The X-Files

Missed those first X-Files episodes? Don't worry. They're declassified and available on video...

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• The X-Files on video
• Starring David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson
• Ten Thirteen Inc.
• Videocassette, $9.99-$12.95

t's a cross between Kolchak: The Night Stalker and In Search Of, only with better production values. X-Files creator and executive producer Chris Carter takes a skeptic and a believer, FBI investigative agents Dana Scully and Fox Mulder, and aims them at the paranormal and the conspiratorial.

Now the television series has come to video with the release of six episodes on three videocassettes: Pilot/Deep Throat; Conduit/Ice; and Fallen Angel/Eve. All come with a commentary by Carter, who expounds on aspects of the show such as casting choices and special effects. Each cassette also comes with a collectible trading card for each episode.

In Pilot, viewers get to see Scully and Mulder meet. Mulder is an established FBI agent whose skills are regarded as superior by his colleagues even as his taste for UFO-type cases is regarded as eccentric. His current assignment is to dig through the X-Files, those unexplained cases that the FBI just can't seem to solve. Scully, a forensics expert, is assigned as Mulder's partner, to examine the X-Files with scientific detachment.

Their first case involves mysterious deaths among a small circle of friends in Oregon. Finding a discrepancy in a series of coroner's reports, Mulder has one of the bodies exhumed. Scully conducts a post mortem on the body and discovers an unidentifiable metallic capsule imbedded in the nasal cavity. Next, Mulder and Scully apparently "lose" nine minutes of time near the crime scene, the mysterious corpse is stolen from the morgue, and a motel fire destroys crucial evidence that may link the strange deaths to alien abductions.

A pilot is a tricky thing. It has to clearly establish the show's premise, demonstrate chemistry among the principals, and give viewers reason to return week after week. Looking back from the perspective of a few years, most pilots seem awkward, unfamiliar, or crude. The X-Files pilot, in contrast, is sharp, recognizable, and superbly together. The two stars have instant chemistry and credibility. Probably the only major difference from the series premiere and the present-day run is that, along the way, Mulder has lost quite a bit of jocularity, and Scully some naivete.

Aside from revisiting the beginning, why bother viewing these episodes in this uncut format? Unlike a lot of television series available on video, there is a noticeable improvement to the show with the excising of commercials. The plot becomes clearer and the good quality of the editing becomes more apparent. And although it is often a big yawn to listen to creative minds babble about their successes, the commentary by Chris Carter is a pleasant surprise for its modest enthusiasm and unpretentious analysis. Lastly, the cassette boxes are packaged with slick graphics, and it's cool to look cool.

Probably one of the best pilots I've seen. This is not just for hardcore fans. However, it is advisable to fast forward through Carter's commentary and save it for later, so as not to ruin the episode with any unnecessary tip-offs. -- Tamara I.

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