Customer Reviews

X-Treme Possibilities: A Comprehensively Expanded Rummage Through Five Years of the X-Files

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Together with the "X-Files and Conspircay Timeline" (availalable online), is this without doubt the most ressourceful collection of information ever published about the X-Files.

This book covers the first 5 seasons and the motion picture:

Every episodes is shortly described, it is put in relation with the series in general, and in more detail with the Conspiracy going on. We do get some nice soundbites of characteristic X-Files elements, ranging from "Dialogue triumphs" to "x-files politico-babble" as the authors liked to put it out. And of course, we can also read about the personal opinion of each of the three members to each episode.

Their analysis of the X-Files and especially of the conspiracy is extremely accurate and detailed and revealed a lot of new elements to me and gave me a much better picture of the whole series.

All in all, this book should be part of every library of an X-phile! It's much better than the official guides. Unfortunately, the authors announced in the book that there wont be a new edition to include future seasons... I still hope that they will change their opinion about that...

When I started to read this book I thought "Great! This is just the sort of X-Files book I've been waiting for." However the more I read the more I became disillusioned. Yes, this is one of the few books that actually tries to explain the conspiracy, and they haven't added lots of useless trivia. But some of the author's comments leave a lot to be desired - they are often shallow and petty in the extreme.

A few mistakes showed that while the authors obviously know a lot about the show, they don't know too much about real-life FBI, police or forensic matters. For example, in the Continuity section of the movie they say: "We discover that Skinner is not _the_, but _an_ Assistant Director of the FBI, as we meet another, Jana Cassidy." Come one guys, anybody that knows anything about the FBI knows that the FBI is headed by a Director, who is supported by a Deputy Director, and an Assistant Director heads each of the nine HQ divisions. You didn't do your homework on this one!

But apart from these niggles I was quite happy with this book. It certainly made me go back and review some episodes.

if you ever want a cheap paperback high quality in content episode review/anaylsis book, get it from the UK! the Brits have all the best episode guides for Red Dwarf, Doctor Who, Babylon 5, the X-files, etc. this covers Seasons 1-5 AND the Movie! It reviews each episode with lots of fun facts, and it is the ONLY XF book out there that tries to explain and analyze the mythology episodes! so many reasons to buy this book!

The book is written by a group of british writers, and as such contains a POV that may not reflect that of the reader. The book is incredibly detailed and is a wonderful reference for any fan (the dedicated and the newbies) who wishes to have it all put together. Wonderfully referenced and cross-referenced I have only 3 complaints 1 - it suffers from historical hindsight in tryng to demonstrate that everything that has ever occured, has been part of the conspiracy. It's like putting a square peg in a round hole and IMHO their mistakes in doing so are glaring 2 - they review every episode and discuss its relevance to the conspiracy. For once I'd like a book that is written in the reverse. a chapter on the aliens, a chapter on the conspirators themselves, a chapter on those who aid and hinder Mulder & Scully, and each one references the episodes. In this way all information relevant to a particular topic is all together not spread out waiting for me to find them in a specific episode review. 3 - they draw conclusions that I just cant agree with such as that Deep throat was never really trying to help them. all in all an excellent book despite these criticisms. it has widened my eyes and made certain things clear that I might never have figured out on my own without spending a month watching and re-watching the episodes (which sounds like fun shopuld I ever have the time to do so!!!!!)

I found this book a blast! It got to the point that I was still reading it at 4:00 in the morning and it started making sense-gasp!- all of it. I'd entered the X-Zone. Everything an X-phile has ever thought about in her heart-of-hearts. Read it and wallow!

I think this book is very cool - I bought the first edition, and then bought this "expanded" version which includes everything up to the end of season 5, plus the movie. I'm not holding my breath for the authors to come out with an "even more expanded" version - they indicate on the last page of this edition that this is their last book, although they did say that in the first edition too! But if you love the first five seasons of the show this book is great - it's written with a lot of humor but nevertheless takes the show very seriously (you've gotta love the fact that these guys actually try to make sense of the "mythology", something I gave up on doing around the beginning of the fourth season).
The authors critique everything - the acting, writing, continuity, music, technical aspects - they even have a "science advisor" who consulted specialists on the many scientific subjects dealt with in the series to monitor the writers' accuracy. I like the way the book is structured: each episode is analyzed in various categories (and like the first reviewer here I'm curious about the meaning of "Phwoar"), and the three authors each give their review at the end. There are a few mistakes, some of which are unintentionally funny - on the "Jersey Devil" page they refer to Cirque du Soleil as "Circus au Lait", which in French translates as "circus with milk"! (if you've never heard of Cirque du Soleil by now you're probably spending too much time...watching "The X-Files"!) But all in all, the attention to detail is impressive.
You'll probably have one author out of the three that you tend to agree with the most - for me it seems to be Martin Day - but it's great that these guys all go for broke in venting their opinions. This book is a great companion to the show, but it's actually a really enjoyable read on its own terms too.

This is the only X-Files guide that I own. Consequently, I don't get the show at all after the movie because this is where the book ENDS. I am DYING for a new version! It's still immensly helpful and wildly enjoyable to read.

I read the first edition of this book and it rapidly became my X-Files Bible. Just recently I found and read the latest version, covering thru Season 5 & the movie. Yes, these three authors are obsessed, complain a lot, and often have nothing nice to say. I completely disagreed with them on many occassions! I also found their personal opinions to be thought-provoking, or sometimes just plain provoking. But wasn't that their point? And, where else can one find an episode guide that is neither a mindless recital of dialog, nor a useless catalog of trivia? The extra bonus is the often hilarious information found in sections like 'Phwoar!', 'That's a Mouthful', and 'Don't be in the Teaser'. The fact that these three men made a truly heroic attempt to disentangle the show's Byzantine Mythology, even going so far as to retro-actively update what they got wrong the first time around, is what makes this book so special. For that alone, it's worth a look.

THE best episode guide on paper, fun, usefull, and, in one word, wonderful. THE greatest.

looking for some hard-core analysis, i was disappointed by the dismissive tones of the authors personal critiques of each episode. though they're writing a book about the show, which would indicate some serious committment, they complain about it an awful lot in nitpicky immature ways. the breakdown of each episode into categories such as "scully's rational explanation of the week" and "the conspiracy starts at closing time" provide the meat of the book, offering details that reveal the show's consistency and innovativeness, yet the "bottom line" sections that offer up the personal views of all three authors are often insipid, shallow and petty, rather than insightful or thought-provoking. the concept for the book is great, but the writers appear to be over-the-top in their sci-fi nerdy elitist attitude- a decent episode guide and that's all.