So I started season 2 today (20 bux a season? Why the **** not!) and have come to realize that this series gets really intense.
I suppose it doesn't help that one of my fears is aliens, goddamn I can barely type the word without shaking. No idea why either, just the thought of some other-worldly being with the power to do whatever the **** he wants at any time is pretty freaky. And the uncanny-valleyness of the greys.

It could also be the fact that you never really see all of "Them", just blurry or light blasted forms. And then the imagination does the rest...

E: Finished season 2's opener, ****ing most intense thing I have ever seen.
I'm not going to sleep for a while.

I haven't seen all the episodes, but I've seen all of 1-3, and parts of 4-9 or however many seasons it went.

To put it mildly, after the first movie (at some point...maybe a couple seasons after the movie) the show started to get worse. Then they had this awesome cliffhanger which I later realized was a method for mulder to get written off the show. Then he was gone for 2 seasons, and the show sucked TERRIBLY. then there was a half-assed finale that was halfway decent, then a second movie that even as a fan of the series I wouldn't want to see again. I struggled with deciding whether it was terrible or so-so.

to make a long story short: the show jumped the shark and never recovered. The first seasons, and some in the middle, are the best the show has to offer.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVED that show in high school. It just got bad and didn't get better. Strange how something that started out so ridiculously good could have such a string of bad episodes for so long.

I have the first two seasons and the original movie. IMO it starts to go downhill in season two - the high point of the show for me was Mulder's conflict with the cigarette smoking man which got kind of resolved midway through the second season if I remember correctly.

It's a good show, but after seeing the first 50-odd episodes I didn't feel the need to keep watching.

Xenophobe.

I bought the whole series. Seasons 1-7 are great, with 2-5 being the peak. 8 is so so and 9 is really hard to watch. Awesome show. If you are digging the plot is season 2, you are going to cream your pants through the next 4-5 seasons or so, don't listen to these naysayers who say it goes downhill early. Most of the show is great with the occasional bad episode thrown in. It went 9 seasons and didn't start sucking until the last season or two, that's pretty good for a TV show.

Yeah, there are a lot of good episodes throughout the whole series. Anything with the lone gunmen is awesome, and the comedy eps are great.

Oh yeah, the first movie is between season 5 and 6. It's part of the plot so watch it at the right time.

The Mytharc is awesome, the rest of the show is so-so. The ending was awesome.

aliens

See, it's the mystery and suspense that makes it.
I can't stop laughing.
Grey font would have added an extra pizzaz though.

Definitely, stop at the first movie. That intensity you speak of goes away, noone really gave a **** at the end. That goes double for the wtf second movie...

The show jumps the shark in episode one, when it's actually Aliens.

It was pretty much pants after Duchovny left.

"X-Files" is still one of my favorite shows but as Baconfish said, it was "pants" after Duchovny left (assuming that "pants" is the equivalent of "crap" or some other similar word). However, if you're wanting more of that Duchovny action, I'd suggest watching "Californication" after you finish "X-Files" because it's totally tubular. Also, let's face it, Gillian Anderson was quite doable back then.

Xenophile.

Veger pretty much hit the nail on the head with what he said about the show.

Amazing TV show, I've actually started the other week to watch all my seasons on DVD. I'm @ Season 6 right now. Seasons 1 to 3 are by far the best of the series, and the season finale to season 3 is ****ing AMAZING Mulder suspected of committing suicide .

I love the monster of the week episodes, the ufo/alien based ones, and then there are the WTF were they thinking ones...Like X Cops, the one where they are aboard the cruise ship caught in time and it's in black and white (cannot remember which episode), etc.

The first movie was actually really good, and I ain't ashamed to say I enjoyed the second one, but it didn't seem like an X Files movie at all. There is supposed to be a third one coming out by 2012 (since the entire series revolved around colonization in 2012), and Frank Spontniz recently said that in the coming weeks they have "huge news for x files fans". Which could really only mean one thing.

agreed, awesome show, wish i wouldve watched all of it

Nothing really new or different to say - just my 2 cents I guess...

I've watched nearly the whole series, and I agree with Dash.

Seasons 1-5 are the best, but really didn't start to get dumb until 7. When Duchovny left, the show tanked.

And yes, Anderson was kinda hot back then.

The first X-Files movie was pretty good, although I admit it took 2 viewing to figure out what was going on. And yes, it continues a plot line so watch it in the right place (between seasons 4 and 5, I think).

The second movie was not as good, but works well on the small screen. It seemed like a long one-off episode. I imagine if I saw it on the big screen I would have been disappointed.

Anyway, I have lots of love for the X-Files. It was also one of my favorite shows.

No. Watch the whole thing, all the way till the end of season 9. It indeed isn't as good but Robert Patrick had some good episodes as a replacement, such as the Bat-man (Not Batman) episode which was creepy as hell and really good. There were enough good eps in the final seasons to make them worth watching to complete the series.

And yes, Gillian Anderson was SMOKING hot in that show.

Why does pants mean bad? Is it because you usually wear kilts?

It sounds humorous.

It sounds silly. Also pants are underpants in the UK.

AND KILTS ARE FORMAL ATTIRE.

Then what are pants?

Oh I get it, it's because you fellows call pants 'trousers'.

underpants is an hilarous word, say it over and over.
You will giggle.

This show has alot of terrible deaths.

Why would you post those sentences on the internet?

Oh no some random guys know of one my irrational fears.

That episode was hilarious.

First one is hella creepy, and also biologicly impossible.
Second one is... a Stargate Asgard?
Thanks for the desensitization though.

How did you make it through Star Wars without going into conniptions?

Last summer I was going to marathon all The X-Files but that slowly digressed into just the Alien mythos, skipping monsters of the week. Re-watching the show, however, did give me a greater appreciation for Doggett and the writers, who did create a good character that while upon first viewing I thought Mulder's shoes were impossible to fill, and I had a blind hatred Doggett. While the former is still true, the latter is not.

I loved the first movie, I like it when TV show movies don't go too big, and it just seems like an extended, albeit bigger budget, episode. The movie both tied into the show, mythos, and was standalone all at the same time.

The second movie however... was awful - and I say without hyperbole that it was the worst movie I've ever seen in theaters. The same feeling was almost unanimous when I went to the midnight premiere, to a surprisingly full theater.

Star Wars doesn't glorify it does it?
And did you even read the post? It's the mystery and suspense involved with just seeing the faint outline of something that seems to be all powerful, and evil.
Infact, it's not aliens in general. Just the X-Files "Creepy bastards that you never really but know have a hard-on for ****ing with humans" type.

Love the Asgard BTW.

There were many good episodes with Robert Patrick, but they were few and far between (in comparison to the early seasons), and the overarching storyline / week to week storylines were just bad generally speaking.

Someone should take tibby to the immigration center, have him scarred for life.

X-Files was one of those shows that quintessentially defined the 1990s (wow did you know that!), I don't remember any of the plots but the visual stuff really worked back then. At least when you waited until your parents thought you were asleep so you could sneakily put the TV back on, mute the volume and just watch since you couldn't read properly and not understand English anyway.

I used to do the same thing, but with nudy films on Cinemax (Skinemax). For some odd reason, my parents were OK with me watching Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Nightmare on Elm Street, etc., but they didn't want me to see breasts & vaginas.

whats a vagina?