where the perp seems to be both male & female. The trail leads to a rural Massachusetts town where a group called the Kindred seem to be involved.

18. Miracle Man - the agents investigate a series of deaths that seems linked to Samuel, a faith healer.

21. Tooms - the genetic mutant, Eugene Tooms is released, and Mulder takes it upon himself to see that he doesn't get away or commit another murder.

23. Roland - murders among a group of scientists that seem to implicate a certain retarded janitor.

I loved most of the episodes but the above were some of my personal favorites. The quality of this show is excellent on all fronts, and makes for compelling, thought-provoking viewing.

The first season of the X-Files introduces Fox Mulder and Dana Scully. Mulder is a disgraced FBI special agent/conspiracy theorist working in the basement on unsolved cases known as x-files. Scully is a FBI medical examiner sent by the Bureau's big wigs to partner with Mulder to report and hopefully debunk the purpose of Mulder's project. As the season progresses Mulder and Scully's professional relationship transforms into one of mutual respect as Mulder, the believer, proposes unusual explanations for the events they investigate while Scully, the skeptic, trys to be more realistic. Their ability to counter-balence one another provides the show with two of the best characters we've ever seen on television. The mytharc episodes are a good introduction for the story we will expect to see throughout the rest of the series and, while their are a few duds, most of the stand alone episodes are worth watching again and again.

The first season of "The X-Files" isn't a season that you should buy hoping to enjoy every episode. That being said, the nine great episodes are worth the price. Granted, nine out of twenty-four isn't a good ratio by any means, but every episode does have its own little quirks that make it passable. I just walked away from the majority of the episodes with an overwhelmed feeling. Maybe I'm used to the intricate plotting of modern serial television, but it just seemed as if the season could have been planned better.

The best episodes of the season are the following:
Pilot
Squeeze
Eve
Fire
Beyond the Sea
Gender Bender
Miracle Man (best of the season)
Tooms
The Erlenmeyer Flask

Beside the fact that the show, except for a few of Mulder's comments, is humorless (I heard that changes down the road, so I won't really get into that until I check out the other seasons), I sometimes find myself having a problem with Gillian Anderson's portrayal of Scully. The camera often shows close-ups of Scully's face when she's talking, but there is never a glimmer of emotion in the her face. Her eyes always remain dead focused, as if she is staring at a wall instead of talking to a person. Her lines often seem forced, compared to Duchovny's more loose, more human portrayal of Fox Mulder.

From the rave reviews and the cult following this show has, I did expect better from the debut season of "The X-Files." However, I'll keep watching, because I trust the public: It'll get better. It will get better. I hope it gets better.

6/10