From alien abductions to monsters of the week, this sci-fi series had something for everyone.
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The truth is out there: Celebrate 30 years of <em>The X-Files</em> with our 30 favorite episodes
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Thank you for this, Jennifer and ars technica. I was also disappointed by the later efforts when Scully and Mulder left, but your article rekindled interest to rewatch some of those amazing earlier episodes. Great research, thank you!
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I'm so glad you included a reference to 'Home' - not because it's such a great episode, but I remember it especially because I'd finally convinced my cousin to watch an episode, thinking she'd love it and, of course, the episode she finally agreed to sit and watch with me was Home.
She was so grossed out, she never did watch the show again, and thought I was deranged for a long, long, long time for being a fan of such a show.
She was so grossed out, she never did watch the show again, and thought I was deranged for a long, long, long time for being a fan of such a show.
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I won't list them, but my top ten were all on your list, except for the cruise ship episode. Unusual for me, I won't even quibble over the top five, but it is tough not to have Clyde Bruckman, Jose Chung, and Humbug in that tier. Amazing television from a bygone age.
Loved me my X-Files, and have been slowly been re-watching them.
Loved me my X-Files, and have been slowly been re-watching them.
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Great. Now I’m gonna have to go back and rewatch the whole series. Thanks, Ars. /s
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We would all gather round the TV to watch X-Files together in college.
A few personal favorites:
The alien tree monster episode, where they had the two red eyes. Well, I had to laser pointers handy, snuck outside, and pointed them at the outside window. Screaming ensued!
The Space: Above and Beyond “crossover”.
And who can forget the originally unaired mother under the bed incest episode.
A few personal favorites:
The alien tree monster episode, where they had the two red eyes. Well, I had to laser pointers handy, snuck outside, and pointed them at the outside window. Screaming ensued!
The Space: Above and Beyond “crossover”.
And who can forget the originally unaired mother under the bed incest episode.
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"Clyde Bruckman's Final Response" is unbelievably good, and Peter Boyle's character and performance of that character is as good as it gets. I don't think I've ever watched a movie or TV show--or even read a piece of fiction--that so uniquely and darky humorously and beautifully depicted the pathos of the inevitability of death (and the pathos of life until death). I remember the first time I saw this episode and thought to myself, Wow, in less than an hour I've almost fallen in love with Clyde Bruckman. Great, great episode.
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Has it really been 30 years? Am I really that old?
Are we at the stage where there's more time between now and the X-Files than there was between the X-Files and Star Trek?
Are we at the stage where there's more time between now and the X-Files than there was between the X-Files and Star Trek?
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The Rhys Darby were monster episode was a breath of fresh air for The X-Files in the same way Rogue One was for Star Wars.
Sadly, Star Wars immediately went into a nose dive, and X-Files couldn't hold on to the momentum, either.
Still this article reminds me I need to go back and watch the rest of the last season from a few years ago, so thanks for that.
Sadly, Star Wars immediately went into a nose dive, and X-Files couldn't hold on to the momentum, either.
Still this article reminds me I need to go back and watch the rest of the last season from a few years ago, so thanks for that.
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X-Cops is probably one of the best TV crossovers ever(sorry Those Old Scientists), IMHO. The double intro, the horror, the police chief.
It's such an unexpected episode. Like "they" actually greenlit this episode?!
Cops and X-Files work so unbelievably(
) well together! Also soo unexpected. X-Files is campy, but thinks serious. Cops is IRL and actually serious. Both together, are fun and scary! Bravo!
It's such an unexpected episode. Like "they" actually greenlit this episode?!
Cops and X-Files work so unbelievably(
) well together! Also soo unexpected. X-Files is campy, but thinks serious. Cops is IRL and actually serious. Both together, are fun and scary! Bravo!
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Missing "Rm9sbG93ZXJz", but I don't disagree with any of the selections (or the omission of S7 and S8).
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Captain Trips
Smack-Fu Master, in training
This was a great episode (The Field Where I Died). Very good acting by the actress from Space: Above and Beyond (SAAB) for the multiple personalities, and I thought the resolution of the past lives of Mulder and the character played by the SAAB was very sad.
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In Australia the X-Files were broadcast on a Wednesday night while I was at work. Every week the store which I worked at would be pretty much dead for that one hour. With the rise of streaming, I don't think we'll ever see another show have that kind of effect.
Some episodes were good and others were not so much but when the X-Files was good, it was truly exceptional. I still remember Brad Dourif's performance in 'Beyond the Sea' sending a shiver down my spine.
Some episodes were good and others were not so much but when the X-Files was good, it was truly exceptional. I still remember Brad Dourif's performance in 'Beyond the Sea' sending a shiver down my spine.
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The one with the black oil in the eyes in a research base in Antarctica. Or was it Alaska?
The face on Mars one where it descends from the ceiling at night.
The one with the guy who could set himself on fire.
The face on Mars one where it descends from the ceiling at night.
The one with the guy who could set himself on fire.
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"Je Souhaite" is definitely my fave.
I didn't like most of the MotW episodes though. Xfiles was more fun when it stuck to the main plot, which unfortunately unraveled after a few seasons. Some shows drag on for too long just because they're successful, not because there's a vision for a concrete beginning and ending.
I didn't like most of the MotW episodes though. Xfiles was more fun when it stuck to the main plot, which unfortunately unraveled after a few seasons. Some shows drag on for too long just because they're successful, not because there's a vision for a concrete beginning and ending.
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I had a new roommate when Jose Chubb’s came out. He had never watched the X-Files before that episode. He couldn’t understand why I found that episode so funny and thought the show was just weird and never really watched it again.
That episode is terrible if you aren’t already a fan of the characters, but it is my absolute personal favorite of the series.
That episode is terrible if you aren’t already a fan of the characters, but it is my absolute personal favorite of the series.
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I’ll always have a soft spot in my heart for “War of the Coprophages” just because of the look on Scully’s face when she says “Her name is Bambi?”
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Same. We'd hit the overpriced convenience store in the commons to buy junk, and then watch this followed by Millennium. Good times.
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Of course, since the Bell Riots are scheduled to happen less than a year from now.
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Fuzzypiggy
Ars Scholae Palatinae
I remember when X-Files appeared on UK TV back in 1993/94. I was working nights back then as an Op for a finance company running the overnight batch. I used to watch X-Files on BBC just before leaving for work at 10pm, then I had to walk 2 miles along a river bank with a torch to get to the train station ito catch the last train into the city to get to work! LOL!
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Mulder & Scully's relationship effect made it into pop music Catatonia
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEhpmuXHmRQ
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEhpmuXHmRQ
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It's great to read about the show and start remembering all the good episodes. But perhaps you meant "former" here?
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Never got around to watching the ‘second’ relaunched Tv series (actually forgot about it), which technically is the third if you count the original series run. I’m going to go looking for that right now after reading this whole article end to end.
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normally butters
Ars Praefectus
"Drive" is best, because without that episode, there would be no Breaking Bad. Bryan Cranston's oddly-sympathetic psycho villain became Vince Gilligan's inspiration for Walter White, and his performance in that episode was necessary to convince AMC that the dopey dad from Malcolm in the Middle had the emotional range to portray that character.
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Question about Dreamland 1&2
The write up says that people either love it or hate it and author indicates they are in the “latter camp”, but then follow that with praise of the script and writing and performances. Should this be changed to the “former camp”
Also one of my favorite ever episodes was where these teenagers found a way to move faster than time itself, and finally a kid walks in front of a fired bullet and then stops moving so time advances, and it kills him
The write up says that people either love it or hate it and author indicates they are in the “latter camp”, but then follow that with praise of the script and writing and performances. Should this be changed to the “former camp”
Also one of my favorite ever episodes was where these teenagers found a way to move faster than time itself, and finally a kid walks in front of a fired bullet and then stops moving so time advances, and it kills him
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Love this show, slowly watching it with the wife and halfway through season 2.
However, we've both found that current world events have sucked a lot of the joy out of watching a government coverup conspiracy theory feeding frenzy. I do feel that this show has helped give folks the idea that the USG is more coordinated and powerful than it really is (myself included!) but at the end of the day, I spend more of my work life trying to get agencies to agree to a meeting time in Outlook which leaves me no room for working on some dark secret super project.
However, we've both found that current world events have sucked a lot of the joy out of watching a government coverup conspiracy theory feeding frenzy. I do feel that this show has helped give folks the idea that the USG is more coordinated and powerful than it really is (myself included!) but at the end of the day, I spend more of my work life trying to get agencies to agree to a meeting time in Outlook which leaves me no room for working on some dark secret super project.
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I do hope Apple is paying you for this or it's some kind of performance art I don't get...
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I highly recommend the podcast "Fox Mulder is a Maniac", for any X-files fans or even those who just casually remember a few episodes and Simpsons spoofs like I did.
It's a bunch of ex-Cracked writers who watch every X-files episode and recap it / examine it through the lens of Mulder and Scully being real FBI agents and the absolutely batshit things they say to people, conclusions they reach, and their general wildly unprofessional police conduct. 10/10 podcast and it even eventually got me to actually go through and rewatch the X-files properly.
It runs behind the patreon of the Gamefully Unemployed podcast, but they've released a bunch of free episodes which are available here
It's a bunch of ex-Cracked writers who watch every X-files episode and recap it / examine it through the lens of Mulder and Scully being real FBI agents and the absolutely batshit things they say to people, conclusions they reach, and their general wildly unprofessional police conduct. 10/10 podcast and it even eventually got me to actually go through and rewatch the X-files properly.
It runs behind the patreon of the Gamefully Unemployed podcast, but they've released a bunch of free episodes which are available here
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I’m going to go against the grain here in saying that I could never really get into the show, namely because I always felt that it was a bit of a gateway drug for conspiracy nuts.
I may well have it backwards, though. Perhaps conspiratorial sentiments were simply starting to become more popular at the time (rise of the Internet and all that) and this contributed to the show’s success.
I may well have it backwards, though. Perhaps conspiratorial sentiments were simply starting to become more popular at the time (rise of the Internet and all that) and this contributed to the show’s success.
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Pusher, Chung, Bruckman, Bambi, and Ice were my favorites.
The mytharc episodes all blend into one big blob in my mind as the decades pass. They were interesting at the time because I really didn't know anything about the UFO "community" and its weirdness. And the idea of a giant puppet-string pulling government conspiracy was laughable to me then.
The mytharc episodes all blend into one big blob in my mind as the decades pass. They were interesting at the time because I really didn't know anything about the UFO "community" and its weirdness. And the idea of a giant puppet-string pulling government conspiracy was laughable to me then.
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