DVD Review: X-Files Revelations
Fox Brings Back 8 Classic Episodes to Prepare Fans for Latest Film
Jan 14, 2009
In order to relive some of the more interesting "creature-based" episodes of the series, in preparation for the summer release of The X-Files: I Want to Believe, the good people at Fox Home Video have repackaged several episodes spanning the nine season of the show's run.
Though it is questionable to call said episodes teasers, to what many viewers at the time of the film's summer release weren't privy to (the producers along with Chris Carter were notorously mum about the plot's specifics, for maximum surprise value), it is possible that the company decided to use the opportunity to repackage some classic one-offs from the show, if only to help us reminisce about the good old days.
Episodes from X-Files Revelations DVD
Chief among the the 8-episode pack is the pilot episode titled, well..... Pilot. Essentially an introductory story in which Special Agent Dana Scully (Anderson) is asked by her superiors to assist Special Agent Fox Mulder (Duchovny) on the so-called "X-Files", unsolved cases defying logic or modern quantifiable explanation. As both agents investigate the mystery of teen abductions in the Oregon woods, Scully slowly is won over by Mulder's exuberance, and we see the beginning of a beautiful friendship (Sorry, Mr. Bogart!). Nuff said.
Beyond the Sea explores the possibility of life after death. Scully's father (the Don Davis, of Stargate SG-1 fame) dies unexpectedly, however seems to be able to communicate with the living through the most unlikely of mediums, a death row inmate (genre favorite Brad Dourif, Child's Play, Dune). Whether the inmate is pulling everyone's strings for one last kick, or whether he truly serves as a human telephone to the beyond, is left ambiguous to the very end.
The Host is your standard monster-of-the-week episode. Dynamic duo Mulder and Scully investigate deaths occurring in and about the New Jersey sewer system. A human-sized flukeworm is possibly roaming the tunnels, killing humans and reproducing. Very much like the myth of the New York City alligators, no one takes the theory seriously, until hard evidence comes up (as it usually does on the show...) to the contrary. Nothing remarkable here, but still a fun little episode.
A fan favorite of the series, Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose features Peter Boyle (Young Frankenstein) as a travelling salesman who happens to see visions of the future -- more specifically, how people will die. As he meets Mulder and Scully, he tells Mulder he is about to die. Very well written, with many classic moments, this episode is one of the best in the early part of the series.
A few seasons later in Memento Mori, fans got to enjoy another appearance of the Lone Gunmen (a trio of highly intelligent conspiracists, who indirectly worship Mulder and his theories, much like their own), as they assist Mulder in finding a secret cure (of course it's secret, it's the X-Files!) for Scully's cancer, which she has contracted at this point in the series. The episode almost plays like a caper movie. Again, typical story here, but watch it for the interaction between Mulder and the Gunmen.
An inventive twist on the Mary Shelley novel Frankenstein, Post-Modern Prometheus tells the tale of a small town monster who happens to have feelings, and whose father happens to be a highly renowned scientist with a heart. Filmed in black and white for effect, the episode feels like a tender musical, with a happy ending for all. Fun to watch, co-stars John O'Hurley (known to most as J. Peterman from the Seinfeld series) as the aforementioned scientist.
Bad Blood is another funny episode, probably done for a good giggle. Explained in flashbacks, Mulder and Scully both offer their interpretation of events to Assistant Director Skinner (Mitch Pileggi), regarding a possible death by staking caused by Mulder, while investigating a rumoured vampire presence in a small Texas town. Campy, extremely funny, and a definite must for fans of the main actors, it remains one of the better episodes in later seasons, before the show moved its production to Los Angeles.
Finally, Milagro is about a writer who lives next door to Mulder in Washington, whose fictitious writings happen to come true. With the writer becoming enamoured with Scully (and with Scully falling for the writer slowly -- whether this is due to his writing of it isn't confirmed), Mulder must contend with this obsessive individual, as well as a killer who comes right out of the pages of the man's unpublished writings.
Notable Omissions
As stated before, there is very little connecting these specific episodes to the latest movie, or why the studio felt like releasing yet another compilation of episodes. If so, why not include more interesting stories, such as the Stephen King written Chinga, or the hilarious Jose Chung's From Outer Space, or even the very informative Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man? If Chris Carter's dream of a third movie a few years from now (though the limited success of the latest one doesn't show promise of that) ever materializes, perhaps those episodes will make up the next DVD. Until then, trust no one.
(Sorry, dear readers, that line had to come up somewhere in the article. -- D.M.)
6 out of 10, for offering decent episodes, though repackaged, which have little to do with the movie sequel, and which could have been watched on the nine boxed sets instead.
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