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The X-Files - The Complete First Season

The X-Files - The Complete First Season

List Price: $99.98
Your Price: $69.99
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: a great start
Review: This is a great start to one of the best, if not the best, Television series ever created. It introduces us to two of our favorite characters of the 90s, Fox Mulder and Dana Scully. They are the heart of the show; without them, the show would not have made it to 9 years.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: An okay season.
Review: Season one of The X-Files plays mostly like a monster-of-the-week show. There's plenty of mutants for TV's most popular FBI agents to battle, including ghosts, killer computers, pyrokinetic psychos, and human-eating insects. While great on the suspense and loaded with atmosphere, the season lacks the mythology that makes this series so great. Still, it introduces us to the characters and establishes the show's formula and great writing. Not bad, but certainly not the best season, either. It has great moments though. The pilot episode is great, as well as "Squeeze", "Ice", "Eve", "Beyond the Sea", "Tooms", and "The Erlenmeyer Flask." Mulder is established as the unconventional believer, and Scully the skeptical scientist. This season suffers from a lack of drama and character development. Until "Beyond the Sea", Scully isn't given the chance to shine as a character. And Mulder trods through the season chasing one monster from the next. Great TV, but nothing compared to what's to come.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excellent DVD set for the best TV show
Review: This X-Files collection should set a standard for all other manufacturers of series DVD's. While it may be a bit pricey (I got it as a gift, after toying with the idea of purchasing it for almost a year), it makes up for it by looking and feeling like a polished product - it seems that FOX went out of their way to make this collection worthy of the X-Files name - from the impeccable DVD menus, to the specials on the last disc.
The game, often mentioned, is a browser-based "Carmen Sandiego"-ish game, in case anyone's wondering. It's not really fun to play, but then again, I didn't buy it for the game anyway, so for me, it's as if it wasn't even there.
The episodes on the DVD are some of the best ever made - from "Deep Throat", to "Ice", and "Gender Bender", and provide a detailed look into what turned out to be the show's most important year. The features are also excellent - from removed scenes, to interviews and special segments. In other words, there really is nothing that I can say about this set that is negative - and that includes the slick packaging with an informative brochure. I will conclude by saying that I've seen a lot of sets, and this one really tops them all (including the Simpsons season 1 set). Buy it, if you can afford it.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The classic beginning.
Review: This season is the beginning of what was to come for "The X-Files". Unlike all other seasons, this one is not spliced together with the classic alien mythology episodes the series is now famous for. Instead, it's an entire season of stand-alone episodes, spare a few alien stories. Although lacking the wonderful mythology arc, this season began the classic X-Files formula and changed TV forever. Starting with the excellent Pilot episode, each episode is a monster-of-the-week type thing, a kind of homage to shows like "The Twilight Zone". The elements are all in place: the dark atmosphere, the creepy plots, and great cinematography. The first half of the season is okay, despite a few lost efforts such as "The Jersey Devil" and "Ghost in the Machine". The series really picks up with "Ice", placing Mulder and Scully in the arctic with parasitic worms. The last half of the season is more entertaining, with more intriguing stories. While the lack of the mythology arc puts a damper on the season, the stand-alone episodes are some of the classics. "Eve", "Fire", "Beyond the Sea", "Tooms", etc. All are great episodes that stand out to establish a medium for "The X-Files". Probably the most serious season, it lacks some of the bubbly humor and comedic efforts that follow in later seasons. No casual jokes are exchanged between Mulder and Scully and the most emotional episode is probably "Beyond the Sea", which deals with the death of Scully's father. The season wraps up its scattered alien episodes with what some consider the first true mythology episode "The Erlenmeyer Flask". Despite being a terrific episode that launchs the series and is the stepping stone for seasons to come, it's a great season finale, maybe the best episode of the season. While its rigidness and seriousness brings it down a bit, this is classic television. And besides, fans didn't know what was to come and knew next to nothing of the mythology. This is the season that starts it all. Everything is set up, the potential is there, and a phenomenon is born.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Three days or less to see it... all the time to repeat it
Review: I bought this X-Files season 1 box for one reason: I had only seen six or seven episodes from it... I bought it as soon as I knew it was available, with all the complications for a person who (back then) has no internet and lives in a country like Colombia (I ended up paying about 200 dolars for it). What I saw when I opened the box was a beautifuly made product. I was with a cousin who just said: "that is just beautiful". Then I started watching the episodes in order and I was stroke by the quality of the image. I watched the entire season in three days and I pretty much liked it. There are some stinking ones (like the infamous Space, The Jersey Devil, Fire, Roland and Born Again)... but I discovered some great ones like Ice, Beyond The sea (the best of the season if you ask me), Conduit, E.B.E... and well, I already knew how good The Erlenmeyer Flask, Deep Throat, Squeeze, Tooms and the Pilot were (although the last one I had only seen harshly cut by the FOX (latina) network in order to fit in the one hour schedule). There is no mythology per se in this season, but the UFO and extraterrestrial related episodes work pretty good as standalones. Then there is the season ender which is one of the best ever for the series... Actually this episode gives birth to the mythology.
The extras are good. But the deleted scenes from the pilot deserve to be mentioned appart.
This boxed set gave me a really special moment. I finally could say: I have seen the whole series to date.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Probably my favorite season
Review: I'm a latecomer to The X-Files. Sure, I watched the episodes sporadically over the years, but never really became an X-Phile until the first four seasons were released on DVD.

That's when I bought them all, and watched the episodes in order, from the Pilot episode in season one right through to the cliffhanger in season four.

I'm amazed by how well-acted and -scripted the shows were. And how unique. And special. I wasn't a huge David Duchovny fan...until I watched him do his thing episode by episode, year after year, on DVD. Now I truly appreciate Duchovny's somewhat deadpan style of acting.

Fox Mulder's (Duchovny) low-key, wry-but-witty take on life was a joy to behold. His one liners sometimes made me wince, but they showed his character's detached approach to life's often "spooky" surprises. Combined with his passion to find the truth (not to mention his abducted sister), these qualities made for a character unlike any other on TV.

I've been watching the new (season nine) episodes of The X-Files on TV at the same time I watch (and re-watch!) the episodes from the first four seasons. There's no comparison. It's amazing how far the show has slipped. Series creator Chris Carter said when he conceived Mulder and Scully, he purposely switched the traditional roles. He wanted Mulder to be the passionate, wide-eyed believer, and Scully (the woman) to be the scientific skeptic.

Well, the new episodes have flipped Carter's creative concept on its head. John Doggett's character is the skeptic. Scully is now the believer. Agent Reyes is somewhere in the middle. But without Mulder in the series, the show doesn't have the same feel. And the episodes have lost their wide-eyed (but believable) underpinnings. I mean, come on. Scully with an alien baby (or, at least, one with paranormal capabilites)! Agent Reyes wandering in limbo while Doggett tries valiantly to prevent the plug from being pulled on her! The episodes are now about the characters in the series, rather than on cases they investigate. I hate to say this, but The X-Files has become just another somewhat bland TV show. More a soap opera than a groundbreaking TV phenomenon.

But not on DVD.

DVDs of the first four seasons (all that are currently available as I write this) prove The X-Files began with a bang...and didn't let up for many many seasons. If you're new to The X-Files, or if you're not a big fan of season nine (the current and last), you can always return to the show's highly imaginative and unique roots with season one on DVD.

Season one contains some of my favorite episodes (the Pilot, Squeeze and Deep Throat being just three of many). I know the series gelled and the actors got more comfortable with each other over time (season two and season three are extremely slick and well-done), however I get a thrill out of seeing how it all began.

For fans of TV science fiction writing at its best, and those like me who enjoy watching a show's hesitant -- but brilliant -- origins, I heartily recommend the first season of The X-Files on DVD.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I love these DVD's
Review: X-Files was an unprecedented show (in my opinion, until the past couple of years) and though I do agree that it is now time to close it out, these episodes are still great 9 years and endless TV marathons later.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: If you're an X-Phile, but have never ever seen...
Review: ...the first season, you should really splash out and get this.

Truth: X-Files season one was one of the best seasons, ever. Period.

Truth: After season four, it really started to slip.

Truth: Without Mulder and Scully, there is NO X-Files.

With incredible picture quality, crystal clear sound, and some fascinating insights into the minds of the creator and writers of the X-Files, this is a must-have DVD set for your Sci-Fi collection.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Trust No One (except this review)
Review: I watched this show religiously from the first episode in 1993 until about 2 years ago-I just got too busy and frankly the writing was going down hill a la E.R. This set showcases that first glorious season in crisp beautiful picture and sound along with many extras. Like another reviewer said, 'man they don't make them like they used to...' Great stuff-well worth the money.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Would have been nice but . . .
Review: I popped the first disk into my DVD player. All was fine and wonderful until the disk began skipping and the picture and audio become distorted. Others have mentioned problems with the quality of these disks. You might want to go with VHS.


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