Can't go wrong with any of the X files seasons. They are all great Im starting my collection and will return for the rest I've even seen ones I missed from the 4th season which was a delight. Can't wait till they next movie comes out on dvd so I will have the complete alien/government/coverup, Trust no one! I want to believe!! Thanks The Lone Gunmen

Let me start by saying that my rating is not based on the show's entertainment value which I consider very good. The rating I gave is based on my belief that the show failed to follow its original plan, so don't let my 3-star rating dissuade you from buying this collection if you're looking for an above-average sci-fi program. I didn't watch the X Files while it was being broadcast on TV, so, like others here, I am seeing it for the first time on DVD. Season One got off to a real bang with the very first episode and appeared to be headed in the same general direction as the series The Invaders, but the writers evidently ran out of space/alien material rather quickly and resorted to anything at hand. The Invaders never suffered such a plight and remained a thematically pure series from beginning to end. From an entertainment standpoint, X Files is good. Episodes in the 4th season tackle a wide variety of paranormal events and I have to disagree with anyone who claims the acting was anything less than great. It's just that in real life the big cover-up (perceived, at least) concerns aliens from outer space and not inbred mutants, cameras that take pictures of the future, etc. The show drifted from its intended path and the tie-in to the FBI became more questionable all the time. Had the show followed its design it would have featured weekly face-offs between Scully and Mulder and the FBI, with the two agents finding evidence of extraterrestrial activity and the agency stifling their efforts to investigate their findings. The writers might well have produced an even more entertaining show than the one we have. I won't describe episodes of the show as there are plenty of other reviewers who have done that, but I will mention a couple of things that are a trifle aggravating. When accessing the special features in the 4th season there is no way to return directly to the special features menu after viewing one of them ...you go to either the main menu or else the episode menu and from there have to navigate back to the special features. As much as I enjoy watching the extras it's a little more work than I would expect. Another small annoyance concerns the video. I use a Samsung DVD player with an HDMI output connected to a 1080p television. The player allows me to select what aspect ratio to use, so I choose 4x3 mode at the beginning of each episode. For some reason the DVDs occasionally force my player back to widescreen mode during the episodes and I have to reset it again. This anomally has occurred in all of the first four seasons of X Files, but not in any other TV series or movies that were filmed in 4x3. It isn't a huge issue, but I'm not a fan of horizontally stretched people. On the other hand, the transfer is excellent. So there you have it...a very good show! Great acting, excellent transfer of video. My complaints, other than the physical DVD problems, will probably not make sense nor even matter to many readers. This is, after all, a show worth watching.

Even though the episode Avatar from season 3 was the first episode I watched on TV, it wasn't until this season that I started to get heavily into the show and it's continued ever since, barely missing a single episode. It's this continued success and type of stories they told that make it one of my favorite shows ever, if not my absolute favorite. While season 4 had a couple of uneven parts, it's still largely one of their best years.

Herrenvolk: A pretty good premiere as Mulder investigates a colony looking after bees while protecting Jeremiah Smith. 8.5/10
Home: A controversial, violent and genuinely unsettling episode of a bunch of deformed family members trying to conceive. 8.5/10
Teliko: Rather average episode of a man absorbing the pigmentation of African-Americans. 6/10
Unruhe: Incredibly creepy and the first episode that made me a fan of a killer who projects his thoughts into photographs. 9/10
The Field Where I Died: Great premise but bad execution as Mulder is hinted of sharing a past-life with a cult member. 7/10
Sanguinarium: Another decent episode of medical doctors being possessed for a ritual. 6.5/10
Musings of a Cigarette-Smoking Man: Excellent episode as we see the past of everyone's favorite chain smoker. Best chocolate monologue ever. 9/10
Tunguska: Intriguing mythology episode as a rock carrying the Black Oil is found and an old enemy resurfaces. 8.5/10

Terma: Part 2 as the agents try to locate the rock and further questions into the mythos. 8.5/10
Paper Hearts: Great episode as Mulder tries to deal with the fact Samantha may not have been abducted but kidnapped by John Lee Roche, a serial killer.
El Mundo Gira: Meh episode of a love story involving 2 brothers, a woman and a Mexican legend. 5.5/10
Leonard Betts: Disgusting and funny all at once as an EMT doctor shows signs of regenerative abilities. 8/10
Never Again: It's either weird or funny but an episode with a tattoo voiced by Jodie Foster who wants to kill is...neat. 7.5/10
Memento Mori: Along with One Breath as one of the best X-Files episodes ever as we discover Scully's medical condition and Mulder's search for an answer. 10/10
Kaddish: Back to meh status as the agents investigate a murdered Jew seemingly brought back from the dead. 6.5/10
Unrequited: Cool episode of a Vietnam vet capable of invisibility hunting down military officials. 8/10

Tempus Fugit: Part 1 of one of their best two-parters as Max Fenig from Season 1's "Fallen Angel" is killed during a plane crash with a possible UFO and military interference. 9.5/10
Max: Part 2 as the hunt for Max's "proof" continues. Intense crash sequence. 9.5/10
Synchrony: Iffy but good episode of a time traveller capable of fast-freezing a team of scientists.
Small Potatoes: Hilarious episode of a shape-shifter impregnanting women with tails. Some funny Mulder business. 9/10
Zero Sum: Good mythos episode as Skinner tries to cover up a crime that involved the bees introduced in Herrenvolk. 8/10
Elegy: Creepy episode of a mentally challenged patient and his connection to apparitions of victims just recently killed.
Demons: Intriguing episode of Mulder trying to uncover the circumstances behind Samantha's disappearance. 8.5/10
Gethsemane: Great finale as Scully seemingly betrays Mulder and his faith and life is rocked by a terrible truth. Big cliffhanger. 9/10

Overall, season 4 is similar to season 3 as some of the best episodes of the entire show's run are inbetween episodes that are just simply good. While a couple miss, more often than not, these episodes are supremely entertaining and evidence of a show still in its stride.