How disappointed were you with the X-Files finale?

[PandoraX]

I know, I know, we're talking about LOST here. But eventually they will also have to end the series and come up with a solution to all those mysteries they've been building up for several seasons. And X-Files was another popular sci-fi show where they really built up a million and one conspiracy possibilities, had people guessing like crazy on the internet about what The Truth was... and then... blah. Well, I'll let you decide.

[badboy]

Not that it wasn't OK, but the amount of build-up to the finale in correspondence to what we got was majorly disappointing, so I went for the 'It sucked' option.

[EGlVM]

It was alright. It could've been better.

It was hard to end the X Files. And the plot of the last season went alittle slow but I still loved and always will love The X Files.

And funny you would post this thread, I just watched a bunch of my favorites episodes today and then came on here and got alittle creeped out. My psycic ability is perking up.

[PandoraX]

I am really bracing myself for how they could screw the LOST finale up. I mean, they have people guessing at so many interconnections, and I for one and hoping it is truly the deep, intricate show it wants to be at this point. Half the theories in the forums are so interesting that I'd be happy if it ended any one of those ways!

EG: *gasp*... next, I'll be appearing in your dreams in a chicken suit or appearing as a kid on a milk carton.

[EGlVM]

I'll keep my mind's eye out for that. :D

[Lyra Ngalia]

Chose "I didn't expect anything, so I really wasn't disappointed or ecstatic," just because by the time the show got around to ending, they had dragged it on for so long that I had no expectations anymore.

They really should have ended the show with Mulder abducted and Scully announcing she was pregnant, and left it at that.

[PandoraX]

True enough, Lyra. I think they dragged it on so long that they couldn't possibly have had an ending that equaled expectations. Similarly, I thought the Seinfeld finale was like that... should have ended sooner, though I loved the show, it was getting bad from multiple seasons.

I hope that this doesn't happen on LOST, and that they stop when they have no more good story to tell, and let us all in on the mystery.

[juanbong]

The end fit the last 4 seasons. Sucked once Mulder was "gone". On a better note, there is now a box set of all the alien conspiracy episodes from each season. It actually redeems the show on a whole and leaves out all the other unusual and weird episodes.

[ILikeLostBrunettes]

How did you like the "Black & White Monster from the 50's" Episode? Or what about the inbred backwoods freaks episode? Wow...

[PandoraX]

ILikeBrunettes:

As I recall, the B&W one was the one where they kept playing Cher, right? It was kitsy, but I liked that they changed the style. I really liked the backwoods one, I think... mostly because it was pretty creepy and disturbing, two things I like in most of my shows/movies :) Didn't that one get the axe in syndicate because it was so disturbing?

My favorite one was called the "moth people". I can't remember why but that was had me jump up a few times, probably because of the red eyes in the woods.

I really missed the unique monster episodes (the "stand alones") once they started in with the interconnected conspiracy theory episodes and all the ones about Mulder & Scully's personal lives...

[ILikeLostBrunettes]

I liked the Carny episode, with the little dude. PandoraX, you're moving up my list. Congrats!!!!

[PandoraX]

LOL. There's a LIST?? And it depends on carnies???

[EGlVM]

The one with the carnies is called "Humbug"

The one with the "red eyed moth men" is called "Detour"

The one that was filmed in black and white with the frankenstein kinda guy is called "Post-Modern Prometheus"

I can name the backwoods people one but I need more description than that.

[PandoraX]

Wow EGIVM I see you are a real fan there :) I didn't follow it all that closely but I saw a few I liked here and there.

The ones with the backwoods people... they were inbred and deformed, and killed people. That's all I remember. A lot like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre family. I think it was a rarer episode they didn't rerun because of the gore.

[ILikeLostBrunettes]

It wasn't run b/c of the inbred descriptiveness.

[TheBigCat]

I don't think that there ever was a time in the run of X-Files where it could have ended neatly. Carter created it to be open-ended, running it as long as he could. I read somewhere that he originally had some idea of letting the show end with the revelation that Mulder had fallen for a mis-information campaign (about the time of his "suicide" but not with that scene, which was a clff hanger ending), but the popularity of the show was the deciding factor on whether or not to go that way. Don't ask me for my source on that, tho.

I honestly had no interest in the show when it debuted, and only it's persistant presence on TV and a roommate who loved it convinced me to start watching. They totally lost me after the movie, and I never watched the final season except for occasionally when it is show on syndication,(I hate Robert Patrick so much that I was pissed at the creators of Stargate Atlantis for letting his asshat character die in a heroic manner), so I have no idea at all what the final was. Maybe I'll watch it and find out what happened, but I really thought that the show was at it's best when Carter wasn't engaging in revisionist history and mugging the corpse of Dark Skies for it's plot.

[raven444]

Really, the 'truth' which was revealed in the series finale had been revealed in season 6. I picked the next to last one, and I'm a diehard x-phile.

Gethsemane/Redux/Redux II was awesome.

[feigenbaum]

I never watched every single X-files episode, borrowed Season 7 from a friend and enjoyed that a lot.I didn't see a lot of Season 9, but the end was a bit anti- climatic.Or maybe because I hadn't seen every episode I didn't get it?

[dp2]

Could have been better. I hated it when it aired. In retrospect, it was okay.

With Lost's first season finale, I was in the "That's all?!" camp. Now, I think it was the right place to end it.

Inbred family was "Home".

I need to watch the movie again, just to see Terry O'Quinn with a moustache. Even though I've seen him in other stuff, I can't imagine seeing him as anyone but Locke anymore.

Also, I liked Doggett and...the dark haired girl, blanking on the name. They brought a dark edge back to the show after two seasons of gimmick episodes.

[raven444]

Monica Reyes. Yeah, she was hot.

[Lyra Ngalia]

"Hollywood AD" was possibly one of the most hilarious X-Files episodes ever.

I never enjoyed the mythology episodes; it was always the standalones that got me. "Detour" was a great one, and so was "First Person Shooter" and "Triangle." The one that wraps up the Lone Gunmen (I forget its name) had me bawling afterwards.

I've also always been incredibly impressed by the Mulder/Scully relationship. They managed to tease at the possibility for so long without it becoming too stale. 'Twas a feat.

[MostlyLurks]

I'm in sort of a weird area with this one. On the one hand, there's no doubt that the finale was lackluster, obtuse and unrewarding.

On the other hand, I read an interview, I think during season 3, where Cris Carter said he felt the series should go for 5 seasons and no more. So once they went beyond that I kind of realized that they had no grand idea for the series and were just making it up as they went. So I think I took the finale - hell, the last 3 seasons - pretty easy.

It's funny, I was reading a thread just now in which the poster, BobSacamano, said he thought that the use of books in "Lost" was essentially a red herring. It struck me that if that's true, I'm going to be cheesed rather mightily. To some extent, TPTB have made an agreement with us when they make definitive statements like "They're not in purgatory" or "The Third Policeman is significant".

It strikes me that if "Lost" has no grand theory that actually makes some sense, I'm going to be much harder on it than I was with X-Files. TPTB have made some pretty concrete statements re: "Lost", such as saying it's been planned out for several seasons, the island has scientific or psuedo-scientific explanations, etc (I don't think Cris Carter ever made such verifiable and sweeping suggestions to X philes). Statements like those encourage us as fans to work on theories, think things through, spot "clues" etc. If it turns out to be a mish-mash, that means they've basically told me/us that we're all pretty damn stupid.

I'll set the building on fire.

Mostly

[LostInWilderness]

I dropped out of the X-Files several seasons before the finale.

[EGlVM]

"Hollywood AD" was possibly one of the most hilarious X-Files episodes ever.

I never enjoyed the mythology episodes; it was always the standalones that got me. "Detour" was a great one, and so was "First Person Shooter" and "Triangle." The one that wraps up the Lone Gunmen (I forget its name) had me bawling afterwards.

I've also always been incredibly impressed by the Mulder/Scully relationship. They managed to tease at the possibility for so long without it becoming too stale. 'Twas a feat.
"Hollywood AD" was awesome! You gotta love David's writing. "The Unnatural" was awesome too.

"Detour" is one of my favorites along with "Triangle". I love that one. I can't believe they acted those scenes out as well as they did. You noticed almost all the scenes are shot in one shot, right?

I also adore "Bad Blood" and "Improbable"! :D

[rottenralf]

X-files? Is that a Playboy Channel show?

[The_Island]

so-so

[Penelope]

Kind of disappointed. too many questions were left unanswered.

[EGlVM]

^ Like what? :eyebrow:

[drabauer]

I was a diehard fan (wrote an academic paper on the show), and I can cite you chapter and verse from each season. I will never forgive Carter for how poorly he treated the loyal fan base. But I do think the show kept up its quality through season 6 (and intermittently in season 7). THe heart of what made it great though was the fantastic writing in seasons 1-4 (and, again, sporadically thereafter; certain eps in seasons 5 and 6, such as "Bad Blodd," were instant classics).

This relates directly to Lost in that we see the same balancing act between developing characters over the long term as well as a consistent mythology. In both cases when fans get antsy they cite classic epidoes (Walkabout vis a vis Anasazi, say) nostalgically as the "ones that got it right." Once the producers set the bar high, they are expected to keep all the balls in the air.

I still think Darin Morgan is God (writer of Humbug, War of the Corphorages, and Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose).

[lizarduckmonkey]

The one that was filmed in black and white with the frankenstein kinda guy is called "Post-Modern Prometheus"


I loved this one. :)

I didn't watch most of season 9, only once Mulder came back for the end. I hated Dogget and Reyes. :mad: Was disappointed in the 9th season overall.

I think X-Files was in its 8th season when I was freshman in high school, and my English teacher was a huge fan as well. I hated her in the beginning of the school year, but by the end she became my best friend, not only because of X-Files, she really was an awesome teacher! Anyway, we had to write a lot of poetry in class, and of course I always made mine X-Files, alien, sci-fi related (those were Roswell and Buffy days, as well...). She enjoyed them. I got an A in her class.

Wow. I was a geek. :rolleyez:

[EGlVM]

haha awesome.

[twilightsun]

The one that wraps up the Lone Gunmen (I forget its name) had me bawling afterwards.
That one was called Jump the Shark. I cried too. I really loved the episodes with Emily, as well.

I'm still waiting for the second X-Files movie. David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson signed contracts for two movies, if I recall correctly.

CSM had an awesome death scene. But I didn't like how it ended.

[Dionysus]

It was more disappointing then the Alias finale. I had expected so much more.

[athywithak]

The X files was one of the only TV shows I have ever watched. I was disappointed enough I never GOT to the finale! I stopped watching when Sculley got pregnant. Did I miss anything?

[lizarduckmonkey]

Mulder has always been my hero! :)

[twilightsun]

The X files was one of the only TV shows I have ever watched. I was disappointed enough I never GOT to the finale! I stopped watching when Sculley got pregnant. Did I miss anything?
It depends on what you liked about the show as to whether or not you missed anything. :)

[EGlVM]

That one was called Jump the Shark. I cried too. I really loved the episodes with Emily, as well.

I'm still waiting for the second X-Files movie. David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson signed contracts for two movies, if I recall correctly.

CSM had an awesome death scene. But I didn't like how it ended.
I hated Jump the Shark. I didn't cry. I was like WTF? What is the point of killing them off!?

I hated CSM's death. He survives a pushing down the stairs and a gunshot to the heart (both times we thought he was dead) and then we find out he's been hiding in a cave and he gets blown up. WTF?

Chris Carter, Gillian, and David do want to do a second X Files movie but there was this whole law suit with 20th Century Fox on the rights or the production contract, I can't remember but it was total bull.

[dp2]

I hated CSM's death. He survives a pushing down the stairs and a gunshot to the heart (both times we thought he was dead) and then we find out he's been hiding in a cave and he gets blown up. WTF?
Seeing his flesh turn to ash before our eyes was the only way we'd ever believe he was really dead this time.