Adventures in Library School

lee leblanc wrote...
I've yet to catch an episode and get chastised by a friend for not doing so. He swears the series is awesome.

emjaykay wrote...
"The X-Files" is MY favorite! watching right now all 9 seasons, on season 1, disc 2 right now - to prepare for the 2nd movie - JULY 25th, 2008, Baby! :D

Beth Hoffman wrote...
[ iblee ] B5 is indeed awesome, if epic, character-driven sci-fi is your thing (if it ain't, YMMV). It can be a little hard to get into, though. The entire series can be viewed as kind of a 5 season long mini-series and I have to admit that the overall storyline didn't completely click for me until about 2/3 through season 3 (but when I finally got it I became a fan for life). You have to be patient with this one and just let the story build a little, but it's one of those series that rewards you for your patience.

Beth Hoffman wrote...
emjaykay Ah, you've hit upon a show I've had something of a love/hate relationship with. I haven't seen an episode of X-Files in about a decade. I loved seasons 1 and 2, but they kind of started to lose me with the direction the show took in season 3. Season 3 had it's moments - and those moments were good (and usually involved Darin Morgan's name being in the writing credit) - but it also hit some real sour notes with me. And I was so completely disappointed by season 4 that I just stopped watching. Haven't watched an episode since. I do keep thinking I ought to at least give the first couple of seasons a re-watch, though I'm not sure I have it in me to try to get through the whole 9 seasons. (Season 4 was just so... ::shudder::). I did hear from folks that it actually got better again in its later seasons, but I'd lost interest by then. Out of curiosity, what's your take on that? Is it worth it for somebody who really liked the first two seasons, kinda liked the third season, and did not like the fourth season at all to watch the whole thing?

emjaykay wrote...
OK, I'll start with your own advice: "You have to be patient with this one and just let the story build a little, but it's one of those series that rewards you for your patience.” Let me continue by explaining that I had a different experience with the show in that I didn’t start watching it from the beginning. Let me tell you my story: when I was in high school, I watched an episode here and there, but by no means was I a regular viewer. My freshman year in college, I used to let the boy who lived in the room next to me watch the show in my room when it would come on b/c he didn’t have a TV. It was the only show that he said was his MUST SEE show… I would just study or do something else while he was watching, but as the weeks went by, I caught myself getting drawn closer and closer to the TV – it was sucking me in… this was season 5. (by far considered by most fans as the best season of the show) then that summer came the movie – which was just such an ultimate experience to have these characters literally larger than life. The movie is brilliant. After that I was just hooked… actually, I was quite hooked before the movie… so I have season 5 to thank for that. Over the rest of the summer, the television channel FX was rerunning the entire series from THE PILOT through season 5, so I was able to get caught up on all the earlier seasons. Season 6-9 have a different feel from the previous 5, in that they were visually not as “dark” or “misty” because they moved filming from Vancouver to Los Angeles since David Duchovny got married… but this move allowed for much more flexibility and more exposure to filming locations, bigger studios, etc. For example: season 6, episode 3, called “Triangle” was filmed on the Queen Mary, which is in port on Long Beach, CA. What an amazing set! This ship is AMAZING in person and even more so on the show – it’s a fantastic episode… the lighter look of the show also presented a lighter side of the show – and here is where it can be hit or miss with fans… seasons 6 and 7 touched more on the underlying humor of the show that they started to introduce a little in season 4 and with my FAVORITE episode in season 5, “Bad Blood” (which also happens to be Chris Carter’s, Gillian Anderson’s and David Duchovny’s favorite episode as well)… some of the fans of the dark, creepy show of seasons 1 and 2 don’t really like that lighter, funnier side of the show, just as some fans don’t appreciate the romantic storyline between Mulder and Scully. I, personally, have a very sarcastic, dry sense of humor – and I very much appreciated the dead-pan humor that was delivered so well– so this definitely wasn’t a problem for me, and actually made me love the characters and show even more… everything can’t just be dark and gloomy… the humor was such a breath of fresh air and sort of revived things for me… as for the romantic storyline, I am also a huge fan of that. I am very easy to please and so I had no problem adjusting to these changes in the show – and welcomed them! Seasons 6 and 7 also gave us episodes that were written and directed by Gillian and David – and I loved all of those episodes too! With you having had it by the time season 4 rolled around, it’s probably b/c some of my LEAST favorite episodes start out season 4 (Teliko, The Field Where I Died, Sanguinarium, Musings Of A Cigarette Smoking Man) I personally do not like seasons 1 and 2 as much as the rest of the series. I think the film quality is unimpressive, the sets and wardrobe bother me, and the actors are still finding out who their characters are and getting comfortable in their skin… so those 2 seasons are a little shaky for me. By the end of season 4, the production value of the show is AMAZING and IMPRESSIVE and it really is feature-film quality on television. Chris Carter is a brilliant director, and I also agree with you on Darin Morgan. He is/was irreplaceable. I think that if you’re going to be a picky viewer – such as getting all pissy about the fact that the show moved from Vancouver to Los Angeles, so the look of the show changed… or pouting over the fact that the writers infused humor into the show… or are only watching the show for David Duchovny and throw a raging fit when he leaves the show for ½ of season 8 and most of season 9, then maybe the show isn’t for you… but if you can deal with changes and watch a show for the writing, acting, stories and just plain beauty, then you should definitely try to finish the series. I think that the show’s changes only added to it and made it better. I wouldn’t be discouraged by season 3… generally, television shows don’t really get their “feet” until after the 3rd season... sadly, today’s viewers have virtually no attention span and television needs to be “dumbed down” in order to gain ratings, and shows aren’t really given a chance anymore to gain their footing… and if “The X-Files” had been put on the air in 2003 instead of 1993, it would have been axed after season 2. Case in point: “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip”…. Brilliant writing, brilliant directing, brilliant show… Tommy Schlamme is…well… brilliant. But the show was cancelled after just 1 season – while it was still figuring out all its kinks and bubbles… I really think that you should give the show another chance. If you like the dry humor angle, I’d suggest the following episodes: “Small Potatoes” – season 4, episode 20 “Bad Blood” – season 5, episode 12 “Syzygy” – season 3, episode 13 “Detour” – season 5, episode 4 “Dreamland I and II” – season 6, episodes 4 & 5 “How the Ghosts Stole Christmas” – season 6, episode 8 “Arcadia” – season 6, episode 13 “X-Cops” – season 7, episode 12 “Hollywood AD” – season 7, episode 18 “Improbable” – season 9, episode 14 If you like the conspiracy/mythology type of episodes, I’d suggest the following: (there are a lot more, these are just my favorite of them) “Pilot” - season 1, episode 1 “Deep Throat” – season 1, episode 2 “E.B.E.” – season 1, episode 16 “The Erlenmeyer Flask” – season 1, final episode “Duane Barry” – season 2, episode 5 “Ascension” – season 2, episode 6 “One Breath” – season 2, episode 8 “Nisei” – season 3, episode 9 “731” – season 3, episode 10 “Tunguska” – season 4, episode 9 “Terma” – season 4, episode 10 “Leonard Betts” – season 4, episode 14 “Memento Mori” – season 4, episode 15 “Gethsemane” – season 4, final episode “Redux” – season 5, episode 2 “Redux 2” – season 5, episode 2 “Patient X” – season 5, episode 13 “The Red and the Black” – season 5, episode 14 “The End” – season 5, final episode “The Beginning” – season 6, episode 1 “Two Fathers” – season 6, episode 11 “One Son” – season 6, episode 12 “Biogenesis” – season 6, final episode “The Sixth Extinction” – season 7, episode 3 “The Sixth Extinction II: Amor Fati” – season 7, episode 4 “Requiem” – season 7, final episode “Within” – season 8, episode 1 “Without” – season 8, episode 2 “Per Manum” – season 8, episode 8 “This Is Not Happening” – season 8, episode 14 “Deadalive” – season 8, episode 15 “Essence” – season 8, episode 20 “Existance” – season 8, episode 21 “Nothing Important Happened Today” – season 9, episode 1 “Nothing Important Happened Today II” – season 9, episode 2 “Trust No 1” – season 9, episode 8 “The Truth 1 and 2” – last episodes of the series OK – I think I’ve written more than enough… let me know your thoughts.

Beth Hoffman wrote...
emjaykay: Okay, first off, sorry it took so long to reply - too many other projects kept snapping up my time, and I wanted to give this a thoughtful response. I'm still not sure I've accomplished this, but here goes.... However, after giving it a lot of thought, I still think I'd do well to give X-Files a pass beyond watching a few old favorites now and then. For a couple of different reasons. The biggest reason, I think, is that in the decade or so since I stopped watching the show my taste in television has changed a lot. For one thing, I'm much less a TV viewer in general than I was back then. I'm much less a fan of Sci Fi TV than I was. And, I've also really lost interest in the sub-genre of Sci Fi that the X-Files belongs to. Considering my tastes and interests now, if X-Files premiered tomorrow, I wouldn't watch it. It's just not my thing anymore. Another reason, is that I almost see X-Files as being a victim of its own success. It could have been this great little tightly-written three or four season show (and this is a personal thing, but I really tend to prefer shows that have shorter runs than longer ones). Instead, it got popular right around the point where the writers seemed to be tapped out for ideas. Which meant that production values finally got really good ('cause they finally had a budget), but the show seemed to lose its soul. By the end of season 4, the characters I'd come to love no longer seemed like themselves, the mythology story that I'd found so interesting in the beginning had become, well, silly, and the writers were even starting to recycle their "monster of the week" plots a little too often. It was no longer the show I'd fallen in love with. You said yourself that X-Files was a very different show in its earlier years. And I guess, I'm just still fondest of The Old X-Files. I have to say, I was rather unkind to season 3 in my last post. After refreshing my memory about exactly which episodes made up season 3, it might actually have been my favorite season. What I was remembering was that the worst episodes from that season are shows that I never want to have to sit through again. That may be why I'm a little less willing than perhaps I ought to give the show another chance. In the 4 seasons I watched, it was incredibly uneven in terms of what I considered good writing versus bad (and for me a show lives and dies by its writing). When the writers were on, damn it was good. When the writers were off, I usually wound up cringing. And I guess that's how I ultimately remember the show (and why it's not a real favorite of mine anymore): it had its moments, but it was awfully uneven, and I have a lot less patience for uneven than I used to.