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New Podcast! The X-Cast X-Files Podwatch – Episode #80 (all things/Brand X)

Posted on December 12, 2017 by Darren

I’m thrilled to be a part of The X-Cast X-Files Podwatch, a daily snippet podcast rewatching the entirety of The X-Files between now and the launch of the new season. It is something of a spin-off of The X-Cast, a great X-Files podcast run by the charming Tony Black. Tony has assembled a fantastic array of guests and hosts to go through The X-Files episode-by-episodes. With the new season announced to be starting in early January, Tony’s doing two episodes of the podcast per day, so buckle up. We’re almost there at this point, approaching the end of the Duchovny era of the show.

For the eightieth episode of the podwatch, I’m joining Tanya Hernandez to discuss two unique episodes of the series. all things is famously the first (and so far only) episode of The X-Files to be written and directed by Gillian Anderson, while Brand X features a very different cigarette-smoking man.

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New Podcast! The X-Cast X-Files Podwatch – Episode #77 (Closure/X-Cops)

Posted on December 11, 2017 by Darren

I’m thrilled to be a part of The X-Cast X-Files Podwatch, a daily snippet podcast rewatching the entirety of The X-Files between now and the launch of the new season. It is something of a spin-off of The X-Cast, a great X-Files podcast run by the charming Tony Black. Tony has assembled a fantastic array of guests and hosts to go through The X-Files episode-by-episodes. With the new season announced to be starting in early January, Tony’s doing two episodes of the podcast per day, so buckle up. We’re almost there at this point, approaching the end of the Duchovny era of the show.

My second appearance of the troubled seventh season teams me up with the fantastic Baz Greenland once again, for the first time since way back in the first season. In terms of the end of the Duchovny era of The X-Files, this is a compelling two-fer. Closure effectively wraps up what has been Mulder’s character arc dating back to the earliest days of the show. X-Cops is just great, with Vince Gilligan finally being allowed to make that crossover with Cops that he had been pitching for years. Give it a listen. What-else-cha gonna do?

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New Podcast! The X-Cast X-Files Podwatch – Episode #75 (Orison/The Amazing Maleeni)

Posted on December 10, 2017 by Darren

I’m thrilled to be a part of The X-Cast X-Files Podwatch, a daily snippet podcast rewatching the entirety of The X-Files between now and the launch of the new season. It is something of a spin-off of The X-Cast, a great X-Files podcast run by the charming Tony Black. Tony has assembled a fantastic array of guests and hosts to go through The X-Files episode-by-episodes. With the new season announced to be starting in early January, Tony’s doing two episodes of the podcast per day, so buckle up. We’re almost there at this point, approaching the end of the Duchovny era of the show.

My first appearance of the somewhat uneven seventh season teams me up with the wonderful Clara Cook once again. We’re discussing two rather distinct episodes of the season, Orison and The Amazing Maleeni. Two very different episodes, both in terms of tone and in terms of quality. Enjoy!

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New Podcast! The X-Cast X-Files Podwatch – Episode #70 (The Unnatural/Three of a Kind)

Posted on December 9, 2017 by Darren

I’m thrilled to be a part of The X-Cast X-Files Podwatch, a daily snippet podcast rewatching the entirety of The X-Files between now and the launch of the new season. It is something of a spin-off of The X-Cast, a great X-Files podcast run by the charming Tony Black. Tony has assembled a fantastic array of guests and hosts to go through The X-Files episode-by-episodes. With the new season announced to be starting in early January, Tony’s doing two episodes of the podcast per day, so buckle up. We’re almost there at this point, approaching the end of the Duchovny era of the show.

My final appearance of the sixth season teams me up with writer Sarah L. Blair. I recorded a couple of episodes with Sarah, and I’m quite fond of this duology. We’re discussing two relatively late episodes of the season, The Unnatural and Three of a Kind. The Unnatural is the first episode to be written and directed by David Duchovny, who had collaborated on some earlier mythology stories with Chris Carter, and which marks out The X-Files as a delightfully unique television series with room for eccentric visions. Three of a Kind is the series’ second Lone-Gunmen-centric episode, paving the way for… well, The Lone Gunmen.

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New Podcast! The X-Cast X-Files Podwatch – Episode #61 (The Beginning/Drive)

Posted on December 8, 2017 by Darren

I’m thrilled to be a part of The X-Cast X-Files Podwatch, a daily snippet podcast rewatching the entirety of The X-Files between now and the launch of the new season. It is something of a spin-off of The X-Cast, a great X-Files podcast run by the charming Tony Black. Tony has assembled a fantastic array of guests and hosts to go through The X-Files episode-by-episodes. With the new season announced to be starting in early January, Tony’s doing two episodes of the podcast per day, so buckle up. We’re almost there at this point, just winding down from The X-Files: Fight the Future.

My first appearance (covering the first episodes) of the sixth season teams me up once again with Tony himself. We’re discussing the first two episodes of the season, The Beginning and Drive, two episodes very clearly flowing out of the feature film. Indeed, Drive is one of my favourite X-Files episodes of all time.

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No, “Twin Peaks: The Return” is Not a Movie

Posted on December 6, 2017 by Darren

It is December.

As tradition dictates, the major publications are rolling out their “best of” lists. One of the more interesting trends of the “best of” season in 2017 has been the repeated suggestion that David Lynch’s Twin Peaks: The Return should be considered an eighteen-hour movie. It made the Sight & Sound and Cahiers du Cinema polls, and even got a write-in vote at the Los Angeles Film Critics Awards. This is interesting on a number of levels, because it suggests that labelling The Return as a feature film is not a lone act of contrarianism, but something of a minor trend.

Of course, there are grey areas between film and television. There always have been, given the similarities in the technology and mechanism. Film can be shown on television, and television can be shown in cinemas. There are television movies and film series, and it is often possible for stories that start in one form to transform into the other. The boundaries are not as absolute as they are with theatre or prose, where the technical form is so fundamentally different that any comparison is ridiculous. After all, consider the debate over movies released on Netflix, or films edited for television.

The Return is not an ambiguous area, though. It is a fairly simple case. It is a television series. And there is nothing wrong with that.

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New Podcast! The X-Cast X-Files Podwatch – Episode #59 (Folie à Deux/The End)

Posted on December 2, 2017 by Darren

I’m thrilled to be a part of The X-Cast X-Files Podwatch, a daily snippet podcast rewatching the entirety of The X-Files between now and the launch of the new season. It is something of a spin-off of The X-Cast, a great X-Files podcast run by the charming Tony Black. Tony has assembled a fantastic array of guests and hosts to go through The X-Files episode-by-episodes. With the new season announced to be starting in early January, Tony’s doing two episodes of the podcast per day, so buckle up. It’s going to be fun.

My final appearance (covering the final episodes) of the fifth season teams me up once again with the inimitable Clara Cook. We’re discussing the last two episodes of the season, Folie à Deux and The End, two episodes very clearly set up to lead in The X-Files: Fight the Future.

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New Podcast! The X-Cast X-Files Podwatch – Episode #57 (Travelers/Mind’s Eye)

Posted on December 1, 2017 by Darren

I’m thrilled to be a part of The X-Cast X-Files Podwatch, a daily snippet podcast rewatching the entirety of The X-Files between now and the launch of the new season. It is something of a spin-off of The X-Cast, a great X-Files podcast run by the charming Tony Black. Tony has assembled a fantastic array of guests and hosts to go through The X-Files episode-by-episodes. With the new season announced to be starting in early January, Tony’s doing two episodes of the podcast per day, so buckle up. It’s going to be fun.

My third (and penultimate) episode of the fifth season reteams me with the great Chris Knowles, a man who has forgotten more about The X-Files than I will ever know. We’re talking about the episodes Travelers and Mind’s Eye, both somewhat underrated fifth season episodes that (we think) tap into some of the show’s core strengths.

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New Podcast! The X-Cast X-Files Podwatch – Episode #52 (The Post-Modern Prometheus/Christmas Carol)

Posted on November 30, 2017 by Darren

I’m thrilled to be a part of The X-Cast X-Files Podwatch, a daily snippet podcast rewatching the entirety of The X-Files between now and the launch of the new season. It is something of a spin-off of The X-Cast, a great X-Files podcast run by the charming Tony Black. Tony has assembled a fantastic array of guests and hosts to go through The X-Files episode-by-episodes. With the new season announced to be starting in early January, Tony’s doing two episodes of the podcast per day, so buckle up. It’s going to be fun.

And I’m reteaming with Tony Black for a sequel to the last episode, albeit with decidedly more mixed results. We’re covering the episodes The Post-Modern Prometheus and Christmas Carol, both interesting and significantly flawed episodes. I admire The Post-Modern Prometheus, but can’t quite love it, for reasons I’ve articulated on this blog. Similarly, Christmas Carol is an episode is interesting and odd, but suffers from being an episode setting up one of the worst hours in the entire run of the show.

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New Podcast! The X-Cast X-Files Podwatch – Episode #51 (Unusual Suspects/Detour)

Posted on November 29, 2017 by Darren

I’m thrilled to be a part of The X-Cast X-Files Podwatch, a daily snippet podcast rewatching the entirety of The X-Files between now and the launch of the new season. It is something of a spin-off of The X-Cast, a great X-Files podcast run by the charming Tony Black. Tony has assembled a fantastic array of guests and hosts to go through The X-Files episode-by-episodes. With the new season announced to be starting in early January, Tony’s doing two episodes of the podcast per day, so buckle up. It’s going to be fun.

My first appearance of the fifth season actually teams me with Tony Black for our first collaboration of the podwatch, and what great episodes. We’re covering the episodes Unusual Suspects and Detour, both of which are episodes that I deeply love. I think that Unusual Suspects is one of the series’ smarter and slier episodes, and Detour is just the platonic ideal of an X-Files episode. But enough of me writing about these episodes, let’s get to me talking about these episodes with Tony.

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