The X-Files (season 11)

[Dr Syntax Head]

You're lampooning me. It's a classic Lampoon.

[BlodwynPig]

You're lampooning me. It's a classic Lampoon.

The 5th most lampoonable on CaB.

Not even the best lampoonable on CaB.

[madhair60]

Cracking episode this week. Really enjoyed that

Yes, it was. Brilliant fun and funny.

[Dr Syntax Head]

The 5th most lampoonable on CaB.

Not even the best lampoonable on CaB.

I'm a failure. No wonder mum tried to abandon me in a cow shed

[rasta-spouse]

Just watched the first two, my god, who on earth in this day and age would make bad tv like this. The dialogue is so hokey, the direction is so creaky, and it doesn't even seem to be set in reality (like the 90s series seemed to be, discounting the flights of fancy episodes). It's put me off from re-watching the old ones, which is something I had planned. 

I was hoping to get at least one Clyde Bruckman's Last Repose out of it, but this show is a stinker.

[Moribunderast]

I just watched the first episode of this season. While not really remembering the finale of season 10, this felt like it completely invalidated that episode? That's bold/stupid - makes it hard to buy into anything when you know the creator can just pull the rug out and say "Nah, it was all just visions, mate."

The thing that stood out to me was that the thing just felt like a really, really long trailer. So much plot-dumping and hurried monologues and laying out of cards with no time for anything to sink in or resonate or matter. Everything just moved at a rapid pace as if they just had to get the info out and fuck worrying about whether there are emotional stakes or if the characters are acting like themselves. And the ending - I was relieved when Smoking Man said "... with science" but then they immediately retracted that and seemed to go for a rape thing? Fucking gross.

All that said, I'll continue watching this hoping the monster-of-the-week stuff is fun.

Oh, was David Duchovny on sleeping pills during the first episode? His monologues and delivery of dialogue were bizarre in their flatness, like he thought the script was shit and then decided to make that belief very public? I know he's not a tremendous actor but I could swear I've seen him emote. In this episode he was just a robot spitting out scripted lines without any effort.

[BlodwynPig]

Just watched the first two, my god, who on earth in this day and age would make bad tv like this. The dialogue is so hokey, the direction is so creaky, and it doesn't even seem to be set in reality (like the 90s series seemed to be, discounting the flights of fancy episodes). It's put me off from re-watching the old ones, which is something I had planned. 

I was hoping to get at least one Clyde Bruckman's Last Repose out of it, but this show is a stinker.

Nail on head with reality - it does seem to be a somewhat dreamworld and that makes it quite distant and less familiar. Glassy eyed characters half-arsedly coded by some x-files fanboy between wanks.

[Phil_A]

I feel like the writers have forgotten how important the believer/sceptic dynamic was to the show originally. Just think of how many classic older episodes were driven by that tension between faith and rationality. When Mulder and Scully are constantly on the same page it just doesn't work the same way, the character tension is gone. They're just a couple of doofuses hanging out.

Do they even actually have jobs any more? The show seems a little vague on that point.

[BlodwynPig]

Decent 3rd episode that harks back to the original run - monster of the week, gloomy atmosphere, hokey premise. I thought the mulder and Scully bed chat was quite touching and it had some lovely lead up incidental music.

[up_the_hampipe]

Finally got round to starting this new season. The first episode is absolutely atrocious. It was like a bad daytime TV movie. The Smoking Man should not be saying "fake news".

[Phil_A]

Decent 3rd episode that harks back to the original run - monster of the week, gloomy atmosphere, hokey premise. I thought the mulder and Scully bed chat was quite touching and it had some lovely lead up incidental music.

Dramatic improvement over last week's random stream-of-consciousness plot, it felt like a completely different show. Mulder and Scully resembled themselves for the first time in however long, and there were actually some poignant moments. I think that proves that the format has always been better served by character-focussed one-off stories, rather than sprawling world-spanning narratives about alien colonisation or whatever.

[Bogbrainedmurphy]

Sounds like this current series is populated by interesting, nostalgic, strange episodes and will be bookended by some absolutely piss poor mythology ones. Starting over here on C5 on February 5th.

[Desirable Industrial Unit]

Darin Morgan returns to serve up the daffiest episode to date, which is an achievement in itself.  I can see this one being a little divisive - not because of all the Trump digs, but because it really is a complete fuckabout that treats the show itself as fair game.  Last week's was a decent enough stab at a 'traditional' episode, but as with the last series, the comedy one's going to be the absolute highlight.

[Bad Ambassador]

If anything, it was better than last year's Wereman episode. Skinner's single line made the whole show.

[Desirable Industrial Unit]

The Wereman one probably edges it for me, simply because it's something that could stand alone as its own thing, and be appreciated by someone who had never seen the series before.  This one was a riot on behalf of the fans.

That last scene though?  Oof.  Scully's right, but at least we got an episode like this out of it.

[Malcy]

That was brilliantly bonkers. Loved it. The Alien taking ages to come down the stairs had me in stitches.

[BlodwynPig]

I signed up for the Millennium newsletter (they're making a documentary about the series) a while ago.

The first sparse newsletter just dropped and had a small profile of Chris Carter

Christopher Carl Carter (born October 13, 1956) is an American television and film producer, director and writer. Carter is well-known for his groundbreaking series The X-files. Carter has his own television production company, Ten Thirteen Productions, wherein he went on to create three more series for the network—Millennium, a doomsday-themed series which met with critical approval and low viewer numbers; Harsh Realm, which was canceled after three episodes had aired; and The Lone Gunmen, a spin-off of The X-Files which lasted for a single season.

[Dr Syntax Head]

Right now watching my first episode of this season (I don't think it's the first one). A Doppelgänger. Fucking ace! My favourite thing that scares me.

[Golden E. Pump]

Right now watching my first episode of this season (I don't think it's the first one). A Doppelgänger. Fucking ace! My favourite thing that scares me.

Just watched it and immediately thought of you. It's all been good so far. But I love the mytharc stuff too.

[Dr Syntax Head]

Just watched it and immediately thought of you. It's all been good so far. But I love the mytharc stuff too.

I need to go back to ep 1 of this season. It's nostalgic.

[JesusAndYourBush]

Last nights episode (on Channel 5) about the Mandela Effect was great!  I don't think I've laughed so much during an X-Files episode.  I got fed up of the original series part way through but I love how since the series was restarted it takes the piss out of itself.

[daf]

Yes, wish they did more than just the one 'comedy' episode per series - the one with Rhys Darby last series was a corker too!

[Desirable Industrial Unit]

So this is a ten part series, but they've taken a three week break during it?  I will never understand American TV scheduling.

[dontrunyoullfall]

So this is a ten part series, but they've taken a three week break during it?  I will never understand American TV scheduling.

Winter Olympics coverage?

[VelourSpirit]

Finally just watched episode 4 and I absolutely loved it. Could have been the finale to the whole series. It seems to me that the only reason The X-Files had to return was so that it could be parodied. This episode worked especially well given how bad the revival has been on the whole, with My Struggle III being somehow even less bearable than the previous parts. It probably wouldn't have had quite the same effect if competent writers actually showed that the show has a reason to go on in 2018. Maybe a little bit harsh, I did enjoy the doppelganger one but more for the Mulder and Scully banter. Could the X-Files ever be serious again?

[BlodwynPig]

Loved this Black Mirror one. Quirky fun with lots of menace and future-desolation.

[surreal]

I noticed it was written by Kristen Cloke, who is married to Glen Morgan I think, and has also appeared in The X Files herself ("The Field Where I Died").

[BlodwynPig]

I noticed it was written by Kristen Cloke, who is married to Glen Morgan I think, and has also appeared in The X Files herself ("The Field Where I Died").

Lara Means in Millennium too.

[Straight Faced Customer]

Nice positive piece on this season with a little Brooker-bashing - https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/3/4/17072540/the-x-files-episode-7-recap-rm9sbg93zxjz.

It is a good one, so far.

[Bogbrainedmurphy]

I noticed it was written by Kristen Cloke, who is married to Glen Morgan I think, and has also appeared in The X Files herself ("The Field Where I Died").

Got panned that episode but I liked it, very atmospheric