MovieChat Forums > Millennium (1996) Discussion > How does it compare to The X-Files?

How does it compare to The X-Files?


I'm a huge, long-time X-Files fan, but I never got into Millennium. I was wondering, in what ways is it like or unlike the X-Files, is it a good show, and ultimately should I watch it?

I appreciate your opinions! :)

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Season 1 is really different from the X-Files, it's more like a traditional police procedural with obvious similarities to movies like Se7en or The Silence Of The Lambs.

The show becomes far more phantastical and inventive in the 2nd season. There is even a sort of cross-over to the X-Files with the José Chung character appearing in one episode.

Season 3 is again very different and unfortunately much weaker.

So it's more like 3 separate TV-series than one continuous show.

Maybe you could start at the beginning and if after the first episodes you feel like you really dislike season 1 you might as well skip the whole season and just watch S2.

Here you can find some very informative reviews to all episodes:

http://them0vieblog.com/reviews-hub/millennium-reviews/





Hang on tightly, let go lightly

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One. Watch the Millennium pilot. It not only sets the tone but it broke boundries. And it is still pretty jolting. Two, I never thought that the X-Files was thought out. The original episodes involved your basic monster/horror tropes and they did that nicely. I just had the feeling that Chris Carter never expected the damn thing to last long. Remember, it was a very early Fox show, almost all of which tanked whether or not they were any good. The X-Files was a break-out. I simply had the impression that Chris Carter had a huge hit on his hands that he really had no back story for it to start with, which meant cobbling together all kinds of crap. Which, really, he did rather well, except that, well, it was a bit of a mess. [David Lynch, you just learn to not expect that anything is going anywhere, just that the journey is what there is.] So, while I like the X-Files OK, they don't hold a candle to Millennuim. Which was not quite allowed to end. Uh, fully expecting some replies to this, so, hey, play nice people :)

Oh! You should watch this because it is awesome. Er, Lance H? Pilot has someone's mouth sewn up and then buried? A hustler? Horribly murdered prositutes? Rain in Seatlle? A pretty yellow house?

Seriously, this series is just way better than the X-Files. I'm not even going to mention the guy partially fried in a giant microwave. Nope. Not gonna mention that at all.

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In my opinion, the comparison doesn't serve it well. Given that both shows shared the same creative team, it's hard to avoid comparisons, but to me, Millennium was a show that never found its footing. The serial killer of the week format in the first season grew tiresome really quickly. The second season was an improvement with slightly more intriguing and compelling episodes, but the mythology was confused and muddled and somewhat dull at times, and the third season was just flat.

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To me it was much darker. Serial killers, cults type cases. Less monster of the week, UFO's etc. No real comedy. Very dark and forboding. I loved both series. I just started watching Millenium again.

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I've found three seasons of Millennium to be more interesting than nine of TXF.

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