Vince Gilligan and Frank Spotnitz years later admitted that "Millennium" was little more than an excuse to have Frank Black share some screentime with Mulder and Scully. They knew the episode didn't work well as an X-File, and even less so as a finale for Millennium.

Vince Gilligan and Frank Spotnitz years later admitted that "Millennium" was little more than an excuse to have Frank Black share some screentime with Mulder and Scully. They knew the episode didn't work well as an X-File, and even less so as a finale for Millennium.

Per Manum was Carter and Spotnitz still toying with the shippers about whether or not Mulder was the father, or CSM, or aliens, or someone else. Like any other option, not named Fox Mulder, was ever going to be possible, riiight.

"Mulder leaves town for no good reason" was used for the 9th season! :D

The Gift is not a classic, but it is pretty decent, further proof that the eighth season wasn't that bad at all. Wish they could've told the same story without acknowledging the "Mulder was dying" retcon.

Fans were displeased not so much on how Mulder was used in this particular episode, but more that being that Mulder was limited to appearing in only 11 episodes that season, 2 of those episodes were flashbacks and 3 other episodes he barely spoke. Well, Mulder "appeared" in 12 episodes in season 8, but if I'm not…

I always assumed they were rescued the same way Mulder got rescued at the end of 'End Game' in season 2 (which no one seems to remember it went unexplained too).

Not to mention that it was impossibly bright to be Antartica during that time of the year. :P

I think the way Mulder behaves in this episode has an explanation. Gillian Anderson's favorite episode is Bad Blood, so the Mulder seen here is probably influenced by how Mulder looks from Scully's POV.

I agree with 99% of what you wrote here. Except that bit in the second movie with the Bush picture and the X-Files whistle. That "joke" would've failed miserably in the 90's too… or in the 80's, or in the 1800's.

Writing credit might have gone to William B. Davis, and he certainly came up with the basic premise, but he also has said that the final product was heavily re-written by Chris Carter.

Not a fan of Badlaa. Yes, it is unsettling, disturbing, gross, etc. but the plot is so stoopid. According to Shiban in the dvd extra features, his original idea was for the beggar to shrink, so he could climb inside people's ears… I believe that was done in Ren & Stimpy.

From what I've been able to read over the years "the fall of The X-Files", was due to a combination of poor-planning, greed, and inflated egos. Which, I guess, is true for anything and everything that was ever good and turned rotten.

I don't know, they got worse in later seasons. In early seasons, the episodes around them were so good, that no one cared if the voice-overs were ridiculous.

It's always bad news if you live in the X-Files universe, and feel like using the bathroom. Chances of dying in there, while at your most vulnerable, are astronomical.

Shhh! The colorblind thing happened in a MOTW episode. Which means, it's never to be remembered again. Like, say, what happened to Scully's tattoo in Roadrunners? :P

Yeah, no. Back when it aired, everyone seemed to hate, every reviewer, everyone at fansite message boards. Everyone. Mind you, back in 2001 everyone was complaining about how much the show had fallen from grace. Still, season 8 had has a solid string of standalones with Roadrunners, Invocation, Redrum, Via Negativa……

Don't forget Billy Miles in the season finale, there are moments taken straight from T2.

Man-Bat, (because really, wasn't it just a thinly-veiled homage Batman's bad guy?) could've been better without trying to explain where he came from. "Bats are close primates in the evolutionary scale", or whatever the old man says. Sheesh!

I started watching the X-Files during the 4th season. I had seen a couple of episodes before (Blood, The Host) but it wasn't until Tunguska that I got hooked with the show. Gethsemane aired in '97, which means I had no internet, and honestly, despite having an appointment with the tv every Wednesday night (not in the…