X-Files: the good parts?

August 2, 2015 4:51 PM

Anyone interested in doing an X-Files "highlights reel" in the few-months runup to the new episodes?

I'm stoked for the new episodes in January but I have only vague memories of where the mythology ended up going - and unlike many fans I actually watched to the end. I was thinking it would be fun to rewatch "just the good parts" - some of the best-loved MotW episodes, some or all of the mytharc, maybe the movies?

If people are interested I would love some help coming up with a list.

posted by town of cats (9 comments total)

I'd definitely be up for some random discussion, but don't have a very good memory for these things. This list of 10 good episodes from the AV Club might make a good starting point.
posted by whir at 7:27 PM on August 2, 2015

Here are some of my favorites:

s1
Squeeze
Gender Bender
Beyond the Sea
Tooms

s2
Humbug
Die Hand Die Verletzt
Irresistible

s3
Clyde Brukman's Final Repose
War of the Coprophages
Pusher
Jose Chung's From Outer Space
Quagmire

s4
Home

s5
Bad Blood
Mind's Eye

I pretty much stopped watching after that.
posted by miss-lapin at 7:52 PM on August 2, 2015 [1 favorite]

I have been re-watching sporadically all summer and am into Season 2. One of the things that strikes me on the re-watch is how the MotW episodes (the good ones, anyway) are actually much better now than the mythology episodes. I originally set out to just watch the mythology.

It's also kind of funny what sorts of things become dated. Like, when they meet the Lone Gunmen, Scully says something about how its paranoid grandiosity to imagine that you, you! are so important the government is listening to your phone calls. Man, I remember when that was the reasonable, grounded position.

What I'm saying is, I'd be into this and would probably make a half-dozen contributions to a Fanfare rewatch before getting distracted and petering out.
posted by gauche at 1:21 PM on August 3, 2015 [2 favorites]

One of the things that strikes me on the re-watch is how the MotW episodes (the good ones, anyway) are actually much better now than the mythology episodes.

Well, now that we know what happened, the mytharc stuff is sort of depressing to go through.
posted by showbiz_liz at 9:24 AM on August 4, 2015 [1 favorite]

OK, so it sounds like there's mild but not overwhelming interest, and that people are more excited about MotWs than mytharc episodes. Taking the AVClub list (plus the "and ten more" at the bottom) and removing the mythology episodes and then ordering them by original airdate, I think we get:

Ice
Beyond the Sea
Die Hand Die Verletzt
Humbug
Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose
Pusher
Jose Chung’s From Outer Space
Home
Never Again
Small Potatoes
The Post-Modern Prometheus
Bad Blood
Drive
Triangle
Monday
Field Trip

I'd be fine to rewatch any or all of these episodes (and am really surprised to see how many season 6 episodes turned up on those lists!), except for Home which gave me such howling fantods that I swore I'd never watch it again. I'll post these as I have time and interest to rewatch them. And I reserve the right to also throw in random other episodes that I have personal love for...like, oh, anything Lone Gunmen-centric? And probably Quagmire? Anyone else can feel free to throw in their own faves too.
posted by town of cats at 10:30 PM on August 4, 2015 [1 favorite]

We're watching the series this summer, and basically they're all my favorite simply to watch Scully's quizzical eyebrow.
posted by ikahime at 2:28 PM on August 6, 2015

And don't forget the Scully wink. It's that thing where Scully is explaining something intricate, usually to Mulder, and she only blinks one eye. It's definitely a thing, but I've never seen anyone else mention it.
posted by valkane at 5:40 AM on August 8, 2015 [1 favorite]

EBE is one of the best X-Files episodes for me. It has everything, from Scully accusing Mulder of being paranoid and then finding a surveillance bug in her pen mid-sentence, to the introduction of the Lone Gunmen. One of the best. episodes. ever.
posted by I-baLL at 12:07 PM on August 11, 2015 [1 favorite]

I-baLL, I would be happy to throw EBE into the mix too. It's been a long time since I've seen it and I'd welcome a rewatch, as a LGM fangirl since lunch money days. I guess that's next chronologically, so I'll post it Sunday. Hope to see you in the thread!
posted by town of cats at 10:04 PM on August 12, 2015