Henriksen And Carter Article

[Guest Second Coming]

Millennium comes to DVD as TV star wishes for cable or big-screen reprise

Millennium comes to DVD as TV star wishes for cable or big-screen reprise

Mon Jul 19, 1:11 PM ET 

JOHN MCKAY

TORONTO (CP) - Millennium, X-Files creator Chris Carter's dark, foreboding TV series that played on our late 1990s millennial angst, is coming to DVD, but viewers be warned.

Watching too many episodes at once can fill one with an overload of despair, melancholy and dread. The Fox TV series debuted in the fall of 1996 and its creators were committed to making it as ominous and menacing as possible. Looking back at its heralding of apocalyptic horror emerging from man's heart of darkness, it's interesting to note that while Y2K never happened, 9/11 did.

Millennium was the story of retired FBI (news - web sites) criminal profiler Frank Black (news) - played by death-mask-faced Lance Henriksen (news) - who helped a shadowy organization called the Millennium Group, which had detected a rise in evil in our world as the 21st century approached and which was dedicated to combating it.

This invariably led to Black using his amped-up brain power - it was always denied he was psychic - to study a crime scene and visualize what happened, from the viewpoint of the killer. The flashback imagery continues today in current crime shows like CSI.

("It's my gift, it's my curse," Black would say long before it became a Spider-Man catch phrase.)

Doling out heavy portions of blood, gore and dread each week, Millennium lasted three seasons and, regrettably for its most loyal fans, didn't quite make it to the perceived millennium rollover, getting cancelled by Fox TV in 1999.

"I made a mistake of coming out with the (short-lived sci-fi) show Harsh Realm," explains Carter. "I bumped myself off the air. I sold my own time slot so I don't know if that was a good idea or not."

The six-disc DVD boxed set contains all 22 episodes of that well-crafted first season, as well as a couple of voiceover commentaries and some fascinating background extras.

Henriksen admits he never thought grown men would be scared by a TV show.

"But I ran into more people saying they couldn't watch it because it scared the hell out of them."

In one of the DVD backgrounders, it was revealed that Carter and his team were well aware that the uncompromised approach to their themes would limit the potential audience, much more so than Carter's wildly popular The X-Files. Both were shot in Vancouver.

Henriksen says he regrets the decision to axe the series in year 3 because the show was just building an audience, noting that in fact X-Files didn't really hit its stride until its fourth season.

"But they had a guy come over from the comedy network and he knocked it off with all the other dramas. Then he got fired six months later, so. . ."

At the same time Henriksen concedes that this first season was by far the best because it was the one in which Carter was totally involved and that by the final season they had effectively jumped the shark, the industry catch-phrase for what happens when a series becomes a parody of itself in a desperate search for ratings.

Henriksen began the series by declaring he would walk away if they ever abandoned the show's integrity by lightening up. But he says they crossed a line in that final season when the writers turned the Millennium Group into bad guys.

"It did get off-kilter," he concedes. "Now we had opened the door, a Pandora's Box into a whole other thing."

"To have it turn like that. I know you need conflict but there could have been many other directions to bring the conflict in from."

Henriksen believes Millennium was ahead of its time and that today he fantasizes about it becoming either a big-screen movie or an HBO series.

" 'Cuz we'd have language and there would be a lot more we could do."

One of the few amusing DVD revelations deals with how Carter tried to get Henriksen to tone down his acting style, to talk in that famous monotone and not to gesticulate as though he were trying to sell his opinions.

"I'm from New York and New Yorkers talk with their hands. And Chris said 'Look, don't give away your power. I just want you to put all that energy into being grounded.'

"And I thought 'Am I getting anything across now?' For like a week and then I surrendered."

Carter, who recently signed to direct a new serial killer-themed movie entitled A Philosophical Investigation, doesn't think the genre has been overworked yet.

"It's still ripe, rich storytelling material and the people who do it well, hopefully, get their just rewards."

A new series this fall, Revelations, appears ready to exploit the premise further with its Da Vinci Code-type plot about a Harvard professor and a Catholic nun trying to head off Armageddon.

Carter's optimistic, meanwhile, that Millennium will be a hit on DVD.

"Especially in a format that shows one of the best aspects of the work, which is that it was beautifully done."

[voidprime]

Yeah, I just read that article. Interesting to hear Lance's comments on season 3. I liked season 3.

Be Seeing You,

David Blackwell

[Beerbelch]

BEER---> I showed this article to "The Babe" my wife, and the only thing she commented on was this portion - 'Watching too many episodes at once can fill one with an overload of despair, melancholy and dread', - then she looked at me and laughed.

BELCH

[The Old Man]

Great interview! Totally agree with Lanceman about crosing the line in Season Three with the Group being portrayed as evil - the show and the Millennium Group were inspired by the Academy Group! Rediculous!

[Guest Gary]

I totally agree with Lance's comments, too. But didn't the group become evil in Season Two? I mean, it was really evil in Season Three, but it's in S2 that we see the group become evil. Damn Morgan & Wong!

[Guest chrisnu]

I totally agree with Lance's comments, too. But didn't the group become evil in Season Two? I mean, it was really evil in Season Three, but it's in S2 that we see the group become evil. Damn Morgan & Wong!

We didn't know a whole lot about the group in S1, other than they investigate crimes. In S2, we find that the Group is very controlling, and almost Machiavellian in their ideas regarding an individual life. In S3, they're a political covert actions group. The control is the same, but the mechanism is different.

[Guest se7en]

Great interview! Totally agree with Lanceman about crosing the line in Season Three with the Group being portrayed as evil - the show and the Millennium Group were inspired by the Academy Group! Rediculous!

..........unfortunately we have Morgan & Wong to blame for turning the group into a parody of itself as well as turning them into some cliche doomsday cult that had absolutely NOTHING to do with the S1 storylines. but that's an old argument.

... it also appears as though some of henriksen's statements were deliberately-(?) placed wildy out of context:

EXAMPLE:

- He-(HENRIKSEN)- claims,as he always has, that S3 of MM was just hitting it's creative stride, but then later in the article there is another comment about thier being better ways of portraying the group and creating conflict, which seems structured in a way as to referecne S3 when similar coments in the past from him-(Henriksen)- were always and i mean ALWAYS in reference to S2 not S3. It is certainly no secret of his many misgivings and dislikes regarding most of S2. -(the ironic part is that while love S1/3 equally as much i don't even agree with all of henriksen's complaints regarding S2. a lot of great character developement happened, and some kick-ass stories......but,unfortunately, also a lot of horrible horseshit.)

...opinions are great but me thinks i smell a rat! LOL!

se7en