The X-Files

[03]

this podcast is great

[Sleepless]

Sooo glad people are listening and enjoying! Doing a weekly podcast is hard work!

[Reelist]

I'm gonna use this podcast to get me into the X files more. As hard as I tried, I just couldn't make it through that first season with all those episodes and so many other series to watch on Netflix. So my question is if there are any standalone eps I could follow with little backstory. I saw 'Home' some time ago and that was a shocker, definitely pushed the boundaries of what I thought was allowed on FOX back then. Throw some of those my way, I'm getting bored with all the comedy/drama shows I watch.

[Jeremy Blackman]

So my question is if there are any standalone eps I could follow with little backstory. I saw 'Home' some time ago and that was a shocker, definitely pushed the boundaries of what I thought was allowed on TV. Throw some of those my way, I'm getting bored with all the comedy/drama shows I watch.

Absolutely...

5.19 - Folie À Deux
My favorite episode. Written by Vince Gilligan. Creepy, paranoid, and inventive. This one speaks to me deeply for some reason, which would take a while to explain.

3.20 - Jose Chung's From Outer Space
Widely considered one of the best episodes. Written by Darin Morgan, probably the best X-Files writer. Kind of an alien Rashomon. Lots of fun with some excellent cameos.

Those are my two favorites. Some other very fun, sharp standalone episodes:

7.12 - X-Cops
6.21 - Field Trip
6.13 - Arcadia
3.4 - Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose (Morgan)
6.4 - Dreamland I
6.5 - Dreamland II
6.15 - Monday

^ Vince Gilligan wrote or co-wrote most of those.

If you want something more serious and disturbing, I would have recommended Home, and another great one is 8.05 - Roadrunners.

Fun fact: Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose has a direct connection to Soderbergh's Full Frontal, which I talked about somewhere. Kind of a cross-spoiler situation.

[Sleepless]

I actually just watched Home this morning. Good ep. Fox actually had a self-imposed ban on that episode after it's initial airing. I think they didn't repeat it for a decade or so, then put it on as part of an XF Halloween marathon. Trivia, bitch.

Here's a list with eps from each season of some of my personal favorite standalone episodes. I think I know your taste, so it's a little skewed that way too. You can definitely tell a shift in the tone of the show as it evolves (most immediately when they moved production to LA with S6, but on a more gradual trajectory as they got bigger budgets.) Let me know if you decide you want a mythology crash-course at some point too.

1.
Beyond the Sea
Shapes

2.
Die Hand Die Verletzt
The Calusari

3.
Oubliette
Revelations
Grotesque
Pusher
Jose Chung's From Outer Space

4.
Home
Sanguinarium
Synchrony

5.
Detour
The Post-Modern Prometheus
Chinga
Kill Switch
Bad Blood

6.
Drive
Terms of Endearment
Monday

7.
The Amazing Maleeni
X-Cops
Je Souhaite

8.
Patience
Invocation
Alone

9.
John Doe
Hellbound

[03]

i cannot thank you guys enough for getting me further into this show. i really didnt give it any attention until breaking bad, and then gave it barely any, just slight reluctant sampling. but now i realize this is one of the best series of all time and you guys highlighting the greatest ones is truly appreciated.

[Sleepless]

Be sure to let us know what you think of the ones you watch.

[KJ]

i cannot thank you guys enough for getting me further into this show. i really didnt give it any attention until breaking bad, and then gave it barely any, just slight reluctant sampling. but now i realize this is one of the best series of all time and you guys highlighting the greatest ones is truly appreciated.

yeah, i'm gonna start watching this now. I've never watched it before and don't know much about it.

[Sleepless]

We recorded two eps back-to-back last night and talked for over three hours. I have to edit that shit. And I'm doing another recording session tomorrow so I can get a little ahead of myself (for a while, anyway.) It's been an X-Files intense week for me.

Anwyay, I come baring news not of my podcast, but rather the revival. A new 15 second teaser dropped last night. I did a quick breakdown of it right here.

I will say it's pretty cool chatting with the peeps from xfn as they are actually in contact with people from Fox and 1013, so I'm getting a bit of a sense of stuff that's going on beyond the public's perception of things.

[Drenk]

The Post-Modern Prometheus made me cry. What a beautiful and bitersweet ending.

[Jeremy Blackman]

OMG The X-Files Files is back.

And apparently, Kumail Nanjiani is going to be in this new season of The X-Files. What the heck.

Sleepless, you have him beat in terms of production quality (this episode sounds like it was recorded in a bathroom with a Macbook's internal mic), but now you need a guest spot on the actual show to compete with KN.

[Jeremy Blackman]

I'm so confused. Just started the latest X-Files Files, and Kumail asked his guest NOT to watch the episode. Still good so far though.

Sleepless's podcast is firing on all cylinders btw. For the last 4-5 episodes it really feels like a mature podcast. Everyone is at ease and sharp and it's highly entertaining.

[Sleepless]

Clearly, you should just stop encouraging Kumail and delete your subscription to his inferior product ;)

So glad to hear that (a) you're still listening and (b) you've enjoyed the last few eps. I had been feeling a bit overwhelmed with the whole podcasting obligation recently, and felt that for the past few eps I haven't kept the conversation as focused as I'd hoped. So it's nice to hear people are still enjoying. The episode I'm finishing editing right now (which goes live tomorrow) is actually our longest by far, and even though I'm trying to cut it down as much as possible, there is so much good stuff in there. I'm enjoying it.

[Sleepless]

First trailer for the revival

[Jeremy Blackman]

I find it oddly difficult to draw conclusions from that trailer. They didn't really choose the best lines necessarily. Gillian Anderson is absolutely full of pathos, though. She's really on top of her game these days.

Also I wanted to comment on how great Sleepless's podcast has been. (It's called X-Philes Talk X-Files, by the way. Download it!) It really feels like a team effort at this point; everyone seems 100% invested and involved in each episode. I think it's a mark of maturity when episodes start to go long. (You can see it happen in particular with Judge John Hodgman and How Did This Get Made at crucial points in their development. They more than doubled in length.)

It would be great if you could all meet up at some point, set a few microphones around a table and record like 3 episodes. That would be great. Nothing beats an in-person podcast.

It did sadden me that there was no one to sing the praises of Folie A Deux, my favorite episode. To respond to your criticism, I think the unusual structure is brilliant. It throws you off and contributes to the feeling of unease, that something is very wrong beneath the surface (a Lynchian touch). Also I think it's one of the series' very best iterations of the "oh, maybe the nutjob was right" scenario.

Todd VanDerWerff's review does a great job illuminating why the episode is great. Worth a read.