I'm calling it quits with X-Files Season Eight (1 Viewer)

I held out hope that perhaps they'd reduce the price on season sets 8 and 9, but alas, Fox has not. With a retail price of $149.99 and a street price of around $100, I just can't justify the expense for the last two seasons. The quality had dropped off too sharply.

I can find things to enjoy up through season 7, although the drop was there, but the last two took the conspiracy to ridiculous places and the ratio of good to bad stand alone episodes teeters far too much to bad. With every other major TV season hitting streets at below $50, I just can't go on with it. It makes the collector in me sad, but I just can't do it. Maybe I can pick up a used set cheaply, but I'm not buying it new.

Similarly, "Buffy" had a mediocre season 6 (I'm one of the few fans who liked it) and worse season 7, but their reasonable price (around $40 first week) will allow me to complete the whole series. I wish I could with X-Files.

P.S. I deserve extra credit for not using the term "Jump the Shark" in my...oh damn!

I wasn't sure I'd get Season 7, but actually wound up liking its standalone episodes better than a lot of the standalones in Season 6. But I also will not be buying Season 8 or 9-there was just nothing there for me. The series finale was so convoluted....I guess I'll just end it with Mulder being abducted at the end of Season 7. To me, he'll always be up there
until they do the next movie!

I troll half.com looking for X-files sets put up for sale by pawnbrokers. I've had excellent luck getting R1 sets there, factory sealed, for about $56 on average, though you have to wait about 3 weeks after release date to get these prices. But I'm behind in my viewing anyway so an extra 3 weeks doesn't bug me in the slightest. No idea whether these are overstocks or stolen property or what, but it's the best source I've found. Just watch out for the ubiquitous Chinese bootlegs/"imports" which sell for much less on average.

I think seasons 8&9 had better stand-alones than S7 and though the conspiracy had severe weaknesses I was satisfied with the wrap-up episodes. They are certainly overpriced so I paid $75 for a used S7 (and then saw some for $50). I'm getting all 9 and putting them away in a drawer for a while as I do need a serious break. Years from now folks will take a more balanced overview of the whole run (recognizing that there were many bad eps in the early years) and see the show for the high watermark for TV that it was.

I think that Jump The Shark style criticism is being applied to all TV shows because it's easy. People discover an exiting new show and declare it to be the greatest thing since Shakespeare and then after a couple of years it sinks in that it's just a TV show, not a cure for cancer and they become dejected and angry and insist that the show can do no right and the creators are swine. X-Files didn't turn from gold to lead, it just chugged along, doing it's best, making mistakes. I remain a fan.

I couldn't agree more. I got hooked on the show from the start (well, actually a couple of months after it debuted) and stuck with it through every episode for all nine years (I'm a masochist). It was hard to watch the show as a whole deteriorate, but I remained faithful nonetheless.

I only own the first 5 seasons at this point, although I was planning on getting the rest eventually. The thing is, I rarely watch any of the ones I do own because of serious X-Files "burn-out". Even though I have never watched the reruns and haven't really seen the show since it aired it's final episode, I'm still burned out and don't feel like revisiting the show at all right now. I'm also hoping some SERIOUS time away from it will rekindle my passion and then even the final four years will look OK, too, but we'll just have to wait and see.

Just shows you that if a show does go on TOO LONG, it can seriously damage it's memory as a whole - I loved "X-Files" in it's day and was there every week - through good and bad - and was sad and angry to see the show disintegrate so much just because it kept getting renewed and really had no where to go and nothing else to say. The thought of re-watching the show (even the early good ones) just doesn't ignite any interest in me right now - the whole conspiracy and mythology arc was so bludgeoned to death that those episodes in particular 'damaged' my memories of ALL the characters as well. I hope all of this will change over time (considering the hefty price I've aleady paid for 1-5!). It was definitely a landmark show and really had some quality writing and production for it's time, but mentally, I just can't go near it at this time. Maybe some day...

I'm getting all 9. I'm a completist. I didn't watch all of season 8 and 9 on TV, but what I did see I liked. I knew I'll be getting them on DVD, so I skipped watching full-frame, broadcast-quality version, for a select few episodes.

I'll be getting all 9 as well. I've gotten most of mine for around $70, by ordering from canadian e-tailers. Fox doesn't do bi-lingual releases (well, at least not for X-Files), so I don't have to worry about any of that nonsense. It usually takes a week or so after release date to arrive, but I've got so many unwatched DVDs I'm hardly concerned.

I'll get Season Eight, but I'm undecided after that. Season Nine was just so bad...

I wanted to quit buying at the end of Season 4, but I went ahead and picked up Season 5 to have a link to the movie (and to have "Unusual Suspects" and "Bad Blood"). Now I'm considering picking up Season 6 just to have "Drive" and the "Dreamland" episodes - and maybe "Terms of Endearment" since Bruce Campbell's in it. "Triangle" was interesting as well. But there's also more of that Spender family tree plotline that annoyed me so much. I watched every episode of the show that aired and I can't recall what the purpose of Cassandra Spender was at this point. All of the gobbledy-gook super soldier conspiracy stuff in the following seasons has washed any understanding of it from my memory. And don't forget Gibson Praise. Maybe one day I'll remember his purpose as well.

As for Season 7, the only episode of interest to me is "Requiem", simply because it revisits the pilot episode. And maybe "Je Souhaite" is better than I remember it being. Otherwise, I hated "X-Cops" and "First Person Shooter" and "Fight Club" and... well, you get the point.

Off the top of my head I can't recall anything that I'd want in my collection from Seasons 8 or 9, especially not that awful final episode.

Brad

I need to get these eventually, and I would buy all 9 sets in the end (hopefully they're MSRP gets lowered after they've all been out a while). It really is a great show, even if it did drop towards the end (dropped from "superb" to "great"). That, and I'm a completist (though I'll quit with "Simpsons" about season 9). And I liked the finale.

I wasn't too fond of seasons 6 and 7 either, but I loved 8. Mostly because of Doggett.

I too have stopped with Season 7. I would have stopped after 6, but I just had to have Sein Und Zeit and Closure, and I also liked Requiem. Yes, Season 7 had some of the worst stand alones (all mentioned by Brad), but it also had some great ones, like Signs & Wonders. I even love the much maligned "all things". Also, the Sixth Extinction pts 1 & 2 weren't half bad, though they were a poor follow-up to Biogenesis.

On the other hand, there just aren't very many good things I can say about 8 and 9 at all. Season 8's last six episodes weren't terrible, but they weren't up to par with any really good episodes from the previous seasons. As for season nine, only the stand alone episode "Release" really moved me, and made me feel like I was watching classic X-Files. The rest were crap, even the finale, which kept feeling more and more like the Seinfeld finale the longer it went on. I'd also like to say that Annabeth Gish is the worst thing that ever happened to the X-Files.

-Lyle J.P.

I stopped at five. After that it all went downhill. Moving to LA really affected the show's feel.

I never watched S8-9 outside of a few episodes...so I have to get the sets and I will likely enjoy them a lot...just like all of em...

I'll pick up all 9 seasons partly because I'm a completist and partly because there were some good episodes in S9. I like Robert Patrick and think he's a better actor than Duchovny, the writers just gave up and didn't go anywhere with his character. Plus, there were some decent eps like Improbable and Aubrey Pauley so hopefully some canadian sites will have a decent price.

My complaint about Season 9 is that there was maybe one or two "fun" episodes. As much as I enjoyed the mythology early in the show, it's the Jose Chung's, Clyde Bruckman's, Bad Blood's, etc. that are my favorite episodes. My memory of the last season was that it was too grim and became a chore too watch. I'm hesitant to buy a box set that I find difficult to watch.

I also enjoyed Robert Patrick and Annabeth Gish (oh yeah). I think the mistake was not letting them move on and do their own thing. There was chemistry between those two.

I just having to go over to check with Scully, get background on shadow characters etc. etc. didn't help advance crisp plots.

I'm going to get Season 8 and hope they release the series finale as a stand-alone DVD. I had trouble watching most of Season 9 so I'm not going to get that set.

Only up to Season 4 for me.

I stopped at season set for year 5. I may go back and get 6 and 7 if the price was right later down the line.