Apparently Cher turned down being in the episode and they ended up using a Drag Cover act to do the final scene. After it aired Cher went on record in saying that not saying yes was one of her biggest regrets.
@@nicholasromig5506 That's what the episodes commentary track says. The episodes was written with parts intended for both Roseanne Barr and Cher; both x-files fans per the commentary. Roseanne was supposed to play the mother. Both ended up unavailable at the time of filming.
Chris Carter: "I have this new X-Files episode, it's about a town full of women getting forcibly impregnated..." Fox executive: *spits out coffee* "Jesus, Chris! We can't show that!" Chris Carter: "No no, it's fine - they're forcibly impregnated by farm animals!" Fox executive: "Oh. Well why didn't you say so?" Chris Carter: "So anyway, I'm going to need a black & white camera with a wide angle lens, a Cher impersonator and a bunch of 1950s cars..."
Isn't that how the Greek myths go? Women get forcibly impregnated by animals, albeit animals that are gods in disguise... well, except for the minotaur incident. But I'd rather not go there.
Chris Carter: "I have this new X-Files episode, it's about a town full of women getting forcibly impregnated..." Fox executive: spits out coffee "ANOTHER one?!"
Theory: Mulder and Scully actually went to this town and solved this case. The kid wrote a comic book adaption based loosely on the events but couldn’t help confabulating, he didn’t fully understand the science that he vaguely overheard Scully talking about so it doesn’t make sense, he added the Cher references (maybe his mom likes her) and the happy ending because he felt like the original was too sad or boring (“I need to speak to the writer.”)
I really thought the implicaton was that they'd been doing it for years successfully, so much that many of the younger townspeople were, in fact, half-barnyard animal mutants.
The reporter lady reminded me of a bird - so I agree to a point. Maybe those experiments were the failures thou -because near the end the two ladies on Jerry both have babies that look more like mutato - The experiment being a success they finally were able to create something that looks like mutato.
Well they show a chicken and then the reporter that bobs her head like a chicken... the cut to a goat then a kid with a goatie beard... I think it's implied it work too.
I'd say its pretty blatantly suggested in the episode, that not just Shaineh's kids, but most of the villagers are supposed to be farm animal chimera's. Like, the journalist lady is obviously a chicken mutant.
Yeah, it was hard to pin down because the unwanted pregnancies only happened with those two women, at least those are the ones that were reported, so that's why I was wondering if they wanted to make a "man is also beast" comparison, but it does seem like they are saying EVERYONE is a mutant. Man is the monster, yet again. They're def not subtle, that's for sure.
I felt it connected to that scene in "Bride of Frankenstein" where they suddenly introduce tiny randy artificial people trapped in mason jars - the story is essentially chucking science out the window in favor of slapstick, and inviting you to just roll with it.
*"HOME" will forever be the most disrurbing episode of X-Files that I never forgot. I saw it the night it first aired but after that, it was forever banned by Fox and was the first X-Files episode to bear a "Viewer Discretion Warning" in the beginning. I've seen it again since a couple years ago and, while good...still incredibly disturbing. Anyone else remember it?*
Yeah, that one really freaked me out and repulsed me. The night it aired SLIDERS aired one of its best episodes before it where the main character helps a younger version of himself on a mirror earth…and then HOME came on. I remember thinking at the time that I had watched the series high and low points for each show…
@robertsherman7978 I mean is it a low or is it just not your cup of tea? I don’t even like the episode, but even I can tell it’s just graphic and gross. For a show that contains horror and sci fi themes it’s pretty on brand. Kinda seems like a you problem lmao.
Not an X-Files fan, but I saw it once and I SWEAR it was on, like, a Saturday afternoon. It was definitely NOT at night when it first aired. However, when I research it, it says it was never on in reruns. So....I don't know. But I definitely saw it, and it freaked me out.
@@cryptozoomauler5505 Ellien sorry but I couldn't help from putting in A Seinfeld reference since The Doctor is played by The Guy Who played as Mr. Peterson on Seinfeld
While “Jose Chung’s From Outer Space” is probably my favourite X-Files episode, I would love to see a video about “Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose”. It has some very endearing Scully moments and Peter Boyle is wonderful.
These are also my two favorite episodes. Truly a masterpiece in television. Clyde bruckman final repose is a perfect episode of tv. It's disturbing, hilarious, and also makes me cry everytime.
The best scene in the entire series is where Mulder is talking to Bruckman "Tell me, would you really like to know how you die?" "Yes, actually I would." "No. You don't."
There's a bit of a fusion between the Island of Doctor Moreau and Frankenstein. It's implied that most of the town were the result of splicing human/animal genes. That everyone, including the monster, were victims of the mad scientist.
Interesting factoid: In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, the monster was trapped in shed for several weeks as he monitored a neighboring family and learned how humans interact and operate. He also found several books including Paradise Lost which he read and therefore learned about human culture, poetry, romanticism, war and relationships. The scene where Mutato was reading the books in the houses he invaded to learn of human culture was totally a reference to that.
@@Kairii-Kylie Frankenstein is the human doctor, and he is the monster. What is often now called "Frankenstein's monster" was actually referred to as "the creation." The creation referred to himself as a monster once, as did the villagers at the end who didn't understand what they didn't know, but Viktor Frankenstein was the actual monster in the book. I'm a massive book nerd and bibliophile who collects and studies books from that era one back to the early 18th century.
@@Author.Noelle.Alexandria eh, they're both monsters. Frankenstein for taking absolutely no responsibility, and the creation for murder, quite a bit at that
Two of my favorite episodes are Bad Blood, where they visit the town of vampires including the pizza delivery guy, and the one in season six with the guy whose emotions affect the weather, and his jealousy of his crush's ex boyfriend makes it always rain wherever he is... Just an awesome idea, fun, and so well executed.
"You cannot create a human embryo with animal cells." I don't know, Roses, that reporter's head movements look suspiciously similar to the chicken she was staring at...
And the guy right after had a billy goat goatee. They were clearly trying to imply that many people from the town were in SOME WAY related to those animals.
@@BWMagus Yep! She immediately stood out to me with her head movements. I agree with the other replies; they must've done that to the locals on purpose.
Could it be that the kid who was the author of the comic book didn't understand how "baby stuff" worked, so that's why the "real world" impregnations don't make sense either? This is assuming that the episode is actually just the comic book come to life. Thank you for reminding me of this episode, PUR! It was so weird that I had forgotten all about it! :P
@PushingUpRoses questioned whether it could be the live-action depiction of the comic book since the comic book was in the show. But comic-book within the comic-book is actually not an uncommon trope. I think this is the "right answer:" the episode doesn't make a ton of sense because it's a rendering of a kid's comic book that draws on Frankenstein themes.
@@BartMassey-PO8 The way shots are carefully composed also gives a strong comic book aspect. The use of the wide lens PUR comments on, remarking that it looks like actors are speaking straight to the camera (18:03) and cutting between each side of a dialogue as if we were looking at successive comic panels rather than respecting the 180° rule making the camera a silent 3rd party observer. Wide, empty space around the car because the artist could not be bothered to draw too much stuff in the background (7:07, 17:33), split screens between two characters facing each other (1:19). This made me want to re-watch the episode to see how much more I can spot. :x
These are the episodes that make the X-Files so great in my opinion. They're bizarre. They're humorous. They have heart. Great character moments. The same writers did these types of episodes in Supernatural which made it stand apart as well.
yeees, the funny ones are always my absolute favorites! this is definitely in my top 3 long with other funny ones like "X-Cops", "Jose Chung From Outer Space", and too many more to even name.
One of my favorite X-Files episode was X-Cops, the crossover they did with Cops. I love the found footage style of the episode and the fear monster that they go up against is really interesting.
Ironically, so many other shows have fully invested in ongoing serialized narratives since X-Files that the "monster of the week" episodes are what I revisit it for today. The format was seen as old hat at the time, but now it's come full circle and feels refreshing.
I never liked or got into the over arcing plot with bees and the smoking man, etc. Monster of the week, or rather x-files way making a monster in between mulders fictional take and scully's rationale, is what made the show
Not to mention the overarching plotline eps are so inconsistent and frequently muddy that the monster of the week eps are way, way better usually. When I was rewatching recently I was actually disappointed whenever there was an overarching plotline ep in later seasons.
Monster of the week is my favourite format. It's the reason I loved this show and shows like it. -Writers aren't making boring episodes out of fear of writing themselves into a corner. -New and interesting things every episode with distinct plots and investigations. -expanding universe lore creates an interesting backdrop to every episode regardless of its use in a single episode. The overarching plot was weak and just felt like something they had to get out of the way for more interesting episodes in later series.
Shocked that no one picked up that the doctor's name is a reference to John William Polidori, another guest at the party where Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein (and Bram Stoker wrote Dracula). At least that's the story. Polidori wrote a vampire story as well, which didn't go over as well.
Bram Stoker wasn't there seeing as how he wasn't born until 1847 and Dr. Polidori died in 1821. But many literary scholars do believe that Polidori's The Vampyre did inspire Stoker's Dracula.
This one's nice and crazy, as is the one that pretends to be an episode of COPS. Also holy crap, the mad scientist is J. Peterman from Seinfeld, hahahaha.
They casted him because he was on Seinfeld and hoped hed bring comedy to his part but they must not have watched Seinfeld because he isn't funny there or here he also was the only person there I didn't like
Honestly, this might be one of the few shows for which I prefer the monster of the week episodes to the overarching plot ones. That whole alien invasion business or whatever was ultimately wanting.
I remember feeling like that even at the time the show came out. By around season 4 or 5, it was painfully obvious there was no master plan, no great payoff for all these confusing myth arc episodes (which also started contradicting each other pretty hard at some point).
@@Agamemnon2 I’ve been rewatching the show recently with my gf who has never seen it before and I have already started noticing a lot of contradictions in the myth arc episodes and we just finished season 3. No wonder the ongoing plot seemed so confusing in the end because it’s already all over the place at the early stages.
I feel like once they did too many fake-outs and twists with Samantha Mulder that it unfortunately left me feeling more ambivalence toward it than hope to see everything play out with the plotlines.
Same here. The continuing plot was "Oh look, evidence of aliens/ bad guys . Oh look they lost the evidence. Oh look Mulder blah blah, Oh look Mulder's sister etc etc" As soon as you saw it was an episode of the alien narrative, you could pretty much write the script within the first few minutes.
I do remember this now! In the 90s my husband and I lived in Vancouver where x files was shot and my partner was a HUGE Cher fan so this was completely insane to us at the time. Fun fact, I was held up on my lunch break by an x files taping, it made me really mad!
This episode was just on tv two days ago. I remembered this episode being funnier than it actually was, for some reason I thought they broke out into song. Even though they started out treating the situation as a crime, I absolute hate how they brush off the multiple assaults by the end.
Fun Fact: Dr. Polidori in this episode is likely named after John Polidori, one of the authors present for the famous ghost story competition where Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein. His entry was titled The Vampyre, and is said to be a predecessor to Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
Fun side note: There were 2 Hollywood movies about this, Gothic (1987) and Haunted Summer (1988). In the later Dr. Polidori was played by none other than Bill S. Preston esq. himself Alex Winter. 😁
The name Polidori is also a Frankenstein reference! "John William Polidori (7 September 1795 - 24 August 1821) was an English writer and physician. He is known for his associations with the Romantic movement and credited by some as the creator of the vampire genre of fantasy fiction. His most successful work was the short story "The Vampyre" (1819), the first published modern vampire story." Polidori was inspired to write The Vampyre during the same stay on Lake Geneva where Mary Shelley was inspired to write Frankenstein.
I remember reading that Gillian Anderson's brother actually was born with the bone disorder that the kid in Mask had. The episode was dedicated to him.
@@cryptozoomauler5505 Not the same as an FBI agent publicly exposing themself to scrutiny and insisting on daytime trash TV that " [thing perceived to be crazy] is reaall, sheeple]". Air Force admitted almost 70 years ago-- after constant sightings all across the country-- that they couldn't explain at least 15% of them. czcams.com/video/4-MbGYAv7Cg/video.html
@@chasejackson7248 He has more higher-ups wanting to destroy him, but let’s put that aside for now. Let’s talk about what “backing up” means. It means that they vouch for him. That they trust him. If someone backs you up and then you go and break that trust by doing something stupid like leaking government secrets on Jerry Springer - do you think the person who backed you up would be happy? I mean, they put a lot on the line to support you. They probably put their head on the chopping block a couple times for you. Or would they suddenly go from being your biggest champion to your worst enemy and regarding you as an ungrateful traitor? Trust me, they would make it personal. “You betrayed the Agency and you betrayed ME.”
Home is an episode that was so dark that it was banned and never rebroadcast. An interesting episode to me was a Halloween episode where the two are in a haunted house.
It's just a fun episode with a great ending IMO .When Mutato gets to the concert at the end and start's fist pumping the air lol and the way mulder and scully laugh, priceless
Felt like xfiles fan fiction. I remember watching this as a kid being confused as hell but coming away with a mysterious undying love of Cher's music 😂
I'm sure you hear it all the time, but it's really not that bad. Obviously you don't have to do it because it's completely your choice, but if it happens accidentally, you most likely have nothing to worry about. Don't let it scare you too much.
I remember going into this episode after hearing it praised so much and then just spent the whole time being so horrified by the forced pregnancies and the handling of it that I was kind of repulsed by the whole thing. Like yeah it's stylish but yikes
"Cute, but who's the one on the left..." comments like that never get old LOL It's always great to see you covering X-Files stuff. Do the whole series, no really... love it, love it, love itt!
Just wanted to say I stumbled on your channel yesterday when i was feeling a bit down. I have been laughing every since! Thank you for all that you've done and anything possibly upcoming. You're hilarious! And taking a trip down memory lane with all this stuff I watched when I was younger is fantastic!
The episode “Bad Blood” would be fun to do, as it departs from the usual tone of the show in favor of a comedic “whodunit?” storyline, featuring Ham from The Sandlot and Luke Wilson with buck teeth 🤣 One of my faves.
I thought the point was that the pregnancy did work, the shot where the townspeople are in the barn and the camera pans from animal to person. That was showing the children and animal sires they had. At least that makes the most sense to me.
"Even Frankenstein got to look for love" is killing me because if they're talking about the creation then no he did not, mid way through making crime against nature 2 Victor freaked out and threw the unfinished body because he was afraid they would "dance with the devil" and create more hellspawn, and if we're talking about Victor also no, his marriage was arranged and also Liz died right after so... That makes no sense
I just recently watched all the 11 seasons of X-files plus the two movies and this is by far one of best stand-alone episodes. I appreciate you taking the time to talk about this gem of an episode.❤️
I’m in the middle of rewatching them in that order too and I’m already waiting for this episode. It’s up there with Jose Chung, Clyde Bruckman and War of the Coprophages as one of the best standalone episodes.
@@beegee7941 I think you mean the episode ”Home” which featured the Peacocks. And yes, it was indeed a disturbing and a disgusting episode but also a really good episode.
Glad someone mentioned this! The episode deserves a point for that reference, as well as for having Polidori experiment on fruit flies; fruit flies were used in some of the first eugenics experiments. (I mean, they’re probably used in a lot of genetic experiments since they reproduce so quickly, but still.)
I think the overt references to the episodes influences are because the influences are so transparent, it would be a disservice to pretend otherwise. It's actually a 4th-wall break, not some sort of dumbing-down.
The name "Polidori" is kind of a meta-reference to "Frankenstein." John Polidori was a wannabe writer assigned by Lord Byron's publisher to accompany Byron on his travels and try to keep him from getting into too much trouble. They wound up sharing a house on Lake Geneva with Byron's fried Percy Shelley and his wife Mary. To pass the time, the four of them decided to have a competition over who could write the best scary story; Mary's offering to that competition is what eventually became "Frankenstein."
"If we show how they're NOT traumatized, it makes it okay!" feels like it was said on the set of this episode. And that's sadly a very '90s cultural attitude.
headcanon: the whole episode is really just a comic story written by Izzy. either a) most of the events of the did happen, but Mutato and/or the senior Paladori were lynched by the mob, or b) there was no Mutato. Mulder and Scully came through the town, did an investigation, found nothing, so Izzy wrote the comic the way he hoped the investigation had turned out
Roses, random request two years later, your content format is so great! Would love to see you take on more weirdo X-Files episodes. The Unnatural, First Person Shooter (yech), War of the Coprophages, Fearful Symmetry, and of course Jose Chung's From Outer Space would all make great subjects. Thanks!
Forgive me if you have already covered it, but I’d love to hear your take on my personal favorite episode:”Jose Chung’s From Outer Space”. It features a small but wonderful cameo by the recently departed legend, Alex Trebek, so it might be a nice tribute. Also, idk how you refrained from talking about the chicken-reporter, but she reminds me of a Kids in the Hall sketch and it cracks me up, every time. 😂
I'm glad you Cher'd this episode. Weirdly I remembered this as being in colour but I guess this is a perfect example of the fallible memory effect that the interwebs love
The comic book was black and white, the dive into the comic book - 99% of the episode - is in "colour". Guessing you are Canadian or british since you spell that with a u.
I've always thought this episode was meant to be the same setup - that the story itself is a fictionalized account from an author who had an actual account with Mulder & Scully. The events described are partially true, but what we see is a secondhand account from an unreliable narrator.
I kinda liked the episode where everyone that had a score to settle with Krycek finally had their chance and kicked the crap out of the pretty boy in the most homoerotic ways imaginable. Especally that "big, bald, beautiful man" Skinner.
@@skylx0812 That was such a weird episode. Especially at the end when Mulder gets all offended that Krycek betrayed him again. Well maybe if you didn't punch him every five minutes!
I think my favourite part is finding out later that The Great Mutato is the same guy who plays Jeffrey Spender. I don’t know why but man I love that. He also played his story-arc dad The Cancer Man.
I feel like it might also be another story within a story. That mulder and scully did do the investigation but the story we see (the one in the episode) is the one written in the comic. In the fashion of jose chungs and bad blood
The X-Files did bonkers so well. In many cases I preferred the Monster of the Week episodes to the continuing narrative ones. As time went on the narrative became more and more strained.
The shots of the farm animals during Mutato's speech coincides with corresponding shots of townspeople who resemble them. It was basically a visual joke. I don't think anything else was meant by it, though I think your analysis is really an interesting and clever take on it. I do remember thinking, even when this episode first aired, that the idea of the womens' impregnation, in the way it happened, was kinda glossed over. But I do agree with you that this episode's production values are pretty well-done. PMP remains one of my top ten personal faves in the series.
This was the one X-Files episode I never liked. I mean, even Small Potatoes admitted that what Eddie Van Blundtht did was wrong and morally reprehensible, but Post-Modern Prometheus actually defends the actions of its antagonist and cloaks it in some moral posturing about acceptance and tolerance, which was absurd.
@monny287 Yes! I haven't seen this episode since I was a teenager and didn't remember the pregnancy stuff. I always remembered this is as a fun, weird one off episode with Cher music and Frankenstein homages. Seeing it again definitely colors that. This show usually gave the deserved weight to many issues including forced pregnancy, so it is super strange to see it in a comedic or sympathetic light. I definitely have to believe this is is a comic within a comic episode or I'd be way too bothered.
If we are talking about inspirations and homages, please also notice how women being impregnated while knocked out also references The Village of The Damned.
Fun review, thanks so much! When X-Files dipped into humor, it often did a lovely job (I specifically remember one about a genie, which was written by Duchovny. Very funny, absurd, and also touching). Blacking out for a long period and waking up pregnant makes me think of "Village of the Damned", an English horror film from 1960, starring George Sanders in a rare sympathetic role. It was followed by "Children of the Damned".
Holy crap! How did I miss that connection?! A small farming town shot in black and white where women go to sleep and wake up pregnant after a few days? That’s TOTALLY Village of The Damned. Good spot!
I find it interesting that no one made the connection between Polidori and Frankenstein. John Polidori was at the inn at Lake Geneva when Lord Byron challenged his friends, Mary Wollstonecraft, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Claire Claremont, and John Polidori, to tell each other "ghost stories." Mary, who went on to marry Percy after his wife died, was inspired from that to write Frankenstein. This same challenge also inspire Polidori to write The Vampyre, yes, with a Y, and this is the origin novel of the modern vampire we know today. He also wrote Ozymandais. The who group was a clusterfuck. Mary was pregnant with Percy's baby (while his wife was still alive and also pregnant), and Claire was pregnant with Lord Byron's baby, and Mary and Byron hooked up, and Percy and Claire hooked up, and Mary and Claire happened to be sisters, and Polidori kept his pants firmly buttoned and tied shut.
Someone replied to this claiming that Claire and Mary were cousins. Claire's mother and Mary's father married after Mary's mother died. They were very young, and were sisters after that. Fact.
I always had a hard time with how many times X-Files had a monster of the week impregnating someone in their sleep. Or that one where a shape shifter takes on Mulder's appearance and tries to woo Scully. This show is a hot mess but when it's good, it's good.
Dr. Jon Polidori was actually part of thre Byron/Shelly writing group in Lake Geneva . Where Frankenstein was created. He wrote "The Vampyre" while there
Searched through the comments to find this. Didn't it kill you every time she said Dr. Polidori it didn't explain that connection. And she said his name a lot in this video. 😅
Fun fact: Jesse Martin, the alien baseball player in this episode, was on Law&Order at the same time and his character was shot in the line of duty so Martin could film his X-Files episode.
The streak of excellent X-Files content on this channel is truly an experience----best time had engaging with the lot of it since watching all the episodes time and again back in the day.
Apparently Cher turned down being in the episode and they ended up using a Drag Cover act to do the final scene. After it aired Cher went on record in saying that not saying yes was one of her biggest regrets.
Her agent had refused on her behalf, I thought.
I was under the impression that she was unavailable and sent her favourite Cher impersonator to proxy for her
Who is the drag queen? I wanna know!
@@Karma20XX thank you for asking the important question here.
@@nicholasromig5506 That's what the episodes commentary track says. The episodes was written with parts intended for both Roseanne Barr and Cher; both x-files fans per the commentary. Roseanne was supposed to play the mother. Both ended up unavailable at the time of filming.
Chris Carter: "I have this new X-Files episode, it's about a town full of women getting forcibly impregnated..."
Fox executive: *spits out coffee* "Jesus, Chris! We can't show that!"
Chris Carter: "No no, it's fine - they're forcibly impregnated by farm animals!"
Fox executive: "Oh. Well why didn't you say so?"
Chris Carter: "So anyway, I'm going to need a black & white camera with a wide angle lens, a Cher impersonator and a bunch of 1950s cars..."
😂🤣😂
Isn't that how the Greek myths go? Women get forcibly impregnated by animals, albeit animals that are gods in disguise... well, except for the minotaur incident. But I'd rather not go there.
It's Pitch Meeting time!
"So, you have a tv episode for me?"
"Yes sir, I do."
Chris Carter: "I have this new X-Files episode, it's about a town full of women getting forcibly impregnated..."
Fox executive: spits out coffee "ANOTHER one?!"
Isn’t this an episode of Morel Orel?
Theory: Mulder and Scully actually went to this town and solved this case. The kid wrote a comic book adaption based loosely on the events but couldn’t help confabulating, he didn’t fully understand the science that he vaguely overheard Scully talking about so it doesn’t make sense, he added the Cher references (maybe his mom likes her) and the happy ending because he felt like the original was too sad or boring (“I need to speak to the writer.”)
I like that theory a lot
I really thought the implicaton was that they'd been doing it for years successfully, so much that many of the younger townspeople were, in fact, half-barnyard animal mutants.
Unrelated, but nice username Lol
I’ve not seen the episode but the reporter is the chicken; and the guy with the goatee is the goat from what I can see.
Yeah, same here. It’s pretty blatant.
The reporter lady reminded me of a bird - so I agree to a point. Maybe those experiments were the failures thou -because near the end the two ladies on Jerry both have babies that look more like mutato - The experiment being a success they finally were able to create something that looks like mutato.
Well they show a chicken and then the reporter that bobs her head like a chicken... the cut to a goat then a kid with a goatie beard... I think it's implied it work too.
I'd say its pretty blatantly suggested in the episode, that not just Shaineh's kids, but most of the villagers are supposed to be farm animal chimera's. Like, the journalist lady is obviously a chicken mutant.
Yeah, it was hard to pin down because the unwanted pregnancies only happened with those two women, at least those are the ones that were reported, so that's why I was wondering if they wanted to make a "man is also beast" comparison, but it does seem like they are saying EVERYONE is a mutant. Man is the monster, yet again. They're def not subtle, that's for sure.
Seems like they reworked not just Frankenstein but also the Island of Doctor Moreau, just a bit more stealthily.
The villagers give me some Shadows Over Innsmouth vibes, could be that they mixed in some more literature references...
I felt it connected to that scene in "Bride of Frankenstein" where they suddenly introduce tiny randy artificial people trapped in mason jars - the story is essentially chucking science out the window in favor of slapstick, and inviting you to just roll with it.
my god it's just a Kids in the Hall Sketch taken to it's absolutely most horrible logical conclusion
I love that not only is he fist pumping to Cher, but also that everyone else in the audience is just calmly sitting there.
I never noticed that, LMAO!
Cherly they are too devoted in their worship to notice anything but their idol
I actually remember that moment to this day even if I forget the majority of anything else in my life...
My favorite ending of all episodes
TodayIFoundOut said they don't play any music while filming concert scenes so the actors have to dance to nothing
*"HOME" will forever be the most disrurbing episode of X-Files that I never forgot. I saw it the night it first aired but after that, it was forever banned by Fox and was the first X-Files episode to bear a "Viewer Discretion Warning" in the beginning. I've seen it again since a couple years ago and, while good...still incredibly disturbing. Anyone else remember it?*
Yeah, that one really freaked me out and repulsed me. The night it aired SLIDERS aired one of its best episodes before it where the main character helps a younger version of himself on a mirror earth…and then HOME came on. I remember thinking at the time that I had watched the series high and low points for each show…
@robertsherman7978 I mean is it a low or is it just not your cup of tea? I don’t even like the episode, but even I can tell it’s just graphic and gross. For a show that contains horror and sci fi themes it’s pretty on brand. Kinda seems like a you problem lmao.
Home still haunts me.
Not an X-Files fan, but I saw it once and I SWEAR it was on, like, a Saturday afternoon. It was definitely NOT at night when it first aired. However, when I research it, it says it was never on in reruns. So....I don't know. But I definitely saw it, and it freaked me out.
it's awful. it's the only episode I skip. yuck on all levels, still can't believe it was made.🤮
I’m gonna name my garage band “scully is not impressed”
Better yet: Scully ain't Impressed ~or~ The Unimpressed Scullies
I like the one where Fox kills a vampire who turns out to be human who turns out to be a vampire.
i like how you're on a first name basis with Agent Mulder
Oh god yes! I forgot about that one.
The one told from both Scully and Mulder's POV, with Luke Wilson? Definitely in the Top 5 Best Episodes EVER!
“I was drugged!” Is a quote I often find useful to drop out of context but never have the confidence to use.
And it's all true!
Except the part about the buck teeth.
I love how this episode doesn't really have any paranormal elements. Just... questionable science.
Yeah it's the "because we can" scientists against the "But should you?"
I mean it isn’t the only one. There was one where a computer became self aware.
She blinded me with science.
Which were always the best Lovecraft stories. Cthulhu is scary and all but the real best of his stuff was the stories like Cold Air and Re-Animator.
@@cryptozoomauler5505 Ellien sorry but I couldn't help from putting in A Seinfeld reference since The Doctor is played by The Guy Who played as Mr. Peterson on Seinfeld
While “Jose Chung’s From Outer Space” is probably my favourite X-Files episode, I would love to see a video about “Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose”. It has some very endearing Scully moments and Peter Boyle is wonderful.
These are also my two favorite episodes. Truly a masterpiece in television. Clyde bruckman final repose is a perfect episode of tv. It's disturbing, hilarious, and also makes me cry everytime.
Two incredible episodes.
The best scene in the entire series is where Mulder is talking to Bruckman
"Tell me, would you really like to know how you die?"
"Yes, actually I would."
"No. You don't."
@@DeadManSinging1 Auto erotic asphyxiation.
@@ftlbaby It's a heckuva way to go, it's all i'm saying
There's a bit of a fusion between the Island of Doctor Moreau and Frankenstein. It's implied that most of the town were the result of splicing human/animal genes. That everyone, including the monster, were victims of the mad scientist.
Interesting factoid: In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, the monster was trapped in shed for several weeks as he monitored a neighboring family and learned how humans interact and operate. He also found several books including Paradise Lost which he read and therefore learned about human culture, poetry, romanticism, war and relationships. The scene where Mutato was reading the books in the houses he invaded to learn of human culture was totally a reference to that.
Ah, I see you are one of few who is aware Frankestein is not the monster. Nice. That mistake is way too common
@@Kairii-Kylie Frankenstein is the human doctor, and he is the monster. What is often now called "Frankenstein's monster" was actually referred to as "the creation." The creation referred to himself as a monster once, as did the villagers at the end who didn't understand what they didn't know, but Viktor Frankenstein was the actual monster in the book. I'm a massive book nerd and bibliophile who collects and studies books from that era one back to the early 18th century.
@@Author.Noelle.Alexandria eh, they're both monsters. Frankenstein for taking absolutely no responsibility, and the creation for murder, quite a bit at that
Fact, not factoid. A factoid is something that sounds like a fact, but is actually false.
@@Author.Noelle.Alexandria inb4 "Knowledge is knowing Frankenstein wasn't the monster, wisdom is knowing Frankenstein was the monster."
I want to believe.... in life after love.
Nice
"I can feel something inside ME say
I really don't think you're strong enough now.."
_Life_ is what happens to you while your busy making other plans ...and forget the condoms.
@@skylx0812 HA!!!
Good one. 👍🏾
Two of my favorite episodes are Bad Blood, where they visit the town of vampires including the pizza delivery guy, and the one in season six with the guy whose emotions affect the weather, and his jealousy of his crush's ex boyfriend makes it always rain wherever he is... Just an awesome idea, fun, and so well executed.
I unashamedly, unabashedly & unapologetically LOVE this episode! It's one of my favourites out of the entire series! ❤️❤️❤️
It's beautiful television.
"You cannot create a human embryo with animal cells." I don't know, Roses, that reporter's head movements look suspiciously similar to the chicken she was staring at...
And the guy right after had a billy goat goatee. They were clearly trying to imply that many people from the town were in SOME WAY related to those animals.
I want to believe it's a shout out to the Kids in the Hall's Chicken Lady. czcams.com/video/IljUTWB2obM/video.html
That's exactly what I was going to comment; that lady was acting ridiculously chicken-like, and not just in that one scene either.
@@BWMagus Yep! She immediately stood out to me with her head movements. I agree with the other replies; they must've done that to the locals on purpose.
She sure seemed hen pecked
Could it be that the kid who was the author of the comic book didn't understand how "baby stuff" worked, so that's why the "real world" impregnations don't make sense either? This is assuming that the episode is actually just the comic book come to life. Thank you for reminding me of this episode, PUR! It was so weird that I had forgotten all about it! :P
@PushingUpRoses questioned whether it could be the live-action depiction of the comic book since the comic book was in the show. But comic-book within the comic-book is actually not an uncommon trope. I think this is the "right answer:" the episode doesn't make a ton of sense because it's a rendering of a kid's comic book that draws on Frankenstein themes.
@@BartMassey-PO8 This amazingly somehow makes the most sense, which is saying something.
@@BartMassey-PO8 The way shots are carefully composed also gives a strong comic book aspect. The use of the wide lens PUR comments on, remarking that it looks like actors are speaking straight to the camera (18:03) and cutting between each side of a dialogue as if we were looking at successive comic panels rather than respecting the 180° rule making the camera a silent 3rd party observer. Wide, empty space around the car because the artist could not be bothered to draw too much stuff in the background (7:07, 17:33), split screens between two characters facing each other (1:19).
This made me want to re-watch the episode to see how much more I can spot. :x
I was the kid that wrote the comic book
This was a blocked memory I didn’t need to unlock.
These are the episodes that make the X-Files so great in my opinion. They're bizarre. They're humorous. They have heart. Great character moments. The same writers did these types of episodes in Supernatural which made it stand apart as well.
Pfft. And people say Twin Peaks is surreal
yeees, the funny ones are always my absolute favorites! this is definitely in my top 3 long with other funny ones like "X-Cops", "Jose Chung From Outer Space", and too many more to even name.
I love the funny/weird episodes of The X-Files like Small Potatoes and Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose
One of my favorite X-Files episode was X-Cops, the crossover they did with Cops. I love the found footage style of the episode and the fear monster that they go up against is really interesting.
Written by Vince Gilligan.
@@GronkDroid awesome! I'll have to watch that one again.
The idea of Mulder having access to CZcams is amazing and frightening.
He constantly comments "I've done my research!"
I would love for them to make something like this on the side for a youtube channel, so much potential
I can’t unsee him as hank moody but that’s just me
What would CZcams Mulder's "TURNIN THE FREAKIN FROGS GAY!"?
I'm honestly surprised they didn't play with that concept in the reboot a few years ago
Ironically, so many other shows have fully invested in ongoing serialized narratives since X-Files that the "monster of the week" episodes are what I revisit it for today. The format was seen as old hat at the time, but now it's come full circle and feels refreshing.
Ironically, Vince Gilligan literally conceptualized Breaking Bad out of frustration with X-File's story format
I never liked or got into the over arcing plot with bees and the smoking man, etc. Monster of the week, or rather x-files way making a monster in between mulders fictional take and scully's rationale, is what made the show
Not to mention the overarching plotline eps are so inconsistent and frequently muddy that the monster of the week eps are way, way better usually. When I was rewatching recently I was actually disappointed whenever there was an overarching plotline ep in later seasons.
This is also why I highly enjoy Doctor Who. Serialized narratives is where it's at for me.
Monster of the week is my favourite format. It's the reason I loved this show and shows like it.
-Writers aren't making boring episodes out of fear of writing themselves into a corner.
-New and interesting things every episode with distinct plots and investigations.
-expanding universe lore creates an interesting backdrop to every episode regardless of its use in a single episode.
The overarching plot was weak and just felt like something they had to get out of the way for more interesting episodes in later series.
Shocked that no one picked up that the doctor's name is a reference to John William Polidori, another guest at the party where Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein (and Bram Stoker wrote Dracula). At least that's the story. Polidori wrote a vampire story as well, which didn't go over as well.
Bram Stoker wasn't there seeing as how he wasn't born until 1847 and Dr. Polidori died in 1821.
But many literary scholars do believe that Polidori's The Vampyre did inspire Stoker's Dracula.
I believe I learned that from Elisa's "Vampire Reviews"
This comment treats literary history the way the above episode treats science.
@@ericisprobablyfullofshit7797 Dude, Shelley, Stoker and Stephen King were all at that party.
Oh man, this is a great episode. Honestly, a lot of the X-Files' most entertaining episodes are the "joke" ones like this.
Like the one where Mulder’s friends with an alien wearing a baseball cap.
This one's nice and crazy, as is the one that pretends to be an episode of COPS. Also holy crap, the mad scientist is J. Peterman from Seinfeld, hahahaha.
I agree. @PUR: Please do that COPS episode next!
"The FBI has nothing to hide" lol I love that line in the cops episode.
The X-Cops episode is incredible. David Duchovny breaks character so many times.
Also king Neptune from Spongebob! (From the episodes not the movie)
They casted him because he was on Seinfeld and hoped hed bring comedy to his part but they must not have watched Seinfeld because he isn't funny there or here he also was the only person there I didn't like
Honestly, this might be one of the few shows for which I prefer the monster of the week episodes to the overarching plot ones. That whole alien invasion business or whatever was ultimately wanting.
I remember feeling like that even at the time the show came out. By around season 4 or 5, it was painfully obvious there was no master plan, no great payoff for all these confusing myth arc episodes (which also started contradicting each other pretty hard at some point).
Thank you! Im not the only one. Some of the alien plot episodes are utterly boring.
@@Agamemnon2 I’ve been rewatching the show recently with my gf who has never seen it before and I have already started noticing a lot of contradictions in the myth arc episodes and we just finished season 3. No wonder the ongoing plot seemed so confusing in the end because it’s already all over the place at the early stages.
I feel like once they did too many fake-outs and twists with Samantha Mulder that it unfortunately left me feeling more ambivalence toward it than hope to see everything play out with the plotlines.
Same here. The continuing plot was "Oh look, evidence of aliens/ bad guys . Oh look they lost the evidence. Oh look Mulder blah blah, Oh look Mulder's sister etc etc" As soon as you saw it was an episode of the alien narrative, you could pretty much write the script within the first few minutes.
I do remember this now! In the 90s my husband and I lived in Vancouver where x files was shot and my partner was a HUGE Cher fan so this was completely insane to us at the time. Fun fact, I was held up on my lunch break by an x files taping, it made me really mad!
This episode was just on tv two days ago. I remembered this episode being funnier than it actually was, for some reason I thought they broke out into song. Even though they started out treating the situation as a crime, I absolute hate how they brush off the multiple assaults by the end.
Fun fact: Cher was asked to play herself in the ending scene but turned it down, then later said she regretted the decision after seeing the episode.
I don't think she should have regretted it!
@@catnewskawai9367 why not?. She clearly realised she had missed out and that caused her to regret not being in the show
Fun Fact: Dr. Polidori in this episode is likely named after John Polidori, one of the authors present for the famous ghost story competition where Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein. His entry was titled The Vampyre, and is said to be a predecessor to Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
Fun side note: There were 2 Hollywood movies about this, Gothic (1987) and Haunted Summer (1988).
In the later Dr. Polidori was played by none other than Bill S. Preston esq. himself Alex Winter. 😁
That's interesting. I always assumed it was a riff on "Dr. Caligari," another vintage mad scientist villain.
The name Polidori is also a Frankenstein reference! "John William Polidori (7 September 1795 - 24 August 1821) was an English writer and physician. He is known for his associations with the Romantic movement and credited by some as the creator of the vampire genre of fantasy fiction. His most successful work was the short story "The Vampyre" (1819), the first published modern vampire story." Polidori was inspired to write The Vampyre during the same stay on Lake Geneva where Mary Shelley was inspired to write Frankenstein.
I remember reading that Gillian Anderson's brother actually was born with the bone disorder that the kid in Mask had. The episode was dedicated to him.
He had neurofibromatosis. Tumors, not calcium growth
Favourite episode is the pilot; fave scene was one that followed Scully over the shoulder between two ad breaks.
Let’s be honest, if Mulder did make an appearance on the Jerry Springer Show, he would soon be billed as a “former” FBI Agent.
I mean. Have you seen what has been going on.
@@sharkofjoy yeah, the Navy just said UFOs are real. This is a different world in 2020.
@@cryptozoomauler5505 Not the same as an FBI agent publicly exposing themself to scrutiny and insisting on daytime trash TV that " [thing perceived to be crazy] is reaall, sheeple]".
Air Force admitted almost 70 years ago-- after constant sightings all across the country-- that they couldn't explain at least 15% of them.
czcams.com/video/4-MbGYAv7Cg/video.html
Fox wouldn't he has to many higher-ups backing him.
@@chasejackson7248 He has more higher-ups wanting to destroy him, but let’s put that aside for now. Let’s talk about what “backing up” means. It means that they vouch for him. That they trust him. If someone backs you up and then you go and break that trust by doing something stupid like leaking government secrets on Jerry Springer - do you think the person who backed you up would be happy? I mean, they put a lot on the line to support you. They probably put their head on the chopping block a couple times for you. Or would they suddenly go from being your biggest champion to your worst enemy and regarding you as an ungrateful traitor? Trust me, they would make it personal. “You betrayed the Agency and you betrayed ME.”
"Mu-tay-to, mu-tah-to, let's call the whole thing off~"
your part was harder
Home is an episode that was so dark that it was banned and never rebroadcast.
An interesting episode to me was a Halloween episode where the two are in a haunted house.
That was a Christmas episode.
It's just a fun episode with a great ending IMO .When Mutato gets to the concert at the end and start's fist pumping the air lol and the way mulder and scully laugh, priceless
Felt like xfiles fan fiction. I remember watching this as a kid being confused as hell but coming away with a mysterious undying love of Cher's music 😂
As someone who’s scared to death about pregnancy this episode creeped my out so bad.
Pregnancy is horrifying and I’ll always feel this way. Everything about it terrifies me. I love kids, but I’d never have one myself. I’m with ya
I'm sure you hear it all the time, but it's really not that bad. Obviously you don't have to do it because it's completely your choice, but if it happens accidentally, you most likely have nothing to worry about. Don't let it scare you too much.
Him, full-on dancing in the house to Cher makes me roll every god damn time! i love this episode! thanks Roses and thank you Cher!
I remember going into this episode after hearing it praised so much and then just spent the whole time being so horrified by the forced pregnancies and the handling of it that I was kind of repulsed by the whole thing. Like yeah it's stylish but yikes
"is there anything you don't believe in, Mulder?"
“A consistently good haircut?"
Oof
"Cute, but who's the one on the left..." comments like that never get old LOL It's always great to see you covering X-Files stuff. Do the whole series, no really... love it, love it, love itt!
X-Files, the show where finding an actual child eating demon is less important that aliens.
Just wanted to say I stumbled on your channel yesterday when i was feeling a bit down. I have been laughing every since! Thank you for all that you've done and anything possibly upcoming. You're hilarious! And taking a trip down memory lane with all this stuff I watched when I was younger is fantastic!
The episode “Bad Blood” would be fun to do, as it departs from the usual tone of the show in favor of a comedic “whodunit?” storyline, featuring Ham from The Sandlot and Luke Wilson with buck teeth 🤣 One of my faves.
One of my favorites too.
"luke wilson with buck teeth" :D
The POV play is the best. 🤣
"Y'all must be the government people!"
I thought the point was that the pregnancy did work, the shot where the townspeople are in the barn and the camera pans from animal to person. That was showing the children and animal sires they had. At least that makes the most sense to me.
Yes, the reporter woman acted like a chicken
That Seinfeld guy was in this episode, the fashion mogul what hires Elaine. Lol. (Mr. Peterman, think name is.)
"Even Frankenstein got to look for love" is killing me because if they're talking about the creation then no he did not, mid way through making crime against nature 2 Victor freaked out and threw the unfinished body because he was afraid they would "dance with the devil" and create more hellspawn, and if we're talking about Victor also no, his marriage was arranged and also Liz died right after so... That makes no sense
I gave a thumbs up and subscribed the moment I saw Mutato dancing to Cher. Thank you for bringing this into my life.
I just recently watched all the 11 seasons of X-files plus the two movies and this is by far one of best stand-alone episodes.
I appreciate you taking the time to talk about this gem of an episode.❤️
I’m in the middle of rewatching them in that order too and I’m already waiting for this episode. It’s up there with Jose Chung, Clyde Bruckman and War of the Coprophages as one of the best standalone episodes.
Im also in the middle of watching them all too except i never watched them before so this i s my first time
Out of all the X-Files episodes I found "The Peacocks" to be the most disturbing.
@@beegee7941 I think you mean the episode ”Home” which featured the Peacocks. And yes, it was indeed a disturbing and a disgusting episode but also a really good episode.
Polidori is a reference to another author who was in Mary Shelley's group of friends. He wrote "The Vampyre" about Lord Ruthven. Great novella.
Not to mention, it was said that Polidori's stories from medical school helped inspire Frankenstein!
I thought it was a reference to the name of the mad scientist from Bride Of Frankenstein.
@@jeremyfrost2636 the character in Bride of Frankenstein was also named after the writer as well.
Glad someone mentioned this! The episode deserves a point for that reference, as well as for having Polidori experiment on fruit flies; fruit flies were used in some of the first eugenics experiments. (I mean, they’re probably used in a lot of genetic experiments since they reproduce so quickly, but still.)
I wondered if anyone else had noticed that.
It was an amusing one-off but it was no "Jose Chung's 'From Outer Space'." That episode made total sense and answered all questions by the end.
I think the overt references to the episodes influences are because the influences are so transparent, it would be a disservice to pretend otherwise. It's actually a 4th-wall break, not some sort of dumbing-down.
To echo Krusty the clown: What the hell was that?
In fanfic terms, this episode is basically a Frankenstein AU/redux dropped in the middle of the actual show and I love it.
But who's the Omega?
Mutato?
The name "Polidori" is kind of a meta-reference to "Frankenstein." John Polidori was a wannabe writer assigned by Lord Byron's publisher to accompany Byron on his travels and try to keep him from getting into too much trouble. They wound up sharing a house on Lake Geneva with Byron's fried Percy Shelley and his wife Mary. To pass the time, the four of them decided to have a competition over who could write the best scary story; Mary's offering to that competition is what eventually became "Frankenstein."
"If we show how they're NOT traumatized, it makes it okay!" feels like it was said on the set of this episode. And that's sadly a very '90s cultural attitude.
The weirdest X-file episode IMO is "Badla" where Deep Roy is a warlock who possesses obese people by crawling upp their butt. Yeah, really.
Lmao thats amazing, just like the ant man meme
Fitting, given his name.
Oompa loompa lickety split, open that bum I'm a reversible s#!&.
Oompa loompa dupety doo I'm a magical poopety poo.
Wow, I had completely forgotten about that one.
My favourite part of that episode is when they pronounce "ebola" as "ebol-eye"
headcanon: the whole episode is really just a comic story written by Izzy. either a) most of the events of the did happen, but Mutato and/or the senior Paladori were lynched by the mob, or b) there was no Mutato. Mulder and Scully came through the town, did an investigation, found nothing, so Izzy wrote the comic the way he hoped the investigation had turned out
Or c. None of this happened, indeed the entire show is just this comic (but only in the world of this one episode)
Roses, random request two years later, your content format is so great! Would love to see you take on more weirdo X-Files episodes. The Unnatural, First Person Shooter (yech), War of the Coprophages, Fearful Symmetry, and of course Jose Chung's From Outer Space would all make great subjects. Thanks!
This episode actually got me into Cher. I’ve seen her in concert twice since.
So basically, ur saying this is the X-Files' most Eerie Indiana episode.
Lol it does feel that way. Good catch. I love when shows play with changing their own format.
It REALLY does
I really need to revisit Eerie Indiana. It was one of my favorite shows.
@@chrissysky01 do it! It held up pretty well. I think I watched it in Amazon prime.
You're so right! Very much reminds me of the aesthetic of the Tupperware episode and the general feel of the show as a whole.
I can't help but think the animal-human hybrid hint was a nod to the Island of Dr. Moreau
Pushing up roses, please don't ever stop doing what you do
Forgive me if you have already covered it, but I’d love to hear your take on my personal favorite episode:”Jose Chung’s From Outer Space”. It features a small but wonderful cameo by the recently departed legend, Alex Trebek, so it might be a nice tribute. Also, idk how you refrained from talking about the chicken-reporter, but she reminds me of a Kids in the Hall sketch and it cracks me up, every time. 😂
OMG...ME TOO ‼🐔 " Gravel and grubs, gravel and grubs, bawwwk " 😂🤣😂
I'm glad you Cher'd this episode. Weirdly I remembered this as being in colour but I guess this is a perfect example of the fallible memory effect that the interwebs love
The comic book was black and white, the dive into the comic book - 99% of the episode - is in "colour". Guessing you are Canadian or british since you spell that with a u.
"Jose Chung's From Outer Space" - if you haven't done the episode yet.
And War of the Coprophages!
I've always thought this episode was meant to be the same setup - that the story itself is a fictionalized account from an author who had an actual account with Mulder & Scully. The events described are partially true, but what we see is a secondhand account from an unreliable narrator.
I kinda liked the episode where everyone that had a score to settle with Krycek finally had their chance and kicked the crap out of the pretty boy in the most homoerotic ways imaginable. Especally that "big, bald, beautiful man" Skinner.
JCFOS is my favorite episode as well. It's wonderful.
@@skylx0812 That was such a weird episode. Especially at the end when Mulder gets all offended that Krycek betrayed him again. Well maybe if you didn't punch him every five minutes!
I think my favourite part is finding out later that The Great Mutato is the same guy who plays Jeffrey Spender. I don’t know why but man I love that. He also played his story-arc dad The Cancer Man.
I feel like it might also be another story within a story. That mulder and scully did do the investigation but the story we see (the one in the episode) is the one written in the comic. In the fashion of jose chungs and bad blood
The X-Files did bonkers so well. In many cases I preferred the Monster of the Week episodes to the continuing narrative ones. As time went on the narrative became more and more strained.
Mulder: Why did you grow legs in that fly's mouth?
Pollidori: Because I wanted to make something that could... eat and run.
Scully: Bah-dum-bum.
The shots of the farm animals during Mutato's speech coincides with corresponding shots of townspeople who resemble them. It was basically a visual joke. I don't think anything else was meant by it, though I think your analysis is really an interesting and clever take on it. I do remember thinking, even when this episode first aired, that the idea of the womens' impregnation, in the way it happened, was kinda glossed over. But I do agree with you that this episode's production values are pretty well-done. PMP remains one of my top ten personal faves in the series.
This was the one X-Files episode I never liked. I mean, even Small Potatoes admitted that what Eddie Van Blundtht did was wrong and morally reprehensible, but Post-Modern Prometheus actually defends the actions of its antagonist and cloaks it in some moral posturing about acceptance and tolerance, which was absurd.
A loose thread and problematic elements in an X-Files episode! Whaaaat?!
🤣🤣🤣
X-files had a few too many "women impregnated against their will" episodes.
Oh no.
Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeah. Pretty weird in hindsight.
Granted, but so does UFO lore. Weird as hell in any case.
@monny287 Yes! I haven't seen this episode since I was a teenager and didn't remember the pregnancy stuff. I always remembered this is as a fun, weird one off episode with Cher music and Frankenstein homages. Seeing it again definitely colors that. This show usually gave the deserved weight to many issues including forced pregnancy, so it is super strange to see it in a comedic or sympathetic light. I definitely have to believe this is is a comic within a comic episode or I'd be way too bothered.
Such an Excellent analysis of a Stand-Out X-Files episode. I hope I am not alone in wanting more of this stuff. Marvellous. Thank you so much.
If we are talking about inspirations and homages, please also notice how women being impregnated while knocked out also references The Village of The Damned.
this is a surprisingly joyful and carefree episode.
Fun review, thanks so much! When X-Files dipped into humor, it often did a lovely job (I specifically remember one about a genie, which was written by Duchovny. Very funny, absurd, and also touching).
Blacking out for a long period and waking up pregnant makes me think of "Village of the Damned", an English horror film from 1960, starring George Sanders in a rare sympathetic role. It was followed by "Children of the Damned".
Holy crap! How did I miss that connection?! A small farming town shot in black and white where women go to sleep and wake up pregnant after a few days? That’s TOTALLY Village of The Damned. Good spot!
@@stefanfilipovits21 Thanks!!!
Based on the novel The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham. Both worth seeking out.
@@ptonpc Yes, wonderfully and clearly stated in the movie beginning titles. I have to get that novel at some point.
@@melenatorr A lot of his novels and short stories are worth reading. Try "The Kraken Wakes".
As soon as I read "Highly Questionable X-Files Episode", I thought 'it's the Cher one isn't it.'
I find it interesting that no one made the connection between Polidori and Frankenstein. John Polidori was at the inn at Lake Geneva when Lord Byron challenged his friends, Mary Wollstonecraft, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Claire Claremont, and John Polidori, to tell each other "ghost stories." Mary, who went on to marry Percy after his wife died, was inspired from that to write Frankenstein. This same challenge also inspire Polidori to write The Vampyre, yes, with a Y, and this is the origin novel of the modern vampire we know today. He also wrote Ozymandais.
The who group was a clusterfuck. Mary was pregnant with Percy's baby (while his wife was still alive and also pregnant), and Claire was pregnant with Lord Byron's baby, and Mary and Byron hooked up, and Percy and Claire hooked up, and Mary and Claire happened to be sisters, and Polidori kept his pants firmly buttoned and tied shut.
Someone replied to this claiming that Claire and Mary were cousins. Claire's mother and Mary's father married after Mary's mother died. They were very young, and were sisters after that. Fact.
they chained him to the attic and fed him a bucket of fisheads once a week
Hugo says hi
Simpsons?
It saved their marriage.
Why Hugo, I bet you've never even seen your own face
"He's no monster" - "He's a Cher fan"...
🤨He's a monster!
*slap*
snap out of it
This is so much fun, I am so glad you made it, thank you so much for everything you did to do it.
“Oh, ma god Mr Kotter, ma eye!” Lol. That slayed me
I always had a hard time with how many times X-Files had a monster of the week impregnating someone in their sleep. Or that one where a shape shifter takes on Mulder's appearance and tries to woo Scully. This show is a hot mess but when it's good, it's good.
All I can think about is how much I want to drink Perk soda. Nothing’s ever as tempting as fictional snacks.
The Food Lion brand of Dr. Pepper is called "Dr. Perky." That's close.
Slurm anyone
@@mathieuleader8601 From Eureka's Castle?
@@jeremyfrost2636 Futurama
@@meatguyf1375 Dr. Perky is closer to Dr. Pepper than most of the knock-offs. I recommend it.
@ 9:49 I LOST IT!🤣🤣🤣 “I can’t belieeeve this shyyyt!” 👏🏾👏🏾
Dr. Jon Polidori was actually part of thre Byron/Shelly writing group in Lake Geneva . Where Frankenstein was created. He wrote "The Vampyre" while there
Searched through the comments to find this.
Didn't it kill you every time she said Dr. Polidori it didn't explain that connection.
And she said his name a lot in this video. 😅
The big thing not commented on: God, to M&S look gorgeous dancing together. I think that was the moment I was pushed over into being a shipper.
W H E N A R E Y O U C O M I N G H O M E A G A I N ?!
Also, that's exactly how I would be watching Cher perform "Walking in Memphis" live.
For me the weirdest episode was "The Unnatural" where some alien guy really enjoyed playing baseball
Fun fact: Jesse Martin, the alien baseball player in this episode, was on Law&Order at the same time and his character was shot in the line of duty so Martin could film his X-Files episode.
It's episodes like this, Jose Chung's From Outer Space and X-Cops that truly made me fall in love with the show.
It is actually not impossible to get pregnant after a tubal ligation. It is unlikely, but does happen sometimes.
You can't plant seeds on Barren ground
@@FrancisR420 Apparently you can.
Yeah I see a lot of influences from The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits in this episode.
I was thinking the same thing. The early shots especially are veeeeeery “The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street”.
Needs more smoking Rod Serling
@@DasKame everything needs more smoking Rod Serling
It also has a bit of a Creepshow feel, with the episode being straight out of the comic book, and I believe that's what accounts for the wide angles.
I absolutely love this channel, everything it covers, and the person. Great stuff.
The Cher voice singing “I can’t believe this shit” parody had me crying
me: about to take a nap
roses: uploads a video on the x-files
me: sleep can wait
X-Cops is a great episode. A crossover with a reality show, shown in real-time and with a great plot. It shouldn’t work, but it does!
"The extra wide fly"
Okay, that line made me laugh.
The streak of excellent X-Files content on this channel is truly an experience----best time had engaging with the lot of it since watching all the episodes time and again back in the day.