The X Files: Season 6 [DVD] [1994]

The season kicks off with "The beginning" which is sort of a follow up to the movie. Unfortunately, the episode isn't one of my favourite openings, but it was exciting, as it showed the return of Gibson Praise, and also guest-starred one of the aliens from the movie. The next couple of episodes are some of the seasons' best. "Drive" is one of my personal favourites, as it is about a man who is forced to drive Mulder around the highways at high speed, or he will die. The opening scene to that episode is one of my favourites. "Triangle" is a very entertaining episode, in which Mulder crosses through the Bermuda triangle and gets caught up on a ship that was said to have disappeared during world war II. "Dreamland I/Dreamland II" is a very humorous episode, in which Mulder switces body with another man, after a UFO is seen flying over them. And "How the ghosts stole christmas" is an intertesting story were Mulder and Scully get locked in a house which is believed to be haunted by a married couple at Christmas eve.

Other good episodes include "Two fathers/One son" which basically closes of about 5 years of mythology in the show. The conclusion to the episode is breathtaking. "Monday" is another of my personal favourites, in which a woman has to relive the same day over and over again, until she can save Mulder and Scully from being killed by her boyfriend. "Arcadia" shows Mulder and Scully going undercover as a maried couple to try to investigate the disappearences of people in a small neighbourhood. It starts of very fun, but ends in a sort of disturbing way. "The Unnatural" is a great episode, in which a story is told about one of America's greatest baseball players being an alien. It includes a guest appearence by Brian Thompson as the alien bounty hunter. "Field trip" is a very unsettling and confusing episode.

A few episodes do let the season down: "The rain king" is a stupid episode which mostly revolves around a weather man trying to have the guts his long-time friend out. "Alpha" seemed like a good episode, about a killer dog on ther loose, but it just fell flat. "Terms of endearment" wasn't a bad episode, it was just average really, about a man who just wants to have a normal baby and he will do anything to make it happen. It does have a good guest-starring Bruce Campbell (The Evil dead films).

The season-finale didn't really seem exciting to me, as it didn't really have a good cliffhnager (the best ones would be Season 2's "Anasazi" and Season 4's "Gethsamane").

Still, this is probably one of the more experimental seasons of the show. Mixed with episodes of comedy, and some just straight-ahead horror stories.

This is my personal favorite season, possibly, sorry it is hard to choose between them. It has everything and feels as fresh as season 1. It starts off continuing from the movie, this story is further expanded in later episodes, the long running conspiracies are finally put to rest and to some degree Mulder wins! The constant doubts Mulder had in season 5 are all gone though at the start of the season both Mulder and Scully have been assigned away from the X Files, but as ever its not long before theyre right back on them.

The stand alone episodes, (which I have to say is what I watch X Files for, Ive never been one for the long running deep conspiracies, too slow for my liking and to straight faced) are better than ever involving time travel, the Bermuda Triangle, Vice Versa style body shifting, ghosts, Demons having babies, sea monsters Groundog Day, honestly this season has it all! Even the episode with the Lone Gunmen is good!

As usual there are a couple of sub standard episodes but that is to be expected in a long season, The Rain King is just poor and The Unnatural is way too American for a UK audience, but worth watching for the close interaction between Mulder and Scully at the end of the episode.

What becomes more obvious throughout this season is the bond between Mulder and Scully there are several occasions when the chemistry sets the screen alight! Building on the will they wont they get it on debate!

As ever we are left with a cliff hanger ending with Mulder committed and acting like a Basket Case and Scully finding a big spaceship under some sand in Africa that could be the answer to life on earth, phew! Cant wait for season 7!

Still, there is plenty of merit to this set of 22 episodes that kicks off with the aptly titled "The Beginning" that picks up some of the threads from the 1998 theatrical movie "Fight the Future" while focussing more broadly on the story of last season's finale that the film bridges. Mimi Rogers returns in her role as Agent Diana Fowley (appearing in a total of four episodes), as does the thorn in Mulder's side turned ally - his half brother Agent Jeffrey Spender. This leads to the biggest change in direction of all as Mulder and Scully are denied reassignment to the X-Files unit and must instead report to Assistant Director Alvin Kersh (who features more prominently in Seasons Eight and Nine right up to the series finale).

This half-season long diversion doesn't affect the focus of the stories too much however, as we are dealt a whole load of comedy episodes. This leaves the second half of the season stocked with monster-of-the-week shows, all of which are fine (except maybe the dull "Alpha") but you can't help but think a little spacing out and mixing would have improved the finished article no end. As it is the balance is not quite right.

In one of the classics, "Triangle", Mulder gets caught up in the Bermuda Triangle and even more laughs come when he swaps bodies with your average man-in-black in the two-part tale "Dreamland". If that wasn't enough, the FBI duo get caught up in a haunted house on Christmas Eve in "How the Ghosts Stole Christmas" with comedy and satire a plenty.

This takes us into the quintessential mythology double "Two Fathers" and "One Son", one of the high points of the entire series. While it spells the unfortunate end for the old conspiracy arc, if it had to go then this was the way to do it. Further highlights include the beginning of an under-used Krycek/Skinner arc in "S.R. 819", the old time-loop plot of "Monday", the Lone Gunmen show "Three of a Kind", and "The Unnatural" written and directed by David Duchovny. All of these culminate in the season cliffhanger "Biogenesis" that leaves Scully standing over a buried spacecraft on the shores of the Ivory Coast.

Overall, Season Six is a good one yet not the very best. The indivudual stories are great for the most part, but the character development and ongoing themes are somewhat lacking. The attractive DVD box set includes every episode across 6 discs in anamorphic wide screen format, with plenty of special features including a brand new summary documentary, a character profile on the Cigarette-Smoking Man (taken directly from the "One Son" feature video), episode commentaries on "Triangle" by Chris Carter and "Milagro" by director Kim Manners, and plenty more of the usual format - TV spots, interview clips, a whole host of deleted scenes, et cetera.

A must buy for any fan of The X-Files, and enough stand-alones that make excellent viewing for others too.