My couch, my TV, a pile of “X-Files” guidebooks from my home library, and a browser tab permanently set on The Onion AV Club’s “X-Files” blog — that’s what’s been keeping me busy the last couple weeks outside of work. And frankly, I’ve had a blast watching my “X-Files” DVDs with no lights on in the middle of the night.
As regular readers of my blog may have surmised, I am a fairly big “X-Files” fan. I started watching late in the game, around Season 6, but thanks to syndication, I eventually saw every episode at least once. I enjoyed the new movie two years ago, but it had been awhile since I had revisited the series. Bored with “The Event” (the latest “Next X-Files”), now seemed like a good time to re-engage.
As you’ll recall, “The X-Files” was two shows in one: Mythology episodes and monster-of-the-week episodes. I slightly prefer the MOTWs. I approach mythology episodes differently than most viewers: I just try to turn my brain off and enjoy the journey, the quest, the vibe of the whole thing — because, eventually, the grand story arc gets too muddled to follow.
“The X-Files” Season 1 (1993-94)
Fox, 24 episodes
Creator: Chris Carter
Stars: David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Mitch Pileggi
But part of the pleasure of Season 1 (1993-94, Fox) is that the myth-arc can be followed along with, and even watching these shows 17 years after they aired, I get to thinking about all the directions Chris Carter and his writers COULD have gone in. Was the overall story ultimately satisfying? That’s a question for reviews of future seasons. Did it start out good? Few will argue that point.
Here are my rankings of the 24 Season 1 episodes:
1. “Darkness Falls” (episode 20, written by Chris Carter)
The idea of wandering around your town after dark is vaguely unsettling, but the idea of wandering around the dark woods is palpably creepy, chilling, and rife with possibilities for monsters. (In other words, it’s a wonderful setting, if you’re a horror fan.)
In this case, it’s bugs from the inside of an ancient tree that cocoon their victims — that’s frightening, because they can’t be physically fought off like most theoretical monsters. Also, it ends with M&S in a hospital looking totally roughed up by the bugs. No “hitting the reset button” at the end of this episode (although, of course, they’d be fine at the start of the next one).
2. “Gender Bender” (14, Larry Barber and Paul Barber)
There’s a scene where Scully is facing down a cult member in a damp, steamy alley, and the cinematography is delicious. On this viewing, I literally sat up and said “Wow, that is gorgeous” to an empty room. It took awhile for cinematographer John Bartley to learn how to light the dark — indeed, there are parts of early episodes that are as visually bland as an old Sci-Fi Channel show — but he totally figures out how to do it here.
3. “The Erlenmeyer Flask” (24, Carter)
If you got any sense from the first 23 eps that Mulder would be able to outsmart the government conspirators, the season finale definitively demonstrates how much he is in over his head. He sees alien-hybrid bodies floating in tanks (an image James Cameron would borrow for “Avatar”) and Scully gets her hands on an alien embryo. Then Deep Throat is killed, and it’s clear to the viewer that the bad guys are merely LETTING Mulder and Scully live. Somehow that’s even scarier than if M&S were barely escaping.
4. “Ice” (8, Glen Morgan and James Wong)
This is essentially a remake of John Carpenter’s “The Thing” (which was also a remake). But interestingly, fans of “The Thing,” rather than angrily rejecting this episode as a rip-off, actually embrace it. That might be in part because the makers of “Ice” openly acknowledge the “Thing” influence. It’s also because it’s really good. And how about Vancouver’s versatility — here, it believably stands in for the Arctic.
5. “Deep Throat” (2, Carter)
There’s a wonderful innocence to this episode, embodied by the stoned teenage lovebirds (one of whom is Seth Green) who enjoy watching test flights of planes built with UFO technology at an Idaho air force base. Mulder, of course, isn’t content to watch from outside the fence; he sneaks in, sees an alien spacecraft, and then gets brain-wiped. Throw in the introduction of the titular inside source, and the mythology is off to a great start.
6. “Space” (9, Carter)
A commenter on the AV Club’s threads said it beautifully: “The clunkers are part of what makes ‘The X-Files’ great.” “Space,” widely regarded as one of the worst episodes of the series, is a clunker that I absolutely adore. Mulder and Scully spend most of the episode standing at the back of the NASA control room, the editing is sloppy, the special effects are atrocious, and a ton of stock footage is used.
Yet the script is solidly creepy (an ex-astronaut is possessed by a space ghost that looks like the Face of Mars), Mulder’s passion for the space program is addictive, and even after 200 episodes, this was the only time the action actually took place off the planet.
7. “Squeeze” (3, Morgan and Wong)
Not that every MOTW hour is the same, but a template of sorts is laid out here. A creepy creature (Tooms, memorably played by Doug Hutchison, can stretch through tight spaces); a thought-out backstory for the creature (after Tooms kills his victim, he eats their liver for sustenance); and Mulder’s uncovering of the truth despite resistance from his bosses, and to a lesser extent, Scully.
8. “Pilot” (1, Carter)
Not many pilot episodes hold up this well so many years later. So often, they are retrospectively clunky: The actors haven’t found their characters, the pacing is slow and the story is filled with exposition. The “X-Files” launcher holds up, though, as Mulder investigates an apparent abduction in the Oregon woods. The abduction yarn hasn’t made sense to me on any viewing of this episode, but I’m OK with that; the loose threads were something I would learn to accept in order to enjoy “The X-Files.”
9. “Ghost in the Machine” (7, Alex Gansa and Howard Gordon)
This seems like the most dated “X-Files” episode, as it basically retells the HAL 9000 arc from “2001: A Space Odyssey,” only inside a skyscraper instead of a spaceship. This was still in the era (1993) when computers controlling everything was a spooky sci-fi concept; today, the idea of computers controlling everything is scary for innocuous reasons (think of how much doing your job depends on your computer functioning properly). So I love the naïveté of this episode.
10. “E.B.E.” (17, Morgan and Wong)
We see how unquenchable Mulder’s search for knowledge is as he follows a truck involved in a UFO encounter all the way across the United States. And we see Scully’s loyalty as she stays by his side, despite pressure from their bosses to steer clear of this case. Also, the Lone Gunmen (who like Mulder because his ideas are “even weirder” than theirs) are introduced.
11. “Tooms” (21, Morgan and Wong)
This sequel to “Squeeze” explores the character further, and for Mulder-Scully ‘shippers, there’s that great stakeout scene where Scully tries to call Mulder “Fox” (“I even made my parents call me Mulder,” he says). And later Mulder says, “If there’s iced tea in there, it might be love.” I wasn’t into the romance side of “The X-Files” back in the day, but I adore those subtle M-S moments today.
12. “Fallen Angel” (10, Gordon and Gansa)
We see Mulder’s passion for finding the truth, particularly when he latches onto the underside of an Army truck to get into a cordoned-off area.
13. “Eve” (11, Kenneth Biller and Chris Brancato)
Definitely a classic (and it inspired the band name of Eve 6!), but the evil clone girls are so unsympathetic and creepy that this episode is almost too effective to earn my affections.
14. “Conduit” (4, Gansa and Gordon)
A decent mythology hour that introduces Mulder’s quest to find his possibly abducted sister.
15. “Beyond the Sea” (13, Morgan and Wong)
A classic because of Brad Dourif’s performance as a death-row inmate who uses his psychic abilities to stop another crime and earn a deal. And because Scully stands up for herself, telling the con she’ll throw the switch herself (“you son of a b****”) if he’s lying.
16. “Roland” (23, Chris Ruppenthal)
A decent (but still predictable) possession tale, anchored by a great performance by the guy playing the autistic janitor.
17. “Shapes” (19, Marilyn Osborn)
An unsurprising werewolf yarn (Mulder knows it’s a werewolf case before he even arrives on the scene), but it evokes the mountains and valleys of Montana nicely.
18. “Miracle Man” (18, Gordon and Carter)
The first of several religious-themed episodes. It suggests that the titular faith healer wasn’t a con man after all, which is a neat twist.
19. “Lazarus” (15, Gansa and Gordon)
This cop-to-criminal body-switching episode is well played by the guest star, but it’s not too surprising.
20. “The Jersey Devil” (5, Carter)
A MOTW that doesn’t have many surprises (it’s just a female version of Big Foot), but it does have a nice sequence where Mulder trades places with a homeless man, showing the lengths he’ll go to solve a case.
21. “Young at Heart” (16, Scott Kaufer and Carter)
Mulder can’t forget his first case, but this eppy is kind of forgettable.
22. “Shadows” (6, Morgan and Wong)
A ghost killer. Which means silly floating knives and whatnot.
23. “Fire” (12, Carter)
A guy can spontaneously combust in a controlled way. No surprises in the plot, and Mulder’s relationship with his British ex never rang true to me, even on my first viewing.
24. “Born Again” (22, Gordon and Gansa)
This tedious girl-possessed-by-a-ghost yarn is the worst episode of Season 1. But — and this is how much I love “The X-Files” — it’s not so bad that I would never watch it again.
It had some classics, it had some clunkers, it set the stage for eight more seasons and two movies, it looked great, and I loved every minute of it. What were your favorite episodes of Season 1 of “The X-Files?” Share your lists and comments below.