The X-Files - The Complete Seventh Season

Buy This Item The X-Files - The Complete Seventh Season  List Price: $99.98  Available from Amazon  $96.99  on 12-7-2008     Features Actors: X-Files, Gillian Anderson, David Duchovny Directors: Chris Carter Format: Anamorphic, Box set, Closed-captioned, Collector's Edition, Color, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC Language: English, French Subtitles: English, Spanish Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.) Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Number of discs: 6 Studio: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment DVD Release Date: May 13, 2003 Run Time: 999 minutes Average Customer Review:   54 Reviews 5 star:  (25) 4 star:  (8) 3 star:  (13) 2 star:  (6) 1 star:  (2) See all 54 customer reviews...   (54 customer reviews) Reader Reviews Season 7 of THE X FILES (1999-2000) is the last season featuring the original team of David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson in unmodified form. It is also the weakest of all nine seasons. NEGATIVE POINTS: 1) Excepting the excellent mythology scripts, Duchovny is emotionally detached in his portrayal of Agent Mulder. While in prior seasons his occasional onscreen fatigue could plausibly be tied to plots featuring a disillusioned Mulder, it is too much of a stretch to extend such a notion to Season 7, which is severely damaged as a result. 2) In terms of new ideas, the writers on the show seemed to have been genuinely stumped throughout much of Season 7, particularly with regard to "stand alone" episodes. The numerous uninspired "stand alone" scripts could hardly have been expected to provide the necessary stimulus for a weary Duchovny, struggling through the grind of a notoriously demanding production schedule. The perfunctory interaction between Mulder and Scully in many "stand alone" scripts proves especially damaging to a show that thrives on dynamic interplay between its two main characters. 3) Some of the failures relate to the well intentioned but ungainly synthesis attempted by blending THE X FILES with different shows: The script titled "Millenium" features a hackneyed plot (zombies a la George Romero) and is a waste of actor Lance Henriksson's talents. The highly publicized Mulder/Scully "first kiss" is anticlimactic, unfittingly placed in such a lackluster episode. Vince Gilligan's "X Cops" tries to merge THE X FILES with the "reality show" COPS: a noble failure that works in the first half only to fall to pieces in the second. 4) Other failures had to due with recycling plots and themes from prior years: "Signs & Wonders" is a fair effort (a good performance by the guest actor portraying the fiery preacher). Unfortunately, it is too obviously redolent of superior scripts previously penned. "Orison", featuring the return of the abominable Donnie Pfaster ("Irresistible"), falls well short of the masterful episode from Season 2. Its closing moments are, however, a tour-de-force with Agent Scully fighting ferociously with Pfaster against the backdrop of David Lynch style cinematography. "Rush" is a poorly thought out foray into the world of teenage angst. Equally juvenile is "First Person Shooter", a "virtual reality" script that completely wastes an appearance by the Lone Gunmen. 5) The most disturbing failures of Season 7 are manifested in three horrible episodes: "Chimera" is a unique combination of gaffs with its razor-thin storyline, an uninterested Duchovny (barely in character), bad supporting acting, poor lighting and even a mediocre musical score: an "anti X FILES", with all of the series standards turned upside down. "Hollywood AD" (written & directed by Duchovny) doesn't even seem to be an X FILES episode. On the surface level, the script plays in territory previously staked out by Darin Morgan, but "Hollywood AD" falls well short of the inspired shifting perspectives offered in "Jose Chung's `From Outer Space' ". With its pedestrian version of ironic juxtaposition (the "converted radical" & "apostate traditionalist") "Hollywood AD" swerves between chic absurdity and "hipper than thou" movie-star smarminess, a combination completely antithetical to the spirit of THE X FILES. Chris Carter's "Fight Club" is an essay in bitterness, all too reflective of the turmoil playing out behind the scenes. With this singularly unpleasant episode THE X FILES bottomed out, sinking to a depth of self-loathing that nearly destroyed it altogether. POSITIVE POINTS: 1) Unique scripts, so often seen in previous years, were few and far between in Season 7 but "All Things" (written and directed by Gillian Anderson) is an artfully prepared piece; "outside the box" but retaining a sense of continuity and fidelity to the life and character of Dana Scully. 2) Vince Gilligan's "Hungry" is a beautifully conceived black comedy, shown (sympathetically) from the point of view of a quirky "anti-villian". 3) Other episodes fit more readily into the "classic" X FILES mould. "Theef" and "Brand X" feature catchy dialogue and "gross out" situations that could have comfortably been aired in Season 2. These scripts, while not meeting the Olympian standards set in the "glory years", have the effect of shoring up the more disastrous areas of the season by working in familiar territory. MYTH ARC: The heart and soul of Season 7 is located in the six mythology episodes, which feature the type of committed acting and thoughtful writing fans have come to expect from THE X FILES ( the newly invigorated myth-arc plot plus the ongoing Scully/Mulder "symbiosis" would carry the dramatic weight of the show in its final years ). The opening two-parter ("The Sixth Extinction I/II") borrows an important element of its plot from the Nikos Kazantzakis novel, "The Last Temptation of Christ". The mid season two-parter ("Sein und Zeit" / "Closure") follows up and (apparently) ends the mystery surrounding Mulder's quest for his sister. "Closure" features an incredibly moving performance by Duchovny (one of his finest moments on the show). "My Weakness", a song written by pop artist Moby, plays a haunting musical role in the episode. "En Ami" (co-written by William B. Davis), while not at the same level as the other mythology episodes, does feature some interesting dialogue between Agent Scully and the Cigarette Smoking Man. The amoral brilliance of the Machiavellian "CGB Spender" is an interesting contrast to the noble goodness of the equally intelligent Dana Scully. The cliffhanger ("Requiem") is full of dramatic tension, bringing the agents back to the location first featured in the 1993 series "Pilot". This excellent and influential episode (the plot launched a dozen more scripts) was a noble conclusion to the troubled 7th season and helped put THE X FILES back on a path worthy of its unique quality; the show would ultimately ( though not without missteps) fulfill its 9 year run as an aesthetic and philosophical unity.  Comment | Permalink |  function showYesNoCommunityResponse(uId,result,value) { var msgLayer = getElement("thanks" + uId); if ( result == "SUCCESS" ) { msgLayer.innerHTML = "Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided to other Amazon.com readers and reviewers. Your vote will be counted and will appear on the product page within 24 hours."; } else { showVoteErrorResponse(msgLayer,result,value); } } (Report this)

The X-Files - The Complete Seventh Season List Price: $99.98 Available from Amazon Price: $96.99 Updated on 12-7-2008.

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