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The X-Files: The Complete Fourth Season DVD Boxset
01/05/2008 . Source: Geoff Willmetts 
region 2 DVD. pub: 20th Century Fox F1-SGB 22664MDVD. 7 DVDs 1017 minutes 24 episodes with extras. Price: about £10.98 (UK) if you know where to look)stars: David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson. Buy The X-Files: The Complete Fourth Season in the USA - or Buy The X-Files: The Complete Fourth Season in the UK  check out www.foxtvdvd.com
Looking back ten years on the fourth season of 'The X-Files' and the extras, its interesting that from creator Chris Carter down, there was still surprise on how suceesful they were becoming and the development of the mythology stories hadn't picked up a signifiant pace. That's not to say things weren't going on that were having an impact. Having had the chip removed from the back of her neck, Dana Scully (actress Gillian Anderson) is coming down with an inoperable cancer in a similar way to the other women abductees died. Walter Skinner (actor Mitch Pileggi) does a deal with the Cigarette Man (actor William B. Davis) for a cure for Scully which nearly has him implicated by Fox Mulder (actor David Duchovny) in a cover-up operation in 'Zero Sum'.
If anything, a lot of these episodes were used to bring back characters like Max in 'Tempus Fugit' and 'Max' with a stern lesson not to be abducted in an aircraft and even the Lone Gunmen giving a history lesson in 'Musings Of A Cigarette Smoking Man'. Bad boy Alex Krychek returns in 'Tunguska' and 'Terma' and Mulder gets that black oil feeling which must have some anemsic properties considering he remembers nothing of the effect.
If I had to choose the weakest episode then it would be 'The Field When I Died'. Nothing to do with the performance but Mulder in a previous incarnation having lost another spirtual lover yet again seems out of place in the series.
Two episodes show the extremes of 'The X-Files'. 'Home' where a family of southern hicks definitely don't like being interefered with even if they must have tolerated having the local kids playing in a nearby field for some time. Graphically violent but equally compelling watching. 'Small Potatoes' shows how the series can flip into light comedy with a shape-shifter fertilising a local town's female population. This one is also the first to include an audio commentary by writer Vince Gilligan who admits naming his characters and places from those he knows.
'The X-Files' is still vastly engrossing and the extras disc gives creators and directors points of views as well as a serious look at the special effects. Seeing the rubber version of 'Leonard Betts' and how the crowds of 'Unrequited' was created or the multiple clones is always interesting and especially holds up as CGI was still developing at the time. If you freeze frame you will also discover that Skinner's middle name is Sergei which I didn't know before.
If you bought the series on video, don't forget how quickly the video recorders are getting hard to get. The DVD seasons are available relatively cheap with enough add-ons to make it a must-have to upgrade. The DVDs are out there.
GF Willmetts
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