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

The last episode of this season is appropriately titled "The End;" it was the last episode shot in BC, and with Canada went the high quality of the program. While season five is not as strong as three or four, it is still exceptional (minus the Stephen King episode "Chinga"...simply awful...Carter should have taken a cue from the poor quality of 90% of King's movies that it wouldn't work any better here) and is essential X-Files. This season is also shorter than the prior four, at only twenty episodes, which sort of makes it feel like an e.p. rather than an l.p., so to speak. However, it's worth the money and belongs in any X-Files collection.

The fifth season of The X-Files was the year I started to lose interest, esp. with the mythology that was beginning to drag along and go in circles. Add to that a few episodes that were meant to be funny, but I didn't think were so, with the humor becoming more forced than in early seasons.

Watching the entire season on DVD over a few days' time pretty much confirmed this feeling to me, though I still really enjoyed the season. Seasons 2-4 are the zenith of the series for me.

I still just don't buy Mulder's skepticism late in the season. It was a good idea to try, but he'd just seen too much in the earlier seasons to see him so completely believe that alien visitation was 100% faked by the gov't.

Still very good TV, of course, and a more serious decline starts in the sixth season (after the mildly disappointng feature film was released) with some really weak early season episodes that venture way too far into self-parody.

Season 5 is one of my favorites, though it seems to just fly by. I'm not sure why, but after a great season which brings us BAD BLOOD and THE MODERN PROMETHEUS as comical interludes, as well as the eerie faceless alien assassins, the return of "Old Smokey" ,and an accursed doll from Cthulhu's toybox, it's difficult to see how the 6th season is such a let-down. This was the last of the good seasons in my opinion, the writing really cracks inot the six-pack of whoop-ass...unfortunately they seemed to use it all up combatting the Tea Leone/David Duchovny Duo which forced their relocation to LA (and then a season later or so still dropped the ball on them! What a prick!)

The X files- the complete fifth season was a very good season because it has suspense, action, thrills and good story lines. All the elements which make it one of the best seasons and worth buying.

With the focus on "The X-Files" film, the fifth season was shorter but still strong. "Emily" aboutthe fate of Scully's daughter, "The Pine Bluff Variant" about home grown terrorists using a nasty bioagent (with a memorable scene in a movie theater ironically showing "Die Hard with a Vengeance" as two kids discover the audience isn't "all there")and the David Lynch-like "The Post-Modern Prometheus" are all outstanding episodes demonstrating the series was willing to go in new directions. The "mythology" episodes and the stand alones are equally strong.

Although there had been rumors that Carter intended to close out the series with "The End", I personally believe the title was meant ironically. It seemed to me that the series still had much to offer and while seasons 6 wasn't quite up to 5 and 7 spun off into some pretty goofy, wild directions, the series is still worthwhile for its entire run (yes, even the hated season 9 which still has enough highlights to make it worthwhile). The series didn't find its footing again after 6 until season 8 when Robert Patrick breezed in and brought some much needed energy to the series. The best episodes here are every bit the equal of the best from seasons 1-4.

There's a 45 minutes documentary about the challenges of the fifth season. There's also deleted scenes for a number of classic episodes and two commentary tracks one for "Pine" and the other for "Prometheus". Picture quality is excellent with just a touch of edge enhancement but otherwise flawless. With prices dropping (particularly at Best Buy through July 4 at $45.00 for each set), they'll be popular again for fans that didn't buy them the first go round.