NetFlix is my friend, especially when reliving the X-File seasons one at a time.

Season 1 has been more creepy than "cool" or "scary", and I hardly remember most of the episodes (probably because I was 11 when it debuted).

season 3 is easily the best, mainly because of all the darin morgan contributions.

best episodes from season 1:

"ice"
"squeeze"
"eve"
"beyond the sea"
"tooms"
"darkness falls"
"e.b.e."
"the erlenmeyer flask"

"conduit" is kind of cool, and features the "i want to believe" line spoken by mulder. "deep throat" is interesting, as it fleshes out mulder & scully's roles and introduces DT.

then there are some outright bad episodes like "space", "ghost in the machine", "the jersey devil", and "shapes". not just because they're mostly "creature of the week" episodes but they're either boring or bland, or just stupid.

there's absolutely no reason to watch "the x-files" after season 5. some could argue not to watch anything beyond season 3, but i liked some of 4 and 5.

That episode with the little bugs that would attack in the dark and mummify their victims did serious damage to me when I was a kid...

yep. that's "darkness falls". that was damn cool.

Damn you W_Z...

I never watched the series much during its initial run but always wanted to so I also started getting them through Netflix. Started a couple years ago and really enjoyed the first few seasons. Smoking Man quickly became my favorite character. Since I was a kid I've had an interest in the supernatural and cryptozoology (Bigfoot, Loch Ness, Monkey-man of New Dehli, Jersey Devil, etc, etc) so I also got into the monster of the week episodes when the show deviated from the main story arc. Not that I believe in such a thing as Mothman. For now.

I'm now into the season with Robert Patrick and there's been a definite drop off in the entertainment value. Seems like I am just watching them now to get to the end of the series like I did with Homicide, which really declined in quality in the last few seasons. The creepiest X-Files episode I ever saw was the one with the inbred family where the mother is kept under a bed. It implanted this little thought in my brain that "yeah I could see some sick shit like this going on in some remote part of the country."

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Back off, Warchild. Seriously.

They used to run X-Files reruns on TNT when I was in college during the middle of the night. It was perfect for when I was up at 2 or 3 in the morning.

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I have just been watching these on the netflix as well starting with season 1 and its almost worth it for the cameo's alone. Already have seen Donal Logue as a prick FBI agent who has a rivalry with Mulder Seth Green as a stoner who goes and watches test aircraft fly around and the dude from Bloodsport and who played Ogre as a biker who got his ear melted off by an alien....Awesome

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We have every season, even the shitty ones, on DVD. Yeah, season 3 ruled because of Jose Chung, Clyde Bruckner, and some cockroaches. Clyde Bruckner's Final Repose gets funnier every time, I used to think Jose Chung's From Outer Space was best episode, but Clyde aged better. Amusing to see future stars like Jack Black and a few others on the show.

I've always wanted to get into the X Files but never took the plunge. The only episode I actually saw all the way through was about an inbred family on a Texas Chainsaw Massacre(esque) farm. The mother of the family was kept under a bed and brought out for sex with the sons. I still can't believe it aired on network tv.

Also, for those in the know, if I were to check out the two feature films will I be lost? Do the movies stand alone, or do I need to invest in the series first?

"Home". One of my favorite non-creature creature episodes.



Neither one are really all that great; but don't even bother with "I Want to Believe". It's just plain boring. The first one you can see without knowing too much of the show. I think there's some exposition that explains a lot. It becomes very chasey and is really more involved with the alien and UFO conspiracy stuff. "Fight the Future" is at least watchable.

The VHS releases were the best. They weeded out all the bad episodes and gave you such an insightful look at each episode with Chris Carter introducing. I mean, how could you not be enlightened by this:

"Uh...the...uh, the episode here...is about how...uh, the aliens, can uh...be uh..."

But at least they weeded out the bad episodes.