Favorite Mlm Writer(s)

[Guest A Stranger]

Overall, who's your favorite?

[Guest ModernDayMoriarty]

For me it can only really be one of 'The Big Three' writing forces: Chris Carter, Glen Morgan + James Wong, Chip Johanessen. All can lay claim to being significant forces in Millennium.

Carter created Frank Black and the idea of the greater evil arc that transformed the show's focus. His unstinting and exacting attitude towards producing quality ensured Millennium never sank into frivolity and asked the tough questions. He also produced pound for pound the most intense, menacing hours of television in many years. 'Pilot' and 'Lamentation' in particular are works he can be justifiably proud of. However as I have said before, his focus was narrow and the show may have suffered for it under his iron grip.

Morgan and Wong opened up Millennium. They expanded the horizons of the show and put in place a clear journey for Frank to take. They took up the mantle of making the show attractive and injecting a sense of awe and wonder more forcefully into Millennium; they didn't make people work so hard for their lightness as Carter had. Ultimately though I disagree with many of their choices and directions and I cannot forgive them for their apparent lack of interest as the Season went on, first with noodling like 'Owls/Roosters' and then with very scrappily made episodes such as 'Siren' and 'The Time is Now'.

So for me, the real star is Chip J. Through all the Seasons he consistently produced quality and came up with great ideas for all of his episodes. He doesn't really have a poor episode to his name. Also, he did probably the best work on humanising the characters in Millennium as far as I'm concerned. Anyone who thinks Peter Watts was only made interesting by M+W should take another look at S1 Chip J episodes. Of all his episodes, Chip J only leaves Peter out in 1 (Borrowed Time). Watts is instrumental in all Chip's episodes and his interactions and friendship with Frank are estalished best in his episodes. Lastly, he took a tricky prospect (S3 when M+W had killed the earth with a blood plague) and made it into what is arguably the best planned and executed of all the Seasons.

So it's Chip J for me.

[Guest A Stranger]

Sorry, this was supposed to be a poll. I guess I messed up when posting...

It was meant to contian the choices:

Chris Carter

Glen Morgan and James Wong

Chip Johannessen

Darin Morgan

Michael R. Perry

I was going to vote for Chip Johannessen as well. "Blood Relatives" being his only real weak point followed by "Exegesis," which I'm still party conflicted on. Johannessen brought a serious spirtual element to the show, where others failed. There is very serious sense of purpose to his stories. He also portays Frank and his gift the better than any other writer.

Morgan and Wong are a well oiled machine, they've been doing it awhile and it shows. I think year two plays out very well, it is very cohesive. They opened up the show. But they obviously didn't love the Frank Black of year one and his snazy clothes and one-liners don't work that well. They write very tight episodes but as time has passed there is a "campy" quailty to them I find myself liking less and less. Year two became very self-indulgent.

But it's easy to forget their work in year one, some of the best. "Dead Letters" and "The Thine White Line" are exceptional. But it's clear they were bored with those type of stories and though I loved how they opened up the show, the seriousness of the show and the reality of it's characters was lost much of the time.

I hate to suggest that Carter is lesser in that he created the show and none of it would exist withouth him, but I'm mainly judging on quality to quanity of episodes. He didn't write that many and as Selfosophy Pycho pointed out, aside from "TEOWAWKI," his episodes take a very narrow perspective. So he also looses points since he is the creator and pingeon-held the other writers.

Darin Morgan is an exceptional writer by any standards. I know some disagree with the comedy but these episodes both as a part of MLM and apart from it are oustanding. But then there are only two.

Michael R. Perry, I included mainly becuase he did write a large junk of season three episodes I often find him to underrated by fans. "The Mikado," "Omerta," "Thirteen..." and "Nostalgia" are all solid episodes that added to the show.

[Guest chrisnu]

Other than the big three, Darin Morgan. He wrote several of my favorite X-Files episodes, and the same with this show. The humor was for me a welcome diversion, not a waste of time. I would choose Michael R. Perry, but I don't care for "Omerta" or "...Thirteen Years Later". I really enjoy "The Mikado" (my favorite episode) and "Nostalgia", though.

[Guest Frank L.]

I honestly can't choose between Chris Carter and M&W. Chris Carter created the series and wrote some brilliant episodes, like the Pilot, Gehenna, Lamentation and Seven and One. But M&W probably wrote the most episodes, and IMHO some of the best of the entire series: Dead Letters, The Thin White Line, The Curse Of Frank Black, The Hand Of St. Sebastian, Owls, Roosters, The Fourth Horseman and The Time Is Now.

[Guest ein042]

I honestly can't choose between Chris Carter and M&W. Chris Carter created the series and wrote some brilliant episodes, like the Pilot, Gehenna, Lamentation and Seven and One. But M&W probably wrote the most episodes, and IMHO some of the best of the entire series: Dead Letters, The Thin White Line, The Curse Of Frank Black, The Hand Of St. Sebastian, Owls, Roosters, The Fourth Horseman and The Time Is Now.

It is hard to choose. An Enormous debt to Chris Carter for not only this and XFiles but Morgan and Wong for the same reasons you mentioned plus, their other series including 'The Others' 'Final Destination' the list goes on. It's M & W for me personally anyway.

[Guest A Stranger]

It is hard to choose. An Enormous debt to Chris Carter for not only this and XFiles but Morgan and Wong for the same reasons you mentioned plus, their other series including 'The Others' 'Final Destination' the list goes on. It's M & W for me personally anyway.

I was judging strictly on their work on MLM, if it was based on all their work Moran and Wong would get negative points for Final Destination and The Others! Though, they were arguably the best X-Files writers. I never understood how they made such great works in XF and MLM and then came up with The Others...

[Guest Bob Bletcher]

Darin Morgan!

[Guest ein042]

I was judging strictly on their work on MLM, if it was based on all their work Moran and Wong would get negative points for Final Destination and The Others! Though, they were arguably the best X-Files writers. I never understood how they made such great works in XF and MLM and then came up with The Others...

Sorry, You're right not to include their other work in this case.

Final Destination won't win awards but wasn't your average dead teenager movie either.

"The Others" may have had some shakey moments but on the whole remains one of my favorites.

again, agreeing to disagree.

[Raven Wolf]

I honestly can't choose between Chris Carter and M&W. Chris Carter created the series and wrote some brilliant episodes, like the Pilot, Gehenna, Lamentation and Seven and One. But M&W probably wrote the most episodes, and IMHO some of the best of the entire series: Dead Letters, The Thin White Line, The Curse Of Frank Black, The Hand Of St. Sebastian, Owls, Roosters, The Fourth Horseman and The Time Is Now.

My thoughts as well.