the x-files 3 : the complete third season
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/ 1994 and 1995 / 999 Minutes / Not Rated
Street Date: May 8, 2001   As I wrote in my reviews of the first and second season collections of The X-Files, has it really been nearly eight-odd years since the series first debuted on television!? With the all controversy swirling around the show as of late - David Duchovny's virtual cameo role this year (the series eighth), the constant rumors of "Will this or won't this be the last season?" - it is a wonder the series is still around at all. But back in Season 3, the show was really hitting its stride, and its devoted cult of fans was only growing larger week after week. Season 3 finds both David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson really nailing down their characters, and the witty, often edgy banter between the two starting to finally gel. Season 3 certainly produced some classic, scary episodes including "Pusher," "Paperclip," "Oubliette" and the Emmy-winning "Clyde Bruckman's Last Repose." Fox also upped the budget for the series, which is readily obvious in the increased production values. The effects are bigger and better, some topflight actors contribute notable guest spots, and the writing, direction, scoring and overall look of the show improved as well. It was also around Season 3 that the series'"mythology" became even more convoluted and integral to the show's progression, and the much-loved "mythology episode this week, stand-alone scary episode next week" format fell firmly into place. Since, personally, I think the show has started to run out of steam lately, it is great to go back and watch these episodes, as it is a perfect example of a great show entering its prime.
While the show may not be for everyone, and though some of these episodes have their share of clunky moments, the chance for fans to watch the birth of the series in chronological order and full digital splendor is certainly an event for DVD. Fox has now released the latest elaborate box set for Season 3, with plans to release the remaining seasons as long as sales continue strongly. The episodes included in the Season 3 collection comprise the entire 1995-1996 season: "Paper Clip," "D.P.O.," "Cyde Bruckman's Final Repose," "The List," "2 Shy," "The Walk," "Oubliette," "Nisei," "731," "Revelations," "War Of The Coprophages," "Syzygy," "Grotesque," "Piper Maru," "Apocrypha," "Pusher," "Teso Dos Bichos," "Hell Money," "Jose Chung's From Outer Space," "Avatar," "Quagmire," "Webwired" and "Taltha Cumi."
Like all the early seasons of "The X-Files," season three was shot in the standard NTSC 4:3 aspect ratio. Each dual-layer disc features 4 episodes apiece, plus some extras, while the 7th disc is all supplements. Having viewed the past two season box sets as well, I can honestly say I found Season 3 to be the best yet. Season 2 was a bit disappointing, with inconsistent fleshtones, and the first season's low production values often marred the production. But not here. I scanned through every disc and watched at least one full episode on each disc, and all looked great. The X-Files is a dark show (how's that for an understatement) but the sense of depth and detail to the image is quite impressive. Black level is dead one, colors are quite well-saturated and stable, and fleshtones accurate this time around. While the show still has a slightly soft look, contrast and sharpness are very good. Each episode also benefits from very clean elements, with nary a scratch or blemish to be found, nor compression artifacts. Very nice, and this is one of the finest-looking television presentations I've yet seen on DVD.
Like the first and second seasons of "The X-Files," Season 3 is also presented in 2.0 Dolby surround only, and seems to be on par in terms of quality. Surrounds are quite active for a television show, but the lack of discreet rears delivers a somewhat flat, limited sense of envelopment. The front channels have a better sense of separation, though the imaging from front to back is a bit obvious. Most well-rendered are Mark Snow's eerie scores, which really benefit from the nice dynamic range and surprisingly strong low end for a 2.0 mix. The mix is also very well balanced between the music, effects and dialogue, from the quietest whispers to the loudest thump, thump, thump in the night. As X-Files is one of the most well-produced shows on television, this is certainly an above-average mix, though it can't quite compete with today's big-budget theatrical extravaganzas. French 2.0 surround tracks are also provided for each episode, along with English Captions and Spanish Subtitles. (And rather strangely, there are also brief "International Clips" for the episodes "Paper Clip," "The Walk," "War of the Coprophages," "Piper Maru," "Pusher" and "Talitha Cumi" available in German, Spanish and Japanese. These only run a minute or two, not the entire episode, so of what use they'll be to most I have no idea. You can access these clips on each episode's respective disc.)
In addition to the 6 episodes discs, there is also a 7th disc of supplemental material. My overall impression after viewing these is that most of these supplements will have been seen before by X-Files devotees, so aside from a few new goodies, newcomers will probably find this the most interesting. There is also a bit more here than on the other X-Files collections released thus far... The main materials that comprise the 7th disc are various series of short video segments, interviews and TV spots. First up is the only new video supplement produced for the set, The Truth About Season Three. It is a short featurette (12 minutes) that features interviews with Creator Chris Carter as well as Producers Daniel Sackheim, Paul Rabwin and Howard Gordon, Director Rob Bowman, Special Effects Supervisor Matt Beck, Composer Mark Snow and several cast members, including Mitch Pileggi, Darren Morgan and "Lone Gunmen" Dean Haglund, though no Duchovny or Anderson. As usual there is a bit on the progression of the show, the deepening of the mythology, and rather pithy comments from the cast on the development of their roles. Since this is only the first part of a longer documentary that has been spread across all the season collection sets, watch for The Truth About Season Four in a few months... In a first for any of the X-Files collections, we get not one but two screen-specific audio commentaries. The first is with Chris Carter and director Kim Manners on "Apocrypha," and the second with director Rob Bowman and writer Darren Morgan on "Jose Chung's From Outer Space." The one for "Apocrypha" is particularly interesting, as it was Manner's first "mythology" episode and both he and Carter give some background on how they meticulous planned and plotted to reveal only so much of the series' backstory. The Bowman and Morgan commentary is more focused on the nuts and bolts of the production, and getting a that theatrical film look on a TV budget. Both tracks occasionally lapse into silence and can be a bit dry, but I hope Fox continues this trend on future X-Files collections.
There are also two sets of extensive TV spots and material, Behind The Truth and TV Spot Promos. The former appeared on the FX network, and were short little "infomercials" for the show that aired between commercial breaks. Each one provides more brief insight into a specific X-File topic (such as a character, effect, or comments from a particular show's writer.) The TV Spot Promos are just that, both 10 second and 20 second adverts for each show, totaling 50 in all. Like all the other video footage, these are pretty quick, but are there for the completists. In addition to the above, similar to the other sets there are a selection of 8 deleted scenes. There is commentary for each scene, and for once some of these would have added to their respective episode had they not been cut, as even Carter himself acknowledges. There is one deleted scene each for "The Blessing Way" and "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose," and two each for "The List," "Revelations" and "Avatar." (Note that you can also access these deleted scenes during their respective episode. After selecting the option to watch the deleted scene, you have to wait for the "X" to appear on the screen at the right moment and click it, which will then insert the scene while you are watching the episode. However, I just found it easier just to access these deleted scenes from the supplemental disc.) Effects guru Mat Beck also contributes commentary to a behind-the-effects montage that culls a series of effects outtakes (such as the "decomposing Peter Boyle" trick from Paperclip) and gives a nice, if again brief, look at how some of the show's trickey is done.
Thankfully, Fox has carried over the nifty packaging from the previous seasons. A nice, well-designed booklet with many photos (though little in the way of in-depth text) and a very neat foldout package makes this a very attractive package. However, the paper sleeve to house the foldout box is rather fragile and should be treated with care, This is a very nice-looking box, and should last...if you treat it right. Parting Thoughts Better than the previous two season collections, this is an elegantly designed package that is highly collectible. The video is even better this time, with the audio and supplements on par with the others. At $149.95 this is probably not of interest to the casual fan, but X-Files devotees should eat it up. If you bought the first two, I'm afraid you're gonna have to buy this one, too... |
Despite however poorly-received some of the changes in the show might have been, it is to the series great credit that it has rarely wavered (well, except lately) from the core dynamic of "Mulder the believer" and "Scully the skeptic" which has made the X-Files so successful. While the plots of some episodes certainly work better than others, regardless of how ludicrous a story may become, the chemistry between leads Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny makes it work. The pair are always fun to watch, especially in later seasons, though in my opinion Duchovny's "I'm really above this" attitude has hampered the show, and quite a few of the performers also seem to have begun to sleepwalk their way through. But in Season 3, Anderson and especially Duchovny still retain a freshness and a spark too often missing from later seasons.
Video: How Does The Disc Look?
Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?
The Supplements: What Goodies Are There?
Also included are the 12 Interviews With Chris Carter that appeared on the videotape releases. Each interview features Carter talking about two episodes, and each runs roughly 3 to 4 minutes, for another 40 minutes or so of total footage. Alas, due to their short length, these brief bits are only mildly interesting. Carter is undoubtedly the driving force behind the show, but I just would have craved more depth and detail, though he does offer some interesting bits of information for newbies. 
Finally, there is the DVD-ROM portion of the disc, which appears to be the same as the previous box set. An extension of the official X-Files web site, this is an interactive and attractive presentation that connects of more episode information and excerpts from Jane Goldman's "Book Of The Unexplained," as well as links to the official web site. I suspect most fans will probably have read all this already, though the graphics are very nice and this is a well-laid out portal. Also new to Season 3 is a new interactive ROM game Unholy Aliances that buffs should have fun trying to solve.
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