X-Files

The X-Files - Fight the Future (Widescreen Edition)

The definitive American television series of the '90s comes to the big screen with an anticlimactic whimper. And how could it be otherwise? Why should material so perfectly realized in one medium necessarily translate well into another? The series is crisply and thoughtfully executed in just about every detail, but the heart of its appeal lies in the elegant handling of complicated and evolving ongoing story lines, which is not something movies are especially good at. The big-screen drive for closure cramps the creative style, though it may also help nonfans get a grip on the proceedings. We do get some invigorating thrills and chills, however, and a more satisfying sense of the scale of an all-enveloping human-alien conspiracy than ever before, but there's no more plot development here than in an average two-part season-ending. FBI black sheep Mulder and Scully have been temporarily transferred from the X-Files project to an anti-terrorist unit to investigate an Oklahoma City-style bombing. They uncover a new wrinkle in the Syndicate/Cancer Man conspiracy--basically an attempt to help one bunch of (benign?) aliens fight off another bunch who want to colonize Earth. A spectacular, ice-bound finale thrillingly staged by series-veteran director Rob Bowman offers Mulder (but not a conveniently unconscious Scully) his first clear look at a You Know What, which in some quarters qualifies as an epochal event. Martin Landau offers the agents some crucial clues, and several familiar TV faces (including the Lone Gunmen and Mitch Pileggi's indispensable Assistant Director Skinner) turn up briefly to wink knowingly at faithful fans. --David Chute

Thirty-seven thousand years ago, a deadly secret was buried in a cave in Texas. Now the secret has been unleashed. And it's discovery may mean the end of all humanity.

"The plague to end all plagues"

When a terrorist bomb destroys a building in Dallas, Texas, FBI Agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) are drawn into a dangerous conspiracy surpassing anything they've ever encountered. With the dubious assistance of a paranoid doctor (Academy Award -winner Martin Landau). Mulder and Scully risk their careers and their lives to hunt down a deadly virus which may be extraterrestrial in origin - and could destroy all life on earth. Their pursuit of truth pits them against the mysterious Syndicate, powerful men who will stop at nothing to keep their secrets safe, leading the agents from the cave in Texas, to the halls of the FBI, and finally to a secret installation in Antarctica which holds the greatest secret of all.

The X-Files - The Complete Third Season (Slim Set)

By its third season, The X-Files had grown from a cult hit to a global phenomenon, becoming the most popular show in many countries outside the U.S. Armed with the knowledge that the show was here to stay, series creator Chris Carter expanded its mythology, and the 24 episodes in this boxed set represent arguably the strongest of all the X-Files seasons. As usual, stand-alone episodes explored the paranormal and sometimes terrifying possibilities in mythology, pop culture, and religion. Darin Morgan helps the show to mature by expanding its use of humor, directing classic episodes such as "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose" (featuring a fabulous performance from Peter Boyle) and "Jose Chung's 'From Outer Space.'" Meanwhile, two-part episodes continue to delve into the X-Files' own mythology, introducing the alien black oil, the implant in Scully's neck, the mysterious Agent X, and the shape-shifting Jeremiah Smith. But following the complex mythology is not crucial to enjoying the show. The strength of the X-Files lies not in resolution but in feeding the paranoia of its rabid audience by revealing conspiracies that linger in the mind as unanswered questions. Series creator Carter realized wisely that fans did not look to the X-Files to explain the unexplained, but to question that which they thought they understood. The third season was effective because it hinted that while the truth was out there, it was more complex, sinister, and amazing than even Mulder had imagined. --Eugene Wei

This season, series creator Chris Carter expanded the mythology with plots like the alien black oil and Scully's implant, but also further developed the show's trademark humor and continued to explore paranormal possibilities.

The X-Files - The Complete Fourth Season (Slim Set)

Now you can own the entire fourth season of THE X-FILES?. ALL 24 classic episodes are availale for the first time in this exclusive 7-disc collector's edition. From "Herrenvolk," "Home," "Tunguska," and "Terma" to "Memento Mori," "Max," "Small Potatoes," and "Gethsemane," these Season Four episodes are a must for every X-Files fan.

The X-Files - The Complete Sixth Season (Slim Set)

Following the X-Files feature film in the summer of 1998, "The Beginning" quickly crowbars an attempt at fitting the film into the TV chronology before it picks up plot points left dangling from the fifth-season finale, "The End" (note the guard asleep at the nuclear power plant console is named Homer!). Between arc threads are several pleasing excursions: time travel to a Bermuda Triangle boatload of Nazis ("Triangle"), further temporal escapades akin to Groundhog Day ("Monday"), a demonic baby case featuring genre stalwart Bruce Campbell ("Terms of Endearment"), and Duchovny being able to play someone else via personality switching ("The Dreamland, Parts 1 and 2"). Back in the real scheme of things, Mulder chases "S.R. 819," a Senate resolution tying conspiracies together. "Two Fathers" and "One Son" indicate that the abductee experiments are intended to cure the black oil disease. The year finishes with "BioGenesis," in which we're asked to ponder, are we from Mars? A beach-buried UFO leaves Scully wondering. --Paul Tonks

The X-Files - The Complete Fifth Season (Slim Set)

The midpoint of what would be a nine-season show, the fifth season of The X-Files (the first to be put on DVD in anamorphic widescreen format) gives fans a heavy heaping of what they love. For the mythology buffs, riveting episodes from the season bookends "Redux" and "The End" to several episodes in between tease with new revelations about the vast government conspiracies and alien invasion plot lines sketched in earlier seasons. But enough questions are left unanswered for the theatrical X-Files movie, which was released the subsequent summer, and the seasons that followed. Supporting characters like the Lone Gunmen, Agent Krycek, the Pusher Robert Modell, and Fox's father and sister Bill and Samantha Mulder are flushed out in more detail in several episodes that occasionally jump back in time to cover the prehistory of the X-files. New chess pieces are introduced, each raising new questions: the clairvoyant child Gibson Praise, Agent Spender, faceless alien resistance fighters with pyromaniacal tendencies, a child who may be Scully's, and Mulder's old flame, agent Diana Fowley (Mimi Rogers). All the time, no one knows who will be assassinated next, who is or isn't dead, just who isn't potentially a child of the Cigarette Smoking Man, and why the base of the neck is everyone's vulnerable spot. The creature feature stand-alone episodes vary in quality, but all are redeemed by the outrageously funny self-parody episode "Bad Blood," a fan favorite that guest stars Luke Wilson as a small-town sheriff who catches Scully's eye.

Finally, "shippers" (fans who would love nothing better than to see Mulder and Scully act upon their feelings for each other) get a heavy dose of the usual sexual innuendo and lingering, tender glances between the attractive costars. Mimi Rogers and Luke Wilson incite palpable jealousy between the leads; the appearance of a wedding band on Mulder's hand in a back story hints at stories not told; and the usual extreme and dimly lit crises illustrate just how far Mulder and Scully will go for each other. In the end, the complexities of their relationship may be the most tense and intriguing of all the mysteries explored by this epic television series. --Eugene Wei

The X-Files - The Complete Second Season (Slim Set)

While the first season of The X-Files introduced us to Scully and Mulder, the second season finds the show confidently hitting its stride. Building on its earlier success, the show evolves, and in these 25 episodes, a glimpse is shown of a longer-running story line (which will continue through subsequent seasons) that is woven into the usual stand-alone episodes of the paranormal. These so-called mythology episodes hint at a global conspiracy involving sinister government agents, UFOs, alien abductions, genetic engineering, the ever-lurking Cigarette Smoking Man, and Fox Mulder's father. Season 2 fleshes out Mulder's family history, including the childhood abduction of his sister Samantha, an event that would shape him for life. Actress Gillian Anderson (Scully) became unexpectedly pregnant during season 2, but series creator Chris Carter managed to dance nimbly around her absence and even integrate it into the show. As in season 1, Mulder and Scully are surrounded by a strong supporting cast, which adds a suspicious new agent named Alex Krycek, an informant named X, and a seemingly indestructible alien bounty hunter.

Among the standout episodes are "The Host," "Duane Barry/Ascension," "Humbug," "Dod Kalm," "Colony/End Game," and "Anasazi." These episodes are a powerful reminder that The X-Files, like no other show on television, can span horror, suspense, mystery, romance, drama, and comedy, sometimes all in the same episode, and always with the production values of a major feature film. --Eugene Wei

In this second season box set, Mulder and Scully get glimpses of the global conspiracy as they investigate UFO's, alien abductions, genetic engineering, and ominous government agents.

The X-Files - The Complete Ninth Season (Slim Set)

Now you can own the entire ninth season of THE X-FILES?. All 19 classic episodes (including the 2-hour series finale) are available for the first time in this exclusive 7-disc collector?s edition. From the revelation about Scully?s baby in ?Nothing Important Happened Today? and the mystery surrounding the murder of Agent Doggett?s son in ?Release? to Mulder?s final confrontation with those who would deny ?The Truth,? these Season Nine episodes are a must for every X-Files fan!

The X-Files - The Complete First Season (Slim Set)

In the first season of The X-Files, creator Chris Carter was uncertain of the series' future, so each of the episodes is a self-contained suspense story; they do not delve deep into the ongoing X-Files mythology or turn to self-parody and humor as do episodes in later seasons. Yet, these episodes display the elements for which the show would become famous: the cinematic production values and top-notch special effects, the stark lighting of the Vancouver sets, the atmospheric halo of Mark Snow's score, and the clever plots dealing with subjects ranging from the occult, religion, and monsters to urban legends, conspiracy theories, and science fiction. Most importantly, season 1 introduces FBI agents Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) and Fox "Spooky" Mulder (David Duchovny), two of the most attractive government officials around. Scully is the serious-minded medical scientist assigned to join Mulder on the X-Files, a division of the FBI dealing with the paranormal. Mulder is the intuitive thinker with a dry wit, a passionate believer in the existence of paranormal phenomena and one of the few characters on television smart enough to figure out who the bad guy is before the audience does. Their muddled relationship, a deep friendship laced with sexual tension, provides the human heart in a world where the bizarre and horrible lurk in everyday society.

Those unfamiliar with The X-Files often view all the fuss with the same skepticism with which Scully first regards her new partner's ideas. But just as she comes to realize the uncanny accuracy of Mulder's outlandish theories, newcomers to The X-Files who sample a few episodes in this boxed set will likely find themselves riveted to their television late into the night. And undoubtedly, the shadows and creaking noises in the house that evening will seem more menacing than usual. --Eugene Wei

Get reacquainted with Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), Fox Mulder (David Duchovny), and all the clever plots dealing with the occult, monsters, urban legends, conspiracy theories, and the rest that made this show an uncanny hit.

The X-Files - The Complete Seventh Season (Slim Set)

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The X-Files - The Complete Eighth Season (Slim Set)

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