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| The 'All-new' X-files (22.40 Channel 5) |
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| Talk,
Jerry Carpenter,
13 January 1999 | |
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I haven’t been keeping up with my TV guide recently so I was all the more surprised after flipping channels mindlessly, to find that Channel 5 were seemingly screening the new season of the X-files. This new season continued the recent pattern of stories featuring one of the Bureau's top alien-crime-fighting league going it alone - an apparent result of the on-set animosity between the two top tv stars.
But what really broke the mould was the way Agent Mulder's appearance merely bookended the show with very little involvement at all. In past episodes this has lead to sub-characters ( often emotionally tortured rain man/woman with supernatural power types ) coming to the fore and giving the story a refreshing 'adult drama' feel that the show seems to have abandoned recently in favour of a 50/50 mix of carbon-copy conspiracy and 'funny' plots.
The new opening title continue the pleasant surprises, the floating portentous text remains ( with "the truth is out there " replaced by "looking for reasons why.." ), but the naff photoshopped National geographic imagery has been replaced with some much "wilder" content - video noir stylings of dancing girls and mulder grasping after a mysterious red book - an analogy for his quest for the truth perhaps ?
So it's all the more disappointing after so much innovation that the rest of re-vamped show seemed so uncompelling - after an opening where Mulder receives a secret message from his latest deep-throat-style contact it flashbacks to rain-soaked city street with roaring 'rock music' in the background !"
Gone is the big budget cinema style cinematography, replaced now by a grisly pop video neon in the rain look - where the earlier show kept so much in shadow , the camera now lingers over flatly lit yuppie interiors where every shot must contain at least one 'modern' painting.
This vapid style permeates the plot too, although we're treated to a much more attractive supporting cast than usual, these characters spend most of their time agonizing over relationship traumas - if I found those themes interesting I'd watch McBeal, or any other T.V drama after 10 pm.
The blame for all this lies with Duchovny's petulant decision to have the production moved from Vancouver to LA for his own 'personal' reasons. His penchant for cod-philosophical narration runs riot in this, as he sophorifically sums it all up "there's no escaping emotion" - my only escaping emotions were those of disappointment and frustration at seeing a potentially exciting new direction for the series flounder on the rocks of one man's ego. if it wasn't for all the hot erotic sex scenes I probably wouldn't have made it to the commercial break.
"The Red Shoe Diaries" 22.40 Channel 5
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