Relive those magic (and sometimes goofy) moments with this new box set. Sure, half of it has already been released on VHS - but this set includes some gems that the first couple waves of home video ignored.

Remember the eternally creepy "Young At Heart", or a few unintenionally silly episodes like "Space" or "Ghost in the Machine"? Or Nicholas Lea's first X-Files appearance (although not as Krycek)? How about "Roland" or "Born Again", which represent some of the finest moments from the first season? They're all here, alongside other popular episodes like "The Erlenmeyer Flask", "Deep Throat", "E.B.E.", "Darkness Falls" and "Ice" (which is essentially a remake of John Carpenter's The Thing - but the X-Files does it better)!

For the first time in the U.S., you can finally buy a TV program season by season. And plus - these discs give you trailers, interviews and even some cool DVD-ROM content.

If only Paramount would do their Star Trek discs this way!

Having collected several of the collector's sets on VHS, like many I was frustrated by the lack of completeness in each release, with a season represented by only 25% of its episodes. While this is acceptable for the casual fans, it proved exruciating for the true X-phile, as invariably favorite episodes were left out of the mix.

This situation has been rectified with the release of the entire first season of the show on DVD in a seven-disc collection. It is now possible to watch each episode commercial-free and in sequence in a digital-quality medium. In addition, an extras disc has been added (details are listed above), including a DVD-ROM computer game.

Having completed my viewing of the entire 1st set, several observations came to mind: - The "X-Files", almost unique in episodic television, hit the airwaves fully-formed. There is precious little difference in tone or execution between the pilot and subsequent episodes. - Whereas some of the 3rd and 4th season episodes saw a noticeable decline in quality (due to the loss of key writers and Chris Carter's focus elsewhere), the 1st season episodes are generally superbly-written.

Unfortunately, my cut of this collection did suffer from noticeable editing problems. Nothing major, typically just a couple of misaligned frames at chapter cuts, but let's face it--for this kind of money, it should be flawless.

Nonetheless, I highly recommend this collection.

All 24 episodes are on 7 discs, with documentaries, deleted scenes, etc.

Episodes:
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1) The X-Files (pilot) - This is the episode where Scully is assigned to be Mulder's partner. Her assignment is to apply a scientific look at Mulder's "discovers." In their 1st assignment they travel to Oregon where it appears several teenagers have been abducted by aliens.

2) Deep Throat - Mulder meets with Deep Throat who is willing to provide information concerning UFOs and government conspiracies.

3) Squeeze - Mulder and Scully meet Eugene Tooms who can squeeze his body through any space. It appears that every 30 years he comes out of hibernation and eats the liver of 5 people.

4) Conduit - Mulder and Scully learn of a teenage girl who apparently been abducted and during the investigation they discover the girl's mother may have also been abducted in her youth.

5) The Jersey Devil - Mulder and Scully travel to New Jersey to investigate the legend of a beast that has been stalking people.

6) Shadows - Mulder and Scully investigate a woman who appears to be under the protection of a ghost.

7) Ghost in the Machine - Mulder is contacted by Deep Throat and informs him that the DoD is seeking a computer whiz.

8) Ice - Mulder and Scully travel to Alaska after all communications are cut off. While there, they discover a worm like "alien."

9) Space - Mulder and Scully are told that sabotage attempts are being made against NASA's Space Shuttles. A former astronaut and head of the program appears to be possessed by an alien ghost.

10) Fallen Angel - Mulder has less than a day to prove that a space ship has crashed.

11) Eve - Mulder and Scully investigate the murder of two men, one in California, and the other in Connecticut. Their daughters appear to be identical twins.

12) Fire - Mulder and an old British girlfriend investigate what appears to be a man that can create fire with his mind.

13) Beyond the Sea - Luther Boggs, claiming to be a psychic, says he will help Mulder and Scully solve a kidnapping crime if he can get his death sentence change to life. Scully is dealing with the death of her father and it appears Boggs has contact with his spirit.

14) Genderbender - Mulder and Scully investigate the Kindred, who appear to have the ability to switch gender and may in fact be aliens.

15) Lazarus - Scully and Jack Willis are involved in a shootout with a bank robber. Jack and the bank robber are shot but at the hospital, Jack dies and the bank robber appears to leap into his body.

16) Young at Heart - Mulder finds himself looking for John Barnett, someone he had put into prison many years ago. Barnett, who supposedly died in prison, was part of a genetic experience to reverse the aging process.

17) E.B.E. - Deep Throat sends Mulder on a wild "UFO" chase.

18) Miracle Man - Mulder and Scully investigate Samuel who appears to have the power to heal people but lately they have been dying.

19) Shapes - Mulder and Scully travel to Montana to investigate what appears to be an Indian Manitou.

20) Darkness Falls - Mulder and Scully travel to the National Forest in Washington and discover tiny green phosphorous insects that are active in the dark and feed on human flesh.

21) Tooms - Tooms, from the Squeeze episode, is release for good behavior but go back to his old ways.

22) Born Again - Mulder and Scully investigate an 8-year-old girl who may be a reincarnated serial killer.

23) Roland - Mulder and Scully investigate Roland, an autistic, being manipulated by his dead brother who is frozen in liquid nitrogen.

24) The Erlenmeyer Flask - Mulder and Scully investigate the terminally ill that are being injected with alien DNA. Deep Throat is killed and the X-Files are closed.