The X-Files

Started by MacGuffin, November 23, 2003, 07:42:14 PM

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Sleepless

I'm really proud of the Milagro episode. Hopefully we can reach those heights again before this thing runs its course.
He held on. The dolphin and all the rest of its pod turned and swam out to sea, and still he held on. This is it, he thought. Then he remembered that they were air-breathers too. It was going to be all right.

Jeremy Blackman

What are you doing next? Twin Peaks?

You can take a break first.

Sleepless

I'm not sure. I've been debating with myself the past couple of months. I'd like to do a movie podcast of some sort, not new releases, but rather older films I'm a fan of, or that are commonly regarding as great/classic films. But I can't figure out what the angle would be - or, if I even want to commit to that. Podcasting is a lot of work. Right now I'm on the fence between just focusing on doing some writing for myself versus trying to do that but also do a weekly film podcast. If I do, I want to make sure it's planned in such a way that the workload is minimal. We'll be back doing XPTXF for the inevitable season 11 though.
He held on. The dolphin and all the rest of its pod turned and swam out to sea, and still he held on. This is it, he thought. Then he remembered that they were air-breathers too. It was going to be all right.

Jeremy Blackman

Bi-weekly podcasts are considered acceptable these days.

I'm not sure you'd need an angle for a movie podcast, necessarily. Structurally, from what I've seen that works, you could go through the plot (using Wikipedia or whatever as a guide), stopping along the way for discussion and tangents.

Sleepless

Anyone got a listener Q I could answer on the pod? I'm pretty much out at this point.
He held on. The dolphin and all the rest of its pod turned and swam out to sea, and still he held on. This is it, he thought. Then he remembered that they were air-breathers too. It was going to be all right.

Jeremy Blackman

I just sent a few questions. I could probably think of more later.

Sleepless

Awesome. We're recording one tonight so will definitely use one of them. Won't go live for another few weeks though.
He held on. The dolphin and all the rest of its pod turned and swam out to sea, and still he held on. This is it, he thought. Then he remembered that they were air-breathers too. It was going to be all right.

Jeremy Blackman

I have to say, I almost squealed when you read my question. The answers were really thorough and satisfying, too. Surprised no one mentioned Darin Morgan. Kumail has probably showered him with enough love to last a while, though.

Sleepless

You're mentioned again this week. Otherwise, it's far from our best episode.
He held on. The dolphin and all the rest of its pod turned and swam out to sea, and still he held on. This is it, he thought. Then he remembered that they were air-breathers too. It was going to be all right.

Jeremy Blackman

Wow, this made my day. Those were some amazingly thorough answers. I feel like a puppetmaster or something.

You in particular nailed what I was getting at with the question. I'd heard somewhere that, just in terms of dynamic lighting, filming very dark scenes with low light (with just a pair of flashlight beams shining through, for example), what the X-Files did was unprecedented. Even Twin Peaks was 90% brightly-lit. The X-Files, as popular as it was, must have inspired a lot of directors and future show creators to think of TV as a visual medium where these things could be done.

Jeremy Blackman

Today's episode of X-Philes Talk X-Files is really entertaining. Listen to it!

http://www.davidtharwood.com/podcast/surekill-this-is-not-happening/

Jeremy Blackman

The latest 2 episodes of X-Philes Talk X-Files are especially delightful.

Listener question continues to be my favorite segment. It's refreshing how much thought you guys put into the answers every time.

#GoodAssCop

Sleepless

Thanks for the positive feedback as always! We actually recorded the IWTB ep last night, so the weight of the rewatch is now off my shoulders completely. The revival eps should be a breeze.

Oh, and we're always in need of new listener questions to answer...
He held on. The dolphin and all the rest of its pod turned and swam out to sea, and still he held on. This is it, he thought. Then he remembered that they were air-breathers too. It was going to be all right.

Jeremy Blackman

SPOILERS

Tad O'Malley, I think, is being misunderstood as a Glenn Beck stand-in, when he's clearly an Alex Jones stand-in. The rhetoric and topics are exactly the same (i.e. mostly guns and FEMA camps, and btw people should remember FEMA from Fight The Future). Alex Jones does rail against "liberals" in the same passing way that Tad O'Malley does. However, he also goes out of his way to argue that the conservative/liberal binary is in some ways a distracting illusion — that those with the most power are in fact mostly allied and interested in global power in the same way. Which is probably one of the less crazy things that one can safely take away from Alex Jones.

Chris Carter has explicitly drawn inspiration from Alex Jones and the like since the beginning of the show, so this feels oddly traditional. Thematically it's rock-solid. It does stretch credulity, though, that one could get obscenely rich as a conspiracy theorist. Have him constantly trying to sell gold on the air, make him slightly pathetic, and it might have rung more true.

I've seen comments that Mulder is a tea partier now. Are people stupid? His first reaction to Tad O'Malley was that he was a "jackass." Mulder made him prove his conspiracy bonafides before he would even talk to him. Then he was happy to overlook a few differences of opinion in exchange for the obvious benefits of this relationship. Which is not the first time he's done that.

In any case, I was half-expecting to be disappointed by the premier, but I kind of loved it. It's just so deliciously dense. (Contrast that with the second movie.) It's like Chris Carter made a list of everything people enjoy about The X-Files and tried to fit it all in this episode.

The scene where Scully was yelling at Mulder, "you just want to believe!" etc. was a bit cringeworthy. But that is sincerely the only thing that bothered me. I am fairly confused by the negative and mixed reviews. Is this show really that subjective?

They mention at least twice that Mulder and Scully "had a child together." This is the first time the show has explicitly acknowledged that, right?

Also, is this the first time that Scully is explicitly acknowledging that aliens exist, or at least that alien DNA does?

I loved the abduction fakeout that turned into an assassination. A really beautiful and chilling illustration of human malevolence intermixing with alien technology. It was like a scene from Syriana if those guys had spacecraft in their arsenal. Pretty terrifying.

I'm not sure the X-Files mythology has ever had more potential. Seriously. I did not expect that out of this revival, but there it is. The whole thing feels more vital and relevant than ever, for obvious reasons. And the current events references, against all odds, totally worked for me. Even (or especially) the Obama clip. That was kind of genius.

I'm curious where the mythology is going and what exactly is considered settled. The show has grappled before with this question — is it aliens, or the government using alien technology, or some unholy combination? There were at least a couple early mythology episodes that brought this up, and "Jose Chung's From Outer Space" is all about it. Mulder seems to think he knows the answer now. This is characterized a little too much as an epiphany, almost like the question has never occurred to him before, but I can forgive that as an aid for new viewers.

Do we think Mulder is a little too confident about his hypothesis? Or is this officially the new direction? Either way, I'm excited.

CSM being alive is so completely absurd. In the finale, they went to great lengths to prove that he was 100% dead — showing flames shooting out of his skull, for example. I would have been totally on board if this was a clone, or if the other guy was a clone, but it's clearly the same person, who's been patched up and still has the neck hole. Since all of his flesh was burned off and his skeleton was incinerated by a missile, I'm not sure why that continuity was technically important. Unless that last scene was Mulder's dream or something, this is a flat-out retcon.

Jeremy Blackman

Some elaboration:

This article is emblematic of the Glenn Beck misreading.

From Entertainment Weekly:

"The idea of a New World Order is relevant," Carter says. When we suggest the show is embracing "right-wing" theories, Carter counters, "It's not necessarily. I don't see Alex Jones as right-wing, I see him as libertarian ... [and O'Malley is] a character who casts everything in doubt."

That same article also suggests O'Malley is "loosely based on conservative online personalities Alex Jones and Glenn Beck," which Fox confirmed to this publication.

I'm sure there's a splash of Beck (eww), but it's clear he's not the primary influence. Can you imagine Glenn Beck actually locating a replica UFO?

I think actual conspiracy theorists universally consider Glenn Beck to be a "gatekeeper."