The X-Files Season 5, 6 & 7 + Fight the Future Movie Review

[00:00:00] This podcast is a production of Unfiltered Studios. If you would like to know more about joining Unfiltered Studios, please visit our website at unfpod.com for more information. Now on DVD, The X-Files Season 5. A conspiracy wrapped in a plot inside a government agenda. The complete fifth season. Loaded with extras. Own the entire X-Files collection on DVD.

[00:00:26] Welcome gang, welcome gang. So as we were doing with the earlier X-Files reviews in retrospect, we combine the main seasons that not only just come out around the same time, but really flow into each other. And at this point in the show, Season 5 through 7, it's probably the most connected. That is where at that point you're either in full length with this show or you're losing it.

[00:00:52] And since I noticed that some people left the stop watching the show either around Season 5 or 7, and that's when the movie came out, I branched that together. So the first movie, Fight the Future is in between Season 5 and Season 6. And then we'll conclude this review with Season 7. So, pretty fair stuff. Again, just big, big, big stuff.

[00:01:17] Very well rated on Serial Lies, but it sadly goes down from a 4.38 out of 5 stars to a 3.85. Tough takes, but pretty well acclaimed on the other big, big sites.

[00:01:38] So, with that, we got Season 5 at a 67% Tomatoes score based on six ratings, surprisingly, despite it having a 95% user score. We got Season 6 at an 83% user score.

[00:02:04] Season 7 is at a 78% critic score and 86% user score. And basically, just to run through it real fast. So, Season 5 had seven mythology-based episodes. It was the last season to film in Vancouver, British Columbia, and Canada, so that they could accommodate the stars' growing power.

[00:02:38] And they ended up having, they wanted the movie to come out before, but they ended up scheduling it to go afterwards. That was probably for the better. So, dealing with Fox Motors' loss of faith in the existence of extraterrestrials and Scully's improved health after fighting her battle with cancer mysteriously, we have new characters.

[00:03:02] We got a mysterious federal agent pulling them off their cases, both Jeffrey Spender and Diane Foley, played by Chris Owens and Mimi Rogers, respectively. And then we come to contact with the kid psychic, who's good at playing chess and knows some serious government secrets. That's Gibson praise. And yeah, the finale leads up to the 1998 first movie.

[00:03:31] And one of the highest rated seasons, generally positive, critic reception. But they want to expose the actions of the syndicate. And we're going with everything from the power of nature to faceless pyromaniacs to special children being abducted. And all while Scully and Mulder try to fight everything. So, then we have the sixth season.

[00:03:59] There's five mythology episodes there. We return to trying to expose how the X-Files division needs to be separated from the now demised syndicate, the shadow government that cigarette smoking man was possessing. And again, it just basically picks up from there. Just what's happening to all these agents.

[00:04:27] And we, the duo is then assigned a new boss when they have to have their assistant director Skinner step down. He's still on the show, but not all the time. And so, just more shocking stuff involving religion, science, and humanity. And then we go into season seven, which again, an unknown alien spaceship lands in South Africa.

[00:04:56] And Mulder has become comatose, has extrasensory potential that makes him once again a target for a cigarette smoking man. While Mulder has to also resolve long-standing family issues. As Scully has her scientific mindset challenged by seeing this giant encrypted spaceship and all this information. Driving her to discover what she wants now and for the rest of her life.

[00:05:23] Meanwhile, the FBI's new victories in solve cases cannot last long as the cases that brought them together resurfaced to do the exact opposite. And again, yeah, there was then five mythology episodes in season seven where Mulder must find out why his sister Sam really disappeared and what he really believed in.

[00:05:50] This is the last to feature him in a full-time capacity before he just becomes just an occasional recurring presence. And this is where the many viewers were turning out by this point. But, yeah, both Michael, played by John Finn, and Skinner, played by Mitch Pileggi, are trying to expose the truth behind the alien object.

[00:06:13] While meanwhile Mulder is still imprisoned by his own frenetic brain activity, Scully and Skinner are unaware of FBI agent Diane Folley's duplicity. She's working for cigarette smoking man. Meanwhile, Scully is traveling to Africa to unravel that alien artifact. And they find some of the most unusual talents to find her partner.

[00:06:40] And yeah, it just keeps getting more and more mysterious from there. And I'm not going to give it away. The movie, it was basically the perfect just in-between thing. It was a standalone action horror sci-fi movie. And then at the, you know, I'm really surprised with what blood and foul language they get away with when you look at it from today and how picky they are.

[00:07:11] And, you know, they also gave a finale to Frank Black, Lance Hendrickson's character on the spinoff show Millennium. So that was cool to have in season seven. But man, all together, it's just let's look at that rating for the movie. It varies by crowd.

[00:07:32] But it's interesting because basically it had a 66% on Rotten Tomatoes and 73% user score. It had a 60% on Metacritic and a 7.9 user score. That's out of 10. And that was cool because again, that we had a side quest. They're going to a Dallas federal building as a fellow Texan.

[00:07:58] I probably recognize a lot of those areas and they exposed more about the, what the black oil liquid was. It has all movie.com is surprisingly a two and a half out of five stars with a free and a half out of five user score. So a little lower there with whatever the editors were on there. The letterbox rating is a free point six out of five. So that's probably the bigger voice of the people. It's a 7.0 out of 10 on IMDB.

[00:08:28] So there you have it gang. Again, you know, I wasn't crazy about it growing up, but as we'll get into the review, it's only gotten better with age. So enjoy. Now on DVD, the X-Files season six, the only thing more terrifying than the truth. What are they here for? Is the conspiracy behind it? This is the end. The X-Files. The complete sixth season. Own it on DVD now. Okay.

[00:08:53] If you're past season five, you're going to have a pool of fans who don't like something. Cause that was like the point at which people started not liking, you know, certain corners of the fandom sort of not liking the show after the, after the first movie. So I've even done it with criminal minds where I'm like, okay, I don't remember the villain as much as the show goes on, but the way better season compared to those. It's too lesser season. Yeah. No, I mean, I, I, I like season six. Okay. I mean, I think it has some issues. Season seven.

[00:09:21] I'm not big on, but I think like season eight is sort of rejuvenation for the show when you have dog, it come in and, and it has. In fact, it's sort of bigger. Yeah. And then, well, they also, um, they were in LA, but they sort of went back to darker episodes. And instead of someone's going to ship the fan, it better just not leave to here. Just stink, you know, like, or it better be just minor where it's a big nitpick. Like, I mean, we're talking Star Trek, but it better not be like where, you know, Troy and Worf randomly fall in love and there was no foreshadowing.

[00:09:51] You know? Right. Yeah. That's, that's sort of weird. But the rest of the episodes are so good. You don't really think about that subplot that doesn't work, you know? Well, the thing is people think, you know, again, that's another one.

[00:10:04] People have this sort of vision about like the stuff they grew up with as kids or the stuff they saw that turned them into fans where they like, they won't go back and they won't sort of critically review that in the same way that they do stuff now. You know, I'm like, you can't tell me that any current Star Trek show isn't better than season one of Next Generation, which is like one of the worst seasons of TV, you know? Yeah.

[00:10:33] I mean, like, you can't tell me that, you know, and I don't like all the new Star Trek stuff either. I'm just saying that all of that stuff is higher quality than a lot of crap that we watched when we were young. Yeah. I mean, I've liked Discovery better as it's gone along and I've seen other people, they just will not watch it. I'm like, well, I mean, that's okay if you don't like it, but I mean, every, all of them have a rough first season.

[00:10:56] Even, you know, Voyager is considered to be probably one of the best that has a good first season, but you know, it, not every show is going to be firing all cylinders. But I mean, there's a reason we all come back to it is because there's so much to just take away. So, yeah, I mean, yeah, Star Trek was, you know, infamous for that, where like the first season was going to be bad and you had to wait to, but I mean, imagine like that wouldn't even happen today.

[00:11:21] Like if you had a first season that's bad, you wouldn't get a season two, but like that was back in the days when you could, you could have time to build an audience and you can have time to like your whole first season basically sucked. And, you know, by God, you shouldn't get another one, but then, you know, next generation comes back season two and like the first episode, the first episode is instantly better, you know, we don't have to eject, you know, or switch off with the remote.

[00:11:48] We, we had to just wouldn't, wouldn't give anything that much time or certainly networks when, you know, Netflix and stuff certainly wouldn't give anything. Netflix won't even renew stuff that's good in its first season. So, yeah. And so it's amazing. It's amazing. Just like ratings don't really mean anything or people have already given up looking at Rotten Tomatoes. Yeah. Yeah. The, the, the, the streamer model, the subscriber model is really just not working out for content, long-term content. It's a whole nother discussion we could probably do on that.

[00:12:18] Now on DVD, finding the truth. This is the end of the round. Couldn't move the end for Mulder and Scully. I'm pregnant. The X-Files. Mulder? Own season seven on DVD today. What up, Jacked Up Review Show? This is Jared Albrecht, the art sale artist from the Longbox Crusade Podcast Network. And my buddy Cam from over there on your fine show asked me to send in my thoughts on The X-Files.

[00:12:46] This might be the most depressing voicemail I've ever sent in because when it comes to X-Files, I have only seen the two movies. I have never seen an episode of X-Files. How I grew up as a nerd in the 90s and never saw X-Files, I don't know. It's just one of those blind spots of nerddom that I have. So I've seen the two movies. I thought they were okay.

[00:13:12] As I understand it, the movies, especially the first one, play a lot better if you're into the show. That makes sense. But I like the two movies just fine, but I found them to be good, not great. But I appreciate Cam reaching out, and I hope everybody's enjoying the Jacked Up Review Show. Once again, this is Jared Albrecht, the Yardsale Artist. I am at Yardsale Artist on X, Facebook, and Instagram. And you can catch all my podcasting stuff over on the Longbox Crusade Network. And we are at Longbox Crusade on just about everywhere.

[00:13:40] So thanks for the invite, Cam, and I hope this helped. Catch you later.

[00:14:37] With the movie, you know, they were like, oh my God. Very common. Yeah, it's been going on for a minute now. You might want to watch it. It's so good. And talking about the movie is, considering that they were trying to please people who had never seen the series, and so they're trying to dump a bunch of backstory, but also please the people who had watched religiously to that point, who didn't need the backstory. It was really a much better movie than it had any. Oh, yeah. I fucking love that movie, man.

[00:15:07] Absolutely. And it helps that they, but it is a rarity. The only thing I remember from X-Files back then was the Christmas episode where they switched bots. They got possessed by ghosts, but it was funny. Well, and how about the fact that Scott? Yeah. And Lily Tomlin. And yeah, it's like, talk about a creative episode. Yeah. I know. Yeah. And my sister shared a meme with it.

[00:15:35] It's like, you would actually like that episode. Okay. Talking about the two X-Files movies, it's like the difference between, you got the first one. Right. You have this healthy budget, right? Yeah. The first one, you really, I think, I think I read that they had, could it possibly have been $60 million budget? Yeah. Yeah. And also Rob Bowman pointed out that it's, it's a two, it's a two, it's a two prong film. It's part.

[00:16:05] It's a two parter. Yeah. Yeah. It's part for the $66 million and it made. Yeah. Okay. It was a hit, but it made $189.2 million. I'm surprised they didn't make a whole trilogy. But no, the thing that he mentioned was it's one prong for the show because it's a continuation. And then if you're a casual sci-fi fan, you'll still enjoy it because it's meant for that genre too.

[00:16:31] It used to be hot shit where everybody was talking about it. But unfortunately, it seems to, I joked at it at the start of the episode. I'm like, why does an all movie in Letterboxd? It has like a two and a half to like three out of five. It's just barely. I'm like, so growing up, that was probably my rating was a three out of five as a casual viewer. But seeing it since, despite there being some dumb dialogue by the victims and kind of slowly getting going,

[00:16:59] it's still a lot of fun because again, you get some of the strongest character moments between the two. But yeah, season five, six, seven of X-Files. This is kind of the tapping out initial portion. If you haven't already left before agents, dogging and raised, join the crew. It's already, you know, being syndicated. It's popular. People are reading some of the books. Some of the books are just literally, I kid you not.

[00:17:25] I've seen people adapt episodes and then they can add just extra deleted scenes. But X-Files is so uncanny because it's like they basically combine two episodes for junior crowds. I'm like, whoa. I've never seen that done. I've seen the market toys for R-rated movies like Terminator 2 was already big, but I'm like, you made this for kids. So it's basically goosebumps level. Twilight Zone level.

[00:17:53] But yeah, I just couldn't separate it. And I was just like, yeah, I can't put season five and six together and I can't just put season six and seven together. So I was like, yeah, five, six and seven. That's all kind of the blind spot for where long to find the future. Right. Long to find the future. Right. And like you said, in the last episode, it was supposed to come out after season four. That schedule falls through. So as they're doing reshoots, they start splitting up episodes. Let's have a.

[00:18:23] Scully centric episode. Let's have a Mulder and Lone Gunman centric episode with unusual suspects. And then let's do reshoots. Let's do the effects and everything. And it does blow your mind when people had to realize it's like, no, we would spend two years making a movie. And so you had a non-disclosure agreement, all that. And yeah, I've had other pals who gave up after season five and I've had others who gave up after season seven. I think season seven would be an OK place to stop.

[00:18:51] But you might want to watch the first part of season eight. I think season eight for me, I think for me, season eight is a good place to stop. Yeah. Season seven, I can see that because I think Requiem is a great ending. Not a great. I think, yeah, it's a great ending. It's an episode based on great clubhanger. It reminds me a lot of these season two finale of Twin Peaks in many ways. Definitely. The way our hero or FBI agent, you know, goes up never to return again.

[00:19:19] There's no way Duchovny wasn't using that influence, having worked on that show and other people hadn't seen stuff like that. I mean, that's kind of why I like all these X-Files writers. They were watching stuff that was just breaking the rules and taking note from it. It wasn't so much like Homicide in NYPD Blue and Law and Order taking aim at each other gently. It wasn't like ER and Chicago Hope acknowledging the rivalry. You know, this is kind of more like, hey.

[00:19:46] You guys can come out with another serialized supernatural mystery show. We're still kind of top dog. And I see a lot of. I mean, like we were saying earlier, we see some. Distinctions on season two and three, I think those are good beginning points. But yeah, when by the time we got to four, I was in five. I was in. I was just like, this is. They're going even more atypical.

[00:20:18] Now. Season five, a lot of off format episodes. You have Postman Prometheus. You have Bad Blood. Just like one of my favorite episodes. You have Kill Switch. Like all these. I mean, I think season four, while does not have the same transcending genius to it, I think it is a lot more consistent. In season four, it's like, it's really off format. A lot, Corgi. Even though I don't like some of the arcs of Mulder and Scully. I think a lot of the arcs in here feel inorganic to me. Particularly Mulder is big believer.

[00:20:47] The skeptic believer again. That just. Really? Half-hast away. Like, yeah. Because the reason is because you can talk about mythology. The mythology now, ever since his main, Reduxed Force 1 and 2. Mulder's afraid to shake it. True. But then he can go and believe in the Master Week episodes. He still believes in all these folk witches. And all these legends. Like, okay, so you're a skeptic, but you still believe in these aspects. I think it could have been done better. It could have been done better if they had acknowledged it back in seasons free and four.

[00:21:15] But then they were just kind of like, shit, we got to make standalone episodes for the syndication market. Now we got to go back to the two and three parters. And I think I got satisfied with Mulder finally just realizing is like, hey, the shit that was talked about. My sister was made up. Cancer Man's still playing us. Now, I do like the episode where Cancer Man uses Scully to get one of his other culprits and then shoots the other assassin as he's about to kill Scully.

[00:21:42] But at the same time, it's too much to buy into. Oh, I know that. And then she does the whole, how can I be so dumb? It's like that could have been done, edited and reconceived way better. It would have been better if he knew where she was going as a retreat out of the city and had met her there or. done some other kind of deception to where she says, I'm going to sell that, you know, lake house or something. Yeah. I don't know. There's pretty. It's uneven. But it was pretty.

[00:22:12] Well, yeah, that episode is pretty infamous for me because you have that play out in season 11 where it's figured out by, you know, Scully and. This Cancer Man, basically, they have they got a they got a child based on that. That's William. That's another. That's true. narrative season. I don't know. What do you think about season 10 of 11? What do you think? I've been actually rewatching it there. The serialized ones provide some fun. But I can totally understand super fan.

[00:22:41] Trinity was telling me off air is like William wasn't likable. And I do think that is a big, huge problem. He's just kind of super soldier. He's an X-Men. He's not really a character, if you will. And that's kind of a shame because it's kind of like when you got a kidnapping movie. If the hostage or witness is very unlikable, it's very hard for you to root for the hero to save them. You know what I mean? So it's just kind of there's some fun stuff. And I do like Cancer Man's come up and send his other cabal.

[00:23:09] But like you say, I think it's it was trying to make too many people happy because then they're back to again the standalone throwback episodes. And then only I was only watching the beginning and the end because those are the only episodes that roll into each other. The biggest issue for me is the two new agents they brought have nothing to do with the narrative. So I guess that's one. To be honest, to be honest, those two like those two agents, I mean, they feel like a parody version. I think they're very they're very intentionally.

[00:23:39] I like those. I like them a lot. But then it's like they vanished. I'm like, whoa, you know, it's like they could have done what where Doggett was training a gal who was a Mulder fan or some of the other agents. Tech guys who Scully was enlisting because she didn't have the lone gunsman's numbers. Like we needed a little more of those office kind of guys who like Bill Dow plays a technician guy and he's really hysterical because he shares some of Mulder's conspiracy stuff.

[00:24:07] But he doesn't like to say it out loud because he's afraid of getting fired or, you know, let go. But it's just so funny because then he played a similar character on the Stargate franchise. It was totally kind of a if anything, X-Files is better with the Easter eggs at spawn. But I think the lone gunmen are at their best in these seasons. They have a lot of great hacking in season two and free. But even one, they're funny.

[00:24:37] But I was like, yeah, it's like at this point we're getting so much of this when they had to go to the. You know, this is already past when they went to the retirement home and what have you. And at this point, we're getting more and more just giant monsters that are awesome. We're revisiting the pusher episode. We got Darren McGavin, Colt Tech, the Night Stalker himself as Arthur Dells, who's a retired FBI agent. And he's commented on in Millennium as well.

[00:25:07] But it's just like, yeah, it's could have been. We needed more of that character, I think, as a con. And I don't have. Go ahead. Yeah, I think he died. I think during the production of the X-Files, I think so. Like that's when they replaced him in season six. Yeah, yeah, he did. That's when they replaced him in the Three of the Kind episode. Well, no, it was the Three of the Kind. That's right. What's that baseball episode season six? I'm forgetting. That's right. Oh, I love that one. The Unnatural. The Unnatural. The Unnatural, I think. Was that the Unnatural?

[00:25:37] Yes, you're right. Unnatural. Yeah. I thought that was interesting. Definitely, of all the episodes that Kobani directed and co-wrote, that was one of the strongest I found. Even though it's a downer and could have been implied more, I was just like, yeah. It's interesting seeing all these. I think that episode ends with a baseball scene in Muldron's LA. Well, remember, it does. But remember, the alien bounty hunter kills the player because he's too special. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:26:06] But it's still a feel good for the most part, other for two thirds of the way. But and I'm not saying it's bad. I really love it a lot. But it is interesting how just at this point, they're pretty much just bouncing it out. It's like there's going to be there. We're still going to do what formula is working.

[00:26:26] We're going to have, you know, 10 standalone episodes and then the rest are going to be like five, two to three parters. I actually enjoyed seeing Mimi Rogers kind of still the show in this. But I also understand. I do agree. They needed better closure to her characters. Come up. And I knew a lot of people didn't like her at first because they're like, she's going to take Mulder away. It's like Mulder's not that dumb.

[00:26:56] But at the same time, she is an ex flame. So there's still sexual tension there. It helped that to company and Mimi had worked in movies before. Yeah, they were in this, believe it or not, religious supernatural film called The Rapture. So, yeah, I just as Agent Foley is like, I like her arc. And then they start calling her on the thing. Now, this plays in the scene. I think she's a bit underdeveloped.

[00:27:25] She's a bit underdeveloped alongside Spender. Yeah. Yeah. Now, yes. Now, I was going to actually go on to him. He's like, I think the actor is fine. But the more he's shown, the more irritating he is. And I do feel like that was a problem is like they brought him back in season nine. It's like, no, no, no. We're over him. We're over him. Why are you bringing him back? Yeah. It's just like his disfigured face. Season nine feels like such a soap opera.

[00:27:55] You know, we have dead characters show up. We have religious cults. I mean, do we have later on we have the secret spooky man that comes back from the dead apparently. You know? Yeah. Just the old mythology in season nine has just gone off. Still the worst season. And I know a lot of people like to say, oh, no, it's not. I'm like, no, it could have easily ended after season eight. And I don't know. For sure. Yeah. It's just like. At least the Muller and Scully version of the X-Files, I think I could say. Off season eight.

[00:28:23] You know, you could have Monica race and docket. But again, the ratings weren't that good anyways. I mean, the ratings have been steadily falling since season six, really. So season six, seven, eight, nine. By the time season nine come out. Yeah. I totally love it. And then it's just, you know. I think nine 11 really. It totally shell shocked him because they were like, hey, you know, now there are probably, you know, Fox knows we're a bad boy show and we're still got some ratings.

[00:28:48] But yeah, we we got to be kind of just more monstrous because people don't even want to hear the word terrorist anymore. And I'm like, well, you're kind of at home. But yeah, I really in a better world, I would have had Frank Black just join the conversation. It's so satisfying seeing him come back. Now, I know Frank doesn't like the character coming back because he just felt he could have done more with it. I just kind of find it an OK compromise.

[00:29:15] But if anything, Frank should have joined their deal. It would have been amazing if he had hung out with the lone gunman just doing off the grid computer hacking and profiling for them. And they repay him with pizza like Frank Black. But I don't think that episode's all that good anyway. I think it's a very small. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, fair enough, you know, people. I'm a sucker for zombie movies, so I just was having fun. Now, I am disappointed in that.

[00:29:47] It's a lot to buy into the fact that his his wife's, you know, his in-laws are like, we're going to put you to a psych ward and have you get help. Otherwise, you can't be around your kid. Jordan is like at that point is like, you know what? Give me your best shot. I'm going to win in court because I'm a good agent and I'm a patient man. But yeah, I don't like how it begins at first because it's got these four apocalyptic horsemen.

[00:30:17] That's a little too on the nose. I just had fun with how he and Mulder are getting along. And it's just kind of a. It's weird. It's like had it most of the time. I don't like certain crossovers because they're just two different tones and it's pandering. Kind of like how Marvel does it where it's like, no, thank you. It's like those characters are not breathing and eating in the same air waves.

[00:30:47] But yeah, I think they just started it as best they could. I think it helped that they. I think it's just interesting how they're just in the middle of nowhere and everyone's like, I don't know how so and so survived these zombie bites and what have you. But yeah, I just I just thought he would have been perfect with dogged and raised. He would have been the third wheel, so to speak, and not in a relationship just in that is like if he and he could have connected the gunman and all the others.

[00:31:14] And I'm sorry, guys, I'm just I'm blinded by my love of that character just because usually when there's a psychic character, they're just very shitty. They're very. Overdone, they're just kind of a I have I'm the smartest guy in the room, so there's no suspense. I like how he still is unsure. He just gets images and has to make sense of it all. Well, angrily shouting over the phone and driving away from an explosion.

[00:31:40] So I guess, yeah, the there's some fun twists, but then kind of like the agent fully one we get. It is kind of lame to have the whole. Oh, and she was shot, presumably by some of cancer men's minions because she thought we went too far. And it's like, well, could we at least had had a scene of her saying I object or something? Because it's just kind of. I mean, I dug the psychic kid, but Gibson.

[00:32:10] But again, then he goes away for a while and is like, whoa, whoa, whoa. Where'd he go? So, yeah, there's some. I think I'm stuck in season eight and season nine. I think season nine. Yes. So, yeah. But, yeah, I mean. He should have been in season eight more. But, yeah, it's just kind of like. With the theme of season eight. Yeah. Gibson. Again, a lot of these characters in Spender, they feel so underdeveloped.

[00:32:35] So at the time when you get, you know, two fathers and one son, that episode, it feels weird to see those mythology episodes focus so much on Spender rather than Mulder and Scully. And also those episodes feel like, you know, they're trying to tidy up so much of the mythology into a 19 minute episode. Now, the truth, on the other hand, is like one, our presentation with how the mythology works, basically. Yes. So in that case, it's better. That was hysterical. And it's so funny. I misremembered that episode.

[00:33:04] I thought this and this happened is like, no, I had two episodes literally like combined together is like I knew there was an episode along with. But it's so funny. I was getting it mixed up with Triangle, the one where we show the origin of Cancer Man and the Nazis on the submarine. Now, I'll give you this. I'll give you this. I think Kirsch was introduced way too quickly because it's like he shows up, he stalls the agents from doing their job.

[00:33:32] And then he goes back to, well, Skinner's back. I have no purpose. And, oh, let's bring him back again in season eight and nine. I'm like, what the hell are you doing? And I feel so bad because there's nothing wrong with James Plicken Jr. As an actor. It's just that the character. Don't get me wrong. There have been plenty of terrible characters on, say, other shows like let's just say 24 definitely has them. There's been plenty of other characters on like Buffy or what have you.

[00:34:01] I think ER and NYPD Blue and even Sopranos were better at having characters that were better developed. But this kind of reminds me of some other characters on Sopranos and 24 where it's like, I just can't read into you too much. And I wish you just would throw me a bone here. It's like I can't tell because the character is so unlikable if you're doing too good a job, which I don't think you are. Or if we need a little bit more, but just kind of back and forth.

[00:34:27] So, like, for instance, the eight season of 24, I find pretty crappy because the New York scenario is not not well used, unlike the L.A. scenarios. But there's also a lot of people who are just like, I can't tell if the writers are making you try to be inept or if you're just coming off as very inept due to either some miscasting or just underdeveloping the character. But I think it's a lot of underdeveloping.

[00:34:50] I think Kersh gets better towards the end because he realizes, OK, he's not a heel anymore, but they just took too much time in those initial seasons. Now, don't get me wrong. I love season six to death. I have so many others who hate that season, but oh, yeah, I'll talk about that. OK, perfect. It's just it's like they find amusing ways to have him be the boss from hell. And then there's other times where it's like, I don't really know what they're doing with this character because he's just at the end of the day, just going to stomp on them and tell him get back to work.

[00:35:19] Now, the actor, to be fair, is doing some interesting choices. He's looking very stern. He's got some interesting diction and he even will take his glasses off and just kind of roll his eyes, which I find is a funny add on. But yeah, yeah. Then there's other times where it's like, Jesus. So Skinner doesn't even know where he works. I do like some of the solo episodes dedicated to Skinner because they're kind of throwbacks to earlier ones where he's either framed or about to die. But then Krychik, they find weird ways to have him reappear.

[00:35:47] And it's like, why don't we just have him back all the time? He feels so aimless. At this point in the show, Krychik, it feels, I mean, the whole mythology at this point feels pretty aimless. Like, you know, from season, ever since Two Fathers, One Son, you know, you have Krychik show up to meet him. And then he has this weird, you know, if he tells about something, he has a bomb, he bombs him with something.

[00:36:10] But like, Krychik at this point, you feel like, you know, aside from the, you know, the homosexual aspect of Mulder and him, you know, it feels like he's pretty aimless. I think he's been pretty aimless since Two Fathers, One Son. And aside from season six, I think season six as a whole, this show is a season that I love. Yes. A lot of people hate it because of its extra light nature. It becomes a more paranormal romantic comedy at times. That's probably the big reason why people hate it.

[00:36:37] But again, you know, a lot of season six, I think, is one of the one thing that I saw running in season six is how much it tries to weave in this romantic tension with Mulder and Scully. Like, you know, a lot of these episodes, look at The Reigning King, you look at The Triangle, you look at, you know, all these comedy episodes. And Cassandra Spender, that was some good acting by, what's her name, Veronica Cartwright, who was an alien. Yeah, right, right. But yeah. Alien invasion body snatchers, I think. Yeah.

[00:37:05] So how appropriate invasion body snatchers is totally either version is pre X-Files. But yeah, it's like I will say they took a while having her character return. I think they should have faked this out afterwards. Like, I'm still alive. But I do think they do a good job of reintroducing all the Navajo guys who are helping them out. But they should have used Michael Kirchgau, the one employee of the Department of Defense, played by John Finn. Like, he takes a while for him to come back.

[00:37:32] And I was like, yeah, I kind of would have rather he have a bigger part instead of only showing up in parts of season seven and nine, saying, I'm all good, even though you thought I was dead. He just kind of vanished, much like Krijguk for too long, where it's like, let's pick a lane. Now, I got to say, it's still interesting looking at from today's eyes how the movie was such a big deal. You're watching it in between season five and six. If you didn't see the movie, you would have been like, where's the well-dressed man? What happened to him?

[00:38:01] It was like they show some recaps to start off the season. And it's they did a good job remastering it because it's like they fit they had to fit the TV screen. You know, that's a widescreen movie. But yeah, it's interesting how then they they could have just probably had some better big beds be reintroduced instead of just cancer man's lurking even when he's not. You know, so I only had I count two partners as one episode because it's only fair.

[00:38:30] I only had two episodes from season six and seven that were my worst. We'll do that in another segment. But I was like, yeah, there were maybe a few uncomfortable episodes of five and even four. But I didn't I didn't get to the point where it's like, I'm going to skip these all the time. It was like, yeah, they kind of are doing what every procedural and horror anthology and sci fi thriller is supposed to do. There's enough action. But like you say, some of the mystery, this is where it unfortunately and I say this both with love and deceit.

[00:39:00] Becomes in Night Shyamalan. It should have been more Babylon five ish, I feel because Babylon five was despite all the changes, despite it taking its sweet ass time. And don't get me wrong. Babylon five has even though the effects were revolutionary at the time that they're terrible nowadays. They just look like they have an age. Well, yeah. And season one is pretty taught and has a cool ending that leads to coming back. But unfortunately, it does have some hammy guest stars. They're all kind of has been TV and B movie actors.

[00:39:30] So they're saying good stuff, but they're overdoing it a bit, kind of like a lesser Star Trek episode, you know? So now but B five was always at the end of the day, kind of like Twin Peaks. It was always a five year arc. Now, a lot of fans don't like the final season, but agree that the finale is good. And at the end of the day, though, I still applaud J. Michael Straczynski because much like Dave Filoni was doing with Mandalorian, I'm going to write most of the episodes.

[00:39:57] I'll give them to some people I know and like like Neil Gaiman or Peter David for some piece. The last one. But for the end of the day, I know the outline. I know what everyone's going to say. I don't care about how many people are on a spaceship because that's whatever will get the story forward. I love how he would always give a reply to that, whatever makes the story go forward. And so like you were saying earlier, because of all the false starts with the movie, Chris is just unsure of how long he wants to continue. So and I say this with love viewers.

[00:40:25] I didn't give any bad reviews to any of the seasons, but I did rank season nine as the worst because it just there's a lot of shit in there. And I knew it even back then when I was a casual fan. But do you think he should have stopped after six or the seventh year or just even five? Well, he could have combined some of the two parters into five. Well, but I don't know. Well, when we talk about it from this perspective on, we nowadays live in a post-Grogan age television, right? Yeah, we're spoiled. I get it.

[00:40:56] Yeah. The fact is that these people get to write their own endings. Ben Skelligan got to write his own ending breaking back. Yeah. He said five to seven years. But at the time for, you know, for the X-Files, you know, television was more dominated by, you know, by ratings. It wasn't behest of Carter, you know. Well, that's fair. That's totally fair. So many television shows, you know, like. So if he had quit, they would have still kept continuing. Yeah. Of course. Of course.

[00:41:24] Because, you know, that's how television used to work on. Television was nothing more than syndication. Now, with the success of FX and HBO, you can say ahead of time, this is a free season run and we'll renew you instantly if we like what we see and think we got something. The ratings, though, is annoying because there are so many shows, notoriously like The Wire, even Homicide, that had terrible ratings, but excellent critical. Yeah. Yeah, but they had great critical acclaim.

[00:41:52] And then there's other ones where not enough people have seen because they're kind of so real, like Ray Donovan and the Power franchise. And then there's other ones where studios are going to blindly say yes to because the success has already been proven like Yellowstone. It can get even trashier and even more infamous. And it doesn't matter. They're going to say yes anyway because someone will watch it. You know, how many crappy remakes and knockoffs of Suits and NCIS are we going to have, you know?

[00:42:18] And I say this as a fan who liked NCIS and Suits, but like there's a reason those main shows are better. It's just like Suits, they had lightning in a bottle and they didn't know how good they had it in NCIS. It's like they always would change it up a bit and they had the right mixture of action, mystery and comedy. And then it's just the other shows are trying too hard to be like other shows. I mean, I haven't seen Suits from what I gather from the things that I've seen from it so far. It's like, I mean, it's a very television procedural show.

[00:42:48] It's cheaper to make, obviously. It's definitely cheaper to make. It was kind of like Glengary Glen Ross meets L.A. Law, for lack of a better word. It was just kind of it was offering something different than all the other Law and Orders and Power type shows. But I do feel that NCIS suffers from CSI syndrome where have your own spinoff, make it different. But then they made it too different. You're like, eh.

[00:43:15] You could have just been better off just making your own show. It's kind of like the Star Treks after a while. It's like, again, you got your own unique perspective. Voyager were lost with no outside resources. Their problem is they try too hard to make it be a seven year run to where it's like, OK. This episode would be more enjoyable if you did get to go back home and then were interrupted by the board or some other alien race. It's DS9.

[00:43:42] It's pretty strong, but it gets better as it brings other existing people from the other shows and then finds its voice. And this starts being serialized. But that's after much bickering with the producers saying, please, let us try something new. You want your ratings? We'll give it to you. But yeah. Yeah, you can say that. The problem with the letter story franchise, particularly Voyager, it's like there's almost a reluctance to commit to something new, to be different. Because Voyager, after its pilot, they just start trying to be anything else.

[00:44:12] It's just really the TNG. Enterprise has the same problem. Yeah, Brendan Brega has apologized several times saying, hey, you know, by the time we got to Enterprise, we're burnt out. The issue was there's just too much infighting. Jerry Taylor's the main writer. And basically, if she doesn't like anything you do, she'll just rewrite it. And then Michael Piller does all the premieres and the finales. It's like, well, he's the ball. He's the ballpark guy. Literally, he compares every kickass ending to getting a home run.

[00:44:41] And it's like, then he needs to be the main writer, but he's too busy doing some awesome stuff for DS9 and the Dead Zone show. So it's just, yeah. And that's some joke. I'm like, I've heard about it. But like, you know, that's a lot of fun. I would love to see get your take on it. That's basically Millennium 2.0. So that's kind of the interesting thing. If a show is not trying to be like X-Files, it's definitely kind of like Millennium. And that is like, let's have a guy with unusual visions and creepy undertone,

[00:45:09] even though it's kind of just a cop show. But I mean, yeah, it is wild how at this point, like I stuffed these together. I was just like, yeah, I mean, I can't stop watching X-Files after season five because some of that goes into each other. And then the South Africa discovery of the alien pyramid, if you will, in season six or seven. I was like, yeah, if I don't, if I stop watching season six, then I won't get the resolution in season seven. But so there's some stuff that keeps me going back.

[00:45:38] But then there's some other twists that unfortunately are too much Christopher Nolan, M. Night Shyamalan level where I'm like, OK, you had me at the first twist. You lost me at the next five twists because it's just too much. You just stick to one. Don't go with. Now, I think there's some interesting stuff. There's some interesting stuff in season seven mythology. But at the same time, it just feels aimless. I mean, it feels aimless. It feels hollow.

[00:46:03] I think it has an undead aspect to it where it's like it's dead, but it's not dead because listen, here's the deal. So in Two Fathers, one set, we have the colonization arc. We have all the manufacturers worked out of the show. We have to die. But then the show still keeps the cancer, man. They still keep Prycha. They still keep Maria. They still keep all these characters filmed. So there's always this reluctance to just letting them go. Like the same time, the same time.

[00:46:32] And during the first extinction part, we see cancer minds working back at some colonization facility again. Like, OK, so what's going on? So like it's dead, but it's not dead. So there's this sort of confusion in season seven. Season seven posts Two Fathers, One Son really. Like, OK, so what is going on with the dolls? You feel so directionless. They're cut between the guys who were coasting on fame. And then they're caught on. Just were the cool kids on the block.

[00:47:00] That being said, there are some hysterical ones that are just standalones. I guffawed endlessly at the X-Cops episode, and that was not an episode I grew up liking. I was like, you actually had the documentary crew from actual, you know, TV's cops is already terrible exploitation, you know, bottom of the barrel reality TV. But still, how funny that they were making fun of reality TV at that time. I was like, yeah, it's like, well, what a way to go.

[00:47:29] But I actually had fun with the first person shooter episode, even though that is one of the least liked episodes. I'm just like, yeah, something about I don't know what it is about virtual reality. I just am a sucker for even when it's terrible. Just like. OK, that's right. Yeah, I don't like it feels. It's characterization feels pretty off to me. The guest characters feel pretty off to me or like or like at least like the way one of modern tweets female characters in that episode feels so shallow. One note.

[00:47:59] And so that's Chris Carter talking, unfortunately. Yeah, it's so funny how he's progressive and yet he'll write just weak lines. And it's like, you mean, well, he's kind of like the fake savior, if you will, like a white when a white person does a lot of this, you know, the exposed pretty conservative show in some aspects. Also, like the way we love years at times. Sadly, so sadly, so.

[00:48:24] And it sucks because they'll comment on all basically the Rush Limbaugh's or Howard Stern's of the world. But then they even then they kind of. It's weird. I don't know if it's just it's also kind of sad how Fox was one of the few allowing for edgy stuff. So, yeah, it's just like we still got a they don't they're not as bad as other cop shows with the whole we're the good guys.

[00:48:51] But at the same time, they still do do a lot of the FBI can do no wrong. So we're just going to be going for. So it's just like it's like do as I say and as I do. I got to say, though, Monday, everybody should watch that in a screenwriting class. Yes, that is Groundhog's Day meets Dog Day afternoon. It's like. And also, it's very technically it's again. Chris Carter is a great director. I think Chris Carter. I think he's great. Like, no. Yes. So technically. That was Kim Matters, actually. But fair enough.

[00:49:20] I mean, Vince Gilligan, John Chabon are finally working better together. John Chabon got stronger these seasons, I felt. Because he was in plenty of other episodes where it's like you meant well, but that was just kind of a schlocky Twilight Zone episode. He's really growing as a writer, I feel here. And. But. Yeah. Vince is pretty much allowed to do. Oh, no. Triangle. No, no. Triangle is written by Chris Carter and written by Chris Carter. That's the one. OK, yeah. I mean, I thought they were talking about Monday, but. Yeah. No.

[00:49:50] Oh. Oh, gotcha. Gotcha. Oh, OK. But see, those are two good episodes in that they again, it's not about what we're solving. It's about us getting the hell out of here. And. Both them and both Triangle and Hollywood AD made great use of split screen. I was just like, yeah, see, now you're not playing around. I don't know how you're going to start off. I'm so used to the white font that, you know, looks like a Tom Clancy movie, the way it types up.

[00:50:18] But it was like, now we're getting away from even that. And there's two great Christmas episodes. Also, interestingly, about the Monday as well. Yeah. It's like a lot of people say it's about from. It's from. Wait, what's the movie? Yeah. Groundhog Day. It's not exactly from Groundhog Day. It's like I think Vince Gilliam says it all like many times over here. That I know that this episode actually came from inspiration from the Twilight Zone, especially the episode. Oh, hey. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry, guys.

[00:50:46] I just only use the Groundhog Day comparison just because it's. A lot of people use that Groundhog Day comparison. It's just. Fair enough. It's just it's just it's a common. We'll repeat it until we get it right. And the story ends when we get it right. But yes, Twilight Zone is kind of the main proponent of it. I've said it. Like one of the big fascinating things about it. We look at all these episodes season six is how much, you know, in the time, you know, season six. The time when season six was being produced. X-Files had recently crossed up 100 episodes. That reached a syndication mark at the same time. Yeah.

[00:51:15] So also there's this idea that, you know. What now? Like, you know, we have done everything we could. Quiz Card originally is full for this five year plan. Every episode is like a mashup of like two different books or movies like Drive. That's what introduces Vince Gilligan to Bryan Cranston. But at this point, guys, remember this is before is when he's just on Seinfeld and doing Roger Corman schlock and TV movies as before he's the dad on Malcolm in the Middle. And it's like, yeah. What if Bryan Cranston were a guy?

[00:51:45] I so it's almost like the movie Speed. If I slow down, I'm going to blow up. And then you got an outbreak scenario where it's like we're going to get infected. So we got a pathology. It's pretty good despite a dog dying off screen. But I just it is unfortunate that every one of these episodes they have to tell Kurtz, oh, we took a rendezvous. Oh, we took a shortcut and we fell into a trap.

[00:52:09] And it's like, oh, there's got to be a way to just lock your awful boss in a closet and then get back is like, oh, or better yet, it might have to your credit when you said is like the plot arcs were endless. It might have been a way to ratchet it up. If I were to change it, I would have just had Mulder. He's talked about quitting so many times since he's been scapegoated all the time and like

[00:52:36] denied and he's throwing up even more pencils into the ceiling. Maybe he should have done it, pulled a Frank Black. Maybe he should have become a private eye for hire. He would have made way more money. He wouldn't have the FBI resources, but it wouldn't have been. They could have had Doggett join even more often, I think. Should have introduced him more or had him be in the background. And then slowly it might have just been better that way instead of, well, he's written differently, but it's still too much seeing the Duchovny loss to just kind of react to that.

[00:53:05] It's just always hard, even when you do a good job, just with all the different captains and what I was like. Yeah, it's like he should have quit the X-Files. Scully could have gone on teaching and they could have found a way to still have, I don't know, maybe ask for help from Skinner saying you don't have to tell us, but we need a SWAT team to meet us here or something, you know, and you can take the credit, but we'll solve the case. I will say Ghost of Christmas is hysterical, but both Mulder and Scully are fucking idiots

[00:53:32] in this episode to where you're like, oh, yeah, give me a break. Give me a break. I do have fun with Christmas Carol and Emily, but again, Scully is not well written here. Like there's a lot of that's one of my biggest second points of that, especially not with Christmas Carol, but with Emily. But Emily is it's kind of just a false alarm and showing her vulnerable side. It's fine at times, but this is how spoiled we are.

[00:53:58] We've seen so many movies and shows we end up predicting the twist before they happen or we ask questions before they're revealed 20 minutes later. And it's like, I would have liked a little more input, but I get it. You guys were spoiled by taking your time and it's just you had plenty of time to work out. But yeah, if anything, it would have been hysterical. Detective Munch had stayed with the show. That would have been hysterical. I'm not just on one show. I'm here all the time. It's time to come to Baltimore. I'm here. I'm spoiled.

[00:54:26] I love Detective Munch just because his cynicism is just hysterical. And it's like, we got a naked man and free crazy conspiracy guys here. What next? Yeah. How the Ghost Stole Christmas. Perfect casting Ed Asner and Lily Tomlin. But then, yeah, it's like you still got to get past the dumb setup of why are they coming to this haunted house again? It was like so much suspension.

[00:54:52] I mean, that is, again, season six is very indulgent on the Mulder and Scully aspect of it. Yeah. Because there's a lot of, you know, there's a lot of teasing in these episodes. If you look at, I mean, if you look at these episodes, you know. It's like going to a strip club. Teasing. Exactly. I want to meet for a date or nothing at all. I don't want to be teased. Also, you know, one of the big things about the episode is how much, you know, Mulder and Scully fear their futures and how is it going to turn out for them. If you look at season six, it's like, you know, well, what do we think about the future?

[00:55:22] The driftness to them? Like, what are we going to do with our future? Right. So they're trapped in the perceptual now. There's a fear that we can either go back to the past or that we can go to the future. So like, what are we doing over here? So there's this aimlessness that kind of started throughout the season here. And I think that is somewhat that's somewhat that's someone that gives a season a lot of miles and by. Well, like you say, they'll find a quarter of an answer and then all the rest of the stuff is not for anything. But you don't know that until after the fact.

[00:55:50] So it's like they should have had some more philosophy of just like I feel like I'm repeating the same thing. And again, it should have been like Monday, like Monday when I break it down. I love it because mean other family members. If we're not spiritual, we do believe well, not necessarily in like reincarnation, but I love how they bring up the issue of deja vu. We needed more deja vu acknowledgement. It was like we're being led around the ring way too many times. But then the standalone funny episodes were so much fun.

[00:56:18] I was guffawing at the Rain King because we're back to religious episode territory. I looked several times. I'm like, wow, Howard Gordon didn't write this episode. He's already left by then, you know, but he's working on the Buffy franchise by then. But I think Howard Gordon, I don't think he stayed that long with the Buffy franchise as well. I think he left after he was doing some other. Yeah, he was doing some other. Then he did 24 after that. Well, and in between that, he has Strange World and some of the other just his own take on Buffy X-Files basically.

[00:56:48] But Arcadia at this point is hysterical. Arcadia is. Yeah, it was like a lot of the moments can be playing Tension again. They play House make House basically. I can get away from the crappy sitcom tropes because it's unfortunately just a product of its time when Mulder's acting like he's got a, you know, Scully is his home brought wife, but at least she gets to own him a few different times. But it is. Unfortunately, we are back to square one of, you know, Mulder sees everything or only Scully

[00:57:17] sees like a portion of it and gets knocked out. So they're they have memorable supernatural beasts, but they do unfortunately get self-indulgent with the supporting villains or scientists who created the problem. So, yeah, there's there's all kinds of stuff. Malagro, that was. That was. Oh, yeah. Serial killer who performs murders in which the heart was removed. That was OK, but that was also messy.

[00:57:47] I found like the story was fun, but then the breakdown not so great. It kind of was only better towards the end, but. Yeah, there's a lot of 50 50 episodes, not bad enough for me to say skip it, but also still like what just happened. And Thief in season seven, I actually like a lot is just a fun gore fest. Like, you got a manor does a lot of manners over there. And again, James Morrison's Space Above and Beyond is in it.

[00:58:16] Yes, that's why I was bringing it up, too, is like there's some Space Above and Beyond crossovers just like we had in some of the last seasons. But you got B-movie King himself. Billy Drago is the they call him the hoodoo man. Like, oh, also another episode. I love him season six. Tomes of Endearment. I love that episode. Yes. Tomes of Endearment. I think it's got Bruce Campbell in it and he plays a very different kind of character. This one gets a lot of this gets a lot of flack, but I think it's pretty strong.

[00:58:45] I mean, we got I think it's really good. I know. I agree. I agree. I think it's fun because the soundtrack is on fire. We got garbage playing on the soundtrack. We got all kinds of other stuff. And it's kind of it's almost a reverse monkey's pause. Like, what if your husband was a demon in a human skin and he wants to steal the child? But then they they give us free other plot twists. And I like how Scully and Mulder are actually on their game. They're like, yeah, this is not spouse abuse. There's all kinds of other stuff.

[00:59:15] He's a he's a con artist. There's all kinds of other stuff. Oh, there's a third wheel to this relationship. And the demon effects and makeup are top notch. It's like, yeah, it's. Man, also, I know one of the one of these seasons, when I look at these seasons five, six, and seven, I realize that how look at this point, how great Vince Gilligan's career is evolving. You know, like a lot of them. Like at this point, you see Vince Gilligan taking more active production to it, to the show. You see him break his first episode in these seasons as well.

[00:59:45] In season seven, especially. And no, yeah, season seven. Right. So at the same time, you have this feel that, you know, he's evolving. You know, he wrote ambitious scripts like Bad Blood. I think I'd like to consider Folly Adieu, Monday. And obviously, we forget which episode was it. Just give me a minute. Just give me a minute. That one. Drive, Drive. Yeah, Drive. Yeah, Folly Adieu, Drive, and Monday.

[01:00:14] All these three episodes feel like a trilogy on the critique of capitalist success that you can feel like that. Because, you know, in Monday, there's a lot of this horror story about working life, you know. Because in many ways, it feels like that. Because, I mean, sure, you have the same meetings over and over and over again. So there's the same repetition, the same aspects of it. Drive is pretty much about the capitalist excesses of, you know. Well, remember. Where's America? Remember what also happened in Millennium? That was fan service. It's called a motor kiss. Yeah. And everybody blushed.

[01:00:44] Even guys who don't like romance, they blushed. I mean, yeah. Like, even someone who doesn't like the show, doesn't prefer the Mulder and Scully Romantic aspect to it. I mean, I have to record the fact that they're hot. I mean, obviously, they have a sexual chemistry to each other, for sure. That's absolutely true. I don't like the way Mulder's condescending towards her at times. Or, you know, the way they treat Scully at times. She gives them way too many. That's his debt.

[01:01:12] Because he's funny, she gives him way too many get out of jail free cards. If it were anyone else, she would have slapped him by now. There are still a few different episodes that kind of deal with a claustrophobic scenario. Like Detour, we're back in. Much like the Loch Ness Monster episode, we are once again having a Jaws tribute. It's like, what if Scully and Mulder are in the woods with these woods people? It was pretty good.

[01:01:42] Which one was that? Yeah. Yeah, actually, yes. Agua Mala. I didn't like growing up. I don't like that episode. You don't like that? I don't like that episode. Okay. Fair enough. I thought that was another Jaws-type episode. Again, caricatures. I mean, the way they treat Mexican people, just caricatures or stereotypes. Those were bad. Those were very bad. Especially with how they assumed that the guy is just the baby mama or baby daddy.

[01:02:11] You're like, oh, for God's sakes. Good actor, though. You've seen him as Benny on George Lopez's show. So he had a career afterwards. But yeah, that's the other thing, too, is you got it is a product of its time. And so it is kind of the well-intended savior template, unfortunately. Kind of like a it's so funny. It is kind of like Spielberg. You don't really hear too many complaints about it, even though there is some bullshit in there. But unfortunately, it is the kind of thing where you're like, yeah.

[01:02:40] Temple of Doom. Cuff, Cuff. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. It's like those are the ones where it's like if it weren't already enjoyable, you would have some serious problems. But it's also understandable how it's like, yeah, the fact that any of us thought that stuff back then is just sickening is like, Jesus Christ. We went to hell in a handbasket before we were already fucked as a society. Wait, I have a question to you. Like, what was it like, you know, back then?

[01:03:08] You know, like the way I see American politics is just so polarized. I mean, politics are bad. They were already bad, but they were kind of still at bay because we had some people doing a compromise or we were venting on talk radio and other stuff. So it's like it. But unfortunately, we still had a lot of the slut shaming of a woman's accusing someone.

[01:03:31] Oh, they probably we still would have toxic people saying stuff like maybe they deserved it, which doesn't make any sense because they're not the they're the person who was wrong. And then we had, of course, unfortunately, this is the problem with legal type stuff. There's always going to be someone who takes it at face value and goes, you know, it's like the laws, the law. And it's like, well, there's a lot of laws that need to be if you want to open a true dialogue, you got to rephrase laws.

[01:03:59] So X-Files is getting away with we're going to have to have our characters break the law, but they don't actually kill anybody. They're just stealing information by that. There's stealing evidence back that was already stolen from them or shit like that. Now, to your point with the aimless, I do. It is interesting how Mulder seems conservative, but without the politics, but he's still doing the whole I'm going to do whatever it takes. It was like, well, that's pretty dangerous when you go into that mindset. Yeah.

[01:04:29] What if you just trivialize to other people? Like, you know, so unfortunately, if it had been the 20, that's again a very Chris Carr. That's a very Chris Carr aspect of Mulder, you know, like Chris. Mulder to be this mythological savior. You know what I mean? But he's too good for his own good. Yeah. It's like and unfortunately, they do like to have Scully be a stool pigeon is like, no, she doesn't need to be.

[01:04:54] I think that's why I think I think that's the reason why I love when Darren Morgan criticizes all of the two brothers. I think Morgan and Wong are just better at balancing out the stuff and the humor and the characterizations. And Howard Gordon has a stronger like social problem. That's basically the elephant in the room. It's never not visible. And Vince is just better with the humor.

[01:05:18] But yes, as we go on, there are some episodes where you're like, hey, that's a fun revisiting this creature, that character. But then there was also this other bullshit that just puzzled me. So. So, yeah. Again, so season seven, I think season seven is pretty OK. I think I think if I go with my season ranking, season nine and season seven are going to be I think they're going to be pretty low. I think after that, I go season one.

[01:05:48] But yeah, I think seven drives a lot of its enjoyment from from just watching Margaret's home. That's the only reason why I find season seven to be any remotely enjoyable. Because apart from that, if the show would have been the way that it was. Yeah, it would have been it would have been a huge, huge, huge problem. Yeah, season eight works because I think season eight works in Spider-Mythology because at that point mythology is pretty shrunk. And then you have the super soldier.

[01:06:13] But again, they feel like they feel mean at this point, the super soldier didn't they don't feel developed. But the season eight is not about that at all. It's about Mother and Skully. It's about can Mother return? Can they have a baby? Can Mother and Skully get the family they want? It's about that. So all this super soldier nonsense, it just feels like a pre it feels like a pre cover to all the other aspects of the important aspect of season eight. So I think season eight works better in that regard.

[01:06:39] But then season nine is just it again all becomes about Mother becomes his chosen savior again. And then, you know, he just walks off. And like we and the way the show is so frustrated with the way it deals with Mother. It's like, you know, he's there, but he's not there. You can't see him face. Yeah, he's left off the show. And it's just this. It's so frustrating. Him and Chris Carter have prepared their relationship. But you can't I can't blame any of the production guys for being like, what the fuck to come in?

[01:07:06] There's like, dude, you got to sue Fox, but you got to keep doing the show. Like, this is what people want to see you do. They yeah, it's like they continue him in parts of season eight. But then he's pretty much absent for a while. Yeah. That's why I say that X-Files was a victim of its own sexist, in my opinion, because the syndication aspect of it essentially led to the big lawsuits that happened for season eight, seven. The company leaving, the show being canceled for season nine.

[01:07:35] And I think I think now I think the show does have a legacy. It does have an interesting legacy from here on here on here on here on. I mean, that's how you know, we see Ryan Couglue still getting X-Files reading. So obviously, it still has some cultural cachet. But a lot of again, as I've said, you know, great endings make a show's legacy go out on top. Well, that ending endings basically destroy show like destroy show's legacy, my opinion. That's OK. OK.

[01:08:05] I enjoyed the adventure, but there were some dents in the road. But yeah, as well, it's like there's parts of two and three I would have liked to return to. Four and five were like a perfect double feature. And then, yeah, six and seven get a little more convoluted. But at this point, that's where you either stop watching. I think you should at least everyone should watch it all once and determine their favorite season. But yeah, there's some highs. There's some lows. I wish we had other people.

[01:08:34] I mean, I didn't like the movie growing up. I mean, I liked it, but I didn't love it. And I'm still surprised having quoted the letterboxd and all movie and IMDb reviews. A lot of people feel it's not fun without the show. And at the same time, I kind of had fun rewatching it regardless of what I knew, because it's kind of just an atypical kind of buddy cop action conspiracy movie. But at the same time, it was always I was just always indifferent to that in the second movie.

[01:09:03] But I've grown to like the first movie a bit more. And I still find it so funny how Roger Ebert loved both. And he had only seen like three episodes of the show. He and Siskel just loved. Fight the future. Isn't that funny? It's less of a mythology episode, more of a Maldon Scully ship tease episode. But isn't that funny, though? Isn't that funny that for many that was the first time they were like, the plot doesn't matter.

[01:09:29] We just like the characters is like that was their into it is like then they started doing the whole, OK, I'm going to collect the DVDs or I'm going to ask for VHS tapes from a friend and get caught up. But. But I do feel like fight the future for all it does well, it's fun seeing Mulder use some more coarse language like bullshit and what have you. But unfortunately, the bees are reintroduced and we don't really get closer to that subplot.

[01:09:56] So it's just like, ah, why are they here? And I will say. The dialogue. Sucks by the kids, the civilians and the mad scientist played by Jeffrey DeMond. You've seen him in every Stephen King movie. The monster is cool, but we didn't really need the prehistoric cable. Men who got infected. I think we should have sped for some of that, even though there's some good creature effects.

[01:10:25] I'm actually surprised with both X-Files movies, how much gore they got away with. It's just like, oh, it's a monster. It's OK. You know, or it's black like Lord of the Rings so you can get away with it. But when you get to the base at the very end, while it sucks having Skully be captured and like you say, Mulder be the hero, hero. I do think it's almost Death Star level, that cool art design. But another con, it's not on screen enough. So I'm like, ah, why do I have to pause just to see see it better?

[01:10:53] But it is fun. But there it is where it's just you have to suspend believe. You're like, man, they've survived so much, you know, helicopter crashes and what have you. So lots to like, lots to not like. But yeah, Fight the Future, everyone kind of goes back and forth on it. Sometimes it's a five or say it's a six or seven. Some give it an eight if they really like it. I still like it.

[01:11:20] I think I'm on the more greatly liking side of Fight the Future. I think it's so likable. I like it now. I did. But growing up, it's so funny. I was confused growing up because I'd only seen some episodes. And it was one of those where sometimes I thought there was too much action. And at the same time, it got more interesting when it got action back. So it was it's not even growing up. But when everyone should watch it a second time just to get a more bigger thought on it. I mean, well, Manicured Man just has a better.

[01:11:49] It almost makes me wonder what would have happened if he had been the main guy pulling the strings, if they could have flipped that because Cancer Man fears him. Yet I don't see much of him after a while. We kind of forget he's in the background. What could have been. But yeah, lots to like, lots to not like. We'll return after these messages. All right, folks, how's that here? We got a 90-minute weekly Shack Stop. It's growing all over the world.

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[01:13:44] but funny enough to help you escape everyday life, then listen to the Florida Men on Florida Man podcast. That's Florida Men, plural, on Florida Man podcast. Do you ever find yourself thinking about who would win in a fight between Goku and Superman? Hi, I'm James Gavsey, and on the Who Would Win show, me and my co-host Ray ignore anything important happening in the outside world and debate fictional battles between characters from comics, movies, and video games. We got a new show every week, and almost always am I the winner. Yeah, not true, Ray.

[01:14:14] In the past, we've discussed such matches as Captain America vs. Darth Vader, Solid Snake vs. the Iron Giant, classic matchups like Robocop vs. Terminator, and even the Muppets vs. Sesame Street. That one was crazy. So if you're a fan of geek culture and love a spirited debate, check out the Who Would Win show wherever you get your podcasts, or check us out at whowouldwinshow.com.

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