X-Files help

[Guest ZeusFaber]

I know their are a lot of factors to explain the loss of audience on TXF.

Even talking about a loss of audience is dangerous territory though. Numbers started to drop way back in Season 6. They stabalized for S8. They dipped again for S9, but it still remains that more existing viewers tuned back in that tuned out for good.

In any case, there are always things like new competition, the advent of cable broadcasting and changing social and political climates to consider.

It just seems that a lot of people who stopped following the show justified it by saying it had became too silly and wasn't as dark and deep as it was before. Now, what would have happened if the show had kept the tone and ambiance they chose in season 8? Who knows! But the fact remains that they decided to experiment with different kind of episode and that fans (like MillenniumIsBliss to an extent) thought that TXF was really losing it.

Well, granted there were more of the lighter episodes in S9 than there were in S8, but I don't think you can really call that "experimentation". The show had long established it's tonal elasticity and different types of episodes way back. I don't think you could identify a single episode in S9 that didn't have a precedent set for it some time in the past.

Besides, there were a lot more light-hearted episodes that could be called "too silly" and not "dark and deep" back in Seasons 6 and 7 than there were overall in S9.

[Guest Laurent.]

Man... this was a great discussion! (I'm still searching for a specific topic... so I'm exploring a lot of old ones)

I still think, even though the tone elasticity was there in the mid-series seasons as Zeus said, that season nine experimented more with the storytelling format. Take Audrey Pauley, which I watched not so long ago, it's very rare to have one of the main characters be the X-File in a stand-alone episodes... it's also rare to have them in the teaser, and it's rare to have absolutely no scientific counterpoint (and paranormal explanation) to the story... very weird episode. I think Sunshine Days, Improbable and John Doe also pushed the elasticity in terms of the usual "X-Files" format.. even if the tone was not that unusual.

[ethsnafu]

Well since this is called "X-Files help" I figured this might be the best place for a post such as this. I watched "Patient X" and "The Red And The Black" yesterday and those are superb episodes I have to say. I had quite forgotten how cinematic "The X-Files" could be at times. Now I'm somewhat confused by the black oil and what it does. When the boy is infected we see that his eyes, ears and mouth are sewn together as is, I assume, his nose to prevent the spread of infection. Is the black oil simply animating him at this point and he is essentially dead as presumably he is unable to breath and must be?

I wonder precautions of these kind were not taken with Marita when she was infected?

Eth

[Earthnut]

Well guys, I'm not as knowledgeable as all of you with XF episodes, even though I've seen them all, but, I didn want to say that yesterday I found a DVD copy of "The Essential Guide to The X-Files Movie," called "X-Files Revelations." It's 2 DVD's with 8 episodes on it and introductions from both Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz. I am so looking forward to watching it.

Is the black oil simply animating him at this point and he is essentially dead as presumably he is unable to breath and must be?

Awesome question Mark, and something I have always wondered about.