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Is the new "X-Files" for real?
pure vanity | 2/3/16

Posted on 02/03/2016 6:57:37 AM PST by pabianice

We are three episodes into the new six episode reboot of "The X-Files," one of the past's best TV shows. At this point I have to wonder: What the Heck is going on?

Mr. Duchovney's performance is so bland and so flacid that I have to wonder what is going through his mind. No energy. Reads his lines like a telephone robocall. Looks tired and bored. The plot lines are tired and the last episode featuring a "wearhuman" was so stupid and badly written I thought it was a put-on. Bad plot, bad costume, bad writing, boring and nonsensical. And the role-reversal between Mulder and Sculley is also strange. Now she's the one who believes in the strange and he's the one who is skeptical.

It's been hard to watch this devolution.

Was Duchoveny contractually obligated to do this mini-series? Was anyone else? Even the music is bland and forgettable.

Comments?


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Miscellaneous; Music/Entertainment
KEYWORDS: xfiles
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To: pabianice
Is the new "X-Files" for real?

Not feeling it. So far it's a mess.

Since they are saying it is a six episode event, by my count they have only three more episodes to get it right.

I really don't understand what they are trying to do with the show. So far they have served up badly written, badly acted episodes that simply degrade their previous work.

I want to believe in them, but so far they have been a disappointment.

41 posted on 02/03/2016 7:59:01 AM PST by DiogenesLamp ("of parents owing allegiance to no other sovereignty.")
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To: Scutter
I watched the first two episodes and couldn’t believe how bad it was, The dialogue was stilted and strained. The screenplay was.... just bizarre.

Yes. Both Duchovny and Anderson were stumbling on their lines, they expressed peculiar behavior in their characters, and they seemed lost.

I felt bad for them. It's like they are trying to kill off the characters or something.

42 posted on 02/03/2016 8:01:40 AM PST by DiogenesLamp ("of parents owing allegiance to no other sovereignty.")
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To: IronJack

I got about half-way through the first episode of Breaking Bad, turned the channel and never went back. Did the same for Saul.


43 posted on 02/03/2016 8:02:45 AM PST by TomGuy
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To: pabianice

Rose colored glasses. When it first came on X-Files was revolutionary. Nobody had ever shaggied up a story line like that, nobody had played with fringe science and the paranormal so straight before. But that was 20 years ago, a lot of the things that X-Files did first are now fairly standard. And with the space we forget things, like the fact that Duchovny has always been pretty wooden, and at least half the episodes are just damn silly.


44 posted on 02/03/2016 8:03:20 AM PST by discostu (This is a different kind of flying... all together.)
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To: katana
Fringe, for example, is in the same genre as X-Files but is still entertaining because of John Noble's performance.

I regard "Fringe" as a virtual spin-off of the "X-Files", and yes, John Noble is my favorite character in Fringe.

45 posted on 02/03/2016 8:07:26 AM PST by DiogenesLamp ("of parents owing allegiance to no other sovereignty.")
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To: IronJack

Saul is a tragic comedy, so it’s not supposed to be funny funny, it’s supposed to be shake your head with sadness funny. I like the show, but it’s definitely an odd tone not fit for everybody.


46 posted on 02/03/2016 8:08:44 AM PST by discostu (This is a different kind of flying... all together.)
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To: pabianice

Yeah.... I think you and many others have missed an important aspect of the story. Mulder and Scully have been out of the x-files for years. They have become jaded and tired of hoaxes, also feeling a little distraught that much of their work was for naught.

So I think after that last episode with the Lizard-man, Mulder may have reclaimed his old self - he got his hope back. So I would expect to see future episodes with him acting more like his former.

As for the episode itself, I thought it was an excellent work. It was not their typical style and certainly could not be taken as a serious episode. It was a lot like their Halloween episodes - more comical. They had the gag-reel of people doing drugs and a story that seemed to twist and turn in unsuspecting ways. I can’t believe so many viewers didn’t enjoy it, as I was laughing my head off.


47 posted on 02/03/2016 8:08:44 AM PST by VaeVictis (~Woe to the Conquered~)
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To: pabianice

David’s performance was always a bit odd, it doesn’t seem all that different than the older episodes (he was good in the were-monster episode).

Scully is as hot as always.


48 posted on 02/03/2016 8:10:32 AM PST by escapefromboston (manny ortez: mvp)
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To: Charles Martel
I find it amusing that Darren McGavin was at that time the highest paid actor in the world.

Loved the "Night Stalker."

49 posted on 02/03/2016 8:10:39 AM PST by DiogenesLamp ("of parents owing allegiance to no other sovereignty.")
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To: Scutter
Not sure about that, but I can believe the two main actors are deliberately giving bad performances.

"Deliberate" is actually a plausible explanation. Stumbling over your lines is simply not what I expected to see from either of them.

50 posted on 02/03/2016 8:12:45 AM PST by DiogenesLamp ("of parents owing allegiance to no other sovereignty.")
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To: DiogenesLamp

Yes, were they contractually obligated to do this series? i wonder...


51 posted on 02/03/2016 8:15:36 AM PST by Scutter
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To: Vermont Lt

I agree, I really enjoyed the “fun/spoof” Monday show with the “werehuman”


52 posted on 02/03/2016 8:18:14 AM PST by tanknetter
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To: discostu
It lacks the subtle humor of "Breaking Bad," and the "lovable schmuck" appeal of Saul Goodman from that series.

I can see where the creators might be developing it in the same direction as "Breaking Bad" -- an essentially good man driven to evil by what he sees as the inescapable forces around him, where the evil seems to be so much easier and profitable, while doing the "right thing" (itself a hazy concept) only seems to earn penury and disdain.

But in doing so, Jimmy McGill becomes a pathetic character, rather than a seemingly soulless clown.

In short, if this is a roadmap of how Jimmy McGill -- honest (if shady) working man becomes Saul Goodman, then I get it. But if not, it's going to suck royal.

53 posted on 02/03/2016 8:19:34 AM PST by IronJack
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To: IronJack

Better Call Saul is the best show on TV.

It gets better each episode. The end of Season 1 is a real heartbreaker.


54 posted on 02/03/2016 8:19:40 AM PST by kidd
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To: V K Lee

The best line was actually (IMHO) Mulder deadpanning “That didn’t happen” as the werehuman was describing being seduced, porn-style, by Scully.


55 posted on 02/03/2016 8:22:21 AM PST by tanknetter
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To: IronJack
“Better Call Saul,” the spinoff from “Breaking Bad?” I read all kinds of praises for it, but I’ve watched a few episodes and it seems like a jumbled mess of unfunny cliches to me.

I did the same & came away with the same feeling. Not worth my time. Been watching Burn Notice.

56 posted on 02/03/2016 8:24:29 AM PST by Puppage (You may disagree with what I have to say, but I shall defend to your death my right to say it)
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To: IronJack

They don’t want to develop into the humor of BB. Jimmy is a pathetic character, he’s a guy who wanted more than he could really get, more money, more respect, and more influence on the world. It’s the story of how he starts finding those thing not by being a good lawyer, but by compromising. By reverting to the conman of old he gets everything he ever wanted, but it’s tainted, and we know from watching BB it’s the eventual source of his downfall. Not only does he lose himself to get everything he ever wanted, he loses that too.


57 posted on 02/03/2016 8:26:14 AM PST by discostu (This is a different kind of flying... all together.)
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To: discostu

You have to have spent time with Saul Goodman in order to want to see the story of how Jimmy became Saul.

I like it.

The episode where he confronted his brother over his sabotaging his career at the firm should have been nominated for an Emmy.


58 posted on 02/03/2016 8:38:28 AM PST by SoothingDave
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To: discostu
I guess I'd prefer the story to be less "good guy who gets corrupted" than "bad guy eventually sees the light."

More a "wages of sin" kind of story ...

59 posted on 02/03/2016 8:42:29 AM PST by IronJack
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To: Charles Martel

Very interesting! That is why the “were-human’s” costume reminded me of Carl Kolchak!!


60 posted on 02/03/2016 8:46:01 AM PST by cld51860 (Volo pro veritas)
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