X-Files: Season 3

Details

Fox "Spooky" Mulder works for a division of the FBI dealing with paranormal and unexplained cases. A firm believer in the existence of extraterrestrials, his obsession stems from the childhood disappearance of his younger sister Samantha, whom he believes was abducted by aliens. It's an event that continues to haunt him and relentlessly drives his search for proof.

Dana Scully is a serious-minded and sceptical medical scientist who was originally assigned to work alongside Mulder in order to debunk his investigations and report her findings to a higher authority. Although she continues to demand scientific evidence before accepting Mulder's more extraordinary theories, her own experiences have made maintaining that scepticism increasingly difficult.

Following her mysterious disappearance during the previous season, Scully has discovered a tiny computer chip embedded in the back of her neck. Exactly who placed it there, why it was implanted and what happened to her whilst she was missing remain unanswered questions, adding another deeply personal element to Mulder and Scully's investigation of the conspiracy.

Meanwhile, Mulder's search for the truth surrounding government knowledge of extraterrestrial life continues to lead him into increasingly dangerous territory. Evidence points towards attempts to create an alien-human hybrid, whilst the mysterious Cigarette Smoking Man remains determined to ensure that certain secrets remain buried.

Season Three also introduces another important element to the developing mythology when Mulder and Scully encounter a mysterious black oil capable of taking control of its human host. Its true nature is initially unclear, but the discovery suggests that whatever plans are being concealed may extend considerably further than either agent previously suspected.

Alongside the developing conspiracy, the X-Files continue to provide Mulder and Scully with an assortment of strange standalone investigations involving psychics, serial killers, cockroaches, religious phenomena, mind control and creatures that really shouldn't be lurking beneath the surface of apparently peaceful lakes.

Picture & Sound

The picture quality is much improved over the previous two box sets and continues to comfortably exceed the quality of the VHS releases. As is the norm with The X-Files, there are plenty of challenging dark and gloomy scenes, but fortunately they're handled with ease and there are no major signs of artifacting, outlining or excessive edge enhancement.

The increased production budget is also becoming increasingly apparent. The series retains the deliberately gloomy Vancouver photography that has become such an important part of its atmosphere, but sets, locations and effects are becoming more ambitious and the DVD transfer generally does a good job of reproducing them.

Black levels are convincing and there's a respectable amount of shadow detail during the darker sequences. Colours remain deliberately restrained for much of the programme, although brighter exterior scenes demonstrate that the transfer is perfectly capable of producing a richer palette when required.

Considering the amount of material squeezed onto each disc, compression is also handled remarkably well. There are inevitably occasional imperfections, but nothing significant enough to distract from the episodes themselves. Based on the picture quality of the previous box sets, I was impressed.

Unfortunately, whilst the picture quality has continued to improve, the sound remains rather average with a functional rather than exciting stereo soundtrack. Dialogue is certainly clear enough and you can easily hear the many shouts of "Scully!" and "Mulder!" without having to reach for the volume control.

What the soundtrack lacks is a convincing sense of atmosphere. The programme relies heavily on suspense and there's plenty of potential for subtle ambient effects, strange noises and things moving around behind you. Feeding the stereo track through a suitable surround decoder helps, but it's still rather disappointing that Fox couldn't provide something a little more adventurous.

It's a particular shame given that you're paying nearly £70 for the privilege of owning the set. The picture is now beginning to demonstrate what DVD can offer over VHS, but the soundtrack remains firmly rooted in its television origins.

Menu & Extras

The seven discs are once again presented in a pleasant fold-out box set. It certainly looks impressive on the shelf, although I still suspect that those paper case spines could become damaged over time with repeated use. Given how often fans are likely to revisit their favourite episodes, a slightly more robust design wouldn't have gone amiss.

The accompanying twenty-four-page booklet is genuinely useful, providing episode and chapter listings that make navigating such a large collection considerably easier. The subsequent episode listings for the other seasons remain rather less useful, although they do provide a handy reminder of just how much money Fox are hoping to extract from us before the collection is complete.

The only thing that really spoils the appearance of the box set are the BBFC certificate notices and barcode plastered across the rear. They're obviously required, but after the effort that's gone into making the packaging look attractive it's a shame they couldn't have been incorporated a little more elegantly.

Extras-wise, things are certainly improving. The Truth About Season Three provides the usual retrospective look at the making of the series, whilst Chris Carter once again talks about twelve of his favourite episodes from the season. So what was wrong with the other twelve then?

The seven Special Effects Clips, accompanied by commentary from visual effects supervisor Mat Beck, are particularly welcome and provide an interesting glimpse at how some of the programme's increasingly ambitious effects were created.

There's also a collection of six Deleted Scenes, with optional commentary from Chris Carter, along with the usual assortment of behind-the-scenes material. None of it is essential, but there's enough here to give established fans a little more insight into the production.

Better still are the two full episode commentaries. Director Rob Bowman and writer Darin Morgan provide a commentary for Jose Chung's "From Outer Space", whilst director Kim Manners and Chris Carter tackle Apocrypha. It's good to finally see proper episode commentaries becoming part of these sets rather than relying almost entirely on short featurettes and promotional material.

Unfortunately, the usual filler hasn't disappeared completely. The seventeen Behind-the-Truth spots are joined by no fewer than forty-six promotional television spots. Interesting in small doses perhaps, but unless you've got an unusual enthusiasm for American television advertising I certainly wouldn't recommend watching the lot in one sitting.

Still, compared with the previous two box sets there's a definite sense that Fox are gradually learning what DVD owners expect from supplementary material. There's room for improvement, but at least we're heading in the right direction.

Overall

With the appeal of The X-Files now reaching nearly every corner of the globe, and money presumably pouring into Fox's coffers from all directions, it's only fair that some of it should be pumped back into the programme. That's certainly apparent during Season Three, with improved special effects, more ambitious locations and a general increase in production values. They've even managed to dispense with quite so many dark warehouses illuminated solely by an FBI-issued torch.

Until seeing this season again I'd actually forgotten just how good it was. I'd previously regarded Season Two as the strongest of the series, but having worked my way through these discs I've changed my mind yet again. Season Three contains some of the best, award-winning and downright bizarre episodes The X-Files has produced.

In fact, Disc One is probably one of the best evenings' viewing an X-Files fan could ask for. The Blessing Way and Paper Clip provide an excellent conclusion to the cliffhanger from the previous season, D.P.O. gives us a rather electrifying Giovanni Ribisi and then along comes Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose, one of the finest standalone episodes in the entire series.

Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose is a wonderful example of the programme getting virtually everything right. Peter Boyle is superb as the reluctant psychic who has the unfortunate ability to foresee how people are going to die, whilst the episode manages to be funny, sad, creepy and surprisingly touching without any of those elements overwhelming the others.

Then there's the extremely funny War of the Coprophages, where Mulder finds himself investigating an apparent invasion of killer cockroaches whilst Scully spends much of the episode offering increasingly rational explanations over the telephone. Better still, we get to see Scully's jealous side when Mulder meets the unfortunately named Dr. Bambi Berenbaum.

Perhaps I should therefore slightly qualify my previous complaints about the comedy episodes in later seasons. There's nothing wrong with The X-Files being funny when the humour grows naturally out of Mulder and Scully's characters. It's when the programme starts trying too hard to be clever or amusing that I begin to lose interest. Here, it still works.

Jose Chung's "From Outer Space" takes things even further and is probably one of the strangest episodes produced so far. Told through a collection of conflicting accounts, unreliable witnesses and increasingly ridiculous versions of supposedly the same events, it's completely unlike a conventional episode of The X-Files. Somehow it works brilliantly.

The darker material is equally strong. Pusher provides a genuinely threatening opponent capable of apparently forcing people to do whatever he wants, whilst Grotesque takes Mulder into some particularly unpleasant psychological territory. Even Quagmire, with Mulder and Scully hunting what may or may not be a lake monster, finds time for some excellent character moments between the two agents.

The conspiracy also continues to develop without completely overwhelming the standalone stories. Piper Maru and Apocrypha introduce us to the mysterious black oil, an extremely important development that looks certain to play a major role in future episodes and subsequent seasons.

More importantly, the mythology still feels as though it's actually going somewhere. There's enough information to keep you interested and enough unanswered questions to make you want to continue watching, but it hasn't yet become the sprawling, increasingly confusing conspiracy that I felt eventually began to weigh the programme down.

Not every episode is a winner, of course. With twenty-four episodes there's inevitably some filler and the odd story that doesn't quite work, but the hit rate is remarkably high. Even the weaker episodes tend to contain enough interesting ideas or good Mulder and Scully moments to make them worthwhile.

And that's perhaps the biggest strength of Season Three. By this point David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson know their characters inside out and the relationship between Mulder and Scully has developed into something that can carry an episode even when the monster, alien or conspiracy surrounding them isn't particularly interesting.

The DVD package itself is also continuing to improve. Picture quality is the best of the three sets so far and, although the soundtrack remains disappointing, the supplementary material is finally beginning to offer something more substantial than an endless collection of American television trailers.

At nearly £70 it's certainly not cheap, particularly if you're intending to collect every season, but there's an enormous amount of entertainment here. More than seventeen hours of The X-Files, several of the best episodes the programme has produced and an improving collection of extras make this extremely difficult for a fan to resist.

Season One may have started the obsession and Season Two may have taken everything up a notch, but Season Three is where The X-Files really seems to hit its stride. Until I watch Season Four again and inevitably change my mind, this is probably my favourite season yet.

Special features

• The Truth About Season Three Documentary
• Chris Carter Talks About 12 of His Favourite Episodes from Season Three
• Seven Special Effects Clips with Commentary by Mat Beck
• Six Deleted Scenes with Optional Commentary by Chris Carter
• Episode Commentary for "Jose Chung's 'From Outer Space'" by Director Rob Bowman and Writer Darin Morgan
• Episode Commentary for "Apocrypha" by Director Kim Manners and Writer Chris Carter
• Seventeen "Behind-the-Truth" Spots from F/X
• Forty-Six Promotional Television Spots
• Twenty-Four-Page X-Files Booklet