Plot: What’s it about?
As we all know, Fox issued a superb edition of The X-Files first season a while back and what do you know, now they’ve released the series’ complete second season. If you’ve checked out that first season release, then you know what to expect, as this one offers much of the same in terms of packaging, audio, video, and extras, although of course, the episodes are different. I like this style of releasing television shows, as those two episodes per disc don’t cut it for me, I like to pick up the whole season at once. I know the price seems a little high first, but I think this price is lower than what individual editions of certain episodes would cost. The seven discs are all dual layered and the final disc contains one episode and a wealth of supplements that deal with this season. This second season is when things really kick into gear if you ask me, as some regular characters begin to appear and some ongoing storylines start to develop. I am not saying this is the best season of the show, but this when the ball starts to roll in terms of extended series development. This is a must own for fans of this show, as you can now view the entire second season and supplements at your leisure. Below is an episode listing.
[Editor’s Note: We only received the first and last discs for review, but it’s assumed that the quality (both video and audio are identical from disc to disc]
Disc One
1. Little Green Men
2. The Host
3. Blood
4. Sleepless
Disc Two
1. Duane Barry
2. Ascension
3. 3
4. One Breath
Disc Three
1. Firewalker
2. Red Museum
3. Excelcius Dei
4. Aubrey
Disc Four
1. Irresistible
2. Die Hand Die Verletzt
3. Fresh Bones
4. Colony
Disc Five
1. End Game
2. Fearful Symmetry
3. Dod Kalm
4. Humbug
Disc Six
1. The Calusari
2. F. Emasculata
3. Soft Light
4. Our Town
Disc Seven
1. Anasazi
2. Supplements
Video: How does it look?
The episodes are shown in the original full frame aspect ratio, but look less impressive than I would like. This is a television show, so I knew it wouldn’t look that good, but this transfer shows a lot of grain and some color issues also. I saw some bleeds here and there and on the whole, flesh tones seem a little off kilter. Add in some grain in the darker scenes and sums up the problems with this presentation. This still looks good though, minimal compression flaws and overall stable picture make this a good presentation. I do wish these episodes looked better than this, but in the end, they don’t look that bad.
Audio: How does it sound?
The included 2.0 surround isn’t overwhelming, but it contains a decent level of surround use. The elements never forced either, which means this mix has a natural sound and no harshness is evident either. I had no problems hearing the dialogue at any time, as vocals were clean and crisp with no volume issues in the least. The music and sound effects manage to create a decent enough atmosphere, which is welcome in a show such as this. I wasn’t blown away, but I was surprised with how active this track was. This edition also contains a 2.0 surround track in French and subtitles in English & Spanish.
Supplements: What are the extras?
This set contains some cool features, such as twelve brief interviews with Chris Carter, within which he discusses the episodes included here. These short pieces aren’t in depth by any means, but they make a nice inclusion. A wealth of promotional pieces are also included here, like television spots, behind the truth segments, and such. Again, these are very short, but also nice to have in this edition. A selection of deleted scenes from various episodes, a twelve minute featurette on the season, and some brief behind the scenes clips are also found in this comprehensive release.
