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

The X-Files Collection is a worthy hobby and next to Star Trek is certainly one of largest of the television series DVD collections, running an extra two seasons longer than the maximum seven season Star Trek series. Although The X-Files is not the longest running television media franchise, it can boast being one of the longest running SF series airing for nine seasons between 1993 and 2002. At around 1100 minutes per box, you are looking at approx. 9 boxes with 165 hours of viewing. That is nearly 1 full week of non-stop X-Files. Very few DVD series can come even remotely close to that. Get going collecting right now and you could build up the series collection in no time. By the end you will have a television paranormal anthology that defines the word awe. This is the kind of item that requires 1 hour a day of your time over the course of a year. The X-Files creator Chris Carter nails a powerful television series premise, setting up a fringe paranormal bureau of investigation that is at odds with its own department, the government, the military and just about everyone else, with the immortal tagline "The truth is out there". Fox "Spooky" Mulder (David Duchovny) is the workaholic basement-dwelling good-looking nerd with a heart of gold and a mind for the criminal macabre, all things supernatural and who runs the X-Files department. He is teamed with Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), the rational doctor turned FBI agent who is asked to write reports on the X-Files cases by her cynical boss. Most episodes play along with the theme of Mulder witnessing a paranormal event while Dana gradually arrives on the scene only after it is over, missing it all, or discovering something odd at best. This kind of regular plot occurrence bonds the characters and is what makes The X-Files so enjoyable. There are some improvements with the Season III DVD case with a seventh bonus disc now inside a cardboard holder and not just sitting in a slot in a piece of card that falls out easily like in Season I and II, bouncing around the box. Not all boxes have this bonus seventh disc item. It depends on the edition. The more important six discs with episodes are firmly in place in a plastic flip case inside a thick season box that slides into a wider cardboard presentation holder for the shelf and looks quite good. Although the inside is slightly flimsy, these DVDs are presented on the cheap and so economically The X-Files seasons are sound value for money but the presentation is nothing to brag about and when we get around to seeing what is on the discs we will not be so blown away either. There are 4 episodes per disc, and 6 episode discs in total, making it 25 episodes in total. Some discs have a few deleted scenes... and that is about it. On the episode discs there are no commentaries and not much in the way of bonus material except for some international clips with Mulder and Scully speaking in Japanese for a scene. They could have at least provided us with the X-Files remastered in 5:1 Dolby Digital but have instead just presented the series as it was aired in 2:1 surround. Again, everything here is on the cheap. The transfer quality however is very good for most of it. Since the show was shot in full frame, these dimensions are retained.

X-Files: Season four follows in the steps of Season three, produces a virtually unstoppable series of great episodes, now that it has been firmly established as mainstream TV series viewing, finished with the `to be continued ending' of Mulder getting caught between a shape-shifter alien and a miracle-working alien battling it out, revealed that there is a possibility that the truth he is searching for has something to do with hegemony and the alien colonization of planet Earth. The Cigarette-Smoking Man (William B. Davis) is back along with Assistant Director Walter S. Skinner (Mitch Pileggi). The mysterious Mr X (Steven Williams) is here, but also introduces us the new mystery deep throat type contact, Marita Covarrubias (Laurie Holden). Back are `The Lone Gumen' John Fitzgerald Byers (Bruce Harwood), Melvin Frohike (Tom Braidwood) and Richard 'Ringo' Langly (Dean Haglund). The Well-Manicured Man (John Neville from "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen") is here. Alex Krycek (Nicholas Lea) has a surprise. Deep Throat (Jerry Hardin) even turns up again even though he has been dead for over three seasons. The X-files season four goes for the formula of giving us the conclusion to the previous season's cliffhanger but immediately spins right back into the individual episodes about various supernatural things that is more like season one, however this only lasts for half the season and the remaining half has some of the best X-files the series has had to offer so far. There is more conspiracy however there is lots of revelation to suggest that the X-files is being misled to believe that Aliens exist. The only critic is that Scully's cancer story has been long drawn out... but Season five has a major revelation in store. Season four also boasts a lot of recognizable supporting actors you have seen in the movies. Season four of the X-Files is mostly about - alien colonization, inbreeding, mutant albinos, past lives, demonic surgery, the cigarette smoking man's past, serial killers, deadly cargo, El Chupacabra, Jewish mysticism, deadly tattoos, resurrection, dying, stealth assassins, UFO crashes, time travel, reproducing shape shifters, Skinner's crime, mind control and aliens in the ice. Episodes ``Tempus Fugit' Unrequited', `Tunguska', `Synchrony' stand out the most but the best episode is Skinner's cover-up of crime in the episode `Zero Sum'. Ending sets the scene for Season five.

Everything was shipped in a timely manner and it is in perfect condition..thanks a bunch

The X-Files are the X-Files - if you love them this is another nice collection for your library. My one complaint is the reproduction value of the DVDs are poor; they almost look bootlegged, though I'm not implying that. They tend to be dark and look like film quality instead of the quality of some other DVDs I have. Heck, I have a collection of Gilligan's Island that are better. I don't know if the fold out sets are better, worse or the same as the individual slim case sets. Maybe someone knows that. In any event, it's always nice seeing Fox and Dana again.

Many believe either Season 3 or this season to be the best of the X-Files. Watching these seasons again, I find that this is a great season of X-Files, but not especially better than future seasons (except Season 9, I like that season, but you know what I'm talking about).
However, despite most people saying this season's weakest X-Files is "El Mundo Gira" I must ask them to once again view the suckety suckfest that was "The Field Where I Died". If you judge that episode by performances, it is one of the better episodes. Yes, what great acting in the absolute dumbest idea for an episode of X-Files ever conceived. So Mulder was a Jewish woman during the holocaust and Scully was his (her?) dad. Wow. Kind of puts a weird spin on their romantic relationship towards the end of the show. Also, who would've known that we could prove that reincarnation is real by simply asking a hynotized person to describe their past lives? Gee, I wonder why revelations in this episode were never brought up again in the series.
Anyway, sarcasm towards that immensely ill-conceived episode aside, Season 4 is a must buy, with great stand-alones, great mythology episodes, and especially great character development.

My order arrived on time and the disk were is great condition. Thanks