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The Movie:
"The X-Files" was, at its very best, one of my favorite shows. Often, people compare its one-hour episodes to a mini-movie; while that's true, I think that its best summarized as simply great television. Two stars, David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson, who had great tension and worked perfectly off each other; comedy, drama, horror. Often, during an episode, you might see all three genres, and maybe more.
If you have to break the show down into two catagories, I think you have to look at the actors and the writing. Not only does (or now, did) the show have two fine lead actors but there is a legion of fully-realized and fascinating supporting characters. I think nearly every character on this show during its peak is layered and rich; you feel as if these are real people, and that's certainly praise to the wonderful cast. "The Truth Is Out There"; I knew the truth wasn't going to be found soon during the early years, but still, I returned each week, eager to see the creative journeys that the series would come up with next.
And yet, there reached a point where I think "the truth" was waiting at an exit, and the show sort of just kept on driving. Legal action appeared at one point between Duchovny and the show, but that has faded out, and in comes new star Robert Patrick. Patrick is a great actor and I'm sure that he'll provide an interesting new role, but I don't think that he'll have what made Mulder and Scully famous.
"the Truth", I think, is in here, as Fox releases the second season of the show in another seven disc box set. The review below of the DVD is from discs one and seven, the early discs that were available. In terms of episodes for the whole season, they are in this order: disc one: Little Green Men, The Host, Blood, Sleepless; disc two Duane Barry, Ascension, 3, One Breath; disc three: Firewalker, Red Museum, Exelsius Dei, Aubrey; disc four: Irresistable, Die Hand Die Verletzt, Fresh Bones, Colony; disc five: End Game, Fearful Symmetry, Dod Kalm, Humbug; disc six: The Calusari, F. Emasculata, Soft Light, Our Town; disc seven: Anasazi, all extra features.
The DVD
VIDEO: Although the presentation for the episodes that I viewed were pretty good, they were not without some problems. "Anasazi", which is located with the rest of the extras on the 7th disc, opens looking rather "digital", with some pixelation, but this is brief before quickly clearing and looking fine. There were also some other instances in the additional episodes that I viewed where pixelation in very minor amounts was visible.
Sharpness varies throughout; some scenes looked pleasingly sharp, while some looked soft and not too well-defined. Detail is generally okay, and never did I feel that the picture was soft to the point of looking hazy or blurry. Colors are generally rich and without any problems in the full-frame presentations.
Watchable presentations, but a little dissapointing at times.
SOUND: As with the first season, these episodes are presented in Dolby 2.0; they do an enjoyable job at presenting the shows eerie effects and the great score, but Dolby Digital 5.1 would be probably more effective in creating an atmosphere with some of the episodes.
MENUS:: After a nice animated clip, the main and sub-menus are nicely done, with film-themed images and the score in the background.
EXTRAS: Fortunately, again there is a seventh disc of extras. Unfortunately, they are similar to the extras that were on the first season discs; there are no commentaries (a commentary from Carter would be nice since he offered such a good one for the feature film) or other newly done extras.
The Truth About Season Two: Starting off with a short interview with director Rob Bowman(who went on to direct the feature film), we find out more from the rest of the cast and crew about the turns that the series took as it went into season two. Creator Chris Carter does most of the talking as he shares his viewpoint on where the story and characters were at this point in the series.
Chris Carter Talks About Season Two: A set of short interviews with director/creator Chris Carter as he looks at a number of episodes throughout the season, discussing the new or different elements that come up in that episode, and where the twists are headed. Also, some production information is also given. These 12 featurettes can be played on their own or one-after-another.
FX: Behind The Truth: 9 very short mini-featurettes that aired on the FX channel, talking about various aspects of the show's characters or episodes.
Deleted Scenes: 4 Deleted Scenes - one from "Sleepless", "3", "Humbug" and "Anasazi".
Behind-The-Scenes: 3 very short "behind-the-scenes" segments; the first for "End Game" where the crew had to build a conning tower; "Humbug" where Gillian eats a cricket; "Anasazi", which showed how the set was built.
Promo Spots: 10 and 20 second promo spots for all of the episodes but "Anasazi", which only has a 20 second spot.
DVD-ROM: DVD-Rom game.
Final Thoughts: "Season Two" does offer some great episodes, and "X-Files" fans will certainly be pleased to have them all located in this box set.
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