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Cool, looks like the slight wonkiness of LJ from the past few days has now been fixed! I think it was an issue that was just affecting people using the old LJ format? It was starting to bug me because the tracking feature was really messed-up for quite a few days, and I rely on that a lot of the time to keep on top of comments
And I've just finished my rewatch of X-Files season 1!
I love that the pilot starts off with Mulder and Scully's first meeting and gradually getting to know one another. They really did connect almost instantly, with super intimate body language from the beginning. Although hmm the characterisation of both Mulder and Scully seems subtly different in those first two episodes to me? Not sure how to explain it, but Scully gives off a sort of vibe of being kind of swept away by Mulder, so much so she can't help cracking up at how cute and endearing his enthusiasm is, which I guess would fit with her never knowing anyone like him before? She definitely doesn't come across as quite as amused with Mulder later on as she does in those early episodes :P (Maybe this is twisted fanwank, but I totally read Scully as secretly crushing on Mulder in season 1, while I would say that Mulder was so wrapped up in his work that Scully barely registered to him in that way at first). And Mulder's pilot characterisation doesn't come across as all *that* different, but he did seem slightly Idk ~wackier~ to me than he later is, i.e his whooping and unable to contain his excitement when he thinks that they've lost time *g*
Oh and they talk in the extras about Doug being kind of weird on set, and just knowning how creepy he turned out to be in real life makes Tooms even creepier now if that's possible! Apparently he insisted on doing the tunnel scene completely nude, and David wasn't very comfortable with that in such a confined space
Season 1 has a really strong beginning, but then goes through a terrible patch of MotW episodes all in the same run urgh, until things picks up again with Ice. I think on my next watch I will just skip straight from Conduit to Ice :P (I didn't love Conduit as much as the first three episodes either mind you, but it does have important characters moments for Mulder regarding Samantha and a very touching ending, while the next three episodes just feel like the worst kind of filler. I will give The Jersey Devil points for the cute subplot of Scully going on a date and attempting to have a life, but the main plot is just too painful to overlook)
Ice was just a terrific an episode as I remembered, but then even that gets followed up by Space! It seems like 90's shows like Buffy and X-Files got away with being a lot more uneven in their early seasons compared to what viewers expect from shows today, you get a brilliant episode like Eve one week, and then an outright dire one like Fire the next. Whereas you would never expect such a run of bad episodes in similar shows made today. When I watched the first season of Fringe a few years ago for example, I'd heard that the first season was a bit rough, but I found that nearly all of the episodes were at least competently done. Ditto the first season of Supernatural did get some criticism for its MotW format of the first season not being the most exciting, but aside from maybe two of them (Bugs and Route 66), you couldn't accuse them of being outright dire episodes of television, while some of the early Buffy and X-Files episodes just feel really cheesily done frankly and like the worst kind of B-movies
And interestingly a lot of the worst early episodes were actually written by Chris Carter (The Jersey Devil, Space, Fire). It's usually the reverse with viewers knowing that they're in for a special episode when the creator is writing, and the poorer MotW episodes coming from the freelance writers, but I can't say much for Chris Carter's early efforts. The portrayal of British people in Fire was painful, although it was fun to see a young Mark Shepherd as the main villain. But things just hit too cheesy a note for me when he's yelling 'you can't fight fire with fire' at the end when he's on fire *g* (Also the actress playing Mulder's ex-flame Phoebe was horrible, I just could not picture Mulder ever being an item with her. How was it supposed to be a cute joke to terrify him and Scully by pretending their car was rigged by a bomb??? The best part of Phoebe was Scully's indifference to her, I loved her chilly 'hello' lol).
The standout episodes were nearly all by Glen Morgan and James Wong IMO, my top five episodes from season 1 would be Squeeze, Ice, Eve, Beyond The Sea, and Tombs, and four of those episodes are by Glen Morgan and James Wong. To be fair Chris Carter did do a good job with the premise of course, and I liked his opening and closing episodes for the season, I just don't think that his MotW episodes from season 1 were very good at all, and that's somewhat surprising when he's the main creative force behind The X-Files... From what I remember he was always a bit uneven, he would either produce an episode that was fantastic, or it would be one of the worst of the season. Fingers crossed for his episodes from the new series I guess!
This is probably all going to sound a bit overtly negative, but I did really enjoy season 1 still for the nostalgia aspect and the early characterisation of Mulder and Scully, they were so young and adorable <3 Now I'm excited to get started on seasons 2 and 3, that's the time when I first started watching live and really fell in love with the show. Season 1 was the season that I mostly caught up with on DVD, although I did have a couple of those episodes (Squeeze and Tombs) on VHS, as well as novelizations of I think it was Shapes and Darkness Falls? I do vaguely remember watching *some* season 1 episodes on the BBC (Born Again really stands out in my mind there for some reason), but definitely the majority I'm not as familiar with as I only caught up with them when I first brought the DVDs
And I've just finished my rewatch of X-Files season 1!
I love that the pilot starts off with Mulder and Scully's first meeting and gradually getting to know one another. They really did connect almost instantly, with super intimate body language from the beginning. Although hmm the characterisation of both Mulder and Scully seems subtly different in those first two episodes to me? Not sure how to explain it, but Scully gives off a sort of vibe of being kind of swept away by Mulder, so much so she can't help cracking up at how cute and endearing his enthusiasm is, which I guess would fit with her never knowing anyone like him before? She definitely doesn't come across as quite as amused with Mulder later on as she does in those early episodes :P (Maybe this is twisted fanwank, but I totally read Scully as secretly crushing on Mulder in season 1, while I would say that Mulder was so wrapped up in his work that Scully barely registered to him in that way at first). And Mulder's pilot characterisation doesn't come across as all *that* different, but he did seem slightly Idk ~wackier~ to me than he later is, i.e his whooping and unable to contain his excitement when he thinks that they've lost time *g*
Oh and they talk in the extras about Doug being kind of weird on set, and just knowning how creepy he turned out to be in real life makes Tooms even creepier now if that's possible! Apparently he insisted on doing the tunnel scene completely nude, and David wasn't very comfortable with that in such a confined space
Season 1 has a really strong beginning, but then goes through a terrible patch of MotW episodes all in the same run urgh, until things picks up again with Ice. I think on my next watch I will just skip straight from Conduit to Ice :P (I didn't love Conduit as much as the first three episodes either mind you, but it does have important characters moments for Mulder regarding Samantha and a very touching ending, while the next three episodes just feel like the worst kind of filler. I will give The Jersey Devil points for the cute subplot of Scully going on a date and attempting to have a life, but the main plot is just too painful to overlook)
Ice was just a terrific an episode as I remembered, but then even that gets followed up by Space! It seems like 90's shows like Buffy and X-Files got away with being a lot more uneven in their early seasons compared to what viewers expect from shows today, you get a brilliant episode like Eve one week, and then an outright dire one like Fire the next. Whereas you would never expect such a run of bad episodes in similar shows made today. When I watched the first season of Fringe a few years ago for example, I'd heard that the first season was a bit rough, but I found that nearly all of the episodes were at least competently done. Ditto the first season of Supernatural did get some criticism for its MotW format of the first season not being the most exciting, but aside from maybe two of them (Bugs and Route 66), you couldn't accuse them of being outright dire episodes of television, while some of the early Buffy and X-Files episodes just feel really cheesily done frankly and like the worst kind of B-movies
And interestingly a lot of the worst early episodes were actually written by Chris Carter (The Jersey Devil, Space, Fire). It's usually the reverse with viewers knowing that they're in for a special episode when the creator is writing, and the poorer MotW episodes coming from the freelance writers, but I can't say much for Chris Carter's early efforts. The portrayal of British people in Fire was painful, although it was fun to see a young Mark Shepherd as the main villain. But things just hit too cheesy a note for me when he's yelling 'you can't fight fire with fire' at the end when he's on fire *g* (Also the actress playing Mulder's ex-flame Phoebe was horrible, I just could not picture Mulder ever being an item with her. How was it supposed to be a cute joke to terrify him and Scully by pretending their car was rigged by a bomb??? The best part of Phoebe was Scully's indifference to her, I loved her chilly 'hello' lol).
The standout episodes were nearly all by Glen Morgan and James Wong IMO, my top five episodes from season 1 would be Squeeze, Ice, Eve, Beyond The Sea, and Tombs, and four of those episodes are by Glen Morgan and James Wong. To be fair Chris Carter did do a good job with the premise of course, and I liked his opening and closing episodes for the season, I just don't think that his MotW episodes from season 1 were very good at all, and that's somewhat surprising when he's the main creative force behind The X-Files... From what I remember he was always a bit uneven, he would either produce an episode that was fantastic, or it would be one of the worst of the season. Fingers crossed for his episodes from the new series I guess!
This is probably all going to sound a bit overtly negative, but I did really enjoy season 1 still for the nostalgia aspect and the early characterisation of Mulder and Scully, they were so young and adorable <3 Now I'm excited to get started on seasons 2 and 3, that's the time when I first started watching live and really fell in love with the show. Season 1 was the season that I mostly caught up with on DVD, although I did have a couple of those episodes (Squeeze and Tombs) on VHS, as well as novelizations of I think it was Shapes and Darkness Falls? I do vaguely remember watching *some* season 1 episodes on the BBC (Born Again really stands out in my mind there for some reason), but definitely the majority I'm not as familiar with as I only caught up with them when I first brought the DVDs
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Date: 2015-07-21 01:59 pm (UTC)It seems like LJ were doing updates for the new format, and didn't consider how it would affect people who are still using the old style?