Customer Reviews

The X-Files: The Complete Sixth Season

5 star:		(61)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Producer Chris Carter, for various reasons, chief among them being Fox's probable insistence, has moved the entire production to California from Vancouver. This is notable as some of the scenery for the show changes to scenes in various western states and more prominently in the availability of bigger named guest stars. On the whole though, at least for this first season out west, these changes serve as an enhancement to the outstanding experience that is "The X-Files." Season six is another excellent season that fluidly picks up where the movie, "Fight the Future" left off.

The mythology episodes:

"The Beginning" An FBI committee decides that yes, the X-Files will be reopened, they will not however, include Agents Mulder and Scully. Agents Spinder and Fowler will take that role, both with a huge helping of duplicity. AD Skinner is still on their side though and leads them towards a case that involves the Alien/Syndicate conspiracy. Gibson Praise makes a return as well. "SR 819" Krycek makes a new appearance and he targets AD Skinner with alien created nanite technology.

"Two Fathers" & "One Son" Long awaited truths are finally revealed about the fifty year conspiracy between the syndicate and the aliens. The syndicate is all but destroyed by the alien rebels. Simply stated, these are the two episodes that every fan had been waiting five years for. No disappointment whatsoever.

"The Unnatural" I list this as a mythology episode, as it simply does not fit as a stand alone. This episode is singularly the best episode of the season as it contains some great humor and one of the most touching endings of the season. We are treated to meeting Arthur Dale or actually his brother, as he tells Mulder the tale of when he met his first alien.

"Biogenesis" As we learned in "One Son," the Syndicate is gone and with it the Alien/Syndicate conspiracy. Now we're treated to a new track on the mythology, as there still seems to be some sort of conspiracy evidenced by the discovery of an alien ship in Africa and Fox ending up in a loony bin. The conclusion will be on the Season Seven set.

Stand alone episodes:

"Drive" Our heroes run into a man who must continue moving west at a high rate of speed or his head will explode. "Triangle" a true X-Files classic as Mulder goes on a search for a ship that's been missing from the Bermuda Triangle since prior to WWII.

"Dreamland & Dreamland II" Mulder and Scully take a trip to Area 51, where they run into the "Men in Black" and they witness a UFO which literally makes Mulder switch bodies with one of the MIB's. These are simply two of the finest and most hilarious X-Files episodes of the entire nine year run. "How the Ghosts Stole Christmas" a beautifully well written episode guest starring Ed Asner and Lily Tomlin.

"Terms of Endearment" another extremely well written episode as our heroes visit Roanoke, VA and run across a bedraggled demon who is in search of a normal child. This episode has another one of those wonderfully well written ironic endings that only Chris Carter is capable of. "The Rain King" Mulder and Scully take a trip to Kansas to investigate a man who can supposedly make rain at will. This episode is replete with some of the series most hilarious lines.

"Agua Mala" Mulder and Scully take a trip to Florida in the middle of a hurricane to investigate a family's disappearance and discover a sea creature. "Monday" this is an X-Files homage to "Ground Hog Day," that is superbly written and played. "Arcadia" in this beautiful episode our erstwhile heroes pose undercover as husband and wife to discover why three couples have disappeared from a planned community.

"Alpha" Mulder and Scully are summoned by an internet friend of his to find a mysterious wild animal that has been shipped to the US that has killed two merchant marines and then disappears. "Trevor" is an intriguing episode in which Mulder and Scully set off to find a prison escapee who supposedly died in a tornado, yet he's on the loose and exhibiting some interesting abilities.

"Milagro" this is an interesting yet horrifying episode in which a writer, fascinated with Scully moves in next to Mulder and begins spying on her. Meanwhile Mulder and Scully are investigating several deaths where victims' hearts have been removed, but there is no evidence as to how. "Three of a Kind" the quintessential "Lone Gunmen" episode that just shines with a pure brilliance that may well have been the precursor to their short lived spin off series. "Field Trip" our two heroes end up in North Carolina and run into a hallucinogenic fungal mountain. This episode definitely breeches the different barrier, even for this series!

Special features - Included, as with the other season's boxed sets, are some great special features to include my personal favorite - "Character profile on the Cigarette Smoking Man." The cover art for the boxed set and DVD's is fantastic as well. {ssintrepid}

Episode list:

The Beginning {mythology}
Drive
Triangle
Dreamland
Dreamland II
How the Ghosts Stole Christmas
Terms of Endearment
The Rain King
S.R. 819 {mythology}
Tithonus
Two Fathers {mythology}
One Son {mythology}
Agua Mala
Monday
Arcadia
Alpha
Trevor
Milagro
The Unnatural {mythology}
Three of a Kind
Field Trip
Biogenesis {mythology}

The last truly outstanding season of "The X-Files" the complete sixth season ties up a few loose ends but the series begins to unravel in the process. The seventh season despite some fine episodes would suffer. While the eighth season would get a jolt of much needed energy from Robert Patrick the writing still wasn't quite up to previous years. "The X-Files: Fight the Future" appeared during the summer between season five and six. The set, like the other reduced price sets from Fox, will include all the episodes from season six. You'll be able to access special features for respective episodes such as commentary, deleted scenes and international clips.

"The Beginning" ties into the movie although the movie could stand independently on its own (which is just as well because despite some marvelous set pieces it basically was a rehashing of a number of alien movies). Mulder and Scully have been removed from the X Files and replaced by two new agents. One of the most interesting episodes includes "SR 819" where Assistant Director Skinner is black mailed into helping an old foe. Skinner has been infected with some mysterious organism that this other person can control to make Skinner do his bidding.

Bruce Campbell appears as a philandering husband in "Terms of Endearment". When his baby disappears and is apparently taken by a Demon Mulder and Scully are called in by local police to help with the case. Campbell gives an excellent performance.


The two part "Dreamland" is terrific with a great guest performance by Michael McKean ("Spinal Tap"). A black ops agent switches bodies with Mulder freeing him from his shrewish wife and stuffy lifestyle. Suddenly Mulder becomes a wild and crazy guy.

The humorous but suspenseful "Arcadia" plants Mulder and Scully in suburbia playing a husband and wife in one of those "planned communities" ruled by an iron fist. Houses have to be a certain color, portable basketball hoops are forbidden and residents who step out of line mysterious vanish or are killed.

Duchovny's "The Unnatural" is a clever tale involving Arthur Dale (here played by character actor M. Emmett Walsh when Darren McGavin wasn't available in a truly X-files twist), racism and baseball loving aliens set before baseball was integrated. Dale is assigned to protect a African American baseball player who's life has been threatened as they tour the South.

"How the Ghosts Stole Christmas" is a funny and fun episode with guest appearences by Ed Asner and Lily Tomlin. Mulder decides to check out a haunted out on Christmas Eve and a reluctant Scully goes to check on him. The two get pulled into a surreal story which makes them doubt their own sanity.

For mythology fans the two episodes "Two Fathers and "One Son" closes out the main conspiracy arc of the last five years. While threads remain (and show up in the fascinating "Biogenesis")many of the mysteries of the last five years are nicely wrapped up until we discover that there are aliens on Earth working beside us every day. To say more would spoil it and although it's unlikely you haven't seen it, I'd rather not spoil the conclusion and the set up for season seven.

For five seasons, The X-Files was one of the best shows on television, and the feature film "Fight the Future" was similarly excellent. With the sixth season and the show's move to LA, however, The X-Files became merely good, not great.

In my opinion, the chief problem with Season 6 (and 7, for that matter) is the prescence of some poorly executed "humorous" episodes. In the early seasons, there would every so often be an episode that was funny and tongue-in-cheek, without losing that X-Files feel. With Season 6, however, such episodes ceased to be genuinely funny, and became simply silly and wacky, providing little laughter that isn't forced. This season's worst offender is "How the Ghosts Stole Christmas," in which Mulder and Scully are trapped on Christmas Eve in a haunted mansion, whose ghostly residents wish to goad the FBI agents into a murder-suicide - by spouting pop psychology at them. Episodes that aren't mainly spoofs are also harmed by the silliness. "Agua Mala," in which a hurricane lets a sea monster loose in an apartment building, could have been a genuinely creepy episode, except for the fact that the building's tenants are all trite stereotypes.

While there were problems, the good outweighed the bad in this season. The mythology episodes continued to be superb, especially "Two Fathers"/"One Son," a two-parter which essentially brings closure to the "Mytharc" running through the past five seasons. The season's only successfully humorous episodes are also mythology-related, namely the two-part "Dreamland," in which Mulder and an Area 51 operative switch bodies, and "The Unnatural," which tells the story of a star baseball player who is in fact an alien. The season finale "Biogenesis," which introduces a new stage of the mythology, is an intriguing episode, but its continuation in Season 7 is sadly disappointing.

This season also featured some excellent stand-alone episodes. Especially good are "Drive," in which a mysteriously ailing man must keep driving - or his head will explode, "Alpha," a werewolf story with a twist, and "Field Trip," in which Mulder and Scully are trapped by a hallucinogenic giant fungus.

Casual viewers may wish to stick with the first five seasons, which constitute the best of the series. Season 6 does, however, contain some really excellent episodes, and true fans will find plenty to enjoy. For the X-Files, "not quite as good" is still most definitely good enough.

This season was amazing. After the incredible Season 5 ending, the movie gave a vision of the mythology that was very well taken in Season 6. It opens with "The Beginning", where we see Gibson Praise again, as well as Agent Diane Fowley. It deals with the gestation of a new alien out from an infected person from the Black Oil.

Although the Season has its flaws like "The Rain King" (which started so good but had such a terrible conclusion), there are episodes like "One Son" and "Biogenesis" which make this season one of the most interesting. This is a season for answers, a lot of explanation of the conspiracy, the proyect and the syndicate in some big episodes. The tendency to leve more questions than answers is left behind. The Season Finalie ends in an amazing scene where Scully has an alien spaceship infront of her adn Mulder becomes the ultimate proof of the X Files.

Perhaps after this Season, the series mythology becomes more personal to Mulder and Scully, turning them into the foci of attention, but the truth is that this season is the point of no return for the mythology.

Grate Answers and astonishing writting. Defenitly worht of your money.

The Season 6 has 23 episodes:

The Beginning
Drive
Triangle
Dreamland
Dreamland II
Terms of Endearment
The Rain King
How the Ghosts Stole Christmas
Tithonus
S.R. 819
Two Fathers
One Son
Arcadia
Agua Mala
Monday
Alpha
Trevor
Milagro
Three of a Kind
The Unnatural
Field Trip
Biogenesis

Just a technical note for those considering purchasing this reduced price set: the reissued X-Files Complete Season Six set INCLUDES NEARLY ALL THE EXTRAS FOUND IN THE MORE EXPENSIVE SET.

I'm as surprised as anyone, so I wanted to post a review making sure others knew as well. The previous reduced-price Complete Season sets did NOT include all the extras (documentaries, TV promos, special effects shots w/commentary) though they DO contain what I consider to be the most important extras, the deleted scenes and episode commentaries.

The Season Six set, however, DOES contain all of these things, and you can find them on the sixth disc, after "Field Trip" and "Biogenesis." (Contents: "The Truth About Season Six" documentary, a collection of all the deleted scenes from the season w/commentary, 13 FX shots w/commentary, a character profile of CSM/C.G.B. Spender, a collection of FOX promos - very nice to have, these - and a DVD-ROM game.) I suspect it's because that disc only contains two actual episodes - there was enough room to put them all on without requiring an extra disc. Given that this is the case, there's absolutely no reason whatsoever to waste money on the more expensive version. In fact, from an economic standpoint I kind of wonder WHY they put them here...strange business decision, though lord knows I'm not complaining. Perhaps the more expensive set has an extra DVD not included here, but all the extras you might want are found on this cheaper edition.

Season Six was the last of the great X-Files seasons. Though it's weaker than the Fifth Season (I personally feel the show never recovered from its move to Los Angeles), and isn't a patch on the incredible Second and Third seasons (which remain the show's peak in my opinion), it's still well worth owning.

It has an odd character, though: the writers made a bold decision, in "Two Fathers"/"One Son," to wind up the main conspiracy arc that had been driving the show since the "The Erlenmeyer Flask," and as a result the season is light on "mythology" episodes (only five, one of which, "S.R. 819," is a standalone episode that always seemed peripheral to the main arc) and dangerously overloaded with comic ones. A full third of season is played either completely or mostly for laughs. Some of the comic episodes are worthy classics, like "Triangle" (the gimmickiness of which is saved by clever scripting, witty banter, and an irresistible World War II backdrop) and "The Unnatural," David Duchovny's warm, glowingly sincere tribute to America's Pastime. Others, however, are a bit twee: "Dreamland" attempts to extend its comic premise over two full hours and stretches itself thin in doing so, while "Arcadia" is essentially stunt casting (look, it's Mulder and Scully undercover as a married yuppie couple!) saved only by the interplay between Duchovny and Anderson. Worst of all, some of the lighthearted episodes fall completely flat, like the excruciating "How The Ghosts Stole Christmas" (a cutesy mess that seems strikingly off-key for an X-File) and the dismally unfunny "Rain King." Moreover, the fact that almost all of these episodes were broadcast back-to-back-to-back on consecutive weeks made it seem that The X-Files was devolving into a parody of itself.

However, the season was almost fully redeemed by several truly memorable "one-off" episodes. "Drive" is a tense, logical throwback to an earlier style of X-Files writing (most tonally reminiscent of time-is-running-out episodes like "Darkness Falls" and "F. Emasculata"). "Tithonus" manages the neat trick of being both frightening and moving as a meditation on the nature of death. "Agua Mala" is a good old-fashioned gross-'em-out monster episode. Even better, "Trevor" summons the spirit of classic standalone installments from the earlier seasons, giving us a memorable villain with a neat paranormal power who acts like a credible human being.

And I really can't offer enough praise for the incredible "Field Trip," one of the most inventively premised, tightly scripted, and psychologically penetrating episodes in the show's history. It's inarguably the high point of the season, working both on its surface as an imaginative and faultlessly executed story, and on a deeper level as the finest-ever exploration of Mulder and Scully's partnership dynamic. Ultimately, this episode isn't about what Mulder and Scully discover on their 'field trip,' it's about what they believe about each other, the faith they repose in each other, and the way in which they subconsciously rely upon each other to balance out and redeem their respective weaknesses. (The wordless image that concludes the episode touchingly captures all of this.) After six seasons and what was beginning to seem like sharply diminishing returns, "Field Trip" is a minor miracle, an hour that captures everything fans loved about the show: compelling sci-fi premises buttressed by the poignant, layered relationship between the two leads. It stands alongside "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose," "Beyond The Sea," "Pusher," and "Jose Chung's 'From Outer Space'" as one of the five greatest non-mythology episodes of the entire series.

Your opinions may differ, though; with a show as consistently innovative and well-acted as The X-Files there's a lot of room for argument on these things. I just want to make sure Amazon customers realize that they're getting full value on the money for this set, and that it's unique among the first six reduced-price seasonal sets in giving you that value.

The 6th year of THE X FILES ( 22 episodes airing in 1998-99 ) was the first and most consistently enjoyable of the four seasons filmed in Los Angeles. A palpable exuberance is on display throughout, which no doubt can be attributed to the excitement the cast and crew felt in working on the series in a new location. Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny give performances that are firm evidence of their commitment and in another move highlighting the change of venue, a number of familiar Hollywood character actors are featured. Far from being a gimmick, the casting is quite adept, the right people being chosen for the right roles ( just as it had been with the talented "unknowns" in Vancouver ). And, as in previous years, the considerable creative abilities of the directors ( especially Rob Bowman and the stalwart Kim Manners ) continued to be marshaled in service of Chris Carter's overarching aesthetic vision.

As with Season Five, the "stand alone" episodes shine ( only five episodes deal with the mythology ). Most of the scripts are of an inventive quality ( a number with comedic overtones ) and presented with the usual style and attention to detail that fans have come to expect of THE X FILES. One could be forgiven, however, for having a quibble with the original airing sequence in the first third of the season; far too many of the "light" scripts were shown consecutively, which lent an imbalance to a series that had previously distinguished itself with impeccable programming. In any case, Season 6 is the last in which "stand alone" episodes maintain a high level of consistency. The following year, many such scripts were noticeably derivative of earlier efforts and often failed to inspire a substantial emotional investment on the part of the actors ( especially so with regard to David Duchovny ).

Vince Gilligan continued his legacy as the most consistently creative writer on THE X FILES. As in Seasons 4 & 5, Gilligan contributed three solo efforts: "Drive", an exciting throwback to an earlier X FILES era ( wonderfully shot by Rob Bowman ). While "Trevor" is enjoyable, "Tithonus" is a masterpiece. Featuring dynamic performances by both Gillian Anderson and long time character actor Geoffrey Lewis, the episode ( inspired by a Greek myth ) is a bleak but ultimately redemptive musing on the "curse" of immortality.

Another dark script ( "Milagro" ) concentrates on an "underground" writer of Dostoevskian intensity who, in his obsession with Scully, shines with an intellectual brilliance and psychological insight that surpasses even Agent Mulder. "Milagro", in its spiritual magnitude, is one of the single finest episodes in X FILES history.

David Duchovny wrote and directed the superb "The Unnatural", a clever homage to America's favorite pastime that incorporates THE X FILES mythology in a humorous but respectful manner. The guest actor who plays the alien ballplayer is wonderful as is the well-known M. Emmett Walsh, serving double duty as actor and narrator.

Chris Carter weighs in as writer/director with the ambitious "Triangle", filmed ( using the unorthodox "single take" method ) aboard an actual ocean liner. A technical tour de force, "Triangle" is yet another pioneering X FILES episode that defies the usual constraints operating in television productions.

"Three of a Kind" follows the exploits of the Lone Gunmen "on assignment" in Las Vegas. While not as good as "Unusual Suspects", this episode features a hilarious performance by Gillian Anderson as a ditzy (!) Agent Scully, temporarily deprived of her faculties by a surreptitiously administered chemical substance.

There are several old-fashioned "monster of the week" scripts in Season Six. In "Agua Mala", Chris Carter favorite Darren McGavin makes a guest appearance as retired FBI Agent Arthur Dales. Set in hurricane-drenched Florida, this episode is a fun send-up of B movies in the "tentacled monster" genre. Similarly, "Arcadia" mixes scares with light-heartedness, as Agents Scully and Mulder pose as a married couple in a gated suburban community.

A few sour notes are sounded: "Rain Man" is a unique idea for an X FILES story but its satire falls flat. "Alpha" is disappointing as is "Terms of Endearment" to an extent. Fortunately, even these "lesser" episodes are not catastrophic in their failures, a fate that would regretfully befall a number of scripts in Season Seven. The main defects in Season Six are located in the mythology storyline, its longstanding arc having reached its high point in prior years ( THE X FILES movie functioning as a grandiose large screen addendum ).

The opening episode ( "The Beginning" ) starts out promisingly enough, with a solid script that combines elements from the previous years cliffhanger as well as the ( then ) recently released film. The root of the problem lies in the mid season two parter ( "Two Fathers" / "One Son" ); its "out in the open" explanations regarding the conspiracy are strained and self defeating. Despite a good performance by Chris Owens as Agent Jeffrey Spender, this hastily prepared conclusion to the shadowy "syndicate" suffers from a lack of balance, improper pace and even poor editing in spots ( the jarring cut in the "One Son" car chase scene is egregious and very uncharacteristic of THE X FILES). Yet, in spite of these flaws, something very crucial was achieved. In essence, Chris Carter decided to "amputate in order to save", a calculated gamble that reinvigorated the mythology by cutting away the detritus of the old plotline. As a consequence, a reconstituted myth arc sprang forth in the excellent 6th Season cliffhanger titled "Biogenesis", the seed from which new storylines would grow in the years to come. Carter's bold move was especially important when one considers that, with a few notable exceptions, the new mythology arc ( intertwined with the Mulder/Scully relationship ) would turn out to be the main attraction in the three remaining seasons of THE X FILES.

Season six. The season which would, ultimately, be past the half-way mark in the show's life. The first season set after the movie, and the first season to be shot in LA. The first season to give even hard-core X-philes cause for doubt.

With the show now over, no debates on the ins-and-outs of season six's problems are worth much. It no longer matters whether it was the dramatic shift in location, or a sharp increase in comedic episodes, or even David Duchovny clearly starting to get bored - the show has now ended regardless.

There are lots of fans who loved - and indeed still love - season six of the series immensly. The 22 episodes this season focuses intensly on lightheartedness (in accordance with the show's new climate) and the increasingly-romantic relationship between Agents Mulder and Scully.

Gone are the grity and grainy images of night-time stakeouts, and instead we have cheerfully sunny couples holding hands everywhere we look. This is not The X-Files. Only it is.

It is The X-Files.

Which is why I can accept it and agree that yes, this is a must-buy for all fans. Every seasons has had its share of bad episodes to be fair, this season more than most. The thing I want to point out is that people who blame seasons 8 and 9 for the show's demise are wrong. The rot started here.

But, of course, season six does have some good things going for it. Most noticeably writer Vince Gilligan was able to develop into the amazing storyteller he became by the following year. I think it's clear that even the cast and crew were unsettled by the shift to LA, and the stubborn lightheartedness of this season is evident of that.

In my opinion, the best episodes this season are 'Drive', 'Trevor', 'How The Ghosts Stole Christmas', 'Tithonus' and 'Field Trip'.

The most over-rated season of them all, and the mythology is at it's worst yet. The whole season is very watchable and remains a must-buy for collectors and casual fans alike, but overall it remains a disappointment.

This season 1013 Productions moved it's production team down to LA, and they let you know this with the first shot of the first episode of the season, where a glaring sun sits in a blue sky of heat, resting on a desert plateau.
This was the start of something slightly different for The X-Files, some think for the better, some not. There was more of a comedic element involved in many episodes, but the show didn't lose it's dramatic edge either, while still keeping the Mulder-Scully banter very much alive. There were winners and losers in season six, and middle ground to be fought over too. In hindsight, the mytharc episodes of this season accomplished the incredibly feat of not only answering almost all of the questions fans (and Mulder) have been searching for, but also started a new strand of mythology that would not be finally concluded until the show's denouement - and all in six episodes. Other winners include "Monday", "Tithonus", "Rain King", "Drive" and of course the beautifully-constructed "Triangle", which earned Chris Carter some due Emmy attention. Middle ground includes such episodes as "Arcadia", which while a less-than-superb episode with reference to the actual story, did display amusing insights into the continuing affection between Mulder and Scully. There were losers too, of course, but when compared to some of the other "televisual feasts" that have shared history by being on-air the same time as X-Files, the production values of this show alone make the series the acme, not only of the science-fiction genre for the past decade, but also the epitome of that once-dead package: The one-hour drama. It was The X-Files that revived the one-hour drama and the fledling network Fox, and it is this show that endured for nine years because of the incredible amount of hard work that went into it. Season Six may not be the best season of the show, but it is certainly one of the best seasons of television. This season The X-Files was nominated for over half a dozen Emmy awards, and won two Golden Globes.

THE X-FILES was one of the first television series to appear on DVD, but unfortunately 20th Century Fox didn't yet understand the market and as a result the sets were horribly overpriced, retailing usually for around $80 or $90 in most outlets, a price that meant that it wasn't going to be widely purchased. Furthermore, the situation was made more complex by an influx of cheap Hong Kong pirated editions, which meant that anyone attempting to buy the series used over the Internet ran the risk of getting tacky editions that lacked special features and where the movements of the actors mouths failed to synch with the sound. Thankfully, 20th Century Fox has finally corrected the situation by bringing out the original DVDs in a new Collector's edition.

Most serious fans of THE X-FILES, even those who believe, as I do, that the show was at least very good until the very end, that at some point the show failed to maintain the extremely high level it had been at from its beginnings in Season One. My belief is that this happened in Season Six with the ending of the original Alien colonization mythology. The problem was that with the cessation of the colonization arc, there was no successful rebuilding of the mythology aspect of the show to go along with the continuing excellent stand-alone episodes. As any fan of the show knows, the first five seasons consisted of a blend of stand-alone episodes that did nothing to advance the alienation conspiracy arc with episodes that did advance that arc. But that arc comes to an end in Season Six, and while they continued to have episodes that dealt with aliens and the governmental conspiracy to hide the truth about alien visitation, the show did not have a real arc until Season Eight with the introduction of the almost universally loathed Super Soldiers arc. As mythology, Season Six was the last season to advance the original story.

Despite the end of the colonization arc, THE X-FILES in Season Six remains a remarkable show and contains a host of truly great episodes. This was also the first season to be made in Hollywood rather than in Vancouver. Some see this as featuring into the show's demise, but my own feeling is that the fault lies with the writing. Though it never becomes anywhere close to being unwatchable, there simply aren't as many breathtaking episodes. My own favorite pair of episodes is the delightful "Dreamland" parts 1 and 2. Contacted by an anonymous Area 51 source Mulder and Scully go there only to have Mulder and his contact, played by Michael McKean, switch bodies when a spaceship causes a temporal distortion in their area. The result is both a moving and funny pair of episodes in which the two switchees manage to completely mess up living the other's life, though it is funny when McKean's Mulder cleans out the bedroom that had been used as a storage closet (the show's fans all know that Mulder merely slept on his couch) buys a water bed, a mirror for the ceiling, and other accoutrements to turn Mulder's apartment into a bachelor pad. "Two Fathers" and "One Son" bring the original mythology arc to a close, and while they are wonderfully satisfying and in no sense a disappointment, their cessation left the series nowhere to go. All in all, while this was still a series of the highest quality, by X-FILES standards it is a very slight disappointment. It was the first season in which it failed to maintain its own high standards. The good news is that even in the weakest episodes of the season, the show continued to surpass almost everything else that was taking place on television.

Perhaps because of the end of the original mythology arc, Season Six saw the repressed romance between Scully and Mulder come a bit more to the surface. There is no explicit romance, but their relationship becomes increasingly flirtatious and Scully, usually serious to an extreme, starts smiling a great deal more around Mulder. The biggest tease might be in "The Unnatural," where Mulder, arms around Scully, tries to give her a feel for swinging a baseball bat.

I honestly do not believe that there are any seasons of THE X-FILES that can be construed as anything short of Must See. Although in Season Six it finally fell slightly below the astonishing standard it set in its first five seasons, it remains riveting television. And now that it is available at a completely affordable price, there is no reason for any fan not to own their own copy of each season.

I am not going to elaborate on the technical details of the DVD collection of Season Six, since more nit-picky people have already gone in depth into that area. My review is going to focus solely on the episode quality in terms of characters and plot. This season really marked a turning point in the X-Files series. Notably, the filming had been moved from Vancouver to California, which removed some of the dark grittiness that fans had come to expect and love.

Following the success of the movie and presumably an influx of new fans that had not followed the previous five seasons, the writers/producers opted to wrap up the conspiracy mythology (episodes "Two Fathers" and "One Son") and replace it with a more ambiguous plot ("Biogenesis"). We bid farewell to the members of the Syndicate and the "human controlled" government subterfuge. This sudden change of track upset many hardcore followers of the series.

As far as the recurring characters go, we see surprisingly little of the fan-favorite Cigarette Smoking Man. The character of Mulder's informant Marita Covarrubias continues to atrophy with only one appearance this season. We also see little development of the newly introduced FBI Agents Diana Fowley and Jeffrey Spender who succeed Mulder and Scully at the X-Files. Alex Krycek makes a few appearances, but little is done with his character. The only shining point is the introduction of the character of Assistant Director Kersh, who will continue to be a thorn in the sides of Mulder, Scully, and Assistant Director Skinner until the last episodes of Season Nine.

In this season, the groundwork is being layed for the eventual departure of Fox Mulder (most notably "Biogenesis"), that will continue to build throughout Season Seven until it culminates in Season Eight. Scully's character is paid tribute in many episodes including "Milagro" and "Tithonus".

The weakest aspect of this season is the downturn in writing quality. The gritty tension and suspense of former seasons seem to be almost gone in the episodes of this season. We see the writers turning away from scary and often thought-provoking plots to the most inelaborate forms of humor. Stemming from this comes the WORST X-FILES EPISODE EVER: "The Rain King". This is the perhaps the first time that I could not wait for commercials simply because they were more entertaining than the episode itself. The writing quality also changed in presenting stories with a modicum of credibility. That was what made the X-Files great...just enough reality to make an otherwise preposterous story believable. And scary things that are somewhat believable are almost always ten times more frightening. That philosophy departs the series towards the beginning of the season with "Dreamland I" and "Dreamland II" that, although amusing, are nothing more than a rehash of a plot twist that has been used time and time again in science fiction.

Despite its shortcomings, this is still the X-Files and I love it for its good and its bad. Well, maybe I don't love "The Rain King" episode. The episode "The Beginning" does well transitioning from the X-Files movie and the Season Five finale. "S.R. 819" builds an interesting Skinner subplot with technology that few realize exists. "Two Fathers" and "One Son" do a tidy wrap up of the former mythology episodes with a satisfying conclusion. Fans of the Lone Gunmen will adore "Three of a Kind". And "Biogenesis" does an adequate job initiating the new mythology episodes and sparking the beginning of Mulder's departure.

As a fan, I believe that all the DVD box sets are a "must own", but bare in mind that this season definitely marks the "passing of the threshold".