X-files movie felt equally like Millenium to me

[Guest cgstewart]

Perhaps I'm just reading into it because of being starved for 1013/Chris Carter material but the new X-files movie felt to me like it was equally situated (thematically, tone, content) between The X-files and Millennium. Here are some examples (NOTE, if you haven't seen the movie you may not want to read any more):

-the "supernatural" element was very much downplayed. It is really a story about human monsters, with a small supernatural element which both guides the characters and forces them to question their actions.

-Mulder (and less so Scully) act as consultants to the FBI, stay at a distance, and go about unarmed.

-Scully's role as a Doctor (rather than FBI) is similar to Catherine Black's clinical psychologist roles in the first Millennium season

-Mulder saying "this is who I am", sounded very much like "This is who we are".

-The long line of searchers on the ice, similar to the river scenes in the Millennium Pilot.

-Scully's complaints about Mulder's obsessions about the case and what they do to him are very similar to many first and second Frank and Catherine conversations.

-The emphasis at the end of the film about "getting away from the darkness", "the darkness finding you", etc.

-The overall plot (people engaged in acts of unspeakable evil), the protagonists being forced to question their faith and ultimately have it strengthened, and the movie, in the end, being about love.

Of course this isn't too surprising since it's a Carter/Spotnitz script. I imagine they have many such general storylines kicking around which could have been used for either show. Nonetheless, but it did strike me how (other than Mulder and Scully) the themes and tone of the film would equally have fit into the Millennium world.

Anyone else feel this way? (or disagree wildly!)

[Viivi]

Anyone else feel this way?

Oh yes! I had decided not to say this, but changed my mind after reading your post, cgstewart. Last night, after seeing the movie, one of the first thoughts that came to my mind was "this was a Millennium movie without Frank Black".

(Needless to add that I liked the movie very much!)

[Guest retroboy]

I too felt that there were a lot of elements in the new movie that would have fit into Millennium. The overall tone felt very much like it could have inhabited Frank Black's world.

[kenscanna]

WOW, i'm glad I read this post! haha

I TOTALLY thought that as I walked out of the theatre. It even crossed my mind that this could have been a MM script transferred.

So many points of this film felt like they could have had FB in them...wouldn't FB have been the perfect replacement for BC's charecter? OK, not as a pedo-priest, but as someone with a gift that only Mulder could actually access on a personal level...

anyway, thats my thoughts :)

[Guest ZeusFaber]

I very much disagree, myself.

Not only do we have a psychic at work here, but also a man being stitched together from numerous different body parts to keep him alive, severed heads that stay alive for transplant, and two-headed dogs. All far too paranormal and "out there" to be Millennium.

Well... maybe one of those Season 2 episodes. ; )

[Guest Laurent.]

Hahaha yeah I agree with Zeus... mostly because of the main goal of the story; the dialogue between science, faith, beliefs, love, etc... the atmosphere did seem a bit Millenniumistic though. I thought it was darker and more realistic than TXF series; so closer to MM I guess, if you take away the sci-fi elements.

The long line of searchers on the ice, similar to the river scenes in the Millennium Pilot.

I thought that too, not so much the one at the beginning, but the other one, at night with the flash lights reflecting on the snow and ice!! it was CC first feature film direction, and I think he borrowed a lot from scenes in MM and XF. Almost too much.

Father Joe is far from Frank Black though. He hates himself, loves god, seek redemption... even his visions are different. Frank had an ability to understand evil, but Father Joe created this evil and receives his vision from this force... or from God (open to interpretation.. see my analysis!)

[Guest ZeusFaber]

it was CC first feature film direction, and I think he borrowed a lot from scenes in MM and XF. Almost too much.

I really don't see it myself. The fact that both scenes are search lines make them seem comparable, but their composition really is quite different, as are the two physical landscapes.

[Adam Chamberlain]

-Scully's role as a Doctor (rather than FBI) is similar to Catherine Black's clinical psychologist roles in the first Millennium season

-Mulder saying "this is who I am", sounded very much like "This is who we are".

-Scully's complaints about Mulder's obsessions about the case and what they do to him are very similar to many first and second Frank and Catherine conversations.

-The emphasis at the end of the film about "getting away from the darkness", "the darkness finding you", etc.

-The overall plot (people engaged in acts of unspeakable evil), the protagonists being forced to question their faith and ultimately have it strengthened, and the movie, in the end, being about love.

I most definitely thought the same on all of the above, and can also impart that I went to see the movie with the one-and-only Brian A. Dixon (who, contrary to some recent reports and fears, is very much alive and well) who agreed too. Plus if I'm not mistaken Mulder and Scully's house was yellow!

[wolvesevolve]

I most definitely thought the same on all of the above, and can also impart that I went to see the movie with the one-and-only Brian A. Dixon (who, contrary to some recent reports and fears, is very much alive and well) who agreed too. Plus if I'm not mistaken Mulder and Scully's house was yellow!

lol, I just got back from the movie, and liked it quite a bit. I can say with 99% assurance that the house was not yellow, but like a dirty white ...if I recall correctly. ...though the idea of a "yellow house" was definitely there! :)

I'm in the camp that there were a lot of MillenniuM themes in the movie...well I think it'd be better said that CC's vision of X-Files and MM were not too far removed from each other, in terms of more personal themes of the darkness of crime solving vs. family/personal life and trying to separate the two worlds. Also ambiguity: of truth vs. lies, of good vs. evil...the lines aren't really so clearly drawn out most of the time. The ambiguity of the "supernatural" I think IWTB in this respect was handled more like MM in it's presentation here...though the final scene with Father Joe in the hospital kinda sealed it for the audience and Mulder that the priest did have a psychic connection and it wasn't smoke and mirrors.

But yeah...the two headed dog and head transplant stuff was more the stuff of TXF than MM, and that whole revelation of the kidnapping plot didn't really elevate the story at all, though it didn't need to as the point of the movie was more about larger, personal themes.

I really enjoyed the movie, too bad 20th Century Fox will see it as a box office failure :(

Edited August 14, 2008 by wolvesevolve

[Guest Thomas]

Perhaps I'm just reading into it because of being starved for 1013/Chris Carter material but the new X-files movie felt to me like it was equally situated (thematically, tone, content) between The X-files and Millennium.

Anyone else feel this way? (or disagree wildly!)

I watched the Pilot last night (Again) and the search scenes for victims looked very similar to me. It was much more in-your-face about homosexuals. The Frenchman has a connection with the medical lab. I found the darkness of the scenes, the rain and water dripping scenes, the clothes of Frank and Peter being more utilitarian than business suits, it all seemed very appropriate.

I hope that there is a MM movie while Lance is still up to it. I don't imagine a replacement. I do think he could have fit right into the XF2.