Plot: What’s it about?
Well, that’s the real question, now isn’t it? By the end of nine seasons of television, two feature films, and a limited run of episodes airing next January, I doubt if even Mulder and Scully themselves can adequately answer that deceptively simple question. The X-Files is the ultimate revolving door series. Full of intricate, intertwining mythological threads and stand-alone episodes that ultimately tied in just enough to be necessary, the series kept audiences glued to their seats each week with tales of alien abductions, government conspiracies, super soldiers, cloning experiments, colonization, and a slew of other “freak-of-the-week” entries that took our FBI agents through all manner of improbably macabre investigations. The stories the show asked its loyal followers to follow were as tantalizingly intriguing as they were frequently confusing and convoluted. Asking “what’s it about”? of a show like The X-Files is about as useful as asking “why”? of the universe. The answers are at once obvious and elusive; self-evident and inherently unattainable. The profundity and provocativeness of both questions aren’t perhaps found so much in their answers as they are in their being asked in the first place.
Creator Chris Carter obviously understood this fact intimately when fashioning The X-Files. And, while I won’t argue that the series never veered into the ridiculous (or even that it didn’t routinely do so), the chemistry and relationship of David Duchovny’s Fox Mulder and Gillian Anderson’s Dana Scully always somehow managed to give the series a rock-steady, human compass throughout – even when Duchovny’s eventual real-world ambitions sadly began to negatively impact his interest in the role. Side characters like The Cigarette-Smoking Man and Assistant Director Skinner have likewise become almost as well-known household names as the two main characters, a major testament to how effectively the series built up its mind-bogglingly complex mythology and fleshed out the supporting cast. The X-Files could almost be viewed as a mountain if you assessed its quality on a line graph, growing more and more compelling through its first foray onto the big screen in 1998, plateauing briefly in Season 6, and finally descending into one of the most oft-maligned overstayed welcomes in television history.
I’ll admit openly that my opinion of The X-Files is at odds with that of most fans. While I lamented the virtual loss of Mulder’s character in Season 8 (and truly mourned his absence throughout the admittedly abysmal Season 9), I must confess that I always found the show imminently watchable, right up through Season 8. The final episode of that season ends on such a pitch-perfect, potentially series-ending note, in fact, that it disappoints me to this day that things weren’t left there…and then left alone. Instead, a series that was already stretched nearly beyond its limit was forced to slog through another full season that no one was particularly asking for – including its stars. The disinterest of the cast and creative team ultimately couldn’t help but show through, and in the end, the show failed to end on a high or even satisfactory note. Add to that the second big-screen adventure, which did little but pour salt in the wound of those who’d longed for years for a better send-off for Mulder and Scully, and you have a series that many felt never quite met either its lofty initial ambitions nor its virtually limitless potential.
Yet somehow, though all of that, The X-Files has still endured, both with the fans and in pop culture. The artistic strength of the show when it was good was nearly (if not quite) enough to carry it through the rough (okay, near fatal) patches that would eventually follow. As for me, I still love revisiting these episodes, regardless of how things wound up. The mythology episodes were always this series’ bread and butter, though, and I still find those entries the most compelling now that I’m giving things another look. The show-runners were admirably never scared to take things in unpredictable directions or do things that you never expected. I can’t think of another series from this era that would have had the courage to offer standard fare for dozens of episodes and then indiscriminately drop a direct parody of itself like “X-Cops” onto the airwaves. But what’s it about? I personally think it’s about our insatiable, universal need to continually ask unknowable questions. To peer into the dark and see the horrors we only imagine could live there. We know innately what’s there – and what isn’t there. Yet we still have to look. Somehow, the impenetrable formula of The X-Files still works. What is “the truth”? The series never quite gives us that answer. And I think that’s because it wisely understands that in a very real sense, we know the truth already.
Video: How’s it look?
In a word, The X-Files looks stunning on Blu-ray. While I stopped just short of giving these transfers a technically perfect rating for picture quality, I want to stress that I don’t believe this series could look much (if at all) better than it does on this release. I did note some extremely minor edge-enhancement in some instances, as well as a few (albeit quite infrequent) moments of grain structure being unnaturally resolved. There are also several shots that have been obviously up-scaled from standard definition. It should be noted that virtually all of these issues are very likely attributable to the source material, and not a failing of the remastering process itself. Taken as such, I must emphasize that long-time fans of this show will find these transfers nothing short of revelatory. Going back to the old DVD masters would, for me, be practically impossible now that I’ve seen how good these episodes can look at home. Easily eclipsing the streaming versions that have recently been offered on Netflix, the blu-ray renditions of The X-Files are comparatively immaculate. This has always been a very dark series by nature, and I’m happy to report that these blu-rays excel splendidly when resolving fine object detail in dimly-lit environments. Individual strands of hair, textures on clothing, and skin tones are particularly impressive, even at a cursory glance. I was particularly taken with the latter aspect of these transfers, and more than once I marveled at how natural faces appeared throughout the presentations. I’ll admit that I was a bit concerned when I heard that the same company responsible for the disappointing visual treatment of the second season of Star Trek: The Next Generation was overseeing these episodes, but I needn’t have worried. The work on display here is simply top-notch across the board, and I absolutely cannot recommend this set enough for loyal fans. I should point out that the entire nine-season run is presented at 1.78:1 on these discs, which is a departure from the 4:3 format of the original DVD releases. While this might upset some purists out there, it’s important to understand that The X-Files is a near-unique beast where aspect ratio is concerned. The show was always protected for the 16:9 frame when it was shot, and it was shot on film. The new framing does offer slightly less visual information on the top and bottom than before, but nearly always reveals more on the left and right of the frame. In the end, it’s six of one, half a dozen of the other. The new compositions are never distracting, and in fact, they give the entire show a far more theatrical feel that I found especially fitting and natural for The X-Files. I much prefer the new aspect ratio, and I think most fans out there will agree once they see them for themselves.
Audio: How’s it sound?
If not quite as instantly gratifying as the upgraded visuals, the DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio tracks on these new blu-rays are no less impressive in their own (admittedly more subtle) way. The X-Files is a series that lives and dies by its ambiance, and these soundtracks are a very nice and noticeable up-tick in quality from their stereo surround ancestors. Separation is clean and crisp, with a pleasingly wide sound scape that encompasses the viewer with surprisingly active surround activity, even as far back as the very first season. You’re not likely to put this show on to demo your sound system, but the important thing here is that the audio perfectly compliments the video while watching the episodes. Dialog is always clean and intelligible, with no audible peaking issues or shrillness that so often mars 5.1 “upgrades” to both television and feature films not natively recorded in the format. The new mixes are always natural-sounding, without succumbing to either lifelessness nor gimmickry. Your LFE channel will even get a bit of a workout during some sequences, but it’s never overdone. Fans of the show – and particularly those who have owned this series on DVD before – should be ecstatic at hearing these discs. As with the video, I simply couldn’t imagine going back now and listening to The X-Files any other way.
Supplements: What are the extras?
The long and short of it is that you can safely get rid of your DVD sets. That’s because Fox has done right by fans with this release and scoured through all of the previous releases of of The X-Files to include every single bit of supplemental content that was present on both the original season boxed sets and the mythology sets that followed. All of the commentaries, episode intros, interviews, documentaries, and even the TV spots are retained here. While the lack of additional, new HD-exclusives may put some fans off a bit, the material offered on the DVD packages was voluminous from the beginning, and I personally appreciate Fox’s efforts to make those earlier releases wholly obsolete far more than I would have felt the need for a few new documentaries that necessitated the removal of key features that long-time fans would miss. Note that the press release from Fox does not include all of the features I’ve outlined below. This list is a direct transcription of the backs of the individual blu-ray seasons, as those were far more comprehensive. Rest assured that, while you may not be getting anything new here, you are getting everything that’s been released. Kudos to Fox for letting people upgrade without any sacrifice. It really completes the picture and makes this set a total no-brainer.
- Season One
- Series Intro by Frank Spotnitz
- Chris Carter Talks About Season 1
- Deleted Scenes
- International Clips
- Deep Throat: Audio Commentary by Chris Carter
- Erlenmeyer Flask: Audio Commentary by R.W. Goodwin
- Special Effects Clip From Fallen Angel
- Documentary: “The Truth About Season 1”
- Season Two
- Deleted Scenes
- Chris Carter Talks About Season 2
- Humbug
- Documentary: “The Truth About Season Two”
- Duane Barry: Audio Commentary by Chris Carter
- End Games: Audio Commentary by Frank Spotnitz
- Anasazi: Audio Commentary by R.W. Goodwin
- Season Three
- Deleted Scenes (w/optional commentary by Chris Carter)
- Chris Carter Talks About Season 3
- International Clips
- Special Effects with Commentary by Mat Beck
- Documentary: “The Truth About Season Three”
- Threads of Mythology: Abduction
- Talitha Cuma: Audio Commentary by R.W. Goodwin
- Season Four
- Deleted Scenes
- Extended Scenes
- Special Effects with Commentary by Paul Rabwin
- Deleted Scenes (w/optional commentary by Chris Carter)
- Tunguska – Interview With Chris Carter
- Paper Hearts – Interview with Vince Gilligan
- Memento Mori: Audio Commentary by Rob Bowman
- Introduction to Memento Mori by Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz
- Max: Audio Commentary by Kim Manners
- Documentary: “The Truth About Season Four”
- Season Five
- International Clips
- Deleted Scenes (w/optional commentary by Chris Carter)
- Special Effects with Commentary by Paul Rabwin
- Documentary: “The Truth About Season Five”
- Threads of Mythology: Black Oil
- FX Featurette
- Introduction to The Post-Modern Prometheus by Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz
- Patient X: Audio Commentary by Kim Manners
- The Red and the Black: Audio Commentary by Chris Carter
- The Post Modern Prometheus: Audio Commentary by Chris Carter
- The Pine Bluff Variant: Audio Commentary by John Shiban
- Season Six
- Special Effects with Commentary by Paul Rabwin
- Deleted Scenes (w/optional commentary by Frank Spotnitz)
- International Clips
- Two Fathers: Audio Commentary by Kim Manners
- One Son: Audio Commentary by Frank Spotnitz
- Triangle: Audio Commentary by Chris Carter
- Introduction to Milagro by Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz
- X-Files Profiles: Cigarette-Smoking Man
- Featurette on Season Six
- Documentary: “The Truth About Season Six”
- Season Seven
- Deleted scenes (w/optional commentary by Chris Carter)
- Special effects sequences with commentary by Paul Rabwin
- International Clips
- Documentary: “The Truth About Season Seven” Behind-the-Scenes featurette
- X-Files Profiles: A.D. Skinner and Samantha Mulder
- Closure: Audio Commentary by Kim Manners
- Documentary: “The Truth About Season Seven”
- Season Eight
- Special Effects by Mat Beck with Commentary by Paul Rabwin
- International Clips
- Deleted scenes (w/optional commentary by Frank Spotnitz and John Shiban)
- Documentary: “The Truth About Season Eight”
- Deleted Scenes with Optional Commentary by Chris Carter
- Threads of Mythology: Colonization
- X-Files Profiles
- Within: Commentary by Kim Manners and Robert Patrick
- Deadalive: Commentary by Frank Spotnitz
- Vienen: Commentary by Rod Hardy
- Season Nine
- Deleted scenes (w/optional commentary by Frank Spotnitz)
- Special Effects by Mat Beck with Commentary by Paul Rabwin
- International Clips
- Audio Commentary by Chris Carter, Vince Gilligan, John Shiban, Frank Spotnitz, Kim Manners
- Documentary: “The Truth About Season Nine”
- “The Making of ‘The Truth’”
- “Secrets of The X-Files”
- “Tribute to The X-Files”
- Threads of Mythology: Super Soldiers
- X-Files Profiles
- Reflections on the Truth Featurette
- Wonder Con Panel
The Bottom Line
What are you waiting for? It’s been a long, painstaking road getting the entirety of The X-Files onto blu-ray, but they’ve finally arrived. I’m happy to say it was worth the wait and then some. With absolutely stellar video presentations in fresh, pleasing 16:9 aspect ratios, strong and immersive 5.1 lossless audio tracks, comprehensive supplemental packages that leave no stone unturned from earlier home releases, and an attractive price point to boot, fans shouldn’t hesitate at all to pick up this incredible boxed set in time for the holidays. Fox has, in my opinion, really knocked it out of the park with this set. Step back for a moment and marvel at the minor miracle that a mammoth physical media release like this even exists today. It’s well worth your time and money to support what is still the best way to watch video at home. The series may not have always been great, but it’s still hugely entertaining. You’ll need to pick up the two feature films separately to complete your X-Files collection, but the amount of material here is just amazing at such a low MSRP (compare to the aforementioned Star Trek sets, for example). Watching the original run of The X-Files again has definitely piqued my interest in the new limited series premiering in January. Here’s hoping that Mulder and Scully can go out on the high note that so many of us hoped they would back in the day. In the meantime, you can’t go wrong with this new blu-ray release. The truth is finally out there!
