The Mythology is
Chris Carter's visionary story arc of "The X-Files" comprised of
60 episodes from all nine seasons of the
show. Now you can follow every government conspiracy, alien
abduction, and hidden truth right from the beginning...
FBI Agent Fox Mulder Wants To Believe. Ever since witnessing the
abduction of his sister, Fox Mulder has believed in the existence
of extraterrestrials. Now an FBI agent, his obsession with finding
his sister continues to grow as he examines the unsolved and
often
unexplainable cases the FBI has labeled X-Files. But as his search
continues, he uncovers
a series of
seemingly interwoven events of which his sister's abduction is but
a part. Although Mulder fails time and again to get hard evidence
that could prove his theories, mysterious contacts supply him with
information which only strengthen his belief that a far-reaching
government conspiracy is covering up the truth he so desperately
seeks. Yet nothing can prepare him for the ultimate truth that has
been kept hidden
for over fifty
years.
The X-Files - Abduction: When Agent Dana Scully is assigned
to work on
the X-Files, Agent Fox Mulder suspects she's there to spy on him.
Nevertheless, he introduces his new partner to his current case
involving a series of mysterious murders in the
Pacific Northwest.
Although Mulder is searching for otherworldly answers, Scully is
sure there
is a more earthly scientific explanation. As their partnership
continues, their opposing beliefs become the
norm, with Mulder
being "the believer" and Scully "the skeptic." But Scully's
mysterious abduction and Mulder's near-death experience in the New
Mexico desert will challenge those beliefs and make it clear that
discovering the truth can be deadly.
CRITIQUE
I've always wanted
to get "into" The X-Files because I've heard so many great
things about it. The main reason why the show was so successful is
because of its government conspiracy arcs dealings with possible
extra terrestrial life forms and selected paranormal activities.
The show ran for nine seasons and reached its conclusion in 2002.
I always thought about buying the season DVD sets and get into the
show, but I just never did.
Now I finally had my
chance. The Mythology DVD collection is a great idea to watch all
of the conspiracy episodes in the order they appeared. The first
volume is dubbed Abduction. The first fifteen episodes
follow Mulder and Scully in their investigation of "the truth".
Each episode presents a new twist and introduces anther layer to
the conspiracy arc. The stories are always great and excellently
written and performed, and usually pretty scary as well. The best
way to watch them is at night when you're alone.
The X-Files
is indeed a dark show that explores the most uncommon,
frightening, unexplained, and serious of incidences that most
people will never know about. Despite its fictional nature, I
believe there are some truths (or versions of it) to what happens
on the show. I love conspiracy stories and The X-Files
tells the best of them out there. Another reason why these stories
are so cool is that they are somewhat believable (take them with a
grain of salt but one never knows just what exactly our government
is "really" up to). While some may
think otherwise, there are lots of folks out there who think
aliens exist, and watching Abduction makes an interesting case
for it.
The only downside to
this collection is the (minor) loss of some character and plot
development. Supporting characters like Assistant Director Walter
Skinner (Mitch Pileggi), Cancer Man (William B. Davis), and Alex
Krycek (Nicholas Lea) appear in these episodes without an
introduction. The episode "Sleepless" probably should've been
included in this set. While fans will have seen these episodes
before, newcomers like me will not know the details of their
character and agendas, or some other nuances, however this is not
a major problem since the episodes move well and connect on good
levels.
The first volume of
the Mythology series includes the following episodes:
Season 1
The X-Files Pilot
Deep Throat
Fallen Angel
E.B.E
The Erlenmeyer Flask
Season 2
Little Green Men
Duane Barry
Ascension
One Breath
Red Museum
Colony
End Game
Anasazi
Season 3
The Blessing Way
Paper Clip
THE VIDEO
Fox presents The
X-Files in 1.33:1 fullscreen format. The video quality isn't
all that great as there are a few noticeable flaws in the picture.
They don't distract too much but when viewed on a big screen you
can catch them rather easily. The episodes remain watchable,
however, as colors look pretty decent and saturation is good. Optional subtitles
include English, Spanish and French.
THE AUDIO
Fox presents The
X-Files in English Dolby 2.0 Surround. Dialogue sounds clear
and is easy to understand. The sound effects come across well from
the front speakers, and the music sounds haunting. A Spanish Dolby track
and a French Stereo track are also available.
THE EXTRAS
There are five
newly-recorded
commentaries here and each one is an interesting listen: "Deep Throat" and "Duane Barry"
by Chris Carter, "The Erlenmeyer Flask" and "Anasazi" by
director R.W. Goodwin, and "End Game" by writer Frank
Spotnitz.
The fourth disc holds an
all-new documentary created exclusively for this set. "Threads of
Mythology: Abduction" is the first of four documentaries covering
the conspiracy arc stories. In this one we find discussions on some of
the episodes included in the set with a few good recollections and
explanations. Interview participants include Chris Carter (creator),
Frank Spotnitz (writer), Rob Bowman (director), Howard Gordon
(writer), Joseph Patrick Finn, John S. Barley (director of
photography), Mark Snow (composer), John Shiban and Paul Rabwin, as
well as cast members David Duchovny (in what seems to be an older
interview) and new interviews with Sheila Larken (Scully's mother) and
Brian Thompson (alien bounty hunter), although the actors only show up
once in this documentary. Some viewers may want to watch out for
spoilers (the big one concerns Scully) as there are some clips shown
in here from episodes not featured in the Mythology set.
My review copy did not
come with the Exclusive Collectible Mythology Timeline as noted
on the back cover. However, the back of the two slimcases look great.
Each episode gets a synopsis and a small picture.
FINAL THOUGHT
I love this
collection; the episodes are great and the conspiracy arc is very
involving and exciting to watch, however this DVD set not very
useful to fans who already own these episodes through the season
sets. I'm recommending Abduction to newcomers of The
X-Files, but fans don't necessarily need to upgrade. In the
end, though, it depends on the individual fan to decide whether
the new commentaries and the documentary is worth $30.
