Cheap The X-Files - The Complete Fourth Season (DVD) (X-Files, David Duchovny) Price

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Customer Reviews of The X-Files - The Complete Fourth Season

Season 4 set is on my recommended list
First, let me say, that I am a huge fan of the X-Files. I do love this season but I do tend to watch Seasons 1 - 3 sets more frequently. Pros: Small Potatoes (great funny David Duchovny episode. Nerdy guy who transforms into Mulder.), Home (scary, really scary episode. Banned from Fox after one showing. Inbreeding family bury their deformed child. Very violent but funny in ways that I should be embarrassed about.), Demons (Mulder receives unorthodox treatment into his memories regarding sister Samantha. For some reason I like seeing Mulder in a tortured state. Get to see Mulder naked.), mytharc Tempus Fugit/Max (I don't usually like mythology episodes, but I like the character of the constantly abducted Max. Hated seeing Agent Pendrell get shot though...he was sweet on Scully.), Unruhe (another scary episode. Serial killer can see demons inside people and tries to remove them by performing labotomies. Scully gets kidnapped...again), Paper Hearts (another Tortured!Mulder episode. Serial child molester/killer may have killed more...including Mulder's sister Samantha), and Elegy (people who are dying can see others who were just murdered. Scully sees one but does not tell Mulder until later...annoying Scully habit). Cons: Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man (too little of M & S), and Sanguinarium (gross episode about evil in a hospital specializing in plastic surgery. I had the beginnings of a migraine prior to the show, had a full blown migraine after seeing all the blood and the shrunken head.). Most overrated episodes: Memento Mori (I did not like the mytharc of Scully's cancer) and Never Again (not alot of Mulder. Dr. Scully picking up a stranger in a tattoo parlor in a bad neighborhood...right. Maybe she wanted to be a bad girl. Did she sleep with him? Who knows. Interesting, almost revealing conversation at the end between M & S.). There a very few episodes that I would not recommend watching. This season has very few comedic episodes though--very gloomy season (Scully's cancer began here). I think Anderson won an emmy in this season (Memento Mori). Both lead actors won Golden Globes. I would highly recommend Season 4.

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Season 4 -- "The X-Files" at the Peak of its Popularity
For three years, which spanned Seasons 3 through 5, "The X-Files" was Chris Carter's baby. Seasons 1 and 2 were good in their own right, building up the show and setting the stage for what was to come. Season 6 was still good, although the move to Los Angeles no doubt killed off some of "The X-Files" atmosphere. Season 7 was a definite improvement, although episodes like "Chimera" and "Fight Club" were showing just how much the show was starting to age. And Seasons 8 and 9 were okay; the former still had the ability to deliver the goods on occasion, while the latter has just been a disaster.

Season 4 was right smack in the middle of "The X-Files" sky-rocketing popularity. Ground-breaking episodes seemingly popped up almost every week. Just a few worth mentioning include: "Tunguska"/"Terma"; "Memento Mori"; and "Gethsemane." But every season of "The X-Files has had its share of bombs, and Season 4 is no exception: "Sanguinarium"; "El Mundo Gira"; and "Synchrony."

The DVD set is just awesome - you get all 24 episodes in as clear a picture as you will ever find. Where I come from, the channel "The X-Files" airs on isn't exactly clear, so to watch these episodes again in all their picture-perfect glory was quite the shock. There are seven disks in this set, the first six housing four episodes each. The seventh disk hosts a set of extras, including interviews with the cast and crew, special FX spots and all the promotional spots you saw on FOX back during Season 4's run.

This set may be a little pricey, but it's well worth it, in my opinion. Here's hoping that Seasons 1 though 8 make it to DVD and allow us to relive the memories of our favorite TV show all over again.

Don't even get me started on Season 9. I've given it one too many chances, and even a die-hard fan like me doesn't want to remember what the show has become. If you want classic Mulder and Scully, if you want "The X-Files" that delivers the goods, pick up the DVD sets for Seasons 1 through 8, especially Season 4.

The Truth is Out There - you just need to go out and buy it.

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Outstanding season
With season four of the series, the stand alone episodes and mythology episodes took a creative leap forward. While this isn't the best season, it still caught the show in peak form. Among the stand out episodes this season are"Paper Hearts" and "Memento Mori" The first captures everything that worked well on "The X-Files". It's about a child serial killer who has more victims than he's admitted to killing. Mulder and Scully become involved when Mulder begins having dreams telling him where another victim is buried. The killer maniuplates Mulder using information he's learned about his sister's abduction and Mulder's guilt to arrange to get out of jail and lead them to one of his victims...Mulder's sister (or so he claims). It's an intense, emotionally powerful and scary episode all wrapped up into one.

The second "Memento Mori" focuses on how Scully deals with some very bad information about her health. The show focuses much more on the rich characterizations of the show. Also, the tongue in cheek episode "Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man" suggests that the CSM was involved in everything from JFK's assassination to why the Bills kept losing the Superbowl.

Other episodes such as that involving Leonard Betts which leads to some bad news for Scully and even the convoluted mythology episodes all have resonance and power. We also meet Jeremiah Smith (the marvelous Roy Thinnes who was in one of my favorite shows from childhood "The Invaders"--by the way Fox where is that one DVD?)who cures with the touch of a hand. Strangely, though, there's more than a handful of Jeremiah Smiths and they all work in the social security office gathering information. For what you ask? You'll have to watch the episodes to find out. The grand finale for season 4 was a suspenseful cliff hanger that threw everything you knew about the show into a torando of new information and misinformation. Mulder, Scully and the audience really didn't know which way was up at the end of "Gethsemane".

Picture quality on season four is actually better than on seasons one and two. I have to disagree with Mitch who wrote that season four is something of a let down. For me, it continued a string of outstanding seasons that became the foundation for one of the best shows on television. Chris Carter, Vince Gilligan, Frank Spotnitz, John Shiban and Howard Gordon all contributed great scripts during this season (frequently co-writing many of them). I'm not surprised to see that Spotnitz and Shiban had the same writing instructor at the AFI. It's clear these talented writer/producers learned a thing or two that helped focus their tremendous talent during this season.

The imperfections of season four are few and far between. There are a few episodes that just barely missed the boat in the quality department and those few that did only missed it by a beat or two. "Home" a controverisal episode that got Fox into hot water is a tad overrated and, for my money, one of the lesser episodes this season. It pushed the envelope but dramatically didn't have the pay off it could or should had. It's an example of an interesting concept that just doesn't gel as an episode.

The extras include two episodes with commentary, deleted scenes (which can be viewed as part of the episode if you go to the special features menu for that particularly episode), a documentar/featurette (depends on how you define it) on the series and a booklet with the titles (which is helpful for me since I can rarely remember the titles of these episodes),credits and a photo from the episode as well as a listing of the full episodes and their air date through season 7.

The show continued on with a string out strong seasons through season 6. Season 7 had a number of great episodes but the show was beginning to run out of steam and the uncertainty about Duchovny's part in the show clearly had an impact. Season 8 picked up steam again with a pair of fresh characters (Agent Dogget played by Robert Patrick does a great job being the skeptic to Scully's believer. Agent Reyes introduced mid-season acts as a nice counter balance to both). While season 9 didn't quite live up to the other seasons, it had a number of fine episodes in it as well. Luckily, Carter pulled the plug just at the right time for the show.

With "The X-Files" movie set for release in 2006 (Carter and his crew are in pre-production as of mid-2004), ther's bound to be renewed interest in the series. Hopefully, Carter can come up with a movie that can stand up to the best two or three part episodes that ran throughout the best seasons.