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

I wanted to point out something technical about the slim set discs that I bought. If you're looking for insight into the episodes or characters - please look elsewhere.

When I put the first disc of Season One into my DVD player, it started the "loading" process and gave me a disc error after about one minute. Instead of cursing Fox (well, I did it later anyway) I turned the player off, leaving the disc inside. After a couple of minutes, I turned my DVD player on and Viola! I heard the X-Files theme and saw the menus (after the obligatory FBI copyright infringement warnings).

For those wondering, the DVD player in question above is a Philips Progressive Scan. The same problem occurred on a newer Panasonic player. No glitches materialized when I tried the discs on the Sony or AKAI players. In all cases, I was eventually able to get to the episodes. With the first two the screen sometimes showed up scrambled and the menus inaccessible. On other occasions I was able to access a root menu similar to one you would see if you "explore" the DVD contents on a PC (Video_TS files, etc.), though the players would not load any content from these menus. Speaking of PC viewing, I experienced no problems with any of the discs on my PC and all four programs my PC has to play DVDs functioned perfectly.

PLEASE DON'T READ INTO THIS TOO MUCH. I don't work for Fox - I'm not trying to encourage sales of the more expensive sets. This was just a personal experience I had, and it seemed to occur less frequently with Seasons 4 - 9. My uneducated opinion: the equipment I have isn't top of the line, and maybe wasn't equipped to handle the way the content was compressed. I was impressed that 4, sometimes 5 episodes were squeezed on one disc. That's three - almost four hours of content. I know - dual layer DVDs and blah, blah, blah. But c'mon - even Lord of the Rings - Return of the King was issued on 2 discs! (By the way, the content looked and sounded great.)

Another side note: Seasons 1 - 4 that I got were full frame, and 5 - 9 are widescreen. At first I thought I had missed the option when purchasing these discs, but these are the only way I've found them at retail stores and online. Nothing major; I just thought I was losing my mind at first. (Which is still a possibility.) I can't remember if they aired this way on television - I just noticed that the cinematography got revved up a bit starting with Season 5. If this observation is incorrect, someone please feel free to correct me.

Okay. If you have read this entire review give yourself a pat on the back, a cookie, I dunno - watch some old Doctor Who episodes or something. A better price, better packaging, and better for you. (They were giving out a carton of Morley's with the bigger sets, right?) By the way - the 5 stars is based on my overall X-Files enjoyment. Sure, there are episodes I can skip through. But for me, it's good bang for the buck. Enjoy!

La mejor temporada de x-files. Un buen pack, de buena calidad con subtitulos en español.
Realmete muy recomendable, para los seguidores de la serie es imperdonable no tenerla

So for about $35 compared to the earlier set price of $90, I'm getting better packaging, and I won't get the extra disc of bonus materials that the sets come packaged with. Um, I think I'll go ahead and get the new reissues.

I got lucky and purchased the original first season box set for less than $40 right here on Amazon. The packaging for these more expensive sets are downright atrocious. It's one of those fold out thingies that are annoying to unfold completely when you just want to get to one disc. I felt like I was trying to take apart complicated origami everyttime I opened the set. I think if you open the whole thing up completely, it's about the length of a pool table.

Now with these new sets, the discs come in individual slipcases, minimizing wear and tear on the box itself and making it loads easier to get the specific disc that you want to watch. Also, the bonus stuff wasn't really that in depth and I can do without it. Considering that you're getting better packaging with these new reissues, it's almost like you're paying upwards of $50 just to get some behind the scenes info on a show that is even better with the less you know about it.

At any rate, I'd suggest going with these new sets, unless you absolutely have to have the extra disc of features. The transfers are top notch and best of all, you can relive all your favorite episodes of Mulder and Scully for a much more reasonable price.

Season 3 was definately the best of at least the first three seasons, and the fourth season follows in the shadow of this colossus. Fortunately, Season 4 of The X-Files is still a great season of TV. Starting right off with a continuing episode the storyline will pull you in as it did in the last season. The mythology in this season is largly dedicated to the plot development concerning Scully's cancer, but deals with other things such as a short stint with Krycek and the return of Max Fenig from Season 1. We also see the end of Agent Pendrell, and a special appearance by Darin Morgan, the emmy winning writer of "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose". Season 4 also holds claim to one of the scariest, if not the scariest episode in the seried, Home: the only episode on the series to be banned from TV. And as usual there are episodes that fall short (The Field Where I Died, Sanguinarium, Kaddish, etc.) but most of the episodes are excellent. Season 4 features one of the most poignant character studies of the series: "Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man". Continuing in the footsteps of the Season 3 slim set there are a few commentaries, deleted scenes on assorted episodes, and speciel effects clips & international clips.

Notably Good Episodes:
Herrenvolk (2)
Home
Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man
Tunguska (1)
Terma (2)
Paper Hearts
Never Again (feat. the voice of Jodie Foster)
Memento Mori
Tempus Fugit (1)
Max (2)
Small Potatoes
Zero Sum
Elegy
Gethsemane

As usual, if you enjoyed previous seasons of X-Files, than I recommend this to you after you've seen the previous episodes.

Whereas Seasons 2 and 3 of The X-Files slim set are seriously deficient in picture quality, Season 4 takes a surprising turn. Owing to a much better film-to-video transfer, the images are impressive, particularly in exterior shots. Although grain is sometimes evident in indoor scenes, it isn't distracting, and jitter, commonplace in the previous seasons, is rare. Outdoor shots look the way they should in a high-quality production--clear, sharp, and vivid. Worth noting are the scenes in the episode "Gethsemane" wherein several scientists--and later in the show, Mulder and a forensic anthropologist--trek in the snowy St. Elias Mountains on a mission to retrieve an alien corpse encased in ice. Here the visuals are flawless. The men's colorful parkas and backpacks brilliantly contrast with the pristine snow; stray snowflakes are clearly noticeable on their hats and boots. Viewed on an HDTV, this is as crisp as full frame (1.33:1) gets. As for sound, it has been consistently good since the first season: clean, robust Dolby Digital 2.0.

Just be sure to inspect your discs after you open the package. It's evident that the studio has cut corners on all fronts with this slim-set edition, including the way the discs are handled at the manufacturing plant. If your brand-new DVDs look like rental discs--with smudges, scratches, and dirt--send them back. Fewer extras are acceptable with a lower price, but disc abuse is not.