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Television
The X-Files - The Complete Second Season

The X-Files - The Complete Second Season

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

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The first of a string of exceptional seasons
Review: With the second season "The X-Files" raised the bar and managed to maintain a series of excellent seasons through the sixth. After that, the distraction from the production of the movie and Carter's other lesser series ("Millenium" which borrowed the look and texture of "Seven")began to take its toll. Nevertheless, even season seven was far above average.

The story arc involving the alien conspiracy kicks into high gear and all the major players are in place by the time of the second season. Season two starts off with "The X-Files" closed down. Mulder and Scully have been reassigned nevertheless, "X" is Mulder's friend inside the FBI. Eventually, the X-Files are reopened and Mulder & Scully discover far deeper mysteries than they ever imagined during season one.

We get all the original broadcast episodes with the addition of Chris Carter's commentary on nearly half of the season. There's also international clips (which are always good for a chuckle)and also a number of great extras. What matters is whether or not the set is worth it based on A) The quality of the episodes and B) The quality of the transfers.

A) The writing establihed a benchmark that all other series (from "CSI" to "Buffy")benefited from. While Carter may have been inspired by "The Night Stalker" television series, he way beyond that series with drama that could hold its own with the best of mainstream television.
B)The transfer by Universal Studios is quite good. The compression technlogy used to create the DVDs does suffer a bit from all the dark sequences. The picture isn't always as clear as it could be but, again, we've got nearly 4 hours of complex images on one dual layer disc.

The set comes with a twelve page booklet that details every episode and gives the general production info. It also includes a picture from these which, if you're like me, helps because I can never remember the title of many of my favorite episodes.
While I didn't like the accordian style presentation of the DVDs at first, they're pretty well put together and, when compared to those for other sets, are well designed with a great deal of care put into the art direction. Overall, it's a classy package and the price has never been better.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Holy Crap
Review: Did the X files ever get a budget boost in this season. The show looks great all of a sudden. this series really starts to lay the ground work for later seasons, more so than the first. They develope the characters and story arcs much fuller in this series. Great series, but still better seasons to come. Buy this.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Wonderful... the turning point for the X-Files
Review: Whereas the first season gave us an idea of what the characters were, how they handled their cases, etc., this is the season that really pushes it and strengthens the characters and storylines. The explosive two parters "Duane Barry/Ascension" and "Colony/End Game" are the highlights of this great year in TV. The former demonstrates Scully's fight to protect Mulder as we gouges into the truth, which leads to her abduction by aliens. The latter demonstrates what we're really lookng for and one of the most important characters since Deep Throat in the first season: the alien bounty hunter.

Again, special features are good, but just a drop in the ocean compared to the episodes. This is undoubtedly one of the strongest early seasons in all of TV, and I highly recommend getting this one along with the first.

Deny Everything- Ascension tagline

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: One of the best seasons!!
Review: I am a big fan of The X-FILES.
I now have seasons 1,2,3,4 and 5
on DVD.I will someday get all 9
seasons.

I love the 2nd season alot cos'
it has alot of episodes about
Mulder trying to find Samantha
and more investigations on finding
evidence and proof of aliens.

I love the episodes that feature my
favorite characters such as Mr.X,Alex
Crycheck and the lone gun men and the
smoking man.I dont't really care for
the cheesy episodes which there are
alot of.Some of them just totally suck!!

For every die hard fan,this season is a
must own for your X-FILES collection.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: More classic episodes
Review: This season is "le creme de le creme." This is where Dana Scully gets abducted. This is where we get to see Alex Kryzek. AD Skinner takes on a more prominent role here. "X", Mulder's informant, is also introduced in this season. There are also a lot of pretty good stand-alone episodes. "Bloodless" was very interesting. I think my favorite episode of all is "Anasazi" simply because it's one of the best cliffhangers of the series. Once you see it, this episode will leave you hungering to see what happens next in Season 3 of the X-Files.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: An outstanding sophomore season for a truly great series
Review: There are two major differences between Season One and Season Two of THE X-FILES. First, there is an overall increase in the quality of individual episodes. The writing and production in Season One was very sharp, but the writing was even more finely honed in the second season. Even in the episodes that dealt with the "phenomena of the week," there is a persistent increase in the quality of the new characters introduced, and the complexity of the situations. In other words, there is no sophomore slump for these guys. The second major difference is a slight increase in the complexity of the back story. Partially this is done by a couple of multi-episode stories and partially by developing the longer arc of a complex and nefarious conspiracy of silence on the part of a shadowy federal agency that seems to be connected with the Department of Defense. There is a great deal of character development, especially of secondary characters. The Deep Throat of Season One has been replaced by a new Deep Throat, a highly placed African-American who is far more ruthless than the original Deep Throat. Assistant Deputy Director Skinner becomes a more important character, one whose loyalties are hard to place, but one who clearly is capable of at times being Mulder and Scully's most loyal friend, though more frequently their taskmaster and disciplinarian. The Smoking Man continues to lurk in the shadows, radiating patronizing tyranny and an aura of conspiratorial intrigue. Even Mulder and Scully, who were magnificently conceived characters from the very first episode, learn new things that show their lives to be more complex than they had suspected (and in the two shows that begin Season Three that complete the story that begins in the final episode of Season Two show that there is much, much more to learn than they even remotely suspect).

The start of the season finds Scully in a coma, the X-Files unit disbanded, and Mulder assigned to outrageously trivial surveillance work. Of course, all works out in a series of spectacular episodes. Those fans of Gillian Anderson's crystal blue-eyed, porcelain beauty might notice that she doesn't look quite as lovely early in the season, a function partly of a terrible hairstyling mistake (her bob with bangs instead of her usual part, which utterly alters the balance of her face) and partly of her being extremely pregnant. I applaud the makers of the show for not trying to work her pregnancy into the story line, instead hiding it use of the billowing trench coats that help constitute Scully and Mulder's uniforms. The pregnancy is easy to see in her face, it getting rounder and fuller as she got further into the pregnancy. In fact, if you do a screenshot of her in her last episodes before having her daughter, and compare it to one from an episode either early in Season One or from Season Three, the difference in her face is dramatic. Pregnancies are always hard to work around, but this is one of the more interesting attempts in TV history for their refusal to work it into the plot.

One thing that is not frequently noted is how unusual both Mulder and Scully are from most action heroes. Neither has especial physical prowess. In fact, it is hard to recall a time when Mulder has come out on top in a scuffle. These guys are not street fighters, and while each can often be found drawing their guns when exploring a room or building, they are not trigger happy individuals. Furthermore, only rarely do they come across as being in absolute control of situations. They are not forceful individuals, either physically or in personality. They tend to back down a lot. They do not throw their authority around very often, not merely, I suspect, because they do not trust that judges will back them up, but because their style is more to persuade and cajole rather than to force. They stand in stark contrast to all similar characters in action or FBI shows.

My one complaint with Season Two is that there is too much emphasis on individual shows. I'm sure much of the cause of this is pressure from network execs to limit the multi-episode stories. Certainly many of the single episode shows are absolutely outstanding. For instance, the one featuring Jim Rose and The Enigma from the Jim Rose Freak Show is incredibly entertaining (as well as quite funny, with the most unique ending of an evil entity in the first two seasons of the show) as well as shocking; it is one thing to see The Enigma shoveling living bugs down his throat (in their stage show, he eats worse), but it is rather surprising when Scully snacks on a grasshopper (something that interviews confirm was not faked, though her producing the grasshopper later through sleight of hand was). But as fine as many of the individual episodes are, the series rises to a completely different level in those episodes that expand to two or three episodes. The stand alone episodes make great TV, but the multi-episode arcs make spectacular television. I always experience a sense of disappointment when I realize an arc has ended and we have returned to the X-File-of-the-Week format.

Those who have not yet seen THE X-FILES in their entirety are lucky because they can now work their way all the way through the series season by season, not having to wait a week (or several months in the case of season-ending cliffhangers) to see what happens next, and being able to watch them in pristine DVD without having to be interrupted by inane commercials (is "inane commercial" redundant?). This is television as fine as it has ever gotten.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great season of X-Files
Review: Seasons two, three, and four remain my favorite of the X-Files series. But it is season two that truly introduces us to Scully and Mulder and gives us more insight into who they are and their relationship to one another. The Duane Barry/Ascension/One Breath arc was really the high point of the season. Scully gets abducted (it might still be a mystery by exactly whom) and when she returns, we see the depth of feeling Mulder has for Scully, and vice versa. Their love and respect for each other seems to run deeper than just romance and that seems to be the factor that made X-Files fans such ardent X-Files fans.

Anasazi is also an excellent episode and serves as a nice introduction for season three. I would definitely recommend seeing all of these episodes, but I think the DVD collection is overpriced. I've bought Alias and Buffy DVD sets for under fifty dollars, so I'm at a loss as to why they've priced these at seventy to eighty dollars.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The season that really started it...
Review: As great as season one was and as much as I love it, season 2 is the one that really jump starts this show. Season 2 is where an actuall mythology really gets developed and used throughout the entire season that helps link episodes together and get an ultimate story underway. This season also starts the use of comedy in the series (ex. 'Humbug') and contains, my favorite episode of the x-files 'Duane Berry'.
The DVD set packs quite a few extras and is better quality then youll get on TNT or SCI-FI, and you can watch all your episodes in order. If you were only going to buy one season of the x-files I'd recommend season 3, but if you were going to buy two seasons, I'd recommend seasons 2 and 3.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The first of a string of exceptional seasons
Review: With the second season "The X-Files" raised the bar and managed to maintain a series of excellent seasons through the sixth. After that, the distraction from the production of the movie and Carter's other lesser series ("Millenium" which borrowed the look and texture of "Seven")began to take its toll. Nevertheless, even season seven was far above average.

The story arc involving the alien conspiracy kicks into high gear and all the major players are in place by the time of the second season. Season two starts off with "The X-Files" closed down. Mulder and Scully have been reassigned nevertheless, "X" is Mulder's friend inside the FBI. Eventually, the X-Files are reopened and Mulder & Scully discover far deeper mysteries than they ever imagined during season one. The highlight of season two, for me, is "Duane Barry" and "Ascension". Production values are up as well during this season which means that the effects and sets improved. It's clear that Fox released they had a hit on their hands.

We get all the original broadcast episodes with the addition of Chris Carter's commentary on nearly half of the season. There's also international clips (which are always good for a chuckle)and also a number of great extras. What matters is whether or not the set is worth it based on A) The quality of the episodes and B) The quality of the transfers.

A) The writing establihed a benchmark that all other series (from "CSI" to "Buffy")benefited from. While Carter may have been inspired by "The Night Stalker" television series, he way beyond that series with drama that could hold its own with the best of mainstream television.
B)The transfer by Universal Studios is quite good. The compression technlogy used to create the DVDs does suffer a bit from all the dark sequences. The picture isn't always as clear as it could be but, again, we've got nearly 4 hours of complex images on one dual layer disc.

The set comes with a twelve page booklet that details every episode and gives the general production info. It also includes a picture from these which, if you're like me, helps because I can never remember the title of many of my favorite episodes.
While I didn't like the accordian style presentation of the DVDs at first, they're pretty well put together and, when compared to those for other sets, are well designed with a great deal of care put into the art direction. Overall, it's a classy package and the price has never been better.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Indeed, one of the finest seasons ever...
Review: This was the longest season of the X-Files...25 episodes.

The opener, "Little Green Men", is a little weak. But immediately thereafter "The Host"...a memorable and great episode, and the introduction of Alex Krycek...picked up the momentum.
"Blood" is an inventive and scary little tale. "Sleepless", with the introduction of X, is another classic. "Colony-End Game" is one of the weaker mythology arc stories (though note the intro. of the Mulder family), but some of the finest stand-alones ever are here: "Irresistible", "Die Hand Die Verletzt", "Humbug" (one of the all-time classics), "Our Town" (an underappreciated gem), "F. Emasculata" (another underappreciated gem, and one of the key episodes in the Cancer Man mythology).
Fox does a great job with the packaging. Don't miss this season if you're buying them selectively. And for the devoted X-Philes, you don't need to be told how great this season is.


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