The X Files (2016)

[Trevor]

I watched the first episode last night and I switched it off after 20 minutes. What the hell was that all about? Terrible episode: makes the second movie look like an Oscar winner. 

[Newt]

It put me to sleep. (As did the second ep the next night) This after having watched an X Files marathon quite happily most of the weekend.  The new stuff was just...ish.  I will make a real effort to stay awake the next time it airs.

I read a review post that said it well: that as an X Files fan, the reviewer had been less than thrilled at the prospect that there are to be 'monster-of-the-week' episodes and now that same person, after having seen the intro eps, was actually looking forward to the monster-of-the-week.  I'm in the same place.

[Raffine]

I liked the second episode much more than the first. It wasn't a classic by any stretch, but it had a creepy vibe to it and got pretty gruesome.

I enjoyed the preview for the next episode which featured a peek and what appears to be an appearance by Carl Kolchak!

[Archivist]

The first episode screens this weekend in Australia, and I'm of two minds about it.  Given how awful the second movie was, it could be very bad.  But they now have the benefit of more modern direction and cinematography, so it could be... okay?  These initial impressions from the Badmovies brethren are not promising.

[Trevor]

These initial impressions from the Badmovies brethren are not promising.

Indeed.

Both of the first two episodes were screened back to back here and I watched them. The first is still bad - except for that scary reveal at the end  - but the second episode showed promise, especially where the bad guy gets his.

[Trevor]

And then, there's this guy: 



Welcome back, Mr Davis 

[akiratubo]

I saw the second one.  Seemed  just like the old episodes, except Mulder has a sagging face and Scully is too skinny.

[Sitting Duck]

I enjoyed the preview for the next episode which featured a peek and what appears to be an appearance by Carl Kolchak!

Could you elaborate? Darren McGavin has been dead for ten years, so barring digital inserts or zombification it can't be him. If the Kolchak you mention was the one portrayed by Stuart Townshend, then hang your head in shame.

[JaseSF]

To me, they`re just OK so far. Nothing spectacular. Do feel they`re amping up the explosions and gore a bit more than it was back in the day. Honestly the series never felt the same to me once it moved to filming locations in the U.S.

[Neville]

I thought they were OK. For a series that's been all these years on hiatus, they looked exactly like the 1990s episodes, except for the aging cast. Narratively, I didn't like the idea of a plot resolution being offered and then retired in the closing minutes of the episode, but that's always been their formula, hasn't it?

Now, it's the reason beyond the revival which nags me. If they are not going to close the conspiracy plot anytime soon, why bother?

[Trevor]

The third episode I saw last night was really funny: no spoilers but it involves brutal animal attacks on people and a certain person who works in a mobile cellphone store who has a serious issue with who he becomes at a certain time and who dresses like Carl Kolchak. Very funny indeed.

And Mulder cannot use the camera app on his phone at all while Scully appears with her blouse off.  



There is also a very nice dedication to the late Kim Manners in the episode. 

[akiratubo]

The ending of this episode was the best in the entire series.  Just the look on Mulder's face when he was finally faced with incontrovertible evidence that his belief in the paranormal was justified.  I imagine David Duchovny jumping for joy when he read the script.

[WingedSerpent]

The ending of this episode was the best in the entire series.  Just the look on Mulder's face when he was finally faced with incontrovertible evidence that his belief in the paranormal was justified.  I imagine David Duchovny jumping for joy when he read the script.

Except it WASN'Tthe first time Mulder had been face to face with something paranormal.  You and I may disagree but this episode kind of ticked me off.  It felt like it was trying to say that until that episode the X-Files had been one long Scooby-Doo series where the monsters had continuously shown to be just men in masks and it was only now that they had encountered a genuine paranormal occurrence.

Remeber Fluke-Man?  or Eugene Tombs.  There was that one brain eating monster who worked in a fast food joint. Heck that episode ended with them having the monsters body, so really it could have ended the series.  There was the time Mulder and Scully were encased in a giant fungus, or aged rapidly in the ocean.  Mulder met a genie once.  This wasn't even the first time the series had a lizard man in it.

Most of the time it was that they couldn't prove to other people what they were encountering was real.  The monster would escape, or the evidence was destroyed or something.  

In some ways, this episode was no different from a lot of monster of the week from the 90's series, but the only way I really see it working is  if you never saw the originals.

[Trevor]

The ending of this episode was the best in the entire series.  Just the look on Mulder's face when he was finally faced with incontrovertible evidence that his belief in the paranormal was justified.  I imagine David Duchovny jumping for joy when he read the script.

Agreed: Guy Mann also did what I wanted to do to my mobile phone service provider when they messed me around in a major way three years ago. 

[Trevor]

Home Again: Episode 4: not bad but basically just meh.

Babylon: Episode 5: Also not bad, funny in places but I don't think they should have bothered bringing the series back.