X-files, never seen it. Where to start?

As a member of this site for a bit of time now, and a fellow conspiracy theorist, it's time to admit I've never watched the X-files. I really have no excuse other than it wasn't my 'cup of tea' during its television run.

So Netflix has had all the seasons streaming online now for some time, and I've finally found the free time to start the show - so where do I start?

From what I've Googled it seems like there are plenty of top 10 episode posts on the Internet, but I trust ATS far more than Internet lists.

Do I start from the beginning or do I jump around for the best experience?

Specifically I'm interested in the UFO topics, but I know the show covers a great deal - so where do I start to experience the best of the X-Files?

reply to post by Jason88


Personally I would just start from the beginning.. That's what I did. It had been awhile since I had seen them so I started over.
Good luck and enjoy

reply to post by Jason88

Specifically I'm interested in the UFO topics, but I know the show covers a great deal - so where do I start to experience the best of the X-Files?

Yeah, like nat said - start at the beginning. And every episode is about paranormal stuff, aliens, etc. - but the entire show is about UFOs and so forth.
Plus, you need the character-buildup of the first few episodes to get the basic "premise" of who Scully and Mulder are.

ENJOY!!!

If you're looking for a single episode to see if the show piques your interest, I would recommend "Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man". Season four episode seven, often regarded as the high point of the show.

Small warning though, it will have spoilers for multiple plotlines, and starting from the beginning would probably be the best way to take a swing at this show.

The beginning! I love that show, my dog's name is Mulder, that's how much I love that show.

Although, once David duchovny left, I stopped watching. Couldn't bring myself to view the t-1000 episodes.

reply to post by Jason88


I would start at the beginning as many of the episodes reference past or future events in the shows plotline. Sometimes they're big, sometimes small.

Some of the episodes you have to power through, while others it seems that a episode is not enough. I will admit though that I wasn't too happy with the last two seasons. Like a idiot though, I still watched.

reply to post by Jason88


Thanks for just bringing up the show!!!

I might have seen 1/3 of them when it was running.

Netflix has it, so now I have something to watch!

I would definitely start from the beginning if I were you! Once in a while they threw in a clunker if my memory serves me correctly...

Well ATS has spoken! I'll start at the first episode of season one. Though I do want to jump to an exciting episode as TurtleSmacker suggested to see if I like it, but I don't want to ruin any plot lines either that I may build up to. Thanks for the feedback, ATS. Time to make popcorn and veg out for 6 or 7 hours with the X-files.

reply to post by Jason88


Thanks to netflix my wife and I watched every episode a little over a year ago. There is over 200 episodes in all. I watched the show through the 90's but missed so many episodes that a lot of it didn't make sense to me at the time. It has it all with mystery, paranormal, suspense and you'll just love to hate the cigarette man. Who he turns out to be was a shocker so don't skip and spoil it.

I even enjoyed the season with Robert Patrick. He's not David but he faired well enough with what he was given to work with. What actor could follow up Duchovny successfully anyways? Patrick's had big shoes to fill, besides Mulder came back in the end.

Chris Carter, if you're anywhere out there reading this please, please make the movie X-Files 3 that or pass it to someone like J.J. Abrams.

reply to post by Jason88


series one , episode one - it really is obvious

you COULD do things differently - but you woukd miss story arcs and plot developments

reply to post by Jason88


Start with season one, at the end of season five watch the first movie, continue to the end of season 7 and stop there. When they were being obvious with titles like "Jump The Shark", you should know Carter and the writers had given up on it. The 2008 film is optional, it doesnt have too much to do with with the series, besides being a 2 hour monster of the week episode.

TheLieWeLive
reply to post by Jason88

 

Thanks to netflix my wife and I watched every episode a little over a year ago. There is over 200 episodes in all. I watched the show through the 90's but missed so many episodes that a lot of it didn't make sense to me at the time. It has it all with mystery, paranormal, suspense and you'll just love to hate the cigarette man. Who he turns out to be was a shocker so don't skip and spoil it.

I even enjoyed the season with Robert Patrick. He's not David but he faired well enough with what he was given to work with. What actor could follow up Duchovny successfully anyways? Patrick's had big shoes to fill, besides Mulder came back in the end.

Chris Carter, if you're anywhere out there reading this please, please make the movie X-Files 3 that or pass it to someone like J.J. Abrams.

Abrams ruined Star Trek and will cause more damage to The Holy Trilogy than Lucas did with the prequels! How can anyone in this world think that the guy who can't do anything other than shakey cams and lens flares, do anything good with The X-Files??? The only good he's done for Star Trek is keeping it going, so there can be hope that maybe, just maybe, we can get a real Star Trek movie, with The Next Generation/DS9/Voyager crews before they go the way of the original series crew.

reply to post by captb13


Yeah, I say boo to Abrams. I wouldn't even watch that garbage . . .

Just the other day I was thinking how I would love to have an X-Files marathon! I love the X-Files, hence my handle here.
Definitely watch them in sequence the first time. You'll miss the relationship between Mulder & Scully build as well as the whole UFO conspiracy.

Enjpy!

reply to post by captb13


He ruined Star Trek?
Are you even aware it is not the same time line as any of the other movies or shows? How does that ruin it?

You may turn out to be right about Star Wars but I for one will wait and see before I denounce it. I don't think there is much more ruin you could do to the franchise after The Phantom Menace.

BTW, you folks that enjoy X-Files should check out, or revisit, Millennium. Quick watch, only 3 seasons. Storyline is a little shakey, due to writer changes in the second season. But, some great monster of the weeks, and a nice conspiratorial philosophy. They tried to tie the show up (due to its premature cancellation) with an episode of X-Files.

Good stuff.

There are some incredibly good episodes.
I think my favorites are in s2, but the first and third seasons have some real grit to them, they're more crime drama with a supernatural element.

reply to post by TheLieWeLive


It was changed beyond what is possible. The ship. Its not The Enterprise. I could understand a little updating for a new generation of viewers, but inside and out is completly different. Why? How? The Botany Bay, with Kahn aboard, was launched long before Kirk was born. In the first, Kirk is born just after Nero comes back in time. Tell me, how did this change events further into the past? Scotty, how did he change so much that he was stuck on some outpost in the middle of nowhere? Uhura and Spock? No, she always had the hots for Scotty. The Klingons. Piercings? Uhura having to translate? They had universal translators since the Enterprise series, again, long before Nero. The way the klingons looked? How did Nero change it so they'd have piercings? Why were they never seen again? The differences are way too extreme for a Romulan ship going back in time and destroying one ship.
Just a scifi/action flick with half naked women to get the demographic they wanted to go watch it. It should have been its own thing, not Star Trek.

The X-Files was a cool show. Some episodes were genius. I've seen a bunch of them over the years. Some were really cool.

I loved the episode "Alpha", about the Wanshang Dhole. That episode was brilliant. Also loved "Killshot", and an episode called "Alone". I think Stanley Kubrick would have approved of 'Alone'!

Netflix has the ENTIRE series, all 9 seasons on streaming, just finished watching it not too long ago myself