Tom Banjo

ultimaton

OldBoy

I'm sorry, but these trailers look horrible. Like jokey and stuff. I'm recording but with the awful reviews not looking forward to it...

hdtv00

I guess you didn't read the reviews of the next two episodes. Because the same reviewers that said this first one sucked. Said the one of the next two is the best episode of the entire series, and both were great episodes.

dhmac

Given that this first episode was written by Chris Carter, I'm not surprised by the bad reviews. Even though he created the show, back during its original run he was always somewhat notorious among fans as being one of the worst writers on the show.

DJariya

Game is running long. Pad your DVR around 30 minutes

Michael Corvin

Thanks for the heads up.

Trevor

Probably the first time in my life that I'm pissed off by an NFL game dragging.

Daytripper

Same. And it's not even the game. It's the fucking post show! Let's wrap this shit up. There is absolutely no reason or excuse that this should have gone beyond 10 minutes.

Trevor

I'll find an excuse to end up liking it I'm sure, but first section here isn't promising. It's trying too hard.

bdshort

I hope the one mention of 9/11 being a conspiracy is all we hear about that, or Scully and Mulder put that guy in his place on that. Those people really get on my nerves, fictional show or not...

Trevor

Ugh.

astrochimp

I was giddy watching this so it's hard to review it.

I enjoyed this one, but I'm not sure I like where it's going.

When i revisit the show I always go to the monster of the week episodes.

Mike86

I liked it overall. I'm curious about the direction it's going and I sort of wish we were getting more episodes as I feel like six are going to breeze by. Definitely in for the remaining episodes.

stvn1974

I enjoyed it. Compared to the crap that is on TV now I really enjoyed it. I figured going in that there would have to be quite a bit of exposition in the first episode so that didn't bother me. Seeing Mulder, Scully and Skinner made me feel really old.

Maz Kanata

"Sveta is the key to everything!"

Excuse me, but what the fuck exactly happened to Gibson Praise?? Mulder flat-out called him the "key to everything." The last time we saw him he was being hunted by Supersoldiers, who both Mulder and Scully knew had infiltrated the FBI itself, and was in the care of Agent Reyes. Why no mention of him?

WTF happened to Kersh??

Why was Mulder so quick to believe this O'Malley guy? Just denying and brushing aside all he had seen over the course of nine goddamn years just like that? Seriously?

I think Gillian Anderson needed to rewatch some old episodes beforehand to refamiliarize herself with the role because the character she was playing in tonight's episode was not Dana Scully.

This Premiere looked and felt like it was written and directed by someone none too familiar with the show. The best part was the classic intro kept intact and it just went downhill from there.

Mike86

Yeah I agree. I didn't expect the first episode to just be back in the normal swing of things and it had to set things up again for potential new viewers and just to get the show going again after such a lengthy absence. I feel like it's going to start getting good and be over which is why I sort of wish that we were getting more than six episodes. Hopefully if this event series does well we'll get more in the future.

Neil M.

I thought it was better than the reviews made it out to be.

writer106

I thought it was ok. For some reason, the Mulder narration at the beginning sounded annoying.

rbrown498

I thought that this first hour was well above-average, considering that it had to catch new viewers up to speed AND satisfy longtime fans.

As for Maz's comments above:

1. At the time, Mulder felt that Gibson Praise was the key to everything, but now, with the new understanding he has of what was actually going on when the X Files were open, he sees that Sveta is the key to understanding the REAL truth.

2. Dunno 'bout Kersh.

3. I didn't feel that Mulder was so quick to believe O'Malley. The timeline of the events of the episode happened over the course of several days, so Mulder had a chance to chew over everything that he had been told and had seen, especially what he saw in the hangar. (I'm trying to keep this as spoiler-free as possible.)

4. I thought that Anderson played Scully perfectly--it's been thirteen years since the FBI closed the X Files, and she's moved on. She's NOT the same Dana Scully that we last saw, even as I'm not the same guy that I was thirteen years ago. She's also been out of Mulder's orbit for that length of time, and it's clear (at least, until the end of the episode) that she's conflicted as to whether she wants to have anything to do with aliens again.

I was pleasantly surprised by the episode. From everything that I'd read, I expected a train wreck of epic proportions, and, luckily, that's most decidedly NOT what I got. I think that the bad press that it's gotten has mostly to do with what reviewers wanted the episode to be rather than looking at it objectively and taking it for what it is.

Daytripper

Agree with this. I expected the worst based on the few bad reviews circulating and not so great buzz. But I actually really enjoyed it. I also felt this was introduction for new fans. And one to reacquaint the show to older fans. Before really jumping into the mix. Like astrochimp, I was absolutely giddy watching it. I not only want more episodes down the road, but hoping for another big screen movie or two. The chemistry between Duchovny and Anderson is undeniable.

Maz Kanata

Objectively it was poorly written, plotted and paced. This is the worst performance Anderson has ever given as Scully. Ever. The back and forth on the porch towards the end was positively dreadful in terms of acting and dialogue. How can Gibson Praise's role in all this be in any way lessened? The little fucker read minds. He had alien DNA. They proved it. Just like this new thankless chick who was just there to look cute then die. That pissed me off. Mulder says something like "We haven't attained concrete proof of aliens". It's like the past nine seasons never happened. That spacecraft still in Africa? Praise? THE SUPERSOLDIERS THAT MULDER AND SCULLY KNEW WERE WORKING IN THE FBI?

gerrythedon

liked the episode, the bad reviews must of been on how bad GILLIAN ANDERSON looks. WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED!?, she looked like a fucking alien.

stingermck

While I enjoyed it, it felt like it was cliff notes X-Files. Written with cliches that non-viewers would know about the show. Felt like a lot of the previous series didnt happen or was forgotten.

And I'm sorry but Scully should just STFU and trust anything Mulder says at this point.

PhantomStranger

This episode was...something, I guess.

I have no idea how that scene made it that way to air. Terrible writing, direction and acting from everyone involved in that particular scene, especially when it was a critical scene between Mulder and Scully. It automatically vaults to the worst scene from the X-Files in over nine seasons and two movies.

I'll preface my comments by mentioning that the X-Files is one of my two or three favorite television shows of all time. I have a hunch the concept for this episode was likely hammered out as another movie sequel before getting shifted to a telescript.

Carter was never much of a director and his writing skills showed a lot of rust. The massive info dumps by Mulder and Jeff Winger about the conspiracies were just weird in how they came off. I would guess Carter wanted to shut fans up that had complained we had gotten no real answers about the aliens.

This script had one vaguely clever idea worth mentioning- it's not aliens messing with humans, but a cabal of powerful humans that had co-opted alien tech to subjugate the world. It was about the only way for Carter to get the show out of the corner he had painted it into with his alien conspiracy.

The pilot wasn't terrible viewing but parts of it felt very strange. The dialogue was simply cringe worthy in parts. Duchovny was fairly low key as Mulder but I think we were supposed to infer that the constant war he waged seeking the truth had burned him out. Anderson showed flashes of the old Dana Scully but the script didn't help, she was bizarro Scully in several scenes. I haven't really seen anything like Scully come out from Anderson in the roles she's had over the past decade.

I thought casting Jeff Winger as an important guest star was a poor choice, McHale wasn't particularly good as the paranoid conspiracy version of Glenn Beck/Bill O'Reilly. He was distracting throughout most of the episode and hopefully his character disappears permanently.

The Skinner cameo felt like needless fan service.