verything changes, and The X-Files is no exception. The series went through a number of changes in its sixth season. For one thing, Agents Mulder and Scully were reassigned from the X-Files for nearly half the season, meaning they had to find new ways to pursue X-Files cases, whether on- or off-duty. This was also a year of big change for the show as a whole, as the series shifted its locale from Vancouver to Los Angeles. Gone were the moody forest settings; suddenly, bright skies and desert backdrops prevailed—as did the number of familiar guest-star faces.
While the series went through changes, The X-Files complete sixth-season DVD box set doesn't deviate far from its predecessors. The six-disc set includes a similar set of elements (widescreen presentation, deleted scenes, documentaries, two episode audio commentaries and various promotional clips), but this time there's a few extra morsels for fans to sink into.
Some love the sixth season of The X-Files. Some loathe it. In fact, many longtime viewers dubbed this season X-Files Lite, due to the seeming frequency of more lighthearted, comedic episodes. The truth is, of the 22 episodes, nearly a third would classify in that category; the rest of the lot are a mix of strong dramatics that showcase X-Files at its best ("S.R. 819," "Tithonus," "Milagro," "Biogenesis") and weak storytelling that shows the series at its worst ("Agua Mala," "Trevor," "Alpha," "Terms of Endearment").
Series creator Chris Carter wrote and directed "Triangle," one of the most ambitious and innovative episodes of the season—and, arguably, of the series. "Monday" is another episode worth pointing out, for its nicely done implementation of the characters caught in a repeating time loop; even though we'd seen this plot before (see the stellar fifth-season Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Cause and Effect"). And of the lighthearted spectacles, the real treat isn't "How the Ghosts Stole Christmas" (with guest stars Ed Asner and Lily Tomlin); it's David Duchovny's playful, baseball-themed writing/directing debut, "The Unnatural."
Season six brought the mythology arc to a head with the "Two Fathers"/"One Son" arc, in which the mysterious international cabal of conspirators was wiped out, theoretically providing a clean slate for the conspiracy, but a move that was more successful in further muddying the waters.
Exceptional extras unravel the
conspiracy
Compared with some of the earlier X-Files sets, season six ups the ante considerably. The most noticeable addition: There are more than double the number of deleted scenes, which can be played with or without commentary from executive producer Frank Spotnitz detailing why those scenes ended up on the cutting-room floor. The content of Spotnitz's commentary alternates between being informative and being repetitive; nonetheless, it is a treat to have 15 scenes (three from "Tithonus," two from "Two Fathers," two from "One Son," one each from "Arcadia," "Alpha" and "Milagro," four from "The Unnatural" and one from "Biogenesis"). The one lament about many of these scenes is that too few feature X-Files stars Duchovny and Anderson; rather, most involve guest actors, which is a shame, considering Mulder and Scully likely have their fair share of material that was edited out, for whatever reason.
More enlightening is Carter's highly technical audio commentary on "Triangle." The commentary provides tons of detail about how Carter achieved specific shots and the challenges that went into the making of this episode, which has Mulder caught in a time warp in the Bermuda Triangle. Likewise, Kim Manner's perspective on "One Son" is technical as well, which is appropriate, given that he's the director of that conspiracy-busting episode.
The box set features two other standouts in original content. The first is the special-effects extravaganza, with each clip accompanied by lively and informative commentary by longtime post-production producer Paul Rabwin. There are 13 effects clips in all—five more clips than the previous season box set offered—spanning episodes like "Triangle," "Dreamland I" and "II," "The Rain King," "How the Ghosts Stole Christmas," "Two Fathers" and "The Unnatural." Second is a glossy, 20-minute documentary "The Truth Inside Season Six," packed with recollections about the season, and specific episodes, by producers Carter, Spotnitz, Vince Gilligan, John Shiban and Kim Manners and cast members like Dean Haglund (Langly of The Lone Gunmen) and Mimi Rogers (Diana Fowley). One downside: It seems like the documentary might be original to the DVD, but since there's no production date tagline, and no dates on the interviews—as the later Star Trek: The Next Generation season sets do so well—there's no way of knowing when those interviews were done (unlike with the obviously promotional bit featurette from Fox).
The other new, and oddly labeled, addition to the DVD set is billed as a character profile of Cigarette Smoking Man, but it's really a combination of a CSM profile and a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the making of "Two Fathers"/"One Son." This one-minute short was featured on the international video release of "Two Fathers"/"One Son," and is told through the voices of a sensational narrator and the less-sensational sound bites from William B. Davis, Carter and Spotnitz. The longer, five-minute sequence on "Two Fathers"/"One Son" is edited to focus on the production, but then veers back to CSM (presumably why both bits are listed as a "profile" of CSM). While interesting to see, it would be even better to see the DVD sets assemble true character profiles, with actor and producer interviews from the past or present cut together with clips that visually define the characters' evolution over the years.
The organization of the content is consistent with that of past discs, and is easy enough to follow—though there are a few screens (such as accessing the special features) that seem to take more clicks than necessary. The one annoying glitch we experienced on a three-year old Samsung DVD player—often, at the end of a special features item, the disc would loop back not to the special features menu but to the start of the first episode on the disc, "Field Trip."
