The X-Files...

Yi Fong Yu · June 26th, 2006, 01:57 PM

SPOILER AHEAD! don't read if you don't wanna be spoiled silly!

i believe chris carter has already admitted (in interviews) that they didn't have an entire mythology planned out from beginning to end in s1.

they started the show with the premise to scare people (like Kolchak) and that was pretty much it. when people started digging the show and after s1, they felt they had a hit on their hands, THEN S2 chris+writing team started to fabricate the mythology based on the loose alien mythology in s1, which is pretty lean still compared to the scary episodes from s1-s3.

s4 is when a great # of mythology started to take over and you can see the effects of it beginning to build by late s3. they only made enough mythology (like pixie dust) to last through s5 or so. the mythology was essentially "explained" via Fight the Future film in '97 the season preceding the film s5. season6 (post film) pretty much finished and wrapped up the mythology (colonization) since s1.

in another words, XF DID tie up as much of the loose ends as possibly from season5-6 including the film. it's 2bad the fans didn't like it because it is very much what it is, a simple mythology/mystery that is literally explained and revealed to fans, but they hated it. they all think it's too simple, too much of a "copout". in fact, most fans didn't even KNOW the mythology had all but been unraveled.

ok. what IS the mythology? marcus, you already pointed out. that IS the mythology. it's pretty simple and can be summed up in a few sentences. what IS the resolution? in the film, remember the UFO that took off in the end? well, that was the colonization aliens and its black oil leaving for good. thus, closing black oil+colonization story arc. see here for MORE details:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_oil
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonis...The_X-Files%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syndica...The_X-Files%29

what IS the resolution for syndicate? i believe one of the few last episodes was the one where the syndicate and their families all burned up. it was literal and figurative "reboot" of the franchise (that also coincided with bringing the 2 new leads into the show and lead to david exiting for the last 2 seasons). that concludes the syndicate thread. that's why s6-9 was much more loose and comedic in nature. less dark and more happy. millennium picked up the dark side =).

w/7-9, the XF team tried to do something with super soldiers as the mythology but i don't think that that went anywhere as well as the original alien colonization storyline did. what IS the resolution, Frank? it is that the super soldiers are preparing the way for the colonist aliens to come back in 2010 or somn (whatever Mulder's last few dialogue were). that's why mulder was so distraught in the end because he couldn't do anything about the oncoming alien invasion. prepping the way for the XF2 sequel =). unfortunately, XF2 is gonna' be a monster of the movie episode.

anyway, "The Truth" (the 2 parter series finale) is the most explicit. all of what i wrote above is pretty much culled from the truth. it went through the entire series and gave you a huge summary of the mythos (hence "The Truth"). reason why people don't like it? XF wasn't all about those 2 total mythological story arcs to begin with and they started to make stuff up by s4 onwards =).

i mean the characters in the finale explicitly stated, "the black oil+gray aliens", etc. all of it sounds absurd and ridiculous. but that's "The Truth". you may not like it, but that's ALL there is to it =).

the point is, it's the question that drives us (as Trinity said). it's the mystery of the unknown that keeps us watching. remember desperate housewives? after s1's season finale, the mystery was revealed, thus deflation of quality in the beginning of s2 despite NEW mystery. and s2's NEW mystery was already revealed halfway through leaving the latter half pure butter.

how about Lost. if they reveal the mystery of what's behind the island a great # of viewers will tune out. you never answer it and it'll be endlessly debated.

Frank Granovski · June 26th, 2006, 04:05 PM

Yeah. No resolution. THAT's what I hated about the show. Otherwise, it was fun to watch.

By the way, the cancer man has had an acting school for years in downtown Vancouver. That's were the Kiwi, Zena, got her training. It was in the paper some years back.

Keith Loh · June 26th, 2006, 04:33 PM

William B. Davis something school for Actor's Study.

Yi Fong Yu · June 26th, 2006, 05:40 PM

so you hate Lost because it has no resolution?

Frank Granovski · June 26th, 2006, 06:11 PM

Lost has resolution, little by little---unlike the X-files. In fact, Lost has a plot and a through line.

Kelly Goden · June 26th, 2006, 10:57 PM

Another great thing about the X Files is when you could watch the show on a sunday, then go into Vancouver on a wednesday and see Scully and Mulder doing there thing on the steps of the Vancouver Art Gallery. Kind of surreal in itself. :)

BUT i was actually glad it moved to California. If you have UFOs and Area 51 you have to have a desert.
That reminds me, their COPS episode was another interesting variation.

Yi Fong Yu · June 26th, 2006, 11:49 PM

i loved their bermuda triangle thing =). very cinematic (as usual).

Frank Granovski · June 27th, 2006, 12:39 AM

Kelly, BC has deserts.

Kelly Goden · June 27th, 2006, 08:25 AM

Sandy duney deserts?

Mathieu Ghekiere · June 27th, 2006, 11:18 AM

DVD boxes arrived... gosh those digipacks are beatiful, I'm glad I didn't went for those plastic M-lock things.

Watched an episode from season 1 today, episode "Eve"...
Really great, I felt 10 years old again, enthousiasm of the scripts and mood... LOVE IT!

Yi Fong Yu · June 27th, 2006, 01:00 PM

you'll get so sick of high quality content that when you finish XF you will feel depressed nothing else on TV comes close. trust me... or... no 1.

Frank Granovski · June 30th, 2006, 03:28 AM

Quote:

Sandy duney deserts?

Oh, that would be Richmond, BC---part of Greater Vancouver. They used that for Mission to Mars, though they spray painted the sand. :-)

Peter Jefferson · June 30th, 2006, 08:52 AM

I concur with all the positive comments about this show,
Rob Bowman and Kim Manners IMO were centrepoint players in the series survival. It was from Xiles that i took on a renewed interest of Star Trek TNG, and it turns out that many guest characters from TNG made their way onto XFiles itself (like Deepthroat).

Aside from the direction and cinematography, the stories, particularly the Mythology stories, really made the series one of those "must watch" type of shows.
With regard to the mythology, i feel that if they focused a lil more on that, it would have been even more intriguing and less dissapointing at its conclusion.
In addition, i feel that the series could have survived with Robert Patrick taking on the lead male role as his own persona was considerably stronger that Duchovny's making the show a lil more watchable as Patrick just had a better screen presence IMO
As for produciton values, i believe it was one of the first modern productions to implement cinematic techniques and tools, which is why many directors were more than happy to work with Carter. Total creative freedom with an almost limitless budget (produciton wise)

Yes, i sat through all 56 discs... all 9 seasons... every episode back to back LOL
If your an editor and youre lookign for company while you work, TV shows are the best solution IMO... LOL
From Xfiles to Star Trek TNG and Voyager i keep them playing and replaying as i edit my work...

Frank Granovski · June 30th, 2006, 03:02 PM

I liked DS9 better than Voyager, though Voyager was okay. My favourite trek stuff are the movies.

Kelly Goden · July 1st, 2006, 09:15 AM

Seriously? In Richmond? I want a pic!
I have read that we have sand dunes in BC
but where? Ttell river? I cant find a pic.
Saskatchewan has some.
I actually learned that just a little bit ago.
:)

June 26th, 2006, 01:57 PM	#16
Yi Fong Yu Trustee Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Vulcan Posts: 1,564	SPOILER AHEAD! don't read if you don't wanna be spoiled silly! i believe chris carter has already admitted (in interviews) that they didn't have an entire mythology planned out from beginning to end in s1. they started the show with the premise to scare people (like Kolchak) and that was pretty much it. when people started digging the show and after s1, they felt they had a hit on their hands, THEN S2 chris+writing team started to fabricate the mythology based on the loose alien mythology in s1, which is pretty lean still compared to the scary episodes from s1-s3. s4 is when a great # of mythology started to take over and you can see the effects of it beginning to build by late s3. they only made enough mythology (like pixie dust) to last through s5 or so. the mythology was essentially "explained" via Fight the Future film in '97 the season preceding the film s5. season6 (post film) pretty much finished and wrapped up the mythology (colonization) since s1. in another words, XF DID tie up as much of the loose ends as possibly from season5-6 including the film. it's 2bad the fans didn't like it because it is very much what it is, a simple mythology/mystery that is literally explained and revealed to fans, but they hated it. they all think it's too simple, too much of a "copout". in fact, most fans didn't even KNOW the mythology had all but been unraveled. ok. what IS the mythology? marcus, you already pointed out. that IS the mythology. it's pretty simple and can be summed up in a few sentences. what IS the resolution? in the film, remember the UFO that took off in the end? well, that was the colonization aliens and its black oil leaving for good. thus, closing black oil+colonization story arc. see here for MORE details: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_oil http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonis...The_X-Files%29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syndica...The_X-Files%29 what IS the resolution for syndicate? i believe one of the few last episodes was the one where the syndicate and their families all burned up. it was literal and figurative "reboot" of the franchise (that also coincided with bringing the 2 new leads into the show and lead to david exiting for the last 2 seasons). that concludes the syndicate thread. that's why s6-9 was much more loose and comedic in nature. less dark and more happy. millennium picked up the dark side =). w/7-9, the XF team tried to do something with super soldiers as the mythology but i don't think that that went anywhere as well as the original alien colonization storyline did. what IS the resolution, Frank? it is that the super soldiers are preparing the way for the colonist aliens to come back in 2010 or somn (whatever Mulder's last few dialogue were). that's why mulder was so distraught in the end because he couldn't do anything about the oncoming alien invasion. prepping the way for the XF2 sequel =). unfortunately, XF2 is gonna' be a monster of the movie episode. anyway, "The Truth" (the 2 parter series finale) is the most explicit. all of what i wrote above is pretty much culled from the truth. it went through the entire series and gave you a huge summary of the mythos (hence "The Truth"). reason why people don't like it? XF wasn't all about those 2 total mythological story arcs to begin with and they started to make stuff up by s4 onwards =). i mean the characters in the finale explicitly stated, "the black oil+gray aliens", etc. all of it sounds absurd and ridiculous. but that's "The Truth". you may not like it, but that's ALL there is to it =). the point is, it's the question that drives us (as Trinity said). it's the mystery of the unknown that keeps us watching. remember desperate housewives? after s1's season finale, the mystery was revealed, thus deflation of quality in the beginning of s2 despite NEW mystery. and s2's NEW mystery was already revealed halfway through leaving the latter half pure butter. how about Lost. if they reveal the mystery of what's behind the island a great # of viewers will tune out. you never answer it and it'll be endlessly debated. __________________ bow wow wow Last edited by Yi Fong Yu; June 26th, 2006 at 02:28 PM.

June 26th, 2006, 04:33 PM	#18
Keith Loh Air China Pilot Join Date: May 2002 Location: Vancouver, B.C. Posts: 2,389	William B. Davis something school for Actor's Study. __________________ -- Visit http://www.KeithLoh.com \| stuff about living in Vancouver \| My Flickr photo gallery

June 26th, 2006, 05:40 PM	#19
Yi Fong Yu Trustee Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Vulcan Posts: 1,564	so you hate Lost because it has no resolution? __________________ bow wow wow

June 26th, 2006, 11:49 PM	#22
Yi Fong Yu Trustee Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Vulcan Posts: 1,564	i loved their bermuda triangle thing =). very cinematic (as usual). __________________ bow wow wow

June 27th, 2006, 11:18 AM	#25
Mathieu Ghekiere Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Belgium Posts: 2,195	DVD boxes arrived... gosh those digipacks are beatiful, I'm glad I didn't went for those plastic M-lock things. Watched an episode from season 1 today, episode "Eve"... Really great, I felt 10 years old again, enthousiasm of the scripts and mood... LOVE IT! __________________ http://productionsofthe3rdkind.com http://pr3k.com

June 26th, 2006, 04:05 PM	#17
Frank Granovski Outer Circle Join Date: May 2002 Location: Hope, BC Posts: 7,524	Yeah. No resolution. THAT's what I hated about the show. Otherwise, it was fun to watch. By the way, the cancer man has had an acting school for years in downtown Vancouver. That's were the Kiwi, Zena, got her training. It was in the paper some years back.

June 26th, 2006, 06:11 PM	#20
Frank Granovski Outer Circle Join Date: May 2002 Location: Hope, BC Posts: 7,524	Lost has resolution, little by little---unlike the X-files. In fact, Lost has a plot and a through line.

June 26th, 2006, 10:57 PM	#21
Kelly Goden Major Player Join Date: May 2006 Location: Surrey BC Posts: 259	Another great thing about the X Files is when you could watch the show on a sunday, then go into Vancouver on a wednesday and see Scully and Mulder doing there thing on the steps of the Vancouver Art Gallery. Kind of surreal in itself. :) BUT i was actually glad it moved to California. If you have UFOs and Area 51 you have to have a desert. That reminds me, their COPS episode was another interesting variation.

June 27th, 2006, 12:39 AM	#23
Frank Granovski Outer Circle Join Date: May 2002 Location: Hope, BC Posts: 7,524	Kelly, BC has deserts.

June 27th, 2006, 08:25 AM	#24
Kelly Goden Major Player Join Date: May 2006 Location: Surrey BC Posts: 259	Sandy duney deserts?

June 27th, 2006, 01:00 PM	#26
Yi Fong Yu Trustee Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Vulcan Posts: 1,564	you'll get so sick of high quality content that when you finish XF you will feel depressed nothing else on TV comes close. trust me... or... no 1. __________________ bow wow wow

June 30th, 2006, 08:52 AM	#28
Peter Jefferson Inner Circle Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Aus Posts: 3,884	I concur with all the positive comments about this show, Rob Bowman and Kim Manners IMO were centrepoint players in the series survival. It was from Xiles that i took on a renewed interest of Star Trek TNG, and it turns out that many guest characters from TNG made their way onto XFiles itself (like Deepthroat). Aside from the direction and cinematography, the stories, particularly the Mythology stories, really made the series one of those "must watch" type of shows. With regard to the mythology, i feel that if they focused a lil more on that, it would have been even more intriguing and less dissapointing at its conclusion. In addition, i feel that the series could have survived with Robert Patrick taking on the lead male role as his own persona was considerably stronger that Duchovny's making the show a lil more watchable as Patrick just had a better screen presence IMO As for produciton values, i believe it was one of the first modern productions to implement cinematic techniques and tools, which is why many directors were more than happy to work with Carter. Total creative freedom with an almost limitless budget (produciton wise) Yes, i sat through all 56 discs... all 9 seasons... every episode back to back LOL If your an editor and youre lookign for company while you work, TV shows are the best solution IMO... LOL From Xfiles to Star Trek TNG and Voyager i keep them playing and replaying as i edit my work...

June 30th, 2006, 03:02 PM	#29
Frank Granovski Outer Circle Join Date: May 2002 Location: Hope, BC Posts: 7,524	I liked DS9 better than Voyager, though Voyager was okay. My favourite trek stuff are the movies.

July 1st, 2006, 09:15 AM	#30
Kelly Goden Major Player Join Date: May 2006 Location: Surrey BC Posts: 259	Seriously? In Richmond? I want a pic! I have read that we have sand dunes in BC but where? Ttell river? I cant find a pic. Saskatchewan has some. I actually learned that just a little bit ago. :)