My X-Files Reviews & Commentary

Season by Season TXF Commentary

Opinions drive all sorts of interesting TXF discussions, so when I thought about what I might include on my old website besides fanfic, it just seemed natural to add my humble little episode reviews to the pile. I decided fairly early, however, that I'm not one of those who has the time or inclination to do comprehensive reviews or recaps that go on for pages. What I ultimately put together was more in the style of "opinion" rather than complete reviews.

And I think this goes without saying, but I will say it anyway: spoilers abound if you read any of these posts about any episode. And I mean, about any episode. Since we are talking about a series that went off the air over a decade ago, comments that I make while re-watching a season one episode may trigger comments about something seen in season seven. Don't say you haven't been warned.

The 20th Anniversary Re-Watch

Each episode review will be uploaded as an individual blog post. Titles that have [REVISITED] attached to them will contain new commentary (in this colour) and an updated rating (where applicable) based on a recent viewing. I will be doing these in order, with at least one post per day.

A Note About Sequencing

I originally started writing these reviews at the end of season six. You will notice (when we get to that point) that several writeups from that year were very brief. (I wasn't quite sure how extensive I wanted them to be at that time.) From there, I progressed to a once-a-week update schedule as season seven rolled out. During the same time period, I also began to work backwards on reviews from season five.

When I learned that season eight would only include DD's involvement on a part-time basis, I decided only to watch/review the episodes in which he appeared. This period also marked a serious downturn in my feelings for the show, as evidenced by the heightened emotion shown in each episode's extended commentary.

Since my website was meant to be a refuge for those who believe that TXF largely ceased to exist after "I'm pregnant", I have no reviews for anything beyond that half of season eight. Instead, I continued my walk down memory lane and slowly completed season four. I almost hit the wall in terms of lost interest by the time season three appeared on my plate, but knowing that it would be a huge accomplishment to complete the entire set (and knowing that I had regular visitors who were actually reading these things back then), I persisted. With a significant push in the spring of 2003, I finally got the job done.

The Ratings and What They Mean

The ratings used for each episode are as follows:

* POOR: Falls below expectations of normal TXF standards
** AVERAGE: Not deemed memorable, but meets baseline expectations
*** GOOD: Not the best of the best, but definitely right up there as being memorable
**** EXCELLENT: The epitome of what The X-Files stands for in terms of quality and story-telling

I compare each ep against other "like" eps, meaning that while season seven's Closure and X-Cops ended up with the same rating, I do intend that they should each be looked at against episodes of the same genre. (That said, you may also want to consider that I rated season eight episodes against a slightly lower standard than "normal".)

Season Summaries

At the end of each season, I also put together a summary that averaged together all of the ratings and highlighted the best and the worst, etc. As part of my re-watch project, I will also add some updated thoughts to those as well.

Top Ten List

Over on this page, you will find my picks for my personal top ten defining X-Files episodes. I've chosen them for the fact that they — to me, anyway — define what the show is about, covering one-off monster-of-the-week eps to the confusing mytharc shows (although I think I've chosen a couple of the less confusing mytharc shows that are out there), capable of taking the viewer from agonizing depths of despair to outrageous heights of laughter. These are the episodes that I would use to introduce someone to The X-Files.

My Beef with Amazon.com & "Glinda Good"

When I first put my stories into an eBook format in 2001, I contacted a couple of eBook directory websites and submitted it for downloading from those sites. Over the years, in true eBook fashion, my various volumes (there were three originally; I have since compacted them into one) have proliferated on the web, to where they are now available at some of the unlikeliest of places. Just out of curiosity — and especially after the Russian fiasco — I do a search every now and then to see where they've ended up.

Imagine my surprise when, in early 2008, I encountered my eBook being auctioned off on bidorbuy.co.za, as well as being sold on the auctioneer’s “eBook store” website! An entrepreneur in South Africa was trying to make money selling a volume that is widely available for free, without having asked permission of either the author or the true copyright holder. (Okay, so I know she didn’t ask me, but I’m betting that Fox and Ten Thirteen were also not asked to approve this little bit of creative marketing.) Unlike my unresolved Russian fanfic adventure, this time, a simple email to the “entrepreneur” in question succeeded in having the item pulled.

But then things just got curiouser and curiouser.

In late 2011, I found out that I was a published author on this side of the ocean too. Really! How did that come to be, you ask? I got an email from another kind soul who informed me of the fact that my fanfic was being sold on Amazon.

Needless to say, I emailed Amazon.com with a cease and desist order. On December 14, 2011, I received a reply from Garth Skovgard (Copyright/Trademark Agent at Amazon.com) stating that they "are in the process of removing the following Kindle titles from Amazon.com: "All fourteen of xgirl's X-Files fanfic stories..." [Kindle Edition] ASIN: B005WKG0VG It typically takes 2-3 days for a listing to disappear once it has been removed from our catalog. We trust this will bring this matter to a close."

Do you? I certainly "trusted" that it would come to a close. But to this day, if you do a search on "xgirl's x-files fanfic ebook", you will see Amazon results. The eBook was in fact submitted twice. One has a publication date of September 8, 2012 and was submitted by X-girl-y. Another shows a publication date of September 18, 2012 and was submitted by X- Girl.

After making contact again with Mr. Skovgard, I received another reply on December 10, 2012, stating that "The ability to purchase the title you reference below has been disabled. The detail page may still exist for a period of time, but the title is no longer searchable on our site. We trust this will bring this matter to a close."

So is this "solution" good enough? It's no longer available for sale, so it's fine? I don't think so, because one of the links shows that, on September 21, 2012, an Amazon.com reviewer (who goes by the name of Glinda Good) was sufficiently bothered by the idea of someone trying to cash in on fanfic to leave "me" a review, shown here:

And the thing is, you would think that a legitimate business like Amazon.com would NOT let someone brazenly sell fanfic. (Or so I thought, until I saw this.) Or, if they did, they would do a lot more due diligence to confirm just who it is that should be profiting from it.

That said, I do have a bit of a bone to pick with Glinda Good, concerning the fact that certain fandoms do have ways and means for "fan fiction" to be published and it is therefore not considered "infringement". (I read Star Trek fiction long before I ever wrote TXF fanfic.) To that end, her comment of "Write your own stuff and try to sell that" bothers me. I did write my own stuff; I just used someone else's characters. The point is, there are real authors out there doing exactly that. In the end, this is just an example of someone being too quick to allege wrongdoing without establishing the facts. And the accusation now sits out there in full view for everyone to see and I can't do anything about it. 

The bottom line is, I did not submit my eBook(s) for sale ANYWHERE and am not making nor have I ever made even one penny from it/them. I will say for the record one more time: if you have paid for any volume of my work, you've been taken. The stuff is available for free all over the internet.

My Strange Russian Fanfic Adventure

Or, How My Fiction Became Published in Krycek's Home Country...

In the late summer of 2003, I received an email from someone in Russia informing me that my TXF fanfic had been translated into Russian and published as part of two collections that were supposed to contain episode adaptations from the TV series. (If you’re wondering which of my incredibly wonderful stories were so worthy of being completely – and I’m talking word for word – plagiarized, they were Crossing Lines, Two Steps Back, Truths Revealed, Truths Untold and Water’s Edge.) This person actually sent me some page scans from one of the volumes; the one reproduced here is for Truths Revealed.

Over the course of the next three months, my Russian correspondent, other helpful folks in the TXF fanfic community (via private emails and this original thread) and I did some investigating, resulting in emails to the publishers (AST and Terra Fantastica) and an actual letter sent on my behalf. My last contact with my “informant” was in late November 2003, and I have not heard anything about this matter since. Did it stop? I don’t know. Was there ever much I could do about it? Probably not. Despite the outright audaciousness of the act, was it the tiniest bit flattering? Hell yeah, she says with a smile. (Despite the fact that some Russian readers were apparently not thrilled with the selection of MSR over actual case files… at least that’s the impression I got from the rudimentary web “translation” services at my disposal.)

In the years since, I've been able to get a translation from a Russian X-Files “news archive” site showing two books published on August 23 and 26 of 2003. (You can still access the original Russian version of the page here, which shows links to my old coolfreepages website).

Here is the page that provides details about the volume that's called Swiss Watches. Two Steps Back and "cross the Rubicon" are actually credited to me, although I'm not entirely sure what story the latter title refers to (I'm assuming it's Crossing Lines). I suppose, technically speaking, that makes my accusation of plagiarism incorrect, at least on this website.

However, a little further digging reveals that on another site, those two stories are attributed to a Cyril Pleshkov (a translator who lives in St. Petersburg) and someone by the name of Alexey. (Charges of plagiarism back on...)

Finally, here is the actual Hidden Truth volume with more evidence that I wasn't credited for the work:

Apparently, the readers in Russia are very clear on the fact that these are fan fiction works. (And I wasn't the only one "affected".) The fact that AST chose to publish these books has been highly controversial from what I can tell, with most people being very upset that these fanfic interpretations have been allowed to "mix" with the series' canon. The following explanation may shed a little bit of light on why fans were so offended:

Reader feedback that I got from this side of the ocean has always been that I gave Mulder and Scully a very realistic outcome. That's not the impression I get from reading comments on Russian fan sites about "my" stories.

Tomorrow: If you think it's a neat feat to be a published author in Russia, how about on Amazon???

Musings from a 10-Year Anniversary

I re-released a PDF copy of my fanfic ebook in 2010, as a "10 year anniversary" commemoration. Here is the copy of the additional "Afterword" from that volume...

... and Beyond...

When I wrote the original “beginning” and “ending” notes in late 2001, The X-Files and my association with them in the fanfic world were still fairly vivid memories. While I was no longer involved in an active sense as either a watcher of the show or a writer of stories, I still had a clear sense of what it felt like to be an X-Files fan.

Fast forward six plus years later and apparently an X-Files movie sequel is being filmed in Vancouver as I type this. My first reaction upon hearing this news was, “Who is still interested in this show?” It’s a fair question, isn’t it?

My own interest is pretty well non-existent. Over the past couple of years, I’ve added the “required” sets of X-Files DVDs to complete my collection, but have not watched many episodes. Not only that, I have surprisingly not even followed the career of the person who used to be my main reason for watching. It’s not as though any other obsession has replaced this one. Rather, the challenges and obligations of real life gradually regained centre stage. As time passed, the fact that I did and do have a life beyond the X-Files became apparent again.

So the question is: will I go out and spend whatever it is that people spend these days to watch a first run movie when the TXF movie is released this summer? Don’t think so. I’ll admit to having a certain curiosity right now, but I doubt I’ll end up in the theatre watching Mulder & Scully’s latest adventure. I’m one of the few X-Files fans who knows very little about how the series ended on TV. I watched twelve episodes out of season eight once each and did not see any of season nine’s action. Despite Ten Thirteen’s historical lack of respect for continuity, I would assume that whatever new big screen adventure they dream up will somehow address the series’ ending. With that in mind, the thought of an X-Files flick along the lines of the sequel to The Mummy – and just to be clear, I have nothing against the sequel to The Mummy – just makes me shudder. (Even though I do have some second-hand knowledge about the fact that the special kid from outer space was given up for adoption “way back when”, who knows what CC and Co. might want to reverse engineer from the past.) Moreover, the Mulder and Scully that I prefer to remember don’t deserve to be on the lam or some such nonsense. At this point, there are two scenarios that might prompt me to walk into that theatre: 1) the movie takes place prior to Requiem, or 2) everything in Requiem and beyond was a big “Bobby Ewing style” dream. As much as the latter would be offensive, it’s still preferable to what we were offered up in seasons eight and nine – and yes, I say that without having seen a microsecond of season nine.

Hell, I’m not afraid to own up to the truth: I still feel the sting of the slap in the face from CC and his gang. Whatever his reasons for wanting to drag the ‘Files beyond their optimal end date – especially by inserting ridiculous new back stories that presumably seemed logical to him – the move damaged the franchise irreparably. It’s kind of funny how we’re able to suspend our disbelief for a monster who comes out every sixty years or so to squeeze through air vents in search of its latest victim, but when we’re fed a story about Mulder hiding the fact that he was somehow dying of a mysterious disease… well, let’s stop right there.

Still, it’s interesting how the passing of time refocuses our attention on things. What I mean is that I may eventually be curious enough to watch the movie at some point. It’ll all depend on how vindictive I may or may not be feeling. Generally speaking, I’m a “never say never” kind of person. I can see it being the result of the same type of curiosity that made me open up my collection of fan fiction for the first time in many years and reread the stuff… and then decide to create a ten year anniversary collection with new comments for re-release.

One might say that’s an incredibly ego-stroking thing to do, and one would be right in that assessment. It is. However, a couple of incredible incidents have occurred in the past six years that have also encouraged me to update my status, so to speak...

To be continued tomorrow with "My Strange Russian Fanfic Adventure"!

The Fanfic REVISITED

[The following are the Foreword & Afterword of xgirl's x-files fan fiction ebook, circa 2001]

In the Beginning...

It was suggested to me by the first person who read Crossing Lines that I should consider turning it into a “novel type” publication. At the time, I hardly knew if I would be writing any more fanfic at all, never mind shooting for something on such a grand scale. As the saying goes, “funny how things turn out” because as I put my collection of completed fanfic into this volume, the total amount amazed me. Significant other authors have written reams more than me, but I just never realized that what “little” I had managed to create would add up to so many pages.

My fanfic “career” began in September of 1998 (or March 1999, depending on interpretation) and ended, for all intents and purposes, in June of 2001. It was a unique experience that I will treasure for a long time to come. I’m ever grateful for the modest bits of success that I managed to achieve and to have been given supportive feedback, recognition and encouragement from the very first moment. Whether it was the thrill of discovering that people were recommending my stories on various message boards, or the surprise of not once but twice having my work selected as the “fic of the week” at a fanfic archive, it’s safe to say that I’ve had a memorable time.

One of life’s certainties is that hobbies and interests will always come and go. It’s not often, however, that one’s mere hobby can have a lasting impact on others around the world. These stories are my contribution to the world of TXF fandom. I hope you’ll enjoy reading them as much I enjoyed writing them.

* * * * *

All of my stories are now on separate pages here on this blog (although the two R-rated adventures have had their adult content removed).

If you want all of them in a single PDF volume, get one from free-ebooks.net.

Finally, you can access each story individually by doing a search for me under the Author Listings at Gossamer, where I am xgirl without the hyphen.

Alternatively, you can also email me and I will simply send the PDF your way.

* * * * *

... and in the End

In the end, it didn't end as I wanted it to. I wanted this proud, ground-breaking show to head off into the sunset in a dignified way, with head held high and leaving its audience yearning for more. Not in my wildest dreams did I foresee not watching the show as it continued to air, nor did I foresee losing interest even while one of my main reasons for watching was still involved.

But I'm not going to dwell on what became of M&S in the world of canon. Quite truthfully, their on-screen relationship stopped making sense to me at the beginning of season six when it was quite obvious that — "missed kiss" aside — the creators wanted them to go back to their old games. In a way, writing fanfic kept me invested in the show throughout seasons six and seven, as I was determined to come up with a realistic way to bring closure to the years-long flirtation... to give Mulder and Scully, in essence, an "end" that made sense — sans baby.

I guess you could say that the stories that you've just finished reading were written for those who felt cheated by what they saw on their TV screen. If you've found the experience worthwhile and would like to share some of your own feelings about this trip back in TXF time, drop me a line. I'd love to hear from you. Or, at the very least, come visit my website and immerse yourself in my x-files experience...

Oh, and thank you for reading.

Like Coming Home Again?

I'm back...sorta.

From 1999 to 2003, I enjoyed a unique "experience" within the X-Files online community. While it wasn't unique in the sense of me being the only one having such an experience, it was unique in how it affected each one of us who went through it. Like many X-Files fans of the day who dabbled in writing fan fiction, I had a website. First created to house my stories, over the course of three years or so, it grew to many, many pages containing collages and wallpapers, non-fiction pieces, and even episode commentary through a partial season eight. (xgirlsfanfic was hosted at various providers, the last one was at xgirlsfanfic.coolfreepages.com.)

xgirl's x-files x-perience circa 2003

In the ten (!) years since, I have been regularly surprised by how much of an impact the show and its fandom have had on people. With 2013 being the 20th anniversary of The X-Files' premiere, I thought it would be fun to join in on the celebrations and revisit the experience. Several days ago, I pulled out my box of TXF DVDs and opened it up for the first time in a few years. I've since watched a few episodes and feel amenable to watching more.

So why the blog? After having had no active presence on the web for several years, it seemed the thing to do. I plan on filling this blog with content from my old website, adding some "currency" with thoughts about what's happened over the past decade as I go along. As I "re-watch", I hope to update the reviews for some of my favourite and even not so favourite episodes. (Posts that have the episode title with "[REVISITED]" at the end contain new content; actual new content is in orange text.) With any luck, I can do so somewhat regularly, but like I said when I was completing the original set of reviews, don't hold me to any timeframe. Having been away for ten years, I don't expect it to be easier the second time around.

First up: revisiting my fanfic.