Having my sense of nostalgia triggered by the release of the new movie, I am thinking about getting some X-Files seasons on DVD, but it's been so long since I've watched them that I can't remember which season was the last good one. You know, before the whole underlying conspiracy theory mythos jumped from the back seat to the front seat and the show stopped being about solving paranormal mysteries each week. And don't even get me started on the post-Duchovny period. Blech.
Based on the season descriptions on
Wikipedia, I'm pretty sure seasons one through four are a good bet. The only one I'm not sure about is five. I know it was the last season shot in Vancouver, and was
supposed to be the final season, based on everyone's initial contracts, but I can't remember how prominent the underlying mythos was through that season. All of the nonsense about the syndicate, cancer man, Krychek, and so on really doesn't interest me too much—I much preferred the earlier format where each episode was essentially self-contained, with only minor story arch elements loosely tying the series together.
On the other hand, some of the most memorable episodes came from later seasons. The Cops episode in season seven, while admittedly gimmicky, was awesome. And Bruce Campbell guest-starred as a demon in season six. And anything with Bruce Campbell in it automatically becomes the most awesomest thing ever in the entire universe.
Decisions, decisions.
