7.6 | / 10 |
Users | 4.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Two FBI agents, Fox Mulder the believer and Dana Scully the skeptic, investigate the strange and unexplained while hidden forces work to impede their efforts.
Starring: David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Mitch Pileggi, William B. DavisSci-Fi | 100% |
Horror | 97% |
Supernatural | 71% |
Mystery | 53% |
Psychological thriller | 38% |
Thriller | 11% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.78:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1 (448 kbps)
French: DTS 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
Spanish: DTS 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
German: DTS 5.1
Italian: DTS 5.1
Portuguese: Dolby Digital 5.1
BDInfo
English SDH, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish
Blu-ray Disc
Three-disc set (3 BDs)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Considering the fact that the opening episode of the eleventh season of The X-Files begins with a montage of sorts showing all sorts of
people in power, including everyone from one Adolf Hitler to the current occupant of the White House, with a suggestion that the so-called
Cigarette Smoking Man (William B. Davis)
put them all there, it may not be a stretch to wonder what will become of one of the series’ most (in?)famous tag lines — namely, “The Truth is
Out
There” — in an era when a spokesperson for the President has recently (in?)famously opined that “truth isn’t truth”. And in fact in a way a lot of
the wending
tale The X-Files has told over the past several decades is an object lesson in “truth isn’t truth”, since the show’s writers have employed a
certain amount of pretzel logic, obfuscation and outright misdirection in order to keep viewers hooked on a story that involves everything from
alien DNA to killer bees, not to mention a bevy of “monster of the week” episodes that didn’t explicitly tie into the series’ often labyrinthine
mythology. “Truth isn’t truth” may be a subliminal aspect of the show’s “new, improved” tagline in the opening credits sequence, where “I want to
believe” is suddenly replaced with a neat little “reveal” of a three letter word housed in the middle of “believe” (I’ll let you figure that one out). As
I mentioned in the The X-Files: The
Collector's Set Blu-ray review, my
wife and I were still dating when we first watched The X-Files on a hotel television at the iconic Harrison Hot Springs resort in British
Columbia. That particular episode was “Gender Bender”, and it was an odd enough introduction to the show that we were instantly hooked. We
later kind of stumbled on a group of couples in our (then) general age range who actually gathered to watch The X-Files together on a
weekly basis so that
things could be rehashed afterward, in an introductory season that had its fair share of surprises and, not so coincidentally, hints about how all
powerful Cigarette Smoking Man actually was. Perhaps as with other longtime fans, we personally became a little less enchanted with the show as
the years wore on, and attempts to weave together completely disparate elements increasingly weighed down already tired seeming storylines,
even if individual episodes could be quite thrilling at times. The eleventh season of The X-Files is both completely silly and rather
audacious in about equal measure, and reactions may be based as much upon patience and tolerance for more ridiculous aspects than on actual
overarching themes, which once again are kinda sorta given explanations while at the same time remaining completely unclear.
For anyone who has inexplicably not been exposed to the adventures of Scully and Mulder, the above linked review for the Collector's Set will
provide a bit of background, and further information (such as it ever is with this sometimes mind boggling show) may possibly be gleaned from the
following subsequent review:
The X-Files: The Event Series Blu-ray
review
The X-Files: The Complete Season 11 is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This is another sharp and generally well detailed set of episodes from the venerable series, though as can perhaps be told by the screenshots accompanying this review, there is quite a bit of pretty dimly lit material this year, along with a certain gauzy look when the two stars are in focus, perhaps to ameliorate any signs of aging. The palette tends to emphasize blues a lot of the time, and there's a kind of gray desaturated look frequently as well. Detail levels still make it through lighting and grading gauntlets very well overall, and fine detail in close-ups is typically excellent. As with previous seasons, some of the CGI is a little hokey looking at times (seemingly intentionally so, as one supplement details).
Somewhat similarly to The X-Files: The Event Series, the eleventh season's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track tends to offer surround activity in fits and starts, with passing (if exciting) moments like the arrival of a UFO offering sweeping panning noises and fairly aggressive LFE, but lots of other scenes only providing occasional ambient environmental sounds dotting the side and rear channels. Dialogue (and the above average use of voiceover) is always clear and problem free.
Disc One
There's a bittersweet feeling as the series ends this season (and, perhaps, its run), one that is anchored wisely in the relationship between Scully and Mulder. There are a lot of bullets as the show comes to a close (as William B. Davis jokes in a supplement), but perhaps surprisingly none of the carnage really provides the same impact as some simple words between the two focal characters. This eleventh season continues to build on an already teetering mythology to questionable effect, but some of the standalone episodes are quite enjoyable on their own merits. Technical aspects are solid, and at least for diehard fans, The X-Files: The Complete Season 11 comes Recommended.
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