eason seven was the year that might have been X-Files' last season, given all of Duchovny's behind-the-scenes melodrama regarding whether he'd return to the show (he did, in a very limited capacity, for season eight). In retrospect, it certainly was a final season, of sorts, for The X-Files; after all, this was the end of an era, the end of the Mulder-Scully era that was responsible for catapulting the series into the annals of popular culture. This was the last season before the show strayed away from its core formula of Mulder and Scully, the final year the series could afford to combine whimsy, originality, mythology and standard-issue monsters of the week without the stories seeming out of place, somehow.
While season seven didn't always hit its mark, it still offered up some of the best-constructed X-Files tales in the show's later years. Starting with "The Sixth Extinction," a two-part conclusion to the fifth season finale, "Biogenesis," season seven opened big and rarely let up. The few bona-fide clunkers of the year ("Fight Club," anyone?) were offset by colorful episodes like "The Amazing Maleeni" and eye candy like "First-Person Shooter." And then there were the actors' originals—the artful and introspective "all things" (written and directed by Anderson), the indulgent comedy "Hollywood A.D." (written and directed by Duchovny) and the unexpectedly layered mythology piece "En Ami," (written by Cigarette-Smoking Man himself, William B. Davis).
Speaking of mythology, the year's myth arcs tried their best to wrap up existing storylines—and introduce new threads that would be able to sustain the series should it continue past season seven. Midway through the year, for better or worse, the producers gave us the muddled "Closure" on Samantha's fate. And the season finale—"Requiem"—could easily have doubled for the series finale, given how tightly crafted and touching the piece was, particularly in how it brought Mulder and Scully full circle, both personally and professionally.
This six-disc set includes a documentary about season seven, a handful of deleted scenes with commentaries by executive producer Frank Spotnitz, commercial spots, a smattering of international and promotional spots, special effects featurettes with producer Paul Rabwin and short profiles of Skinner and Samantha (these first appeared on the international home video releases of "Biogenesis" and "Closure," respectively).
Commentaries that unravel the Truth
The primary extra of interest is the 20-minute documentary "The Truth About Season 7." While production nuances like the interview dates are missing, this documentary moves through the season sequentially, in the order episodes aired. It's also well edited, detailed and cogently produced from interview soundbites spanning the gamut of Duchovny and Anderson to producers Chris Carter, Spotnitz, John Shiban and Vince Gilligan, Rabwin and more.
Also noteworthy on disc six are the 13 special-effects featurettes, each with accompanying commentary by Rabwin. Culled from visual effects for 10 different episodes, these tightly edited clips show a progression through different stages in the visual effects process. For example, we see how Scully painted an invisible man in "Je Souhaite," and how she experienced her flashback sequence in the Buddhist temple in "all things." Each piece is clearly identified by episode number and title, making it conducive to play all of these 2.5-minute long bits at once.
Less well-produced are the 10 deleted scenes, which lack a similar such identifier at the top of each segment to identify what you're watching. Together, the deleted scenes run for about 19 minutes straight; you can opt to play them back to back or individually. The episodes represented include "The Sixth Extinction II: Amor Fati," "Orison," "Signs and Wonders," "Closure," "Theef," "En Ami" and "Requiem"; of those, only the scenes from "Amor Fati" and "En Ami" are particularly revealing in terms of showing us something that might have added value to the episode but was lost on the cutting-room floor; the former for its conversation between Scully and a nearly incapacitated Skinner, the latter for its nuanced performances by Anderson and Duchovny in scenes that put Mulder and Scully at odds and distrust over CSM. Executive producer Frank Spotnitz ably narrates these pieces, but surely there were more—and, at the least, more interesting—castoffs that could have provided fodder for the deleted scenes. A nice touch: Where appropriate, the deleted scenes are bookended by black-and-white segments that set up the scene—handy for adding context to what you're about to see.
While those two segments are interesting, the real highlight of this season set is its audio commentaries. Often, the commentary tracks are uninspired and uninformative; furthermore, they tend to sound very much like a play-by-play of what's onscreen. Not so with Anderson's commentary for her boldly styled and spiritualistic episode, "all things." Anderson addresses the evolution of this pivotal tale in the annals of Mulder and Scully's relationship—and, yes, for those inquiring minds that want to know, she does does discuss the episode's teaser, which gives the impression that Mulder and Scully spent the night together (and no, it wasn't her idea to take the episode in quite that direction). Anderson's narrative is articulate and informative—and is handily one of the more entertaining tracks I've heard in some time.
Less entertaining, but nonetheless interesting, are the commentary tracks for the video-game-gone-haywire piece "First-Person Shooter" (narrated by Spotnitz) and the genie-out-of-its-bottle tale "Je Souhaite" (narrated by Gilligan). And it's puzzling that there's no audio commentary to accompany any of the pivotal mythology episodes featured in this season—"The Sixth Extinction," "Closure," "Requiem."
The remaining extra content is mildly disappointing. There are assorted foreign-language clips from international broadcasts, 10- and 20-second promo spots, video profiles of Skinner and Samantha, ripped from the international home-video releases of "Biogenesis" and "Closure"; the usually unimpressive DVD-ROM game and a brief preview of the new PlayStation game.
