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Unmature posted:Just ordered a couple of the extended universe paperbacks. Any recommendations? Seems like they all might just be pretty standard tv show tie-in books but that’s good enough for me. Do any of them rise above that? I know a lot of the early X-Files tie-in books and comics were written by Kevin J. Anderson, so that doesn't leave a lot of high hopes for them. I know there was a comic about the 1800s mystery airships and another that was a 30 Days of Night crossover, and I wanted to read both, but never got my hands on either.
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Oct 20, 2020 14:21
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Unmature posted:Watching the Stephen King written episode Chinga. What is up with Mulder being instantly like “no, haunted dolls are bullshit from movies”? It’s one of the most common tropes he should at least reference the Warrens even though they were full of poo poo I'm a huge King fan, and this episode is really disappointing. It's not terrible, but it feels like it's torn between being a King work and an X-files episode, so it never really satisfies either itch. But I do like the idea that Mulder has certain things even HE doesn't believe in.
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Oct 20, 2020 15:38
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Chairman Capone posted:I know a lot of the early X-Files tie-in books and comics were written by Kevin J. Anderson, so that doesn't leave a lot of high hopes for them. I remember after the first couple of very early books, Kevin J Anderson was a step up. At least he seemed to have actually watched the series and, for instance, didn't have Mulder and Scully call each other Fox and Dana.
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Oct 20, 2020 16:19
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I actually did have some involvement with X-Files books - as a kid, our local library had what we would today probably call YA novelizations of first season episodes. I re-read the Darkness Falls one far more than I've ever seen the episode itself, given this was the mid-90s and aside from catching it by luck on rerun, I had no real way to get the episode itself.
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Oct 20, 2020 22:19
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I have fond memories of watching the older seasons by renting those 2 episode VHS collections from the local Hollywood Video. I got into the show around season 5; my uncle was really into it, and I remember catching a couple S4 episodes at his house (specifically Small Potatoes and Zero Sum, the latter of which made me terrified of those overflow holes in bathroom sinks). I watched at least some of S5 as it aired, and I have distinct memories of certain episodes in that season (Detour stood out in my memory as particularly freaky, and having just rewatched it recently, boy is that a great episode). Season 6 is the one where I think I really got into it, as that's where my strongest memories of watching it live start. From then until the series finale I also taped pretty much every episode and would watch them on repeat. I've been going through a rewatch of the series, and just recently got to S6, so it's pretty fun to hit the point where the nostalgia kicks in as I remember watching them the first time (and for many episodes, not having seen them at all since then).
Lord Hydronium fucked around with this message at 22:39 on Oct 20, 2020 |
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Oct 20, 2020 22:32
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Watching season 1 for the first time in forever and it is crazy how differently Scully and Mulder are styled. You think of “The X-Files” and you think angular thin pale people in black and white and season 1 is like all mauve pantsuits and poofy hair. They keep Mulder a little more drab but he just looks dorky in his striped shirts and thick fabric suits. Everyone has shoulder pads. Also forgot an alien ghost sabotaged the Challenger. Huh. Unmature fucked around with this message at 02:15 on Oct 21, 2020 |
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Oct 21, 2020 02:00
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You can also use the show to track the evolution of cell phone technology. I'm probably wrong about this, but X-files feels like the first show that really heavily leaned on the use of cell phones.
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Oct 21, 2020 03:09
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howe_sam posted:You can also use the show to track the evolution of cell phone technology. I'm probably wrong about this, but X-files feels like the first show that really heavily leaned on the use of cell phones. It’s definitely a huge part of the iconography of the show. People even have tattoos of their phones. Shows may have had them show up but X-Files feels like the first where it was a major factor in the show.
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Oct 21, 2020 03:13
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Antifa Turkeesian posted:I think it works with him just being a petty bureaucrat who wasted his life pointlessly rising in an organization at the cost of his true self. The part with him finally selling the story and finding out that the editors changed it all couldn’t have been in his manuscript, right? quote:FROHIKE: So far, this is based only on a story I read in one of my weekly subscriptions that rang a bell. I'm playing with the idea he's been so dispirited with his writings ending up in a porn magazine that he just goes "stuff it" and starts writing into conspiracy magazines as a way of disinformation, given the main flashback narrative is driven by Frohike, so it's potentially unreliable. This is made weirder by the original ending where Frohike actually gets shot but it was vetoed by production as keeping him alive still fed into the CSM mythos.
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Oct 21, 2020 09:32
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Should I watch Kolchak: The Night Stalker?
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Oct 22, 2020 03:56
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Unmature posted:Should I watch Kolchak: The Night Stalker? Hard yes. Darren McGavin is a national treasure.
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Oct 22, 2020 04:22
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Unmature posted:Everyone has shoulder pads. Yeah this guy from Tooms wins the 90's pad award.  
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Oct 22, 2020 11:59
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Unmature posted:Should I watch Kolchak: The Night Stalker? The two Kolchak tv movies have fantastic blu-rays from Kino Lorber. Well-worth the money. The show isn't quite as good as the movies, but it's still a ton of fun.
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Oct 22, 2020 12:04
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BogDew posted:Yeah this guy from Tooms wins the 90's pad award. He was asking for it, walking around dressed like that
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Oct 22, 2020 15:26
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He'll never be able to dislocate his shoulders and squeeze into a an airvent like that
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Oct 22, 2020 23:53
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Just watched The Night Stalker, the TV movie that served as the pilot for Kolchak, and you can definitely see the influence on The X-Files. It’s even paced pretty much the same. It’s great and on YouTube in full. Well worth watching
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Oct 23, 2020 02:24
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Hi thread. So I've never seen X-Files. Deliberately avoided it but since I am forced to work remotely and the country is on lockdown... time to break the seal. I know most other goons love seeing new viewer's takes on the shows so I thought I would share some here if you are interested. I can be briefer if you want. Warning: I am 100% going to like the MoTW more than the overall conspiracy arc. It's why I avoided it before now. This was one of my Pop's favourite shows and have had plenty of mates who have been into it so I have a decent knowledge of certain things like CSM, Lone Gunmen and whatnot... just never actually experienced them for myself. Using Amazon UK. Pilot ep - The intro reminded me of Supernatural so much I expected Sam and Dean to come up when the locals found the body. "Agent Van Zant and Agent Allman, FBI" <flash badge>. I know I was expecting it but HOLY FUCKBALLS are Anderson and Duchovny young. Gillian Anderson is jarring as she's like the Blonde Empress of prestige TV and film and always just has this refined regal quality about her that I imagined she was born with. Chemistry between the two is amazing from the go. Oh it's that guy from 80's tv and movies, Cliff DeYoung. CSM! Pistol chat: is Scully carrying a Walther PPK or (more likely) offbrand Euro clone? Barrel looks too small to be 9mm. Scully's whole skeptical belief seems shaken already halfway in the ep so weird to think she remains skeptical of aliens throughout. I remember goons saying CSM seemed to be a peon at first but here he is, at the end of the ep, clearly in charge after the debrief of the abductee. He whispers in an ear and everyone leaves. Later on he eyes Scully in the hallway and then pockets the last remaining evidence. Feels like he was setup as the main series bigbad right at the start. Also happy how Scully seems to be portrayed so far. Episode 2 - Deep Throat - gun chat: wtf is wrong with this one SWAT dudes MP5? Did US SWAT use Colt Commandos in the early 90s? M9s when they were new(ish)! Those uniforms look off. Eczema is a bastard innit? Going from SWAT breach to a 90s ROMCOM bar was hilarious. "Case has a distinct smell to it. A paranormal bouquet." BOOO writers! Boo! Then Mulder get's an older guy walking behind him in the bano and locking the door. Hey now.  Clicking on the phone and dude obviously in a generic work van watching your window. It's like they knew people were going to be phone posting while binging decades later. Hah.... 90s flower print mom dress w/ shoulder pads. Those need to come back. "If I need to find one of those UFO nuts where would I go?" <next scene a bar called The Flying Saucer> Later on... <Waitress looks up to the sky as she hears a zoom> "F-15 Eagle, pulling about 4 Gs". Ok...did someone's kid write this episode? Seth Green! He's a Highlander! A tiny, tiny Highlander. Ginger young, notPosh Gillian Anderson still weirds me out a bit. MiB cameo #1. Gunchat #2: So Mulder uses an Beretta m9/92fs and Scully only keeps one round in the mag with her Walther PPK knock off? I'm wondering where this cliche about MiB taking out your camera's film and exposing it or you ask a question and <punch> came from? I doubt X-Files was the first but I bet they made it mainstream. I still roll my eyes a bit when shows talk competent global government conspiracy after dealing with governments myself since childhood. Also the cliche about running from vehicles in a straight line down a paved road. <sigh> Gun chat parte trois: oh the bad guy uses Scullygun too? Definitely a western Euro Walther clone. .38? Old rear end gun and wonder if there's a story why she carries that. Thought this one was a Makarov pistol for a sec but its 100% not. Mulder running is high-larious. I wanted to like this but this episode almost made me not go to episode three. Just felt sloppy and amateurish. Plot had some bare bones of a decent idea but, jesus, the dialogue was clunky. Episode 3 - Squeeze This is why I am here: Monster of the bloody week. In the first 5 minutes I see the cinematography is better. Well shot in spite of very 90s Canadian television equipment. Donal Logue? Young Harvey Bullock? Feeling douche vibes off him. Mulders comeback to little green men rib made me laugh. This Scully "profile" is a bit silly: "After a careful review.... male. 25-35, above average intelligence...undetected due to superior knowledge of inner structure of building and ducts works or that he poses in plain sight, as a delivery or maintenance worker." Roffle Mao. Does Mulder never carry in his off hours? Doesn't he know he is in Murrica? Tooms is creepy as gently caress. Like that Scully and Mulder dynamic. They respect each other even though they know they have vastly different approaches. I knew it was coming but well done indeed. Like how she defends Mulder, even if she could just stay silent. Tooms continues to be creepy although why doesn't he take off his shoes? I'd imagine a shot of him with both his toes and hands being elongated with nails would look quite unsettling. The pre-computer research and the interview with the old detective was oddly charming. Not completly sure why but I have a feeling it could have been ripped out of an old movie. Bile cocoon was a nice touch. Gun chat: So Scully just tucks her pistol in her pocket and doesn't have a holster? That seems odd. I like that they didn't fully explain everything about Tooms. Skeletal and musculature anomalies is good enough. Queue the possible escape and you got a recurring bad guy. Be nice if they develop a monster rogues gallery but I remember most are one offs. These kind of eps are what I'm looking forward to. Also young Harvey Bullock did a fantastic job capturing that hollow arrogance so common with agency ladder climbing tosser types. DogsInSpace! fucked around with this message at 23:07 on Oct 28, 2020 |
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Oct 28, 2020 20:39
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DogsInSpace! posted:These kind of eps are what I'm looking forward to. Yeah, there are a ton of episodes, and a lot of them really do suck. Now that I'm a grown-up (and not desperately searching for any hint that Murder and Scully are secretly together) I can appreciate both how dumb some of the episodes are, as well as how good the good ones are. Those highs are still some of the best episodes of television I've ever seen. But, yeah, there are soooo many episodes.
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Oct 29, 2020 22:34
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DogsInSpace! posted:Pistol chat: is Scully carrying a Walther PPK or (more likely) offbrand Euro clone? Barrel lookso too small to be 9mm. FYI, if you can tolerate the gun nut ads, the IMFDB has exhaustive breakdowns of the firearms used on the show.
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Oct 29, 2020 23:04
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I finally made it through S2 and those last few one-offs are a slog. I did kinda like the absurdity of Mulder holding down a child to seemingly help a group of Romanians knife him on the chance the child is a demon in The Calusari but the chicken feed one, the carnival community and Tony Shalhoub's evil shadow just make almost no impression. F. Emasculata was also mostly just okay though now that we're living through a pandemic everyone getting owned by the virus because they didn't bother wearing a mask around obviously extremely sick people is darkly funny, at least. I'm just starting S3 and in the opener I enjoy that because Mulder is busy being healed by a Native American vision quest they have to use Scully's sister as his stand-in to tell Scully to stop hiding from the truth RE: alien abductions. Wolfsheim fucked around with this message at 23:43 on Nov 9, 2020 |
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Nov 9, 2020 23:29
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Your opinion is wrong, the carny community one is a classic. 
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Nov 10, 2020 00:18
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The carny episode is Darin Morgan's first script for the show, and for that reason alone it's notable. It's also the episode that got me into the X-Files.
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Nov 10, 2020 00:40
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Plus that blockhead guy and the Enigma were minor gen x cultural figures at the time.
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Nov 10, 2020 01:20
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DogsInSpace! posted:Hi thread. So I've never seen X-Files. Deliberately avoided it but since I am forced to work remotely and the country is on lockdown... time to break the seal. I know most other goons love seeing new viewer's takes on the shows so I thought I would share some here if you are interested. I can be briefer if you want. Warning: I am 100% going to like the MoTW more than the overall conspiracy arc. It's why I avoided it before now. This was one of my Pop's favourite shows and have had plenty of mates who have been into it so I have a decent knowledge of certain things like CSM, Lone Gunmen and whatnot... just never actually experienced them for myself. Using Amazon UK. For what it's worth the conspiracy arc is a lot more cohesive and actually good in the first few seasons. I'd say it's solid up until midway through season 6, and then it goes off the rails after that.
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Nov 10, 2020 07:09
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I just started season five of my rewatch and it is disgusting how many times Mulder and Scully doubt Skinner and accuse him of working for the conspiracy, after everything he's done for them. 
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Nov 10, 2020 10:04
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We get a lot of info about skinner that they don't, Skinner is an abrasive rear end in a top hat and the best way to earn someone's trust is to give them a little something now and again anyway. Even the things he does for them could be perceived as having ulterior motives. On my rewatch I actually thought they did a good job of making it seem like they trust him at arms length anyway
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Nov 10, 2020 11:19
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OldSenileGuy posted:Your opinion is wrong, the carny community one is a classic. One of my absolute favorite moments in the entire show. I would love for Darin Morgan to write a book about his views of Mulder (and possibly David Duchovny) and how it affected his writing. Chris Carter mostly writes Mulder as this cool-as-hell super FBI agent that's haunted by his past. Morgan writes Mulder as a weird outcast who's only able to survive in the world because he's handsome.
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Nov 10, 2020 14:36
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Wolfsheim posted:I finally made it through S2 and those last few one-offs are a slog. I did kinda like the absurdity of Mulder holding down a child to seemingly help a group of Romanians knife him on the chance the child is a demon in The Calusari but the chicken feed one, the carnival community and Tony Shalhoub's evil shadow just make almost no impression. F. Emasculata was also mostly just okay though now that we're living through a pandemic everyone getting owned by the virus because they didn't bother wearing a mask around obviously extremely sick people is darkly funny, at least. I love 'Our Town', though. There's something appealingly demented about the idea of "evil Colonel Sanders with a cabinet full of shrunken heads leads a town of cultists who've halted the ageing process by eating peoples' brains in human sacrifice rituals (only to develop CJD)". And how anyone can dismiss 'Humbug' as a nothingburger...
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Nov 10, 2020 16:37
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Octy posted:I just started season five of my rewatch and it is disgusting how many times Mulder and Scully doubt Skinner and accuse him of working for the conspiracy, after everything he's done for them. In the episode before Skinner gets jumped and beat up by Krychek and a couple randos Mulder literally punches him in the face in a crowded office, and not even because of aliens or whatever hes just frustrated, and then he basically gets off with a warning 
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Nov 11, 2020 04:54
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Payndz posted:My wife walked out on our watch of 'F. Emasculata'
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Nov 11, 2020 15:04
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Wolfsheim posted:In the episode before Skinner gets jumped and beat up by Krychek and a couple randos Mulder literally punches him in the face in a crowded office, and not even because of aliens or whatever hes just frustrated, and then he basically gets off with a warning He's drugged
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Nov 11, 2020 23:25
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Payndz posted:My wife walked out on our watch of 'F. Emasculata' because the idea of Scully, a medical doctor, poking around in oozing, pustule-covered corpses that have died from some highly contageous cause with practically no precautions or PPE actually made her angry. Scully's medical expertise, like everything else on the show in a long enough horizon, makes no loving sense. She sometimes does autopsies, sometimes treats the black oil and deals with vaccines and antivirals, in the movies does brain surgery, in the new seasons is back to creating vaccines...
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Nov 12, 2020 01:51
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joepinetree posted:Scully's medical expertise, like everything else on the show in a long enough horizon, makes no loving sense. She sometimes does autopsies, sometimes treats the black oil and deals with vaccines and antivirals, in the movies does brain surgery, in the new seasons is back to creating vaccines... In the first season (I've started watching for the first time despite catching some parts here and there) she did her residency in Forensic Science. So she'd have hands on knowledge of Autopsies and general Blood Science. My guess is after The Thing episode, she does a double take and brushes up on other stuff.
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Nov 14, 2020 06:57
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man, Gillian Anderson is tiny compared to basically everybody else on this show it's genuinely kinda hilarious seeing her and Mulder together and he's like a full loving foot plus taller than her
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Nov 14, 2020 14:58
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WeedlordGoku69 posted:man, Gillian Anderson is tiny compared to basically everybody else on this show Lots of boxes were used in the making of the show. At least half of them to give Anderson something to stand on.
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Nov 16, 2020 12:39
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There was a gag in one episode on the lines of: Scully: Why do you always have to drive? Mulder: I didn't think your tiny legs could reach the pedals.
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Nov 16, 2020 13:29
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Humbug is one of the best episodes, and it's sad that Michael J Anderson is a Nazi now.
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Nov 16, 2020 14:26
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Hmm. Hoping someone else will have a better handle on this, currently watching the warewolf episode in season one, how does the indigenous peoples stuff still hold up? Around the same time, Voyager consulted a "specialist" on their Indigenous American stuff for the character Chakotay, but the person who advised the showrunners was a fraud. Does the x files have the same problems?
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Nov 16, 2020 20:31
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Probably not well but points for trying?Quote-Unquote posted:Humbug is one of the best episodes, and it's sad that Michael J Anderson is a Nazi now. Wow he should, and I cannot emphasize this enough, reconsider. Also if you look him up on google his genre is metal for some reason?
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Nov 17, 2020 07:01
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I just watched "Shapes" last week, and it's... not bad as far as 90s Native American depictions go, since it's mostly about territorial issues (both between the people on the Reservation and the white ranchers, and between Mulder/Scully and local law enforcement) in the way early X-Files often was. The actual folklore is apparently pretty mangled to fit it into a werewolf story, but there's no mystical Voyager bullshit, if that's what you're worried about.
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Nov 17, 2020 07:46
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