Favorite Season

[Guest MillenniumIsBliss]

It's so hard to say that any one season is my favorite. As far as the over all plot season one is the best it is so pure, nice family the millennium group is out trying to catch criminals that are easy to imagine "just turn on the news". But season two has some of my favorite episodes in it.  That being said I hated season 2 sometimes for the way Cathrine is with Frank the perfect family starts to fall apart somewhat, but that is one of the things that made me watch every week to find out if their family was going to get back on track.  Also the arrival of new characters such as Laura Means, and the Old Man added alot of depth to the over all plot. Unfortunately I can't really judge season 3 because I moved, started a new job, and then went through a divorce causing me to miss as many episodes as I watched so I will leave that to the more informed untill Fox decides to get off of thier butt and releases some more seasons in R1 format.  That was a hint if anyone in here works for fox.

I agree, Lara means and the Old Man were great additions to the show in season two, and I was kind of heart broken when Lara was not back for season three. I was also not aware in advance that Kathryn would not be back, but that was a lot easier to swallow. When you do get to watch season three, I'm sure you will find that there are plenty of worth while episodes. I am really getting excited about the prospect of seasons two and three being available on DVD. I am really chomping at the bit, so much so that I am contemplating how much difference there could be between the region one release here and the region two (I think) release that seems to be available in the UK if I'm not mistaken. I don't know if I would have any luck getting a hold of it on amazon UK, and I don't really know how much it would cost me in U.S. dollars. I guess for the time being I will hold off and hope region one comes out soon. There are still a lot of episodes in season one that I would like to watch again. For example, I would like to watch Lamentation again, not only to see the Mulder and Scully sighting for myself, but also because it is a great episode, and I would like to resavor the debut of Lucy butler again. I forgot how good that episode was.

[Guest Chascarrillo]

There's probably no difference between the Region 1 and Region 2 DVDs except for the hardware that you'll need to play them (there's a recent thread on this on these boards). Simply put, you'll need a region-free DVD player than can handle PAL-to-NTSC conversions - I stated one brand on that thread, but there's actually a few more that are able to do so - or if you watch on your computer you need to hack your DVD drive or buy some software that will circumvent the region coding.

As far as ordering from Amazon UK, it couldn't be easier. I made my first purchase this week (for the R2 release of Shaun of the Dead), and it couldn't have been easier. Used my US Amazon login, choosing shipping was a snap, and they even automatically deducted the VAT. You can figure out currency conversions by going to a site like xe.com and plugging in the numbers. Right now, they're selling Season 2 at $50.65.

[Guest MillenniumIsBliss]

There's probably no difference between the Region 1 and Region 2 DVDs except for the hardware that you'll need to play them (there's a recent thread on this on these boards). Simply put, you'll need a region-free DVD player than can handle PAL-to-NTSC conversions - I stated one brand on that thread, but there's actually a few more that are able to do so - or if you watch on your computer you need to hack your DVD drive or buy some software that will circumvent the region coding.

As far as ordering from Amazon UK, it couldn't be easier. I made my first purchase this week (for the R2 release of Shaun of the Dead), and it couldn't have been easier. Used my US Amazon login, choosing shipping was a snap, and they even automatically deducted the VAT. You can figure out currency conversions by going to a site like xe.com and plugging in the numbers. Right now, they're selling Season 2 at $50.65.

Hey there, thanks for the info. I did take a quick glance at the thread I think you are referring to, but reading that the region two release was out in the UK was about as far as I got. From what I have read in your post, I think I will try to hold off for a while. I'm not sure if my DVD player can support the region two format that you refer to, and the $55 price sounds a little steep when I managed to steal a region one copy of season one on Ebay for about $35, and that included shipping. I will have to read into this more in the subject folder you mention so I can find out when they are planning to release the other two seasons here. from what I remember, there was some discussion about them releasing season two and three at the same time. If that's the case, I might just bite the bullet and shell out the money for both seasons. Then again, it might take me a month or so to get through season two, so if I wait on season three, I might be able to save a few dollars. I like to take my time getting through the episodes and wait until I can sit down and really focus and enjoy them. I don't like to feel like I am forcing them into my routine or to have any distractions or extraneous stressors around me during viewing.

[Guest Krabat]

I actually can't state anything about season 3 as I completely missed its run here in Germany. (I think it wasn't a complete one anyway.) Before I re-watched the first two seasons on DVD I always remembered the second one as the better one. This was in fact mainly due to "The Curse of Frank Black" and "Midnight of the Century". What I loved about those two was the deep emotional storyline that focused almost entirely on Frank and his family. I think that was one of the achievements of season 2: it gave us time to breath. And it also added humor with "Jose Chung's Doomsday Defense", another epsiode I love.

However what really threw me off was the whole conspiracy. To me the Rooster/Owls storyline and this "turning evil" of the Millennium group felt way too much like X-Files and it robbed the show of its realism. Add to that the fact that in my opinion the last episode of this season is highly unwatchable (that music video in the middle irritated the hell out of me) I would have to say that I like season one best. Especially because the whole demons and angels aspect was often rather hinted at instead of blatantly showing them running about which made it again more realistic. I love the feeling of an apocalyptic war going on behind the scenes this inspires. Gives you a feeling that evil is just a blink of an eye away, that you can always see it in the corner of your eye, thus it's the search for the evil in "everyday" humans, in everyone of us, was what really intrigued me when I first watched Millennium and it still does today. And no matter what they say for me they didn't lighten up the show with season 2, they made it darker, by taking away the yellow house as a safe haven. Those scenes of love in that house really inspired a sense of hope, seeing that a man who has seen and felt evil so often can actually be this happy.

So, concluding I have to say that although some of the best episodes are in season 2, the overall better season is the first one by far as it's more realistic and more subtle in displaying the crawling apocalypse that Frank faces.

[Guest MillenniumIsBliss]

I actually can't state anything about season 3 as I completely missed its run here in Germany. (I think it wasn't a complete one anyway.) Before I re-watched the first two seasons on DVD I always remembered the second one as the better one. This was in fact mainly due to "The Curse of Frank Black" and "Midnight of the Century". What I loved about those two was the deep emotional storyline that focused almost entirely on Frank and his family. I think that was one of the achievements of season 2: it gave us time to breath. And it also added humor with "Jose Chung's Doomsday Defense", another epsiode I love.

However what really threw me off was the whole conspiracy. To me the Rooster/Owls storyline and this "turning evil" of the Millennium group felt way too much like X-Files and it robbed the show of its realism. Add to that the fact that in my opinion the last episode of this season is highly unwatchable (that music video in the middle irritated the hell out of me) I would have to say that I like season one best. Especially because the whole demons and angels aspect was often rather hinted at instead of blatantly showing them running about which made it again more realistic. I love the feeling of an apocalyptic war going on behind the scenes this inspires. Gives you a feeling that evil is just a blink of an eye away, that you can always see it in the corner of your eye, thus it's the search for the evil in "everyday" humans, in everyone of us, was what really intrigued me when I first watched Millennium and it still does today. And no matter what they say for me they didn't lighten up the show with season 2, they made it darker, by taking away the yellow house as a safe haven. Those scenes of love in that house really inspired a sense of hope, seeing that a man who has seen and felt evil so often can actually be this happy.

So, concluding I have to say that although some of the best episodes are in season 2, the overall better season is the first one by far as it's more realistic and more subtle in displaying the crawling apocalypse that Frank faces.

Well, I tried to just quote a sentence or two, but it looks like you have to quote all or nothing. It is interesting to hear a couple of people now make mention of thinking that season two was better, but then after watching both seasons again, changing their opinion to season one being better. I wonder if I will have the same change of heart when I watch season two again. I am starting to realize how consistently excellent season one was, and have enjoyed some of the episodes more this time around then it seems I did in the first go around. Then again, maybe the ones I remembered as being real standouts just overshadowed the others in my memory. It is also interesting that, if I remember correctly, I have now heard two people speak of the season two finale as being terrible, and probably one of the low points in the series, and two others, including myself, who thought it was an awesome episode, and one of the best. I am going to stick with season two as my favorite, and see if watching it again, when I get it on DVD, changes my opinion. The "Owls and Roosters" story line was by no means my favorite, but I guess it just worked for me, as did the last episode, however, I can see where it might not work for everyone. The X-files was also one of the best shows on TV, and I realize it was on a lot longer than Millennium, but it seems like there was a higher percentage of story lines in that show that I was not all that crazy about then is the case with Millennium. For example, the episodes with the clones of Mulders sister, the black oil and the people with no faces, etc etc. In my opinion Millennium did a pretty good job of holding onto its believability when you consider the type of show it was. Setting the Owls, Roosters, and the Hand Of Saint Sebastian (all still very good episodes IMHO) aside, season two was just packed with great episodes, but as I conclude season one and start to watch some of the episodes again, it is starting to creep up on season two.

[The Old Man]

Just a note, you can move the closing quote tag to where ever you want and with a combination cut paste add as many opening and closing quote tages as you like.

[QUOTE]have some text here[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE]cut and paste more text here and so on...[/QUOTE][/code]


Hope this helps.

Graham.

[Guest LucyButler2000]

Based on having seen "most" of the episodes (the ones I recorded on vhs during the actual run, I'd have to say season two struck me as the best. I have to wait till all the dvds are out so I can see ALL the episodes (since I missed a few) before I say definitely its the final answer ;)

[Guest F_Black]

I hadn't really thought about it before, but I mostly preferred S2. Most of my favorite episodes are in it. I liked the development of the mythology, the ancient roots of the Group, etc. I didn't particularly like the spiralling downwards of Frank's life (separation from Catherine, her death, disillusionment with the Group, etc.). For me, the sinister nature of the Group led it on a path to my not liking the show as much. The Group seemed to me to be a big part of the appeal of the show. It would have been preferable for me if there had been some question as to the Group's ultimate motives, but not to the extent that they made it so.

I liked the friendship that developed b/w Frank and Watts. It seemed as if knowing each other and working together made each begin to question what they had long perceived the world to be. Watts seemed to be somewhat more skeptical of the rationale of the Group ('Hand of St. Sebastian') due to his association with Frank the outsider, and Frank seemed to be experiencing another way of looking at the world via the Group. I was very sad when they 'broke up' as it were, although they seemed to come to something of a rapprochement near the end of S3.

[voidprime]

Yep, I have to agree with others that season 2 is the best even though some of my favorite epsiodes are also in season 1 and 3. Season loses it's footing for a while after the first two episodes before getting it back a little later. Season 2 is the strongest as to the amount of strong episodes and solid storytelling. Season 3 starts out so-so before gaining it's footing about a third a way into the season.

[hippyroo]

Yes, season two is the best. SOMEHOW SATAN GOT BEHIND ME is my favorite episode from MM. I also love the two holiday episodes.