oh my god
they have reyes explain who cousin oliver is
i just got that
X-Files
Re: X-Files
I'm still chewing on this one. It is what a pretentious nerd might call textually rich.
Scully has a line at the end about how maybe she's had proof for the past 9 years, not proof of the paranormal but proof of something else.
You could read that as a tossed-off cliche -- the real government conspiracy is the friends we made along the way -- but I read it as Gilligan's final word on The X-Files, when it worked, when it didn't, and where it went wrong (and would continue to go wrong in the revival). And, really, in an episode that's all about the relationship between a TV show and its audience, it's a statement about the relationship between the writers and the audience.
In a nutshell, don't listen to the audience when they tell you what they want.
If you asked X-Files fans what they wanted, they'd probably say they wanted answers, development on ongoing mysteries like the conspiracy and the alien DNA and Scully's baby and whatever the fuck end-of-the-world shit was supposed to happen in 2012, and for Mulder and Scully to get together, and for Mulder to still be a central character even after he left the show, and for the Cigarette Smoking Man to come back, and basically all the frustrating nonsense that bogged the series down. I would be extremely surprised if any of them said "I want a Brady Bunch pastiche that serves as a postmodernist deconstruction of how a silly TV show can speak to people in a profound way."
The fans don't know what they want. They know what they think they want, but what they really want is to be surprised.
X-Files was, famously, one of the first shows to have an active online fandom. I'm not sure if that affected the show creatively -- maybe Carter, Spotnitz, et al were always going to be super-invested in their mythology to the detriment of the show -- but I kinda feel like the problems in the later seasons look like what you'd get from writers who are trying to give the fans what they're asking for.
Then again, they also look exactly like the inevitable degradation of a serialized story that they were making up as they went along. In the early seasons they could fake like the mythology was going somewhere and would matter in some way, but as the show went on it was inevitable that they wouldn't be able to keep up that pretense. So who knows, maybe it had nothing to do with listening to the fans, maybe this was the road the show was always going to go down if it continued long enough.
Anyway. Point is, I see Scully's line about proof of something, just not the paranormal, as a statement that X-Files was never really about the aliens and the government conspiracies and the overarching mythology, it was about weird shit like Bud Bundy going to the Brady Bunch house.
But then, maybe that's just my confirmation bias talking.
Scully has a line at the end about how maybe she's had proof for the past 9 years, not proof of the paranormal but proof of something else.
You could read that as a tossed-off cliche -- the real government conspiracy is the friends we made along the way -- but I read it as Gilligan's final word on The X-Files, when it worked, when it didn't, and where it went wrong (and would continue to go wrong in the revival). And, really, in an episode that's all about the relationship between a TV show and its audience, it's a statement about the relationship between the writers and the audience.
In a nutshell, don't listen to the audience when they tell you what they want.
If you asked X-Files fans what they wanted, they'd probably say they wanted answers, development on ongoing mysteries like the conspiracy and the alien DNA and Scully's baby and whatever the fuck end-of-the-world shit was supposed to happen in 2012, and for Mulder and Scully to get together, and for Mulder to still be a central character even after he left the show, and for the Cigarette Smoking Man to come back, and basically all the frustrating nonsense that bogged the series down. I would be extremely surprised if any of them said "I want a Brady Bunch pastiche that serves as a postmodernist deconstruction of how a silly TV show can speak to people in a profound way."
The fans don't know what they want. They know what they think they want, but what they really want is to be surprised.
X-Files was, famously, one of the first shows to have an active online fandom. I'm not sure if that affected the show creatively -- maybe Carter, Spotnitz, et al were always going to be super-invested in their mythology to the detriment of the show -- but I kinda feel like the problems in the later seasons look like what you'd get from writers who are trying to give the fans what they're asking for.
Then again, they also look exactly like the inevitable degradation of a serialized story that they were making up as they went along. In the early seasons they could fake like the mythology was going somewhere and would matter in some way, but as the show went on it was inevitable that they wouldn't be able to keep up that pretense. So who knows, maybe it had nothing to do with listening to the fans, maybe this was the road the show was always going to go down if it continued long enough.
Anyway. Point is, I see Scully's line about proof of something, just not the paranormal, as a statement that X-Files was never really about the aliens and the government conspiracies and the overarching mythology, it was about weird shit like Bud Bundy going to the Brady Bunch house.
But then, maybe that's just my confirmation bias talking.
Re: X-Files
Sunshine Days was a real pleasant surprise. I'm a big Michael Emerson enjoyer, so it was great seeing his talents put to good use in a fun, fucking surreal X-Files-ass story.
And it wasn't dark and dire and meandering for no reason! It had a story it built up and paid off! Good stuff.
Yeah, that should've been the finale for sure, but, I do think the finale we got was necessary to show everyone on no uncertain terms that Chris Carter was well and truly a hack.
And it wasn't dark and dire and meandering for no reason! It had a story it built up and paid off! Good stuff.
Yeah, that should've been the finale for sure, but, I do think the finale we got was necessary to show everyone on no uncertain terms that Chris Carter was well and truly a hack.
Re: X-Files
Course, when they brought X-Files back with a self-contained story that didn't tie into the larger mythology, we got I Want to Believe. Which I thought was fine, but was a critical and commercial flop, so I guess I can kinda see why "full steam ahead with more mythology stuff" was the direction they decided to go the next time they revived it.
Re: X-Files
It was beyond deranged for X-Files to make an entire movie with virtually zero supernatural elements, when that is the entire premise of the franchise.
Really not sure what they were thinking. Maybe there was just that little gas left in the tank by then.
Really not sure what they were thinking. Maybe there was just that little gas left in the tank by then.
Re: X-Files
Hulu has the finale split up into two episodes but I feel like the correct way to watch it is in one shot, the way it was originally broadcast. Which means I'll probably take an X-Files break for a little bit until I can sit down and watch it all at once, and then another break until I can get a copy of the goddamn movie.
So maybe more Xena in my immediate future, we'll see how I end up playing this.
So maybe more Xena in my immediate future, we'll see how I end up playing this.
Re: X-Files
X-Files was, famously, one of the first shows to have an active online fandom. I'm not sure if that affected the show creatively -- maybe Carter, Spotnitz, et al were always going to be super-invested in their mythology to the detriment of the show -- but I kinda feel like the problems in the later seasons look like what you'd get from writers who are trying to give the fans what they're asking for.
There's another side to this that now affects modern writers, when they go online and read fans on reddit or wherever talking about and figuring out the twists and turns to come. And then the writer changes shit because of this, which invalidates all the build up and foreshadowing you've done already and makes you work look shitty in retrospect.
Long story short, don't read what the fans are posting. Just tell your story.
Re: X-Files
I think there probably is an element where, whatever plot twists you have coming, you should at least be aware that somebody, somewhere is going to figure them out and tell everybody, and do your best to tell a story that's still satisfying even if the audience already knows what's going to happen.
But that's just good writing advice. The part about the Internet allowing randos to share their theories is new, but the idea that a story should still be satisfying even if it's not surprising is not.
We're long past the days where Hitchcock could send people around to bookstores to buy up every copy of Psycho so audiences wouldn't read the book first and know how the movie ended. But fortunately, Psycho still holds up even if you already know what happens.
But yeah what you're talking about is different. Definitely don't change what's going to happen, after you've already started telling your story, because somebody figured out where it was going from your foreshadowing. (There may be a context where this would work -- something like Clue and its multiple endings -- but I think it would have to be planned in advance, with multiple possible resolutions mapped out from the beginning, and would be very tricky to pull off.)
But that's just good writing advice. The part about the Internet allowing randos to share their theories is new, but the idea that a story should still be satisfying even if it's not surprising is not.
We're long past the days where Hitchcock could send people around to bookstores to buy up every copy of Psycho so audiences wouldn't read the book first and know how the movie ended. But fortunately, Psycho still holds up even if you already know what happens.
But yeah what you're talking about is different. Definitely don't change what's going to happen, after you've already started telling your story, because somebody figured out where it was going from your foreshadowing. (There may be a context where this would work -- something like Clue and its multiple endings -- but I think it would have to be planned in advance, with multiple possible resolutions mapped out from the beginning, and would be very tricky to pull off.)
Re: X-Files
Course, there are times when it's appropriate to change plans based on audience reaction.
AIUI Xena was supposed to die in her third appearance and they changed their plans once they found out how popular she was with critics and audiences. I think we can probably agree that was the right decision, not just commercially but creatively.
And sometimes you should change plans because there's been a cultural shift and something lands differently than it did before. Especially in a long-running series or a revival of an older show. I've mentioned more than once that the "9/11 was an inside job" and "government putting chips in vaccines" plots were from the original series (or Lone Gunmen, in the case of the 9/11 one) but that it was a mistake to include them in the revival.
And sometimes you should drop something just because it's a bad idea. There are a couple of things that happen in seasons 10 and 11 -- Reyes having a connection to the CSM, someone interfering with Scully's pregnancy -- that were foreshadowed in the original series. (The first couple times Reyes is on the show, she's introduced smoking a cigarette. And, as mentioned, there's no reason to keep banging on about Scully's pregnancy being the result of artificial insemination except to foreshadow that somebody interfered with it.) And, y'know, it's easy to get frustrated with X-Files for setting up things that don't pay off, but sometimes the right thing to do is look at the stuff you've got planned and think better of it.
So ultimately, there are good reasons to change course and bad reasons to, I guess. It's pretty situational.
AIUI Xena was supposed to die in her third appearance and they changed their plans once they found out how popular she was with critics and audiences. I think we can probably agree that was the right decision, not just commercially but creatively.
And sometimes you should change plans because there's been a cultural shift and something lands differently than it did before. Especially in a long-running series or a revival of an older show. I've mentioned more than once that the "9/11 was an inside job" and "government putting chips in vaccines" plots were from the original series (or Lone Gunmen, in the case of the 9/11 one) but that it was a mistake to include them in the revival.
And sometimes you should drop something just because it's a bad idea. There are a couple of things that happen in seasons 10 and 11 -- Reyes having a connection to the CSM, someone interfering with Scully's pregnancy -- that were foreshadowed in the original series. (The first couple times Reyes is on the show, she's introduced smoking a cigarette. And, as mentioned, there's no reason to keep banging on about Scully's pregnancy being the result of artificial insemination except to foreshadow that somebody interfered with it.) And, y'know, it's easy to get frustrated with X-Files for setting up things that don't pay off, but sometimes the right thing to do is look at the stuff you've got planned and think better of it.
So ultimately, there are good reasons to change course and bad reasons to, I guess. It's pretty situational.
Re: X-Files
SCENE 4
(Day. AD Skinner's Office. SKINNER is on the phone in his office trying to get more information about MULDER'S situation. SCULLY is there filling in DOGGETT and REYES.)
MULDER: You saw him? Mulder?
REYES: They've accused him of murder?
SCULLY: And they have him believing that he did it.
DOGGETT: Murdered who?
SCULLY: Knowle Rohrer.
DOGGETT: Knowle Rohrer? It can't be. I watched Knowle Rohrer die.
REYES: He can't die. Knowle Rohrer's a super soldier.
(SKINNER hangs up the phone.)
SKINNER: Mulder side-stepped security at a facility known as Mount Weather -- a place where they say our so-called "shadow government" is installed.
REYES: What about this murder charge?
SKINNER: Thirty government workers are ready to testify they witnessed Mulder push a military officer to his death.
DOGGETT: Killing the man who can't be killed?
(DOGGETT'S words ring ominously in the room. SCULLY remains quiet for a moment. She looks at DOGGETT and she makes a decision. Without a word, she walks past DOGGETT on her way out of the office.)
DOGGETT: Where are you going?
(SCULLY turns around.)
SCULLY: To beg mercy with the man upstairs.
(DOGGETT, REYES and SKINNER are speechless. The door closes behind her.)
SCENE 6
(Mulder's holding cell. THE GUARD opens the cell door for SCULLY and SKINNER. This is a different cell. A darker cell. There's a small window at the very top of it. MULDER is standing in front of that window stretching upward and facing the light. He has his back to the door.)
(THE GUARD closes the door. He remains outside.)
SCULLY: Mulder.
(MULDER turns around slowly. He moves away from the light and a little closer to SCULLY and SKINNER. He has a strange look on his face.)
SCULLY: Mulder!
(MULDER sniffs the air around him. He fixes his stare only at SCULLY and says ...)
MULDER: I smelled you coming, Clarice.
(SCULLY and SKINNER look a little stunned. SCULLY throws an uncertain glance to SKINNER. MULDER releases a chuckle and a smile. SCULLY takes a deep breath at being once again exposed to MULDER'S exquisite sense of humour.)
SCULLY: Oh, my ...
(SCULLY doesn't seem too amused. She also hasn't moved closer to MULDER. She remains where she is since she came into the cell, quite a length away from MULDER with SKINNER between them.)
SCULLY: Damn it, Mulder. It's not funny to see you putting on that act.
MULDER: No, that is funny.
(MULDER fixes SCULLY with a look and begins to walk toward her.)
MULDER: What's not funny is what they do to you in here if you don't put on that act.
(MULDER finally sounds like his old self.)
(MULDER reaches for SCULLY, cups the back of her head with both hands, and draws her to him. MULDER kisses SCULLY leisurely taking his time, his thumbs gently caressing her cheek. SCULLY reaches up and touches MULDER. This is the reunion they both need. MULDER wraps his arms around SCULLY, drawing her nearer to him without breaking the kiss. They embrace each other in their passion. For one moment now and after, they simply hold each other.)
(SKINNER standing close to them, averts his eyes allowing them what little privacy he can.
(MULDER and SCULLY pull away from each other. MULDER humorously turns to SKINNER.)
MULDER: Come here, you big, bald, beautiful man.
SKINNER: The only thing you're going to be kissing, Mulder, is your sweet ass good-bye, with the trouble your in.
MULDER: Uh-huh, I kind of gathered that right around the 50th brainwashing session.
(MULDER inches a little closer to SCULLY, he's holding her hand and lifts it to his lips.)
SCULLY: Mulder, why are they doing this to you?
MULDER: They think that they're preparing me for my trial. For my testimony.
SKINNER: Your testimony's not going to matter. Not with the case they're building.
MULDER: Not building. Rigging.
SKINNER: Yeah, I don't think you understand the seriousness of the charges. This isn't some routine wrist slapping. You're on trial for your life.
MULDER: My trial's a forgone conclusion. What they really want is for me to admit my guilt and help them out. What's really on trial here is the truth.
SCULLY: Mulder, they're saying you killed a man.
MULDER: Have they produced a body?
(Neither SCULLY nor SKINNER answer. SCULLY looks over at SKINNER.)
MULDER: You can't produce a body because you can't kill a man who won't die.
SKINNER: Well, body or not, they've got 30 witnesses from that government facility ready to testify against you.
SCULLY: Mulder, we'll get you the best lawyer.
(MULDER lets out a smile and a laugh.)
MULDER: Would you defend a man who believes in aliens against the FBI and the military? It's never going to happen. Skinner can defend me.
SKINNER: I can't represent you.
MULDER: You know all the facts, the details the whole government conspiracy. (MULDER looks at SKINNER.) More than that, I trust you.
(SKINNER is stunned silent by the weight of MULDER'S complete faith in him ... of MULDER'S willingness to put his life in SKINNER'S hands.)
SCULLY: Mulder ...
MULDER: They can't try me without exposing themselves. I know what I'm doing.
(The three are silent for a moment. The cell door opens. DOGGETT and REYES enter.)
MULDER: Whooo, now it's a party.
(DOGGETT stops in the cell and looks at MULDER. The two men look at each other.)
DOGGETT: Agent Mulder.
SCULLY: What's the matter?
REYES: We've been working off what little we have but the military just got back to us.
DOGGETT: You ready for this? I know this is impossible, but they're saying they got Knowle Rohrer's body.
(They all know this is a lie. They're in for a tough battle ahead.)
[Fade to black]
okay so the script for "The Truth" is an "I forced a bot" joke, right?
Re: X-Files
Also the transcript I copy-pasted those two scenes from has another scene in-between them but there's no scene between them on the version that's on Hulu. I'm thinking maybe they reshuffled some things between the original 2-hour broadcast and rerunning it as a two-parter? Damn it, I wanted the original broadcast experience.
Re: X-Files
Okay so it looks like it's a little later in the Hulu version but it's still in there.
This is amazing. This is a surrealist parody of X-Files played completely straight.
SCENE 5
USMC BASE BRIG QUANTICO, VIRGINIA
(Day. Office of General Mark A. Suveg. KERSH knocks on the closed door.)
GENERAL MARK A. SUVEG: Come in.
(KERSH enters and approaches the man sitting behind the desk.)
GENERAL MARK A. SUVEG: Deputy Director Kersh. I've just been going over my notes on this whole business. Please, have a seat.
KERSH: Thank you.
GENERAL MARK A. SUVEG: We both got a problem with this man of yours, Agent Mulder.
KERSH: Mulder's been a running problem for the FBI. But nothing this serious.
GENERAL MARK A. SUVEG: I would think ...
KERSH: (interrupting) I've been asked by a female agent ... Mulder's closest associate to beg mercy of the military court to give Mulder every consideration based on his good character.
GENERAL MARK A. SUVEG: You've reviewed the charges, yes?
KERSH: Yes. There's a charge of murder.
GENERAL MARK A. SUVEG: This would look bad for the Marines if it didn't look worse for the FBI. What does Mulder intend to plea?
(KERSH shrugs his shoulders and shakes his head. He doesn't know.)
GENERAL MARK A. SUVEG: You wanted a chance to clear up this mess, Mr. Kersh and I'm going to give it to you. Give it to the FBI.
KERSH: How?
GENERAL MARK A. SUVEG: A fair hearing for your agent by his own agency. Your prosecutor, your judges. Held in my court.
KERSH: That can't be legal. Why do this?
GENERAL MARK A. SUVEG: I want a verdict. A guilty verdict. This man Mulder has made a lot of enemies. He's a crusader. And a lot of people do not like the crusade.
(KERSH shakes his head, no.)
KERSH: I can't do that.
GENERAL MARK A. SUVEG: Oh, you'll do it, Deputy Director. You and I both know there are forces inside the government now that a man would be foolish to disobey.
(KERSH knows a threat when he hears one.)
This is amazing. This is a surrealist parody of X-Files played completely straight.
Re: X-Files
I'm not going to keep quoting the script verbatim but it goes on like that. It is amazing.
Like, I'm half an edible and a couple of drinks into the evening (and I suspect Chris Carter was too) and maybe I'd be enjoying this less if I were watching it sober, but I think I might actually love it?
I mean there's still like 65 minutes left and that's way more than enough time for Carter to shit the bed. But so far at least it's...well, I'm kind of torn between thinking Carter can't possibly be self-aware enough for this to be intentional and therefore it's so-bad-it's-good, and thinking it's way too clever a self-parody to be an accident, it has to be a brilliant deconstruction. I mean the former has to be way more likely, but...even if he wrote this entirely by accident I think I still come away from it respecting him more than I did before I watched it? Like, he's a hack, but maybe he's also some kind of savant about his hackishness?
Like, I'm half an edible and a couple of drinks into the evening (and I suspect Chris Carter was too) and maybe I'd be enjoying this less if I were watching it sober, but I think I might actually love it?
I mean there's still like 65 minutes left and that's way more than enough time for Carter to shit the bed. But so far at least it's...well, I'm kind of torn between thinking Carter can't possibly be self-aware enough for this to be intentional and therefore it's so-bad-it's-good, and thinking it's way too clever a self-parody to be an accident, it has to be a brilliant deconstruction. I mean the former has to be way more likely, but...even if he wrote this entirely by accident I think I still come away from it respecting him more than I did before I watched it? Like, he's a hack, but maybe he's also some kind of savant about his hackishness?
Re: X-Files
wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait
did this just turn into the seinfeld finale
did this just turn into the seinfeld finale
Re: X-Files
I've got questions about why Exar Kun's name appeared in the X-Files opening titles a year before KotOR came out and a quick search is not coming up with anything.
Re: X-Files
SCENE 14
(Two GUARDS escort MULDER down the hallway and into another holding cell. SKINNER, DOGGETT and REYES are there. It's a larger cell with lots of light from the windows. MULDER doesn't look happy at all.)
MULDER: Where's Gibson?
REYES: He's with Scully ... in good hands.
(MULDER begins to shake his head in disappointment.)
DOGGETT: We spent the night talking to him. Gibson knows you're concerned. We're protecting him now.
MULDER: He shouldn't have done what he did -- exposing himself like that.
SKINNER: Well, the boy was trying to protect you and it looks like it may have worked.
REYES: He says three judges are wavering. They're leaning in your favour.
(MULDER smiles at their naivete.)
MULDER: It's going to take a little more than that the way things are going. We were never going to win.
SKINNER: Take the stand, Mulder. Testify.
MULDER: No.
DOGGETT: Then we'll testify, me and Monica.
MULDER: No.
REYES: Both of us have seen too much ...
MULDER: Listen to me, they'll destroy you. They'll put you out on the street.
DOGGETT: What's left for us on the X-Files?
REYES: We came to this job to give it our best. It's the way we're going to leave.
MULDER: It's not about how good you are. They control the game. They own it.
DOGGETT: Then let's shove it up their ass.
oh my god
oh my god
oh my god
i can't breathe
y'all if i laugh myself into an asthma attack and die
then let's shove it up their ass
Re: X-Files
SCENE 18
(In the courtroom, SKINNER is busy looking through his notes. MULDER is sitting next to him. KERSH looks bored.)
KERSH: Mr. Skinner. Please call your next witness.
(SKINNER stands up. The back door opens and SCULLY walks in holding a thin report.)
SCULLY: Assistant Director ...
(SKINNER nods to approach him. SCULLY gives the thin report to SKINNER who immediately begins to read through it. She leans in toward MULDER, a look of assurance on her face.)
SCULLY (to MULDER): I found it.
MULDER: What?
SCULLY: What's going to get you off.
SKINNER: I want to move to dismiss again based on new evidence I just received that there is no victim. That the body of Knowle Rohrer is not Knowle Rohrer, but that of a man who died of a broken neck and whose body was burned post-mortem.
KERSH: Motion denied.
SCULLY: You can't deny it.
KERSH: You're out of order and in contempt of court, Agent Scully.
SCULLY: You're in contempt. I have evidence proving that Agent Mulder is innocent.
KERSH: You have no authorization to examine the body, Agent Scully. Have her removed from the courtroom.
(MULDER stands.)
MULDER: If she's got evidence, you got to listen.
(MULDER turns to watch as the GUARDS escort SCULLY out of the courtroom.)
KERSH: Order! Remove the defendant from the courtroom. This trial is adjourned.
Like, if this weren't an actual episode of The X-Files, if it were something some Internet rando posted, it would be...well, maybe not hailed as a masterpiece, but at least remembered with the same cult cachet and ironic appreciation as "Batman Loves Him a Criminal".
Re: X-Files
Thad wrote:But I'll have more to say about it when I update My Favorite Episodes of The X-Files, where it will be the only season 9 episode to make the list. Unless the finale really surprises me.
Look, I'm as surprised as you are, but the finale is going on the list.
Like, I laughed so hard that I remember the last time I laughed this hard. It was 2005, I saw The Producers on Broadway, and it was specifically the bit in Springtime for Hitler where the cast forms up into a swastika and rotates around the stage. That's how hard I laughed at the Cigarette Smoking Man taking a drag through a hole in his throat and then getting shot with a missile and burned down to a skeleton.
Re: X-Files
Thing I'm curious about: I know I'd seen the shot of Krycek pushing CSM down the stairs before, but I'll be damned if I know how. I wasn't watching the show anymore by season 8, and it's never recapped in any other episode until the finale.
Best guess is either it was in a commercial or I caught the tail-end of that episode without seeing the rest of it.
Best guess is either it was in a commercial or I caught the tail-end of that episode without seeing the rest of it.
Re: X-Files
Thad wrote:Course, there are times when it's appropriate to change plans based on audience reaction.
AIUI Xena was supposed to die in her third appearance and they changed their plans once they found out how popular she was with critics and audiences. I think we can probably agree that was the right decision, not just commercially but creatively.
Now I'm second-guessing my example, because...she still dies, right?
I mean, I'm still on season 1, but I know how it ends in broad strokes, and it's more or less the same ending that they planned from the start: villain becomes hero, lays down her life protecting innocents. That was always her arc and it was always how it was going to end. The ending never changed, they just added a six-season spinoff to the middle.
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