The X-Files, Season 1, Episodes 1-16

I've actually watched 16 episodes so far. I only decided to create this blog after having done so, so I won't be going back and creating posts for each of them.

In fact, I don't know that I'll be making separate posts for every episode, but I will at least reference every episode I've watched in a given week or so. I'm pretty sure I won't be updating this every day, but since I tend to watch 4 or 5 episodes a week, I'll probably post at least once a week, and possibly more if a particular episode stands out and I feel warrants its own post.

However, I will say that I'm really enjoying the show so far.



So to catch up, some of my general reactions to what I've seen up through 'Young At Heart':

• Holy shit, Gillian Anderson is young.
• So, for that matter, is David Duchovny. I guess I shouldn't be surprised since I am watching this show twenty years late.
• I love the dynamic between Mulder and Scully, though Mulder can be kind of a dick about her skepticism sometimesmost of the time
• Having just finished watching Fringe, I can't help but notice a lot of similarities. Clearly, this was a huge influence on that show. Even the intro sequence, music included, seems related.
• Though, to be fair, the intro music on The X-Files is clearly influenced by shows like The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits. (Interestingly, he 1995 Outer Limits remake has an intro that appears to have been influenced by The X-Files.)
• I'm also noticing some plot lines that seem to have been ripped off for Fringe, almost word for word. That's not a complaint about Fringe, because it still managed to handle them in a new way beyond the initial setup.
• Wait, what are those things people are holding to their ears? Bricks? Oh, cell phones, right.
• I live in the Washington, DC area, and did in 1993, too, so I recognise a lot of the stock footage of the area, though some of the other outdoor shots are very clearly and hilariously Not DC.

A few brief comments on some individual episodes (I promise I'll go into more detail on future episodes, but with 16 already done, this is all I've got):

• 'Ghost in the Machine': Hahahahahah, depictions of computers and networks on TV will never not be funny.
• 'Ice': Seriously creepy and tense. Also, their pilot was Rack on Buffy, where he was also extraordinarily creepy.
• 'Space': I think Fringe did this better in 'Earthling'. But maybe not by much? Neither episode is particularly memorable otherwise.
• 'Eve': HOLY SHIT CREEPY TWINS. Also, 'Eve 6'. I remember hearing that band on the radio in the '90s, and had to check to see if that's where they got their name from. Indeed, they did.
• 'Fire': I ... couldn't figure out the point of this episode? Or rather, I couldn't figure out why Bob/Cecil was setting the fires in the first place. Other than Scully's very general profile of arsonists, none of it really made sense.
• 'Beyond the Sea': I think this one needs its own post.
• 'Gender Bender': It's weird that I recognised the guy who played Manny in the Buffy episode, 'Doublemeat Palace', right? He was creepy in this, too. (Am I using that word too much? It seems an apt description of an awful lot of things in this series.)
• 'Lazarus': I get why things needed to be accelerated for a 43 minute TV show, but I really hate poor depictions of Type I Diabetes. He would not have fallen into a coma or died nearly that quickly.