The X-Files Mythology, Volume 3 – Colonization
The X-Files Mythology, Volume 3 – Colonization | |
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Season 3 | |
No. of episodes | 16 |
Season chronology |
The X-Files Mythology – Volume 3 collection is the third DVD release containing selected episodes from the
The collection contains three episodes from the fifth season, five from the
The collection features the closure of several long-running arcs, as well as new introductions to the series' mythology. Series creator Chris Carter felt that the series' ongoing storylines were becoming too confusing, so he scrapped them and started over. Released on September 27, 2005, the collection generally received mixed to positive reviews from critics. William B. Davis, Mitch Pileggi, Nicholas Lea and Laurie Holden all play supporting roles in the collection.
Plot summary
The show centers on
In Washington, D.C., Mulder appears before an FBI panel regarding his
Several months later, a metallic artifact with inscriptions is discovered on the beach of
While investigating a bizarre disappearance of a young girl from her home, Mulder soon discovers the truth about his sister's disappearance.
Background
From the
The "Biogenesis"/"The Sixth Extinction"/"Amor Fati" trio of episodes started a new mythology for the series, questioning the origin of human life. Series creator Chris Carter claimed to be interested in the subject for a while, citing the possibility of extraterrestrial involvement in great extinctions that had happened millions of years ago.[31] Carter claimed that early in the show he had met with a man who was one of the people responsible for leading the project of mapping the human genome and that he was interested enough in the subject to tie it into the show's alien mythology.[32] The scientific basis for extraterrestrials pursued the writers to help Mulder an Scully's beliefs come together, which was furthered in the later seasons of the show.[31] Frank Spotnitz claimed that the ideas used in this episode had been discussed between him and Carter for a few years, and had become easier to bring up after clearing away elements of the conspiracy in the episodes "Two Fathers" and "One Son".[31]
"Closure" was written to create an end to Mulder's quest for his sister, Samantha, who had been abducted when he was a child. The idea to close the story arc received mixed reactions from various production and crew members. However, many of the show's producers realized that the time had come to answer one of the show's biggest questions. Spotnitz explained that, "I think [series star, David Duchovny] grew tired of playing the man who is missing his sister. [...] I told him, 'This is going to be the last time you're going to have to play [that part].'"[33] Paul Rabwin noted that, "It's been seven years. I don't think any of us are going to miss Samantha Mulder. That device and motivation were very strong in the early years of the show. But as the years have gone by, the speculation kind of melted away."[33]
"Requiem" was written as a way to potentially end the series. While filming was underway for the seventh season, many members of the crew felt that the show had entered into its final season. Executive producer Frank Spotnitz later explained, "There was a pretty strong sentiment inside and outside the show that it was time to call it a day."[34] Eventually, it was decided that Mulder would be abducted at the end of the seventh season, leaving things open for the actor's return in 11 episodes the following year.[35] They eventually replaced Duchovny's Mulder with Robert Patrick's John Doggett.[36]
Reception
Critical reception to the release ranged from mixed to positive. Monica S. Kuebler from
Episodes
No. in set | No. in series | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | Prod. code |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 110 | "Patient X" | Kim Manners | Chris Carter & Frank Spotnitz | March 1, 1998 | 5X13 |
Scully forms a bond with Cassandra Spender (Veronica Cartwright ), a woman who claims to have been abducted by aliens. While Mulder's disbelief in the alien conspiracy is now questioned, he finds himself with more personal threats at the FBI. | ||||||
2 | 111 | "The Red and the Black" | Chris Carter | Chris Carter & Frank Spotnitz | March 8, 1998 | 5X14 |
With Cassandra Spender missing, and her son Jeffrey angrily attempting to push his way up in the FBI, Mulder has Scully put under hypnosis to learn the truth. The Syndicate, meanwhile, quicken their tests for the alien vaccine, sacrificing their own to do so. | ||||||
3 | 117 | "The End" | R. W. Goodwin | Chris Carter | May 17, 1998 | 5X20 |
Investigating the murder of a chess player, Mulder and Scully meet a boy who may be the embodiment of everything in the X-Files. | ||||||
4 | 118 | "The Beginning" | Kim Manners | Chris Carter | November 8, 1998 | 6ABX01 |
With the X-Files reopened, Mulder and Scully eagerly hunt for a deadly creature in the Arizona desert. What they find seems to support Mulder's revived belief in aliens, but is discredited when the agents are not reassigned to the X-Files, with Diana Fowley (Mimi Rogers ) taking over instead. | ||||||
5 | 126 | "S.R. 819" | Daniel Sackheim | John Shiban | January 26, 1999 | 6ABX09 |
Assistant Director Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi) is poisoned. Mulder and Scully have 24 hours to save him, but in order to do so, they must determine who wants him dead, and why. | ||||||
6 | 128 | "Two Fathers" | Kim Manners | Chris Carter & Frank Spotnitz | February 7, 1999 | 6ABX11 |
When Cassandra Spender is returned, Mulder, Scully and Agent Spender find themselves facing the exposure of the conspiracy involving extraterrestrials, while the worried Syndicate take evasive measures. | ||||||
7 | 129 | " Rob Bowman | Chris Carter & Frank Spotnitz | February 14, 1999 | 6ABX12 | |
An alien rebellion leads the Syndicate to its demise as their twenty-five-year conspiracy approaches its disastrous collapse. | ||||||
8 | 139 | "Biogenesis" | Rob Bowman | Chris Carter & Frank Spotnitz | May 16, 1999 | 6ABX22 |
Mulder believes that metallic objects discovered in Africa are proof that life originated elsewhere in the universe. | ||||||
9 | 140 | "The Sixth Extinction" | Kim Manners | Chris Carter | November 7, 1999 | 7ABX01 |
While Scully tries to piece together the meaning of the symbols on the spaceship beached in Africa, Mulder is imprisoned by his own frenetic brain activity. | ||||||
10 | 141 | "The Sixth Extinction II: Amor Fati" | Michael W. Watkins | David Duchovny & Chris Carter | November 14, 1999 | 7ABX02 |
Returning to Washington to find Mulder gone, Scully joins Michael Kritschgau (John Finn) and Skinner – who is still being forced into betrayal by Alex Krycek (Nicholas Lea) – to find her partner. However, the Cigarette Smoking Man (William B. Davis) has taken Mulder to a place where all his problems are gone—or so it seems. And Diana Fowley is forced to make a choice about her loyalties. | ||||||
11 | 149 | "Sein und Zeit" | Kim Manners | Chris Carter & Frank Spotnitz | February 6, 2000 | 7ABX10 |
While investigating the bizarre disappearance of a young girl from her home, Mulder becomes obsessed with the number of children who have vanished in similar ways. Scully's fears that he is emotionally involved due to his sister's disappearance 27 years earlier are heightened when Mulder's mother dies, apparently of suicide. | ||||||
12 | 150 | "Closure" | Kim Manners | Chris Carter & Frank Spotnitz | February 13, 2000 | 7ABX11 |
After years of believing that his sister was abducted by aliens, Mulder finally learns the long-sought-after answers to her true fate with the help of a police psychic. | ||||||
13 | 154 | " En Ami" | Rob Bowman | William B. Davis | March 19, 2000 | 7ABX15 |
The Cigarette Smoking Man offers to show Scully the cure for cancer if she travels with him – and hides her trip from Mulder. | ||||||
14 | 161 | "Requiem" | Kim Manners | Chris Carter | May 21, 2000 | 7ABX22 |
Ignoring warnings to reduce their budget, Mulder and Scully research reports of alien abductions in Bellefleur, Oregon – the site of their first joint X-Files investigation. | ||||||
15 | 162 | "Within" | Kim Manners | Chris Carter | November 5, 2000 | 8ABX01 |
Newly promoted Deputy Director Alvin Kersh (James Pickens Jr.) assigns pragmatic Agent John Doggett to head up the task force searching for Mulder. Meanwhile, an increasingly defiant Skinner assists Scully as they search for the alien ship, which is systematically removing evidence of alien existence, and is next headed to the deserts of Arizona, and Gibson Praise. | ||||||
16 | 163 | "Without" | Kim Manners | Chris Carter | November 12, 2000 | 8ABX02 |
At a remote school in the Arizona desert, Doggett, Scully, Gibson and Skinner – as well as a host of students and agents – don't know whom to trust as the bounty hunter works among them and – in a spaceship close by – Mulder is tested on. |
Special features
The X-Files Mythology, Volume 3 – Colonization | |||||||
Set Details[40] | Special Features[40] | ||||||
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Release Dates | |||||||
United States Canada |
Australia | Japan | United Kingdom | ||||
September 27, 2005 | TBA | TBA | TBA |
References
- Footnotes
- ^ Kim Manners (Director); Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz (Writers). "Patient X". The X-Files. Season 5. Episode 13. Fox.
- ^ Meisler, pp 173–184
- ^ Chris Carter (Director); Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz (Writers). "The Red and the Black". The X-Files. Season 5. Episode 14. Fox.
- ^ Meisler, pp. 187–196
- ^ R. W. Goodwin (Director); Chris Carter (Writer). "The End". The X-Files. Season 5. Episode 20. Fox.
- ^ Meisler, pp. 269–280
- ^ Kim Manners (Director); Chris Carter (Writer). "The Beginning". The X-Files. Season 6. Episode 1. Fox.
- ^ Meisler, pp. 11–18
- ^ Daniel Sackheim (Director); John Shiban (Writer). "S.R. 819". The X-Files. Season 6. Episode 9. Fox.
- ^ Meisler, pp. 120–132
- ^ Kim Manners (Director); Chris Carter & Frank Spotnitz (Writers). "Two Fathers". The X-Files. Season 6. Episode 11. Fox.
- ^ Meisler, pp. 135–144
- Rob Bowman (Director); Chris Carter & Frank Spotnitz (Writers). "One Son". The X-Files. Season 6. Episode 12. Fox.
- ^ Meisler, pp. 147–156
- Rob Bowman (Director); Chris Carter & Frank Spotnitz (Writers). "Biogenesis". The X-Files. Season 6. Episode 22. Fox.
- ^ Meisler, pp. 279–290
- The Sixth Extinction". The X-Files. Season 7. Episode 1. Fox.
- ^ Shapiro, pp. 7–16
- ^ Michael Watkins (Director); Chris Carter and David Duchovny (Writers). "The Sixth Extinction II: Amor Fati". The X-Files. Season 7. Episode 2. Fox.
- ^ Shapiro, pp. 19–28
- ^ Michael W. Watkins (director); Chris Carter & Frank Spotnitz (writers). "Zein und Zeit". The X-Files. Season 7. Episode 10. FOX.
- ^ Shapiro, pp. 119–128
- ^ Kim Manners (Director); Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz (Writers). "Closure". The X-Files. Season 7. Episode 11. Fox.
- ^ Shapiro, pp. 130–139
- ^ Kim Manners (Director); Chris Carter (Writer). "Requiem". The X-Files. Season 7. Episode 22. Fox.
- ^ Shapiro, pp. 266–277
- ^ Kim Manners (director); Chris Carter (writer). "Within". The X-Files. Season 8. Episode 1. Fox.
- ^ Kim Manners (director); Chris Carter (writer). "Without". The X-Files. Season 8. Episode 2. Fox.
- ^ Meisler, pp. 156–157
- ^ Hurwitz and Knowles, p. 159
- ^ a b c Meisler, pp. 290–291
- ^ Hurwitz and Knowles, p. 169
- ^ a b Shapiro, p. 139
- ^ Hurwitz and Knowles, p. 180
- ^ Elber, Lynn (May 18, 2000). "Fox Mulder 'Ready to Get Back to Work'". SPACE.com. Archived from the original on December 10, 2004. Retrieved January 4, 2010.
- ^ Fleming, Michael (July 20, 2000). "Patrick marks 'X-Files' spot". Variety. Retrieved January 4, 2010.
- ^ Kuebler, Monica (October 2005). "The X-Files Colonization". Exclaim!. Retrieved June 21, 2012.
- ^ a b Robinson, Jeffrey (September 27, 2005). "The X-Files Mythology, Vol. 3 – Colonization". DVD Talk. Retrieved June 21, 2012.
- ^ Slant. Retrieved June 21, 2012.
- ^ Fox.)
{{cite AV media notes}}
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- Bibliography
- Hurwitz, Matt; Knowles, Chris (2008). The Complete X-Files. Insight Editions. ISBN 978-1-933784-80-9.
- Meisler, Andy (2000). The End and the Beginning: The Official Guide to the X-Files Season 6. HarperCollins. ISBN 0-06-107595-7.
- Shapiro, Marc (2000). All Things: The Official Guide to the X-Files Volume 6. Harper Prism. ISBN 0-06-107611-2.
External links
Quotations related to Volume 3 – Colonization at Wikiquote