Review of X Files, The: Season 4 Boxset

Introduction

Those of you who read my review of the X-Files Season 3 boxset will recall that I went into the third season being an occasional viewer of the series, and came out of it hooked. Consequently, I was delighted when the fourth season arrived for me to review!

The fourth season again comes spread over seven discs - six of which each contain four episodes giving a total of twenty four, the seventh contains the extra features. Despite being an early test pressing, my review copy contained all seven discs, which meant an extra 8 episodes to get through compared to the incomplete third season.

Region 2 is still running one season behind Region 1, and this fourth episode carries the usual £89.99 suggested retail price, but it can be had for around £75 if you shop around - but although this represents a good percentage saving, £75 is still a great deal of money to shell out on a DVD, so I`m here to tell you if it`s worth it.

Before we start, I`ll briefly summarise the episodes includes:

Herrenvolk - Agents Mulder and Scully`s search for a man who seems to possess strange powers leads to the discovery of a dangerous secret from Mulder`s past. The secret could bring Mulder and Scully to the brink of exposing the truth about alien existence.

Home - Agents Mulder and Scully travel to a bucolic small town where they find evidence of an unspeakable crime.

Teliko - The mysterious deaths of several African-American men leads Agent Scully to suspect a bizarre and uncommon medical disorder while Mulder suspects something even stranger.

Unruhe - Agents Mulder and Scully investigate the bizarre abduction of a young woman. Their only clue is a terrifying and inexplicable photograph.

The Field Where I Died - Agent Mulder`s search for an informant inside a cult compound leads to a suspect to whom he may have an unexpectedly close personal connection.

Sanquinarium - Bizarre murders in a hospital`s plastic surgery unit lead Mulder and Scully to suspect a supernatural force may be responsible.

Musings of a C.S.M. - The agents uncover what may be the true identity of the Cigarette Smoking Man.

Tanguska - A smuggler carrying deadly cargo involves Agents Mulder and Scully in a dangerous web of intrigue (Part 1 of 2).

Terma - Agents Mulder and Scully continue their investigation into a smuggler carrying deadly cargo and must find their way out of a dangerous web of intrigue (Part 2 of 2).

Paper Hearts - A serial killer imprisoned by Agent Mulder exerts a strange influence over him.

El Mundo Gira - Deadly rain in a migrant workers camp sends Agent Mulder and Scully on the trail of a mythical beast.

Kaddish - A murder in a Jewish community leads to the deaths of the killers, forcing Mulder and Scully to determine whether vengeance or larger forces are at work.

Never Again - Reluctantly pursuing one of Mulder`s leads alone, Agent Scully finds her life in danger when she becomes involved with a man bearing a deadly tattoo.

Leonard Betts - The disappearance of a man`s body from the hospital morgue leads Mulder and Scully to investigate the strange circumstances surrounding the man`s death.

Memento Mori - Fear for Scully`s health sends Mulder and Scully to investigate the bizarre circumstances that may explain her mysterious abduction two years ago.

Unrequited - The mysterious assassin of a high-ranking military official has Mulder and Scully racing against the clock to stop a seemingly unstoppable assassin.

Tempest Fugit - When the victims of a plane crash include a well-known alien abductee, Agents Mulder and Scully begin to suspect a cause for the crash no one imagined (Part 1 of 2).

Max - The official explanation of an airline disaster leaves unanswered questions that force Agents Mulder and Scully to risk their lives searching for the real cause of the crash (Part 2 of 2).

Synchrony - Mulder and Scully investigate a murder for which the suspect claims innocence because the death was foretold by an old man able to see into the future.

Small Potatoes - A spate of bizarre pregnancies sends Mulder and Scully to a small town where they encounter a suspect who proves nearly impossible to identify.

Zero Sum - Agent Mulder launches a criminal investigation into a bizarre death in which the chief suspect appears to be his very own superior-Assistant Director Skinner.

Elegy - Mulder and Scully track a series of murders that lead to a home for the mentally ill and a clue that makes no sense: each victim had a purported warning from the dead.

Demons - Scully is concerned for Mulder`s well-being when he suffers from a memory loss while investigating a case - and is the only suspect in a brutal double murder.

Gethsemane - Agent Mulder discovers the ultimate proof of extraterrestrial life while Scully is forced to confront her own mortality (Part 1 of 3).

Video

Like the previous releases, the video is presented in full-frame and in general is of above average quality, with little sign of grain, no visible dirt and a detailed image. There is still some grain evident in places, but there is certainly less of it than was apparent in the Season release.

Being one of the most high-profile and popular series ever made, the X-Files has high production values and as a result looks very polished in nearly all respects, and is put together better than many movies. Consequently, in general the special effects look pretty good, and the crime scenes are very well constructed and films.

Compared to Season 3, the series now packs a harder punch, and some of the episodes are not for the squeamish, with the notorious Home episode and a vat of human remains in Leonard Betts being of particular note.

Audio

Again, like the previous releases, the discs carry a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack which contains a matrixed Dolby Pro-Logic track.

As ever, the lack of 5.1 channel sound mix places limits on the impact of the soundtrack, but it compares well to other television series, and you certainly don`t need reference quality sound to enjoy the episodes. The sound is mainly focussed on the front stereo pair and centre dialogue channel, and the speech is always clear and understandable.

Mark Snow`s excellent music is of course ever-present.

Features

Extras can be found on the episode discs as well as the seventh disc.

Disc 7 contains the documentary "The Truth About Season 4", which runs for just under 25 minutes and covers many aspects of the series, although obviously none of them in much detail - it is however interesting. There are also 13 special effects featurettes which run for a couple of minutes each - and if you watch them with the "play all" button, the titles at the start and end of each one won`t take long to annoy you! Also on offer are seven deleted scenes, some of which contain commentary from Chris Carter and TV spots.

The episode discs contain credits, some international clips, the deleted scenes from the seventh disc but with the option to integrate them into the episodes, a couple of audio commentaries, and an alternative soundtrack for Home.

The menus are all very easy to navigate and provide an unexciting but functional starting point for each disc.

Conclusion

Having been thoroughly engrossed by Season 3, I was pleased to get the opportunity to review Season 4 - especially as it would allow me to see the conclusion of the last episode of Season 3!

I must admit that I enjoyed it even more than the previous series, primarily because the episodes are even more hard-hitting and cover a number of interesting topics. My record was sitting through six episodes one after another, and I would have continued to watch more had I not had to go to work later that morning!

It is difficult for me to pick a favourite episode from this series, as I enjoyed so many of them, but the impact of Home and the insight of Musings of a C.S.M. certainly stand out.

The consistent quality of the episodes sets the X-Files apart from other series, and having now sat through Season 3 and 4, I can honesty say that there are only two that I didn`t think much of. This time it was The Field Where I Died, which really misses the target, but on the other hand it is better than my least favourite episode from Season 3, Jose Chung`s `From Outer Space.
If you`re a fan of the series, you`ll be pleased to hear that the video is a slight improvement on the previous releases, and that the soundtrack is perfectly adequate. The extras are interesting, but don`t provide a great deal of depth.

Overall, this boxset has excellent content, and good presentation and I recommend it, despite the £90 retail price.