Classic X-Files were seasons 1-5. Once they moved filming from Vancouver to LA, a lot of the spooky atmosphere was lost. There are a handful of good in seasons 6 and 7, but nothing close to the earlier seasons. Once Mulder left the show died. I was a die hard X-Phile from season one on, but I had to bail after season 8. I came back for the series finale, just to see how they were going to wrap everything up. It was a mess. The revival seasons were embarrassing. The X-Files is a wonderful time capsule of the 90s, just let it go….
I forget who's video it was but apart of their discussion on X-Files was just how important Vancouver was too the show both on & behind the camera and that always stuck with me because how true it was
It completely owned the 90s. A wonderful , fresh, exciting take on classic paranormal myths and theories that, with the incoming new millennium and rise of conspiracy theory became essential TV. Perfect character chemistry. Twin Peaks level of mystery and surreal with awesome Horror and Sci-Fi. Perfect. BUT....Season 6's bizarre decision to stockpile its opening half with comedy utterly derailed any previous drama and tension from the Movie. It was like watching a toned down show that was influenced by The XFiles for the Buffy generation, and not the XFiles itself. Some brilliance here and there stand alone episode wise, but the Mythology went totally off the rails into silly sci-fi that, the early years were Anathema to. Season 7 was even worse in places-, the episode, "Fight Club' is the absolute nadir of how bad it got. Too much self parody, trying to use comedy and self reference to cover up plot holes and lack of character development. My biggest gripe with season 6 was Scully still stubbornly refusing to believe Mulder in UFOs, despite the fact that he rescued her from a huge mothership in the middle of the South Pole in the movie! The show became more fantastical, all out sci-fi, not needing any science based theories from her to debate things. Her forced, lazy skeptism in season 6 and 7 was used to drag out the skeptic- believer dynamic that, just could'nt fly now. Making the show all about putting them together was a mistake aswell, as it resulted in the 'William' saga later on.
I'm of the opinion that Season 8 was necessary to revive interest in the show, because it was the best Season of the show since the earlier ones. I liked Robert Patrick as John Doggett in particular as his character was a real breath of fresh air. However the show should have ended right then and there, as the S8 finale was perfect. Season 9 jumped the shark big time.
i liked it better when we were going on wacky horror sci fi detective spook of the week self contained episodes, as soon as it started to become over serialized and all about the aliens, thats when it lost the plot and became 'flanderized'
@orangewarm1 I think the weak film was Chris Carters fault but in the hand of better directors I don't see why they can't make some solid X-Files films if they had went that route
When your premise is a mystery, you need to know how it ends and what the steps are to get to that ending. Classic episodic TV isn't conducive to that because it's either canceled prematurely or it's successful and they stretch it out, leading to fatigue.
Fatigue for a long-enduring franchise can seem inevitable at times. It’s happened with Star Trek and Doctor Who. For The X-Files I think that it was after Mulder finally found closure for Samantha that the decline most seriously began.
*TL:DW;* The _constant_ waffling and no closure killed it. The first few seasons were great as it was more episodic paranormal shows. As it moved to longer story arcs nothing was conclusive. If you can’t *respect the viewer’s time* eventually they will stop respecting you.
First problem with X Files is that it never had an ending plan. The second was the changes and retcons, which started with the mystery of Mulder's sister. They changed like four times until they revealed what actually happened to her. It's a great and well written and acted show for the most part, but they should've ended with five seasons and the movie
Not to mention that the bad guys were actually defeated by the Alien Rebels. The colonisation plan was _stopped._ They had to write around that to bring back the mythos conflict. I guess the Rebels didn't have an answer to the Supersoldiers?
@@ReddwarfIV well remembered. I'm 29, but only started to watch the show in 2021, and got instantly hooked on. But when the bad guys died I was like "is that it?", and they kept doing the conspiracy stuff which didn't have weight anymore because the bad guys were already killed. Maybe they could go for a more supernatural menace, but they kept regurgitating that.
Yeah, they just kept tacking on more and more details to the alien conspiracy rather than moving forward with what we'd learned through several seasons of patient/eager watching. I gave up after Mulder "died," and based on the contents of this video, it's a good thing I didn't come back.
@GiovanniAlckmimRusso I watched up to season 9 with my sister a couple years ago. We both lost interest at that point. The monster of the week episodes just couldn't make up for the absolute meh that was the myth arc episodes. It had become clear that there would never be a resolution, because any resolution would be undone to keep the show going.
@@ReddwarfIVI was just a casual viewer of the X files. Not while it was airing, but later on reruns. I always enjoyed the standalone eps, the "monster of the week" types. It was the ongoing ones with repeating characters that just lost me. (Every time l saw that smoking guy, l just changed the damn channel lol) If you hadn't been watching since the beginning, you wouldn't know the history behind them or really care at all. Ultimately that's why l stopped watching.
Half the original premise was Mulder trying to find out what happened to his sister. It was the catalyst for Mulder’s obsession with aliens and the unknown. So the show should’ve ended once they found out what happened to the sister but it kept going
You are quite wrong. Mulder's obsession with aliens and the paranormal are completely independent from Samantha's disappearance. In fact, his last conversation with his sister, the same night she was abducted, was an argument between both of them, precisely, because Mulder wanted to watch a tv show dealing with the paranormal, and Samantha wanted to see something else. And when Mulder joined the FBI, he had no idea about the existence of the X-Files. One thing simply led to another.
Unpopular opinion: I like the "monster of the week" episodes. Their are a few of the alien episode I rewatch, the train autopsy, but I am not much for them.
When the first movie came out and there was STILL no significant reveal regarding the "mythology" arc it became increasingly clear there was nothing planned there. It was just being strung along, and so was the audience.
The soundtrack actually had the entire mythology thing on it as a hidden track read by Chris Carter. Like literally *everything.* Which is why everything after the movie kinda sucked. Most people already knew what was going on so he had to make up some new shit for the next 4 season.
The X-Files was solid up until around season 7. After that, it was like Chris Carter lost the plot and tried to change it up but it wasn't as good as previous seasons. The writing became inconsistent and I hated all of the movies because they never captured the same magic as the first 6 or 7 seasons. I really hated it when the Lone Gunmen got killed off because they were a good addition to the show. The two seasons of the revival were all over the place without any real ideas of what the new show was trying to accomplish. It was clearly a cash grab like most modern reboots of older shows are which was a big disappointment since Mulder and Scully were back. Had Carter stuck more closely to the original series and its simple stories with great characters, it would have been much better. By the time the show ended in 2002, the show had run out of steam and it never recovered after that.
The reason for that is because that's pretty much what happened. X-Files ended with the movie as far as Chris Carter knew. So when the soundtrack for the movie came out, there was a hidden track where he laid out the entire mythology of the show. When Fox decided that they were bringing X-Files back, Chris had nothing really to work with. The entire thing had been revealed. So he needed to make up some new shit for 4 more years worth of episodes.
The problem with X-Files is that it's main attraction is ambiguity. "Was all that characters experienced real? Or was it some hallucination? Or was it staged by some cabal to cover up real thing?" Each episode you find out (or at least supposed to) that things aren't exactly what they were thought to be. And as a result the more "mythology" you are introduced, the less there is a room for another twist. Unless you turn the whole lore on its head and that would require massive retcons. All that already started to be a problem around season 4 and only became worse from there.
On the other hand, and this is my personal opinion as a fan of the series, the reasons why the xfiles died out were the following: One: the overarching plot of the syndicate and the colonization conspiracy was stretch out for way to long to the point that they had to keep adding things throughout the seasons to keep the intrigue going but this just made things more confusing. They should have ended the thing in the fifth or fourth season and create a new overarching story/plot. Two: no new overarching villian/opposite force for the X-files investigators after the destruction of syndicate. Without the "overarching conspiracy" the show lost its focus and it felt like they were just throwing anything at the story hoping something would stick. They could have replaced them with another group in the gov that also investigated the scifi/supernatural elements for the purpose of using the knowledge for the good of the military or something or have a new more private shadow organization, that maybe the greys had contact with behind the backs of the syndicate as a plan b, that combined the alien knowledge they got from the greys with the supernatural aspects of the show (demons, witchcraft and all that) for their own benefits and plans which could've been use a a link between the series and it's spinoff Millennium. Third: the constant scepticism of both Mulder and Scully on different topics. Why was Scully still a hardened sceptic after all the crap she's witness? She could've still be the one asking questions and going by the book and scientific method without dismissing the possibility of the unnatural after all she's seen. And why would Mulder, the open minded believer, just dismiss some of the supernatural things like angels while being open to others. He could've just put his own spin to it as theories, like saying that angels are just extra dimensional beings/aliens or something. Fourth: No Mulder in later seasons. Like seriously what the heck? Is one thing to have a few episodes without Scully or adding new characters to the xfiles like Doggett, wich I personally had no problem with, but having the xfiles without Mulder, who basically represents everything the show is about, is like having the series Buffy without Buffy.
Yeah, Scully had no growth, no matter what she's seen, and she's seen a lot, she always tries to argue it's nothing supernatural inspite of all the times she's seen that it was supernatural, or something alien.
@@Shauma_llama Were you watching the same show I was? Scully is a rationalist -- that means she believes if something is true, it must be verifiable. Just seeing some weird stuff a bunch of times is not an explanation. She always insisted on rigorous investigation and evidence, because she's a scientist, and her approach got results, which Mulder also acknowledged. That's why the worked so well as a team from the very first episode. When she got evidence of aliens, she accepted it, and that was very clear in later seasons but does everyone forget she found evidence of aliens at the end of season 1?
@@zammmerjammer I personally found her skeptism in season 6 totally unbelievable, and was there for the sake of keeping some conflict with her and Mulder. I know that, she always tried to ration and realise things from a Science point of view to add possibility to Mulder's outside ideas. 👍 But , having been rescued from the UFO at the end of the movie was for me anyway, alll the visual , experienced personally felt and lived actual proof of it all. But, she still refused to believe it and, no explaination, reason was given for what happened in the Antarctic ice field. It wasnt really actually mentioned to them again directly 'till season 8's "Alone". Which, was mentioned in a comical ,inwhich Scully tries to claim that she didnt see anything at the time! That was one of my huge issues with it after the Movie. Carter could not follow-up those magnificent events of its finale, he spent season 6 instead added more and more layers to things, and kept Scully a Skeptic in UFOs- Despite being Rescued from a HUGE spaceship in the middle of the South Pole.
@@agm5424 Very good points argued there, mate. I agree with Scully's skeptism. I absolutely could not take that seriously in season 6 after her rescue from the UFO in the movie. Denying and disbelieving in UFOs, despite Mulder clearly freeing her from one.🙄😁 The movie was amazing, but when it finally showed conclusive footage and interactive proof of everything like the UFO, having Scully "passed out" just as it happens to fly over them into the sky was a tad too far. Then along comes season 6, and they act like nothing happened, and overflow everything with a more light hearted, comedic tone in places, changing the whole feel of the show.
I’ve used the phrase “Chris Carter gets tired of his toys too quickly” many times in the past. It’s like if Andy from Toy Story decided mid-play to throw half his toys to the side and just restart everything with ones he’s not sick of. Pretty much how Carter wrote the latter half of the series.
I tend to give him a pass for that because there's a reason for it. X-Files ended with the movie as far as Chris Carter knew. So when the soundtrack for the movie came out, there was a hidden track where he laid out the entire mythology of the show. When Fox decided that they were bringing X-Files back, Chris had nothing really to work with. The entire thing had been revealed. So he needed to make up some new shit for 4 more years worth of episodes.
Even though the show went off the rails i think even in the most recent seasons, there were good stand alones in there. Chris Carters handling of the mythology was horrendous though.
@@kormanproductions8943 The most recent X-Files series dealt with some interesting subjects like the Mandela Effect, chemtrails and the secret space program. But I felt like Carter could have managed them a little better.
The Second movie really put the nail in the coffin, Instead of digging deeper into the alien world - it switched lanes and literally had a psychic pedophile priest become the hero that save the day stopping the bad guy....wtf!?
I hold the opinion, for whatever it is worth, that the "Anasazi" & "The Blessing Way" two parter was peak X-files. In my estimation it never got better than that. Although Mulder and Scully would go on to encounter phenomenon that were arguably stranger, the characters themselves never had stakes that were more personal, their relationship was never more strained, their reliance on people whose trust in them the questioned never more desperate, the mystery never so dangerous to pursue. Mulder's 'spirit quest' was never quite topped, although the episode with Scully and the tattoo came close. I will always love the giant with the EpiPen of death, but I'd take an endless wall of abandoned filing cabinets over him any day.
The episodes you're referring to is Patient X and The Red and The Black. but in those episode the whole "just the government" plot was a ruse to deceive Mulder. Whereas in the newer seasons we the audience are suppose to take it as fact. Which was the first mistake of the new seasons.
@@hoogys Agreed. I think it would have been great if Carter had actually watched the X-Files again before writing those last 2 seasons. Because it's pretty obvious he didn't. We see an alien on Earth 35,000 years ago. There's absolutely no way in hell that the Syndicate/government faked that just for the audience's benefit.
The X-files went off the rails when they tried to be more than a "monster of the week" show, its like the writers were actively trying NOT to be the X-files after only a few seasons, the actors are very compelling though and you want to watch more even when the stories turn into an exercise for the writers to try and distance themselves from the X-files ! lol. wish they had stayed true to the original feel.
@@OliviaBenson2003 The writers seam to have wanted greater adulation than they were getting from the X-files show, its kinda mad considering how massive the X-files was.
I have no idea why people talk down the 'monster of the week' episodes as they were by far my favourite. Episodes like Squeeze are absolute classics. I pretty much checked out with the alien conspiracy episodes.
Season 6. Episode 1. The follow up to the movie's finale had to deliver. After Mulder rescued Scully from a UFO in the deep depths of the Antarctic Ice and said UFO whirred and hovered over them both up into the skies, I remember being psyched to see the s6 kick off. I was dismayed when then, despite all that happened, Scully was STILL a skeptic! Her happening to be 'passed out' as the UFO made a deafening buzz over her, and left a gigantic crater in the Ice behind them was a terrible excuse to delay proper character development. Carter was absolutely not able to fully forward character development - the Believer-Skeptic dynamic could only work for so long, before by season 6 it was boring, predictable and unbelievable. Season 6 was also laced with toned down, light hearted comedic episodes that ruined any progress the Film made, and made the whole show feel and look like something else entirely. Season 7 could and should have corrected this back on track, but what happened? Even more wild tangents to OTT sci-fi, even more light hearted muck, resulting with "Fight Club'- the worst episode of the entire shows run. Dreadful. I admire season 8 in many places for attempting to return to the dark roots of before- Robert Patrick was superb. And the episode 'Via Negetiva" is up there with anything from the early years- a FANTASTIC episode. But, season 9 derailed things again with the mythology being so overblown- the entire "William' arc was a mistake. One of the all time best shows, that, because of network insistences and no clear endgame from Chris Carter did'nt know when to end.
X files on RPN channel 9 with that iconic theme song is such a treat back in the day.. always giving me goosebumps everytime I hear it on the commercial.. 👻
I actually like the majority of the last 2 original seasons of the show (largely because I liked Annabeth Gish as Monica Reyes), though I agree that the show as a whole would have been stronger if they had a long term plan they stuck with. Even the 2 new seasons they brought back in 2015/2018 had a few good episodes, but the new ending there was horrific.
Never missed an episode, Sunday nite! Up to the 2nd movie then I had 2 kids and never knew 10-11 existed. Thank God, don't want to ruin the memories when it was a fav.
The episodes of original series were focused and simple. The rebooted series lacked the fine-tuned focus and became sloppy with uninteresting plot arcs.
I think the show jumped the shark with the episode "Closure." I have no idea why people actually like that episode. It was confusing, manipulative, pretentious, and anticlimactic. Just terrible. That's when I started to really lose interest in the show.
Yes!!! It KILLED the show for me. The search for Samantha was a key thread for the whole show…and just hand waved it away in the most anticlimactic way possible.
That's around when I stopped watching originally. Was already starting to dislike it after the movie. But stuck with it for the next 2 seasons. Stopped when Mulder disappeared. The way they handled her death in this episode, I almost wish they'd have just left it as some random serial killer did it back in the 4th season. It was crap, but it was better than this.
I'm a huge X-Files fan since I was 12 in 1993 but they stretched it out way too long, with storylines never being concluded or giving the audience vague answers, if they just stuck to the 5 seasons and gave the audience definitive explanations to the mythology episodes it would of wrapped them up better and more clearly.
The mythology story was done at the mid stage of the sixth season. The two alien sides met and made peace and decided to piss off. I watched it for a while after that, but it was just adding in things to keep treading water and none of them tied to it all. I liked the second movie because it didn't bother with any of that, and focused on the two main characters in a relatively small environment and it worked. That ALSO had the satisfying ending too. It was a suitable farewell to characters that the show had beat to death a LONG time ago.
I was happy when they finally continued the series a few years ago, but they completely lost me when they retconned the complete alien invasion storyline from the initial series into being a hoax. That storyline held the X-files together and without it, I was not interested in watching it anymore. I still haven't seen the final season because of it. It also kind of ruins the intrigue of the earlier seasons when you know that it was all going nowhere.
As a ten year old kid I was fascinated and hooked from the very first day it aired. The X Files accompanied me through my adolecence and stayed with me as an adult. The first five seasons were the best and I almost peed myself when I heard that the first movie was in the making. Went to see it twice. The second half of the series felt a little weird, but still had some great episodes and I was GLUED to the screen when the last episodes of the last season aired back then. The second movie felt out of place and the reboot was a nice try, but nothing more. The X Files was a great series nonetheless. A product of its time, unique back then and picked up so many themes, myths, monsters, conspiracies, and motives. I loved it and still love to rewatch the old episodes, which are still very impressive if you know that its now over thirty years ago since they first got aired.
I actually don’t mind many of the late reboot episodes: ” Molder and Scully meet the ware man”, “ lost art of forehead sweat”………. These are in my mind classic episodes on par with, “Jose Chung from Outer space”
that’s because all the best episodes of the show were written by darin morgan. the eps that he didn’t do in the reboot are just depressingly bad. i couldn’t even bring myself to watch season 11, i was so heartbroken
Jose Chung from Outer Space, is one of the very few episodes from the entire series that I always skip when re-watching it lol. I do like those others you mentioned quite a lot. In the end: to each his own.
The X Files was the perfect TV show for its time. In the 90s people wanted to believe, and there were numerous bogus documentaries about paranormal phenomenon. Adults were into books talking about the paranormal. Talking about ghosts wasn't a crazy notion in many families. But today, it all seems bogus. The time is gone, it doesn't resonate any more, and we've seen the aliens on X-Files in all shapes and forms, there is no more surprise to be had, no more fear. The show was also at its peak when shot in Vancouver. X-Files never recovered from being a day show filmed in LA, with sunny and hot replacing dark and rainy. It wasn't even the new agents, coz they were pretty good. But it got too big for its own good. And let's not even mention the cigarette smoking man who just refuses to die. This was laughable.
Not to get too political, but my “proof” that the government doesn’t have hidden knowledge about the paranormal is that if they did, it would have been tweeted about at 2 AM by a certain high-ranking American politician… 😂
@@DrFranklynAnderson yeah politicians are bound to screw up, or to leak for personal gain. Even the CIA leaks, look at Snowden. I'm a physicist, there's already enough strange things we don't know about in nature. Way stranger than aliens.
It became a victim of its own success, didnt it? Making a movie at the shows peak was one thing, and even though the movie was very good- the return to season 6 was so different. I think Carter tried to tone down and lighten up the mood of the show to attain a younger fanbase that were watching Buffy, or any of the shows in that vein that the XFiles influenced, making it even popular. But, it didnt happen. Season 6 and 7 were very polarising with the fans. I think if you put the best stand alone episodes of seasons 6 and 7 together, youd have a very good single season- minus the Scully-Mulder romance themed stuff and comedy. The mythology didnt know when to quit, or where it was even going anymore after the movie, and there was too many comedic episodes that failed to use meta based humour to cover up plot holes and questions. By the time season 7 was running with utter crap like the episode 'Fight Club', Buffy itself was very popular, and The Sopranos was rewriting the rules of Television. I liked season 8 in many places, but season 7 should have had its final episodes drive to a proper conclusion with the stylings of the original seasons.
I think "for its time" is a crucial distinction. The 90s saw the modern internet emerge, and cell phones were starting to get more common. Day to day life and the flow of information was changing quickly, The X-Files just fit the times. It's ironic one of the show's themes -- that we have a corrupt & secretive federal government -- will be a problem for any future attempts at rebooting the franchise. Mulder and Scully may have fought the power, but it's hard to imagine an FBI agent nowadays would ever risk his or her pension.
When the two leads hooked up that was it for me. I only know two things about TV: Never give in to the temptation to pair up your lead actors. I know all women out there want this to happen but your show is about to turn into fan-fiction. Second: Never piss off your lead actor to the point where he/she leaves the show. It's not gonna be the same after. As much as I like Andersson she needed David Duchouvney (probably nailed the spelling). I don't even like David D. but he was key to the show. Northern Exposure did the same thing, first Joel and Maggie hooks up, then Rob Morrow leaves the show. Turns out the whole premise of the show was Rob Morrow, I guess the writers forgot. Thirdly: Never go beyond 7 seasons because it seems physically impossible to make quality after 7 full seasons. Seinfeld did go to season 9 but that's only because the first two seasons were 4 and 12 episodes. Fourthly: Never reboot X-Files with an allstar team just to check all the boxes 🌈👮♂💂♂👳🏿♂👴🏽🧔🏿👱🏻♂
X files is a product of it's time. I don't know if a "reboot" is necessary as the original fans are now in their 50s and 60s. Do younger people care? It's such a huge risk but studios are afraid to try anything new.
@@Jokalido All the mythology storyline after season 5 and the Movie went totally off the rails onto too many tangents towards the OTT sci-fi that, it originally avoided. 👍 The whole 'Cult of William' thing in season 9 was beyond bad. So silly, so overblown compared to the super cool black oils, and flashlights into the dark rooms that may-may not have contained something sinister in the early years.
13 Scary Episodes To Watch During October :) 2X02 : “The Host” : September 23,1994 2X14 : “Die Hand Die Verletzt“ January 27,1995 2X21 : "The Calusari" : April 14,1995 2X22 : “F. Emasculata” : April 28,1995 3X14 : “Grotesque” : February 2,1996 4X02 : “Home” : October 11,1996 4X06 : “Sanguinarium” : November 10,1996 5X19 : “Folie á Deux” : May 10,1998 7X03 : “Hungry” : November 21,1999 8X04 : “Roadrunners” : November 26,2000 8X07 : “Via Negativa” : December 17,2000 8X10 : “Badlaa” : January 21,2001 9X08 : “Hellbound” : January 27,2002
the endless ufo angle was utterly boring. alien's, unless they do something like bleed acid and burst out of your chest, aren't scary or creepy in the least.
Season 1-5 were sci-fi tv masterpieces When production moved from Vancouver to LA, romance struck between the two main characters and bizarre comedy was introduced into a serious sci-fi show it went downhill VERY QUICKLY!
I could not agree more. The more light hearted, bright tinted episodes of season 6 was puzzling. It just did'nt 'feel' like the XFiles anymore. It was harnessing the more comedic, lite toned feel and vibe that say, Buffy could succeed in. It became a parody of what it was in places, and the heavier, darker more Adult toned mood of seasons 1-5 was gone. But- the biggest thing I had such a problem was Scully's attitudes in season 6. In the first movie- Mulder rescues her from the UFO in the Antarctic Ice. But, rather than using this as a brilliant forwarding character development for her, she STILL refuses to believe in Aliens!!! Chris Carter was'nt able to develop the characters in progress and conjunction with the moving plots. I could not take Scully's skeptism from season 6 onwards.
@@kylereece1979 this is the issue where the greed of corporate overcomes the artistic vision The Network probably thought if we make it more “light and funny” more people will watch it = more ads = more money to be made! It achieved the complete opposite: it was still too weird for people who are not interested in sci-fi and became a farse for the real and loyal fans of the show! This is just a bad outcome of network greed!
Seasons 10 & 11 were overall disappointments. Some of it had to do with points mentioned in this video & others had to with trying to condense something with a history & ideas as big as The X-Files into 6 or 10 episodes. It felt rushed & it left me feeling cheated However, one of the standout episodes that instantly grabbed me from the promo was Season 11's "Familiar." Atmosphere, tone, an iconic "monster" in Mr Chuckle Teeth, it gave all the feels of those early seasons
Absolutely loved it in the 90’s when I was a kid. Rewatched the first couple of seasons a few years back and couldn’t get past season 3. Saw about 30 seconds of the 2016 reboot, that was enough.
As much as I loved it and wish it had stuck the landing The X-Files was very much a product of its time. There's no way a reboot could work now. Remember that time Congress actually tried to having hearings about UFOs and everyone was like "What about food prices, though?"
Even if it *could* work, it shouldn't be done. Given all the psychotic conspiracy nuts that exist now, a new X-Files would just be throwing fuel on an already very nasty fire. People claiming COVID (and/or the vaccines) was supposed to kill everyone so that the "elite" could rule the survivors is literally the plot of those last two seasons. We don't need more of that.
For me, there was never any natural conclusion, and no ending was ever planned for. It inevitably turned into freak show of the week, with samey, bland, empty cliff hangers that were never resolved.
The idea that the finale existed on a cd hidden track most people never found is perfect. It was perfect, and remains an example of finding the truth, but only if you are really willing to work for it.
The Monster of the Week episodes were pretty good in my opinion. I think they were really creative and had some great creepiness to them. But, their bread and butter was always the Alien stuff. The stereotypical, "grey" aliens. Once they sort of moved away from that, and let it go off the rails, they really lost a lot of the magic they had. They over complicated things. Grey Aliens working with the government was cool enough. They didn't need to start throwing in Alien super soldiers, and virus's, and what not. I really hoped the newest seasons were going to correct those mistakes, but instead, they seemed to double down on the insanity and just ruined all of it. It's such a shame, because as a teen, I loved that show, and it deserved better.
Seasons 10 and 11 in my opinion were brought down by the mythology episodes. But honestly, I can't be mad they brought the show back because "Mulder and Scully meet the Weremonster" and "The Lost Art of Forehead Sweat" might be one of my favourite episodes in the entire show. I was always a mythology episodes apologist in my friends circle, I really liked the UFO and government conspiracy episodes but it was all up to the first movie. Everything after that was just adding unnecessary layers. I think seasons 10-11 should've drop the mythology at all and just focus on being an anthology. But I have hope what Coogler is doing will not throw everything to the bin and restart it from scratch, but maybe he will find a way to continue with new mysteries and new stories and new cast (though I'd love to see Skinner again)
Well, it went down in season 7. But it was again good in season 8 and 9. And after that with second movie it went down for good. Season 10 was bad but season 11 was even worse. No more monsters of the week, only some poor cases like one where Mulder took some drug... On those last two seasons only one monster od the week case. It was in season 10. And it was only OK. No more allien stories. Like it was all lie. What happened with supersoldiers alliens? Like they newer existed. Cigaret smoking man is like god. He died at the end of season 9 (yes, he died and we all saw that) and resurrected till season 10. So stupid. How to kill him? They had to stop this show with season 9 and all would be good.
Frankly, my favorite episodes were the side-episodes. The "mythos" episodes weren't necessarily as interesting, and it's a shame both movies and the video games always focused on the aliens and never broke away into the stranger stuff like weird cryptids or strange paranormal events. As a precursor to the wild community created wonderful mess that is SCP Foundation stories, it's great, but frankly SCP has taken it much further and it's "pick your own canon" nature makes it infinitely more interesting and customizable to whatever a fan wants out of those stories. Personally, I think my favorite episode was "Drive", the one with the infectious sound that kills unless you travel in a specific direction.
The reason X-Files worked was two-fold: it was arguably a fresh take on an old idea, and, the characters were so different that you could feel at home with any of them. The new stuff felt too homogeneous in its approach, and the quick manufacture of a crisis cannot possibly stand up to the expectations of a 202 episode run. Also, as someone who has acted in a number of productions here in Vancouver, there is definitely a "feel" that was lost in the bright lights of SoCal.
I could not watch seasons 10 and 11 - in addition to the writing both Mulder and Scully looked so old. I understand Scully had a wig due to other acting jobs but man, it was painful to watch.
It really was *depressing* to watch, especially with those lame younger hipsters at their side... but what I hated even more was the total deconstruction of their established characters, it felt like a "Fck U!!" directed at the fans. I wish I hadn't watched it.
The combination of Fox not being willing to pay Duchovny what he wanted, and Chris Carter not having a clear ending for his story is what ultimately doomed The X-Files in its final two seasons.
X-files really paved the way in both how to make excellent event television. And also how not to do it, ie have no plan on what the story actually is and just make it up as you go along.
X-Files started to fall around the time Mulder was written out of the series due to that alien abduction storyline, that was really stupid. Robert Patrick was good, but he just didnt fit into X-Files, especially with him becoming the Scully, and Scully becoming new Mulder. But gotta say, as stupid as the plot post Season 7, in the new age, Season 12 and the whole William angle could've easily been the greatest storyline X-Files ever had, if only they kept William slightly more mysterious, and maybe a bit more unstable. Making CSM his father was meh twist, but then again, if CSM didn't return, it could've worked as CSM's last "screw you" to Mulder, as it was never really clear whether CSM actually was secretly on Mulder's side or not. He was openly hostile for most of the series, but at the same time he did help Mulder on a number of occasions, so who knows. But anyway, if William wasn't basically a super-hero type character just becaues it was cool at the time, he really could've worked out, but they did fumble him. But the biggest mistake X-Files ever did was kill Alex Krycek. Man, that was a solid, *solid* brainfart. Alex was easily one of the most interesting characters, sort of anti-hero, he was smart, capable, he had the looks, he talked the talk and walked the walk. It was criminal how little he was in the series, but killing him off was completely stupid. He had the potential to be the best character in the whole story, and if they kept him alive, he even could've come back in the new age series, and he would've been freaking awesome. Its insane how they wasted him and his potential.
Man, I tell you what: "The X Files" was must-see TV when I was in highschool. I delayed my nights out with friends by an hour just to watch the latest show.
At some point, the writers slowly got tangeled up in their mess of implausible and sometimes even contradicting mythology episode plotlines leaving the audience pretty confused about what is actually going on. And i bet the writers themselves had problems remembering what exactly the conspiracy and the aliens were actually trying to achieve. But compared to the abysmal writing of Season 10 and 11 overarching story arc.....the writing of the original seasons was straight forward and brilliant. In the end, even the confusion became confused
"It didn't have a real reason for existing, other than to make money" Wow, I didn't even realize that X Files was by Disney and part of Marvel Phase 4!
@@Krupy09 That is actually a good comparison! Seasons 1-5 are cast iron classics that for many of us 90s teenagers at heart, are as important as say, our favourite bands. After the first movie, it changed with seasons 6&7. Some brilliant stand alone episodes here snd there, but things had changed. Too much money, a victim of its own success, a change of filming location to LA. Putting a more colorful look and light hearted feel to the show, toning down the horror and suspense to appeal to a new audience. And spiraling what was a slick, grown up , super cool Alien Government conspiracy plot into an overblown , all over the place sci-fi soap opera with no real cohesive endgame in sight.
Ince Chris Carter pretty much left the show to do Millennium, the new staff struggled. For me Muller and Scully starting a relationship was the beginning of the end.
Why TF couldn't Chris Carter just come up with a damn ending for this franchise? Season 9, the second movie, and even the revival seasons had no finality whatsoever.
@@jeremyfields9009 But couldn't he see the writing on the wall that his original plans weren't going to happen? Hell he originally wanted to tie the invasion to that stupid 2012 conspiracy.
@ yup that’s why he had to rewrite the later episodes of season 5 because it was planned in advance to end the series and set up for the film. Now S5 had to lead to a season 6 nobody wanted but the Fox network. Everything after is the results of extending a story beyond its only expiration date. Even if The X files had an ending in the later seasons would it even matter? The audience didn’t care anymore and moved on. Vince Gillian used the x files situation has a reminder to end Breaking Bad on top and not let it drag on.
Classic X-Files were seasons 1-5. Once they moved filming from Vancouver to LA, a lot of the spooky atmosphere was lost. There are a handful of good in seasons 6 and 7, but nothing close to the earlier seasons. Once Mulder left the show died. I was a die hard X-Phile from season one on, but I had to bail after season 8. I came back for the series finale, just to see how they were going to wrap everything up. It was a mess. The revival seasons were embarrassing. The X-Files is a wonderful time capsule of the 90s, just let it go….
I agree and endorse this message :)
I forget who's video it was but apart of their discussion on X-Files was just how important Vancouver was too the show both on & behind the camera and that always stuck with me because how true it was
It completely owned the 90s. A wonderful , fresh, exciting take on classic paranormal myths and theories that, with the incoming new millennium and rise of conspiracy theory became essential TV. Perfect character chemistry. Twin Peaks level of mystery and surreal with awesome Horror and Sci-Fi. Perfect. BUT....Season 6's bizarre decision to stockpile its opening half with comedy utterly derailed any previous drama and tension from the Movie. It was like watching a toned down show that was influenced by The XFiles for the Buffy generation, and not the XFiles itself.
Some brilliance here and there stand alone episode wise, but the Mythology went totally off the rails into silly sci-fi that, the early years were Anathema to. Season 7 was even worse in places-, the episode, "Fight Club' is the absolute nadir of how bad it got. Too much self parody, trying to use comedy and self reference to cover up plot holes and lack of character development. My biggest gripe with season 6 was Scully still stubbornly refusing to believe Mulder in UFOs, despite the fact that he rescued her from a huge mothership in the middle of the South Pole in the movie! The show became more fantastical, all out sci-fi, not needing any science based theories from her to debate things. Her forced, lazy skeptism in season 6 and 7 was used to drag out the skeptic- believer dynamic that, just could'nt fly now. Making the show all about putting them together was a mistake aswell, as it resulted in the 'William' saga later on.
Darkness Falls...
I'm of the opinion that Season 8 was necessary to revive interest in the show, because it was the best Season of the show since the earlier ones. I liked Robert Patrick as John Doggett in particular as his character was a real breath of fresh air. However the show should have ended right then and there, as the S8 finale was perfect. Season 9 jumped the shark big time.
That theme music is absolutely iconic.
I remember how scary that was when I was a child back in mid 90s
@@slystone4892 right? those freaking goosebumps, just with like the first 3 seconds
@Jokalido indeed, it was frightening as a child
Such a perfect scary theme
It was my ringtone for a while.
The show ran its' course, that is why. It should have finished after the first movie(at most 7 seasons) and then only been a film series.
they ran out of storylines though. even the film was weak. series usually run their course at 5 series.
@@orangewarm1 I agree.
i liked it better when we were going on wacky horror sci fi detective spook of the week self contained episodes, as soon as it started to become over serialized and all about the aliens, thats when it lost the plot and became 'flanderized'
@orangewarm1 I think the weak film was Chris Carters fault but in the hand of better directors I don't see why they can't make some solid X-Files films if they had went that route
The monster of the week stories were the worst. The serialized storylines were what made this series great.
When your premise is a mystery, you need to know how it ends and what the steps are to get to that ending. Classic episodic TV isn't conducive to that because it's either canceled prematurely or it's successful and they stretch it out, leading to fatigue.
Beautifully said.
Fatigue for a long-enduring franchise can seem inevitable at times. It’s happened with Star Trek and Doctor Who. For The X-Files I think that it was after Mulder finally found closure for Samantha that the decline most seriously began.
Don't the best mysterys never end?
@@timnor4803 Noted. I’ve found that a few sci-fi shows and movies have been able to achieve that much.
1-6 and the first movie…I miss those days with my old man watching every Sunday night 9pm…
I did the same with my dad 😊
Me too man. RIP dad.
I watched with one of my brothers and we were obsessed with the show!
*TL:DW;* The _constant_ waffling and no closure killed it.
The first few seasons were great as it was more episodic paranormal shows. As it moved to longer story arcs nothing was conclusive. If you can’t *respect the viewer’s time* eventually they will stop respecting you.
First problem with X Files is that it never had an ending plan. The second was the changes and retcons, which started with the mystery of Mulder's sister. They changed like four times until they revealed what actually happened to her. It's a great and well written and acted show for the most part, but they should've ended with five seasons and the movie
Not to mention that the bad guys were actually defeated by the Alien Rebels. The colonisation plan was _stopped._ They had to write around that to bring back the mythos conflict. I guess the Rebels didn't have an answer to the Supersoldiers?
@@ReddwarfIV well remembered. I'm 29, but only started to watch the show in 2021, and got instantly hooked on. But when the bad guys died I was like "is that it?", and they kept doing the conspiracy stuff which didn't have weight anymore because the bad guys were already killed. Maybe they could go for a more supernatural menace, but they kept regurgitating that.
Yeah, they just kept tacking on more and more details to the alien conspiracy rather than moving forward with what we'd learned through several seasons of patient/eager watching. I gave up after Mulder "died," and based on the contents of this video, it's a good thing I didn't come back.
@GiovanniAlckmimRusso I watched up to season 9 with my sister a couple years ago. We both lost interest at that point. The monster of the week episodes just couldn't make up for the absolute meh that was the myth arc episodes. It had become clear that there would never be a resolution, because any resolution would be undone to keep the show going.
@@ReddwarfIVI was just a casual viewer of the X files. Not while it was airing, but later on reruns. I always enjoyed the standalone eps, the "monster of the week" types. It was the ongoing ones with repeating characters that just lost me. (Every time l saw that smoking guy, l just changed the damn channel lol) If you hadn't been watching since the beginning, you wouldn't know the history behind them or really care at all. Ultimately that's why l stopped watching.
Some things are just better left alone. The first few seasons of X Files were fantastic back in the day.
They still are!!!
Season 2 was peak. Fantastic
Half the original premise was Mulder trying to find out what happened to his sister. It was the catalyst for Mulder’s obsession with aliens and the unknown. So the show should’ve ended once they found out what happened to the sister but it kept going
You are quite wrong. Mulder's obsession with aliens and the paranormal are completely independent from Samantha's disappearance. In fact, his last conversation with his sister, the same night she was abducted, was an argument between both of them, precisely, because Mulder wanted to watch a tv show dealing with the paranormal, and Samantha wanted to see something else. And when Mulder joined the FBI, he had no idea about the existence of the X-Files. One thing simply led to another.
@@HeathenDanceit's probably both.
So what happened to his sister?
Quite sir @@HeathenDance
Unpopular opinion: I like the "monster of the week" episodes. Their are a few of the alien episode I rewatch, the train autopsy, but I am not much for them.
Agreed
It's not an unpopular opinion at all tough!
Hahaha I think it’s a very popular opinion :) I’m the same :) and most of the folks I’ve talked to over the course of 20 years 😅
Started this show recently, into the middle of the season 3 right now and I love it a lot
It is mostly quite great for the entire run, and you are basically at right where it REALLY hits its stride!
Yeah that’s a peak part of the show fosho
Enjoy it ,
The show runs out of steam after 5 years.
But until then, its wonderful.
Try series 1 of TWIN PEAKS.
The first few seasons of X Files are fantastic. The matter stuff, not so much.
Enjoy the ride 😁. Season 6 and 7 are not that good, 8 despite Mulder's absence it's actually great. 9 is just bad
Our baby has superpowers! Let’s put him in the foster care system! What could go wrong?
And then regret it and miss him for the next 14-16 years!!!
When the first movie came out and there was STILL no significant reveal regarding the "mythology" arc it became increasingly clear there was nothing planned there. It was just being strung along, and so was the audience.
Are you saying that there "STILL no significant reveal regarding the "mythology" arc" in FTF? if so I don't agree.
The soundtrack actually had the entire mythology thing on it as a hidden track read by Chris Carter. Like literally *everything.* Which is why everything after the movie kinda sucked. Most people already knew what was going on so he had to make up some new shit for the next 4 season.
@@thundercat_pumyra I thought I was the only nerd who listened to that multiple times to find out what was going on!!
@@pete8016 I'm just surprised so many people don't remember it.
When Mulder and Scully got together it just destroyed it completely.
The X-Files theme song scared me as a kid. Actually, most of X-Files scared me as a kid.
It scared me as a kid too and then as an adult it had me absolutely compelled and enthralled
I’ll never get victor tombs face from episode 1’s face 😮😅🤝
For me it was The Twilight Zone.
Watching this video made me remember The Lone Gunmen, great spinoff of the series.
The X-Files was solid up until around season 7. After that, it was like Chris Carter lost the plot and tried to change it up but it wasn't as good as previous seasons. The writing became inconsistent and I hated all of the movies because they never captured the same magic as the first 6 or 7 seasons. I really hated it when the Lone Gunmen got killed off because they were a good addition to the show. The two seasons of the revival were all over the place without any real ideas of what the new show was trying to accomplish. It was clearly a cash grab like most modern reboots of older shows are which was a big disappointment since Mulder and Scully were back. Had Carter stuck more closely to the original series and its simple stories with great characters, it would have been much better. By the time the show ended in 2002, the show had run out of steam and it never recovered after that.
The reason for that is because that's pretty much what happened. X-Files ended with the movie as far as Chris Carter knew. So when the soundtrack for the movie came out, there was a hidden track where he laid out the entire mythology of the show. When Fox decided that they were bringing X-Files back, Chris had nothing really to work with. The entire thing had been revealed. So he needed to make up some new shit for 4 more years worth of episodes.
The show lost my attention and viewing after Season #3, the UFO emphasis was stupid!
The problem with X-Files is that it's main attraction is ambiguity. "Was all that characters experienced real? Or was it some hallucination? Or was it staged by some cabal to cover up real thing?" Each episode you find out (or at least supposed to) that things aren't exactly what they were thought to be. And as a result the more "mythology" you are introduced, the less there is a room for another twist. Unless you turn the whole lore on its head and that would require massive retcons.
All that already started to be a problem around season 4 and only became worse from there.
On the other hand, and this is my personal opinion as a fan of the series, the reasons why the xfiles died out were the following:
One: the overarching plot of the syndicate and the colonization conspiracy was stretch out for way to long to the point that they had to keep adding things throughout the seasons to keep the intrigue going but this just made things more confusing. They should have ended the thing in the fifth or fourth season and create a new overarching story/plot.
Two: no new overarching villian/opposite force for the X-files investigators after the destruction of syndicate. Without the "overarching conspiracy" the show lost its focus and it felt like they were just throwing anything at the story hoping something would stick. They could have replaced them with another group in the gov that also investigated the scifi/supernatural elements for the purpose of using the knowledge for the good of the military or something or have a new more private shadow organization, that maybe the greys had contact with behind the backs of the syndicate as a plan b, that combined the alien knowledge they got from the greys with the supernatural aspects of the show (demons, witchcraft and all that) for their own benefits and plans which could've been use a a link between the series and it's spinoff Millennium.
Third: the constant scepticism of both Mulder and Scully on different topics. Why was Scully still a hardened sceptic after all the crap she's witness? She could've still be the one asking questions and going by the book and scientific method without dismissing the possibility of the unnatural after all she's seen. And why would Mulder, the open minded believer, just dismiss some of the supernatural things like angels while being open to others. He could've just put his own spin to it as theories, like saying that angels are just extra dimensional beings/aliens or something.
Fourth: No Mulder in later seasons. Like seriously what the heck? Is one thing to have a few episodes without Scully or adding new characters to the xfiles like Doggett, wich I personally had no problem with, but having the xfiles without Mulder, who basically represents everything the show is about, is like having the series Buffy without Buffy.
Yeah, Scully had no growth, no matter what she's seen, and she's seen a lot, she always tries to argue it's nothing supernatural inspite of all the times she's seen that it was supernatural, or something alien.
@@Shauma_llama Were you watching the same show I was?
Scully is a rationalist -- that means she believes if something is true, it must be verifiable. Just seeing some weird stuff a bunch of times is not an explanation. She always insisted on rigorous investigation and evidence, because she's a scientist, and her approach got results, which Mulder also acknowledged. That's why the worked so well as a team from the very first episode. When she got evidence of aliens, she accepted it, and that was very clear in later seasons but does everyone forget she found evidence of aliens at the end of season 1?
@@zammmerjammer I personally found her skeptism in season 6 totally unbelievable, and was there for the sake of keeping some conflict with her and Mulder. I know that, she always tried to ration and realise things from a Science point of view to add possibility to Mulder's outside ideas. 👍
But , having been rescued from the UFO at the end of the movie was for me anyway, alll the visual , experienced personally felt and lived actual proof of it all.
But, she still refused to believe it and, no explaination, reason was given for what happened in the Antarctic ice field. It wasnt really actually mentioned to them again directly 'till season 8's "Alone".
Which, was mentioned in a comical ,inwhich Scully tries to claim that she didnt see anything at the time! That was one of my huge issues with it after the Movie.
Carter could not follow-up those magnificent events of its finale, he spent season 6 instead added more and more layers to things, and kept Scully a Skeptic in UFOs- Despite being Rescued from a HUGE spaceship in the middle of the South Pole.
@@agm5424 Very good points argued there, mate. I agree with Scully's skeptism. I absolutely could not take that seriously in season 6 after her rescue from the UFO in the movie.
Denying and disbelieving in UFOs, despite Mulder clearly freeing her from one.🙄😁
The movie was amazing, but when it finally showed conclusive footage and interactive proof of everything like the UFO, having Scully "passed out" just as it happens to fly over them into the sky was a tad too far.
Then along comes season 6, and they act like nothing happened, and overflow everything with a more light hearted, comedic tone in places, changing the whole feel of the show.
Genie ain't getting back in the bottle , her hips spread after a couple babies n she just don't fit no more.
Episodic storytelling is key in a show like this. Turning it into a Mulder and Scully novela was Carter's first mistake.
Bingo!
I’ve used the phrase “Chris Carter gets tired of his toys too quickly” many times in the past. It’s like if Andy from Toy Story decided mid-play to throw half his toys to the side and just restart everything with ones he’s not sick of. Pretty much how Carter wrote the latter half of the series.
I tend to give him a pass for that because there's a reason for it. X-Files ended with the movie as far as Chris Carter knew. So when the soundtrack for the movie came out, there was a hidden track where he laid out the entire mythology of the show. When Fox decided that they were bringing X-Files back, Chris had nothing really to work with. The entire thing had been revealed. So he needed to make up some new shit for 4 more years worth of episodes.
I was *very sad* when the lone gunmen died. 😥
They didn't die. They went to live in a farm upstate.
Even though the show went off the rails i think even in the most recent seasons, there were good stand alones in there.
Chris Carters handling of the mythology was horrendous though.
The worst episodes in the revival all had Carter's name on it
@@kormanproductions8943 The most recent X-Files series dealt with some interesting subjects like the Mandela Effect, chemtrails and the secret space program. But I felt like Carter could have managed them a little better.
Some of the best stand alone episodes are from seasons 7, 8 and 9.
The Second movie really put the nail in the coffin, Instead of digging deeper into the alien world - it switched lanes and literally had a psychic pedophile priest become the hero that save the day stopping the bad guy....wtf!?
After the show ended everyone knew that the next movie would be a stand alone storyline.
I hold the opinion, for whatever it is worth, that the "Anasazi" & "The Blessing Way" two parter was peak X-files. In my estimation it never got better than that. Although Mulder and Scully would go on to encounter phenomenon that were arguably stranger, the characters themselves never had stakes that were more personal, their relationship was never more strained, their reliance on people whose trust in them the questioned never more desperate, the mystery never so dangerous to pursue. Mulder's 'spirit quest' was never quite topped, although the episode with Scully and the tattoo came close.
I will always love the giant with the EpiPen of death, but I'd take an endless wall of abandoned filing cabinets over him any day.
That whole "The X-Files and aliens are really just the government" plot was originally used in S4 and 5.
Did you have to look that up? I am at the foot of the X-file master if you had that episode in your head.
@bender7565 No, but I did reach the halfway point of a rewatch recently.😂
The episodes you're referring to is Patient X and The Red and The Black. but in those episode the whole "just the government" plot was a ruse to deceive Mulder. Whereas in the newer seasons we the audience are suppose to take it as fact. Which was the first mistake of the new seasons.
@@hoogys Agreed. I think it would have been great if Carter had actually watched the X-Files again before writing those last 2 seasons. Because it's pretty obvious he didn't. We see an alien on Earth 35,000 years ago. There's absolutely no way in hell that the Syndicate/government faked that just for the audience's benefit.
The X-files went off the rails when they tried to be more than a "monster of the week" show, its like the writers were actively trying NOT to be the X-files after only a few seasons, the actors are very compelling though and you want to watch more even when the stories turn into an exercise for the writers to try and distance themselves from the X-files ! lol. wish they had stayed true to the original feel.
And when the killed off Mr.X, one of the worst moves in a show ever.
It was already jumped the shark but jumped even more when they killed the lone gun men off
@@OliviaBenson2003 The writers seam to have wanted greater adulation than they were getting from the X-files show, its kinda mad considering how massive the X-files was.
@@OliviaBenson2003they killed them off?!?
I have no idea why people talk down the 'monster of the week' episodes as they were by far my favourite. Episodes like Squeeze are absolute classics. I pretty much checked out with the alien conspiracy episodes.
The mythology episodes weren’t really that good, monster of the week episodes rocked
Season 6. Episode 1. The follow up to the movie's finale had to deliver. After Mulder rescued Scully from a UFO in the deep depths of the Antarctic Ice and said UFO whirred and hovered over them both up into the skies, I remember being psyched to see the s6 kick off. I was dismayed when then, despite all that happened, Scully was STILL a skeptic! Her happening to be 'passed out' as the UFO made a deafening buzz over her, and left a gigantic crater in the Ice behind them was a terrible excuse to delay proper character development. Carter was absolutely not able to fully forward character development - the Believer-Skeptic dynamic could only work for so long, before by season 6 it was boring, predictable and unbelievable.
Season 6 was also laced with toned down, light hearted comedic episodes that ruined any progress the Film made, and made the whole show feel and look like something else entirely. Season 7 could and should have corrected this back on track, but what happened? Even more wild tangents to OTT sci-fi, even more light hearted muck, resulting with "Fight Club'- the worst episode of the entire shows run. Dreadful. I admire season 8 in many places for attempting to return to the dark roots of before- Robert Patrick was superb. And the episode 'Via Negetiva" is up there with anything from the early years- a FANTASTIC episode. But, season 9 derailed things again with the mythology being so overblown- the entire "William' arc was a mistake. One of the all time best shows, that, because of network insistences and no clear endgame from Chris Carter did'nt know when to end.
X files on RPN channel 9 with that iconic theme song is such a treat back in the day.. always giving me goosebumps everytime I hear it on the commercial.. 👻
I actually like the majority of the last 2 original seasons of the show (largely because I liked Annabeth Gish as Monica Reyes), though I agree that the show as a whole would have been stronger if they had a long term plan they stuck with. Even the 2 new seasons they brought back in 2015/2018 had a few good episodes, but the new ending there was horrific.
The intro music used to freak me out when I was 5.
I remember my mom and dad were always so excited to watch Xfiles together
Never missed an episode, Sunday nite! Up to the 2nd movie then I had 2 kids and never knew 10-11 existed. Thank God, don't want to ruin the memories when it was a fav.
4:27 "Home" was written by James Wong and Glen Morgan, while the other episodes mentioned are Darin Morgan solo projects.
yeah i was picking on that too lol. nerdstalgic doesn’t always get it right
*that* episode weirded me out the most.
The episodes of original series were focused and simple. The rebooted series lacked the fine-tuned focus and became sloppy with uninteresting plot arcs.
It is not reboot. It is continuation. And bad one.
Reboot would be if they went all from the beggining with the plot.
I think the show jumped the shark with the episode "Closure." I have no idea why people actually like that episode. It was confusing, manipulative, pretentious, and anticlimactic. Just terrible. That's when I started to really lose interest in the show.
Yes!!! It KILLED the show for me. The search for Samantha was a key thread for the whole show…and just hand waved it away in the most anticlimactic way possible.
That's around when I stopped watching originally. Was already starting to dislike it after the movie. But stuck with it for the next 2 seasons. Stopped when Mulder disappeared.
The way they handled her death in this episode, I almost wish they'd have just left it as some random serial killer did it back in the 4th season. It was crap, but it was better than this.
My favorite tv-series of all time since my childhood ❤. I love rewatching X-Files🥰.
I'm a huge X-Files fan since I was 12 in 1993 but they stretched it out way too long, with storylines never being concluded or giving the audience vague answers, if they just stuck to the 5 seasons and gave the audience definitive explanations to the mythology episodes it would of wrapped them up better and more clearly.
Can we, as a society, please stop resurrecting franchises which have already run their courses long ago? It is all becoming so tiresome.
I've stumbled over your stuff for a long while, so I figured I'd give you a sub and deep dive your content.
The mythology story was done at the mid stage of the sixth season. The two alien sides met and made peace and decided to piss off.
I watched it for a while after that, but it was just adding in things to keep treading water and none of them tied to it all.
I liked the second movie because it didn't bother with any of that, and focused on the two main characters in a relatively small environment and it worked.
That ALSO had the satisfying ending too. It was a suitable farewell to characters that the show had beat to death a LONG time ago.
I was happy when they finally continued the series a few years ago, but they completely lost me when they retconned the complete alien invasion storyline from the initial series into being a hoax. That storyline held the X-files together and without it, I was not interested in watching it anymore. I still haven't seen the final season because of it. It also kind of ruins the intrigue of the earlier seasons when you know that it was all going nowhere.
Please do not watch the first episode of series 11. It will dishearten you and make watching the rest of the episodes hard to watch. Just skip it.
I think they did a disservice to Robert Patrick.
How?
As a ten year old kid I was fascinated and hooked from the very first day it aired.
The X Files accompanied me through my adolecence and stayed with me as an adult.
The first five seasons were the best and I almost peed myself when I heard that the first movie was in the making.
Went to see it twice.
The second half of the series felt a little weird, but still had some great episodes and I was GLUED to the screen when the last episodes of the last season aired back then.
The second movie felt out of place and the reboot was a nice try, but nothing more.
The X Files was a great series nonetheless. A product of its time, unique back then and picked up so many themes, myths, monsters, conspiracies, and motives. I loved it and still love to rewatch the old episodes, which are still very impressive if you know that its now over thirty years ago since they first got aired.
I actually don’t mind many of the late reboot episodes: ” Molder and Scully meet the ware man”, “ lost art of forehead sweat”………. These are in my mind classic episodes on par with, “Jose Chung from Outer space”
All three episodes are from Darin Morgan. Him and James Wong carried the revival.
The were man episode was great, like an old-time x-files episode :)
that’s because all the best episodes of the show were written by darin morgan. the eps that he didn’t do in the reboot are just depressingly bad. i couldn’t even bring myself to watch season 11, i was so heartbroken
Jose Chung from Outer Space, is one of the very few episodes from the entire series that I always skip when re-watching it lol. I do like those others you mentioned quite a lot. In the end: to each his own.
I loved the earlier seasons but once they started doing this alien arc thing, it became convoluted and complex
Agreed. The arc stories never made much sense and were confusing at best. The early season stand alone stories made X Files.
@@braxxian exactly
Um XFiles was always about Aliens 😆
I really love every separate season and movie for very different reasons. While some stumble a bit, each are pretty great in their own way!
The X Files was the perfect TV show for its time. In the 90s people wanted to believe, and there were numerous bogus documentaries about paranormal phenomenon. Adults were into books talking about the paranormal. Talking about ghosts wasn't a crazy notion in many families. But today, it all seems bogus. The time is gone, it doesn't resonate any more, and we've seen the aliens on X-Files in all shapes and forms, there is no more surprise to be had, no more fear. The show was also at its peak when shot in Vancouver. X-Files never recovered from being a day show filmed in LA, with sunny and hot replacing dark and rainy. It wasn't even the new agents, coz they were pretty good. But it got too big for its own good. And let's not even mention the cigarette smoking man who just refuses to die. This was laughable.
Not to get too political, but my “proof” that the government doesn’t have hidden knowledge about the paranormal is that if they did, it would have been tweeted about at 2 AM by a certain high-ranking American politician… 😂
@@DrFranklynAnderson yeah politicians are bound to screw up, or to leak for personal gain. Even the CIA leaks, look at Snowden. I'm a physicist, there's already enough strange things we don't know about in nature. Way stranger than aliens.
It became a victim of its own success, didnt it? Making a movie at the shows peak was one thing, and even though the movie was very good- the return to season 6 was so different. I think Carter tried to tone down and lighten up the mood of the show to attain a younger fanbase that were watching Buffy, or any of the shows in that vein that the XFiles influenced, making it even popular. But, it didnt happen. Season 6 and 7 were very polarising with the fans. I think if you put the best stand alone episodes of seasons 6 and 7 together, youd have a very good single season- minus the Scully-Mulder romance themed stuff and comedy.
The mythology didnt know when to quit, or where it was even going anymore after the movie, and there was too many comedic episodes that failed to use meta based humour to cover up plot holes and questions. By the time season 7 was running with utter crap like the episode 'Fight Club', Buffy itself was very popular, and The Sopranos was rewriting the rules of Television. I liked season 8 in many places, but season 7 should have had its final episodes drive to a proper conclusion with the stylings of the original seasons.
I think "for its time" is a crucial distinction. The 90s saw the modern internet emerge, and cell phones were starting to get more common. Day to day life and the flow of information was changing quickly, The X-Files just fit the times. It's ironic one of the show's themes -- that we have a corrupt & secretive federal government -- will be a problem for any future attempts at rebooting the franchise. Mulder and Scully may have fought the power, but it's hard to imagine an FBI agent nowadays would ever risk his or her pension.
When the two leads hooked up that was it for me.
I only know two things about TV: Never give in to the temptation to pair up your lead actors. I know all women out there want this to happen but your show is about to turn into fan-fiction.
Second: Never piss off your lead actor to the point where he/she leaves the show. It's not gonna be the same after.
As much as I like Andersson she needed David Duchouvney (probably nailed the spelling). I don't even like David D. but he was key to the show.
Northern Exposure did the same thing, first Joel and Maggie hooks up, then Rob Morrow leaves the show. Turns out the whole premise of the show was Rob Morrow, I guess the writers forgot.
Thirdly: Never go beyond 7 seasons because it seems physically impossible to make quality after 7 full seasons. Seinfeld did go to season 9 but that's only because the first two seasons were 4 and 12 episodes.
Fourthly: Never reboot X-Files with an allstar team just to check all the boxes 🌈👮♂💂♂👳🏿♂👴🏽🧔🏿👱🏻♂
X files is a product of it's time. I don't know if a "reboot" is necessary as the original fans are now in their 50s and 60s. Do younger people care? It's such a huge risk but studios are afraid to try anything new.
They lost me when the monsters of the week went away in favor of aliens 😢😢
Yes I don’t like those aliens 🙄🙄
went from possible to improbable.
they lost me at super soldiers
@@Jokalido All the mythology storyline after season 5 and the Movie went totally off the rails onto too many tangents towards the OTT sci-fi that, it originally avoided. 👍 The whole 'Cult of William' thing in season 9 was beyond bad. So silly, so overblown compared to the super cool black oils, and flashlights into the dark rooms that may-may not have contained something sinister in the early years.
13 Scary Episodes To Watch During October :)
2X02 : “The Host” : September 23,1994
2X14 : “Die Hand Die Verletzt“ January 27,1995
2X21 : "The Calusari" : April 14,1995
2X22 : “F. Emasculata” : April 28,1995
3X14 : “Grotesque” : February 2,1996
4X02 : “Home” : October 11,1996
4X06 : “Sanguinarium” : November 10,1996
5X19 : “Folie á Deux” : May 10,1998
7X03 : “Hungry” : November 21,1999
8X04 : “Roadrunners” : November 26,2000
8X07 : “Via Negativa” : December 17,2000
8X10 : “Badlaa” : January 21,2001
9X08 : “Hellbound” : January 27,2002
Dude, that's a great and eclectic list. And yes, I watched the series so many times that I know them all by name, by now. NO SHAME.
the endless ufo angle was utterly boring. alien's, unless they do something like bleed acid and burst out of your chest, aren't scary or creepy in the least.
Season 1-5 were sci-fi tv masterpieces
When production moved from Vancouver to LA, romance struck between the two main characters and bizarre comedy was introduced into a serious sci-fi show it went downhill VERY QUICKLY!
I could not agree more. The more light hearted, bright tinted episodes of season 6 was puzzling. It just did'nt 'feel' like the XFiles anymore. It was harnessing the more comedic, lite toned feel and vibe that say, Buffy could succeed in. It became a parody of what it was in places, and the heavier, darker more Adult toned mood of seasons 1-5 was gone. But- the biggest thing I had such a problem was Scully's attitudes in season 6. In the first movie- Mulder rescues her from the UFO in the Antarctic Ice. But, rather than using this as a brilliant forwarding character development for her, she STILL refuses to believe in Aliens!!! Chris Carter was'nt able to develop the characters in progress and conjunction with the moving plots. I could not take Scully's skeptism from season 6 onwards.
@@kylereece1979 this is the issue where the greed of corporate overcomes the artistic vision
The Network probably thought if we make it more “light and funny” more people will watch it = more ads = more money to be made!
It achieved the complete opposite: it was still too weird for people who are not interested in sci-fi and became a farse for the real and loyal fans of the show!
This is just a bad outcome of network greed!
Seasons 10 & 11 were overall disappointments. Some of it had to do with points mentioned in this video & others had to with trying to condense something with a history & ideas as big as The X-Files into 6 or 10 episodes. It felt rushed & it left me feeling cheated
However, one of the standout episodes that instantly grabbed me from the promo was Season 11's "Familiar." Atmosphere, tone, an iconic "monster" in Mr Chuckle Teeth, it gave all the feels of those early seasons
The costars had a combination of acting talent and personal chemistry that is difficult to duplicate. One of my favorite television shows.
Absolutely loved it in the 90’s when I was a kid. Rewatched the first couple of seasons a few years back and couldn’t get past season 3. Saw about 30 seconds of the 2016 reboot, that was enough.
Season 5 already had an arc where Mulder didn't believe in aliens. Kritschgau tells him it's all to cover DOD spending research and development
Season 10 and 11 were absolutely embarrassing!
They should have concluded it all with the 1st feature film!
And they should let this franchise go...
Yep, time for a rewatch.
As much as I loved it and wish it had stuck the landing The X-Files was very much a product of its time. There's no way a reboot could work now. Remember that time Congress actually tried to having hearings about UFOs and everyone was like "What about food prices, though?"
Even if it *could* work, it shouldn't be done. Given all the psychotic conspiracy nuts that exist now, a new X-Files would just be throwing fuel on an already very nasty fire. People claiming COVID (and/or the vaccines) was supposed to kill everyone so that the "elite" could rule the survivors is literally the plot of those last two seasons. We don't need more of that.
Honestly it starts falling apart a few episodes in because she has seen some really crazy shit and then she goes back to being completely skeptical.
Gillian Anderson was smoking in the 2000s and 2010s. For some reason she looked better when a bit older.
For me, there was never any natural conclusion, and no ending was ever planned for. It inevitably turned into freak show of the week, with samey, bland, empty cliff hangers that were never resolved.
I loved the non alien 👽 episodes but later they were few and far between😢😢😢
The idea that the finale existed on a cd hidden track most people never found is perfect. It was perfect, and remains an example of finding the truth, but only if you are really willing to work for it.
The Monster of the Week episodes were pretty good in my opinion. I think they were really creative and had some great creepiness to them.
But, their bread and butter was always the Alien stuff. The stereotypical, "grey" aliens. Once they sort of moved away from that, and let it go off the rails, they really lost a lot of the magic they had.
They over complicated things. Grey Aliens working with the government was cool enough. They didn't need to start throwing in Alien super soldiers, and virus's, and what not.
I really hoped the newest seasons were going to correct those mistakes, but instead, they seemed to double down on the insanity and just ruined all of it.
It's such a shame, because as a teen, I loved that show, and it deserved better.
I tried watching season 10. It was bad. Couldn't finish the season
Seasons 10 and 11 in my opinion were brought down by the mythology episodes. But honestly, I can't be mad they brought the show back because "Mulder and Scully meet the Weremonster" and "The Lost Art of Forehead Sweat" might be one of my favourite episodes in the entire show. I was always a mythology episodes apologist in my friends circle, I really liked the UFO and government conspiracy episodes but it was all up to the first movie. Everything after that was just adding unnecessary layers. I think seasons 10-11 should've drop the mythology at all and just focus on being an anthology.
But I have hope what Coogler is doing will not throw everything to the bin and restart it from scratch, but maybe he will find a way to continue with new mysteries and new stories and new cast (though I'd love to see Skinner again)
Well, it went down in season 7. But it was again good in season 8 and 9. And after that with second movie it went down for good. Season 10 was bad but season 11 was even worse. No more monsters of the week, only some poor cases like one where Mulder took some drug... On those last two seasons only one monster od the week case. It was in season 10. And it was only OK. No more allien stories. Like it was all lie. What happened with supersoldiers alliens? Like they newer existed. Cigaret smoking man is like god. He died at the end of season 9 (yes, he died and we all saw that) and resurrected till season 10. So stupid. How to kill him? They had to stop this show with season 9 and all would be good.
Frankly, my favorite episodes were the side-episodes. The "mythos" episodes weren't necessarily as interesting, and it's a shame both movies and the video games always focused on the aliens and never broke away into the stranger stuff like weird cryptids or strange paranormal events.
As a precursor to the wild community created wonderful mess that is SCP Foundation stories, it's great, but frankly SCP has taken it much further and it's "pick your own canon" nature makes it infinitely more interesting and customizable to whatever a fan wants out of those stories.
Personally, I think my favorite episode was "Drive", the one with the infectious sound that kills unless you travel in a specific direction.
I still love the Simpsons episode that featured the characters from The X Files.
The reason X-Files worked was two-fold: it was arguably a fresh take on an old idea, and, the characters were so different that you could feel at home with any of them. The new stuff felt too homogeneous in its approach, and the quick manufacture of a crisis cannot possibly stand up to the expectations of a 202 episode run.
Also, as someone who has acted in a number of productions here in Vancouver, there is definitely a "feel" that was lost in the bright lights of SoCal.
Yeah I'm about to binge x files while trying to sober up idk but it should work
I could not watch seasons 10 and 11 - in addition to the writing both Mulder and Scully looked so old. I understand Scully had a wig due to other acting jobs but man, it was painful to watch.
It really was *depressing* to watch, especially with those lame younger hipsters at their side... but what I hated even more was the total deconstruction of their established characters, it felt like a "Fck U!!" directed at the fans. I wish I hadn't watched it.
Your comment reveals a sad and superficial personality.
For me, the show ended after John Doggett was introduced. And most certainly after Scully left.
The combination of Fox not being willing to pay Duchovny what he wanted, and Chris Carter not having a clear ending for his story is what ultimately doomed The X-Files in its final two seasons.
They hardly resolved any of the plot lines and that made it too frustrating to continue watching
X-files really paved the way in both how to make excellent event television. And also how not to do it, ie have no plan on what the story actually is and just make it up as you go along.
Lost unfortunately didn't learn that lesson either. No show like this should be longer than 5 seasons.
Calling the first episode of the reboot "My Struggle"? Dang, bad move. So glad I moved past this crap.
Chris Carter happened.
I for the most part loved this show as a kid/pre-teen. Though the Squeeze episode still to this day is freaky.
same here
X files motion pictures were crap. And last seasons were hectic
They just didn't know when to simply just leave it be.
X-Files started to fall around the time Mulder was written out of the series due to that alien abduction storyline, that was really stupid. Robert Patrick was good, but he just didnt fit into X-Files, especially with him becoming the Scully, and Scully becoming new Mulder. But gotta say, as stupid as the plot post Season 7, in the new age, Season 12 and the whole William angle could've easily been the greatest storyline X-Files ever had, if only they kept William slightly more mysterious, and maybe a bit more unstable. Making CSM his father was meh twist, but then again, if CSM didn't return, it could've worked as CSM's last "screw you" to Mulder, as it was never really clear whether CSM actually was secretly on Mulder's side or not. He was openly hostile for most of the series, but at the same time he did help Mulder on a number of occasions, so who knows. But anyway, if William wasn't basically a super-hero type character just becaues it was cool at the time, he really could've worked out, but they did fumble him.
But the biggest mistake X-Files ever did was kill Alex Krycek. Man, that was a solid, *solid* brainfart. Alex was easily one of the most interesting characters, sort of anti-hero, he was smart, capable, he had the looks, he talked the talk and walked the walk. It was criminal how little he was in the series, but killing him off was completely stupid. He had the potential to be the best character in the whole story, and if they kept him alive, he even could've come back in the new age series, and he would've been freaking awesome. Its insane how they wasted him and his potential.
To fall from such a height is an honor. I enjoyed every seasons to the last and rewatched all the seasons at least 4 times.
Well there was the three(?) explanations for what happened to Mulder's sister for one.
Man, I tell you what: "The X Files" was must-see TV when I was in highschool. I delayed my nights out with friends by an hour just to watch the latest show.
At some point, the writers slowly got tangeled up in their mess of implausible and sometimes even contradicting mythology episode plotlines leaving the audience pretty confused about what is actually going on. And i bet the writers themselves had problems remembering what exactly the conspiracy and the aliens were actually trying to achieve. But compared to the abysmal writing of Season 10 and 11 overarching story arc.....the writing of the original seasons was straight forward and brilliant. In the end, even the confusion became confused
I did really like a few of the new ones and was glad to see them back.
"It didn't have a real reason for existing, other than to make money"
Wow, I didn't even realize that X Files was by Disney and part of Marvel Phase 4!
@@Krupy09 That is actually a good comparison! Seasons 1-5 are cast iron classics that for many of us 90s teenagers at heart, are as important as say, our favourite bands. After the first movie, it changed with seasons 6&7. Some brilliant stand alone episodes here snd there, but things had changed.
Too much money, a victim of its own success, a change of filming location to LA. Putting a more colorful look and light hearted feel to the show, toning down the horror and suspense to appeal to a new audience. And spiraling what was a slick, grown up , super cool Alien Government conspiracy plot into an overblown , all over the place sci-fi soap opera with no real cohesive endgame in sight.
Loved Simpsons crossover
Ince Chris Carter pretty much left the show to do Millennium, the new staff struggled. For me Muller and Scully starting a relationship was the beginning of the end.
I really like the first movie - it didn't just feel like the pinnacle of fandom for the show, it felt like it came during the pinnacle of the 90s.
Why TF couldn't Chris Carter just come up with a damn ending for this franchise? Season 9, the second movie, and even the revival seasons had no finality whatsoever.
Same problem cursing corporate America: As soon as something is popular, managers milk the F out of it years after years until there is nothing left.
He wanted to end the series with a film trilogy after the 5th season. So he did have an ending.
@@jeremyfields9009 But couldn't he see the writing on the wall that his original plans weren't going to happen? Hell he originally wanted to tie the invasion to that stupid 2012 conspiracy.
@ yup that’s why he had to rewrite the later episodes of season 5 because it was planned in advance to end the series and set up for the film. Now S5 had to lead to a season 6 nobody wanted but the Fox network. Everything after is the results of extending a story beyond its only expiration date. Even if The X files had an ending in the later seasons would it even matter? The audience didn’t care anymore and moved on. Vince Gillian used the x files situation has a reminder to end Breaking Bad on top and not let it drag on.
X-files is my third favourite series. My favourite would be The Lone Gunmen and second favourite Doctor Who.
Thank you X Files for giving us Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul
What’s the connection?
@@Neo5GT Vince was the writer of several episodes of X Files.
@@Neo5GT The X-Files is where Vince Gilligan got his start in TV.
Ugh I loved the xfiles. Everything about it but my favorite was the chemistry but keeping it platonic