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The X-Files - The Complete Fourth Season

The X-Files - The Complete Fourth Season

List Price: $99.98
Your Price: $74.99
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Must Have For Every X Phile
Review: If you're a fan of The X Files, would like to become a fan, or would like to get caught up on all the episodes you missed, the Season DVD sets are for you.

The show was a phenomenon in its prime, engrained in the popular culture, and remains a blue print for many TV programs today. It contains some of the finest acting, writing, story telling, musical scoring, cinematography you will ever find on a weekly television series. The show is very expensive to produce . . . a mini movie each week. We won't see TV productions like this much longer. Shows can now be produced at a fraction of the costs but the quality is often sacrificed. Not so, here.

I LOVE my sets. There are eps that I will watch over and over again. I own all Season on VHS and now the first 4 on DVD. Can't wait for the S5 set to be released in May.

As David Duchovny recently said, there are over 200 hours of XFs entertainment available . . . not many actors, writers, producers, etc. can make this claim. I intend to own every last hour. :)

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Season 4 set is on my recommended list
Review: First, let me say, that I am a huge fan of the X-Files. I do love this season but I do tend to watch Seasons 1 - 3 sets more frequently. Pros: Small Potatoes (great funny David Duchovny episode. Nerdy guy who transforms into Mulder.), Home (scary, really scary episode. Banned from Fox after one showing. Inbreeding family bury their deformed child. Very violent but funny in ways that I should be embarrassed about.), Demons (Mulder receives unorthodox treatment into his memories regarding sister Samantha. For some reason I like seeing Mulder in a tortured state. Get to see Mulder naked.), mytharc Tempus Fugit/Max (I don't usually like mythology episodes, but I like the character of the constantly abducted Max. Hated seeing Agent Pendrell get shot though...he was sweet on Scully.), Unruhe (another scary episode. Serial killer can see demons inside people and tries to remove them by performing labotomies. Scully gets kidnapped...again), Paper Hearts (another Tortured!Mulder episode. Serial child molester/killer may have killed more...including Mulder's sister Samantha), and Elegy (people who are dying can see others who were just murdered. Scully sees one but does not tell Mulder until later...annoying Scully habit). Cons: Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man (too little of M & S), and Sanguinarium (gross episode about evil in a hospital specializing in plastic surgery. I had the beginnings of a migraine prior to the show, had a full blown migraine after seeing all the blood and the shrunken head.). Most overrated episodes: Memento Mori (I did not like the mytharc of Scully's cancer) and Never Again (not alot of Mulder. Dr. Scully picking up a stranger in a tattoo parlor in a bad neighborhood...right. Maybe she wanted to be a bad girl. Did she sleep with him? Who knows. Interesting, almost revealing conversation at the end between M & S.). There a very few episodes that I would not recommend watching. This season has very few comedic episodes though--very gloomy season (Scully's cancer began here). I think Anderson won an emmy in this season (Memento Mori). Both lead actors won Golden Globes. I would highly recommend Season 4.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The show keeps getting better
Review: The emotion of the show starts coming out in this season. Without a doubt,"Home" is the best episode this season.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A whole new level.
Review: Once again, this show is taken to a whole new level with Season Four. The mythology is expanded and goes deeper than the other seasons.

We get the exciting conclusion to the last season's cliffhanger.

We get the most controversial episode of the entire series: "Home"(stand-alone episode).

We dive deeper into the plot of Mulder's sister. We also find out more about the black oil.

We find out that Scully has cancer in this season. It's only hinted at in the third season, but the truth comes full circle in this season.

Lastly, we end with a cliffhanger that, if you haven't seen the next season, will surprise and shock you.

Great season, great DVD.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Season Four Details
Review: This 7 disc DVD boxed set contains International Clips, Deleted Scenes and all the 24 episodes of the fourth season -Disc one contains the episodes Herrenvolk, Home, Teliko and Unruhe. -Disc two contains the episodes The Field Where I Died, Sanguinarium, Musings of a Cigarette-Smoking Man and Tunguska. -Disc three contains the episodes Terma, Paper Hearts, El Mundo Gira and Leonard Betts. -Disc four contains the episodes Never Again, Momento Mori, Kaddish and Unrequited. -Disc five contains the episodes Tempus Fugit, Max, Synchrony and Small Potatoes. -Disc six contains the episodes Zero-Sum, Elegy, Demons and Gethsemane. -Disc seven contains a 30 minute Documentary The Truth About Season Four, Interview Clips from Herrenvolk, Unruhe, Home with James Wong, Paper Hearts and Tunguska. Special Effects Clips with Audio Commentary of Herrenvolk, Leonard Betts, Momento Mori, Unrequited, Max, Synchrony, All Additional Deleted/Extended Scenes Re-presented with Optional Audio Commentary by Chris Carter, 13 Behind the Truth Spots, and the DVD-ROM game Urbs Tertia.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: X-4
Review: In the fourth season of The X-Files, X is killed, we find out a little of CSM's background, Scully comes down with brain cancer, Skinner confronts CMS and Krycek is back (he was entombed in a Silo in the 3rd season).

All 24 episodes are on 7 discs, with documentaries, deleted scenes, etc.

Episodes:
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1) Herrenvolk - Continuing from the cliffhanger of season three, Mulder and Jeremiah Smith escape the alien's assassin. They go to a farming community, Mulder sees a clone of his sister, Scully finds a number of Jeremiah look-alikes, and X is killed.

2) Home - Mulder and Scully investigate the Peacocks that practice inbreeding.

3) Teliko - Mulder and Scully investigate a Teliko that must consume the fluid of the human pituitary gland.

4) Unruhe - Mulder and Scully investigate Gerry Schnauz who has the ability to imprint images on film he is near.

5) The Field Where I Died - The FBI investigate a cult called the Temple of the Seven Stars after allegations of child abuse.

6) Sanguinarium - Mulder and Scully investigate doctors that go "crazy" and murder their patients.

7) Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man - In this episode, we find out a little background of CSM as told by the Lone Gunmen. Who killed President John F. Kennedy? Who killed Martin Luther King?

8) Tunguska - Krycek is back! Mulder again retrains from killing him. Krycek and Mulder travel to Russia and Black worms are released from a "Space Rock" and Mulder is injected with the "Back Cancer."

9) Terma - Mulder and Krycek escape from Russia. A KBG assassin is sent to the U.S. to kill people that know about the Black Cancer.

10) Paper Hearts - Mulder has a dream that leads him to the body of a murdered child and believes that the killer is John Lee Roche who he arrested and put in jail years ago.

11) El Mundo Gira - Mulder and Scully find corpses infested with a strange fungus.

12) Leonard Betts - Mulder and Scully investigate Leonard Betts, who has the ability to "re-grow" body parts (e.g., he grows a new head).

13) Never Again - In this episode Scully is investigating a man, Ed, with a tattoo that has the words "Never Again." Ed hears voices from his tattoo.

14) Memento Mori - Scully learns that she has brain cancer.

15) Kaddish - Isaac Luria is killed in his store by a few teenager boys. One by one the boys turn up dead.

16) Unrequited - Mulder and Scully investigate the killing of Lt. General MacDougal. The strange part is it is done in the back of his limo and no one saw it happen, not even his driver.

17) Tempus Fugit (part 1) - Mulder is informed that Max Fening (from "Fallen Angel" episode) has died in a plane crash. Fox goes to the crash site and discovers that the wristwatches stopped 9 minutes before the crash.

18) Max (part 2) - Mulder is taken into custody and bailed out by Scully. They find a videotape with evidence that the government is using alien technology.

19) Synchrony - Mulder and Scully investigate a man who seems to have the ability to predict when someone is going to die. The man is actually from the future.

20) Small Potatoes - Mulder and Scully are called to investigate a town where babies are being born with tails.

21) Zero Sum - Mulder investigates a mailman that was killed by bees and Skinner makes a deal with CMS to save Scully's life.

22) Elegy - Scully investigates the murder at a bowling alley but the strange part is that a number of people see the same woman at the same time in different places.

23) Demons - Mulder wakes up in a motel, he has no idea how he got there, where he has blood on his shirt that belongs to a couple that were murdered.

24) Gethsemane - Mulder travels to the north with someone that believes they have found an alien. When they arrive at the camp, they find everyone dead except for one person.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: One of the greatest seasons of any TV show in history!
Review: With each season through 1993-1998, the popularity and critical acclaim of the X-Files just continued to grow and grow. Season 3 left fans absolutely awestruck, desperately anticipating the Season 4 opener on October 4th 1996. Season 4 continues to build in the mythology arc of the show, with a healthy balance of monster-of-the-week episodes that are more focused around the characters of the show rather than focusing on a certain character who appeared for the one episode - like Seasons 1 and 2. There are an amazing number of classic episodes in Season 4 - all gripping, exciting and absorbing...

Season 4's opener, Herrenvolk, is undoubtedly an X-Files classic in which (to save his dying mother) Mulder must protect the extraterrestrial healer Jeremiah Smith from a ruthless alien bounty hunter. There are a lot of superb mythology episodes in Season 4, but Musings Of A Cigarette Smoking Man is not one. This episode offers a lot of information about CSM's earlier life, but I found the episode dull and rather boring to be frank. The two parter Tunguska/Terma is an excellent coupling of episodes. In the former, a deadly and vicious organism is discovered inside a strange rock. The agents race to determine the rock's origins and unexpectedly meet up with their old foe Alex Krycek. In the latter, Mulder joins forces with Krycek and comes face to face with the startling depths of his deception to gain tangible proof that the organism inside the rock is infact alien. In Memento Mori, Scully is confronted with the fact that she has inoperable cancer, while Mulder and the Lone Gunmen break into a high-security research laboratory to find a cure that could save her life. Tempus Fugit and Max is another excellent Season 4 two-parter. In the former, while investigating into the unexplained crash of a commercial airliner, Mulder and Scully search for answers that lead to the bottom of a desolate lake and a startling discovery. In the latter, the agents set out to prove the passengers on the airliner were deliberately sacrificed by the military in the pursuit of stolen alien technology. Zero Sum was a rather disappointing episode in which Skinner helps the Cigarette-Smoking Man destroy evidence in a fatal bee attack while trapped in a deal to save Scully's life. Skinner's expectations, however, are misleading. Gethsemane is a superb season finale, in which Mulder fights to prove a discovery frozen in the mountains of Canada is irrefutable evidence of alien life, but his quest for the truth only leads to more lies...and an unthinkable (but very clever) conclusion.

The stand-alone episodes of Season 4 are just as good as Season 3, but seem to have a greater depth and are more complex - which makes it harder to understand, but is rewarding in the sense of enjoyment once understood. They include Unruhe, Teliko, The Field Where I Died, Paper Hearts, El Mundo Gira, Kaddish, Unrequited, Synchrony, Elegy and Demons. Home is undoubtedly the best stand-alone episode of Season 4, and definitely the most controversial episode in the show's history. In a small, otherwise peaceful town, the agents investigate the death of an infant with disturbing birth defects and the trail of clues leads to a clan of inbred, genetic mutants. The way the "people" are so detached from any civilisation has - in a way - reverted them to savages (constant reminder of Lord Of The Flies) in which the only way they live their lives is by having children....with other family members. I tried to prepared myself before the episode, but nothing can with the shocking and grossly disturbing scenes contained within. Sanguinarium was another episode with mixed feelings from fans of the show. A series of murders at a prestigious hospital lead Mulder and Scully on the trail of a plastic surgeon who may be attempting to extend his own life through the art of black magic. A brilliant episode - with blood and gore aplenty! In Never Again, Scully begins dating a dangerous stranger after feeling disillusioned with her life. However, the man's jealous tattoo compels him to murder the women he encounters. The episode itself is rather dull, but Jodie Foster (Silence Of The Lambs and Panic Room) offers an excellent voice-over as the tattoo lady! Leonard Betts is another classic episode (recently voted Top 10 of X-Files episodes in a recent poll). When the body of a decapitated paramedic seemingly comes back to life, the agents begin to suspect the man may be an evolutionary freak capable of regeneration. Small Potatoes is another brilliant episode in which the true birth father of small-town babies born with vestigial tails turns out to be a chameleon-like man capable of impersonating anyone - including Mulder. The episode has that rare dose of humour and horror, and an excellent cameo from Christine Cavanaugh (voice of Rugrats' Chuckie and Dexter's Laboratory's Dexter).

OVERALL GRADE: 10/10

Along with Seasons 2, 3 and 5 of the X-Files, I regard Season 4 as an absolute must-have for anyone interested in the show. With each season, the X-Files logically became better, and Season 4 is no exception. The DVD has a range of extra features (too many to mention), which makes this essential for any fan of the show. David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson are again superb (when are they ever not?) as FBI Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully respectively. To ignore Season 4 of the X-Files would be unthinkable, so I strongly suggest you order it from Amazon now!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The X-Files Season Four DVD set - one of the best
Review: Yes. I consider season 4 to be one of the best TXF seasons of all. There is a good balance of mythology episodes and monster-of-the-week-episodes. D.D. and G.A. did really wonderful acting throughout the season. The mythology episodes (Herrenvolk, Tunguska/Terma, Memento Mori, Tempus Fugit/Max, Zero Sum, Gethsemane), which are my personal favorites, did a great job in expanding the mythology. The coloniazation was explained a bit more and Black Cancer was introduced (it's different than Black Oil from season 3). Scully's cancer was found out in 'Leonard Betts'. Aside the great mythology episodes, season 4 gives also fabulous MOTW-episodes, the best being Home, Paper Hearts, Musings of CSM and hilarious Small Potatoes, which is easily one of the best episodes in the history of TXF. Leonard Betts and Demons are also good. But as every season of this GREAT series, there are also some 'baddies'. The worst is without a doubt El Mundo Gira, which has poor story and actors. It's the first episode of all which I would never watch again. The Field Where I Died and Teliko weren't also my favorites.

The technical quality of this DVD set is good. As said two times before, overall picture and sound quality has improved. Full-frame picture is almost crystal clear and Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround track is very good for TV-series. Extras in the set are also improved from the previous three sets, including the documentary, F/X-commercials, five short interviews with writers, special effects commentaries by Paul Rabwin, deleted scenes, TV-spots and international clips. As in season 3 set, season 4 set includes two commentary tracks. They are now for Memento Mori (Frank Spotnitz) and Small Potatoes (Vince Gilligan).

Final conclusion: Buy this set! Buy seasons 1 to 7 at least, after that TXF weren't the same (of course 6 and 7 were a bit worse than 1-5). The X-Files was,is and will be one of the best TV-series in history!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The show keeps getting better
Review: The emotion of the show starts coming out in this season. Without a doubt,"Home" is the best episode this season.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Another season of X-cellence
Review: Though not as memorable as the brilliant third season, the fourth season of The X-Files is one of the best seasons of the series. Full of pivotal events such as when Mulder (David Duchovny) becomes infected with the Black Oil and Scully (Gillian Anderson) discovers she has cancer, Season 4 had storyline developments that would continue to echo throughout the series' entire run. Standout episodes include Herrenvolk, Tunguska/Terma, Memento Mori, and Zero Sum; all of which expand the series' mythology, while stand alone episodes such as "Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man", which features the Cancer Man (William B. Davis) being involved in a number of conspiracies, and "Home", an episode that actually was banned from being played on Fox due to it's surprising splatter like violence and story content which involves inbreeding. All in all, the fourth season of The X-Files is fantastic, and this is when the series was in it's prime.


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