The X-Files

smuckers

I was watching a couple of eps last week and it made realise how good this show once was. The first 2 seasons were the best where you had the classics like Squeeze, Tooms, Young at Heart and Darkness Falls to name a few from Season 1. Season 3 was v hot and cold but it really went downhill in Season 5/6. When Mulder left though, that was the nail in the coffin, for what was once a fine show.

Pigman II

The 'quirky' episodes were always good (even in the doggett years). The problem was the arc episodes of the show became completely redundant after about season four when viewers started realising 'Hey! There is 'no truth out there' .... or if there is then producers are certainly never gonna reveal what it is until the ratings drop into cancellation territory'.

RuggieBear

Pigman II wrote:

The 'quirky' episodes were always good (even in the doggett years). The problem was the arc episodes of the show became completely redundant after about season four when viewers started realising 'Hey! There is 'no truth out there' .... or if there is then producers are certainly never gonna reveal what it is until the ratings drop into cancellation territory'.

so cynical but true! :eek:

Karl Hungus

The only thing worse than cancellation of a good show, is a good show that goes on and on and on into complete mediocrity. Still, there's new Digipack editions of The X Files that are going for a mere £26.99 on play.com if you're interested in nabbing the first few good seasons.

SCULLY

One of the best shows on tv - (though I agree that some of the conspiracy arc's got a little tiresome).
I've recently been looking at series 8 & 9 on dvd and have been surprised how good Doggett and Reyes were (when they first were aired I think the fact that Mulder was missing for most of them put me off a little but in hindsight they worked quite well).

The price of the newe release on dvd is excellent value (pity I already have them already and paid full price - d'oh!!)

Both Duchovny and Anderson have said that there will be a second movie but the longer it doesn't happen the less likely it seems it ever will.

ixoy

I was a massive fan of this show when it first aired. I mean scarily into it (you really don't want to know the details). However, as the season wore on I became more and more disheartened. The mythology of the show which was formerely a highlight (I remember the chills down my spine when watching 'The Erlenmeyer Flask'... even remember what I was eating) became apathy and, towards the end, extreme irritation. It became clearer and clearer Chris Carter hadn't a fupping clue as to what the mythology with black oils and bees and clones that melt/don't melt etc were and that it was going nowhere. A half-hearted attempt to try and tie it up in a dismal series finale didn't help.

Instead then I was left watching for the quirky episodes in the latter seasons (I believe it soured Season 5/6) but even then I could fine none of the genius of the likes of "Clyde Buckman's Final Repose". It's a shame that my love for the show was turned to apathy by years of mediocrity compared to what went before. This, and Buffy's final two seasons, are prime examples of why you should quit when you're ahead.

Having said that the new digipack prices are far more reasonable than the laughable prices they originally asked for and, it seems, they contain the same amount of extras.

Stark

Same here. LOVED it at first, can even remember what I was eating during many episodes too Used to camp out in front of the TV with all supplies at hand before an episode would start. Kept waiting in anticipation for news on Mulder's sister, alien conspiracy etc. etc. But as ixoy said, the mythology went nowhere and anywhere, and even the standalone episodes lost their polish. Stopped watching it completely around the 6th season I think.

Unit00

There was one episode of the X-files where it appeared that Mulder had shot himself while at the same time Scully had cancer that would of them a good way to end the show instead of dragging it on.

Kêrmêttê

ixoy wrote:

I remember the chills down my spine when watching 'The Erlenmeyer Flask'... even remember what I was eating

Wow! I thought I was a freak for this... now I know I'm not alone!
I constantly see re-runs of progs and get a weird memory of oranges or chocolate or chicken curry... which was what I was eating when I saw the show first time round.

I gotta agree with a lot of people on this. I was HEAVILY into the X-files when it started. I used to watch it on RTE, then see the same show a few days later on BBC2, then see the previous season on Channel 4 the next day and also Sky had a showing on yet another different day. Basically, you could see the X-files on tv every single day... sometimes twice in the same day... it was pure bliss.
However, when they started the whole thing with the alien abduction, Scully getting cancer from her "experience" and then Mulder going missing... I lost interest completely. There seemed to be nothing new going on, or as some people have mentioned, the quirky shows seemed to fall by the wayside.

My favourite show has to be the one where the beetle things took over this town and lots of people were dying "mysteriously" but Scully always found a plausible explaination. Turned out it was the beetles killing everyone. Gotta love that shot where the beetle looks like it's crawling on the screen of your tv in your room... made me look twice!

ferdi

i loved this show, so many classic episodes, really great gripping stuff, i want the first 4 seasons on dvd real bad.

ferdi

Karl Hungus wrote:

Still, there's new Digipack editions of The X Files that are going for a mere £26.99 on play.com if you're interested in nabbing the first few good seasons.

http://www.play.com/play247.asp?page=title&r=R2&title=181141&p=57&g=72

ok....thats very deadly....what the fook is a digipack??? i will definitly be buying this.

BolBill

ferdi wrote:

http://www.play.com/play247.asp?page=title&r=R2&title=181141&p=57&g=72

ok....thats very deadly....what the fook is a digipack??? i will definitly be buying this.

Dunno what is a DIGIPACK ????????

doh.ie

BolBill wrote:

Dunno what is a DIGIPACK ????????

As far as I know, just a name for the cheaper re-release of The X-Files
on DVD. So Season 1 might previously have set you back €65-80, but the
Digipack version is as little as €40, or less.

Haven't had a chance yet to compare how the digipack compares to the
original set extras-wise, but I'm assuming they are the same.

Johnny_the_fox

digipak

doh.ie

Cheers, Johnny -

I wonder does that mean that the average price of a regular DVD case
explains the €40 extra they were charging before... Wouldn't surprise me
if sales for the original were so bad, it forced the re-release. Now, if only
the same would happen for Buffy, Star Trek and a dozen other series.

ixoy

doh.ie wrote:

Wouldn't surprise me if sales for the original were so bad, it forced the re-release. Now, if only the same would happen for Buffy, Star Trek and a dozen other series.

Well the original prices were disgustingly high. These new prices are far more reasonable. I can't imagine the sales were great originally but they may go up now, although the show could be vanishing from too many people's minds.

As for others doing the same... If anyone should be doing digipack versions, it's frelling HBO. Absolutely insane high prices has ensured I've never bought one of their shows. Hopefully they'll have some cheap versions out...

Pigman II

Maybe I'm mistaken here but weren't X-Files ALWAYS digipak?

I bought season 3 X-files from about 3 years ago and it seemed to come in exactly the same type of packaging as that above link albeit 7 crappy badly glued, slim clear plastic with four circular grooves in the corners that fold out like a workmans toolbet and then fold back up and are held in place by a cardboard sleeve.

So what exactly is different about these new boxsets?

Haruspex

ixoy wrote:

As for others doing the same... If anyone should be doing digipack versions, it's frelling HBO. Absolutely insane high prices has ensured I've never bought one of their shows. Hopefully they'll have some cheap versions out...

Play are running a promotion at the moment on some TV boxsets which include HBO staples such as Six Feet Under, The Sopranos and Band of Brothers. Always wanted BoB, but as you said, was terminally put off by the ludicrous high price! May indulge myself...

doh.ie

ixoy wrote:

As for others doing the same... If anyone should be doing digipack versions, it's frelling HBO. Absolutely insane high prices has ensured I've never bought one of their shows. Hopefully they'll have some cheap versions out...

Agreed - I can pick up region 1 seasons of almost every show I want for around $40 (as little as €35 with postage), and would love Carnivale this Christmas... But HBO seem to think it's OK to charge a whopping $100 - that's right, $100! - for just 12 episodes! Gah! Amazon reduced the price by $30, but it's still too high at $70... At that cost, the extras would want to include a feature where the cast emerge from your television and give you a live performance in your living room.

BolBill

The Digipak is the premier alternative to standard jewel box packaging. Made mostly from thick card, the digipak is virtually shatterproof and allows greater graphic display. This packaging will enhance the look and value of your product. Originally used for the album packaging of leading musicians, the digipak and digipak family are now priced reasonably enough to be used for any project in quantities from 500 and above. The most common formations (as pictured below) are the book and cross folded but L and T versions are also available. The digipak can be made to accommodate a booklet andmay have 4, 6, 8 or more panels.

Material: 300gsm chromo cardboard. Polystyrene tray.

Dimensions: 139.5mm wide, 125.5mm long, approx 6mm thick (based on 4pp digipak with one tray)

Printing: 4 colour process, Pantone also available. UV gloss varnish finish


Hope this helps.....