Seasons 1-9
ColemansLoveChild
of
>Samantha, the resolution they ultimately decided upon was so
hackneyed
>and banal that I jus couldn't believe it. The "explanation" for
Sam's
>disappearance felt completely "made-up", and I found it incredible
>that Mulder-who had been given other, more plausible explanations for
other situations, and refused to believe those-could believe THAT so
>easily.
But this just is an example of the disappointing incoherence of the
show within the broader prism. Mulder decides to believe at this point
that Samantha is really and truly gone because it's convenient, not
because it's believable as far as his character or makes any sense
within the structuring of the show's storyline. Though there were so
many dropped threads by the end that I don't know how anybody could
have made it coherent, let alone Carter who caused the mess in the
first place.
>Well, in many ways I felt that the series was one gigantic
>shell-game; lots of hints importuning great things at the end, but-in
>the end-just a lot of empty shells...
That's a good description, and one of the reasons I became
increasingly frustrated with the show from season six onward. In the
end, I still think it was one of the best things ever put to
television, but more for its individual moments of genius - whether
that be individual episodes or something within one of those episodes
- rather than any type of great ongoing storyline. I think what
carried it most of all, or as much as anything, were the two
characters who gave a credibility and brought an interest whether what
was going on around them was total hack material or not - who should
get the brunt of the credit for that I'm not sure, but I'm leaning
towards the actors. I think if you take away Mulder and Scully the
show would not have lasted much beyond a few weeks to maybe a season.
Unlike some, I still like much of the early mythology episodes as much
or more than MOTWs, but more as solitary pieces rather than really
holding any meaning as far as a greater whole. When considering this,
they can frustrate me as much as any other critic, but many of them
still come across as some of the best stuff I've seen from a tv show
from the standpoint of atmosphere, characterization and insular
storytelling threads that on their own are quite good to even great.
So much of it was smoke and mirrors I guess, and what becomes annoying
about that prospect is just how much potential was wasted because
nobody had the guts to pick one direction and really go with it -
instead all we got were ambiguous hints, that truly add up to nothing
because there's no substance behind them. From a broad plotting
standpoint, the X-Files was a vacuous show - that's a harsh statement,
but I don't see how you can get around it. I think in many ways, you
ended up with characters that (at least in the later years) were too
good for the material that surrounded them - I think that's why the
show fell apart as badly as it did with seasons 8 and 9, because the
show had basically no strengths whether it be plotting or character at
that point.
There's a very odd dichotomy in that the characters could be drawn so
well over time and yet what got them there was so incoherent. By the
last couple years, the cancerous nature of what was being done by the
writing team (or, more specifically, CC) caught up with the characters
to great extent as well - it's no coinicedence that the cahracters
that were absent the most (Mulder, CSM) were the ones that came off
the best the last couple seasons and weren't hurt nearly as much as
those that were left on the show in a more coherent capacity through
that period. And those that were supposed to usher in the new era (do
I need to name names?) were just outright awful to bad (yes, I
reversed that on purpose) characters on the whole.
Unbound I
>In the
>end, I still think it was one of the best things ever put to
>television, but more for its individual moments of genius - whether
>that be individual episodes or something within one of those episodes
>- rather than any type of great ongoing storyline.
>
>
>
on. The mytharc stopped making any real sense probably around the tail end of
S4 (some would say earlier, but I hung in there a bit longer) and the idea of
it being a coherent story ceased. But what carried it forward for me were the
interesting ideas that were incorporated -- even if they simply added to the
mountaintop of confusion along the way. Rather than hoping the underlying story
would make any sense, I was just hoping to be entertained by the individual
ideas that were being introduced and more often than not (speaking only about
the series through S7), I was.
>
>
>
>I think what
>carried it most of all, or as much as anything, were the two
>characters who gave a credibility and brought an interest whether what
>was going on around them was total hack material or not
>
>
>
series forward from the very first episode. The word credibility is an
important one. A particular story on its own may not have survived, but Mulder
and Scully's entrance into that story brought all of us with them because
*they* held our interest. Once they were removed from the equation, the series
was destined to fail because it was never (despite the protestations of Carter,
Spotnitz or some of the show's fans) the "scary stories" which drove the series
in the first place. It was always Mulder and Scully.
>
>
>
> - who should
>get the brunt of the credit for that I'm not sure, but I'm leaning
>towards the actors.
>
>
>
magic that just happens. Carter deserves the credit for the creation of the
characters and he alongwith Morgan and Wong and a host of other writers deserve
credit for the further development of the characters and the series as a whole,
but David and Gillian brought that special something (call it "chemistry" or
whatever you want) that enabled the characters to leap out of the screen and
not only become memorable but touch a worldwide group of fans in the most
interesting of ways.
>
>
>
>I think if you take away Mulder and Scully the
>show would not have lasted much beyond a few weeks to maybe a season.
>
>
>
a host of other factors than it did with the idea that the show could somehow
work without Mulder and by extension, Mulder and Scully.
>
>
>Unlike some, I still like much of the early mythology episodes as much
>or more than MOTWs, but more as solitary pieces rather than really
>holding any meaning as far as a greater whole.
>
>
>
subsequently alters my feelings whatsoever. I won't allow that to happen. One
thing I will not do is give Carter and Spotnitz the power to ruin something I
once loved. They can keep the final two seasons as a symbol of their ineptitude
(and Fox's greed). But I'm keeping the first seven seasons as an example of how
great this series really was.
>
>
>
>When considering this,
>they can frustrate me as much as any other critic, but many of them
>still come across as some of the best stuff I've seen from a tv show
>from the standpoint of atmosphere, characterization and insular
>storytelling threads that on their own are quite good to even great.
>
>
>
amaze me how incredible this series was. From the writing to the acting to the
ability to establish a sense of mood and quiet style, this show was simply the
best I've ever seen on television.
>
>
>
>So much of it was smoke and mirrors I guess, and what becomes annoying
>about that prospect is just how much potential was wasted because
>nobody had the guts to pick one direction and really go with it -
>instead all we got were ambiguous hints, that truly add up to nothing
>because there's no substance behind them. From a broad plotting
>standpoint, the X-Files was a vacuous show - that's a harsh statement,
>but I don't see how you can get around it. I think in many ways, you
>ended up with characters that (at least in the later years) were too
>good for the material that surrounded them - I think that's why the
>show fell apart as badly as it did with seasons 8 and 9, because the
>show had basically no strengths whether it be plotting or character at
>that point.
>
>
>
different, something most people who loved the show didn't care for. It was
never a question of people resisting change, it was a question of people having
their intelligence insulted, being lied to and watching the characters and the
show they loved destroyed for no good reason.
As far as whether the show ultimately added up to anything significant, it
clearly did not. In that way, I guess you could say it failed to realize its
vast potential. But at the end of the day, how I judge a television series or
any bit of entertainment is how it entertains me. And this series entertained
the hell out of me. Perhaps the destinations reached at various points of the
storyline weren't as majestic as could have been possible and perhaps there
were moments along the way that were frustrating, but overall this series was
so incredible and these two characters and their relationship so special that
it's impossible for me to recognize the series as anything other than a true
success.
Unbound I
Check out my book about The X-Files at
http://www.trafford.com/robots/02-0625.html
ColemansLoveChild
> >
> >
> >I think if you take away Mulder and Scully the
> >show would not have lasted much beyond a few weeks to maybe a season.
> >
> >
> >
> Agreed. The fact it lasted a full season without Mulder had more to do with
> a host of other factors than it did with the idea that the show could somehow
> work without Mulder and by extension, Mulder and Scully.
Well, the gimmick storytelling (or at least the basis for the threads)
which pisses me off so much as far as season 8 is really what kept the
show alive through that season - the "mystery" of the baby and
Mulder's disappearance pretty much assured that the show would last
through that season due to the resolution needed (although it was so
obvious and perfunctory that it's clear what a waste that season is).
Really, the show lasted on the promise of Mulder's return and because
of the soap opera elements involved - if you look at it, the entire
season's story structure still quite clearly is based around Muilder's
character more than anybody else, even as Carter was trying to make
Dogget the star; even the show itself can be seen as being at odds
with Carter's vision at that point, making things schizophrenic and,
in the end, pointless because he was trying to focus on a character
who really had no story to tell while ignoring a character whom the
show still was purely connected to for its material. When considering
that, it's no wondcer the show was so lacking that season.
Anyway, season 8 was a transition year while season 9 was the result
of that previous season's waste of material. The minute Mulder was
clearly out of the picture for good, the show was dead - the only
reason it lasted a "full" season as far as 9 was because of what it
had meant to the network and the ever-lingering hope that they could
"fix" things enough to have a movie franchise (gee, shoulda stopped
when you were ahead, idiots). The truth is that as a Mulderless
product the show lasted about two months before it was officially
given its walking papers.
> >
> >When considering this,
> >they can frustrate me as much as any other critic, but many of them
> >still come across as some of the best stuff I've seen from a tv show
> >from the standpoint of atmosphere, characterization and insular
> >storytelling threads that on their own are quite good to even great.
> >
> >
> >
> Whenever I watch an episode from the first seven seasons, it never ceases to
> amaze me how incredible this series was. From the writing to the acting to the
> ability to establish a sense of mood and quiet style, this show was simply the
> best I've ever seen on television.
You're right about that. I don't watch alot of shows, but nothing I've
watched before or since has had the cinematic flare that the show
possessed in its prime. As far as mood/style or whatever you want to
call it, I think The X-Files remains to this day easily the best thing
ever devised for television in that category. There was such a sure
hand to it as far as how it put itself across, which is another area I
find that the show yet again started to falter in as far as the last
two seasons - for whatever reason, it was just a joke from the MOTWs
many times to the Mytharcs in this category (I would say it was a
credibilty gap, but how the hell can one convincingly pin the problem
on that when the show had so many outrageous ideas previously and
somehow stopped me from laughing it off the screen? Maybe it was a
character issue again as tiresome as that may sound; without the main
character present and everybody else acting so stupid it helped to
make the show seem that much more stupid itself, which is going to
hurt it tonally in what it's trying to accomplish. For whatever
reason, the show no longer seemed grounded any longer with the start
of season 8). It's amazing how swift the fall was.
> >
> >
> >
> >So much of it was smoke and mirrors I guess, and what becomes annoying
> >about that prospect is just how much potential was wasted because
> >nobody had the guts to pick one direction and really go with it -
> >instead all we got were ambiguous hints, that truly add up to nothing
> >because there's no substance behind them. From a broad plotting
> >standpoint, the X-Files was a vacuous show - that's a harsh statement,
> >but I don't see how you can get around it. I think in many ways, you
> >ended up with characters that (at least in the later years) were too
> >good for the material that surrounded them - I think that's why the
> >show fell apart as badly as it did with seasons 8 and 9, because the
> >show had basically no strengths whether it be plotting or character at
> >that point.
> >
> >
> >
> It fell apart because it ceased to be The X-Files. It became something
> different, something most people who loved the show didn't care for. It was
> never a question of people resisting change, it was a question of people having
> their intelligence insulted, being lied to and watching the characters and the
> show they loved destroyed for no good reason.
I suppose it depends what you consider a good reason. If you're Chris
Carter, I'm pretty sure you feel justified - after all, you're
clinging on to what you have left at this point.
I truly believe that the worst thing that ever happened to that show
is Carter himself, by the end. He became too tied to it in the sense
that it was his only career success and didn't have the guts to let it
go out while it still had its dignity and fanbse intact when he had no
other project on the horizon. He milked it until it was a mockery of
what the hell the show really was when it was great.
> As far as whether the show ultimately added up to anything significant, it
> clearly did not. In that way, I guess you could say it failed to realize its
> vast potential.
Again, it depends what you consider to be significant. If you look at
the show as a whole - all 9 seasons - the last two clearly poison the
previous seven inherently. You simply can't look at the serialized
storyline without realizing what's coming - that, more than anything,
is what hurts the show. From that standpoint, regardless of whether
the show ever convincingly wrapped up its plot points (which, on the
whole, I don't think was needed to make an artistic statement or close
out the arc), we can see that had the show ended two seasons earlier
with Requiem its place in televesion history would be much more secure
and coherent. It's sad, really, but I truly believe that, deny it or
not, the last two years ate away at The X-Files' lasting legacy to
great degree with their ineptitude. A true shame.
>But at the end of the day, how I judge a television series or
> any bit of entertainment is how it entertains me. And this series entertained
> the hell out of me. Perhaps the destinations reached at various points of the
> storyline weren't as majestic as could have been possible and perhaps there
> were moments along the way that were frustrating, but overall this series was
> so incredible and these two characters and their relationship so special that
> it's impossible for me to recognize the series as anything other than a true
> success.
>
I still love the show as far as its earlier years - what I said above
may be true broadly, but as far as individual seasons the show remains
as great as ever to me. It's hurt when taken as a whole - or when
simply having to negotiate its unfortunate rerun schedule (it now
never will be a show you can just stop it on if you're fanning the
channels, secure that it will at least be decent or what you expect) -
but not when deconstructed on a more piece by piece basis. Still, you
watch a great episode and consider the later seasons and truly come
away with a bittersweet result.
In the end, the true folly of Carter's inept handling of the show is
that he destroyed the only viable franchise that he ever created or is
likely to create. Maybe something is still salvageable, but there will
always be the gaps in the chain for most of us because of what he did.
For that, I find it difficult to see the guy as anything other than a
hack.