a_badguy

"Eve"
12/10/93

I was re-energized thanks to "Fallen Angel" but the downside is that I had to wait two weeks until the next episode. It almost seemed like a chore again when I started "Eve" but it was able to hold my interest...and more. There's a lot to like about this episode. Deep Throat makes a quick appearance, Mark Snow's music was great, and the child actors weren't too bad. It was a neat gimmick how Mulder brought up alien abduction as a possible theory on what happened to the girls' parents, then it suddenly turns into being about homicidal clones. Those girls were really devious and I would've liked to watch a sequel to this episode. Perhaps the Syndicate would try breeding/cloning Adams and Eves to create a population immune to that black oil, or something. I haven't seen hardly any episodes involving black oil and I only watched the movie one time (I fell asleep), so I don't know much about that part of the mythology. Overall, this episode was very enjoyable. A-

Next up, "Fire", then another break for the holidays.

Weeks 9 & 10 Recap:
Space (11/12/93)
Fallen Angel (11/19/93)

I'm rejuvenated! "I Want to Believe" and most of the Season One episodes I've watched since September have really taken the wind out of my sails, but I'm finally back to loving the show. Normally the myth episodes aren't among my favorites. I prefer the episodes with a really good monster story like "Squeeze" and "Folie A Deux." Then there's also the Darin Morgan episodes, "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose" and "Jose Chung's 'From Outer Space'"". However, "Fallen Angel" was a mixture of both. There was an invisible alien burning people, which seemed a little like Predator, and I'm actually glad they never showed what it looked like. Besides referencing Predator with the cloaked alien, I noticed the music had a thumping that reminded me of the score from John Carpenter's The Thing. I'm pretty sure that was intentional.

The best part was the conclusion. I liked the camera work as Scully was seated at a long table, which was zooming towards her; it was very Twilight Zone'ish. Then Deep Throat's scene where he said to keep your enemies closer. I was actually expecting that to be CSM standing outside but then I remembered he doesn't become a "regular" until "Tooms." Isn't that just dandy how they hook me with an episode like that, then take a two week break for Thanksgiving?

My grade for "Fallen Angel" is an A+. I really wish they would've done a story like that for the second movie. At first I thought making a standalone movie would be the best route. It could introduce possible new fans to Mulder and Scully and show them that it wasn't just about aliens all the time. Now I've changed my mind and I think if they were going to do it, they should've made it myth-centered. Mulder defying authority and tracking down some strange air craft, and then Scully not wanting to support him would still fit since she's now a doctor. You'd get that Mulder-Scully tension for those types of fans, then the alien/monster/Rebel Mulder for everyone else. It's not like a third movie was a possibility then or now, so why not go all the way when you have the chance?

I won't comment too much about "Space." I didn't mind it the first time because it was fresh and it reminded me of a cheesy Outer Limits episode with Shatner. Now it just felt like a chore. The worst of the bunch so far with very little redeeming value. My grade: D.

Delayed...again!

"Ice."
November 5th, 1993
This episode also continues a trend of the first season, borrowing from classic horror. For "Squeeze" Morgan & Wong borrowed from the first Night Stalker tv movie, this episode is just like The Thing but without the shaping shifting alien being. Instead we get worms that feed on anger hormones. It still keeps the paranoia from The Thing though, as we don't know which of the crew is infected. I liked the cast for this episode too. We've got a Desperate Housewise, Kenny Banya, and John Connor's foster dad. Since I hadn't watched this one in quite a while, probably close to two years, I wasn't sure if it would hold up. I think it does. This episode ends a little differently than the movie The Thing, but I think it does echo it nicely by saying they had to torch the research facility. My grade: A.

Now I'm done with disc two. Onto Disc 3 and back to weekly recaps.

A double post because I was without the internet for most of last week due to moving out of my parents' house. Now I'm moving back, so hello internet!

"Shadows" was the episode I watched last week and it was much better than I remembered. I don't even know when it was that I watched; probably February 2007, after I bought Season One. It had a really eerie mood going for the first half, particularly the scene where Mulder and Scully are being briefed on their inverstigation. Kudos to Carter and the crew for having awesome lighting and tone of the series right from the start. The writing was still a little shaky as this seemed too much like an episode of Law & Order. By that I mean the basis for the story with the girl and her boss, and then the guy having him killed so he could take over the company. I give it a C.

"Ghost in the Machine" is one that I do remember. I hated this episode the first time around, but then liked it when I was reviewing the first season with the_amalgamut last summer. This time I'm mixed. While the story is really basic and without many thrills, the highlight is the scene with Mulder and Deep Throat. That's what I really enjoy about his character and Mulder's other informant, X. They don't just appear in only the two-parters like CSM and Krycek would later do, the writers actually placed them into the standalones too. It gives the series a good sense of continuity because it makes it seem like everything is all tied into one big conspiracy. That really helped to make Mulder seem like he was right, and not some weird nutjob locked away in the basement. From what I can tell the later seasons were purely standalones and myth-arc, while Seasons 1 and 2 seemed to blur the lines. This episode gets a C+.

"The Jersey Devil"
Original Airdate: 10/8/93

Just the same as last week, this episode seems to be more about the agents themselves than the actual case file. When they're prevented from investigating what Mulder thinks is the Jersey Devil, he decides to stick around town and investigate on his own. Scully goes back to D.C. for her god son's birthday party and meets some dude. It contrasts between the two, showing Mulder's life is the X-Files and how obsessive he is, while to Scully it is just a job. Scully goes on a date but Mulder ends up spending a night in the pokey. Her date Ralph even says to her, "having kids changes everything", but he forgot to mention that includes your tv show too. I think it was a good character development here showing the differences between Mulder and Scully, yet at the same time I think this episode spawned the shippers. At the end Scully decides that for now she'd rather stick with Mulder and the X-Files, giving up having a social life.

This is only the third or fourth time I've watched this episode and I never noticed it before, but when Mulder is in the casino making a phone call, he's actually standing in front of a green screen. Another notable thing is that Mulder gave his hotel key to a bum. I think that could be why he was audited in "Requiem"; the dude must've racked up a huge room service bill that went unpaid for the next 7 years.

I'm giving it a B-. I can't remember what I said about it when amalgamut and I reviewed Season One last summer but it's probably pretty close. I hadn't watched it since then.

Season 1- "Conduit"
Original Airdate- 10/1/93

This was definitely a more character-driven episode than "Squeeze." It wasn't really the actual "X File" that was important, it was Mulder's reaction to it and how he was dealing with the loss of his sister. I barely remembered a thing about this episode except the part with the girl's face that Scully sees near the end. My theory was already blown after three episodes. I didn't think Scully ever reported to any superiors until the appearance of Skinner in "Tooms", however here she is talking to Section Chief Blevins not even three minutes in. She's supposed to talk Mulder out of pursuing this case yet the reason they end up going is still kind of weak; the lady saw a UFO when she was a girl scout.



Not a bad episode, as it reminds me of the recent X-Files movie. The story itself is in the background, as the focus is more on the lives of Mulder and Scully. I usually prefer my episodes to involve monsters and such (like "Squeeze") but sometimes the personal stories can be good too. My grade is a B.

"Squeeze"
Original Date: 9/24/93

Delayed because of my work schedule, I just finished watching "Squeeze." It's still a killer episode and one of my absolute favorites. I had complained in my review of the Pilot that it seems like Mulder and Scully became great partners too fast but here I really didn't mind. She was intrigued by Mulder's theory and the prints were an identical match, so it's not as if he was just pulling it out of thin air. Although Tooms being a 100 years old might be a little difficult to swallow.

While I later found out that this episode was just a retooling of the second Night Stalker tv movie, Morgan & Wong actually surpassed the original. Tooms was eating livers so he could go into hibernation and I'm actually glad they didn't try to give him a motive for why he targeted the people he killed. I liked how we saw his point of view, when his eyes went yellow and everything was in black and white except for that person. The directing was kind of neat, however the insert shot showing Scully's phone box (whatever is it) was sped up and looked awkward.



Besides having a great villain, Mulder was also pretty entertaining. I give this episode an A+. Next up, "Conduit." **Though I originally said I was going to take 9 years to watch the entire series, three episodes into it and I'm already bored. I suppose it's because I've watched "Squeeze" the most out of any episode, around a half dozen times. And yes, the fanbase still has a little to do with it too.

I know mine is a very cliched answer to this question, as my favorite episode is a toss-up between two third season episodes, "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose" and "Jose Chung's 'From Outer Space'". Both were comedy episodes written by Darin Morgan.

When it comes to the spooky stories, my favorite is "Squeeze." I think that was a good blend of a great villain, Mulder's one liners, and their usual eerie cinematography. While it is a reworking of the second Night Stalker tv movie, this episode to me is the quintessential X-Files standalone story.

"Do you believe in the existence of extra terrestrials?"

So I started my 9 year X-Files watching thing today with the pilot episode. What I'm going to do is watch one episode, once a week and follow along with the air dates each season. Though the first three seasons aired on Fridays and then on Sundays for the following 6 years, I'm just going to watch it on Sundays on the week that the episode actually aired. Onto the episode, this is still one of the best pilots I've seen. David Duchovny had a lot of good one-liners, I especially liked when he replied, "not in this zip code" after Scully said time is a universal invariant. The cinematography and the location in Vancouver was really helped it feel as though I was watching a classic scary movie, rather than just a tv show.

I know there's many of the alien mythology episodes I haven't seen yet, in fact I haven't seen any from Seasons 3 and 4 (except "Zero Sum" with the bees), which is why I decided to do this. However I know the alien conspiracy gets really deep and includes black oil, bees, alien rebels, and a bounty hunter. After watching this episode, I think it would've been better if they had kept the alien stuff to a minimum and instead went with it all being in Mulder's head. He even mentions that he had a psychiatrist, Dr. Heinz Verber, help him unlock repressed memories of his sister. I think they should've had that guy actually create false memories, at the urging of the Smoking Man.

A plot point I noticed that they almost completely dropped after this episode is that Scully was actually assigned to be his partner to debunk him. The only time I can recall her discussing that is at the start of "Tooms", when she's in Skinner's office. I think they should've played with that a little more and even teased Scully turning on him. That was also a problem I had with "Sleepless" and "Duane Barry." Krycek was barely even his partner for one episode before he started acting shady. They should've had Mulder start to trust Krycek a little more, before he ultimately revealed he was with CSM.

Despite complaining about the direction the show took, I think this was one helluva pilot. It set up Mulder as being a really weird guy, yet he was also very knowledgable and funny. He wasn't just some looney guy in the basement. I think Gillian Anderson was a great choice for Scully and I'm glad they kept the Smoking Man as a recurring character.

I give it an A-.

Loose wrestling figures for sale (Classic Superstars and Ruthless Aggression styles.) All are in great condition, never played with, only used for display.

-Jeff Hardy (from 2000- with rainbow streaks in his hair)
-Paul London
-Brian Kendrik
-Harley Race
-Greg Valentine
-Rocky Maivia
-Arn Anderson
-Mr. Perfect
-Chris Benoit (with blue tights)
-Ric Flair (with blue Starrcade 83 style robe)
-Raven (from 2000)
-Barry Windham
-Ultimate Warrior (Wrestlemania 12 attire)
-Dean Malenko

Boxed Classic Superstars
-Diesel
-Ultimate Warrior (same as above)
-Jerry Sags
-Mr. Perfect (orange outfit, IC title, and towel)
-I also have a Chavo Guerrero in purple tights and Rey Mysterio in his "Flash" superhero outfit from Wrestlemania XX. 

Hasbros (still in packaging)
-Bret Hitman Hart
-Repo Man
-El Matador
-Mr. Perfect

Coliseum Video Tapes
-Best of the WWF volumes 3, 5, 7, 8, 13
-WWF Hottest Matches (1990)

Columbia House WWF Videos
-Best of Saturday Night's Main Event
-Best of WWF Superheroes
-Best of Tag Team Champions
-Best of WWF Fan favorites
-Best of WWF Mega Matches
-Battle of the WWF Superstars
-Heroes of the Squared Circle

ECW Tapes
-Heat Wave 2000
-November to Remember 1999
-Anarchy Rulz 99 and 2000
-Hardcore Heaven 99

WWF TV Tapes
-Metal: 5/12/01, 5/19/01, 5/26/01 & Smackdown 6/7/01
-RAW: 6/10/02 (Vince vs. Flair), 6/24/02 (RVD vs. Lesnar), 7/8/02 (10-Man Tag, Nash gets injured), 7/15 (Bischoff!)
-RAW: 10/7/02 (TLC 4), 10/14/02 (last match is cut off, sorry), 10/21/02
-RAW: 11/4/02 & 11/11/02 (Booker vs. HHH, RVD & Kane vs. Jericho & Christian)
-RAW: 7/28/03 (Nash vs. Jericho)

I'll have more tapes up later. Thanks.