MovieChat Forums > The X Files (1993) Discussion > Ugh...

Ugh...

posted 6 years ago by [deleted]
26 replies | jump to latest

The 11th season opener was a miss, IMO.

1. Did they pull off a 'Dallas' and write off the cliffhanger from the last season as Dana Scully's dream? Cheap trick...

2. My biggest complaint was the direction and pacing. Even by today's attention-deficient standards, this ep just raced along. Mostly it consisted of cutting back and forth between hasty and often vague conversations with the most annoying music constantly tinkering away in the background to convince us that "THIS IS DRAMATIC!".

I guess it was an attempt to get new viewers up to speed in a hurry, but it likely left them with more questions than answers. Hell, I've watched the entire series, and even I was scratching my head at the direction the story was going.

(Sidebar: The producers seem to be incorporating elements of the Alternative 3 conspiracy theory that's been around since the 70s.)

3. The one bit of action -- the car chase scene -- was clunky as hell and not well edited. How many times did we see the needle on the speedometer inching past 80 mph WITHOUT EVER GETTING ANY HIGHER?

4. Mulder slicing open a guy's throat with a scalpel? WTF? That's not a Mulder move. That's not even a move that any normal person would do. A simple tackle, blow to the head, a gun barrel leveled against the head, a shot in the back might have been called for... but groping around for a scalpel to slit a guy's throat? Overkill and out of character.

5. And the ep's final 'surprise reveal' just had me going 'Ewww'.

Some questions I had that maybe somebody can help me with:

i. Since when was Spender involved in hiding William? IIRC, didn't Scully entrust that to Monica in the final original season?

ii. Again Spender... did we not see an episode where he was discovered badly burned beyond recognition to the point where they even thought he was Mulder back from being in hiding?

iii. What season did they confirm that CSM was Mulder's father? I know it was often hinted at during the original series, but I don't recall it ever being confirmed.

iv. Again CSM... we saw in the last season that he wore a mask to hide half his face that was badly burned from the explosion he endured during the final original season. What happened to that? I thought it was a great affectation, a la the great Bond villains. Or was that part of Scully's dream?

[–] Eleazar (251) 6 years ago

The beginning was such a disappointment - wow - what a fake out.

Lazy lame story writing.

1 out 10

[–] ghostboy (652) 6 years ago

"Did they pull off a 'Dallas' and write off the cliffhanger from the last season as Dana Scully's dream?"

Major rule of screenwriting if you're going to end on a cliffhanger have a resolution planned, instead of writing yourself into a corner where the only way to resolve it is to retcon it.

Honestly, I am embarrassed for Chris Carter.

[–] dponzi (133) 6 years ago

I fell asleep half way through. Ugh is right. I said to my wife "this is like a bad soap opera". Yes, Jeffery Spender WAS burned badly, but for Christ sake, we seen CSM get blown to bits and his scull on fire with no flesh or meat on it anymore. How the hell could he survive that? If he can survive that, they can bring back the Lone Gunmen, or anyone else for that matter.

[–] ghostboy (652) 6 years ago

Chris Carter explained in a Q and A. That the reason smoking man is alive and well and Jeffrey Spender isn't deformed anymore is because they have access to science.

[–] Mubblefluggie (44) 6 years ago

Access to science???

Can they make the Lone Gunmen undead? Just hoping.

Mub

[–] ghostboy (652) 6 years ago

Lol, that was his explanation. I don't think the lone gunmen are important enough to resurrect. I'd kinda like death to still have some meaning in the show.

[–] lennonforever (2453) 6 years ago

I disagree about TLG! They were amazing and key to so many plots- I would love to have them "undead".

[–] BeExcellent (39) 6 years ago

I'd actually consider watching the resumed X-Files if TLG were there. They imbued classic XF with such a spirit of fun, geeky goodwill, I can't imagine enjoying the XF universe without them.

[–] lennonforever (2453) 6 years ago

You are right. I was very sad when they were [spoiler] killed off [/spoiler].
I met Bruce Harwood (Byers) at a horror convention and told him just how much I loved him and the other two LG. He said "Frohike" was ill , and "Langley" was filming in Australia. He was very appreciative and humble, and such a great guy. Besise him was "Mr X" Steven Williams, and further down was Mitch Pileggi (Skinner). All so very nice accommodating to us fans.

[–] BeExcellent (39) 6 years ago

Ohhh, thank you for sharing this. I'm glad so many of the cast think fondly enough of the series that they're happy to be at cons.

I hope Tom Braidwood's illness was only temporary. Frohike was my favorite of TLG, though I do adore them all. Glad to hear "Langley" is still working.

You're making me want to indulge in an XF marathon. Maybe I will.

[–] Mubblefluggie (44) 6 years ago

Might I suggest "Unusual suspects", and "Three Of A kind".

Mub

[–] lennonforever (2453) 6 years ago

What are these, movies?
I remember the short-lived TLG tv series. I liked it.

[–] Mubblefluggie (44) 6 years ago

X-file episodes, S5-E03 and S6-E20.

The first is set in the past, where the lone gunmen come together, and meet Mulder for the first time.

The second is sort of a sequel to it, Byers has the same love interest in both, Susanne Modeski, played by Signy Coleman.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0171218/mediaviewer/rm1218534144

Mub

[–] lennonforever (2453) 6 years ago

Oh yes, I love these two eps. Byers is a cutie. I love Scully in the second one, hahaha
Remember she was drunkish, and all these guys are around her, offering her a light for her cigarette? OMG good stuff!

[–] Mubblefluggie (44) 6 years ago

"I wonder who gets to... light my fire?"

Great scene, so un-Scully-like.

Mub

[–] lennonforever (2453) 6 years ago

Yes, I didn't get that Braidwood's illness was serious.

[–] DiggoryVenn (89) 6 years ago

[deleted]

[–] AngularTurnip (3334) 6 years ago

Stick with the stand alone episodes. Ignore everything else. The show works so much better that way.

[–] lennonforever (2453) 6 years ago

1. I don't think they suggested it was a dream.
4. It was Scully who grabbed the scalpel and sliced the guy's throat, I think, then Mulder finished it.

Yes, Spender was deemed to be CSM's kid, not sure what episode.

Didn't Monica and Robert Patrick's character hide William?
CSM made a miraculous recovery.
As to him being William's father - BAH I say!!

[–] [deleted] 6 years ago

"I don't think they suggested it was a dream."

Just replayed on PVR...

About 13 minutes into the ep, after Scully wakes up for her coma. She describes her "vision" to Mulder... it's what we saw presented as fact in the final ep of last season. She also tells Mulder that he has to find CSM -- Mulder states that CSM is dead. So the scene from last season with Mulder confronting CSM with a gun was also part of Scully's vision.

"It was Scully who grabbed the scalpel and sliced the guy's throat, I think, then Mulder finished it."

Nope it was Mulder. We see his hand reach for the scalpel, slice the guy's throat... camera cuts back to Scully who still has both her hands on her own throat, trying to relieve the pressure of the stranglehold.

[–] lennonforever (2453) 6 years ago

Ok thanks

[–] Sandoz (2021) 6 years ago

I agree with ALL your points--they are exactly the same thoughts I had upon watching this premiere. To add to your comments:

1. The "bridge" finale from last season... Even though I generally didn't like most of last season, I thought the conclusion--with Scully trapped in traffic on the bridge with hundreds of other people when a huge UFO appears in the sky--would finally be the direction that the X-Files MUST move towards...that is, FINALLY humanity will have unquestionable proof that the aliens are indeed among us. It would be a game-changer for this show, and god knows, the X-Files desperately needs its game changed.
However, in the premiere, they actually have the gall to suggest that this occurrence was...just a friggin' dream of Scully's. W. T. F??? I am infuriated that Carter and Morgan actually have the gall to try and foist this kind of crap on us.

2. The direction and pacing... Did Carter hire an editor who was between assignments on the Bourne or John Wick movies? The ENTIRE goddamned episode was cut like it was some kind of moronic action movie, with shots barely a few seconds long...even in DIALOGUE scenes! Holy crap, it was like an endurance test just to try and watch it. You know how Ritalin--an amphetimine--is prescribed for kids with hyperactivity because it actually "slows" them down? That's how the pacing of this worked on me--I was bored. It seemed like they were speeding things up just to try and distract the audience from how silly and left-field the plot was for this episode. Throwing everything but the kitchen sink for characters and sub-plots from the past up against the wall and hoping they'd stick didn't help either.

3. The car chase... What you said. And also...Mulder is now driving a white Mustang? Um, what? Is that standard FBI issue for vehicles now? And how the hell was able to follow someone for hundreds of miles without being spotted in such an easily recognizable car? Beyond ludicrous.

[–] [deleted] 6 years ago

The car chase... how the hell was able to follow someone... etc"

Yeah, that one jumped out at me too. At one point, they are the only two cars on the road and Mulder is merely a hundred feet or so behind the first car!

[–] Gastonian (946) 6 years ago

Chris Carter really screwed things up...AGAIN. Whenever you introduce a retcon to the story, you undermine what you previously expected the audience to invest in when they were along for the ride the first time.

All he had to do in Season 10, was wrap up the conspiracy storyline by some thow away line like, the faceless alien rebels defeated the alien colonists, effectively quashing their plans for invasion. Or something along those lines would have been fine. Then they could have explored stuff with William and other storylines involving aliens that wasn't beholden to the colonization angle.

Instead, he said it was actually men, not aliens in seasons 1-9 which made so sense. And then in this season introduced another pathetic retcon, convoluting the plot yet again. All we know now is that the aliens said never mind because of global warming but there are so many more things that don't make sense. Ugh is the perfect way to describe all this nonsense.

[–] atarofker (307) 6 years ago

Never cared for mythological episodes. They are without any humor and too cliched to be taken seriously. MOTW is where I see creativity in it.

[–] [deleted] 6 years ago

During the original series run, it was the mythology eps that kept me engaged, particularly during the first three seasons or so.

For re-watch value though, the MOTW eps are definitely better. They featured a lot more humour even when the episode itself was dark, e.g. Home, Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose, Jose Chung's From Outer Space...