Availability: This item will be released on November 4,
2003. You may order it now and Amazon.com will ship it to you when
it arrives.
Product Details
Starring: X-Files, David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson
Encoding: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. This DVD will probably
NOT be viewable in other countries. Read more about DVD formats.)
Format: Color, Closed-captioned, Box set
Rated: NR
Studio: Twentieth Century Fox
DVD Features:
Number of discs: 6
Editorial From Amazon.com
The eighth season of The X-Files will always be remembered as the
year of brave decisions. David Duchovny's increasing dissatisfaction
with the role meant he'd only appear in a few episodes. The solution?
Enter Agent John Doggett (Robert Patrick) who basically stole the
show within his first two minutes of screen time (and watch out
for several Terminator 2 in-jokes too!). Scully (Gillian Anderson)
switched roles to being the believer alongside Doggett's skeptic
in a year that was more reliant on the background story arc than
ever before. Her pregnancy remained at the foreground, while a more
prominent Skinner (Mitch Pileggi) joined in a hunt for the abducted
Mulder that drew upon the black oil, cloning, and bounty-hunting
aspects of the convoluted alien conspiracy story. A distinct lack
of guest stars or writers indicated maturity beyond the need for
ratings stunts: dedicated fans were pleased to see sinister Krycek,
the reliable Lone Gunmen, and the return of the show's very first
abductee. The real strengths of the season came from new characters,
including alternative female role model Special Agent Monica Reyes
(Annabeth Gish), and some terrific standalone episodes. Investigations
covered a man going backward in time, deaths aboard an oil rig,
a contagion in the Boston subway tunnels, and creatures resembling
bats and slugs. Agent Leyla Harrison (named after an X-Files fan
who died of cancer) got to ask all the petty questions regular viewers
want to know themselves. With season 9 promised to be the last,
this year was a remarkable achievement so late in a show's life.
-- Paul Tonks
