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[tab title="Movie Review"]
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September 10th, 1993. It was my senior year of high school. On that day, I had just turned 18 and had no idea that my life was soon to changed by a television show. It was a Friday night. I should have been out with my friends, cruising up and down Main Street in the little town I grew up in. I wasn’t, though. I was home, glued to the television set. There was a dark and mysterious new show that I wanted to check out. The promos on Fox had been just edgy enough to catch my interest. It was all shadowy and vague, promising something weird and twisted about aliens and an unusual branch of the FBI. And so I watched. And when the whistle-ready theme song hit, well, I was primed and ready for more.
And so my love affair with The X-Files began. Mulder (David Duchovny), Scully (Gillian Anderson), Skinner (Mitch Peliggi), the Cigarette-Smoking Man (William B. Davis), Eugene Victor Tooms (Doug Hutchinson), The Lone Gunmen (Bruce Harwood, Tom Braidwood, Dean Haglund, the Black Oil, the Peacock family, Jose Chung, the Post-Modern Prometheus, the Jersey Devil, alien bounty hunters, baseball players from outer space, and those little green men all became household names to me, my friends, and my family. Whatever it was, if it had to do with Chris Carter’s show and Ten Thirteen Productions, well, I was all about it. Hell, there were even X-File conventions in military airplane hangers I attended.
As the show expanded, even Special Agent John Doggett (Robert Patrick) and FBI Agent Monica Reyes (Annabeth Gish) grew on me as the show stretched into its 8th and 9th seasons and its main stars wanted, needed, and had earned a break. Chasing ghosts, super soldiers, aliens, and serial killers is hard work.
As the years progressed and the mythology grew, its writers – Glen Morgan, Darin Morgan, Vince Gilligan, John Shiban, Kim Manners, Frank Spotnitz and James Wong – earned awards as producers and directors and the show simply became a juggernaut, outgrowing both the small screen and its original filming location of Vancouver, Canada. The first movie, The X-Files: Fight the Future was a certifiable hit for Twentieth Century Fox and cemented the show’s legacy in the genre of Science Fiction. It also – as was the case with legitimate science fiction – liked to weigh in on the popular culture and featured a scene with Mulder in a back alley somewhere in Washington, DC pissing on an Independence Day poster. Pretty sure director Roland Emmerich got the message but did he understand it?
No other show – currently on television – had ever made the leap to the BIG screen and then jump back into a smaller one so successfully. Ratings were up, the location of the series shoot moved to Southern California; the sky was the limit. Soon Duchovny and Anderson were writing and directing episodes that were both funny and poignant, always advancing the series. For a whopping 203 episodes, The X-Files was unbeatable when it came to story structure and, even when it stretched the realm of credibility in its final two seasons, the stories and characters were strong enough to not sour or spoil its own legacy; one that includes inspiring shows from Lost and Fringe to Warehouse 13, Supernatural and beyond.
Here we are now – almost eight years after the second movie The X-Files: I Want to Believe appeared in theaters – with our hands finally on this monumental release. For the first time on Blu-ray, the original nine exhilarating, groundbreaking seasons of The X-Files, along with exclusive special features, can be yours to own. With over 23 hours of extras, including documentaries, and commentary by creator Chris Carter and the production team as well as special effects sequences and deleted scenes this collection, which includes space for the upcoming X-Files Event Series in 2016, is a must-have for any fan of the truth.
That’s right – thanks to the efforts behind the scenes at Twentieth Century Fox – the show that started the whole television on DVD craze has FINALLY been cleared for release on Blu-ray. Every single episode has been digitally upgraded for the HD market. Prayers have been answered here, folks. You can buy the set as a whole or you can purchase individual seasons. The point is that The X-Files can now be yours to own and celebrate once again.
And, with its two-night revival airing this coming January (with a brief series to follow), what other better way is there to adequately express our joy at seeing familiar faces and those reassuring beams of light emerging from the darkness of the unknown then scooping this set up and binge-watch ourselves into a marvelous fit of paranoia. Subvert the norm! Cue Mark Snow’s main theme and ...
Start.
Whistling.
Now.
The X-Files have officially re-opened.
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[tab title="Blu-ray Review"]
Blu-ray Details:
Available on Blu-ray - December 8, 2015
Screen Formats: 1.78:1
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1; French: Dolby Digital 2.0; Spanish: Dolby Digital 2.0
Discs: 50GB Blu-ray Disc55-disc set
Region Encoding: A
If you were fortunate, you got the half-price deal Twentieth Century Fox sent out a couple of months ago for this beast. You also got it a week early. Oh, it’s a beautiful behemoth, mind you but it’ll cost you a pretty penny right now. It’s also worth every single cent. The 1080p transfers are elegantly precise with visible fibers in suit jackets and add a dimension to the effects that is simply out of this world. This is beautiful landscape; a brilliant battleground with dreary hues, sharp primaries, and a slight tint to the episodes that manages to make it all so very expressively beautiful. Contrast and saturation is solid. Black levels are deep and satisfying. Detail is excellent throughout. Clarity goes deep and the widescreen 16:9 (1.78:1) presentation is gorgeously in-tune with the cinematic leanings of the show. Colors are bold. Details are sharp. What’s not to love? The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 adds a new layer of sonic clarity to the mix and immerses viewers dynamically with the on-screen mystery.
Supplements:
Commentary:
- Chris Carter and company have recorded some new commentaries for certain select episodes of the show. Each disc provides a different commentary. See special features for specifics.
Special Features:
For the first time on Blu-ray, the original nine exhilarating, groundbreaking seasons of The X-Files, along with exclusive special features, can be yours to own. Journey through the underbelly of some of they key production moments and unravel deadly conspiracies and solve paranormal mysteries alongside Mulder and Scully. With over 23 hours of extras, including documentaries, and commentary by creator Chris Carter and the production team as well as special effects sequences and deleted scenes this collection, which includes space for the upcoming X-Files Event Series in 2016, this set is a must-have for any fan of the truth!
Season One
Series Intro by Frank Spotnitz
Chris Carter Talks About Season 1
Deleted Scenes
International Clips
Deep Throat: Audio Commentary by Chris Carter
Erlenmeyer Flask: Audio Commentary by R.W. Goodwin
Special Effects Clip From Fallen Angel
Documentary: “The Truth About Season 1”
Season Two
Deleted Scenes
Chris Carter Talks About Season 2
Humbug
Documentary: “The Truth About Season Two”
Duane Barry: Audio Commentary by Chris Carter
End Games: Audio Commentary by Frank Spotnitz
Anasazi: Audio Commentary by R.W. Goodwin
Season Three
Deleted Scenes (w/optional commentary by Chris Carter)
Chris Carter Talks About Season 3
International Clips
Special Effects with Commentary by Mat Beck
Documentary: “The Truth About Season Three”
Threads of Mythology: Abduction
Talitha Cuma: Audio Commentary by R.W. Goodwin
Season Four
Deleted Scenes
Extended Scenes
Special Effects with Commentary by Paul Rabwin
Deleted Scenes (w/optional commentary by Chris Carter)
Tunguska – Interview With Chris Carter
Paper Hearts – Interview with Vince Gilligan
Memento Mori: Audio Commentary by Rob Bowman
Introduction to Memento Mori by Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz
Max: Audio Commentary by Kim Manners
Documentary: “The Truth About Season Four”
Season Five
International Clips
Deleted Scenes (w/optional commentary by Chris Carter)
Special Effects with Commentary by Paul Rabwin
Documentary: “The Truth About Season Five”
Threads of Mythology: Black Oil
FX Featurette
Introduction to The Post-Modern Prometheus by Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz
Patient X: Audio Commentary by Kim Manners
The Red and the Black: Audio Commentary by Chris Carter
The Post Modern Prometheus: Audio Commentary by Chris Carter
The Pine Bluff Variant: Audio Commentary by John Shiban
Season Six
Special Effects with Commentary by Paul Rabwin
Deleted Scenes (w/optional commentary by Frank Spotnitz)
International Clips
Two Fathers: Audio Commentary by Kim Manners
One Son: Audio Commentary by Frank Spotnitz
Triangle: Audio Commentary by Chris Carter
Introduction to Milagro by Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz
X-Files Profiles: Cigarette-Smoking Man
Featurette on Season Six
Documentary: “The Truth About Season Six”
Season Seven
Deleted scenes (w/optional commentary by Chris Carter)
Special effects sequences with commentary by Paul Rabwin
International Clips
Documentary: “The Truth About Season Seven” Behind-the-Scenes featurette
X-Files Profiles: A.D. Skinner and Samantha Mulder
Closure: Audio Commentary by Kim Manners
Documentary: “The Truth About Season Seven”
Season Eight
Special Effects by Mat Beck with Commentary by Paul Rabwin
International Clips
Deleted scenes (w/optional commentary by Frank Spotnitz and John Shiban)
Documentary: “The Truth About Season Eight”
Deleted Scenes with Optional Commentary by Chris Carter
Threads of Mythology: Colonization
X-Files Profiles
Within: Commentary by Kim Manners and Robert Patrick
Deadalive: Commentary by Frank Spotnitz
Vienen: Commentary by Rod Hardy
Season Nine
Deleted scenes (w/optional commentary by Frank Spotnitz)
Special Effects by Mat Beck with Commentary by Paul Rabwin
International Clips
Audio Commentary by Chris Carter, Vince Gilligan, John Shiban, Frank Spotnitz, Kim Manners
Documentary: The Truth About Season Nine
The Making of The Truth
Secrets of The X-Files
Tribute to The X-Files
Threads of Mythology: Super Soldiers
X-Files Profiles
Reflections on the Truth featurette
Wonder Con Panel
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