Some Great Episodes, Still A Poor Medium: "The X-Files," Boxed Set Vol. 5!
Written: Nov 23 '08
Product Rating:
Pros: Some great episodes, Some great acting, Developing characters, Bonus feature
Cons: Medium, One lesser episode
The Bottom Line: With episodes too good not to want to watch over and over again, Boxed Set Vol. 5 is brought down only by its medium for "The X-Files" on VHS.
wlswarts's Full Review: X-Files Boxed Set - Vol. 5
It's a tough sell to recommend something on an outdated medium, especially when there is a far better or more complete version of it in the marketplace. That is where I am on the boxed set of "The X-Files" VHS tapes that start off the third season collection. The source material is some of the very best that "The X-Files" ever produced.
The six episodes in this boxed set represent part of the high water mark for the creativity and intrigue on "The X-Files" before the series began to go off in directions that were just disturbingly banal or twisted without sensibility. Episodes like ""The Blessing Way" and "Paper Clip" illustrated just how good the "little green men" type stories could get on the show, just as "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose" illustrated how funny and enduring a concept in "The X-Files" could be. And "Nisei" and "731" proved that the producers were willing to answer some questions on the series . . . when they felt like it! The programming is wonderful, but for people who might truly love this series and the episodes, pick it up on DVD as part of the complete Third season: you'll get these (and more!) and a more complete vision of "The X-Files" story.
In "The Blessing Way," Scully returns to the Navajo reservation in New Mexico to discover that Mulder has been killed and that the agents of the Cigarette-Smoking Man have beaten up everyone they could find in their vain attempt to find the digital tape containing the MJ files. After being stopped by an unmarked helicopter which whisks away her hard copy of the files, Scully returns to Washington, D.C. where an inquiry strips her of her position and puts her on suspension.
Back in New Mexico, Mulder's body is found in a state near death and Albert Holsteen begins the Blessing Way Chant to attempt to heal him. In his delirium, Mulder connects with his dead father and Deep Throat who urge him to return to the land of the living to finish the work he set out to and to find the truths that they worked so hard in life to hide. Scully, on the trail of the truth thanks to Frohike, is given an ominous warning at Bill Mulder's funeral, one which puts her in imminent danger of assassins.
In "Paper Clip," Skinner and Scully are shocked to learn that Mulder is actually alive and back in town and the location of the digital tape is revealed. Pressured by his shadow consortium, the Cigarette-Smoking Man intensifies his search for the digital tape, dispatching Krycek to recover it. When the Lone Gunmen clue Mulder and Scully in on the identity of one of the men in a photograph with Bill Mulder, the F.B.I. agents go in search of Nazi scientist Victor Klemper.
Klemper sends the pair to West Virginia to a subterranean record's storage facility where the agents discover genetic histories of Scully and Samantha Mulder and thousands of others. While Skinner attempts to negotiate with the Cigarette-Smoking Man for Mulder and Scully's safe return to work, the agents are hunted by those who want to keep the truth buried!
In "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose," a string of fortune tellers are being killed and Mulder and Scully investigate, only to have their investigation interrupted by the police making use of the alleged psychic the Stupendous Yappi. In the course of finding more bodies, Mulder and Scully encounter Clyde Bruckman an actual psychic whose only ability is to see how people will die and he seems to have a link with the killer of the fortune tellers.
Scully, naturally, is skeptical and she makes a point out of disbelieving Bruckman until his misery becomes compelling to her. Mulder, for his part, becomes frustrated because Bruckman's prognostications are not leading them to anything as concrete as a resolution that would allow the F.B.I. agents to thwart the serial killer. Sadly, though, Bruckman's ability seems to be uncanny and that might mean the end of Agent Mulder!
In "War Of The Coprophages," Mulder escapes to Massachusetts for the weekend while his apartment building is fumigated. While there, he is drawn into a local law enforcement investigation involving deaths that appear to be the result of cockroaches that have more or less taken over the area. Each time there is a death, from an exterminator to kids with a homemade lab trying to get high off methane from dung, Mulder calls Scully, who provides a perfectly rational explanation for the death.
Soon, though, it does appear that Scully is right, despite the rising body count and the panic that is ensuing in Massachusetts. As Scully finally heads up to the infested area, Mulder meets up with a Department of Agriculture doctor named Bambi, who clues him in on possible suspects and puts him in actual danger . . .
In "Nisei," Mulder's investment in a video tape claiming to be of an alien autopsy, leads him and Scully to Pennsylvania where they find the distributor dead, killed by a Japanese assassin with diplomatic immunity. While Mulder investigates documents recovered from the "diplomat," Scully goes in search of the man's assumed next targets. This puts Mulder on the course of a salvage ship, the Talapus, which he believes recovered a U.F.O. from the bottom of the ocean.
Scully, for her part, is put on a much more personal journey, one where she discovers that she is not the only one who has been abducted and has missing time. Instead, she finds a group of women, many of whom claim to recognize her, all of whom have implants similar to the one Scully had removed from the back of her neck. In shock from learning this, she attempts to contact Mulder, who has discovered where an E.B.E. recovered from the Talapus might be and he becomes determined to find it!
In "731," Mulder finds himself on a train with a quarantine car that appears to contain an Extraterrestrial Biological Entity, as well as a Japanese scientist who is experimenting on it and an assassin sent to stop them both. As Scully searches a leper colony, she makes a discovery that suggests that Mulder's "alien" is anything but.
Unfortunately for Mulder, he finds himself trapped in the quarantine car with the assassin and a bomb that will spread a virulent disease over its blast radius. As Scully - with the aid of one of the key members of the shadowy conspiracy - works to save Mulder, Mulder attempts to extract answers from the man sent to kill the E.B.E.!
These six episodes cover a selection of episodes from the first half of the third season. These are the selected episodes, hand-picked by show creator Chris Carter and some of them are truly amazing. "The Blessing Way" is essentially a healing story for Mulder and a setup of Dana Scully's larger character arc for the rest of the season and series.
"War Of The Coprophages" is something of a one-trick pony and it starts with a clever enough idea that is fun, but it quickly gets old. This is essentially a farce in the style of "The X-Files." It's also the episode where Scully is possibly most right using medical science; every "attack" has a rational, scientific reason that has little or nothing to do with the cockroaches. It's funny, but not at all substantial. On the other hand, "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose" is both funny and substantial. Clyde Bruckman is a cranky old man whose obsession with the random laws of chance has allowed him to predict with amazing accuracy how people he meets will die. Set against the foil of the Stupendous Yappi, it is very easy to disregard "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose" as a comedy that has little merit in the overall schema of "The X-Files." However, the die-hard fans know this is not the case.
It's pretty obvious why the final two-parter tape is enjoyed by X-philes (those who enjoy "The X-Files) as this two-parter is a hugely important episode in terms of Scully's character arc. She is finally given some concrete answers on her abduction. Mulder's character arc remains largely unaffected by the events in this episode as, by this point in the series, he's pretty well been jerked around. We should be used to it by now and part of the disappointment of the end of "731" is that Mulder doesn't seem to be
By this point in the series, David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson have the acting down pat and all of episodes on these videos are remarkably well-acted.
Each video has an actual bonus feature, which is decent. They are snippets of "A Conversation With Chris Carter," which discuss each episode. They are interesting and offer an interesting view of the episodes from while the series was still in progress, including some behind-the-scenes information on casting and effects. These episodes are for science fiction/horror fans more than those who simply like straightforward drama.
And ultimately, the medium makes this set hard to pick up. The price on the DVDs continues to drop and making do with VHS tapes nowadays just seems silly. Save your money, get a DVD player and buy the DVDs, between the less-great-than-later-seasons and this very disposable medium. But, if you're stuck on VHS and you're in love with "The X-Files," this does remain some of the best source material. For you, comes my ultimate "recommend."
[Given that VHS is a rapidly dying medium, a far better investment would be "The X-Files - The Complete Third Season," reviewed by me at:
http://www.epinions.com/content_448706612868
As well, those who already love "The X-Files" will find "The X-Files - The Complete Series" to be an even better buy, at:
http://www.epinions.com/content_409247321732
Thanks for reading!]
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