UNCUT - The X-Files S1E5 - The Jersey Devil

I've been subscribing to the Patreon since I heard you were doing the series, but only now getting around to the FULL reaction vids, just been keeping up with the truncated Youtube ones til now, so way behind, but I'm glad to hear you mention the score, it's my main point of interest :) I'm not expecting expert analysis but glad to know you enjoy it too! Mark Snow, the composer, recently passed away, but thankfully over the last decade, La La Land Records had released four 4-CD albums (16 total!) with his supervision and a lot of fan input into the most requested tracks from the series, including a LOT from the early seasons, the moody synths that sound like a PS2 game

This ep of the first five wee the most Kolchak

I was a teenager in the 80s and I pretty hated the 90s! Not only because of personal drama - fashion and music were real bad. Fucking Tekkno was huge in Europe. But yeah, there was Trek and some other good stuff. Like the X Files.

The only season that's a real dud is season 9

Not one of my favorites but some good scenes. Binged these vids to catch up. So excited for X-Files, more please <3

Morn, I mean more!

Yes she was a cannibal, and yes she wanted Mulder's meat, but he wasn't in any real danger, for in that moment her actions were driven by thirst, not hunger. Yeah, it's alright. Not one of the more memorable entries of S1, but it's a high C tier IMO.

This isn't fair, back in the day we had to wait a week for the next episode of X-Files. Now, 30+ years later and you guys are making me wait a week for the next episode of X-Files.... Don't get me wrong, I LOVE you guys are seriously giving it a chance and seem to enjoy it. Please keep enjoying.

Yes, continue

These reactions are always such a treat to watch. I love this show so much and I hope you continue to stick with it for a long time.

New Jersey born and raised here! I cannot overstate how ingrained the legend of the Jersey Devil is for us. Soo this episode is a bit of a letdown because yeah...that is NOT representative of the legend. It's more of a supernatural demon to most of us. Goat Hooves and all. Deep in the Pine Barrens (South Jersey) Otherwise I did like the episode. But that mistake (or artistic license) always irked me.

Yep - growing up in the 70s and the 80s was the bomb (do kids still say things are “the bomb?”) and I liked things way better before I had a cell phone!

Yes please continue. I am really enjoying being able to rewatch this series along with you both.

Similar to what happened with viewers of Lost, Xfiles is still so popular today because it was one of the "water cooler" shows, you didn't have internet at home in the early to mid 1990s to look at forums or usenet groups so you would gather with coworkers on breaks to discuss what you'd seen. After a few Trek series, your anticipation is based on already knowing the franchise framework and then you wait to see how well each new episode fits into that. With Xfiles its great to see that look on your faces of anticipation based on not knowing whats happening.

"Let us know if you want us to continue" Yes.

MOAR!!!1

I was born in '76. TNG ended right as high school was winding down, so it felt like the end of an era. This show became a staple of Sunday night TV in college. We'd get together in the dorm to watch it. The lack of cell phones could be a problem, for example, if you're trying to meet up with someone and plans change. But, apart from the convenience of communication in certain situations, I think they ultimately hurt society more than they helped!

Yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, getting notification of this made my day. Not the best episode, but as with any "mid" X-Files episode, there's still great character moment stuff with Mulder and Scully and some good sequences.

Also, FYI as someone who lived it, needing to search around to find a phone anytime you needed to contact someone, was NOT "better" than the technology saturation we have now. Grass is always greener... Technology breaks are lovely in moderation, in a controlled environment, or when you are on vacation with no responsibilities and resources at your fingertips... But in the REAL world, it was absolutely harrowing not having the ability to instantly communicate like we do now. I seriously don't know how we survived, LOL.

Alex and Josh, please promise me that even if the reaction videos don't continue to perform well, that you will still do yourselves the favor of finishing this series, even if off camera in a binge session while on a break. You guys are going to just love it. There is no better mash-up of the horror and sci-fi genres!

Can confirm that being a teenager in the '90s was aMAzing. New episodes of TNG, DS9, the X-Files, Friends, Seinfeld. You could leave the house and just be unreachable all day. Literally every food was made with high-fructose corn syrup. It was a magical time. (Also please keep watching the X-Files because it absolutely is the perfect storm you assume it will be.)

Finally! I have been anxious to watch this all day! While not a favorite episode, it's still a fun enough watch. The actress playing The Jersey Devil is actually best known as a villain on Xena: Warrior Princess. I'm not sure how you guys would feel about that one. You'd either love it or hate it. There's not much in between. The X-Files on the other hand, just continues to get better. Two of the best episodes of season one are coming and I can't wait to see your reaction to them when you get there. By that point you'll both be completely addicted and will need to watch more, just like the rest of us did.

Alex, my man, trust this fan of T.A. The X-Files is that “perfect storm” outside of Star Trek you’ve been dreaming of for the channel. And like TNG, it really starts hitting its stride in Season 3. Josh, ol’ buddy, ol’ pal, you nailed it. The X-Files seasons are indeed that ideal blend of episodic adventures with interwoven mythology threads. I thought I was having a blast living vicariously through you guys discovering Trek for the first time (since my adult kids in their 20s still refuse to watch it with their old man). But seeing that gleam in both your eyes, the joy mixed with hope for your next great genre TV love affair, might be even better. It feels like I’m reliving the early to mid 1990s all over again, wrapping up the final season of one of my favorite shows of all time, TNG, while discovering new DS9 and X-Files episodes as they aired. You know how, at the height of its popularity, Game of Thrones was what everyone talked about the next day at work and online, and people held new-episode viewing parties? The same pop culture phenomenon happened with The X-Files at its peak. Fans hosted Friday night watch parties all over the country. Mulder and Scully were on the cover of every magazine for years when you checked out at the grocery store. Hell, I named my now 27 year old daughter Gillian after Gillian Anderson and dared her mother to debate me on it. LOL The series earned 62 Emmy nominations and won 16. It received 12 Golden Globe nominations and won THREE TIMES for Best Television Series. Even David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson each won a Golden Globe for Best Actor and Actress at one point in the shows run. The character development and arc these two go on over the many seasons will blow your mind. Keep the tissue box handy - I predict a number of tears shed by Alex and even Josh down the road for later seasons. Not to mention many, shocked "WHAT! THE! FUCK!" moments in the seasons to come. PLEASE don't stop watching it. You are embarking on a great adventure you will never forget with The X-Files and Deep Space Nine: two shows who are THE progenitors of the future golden age of television and who become much beloved by their fans for taking epic risks in mixing the episodic with serialized story telling unlike any series on broadcast TV at it's time. (And for the love of god, stay the fuck away from YouTube comments in the weeks and months to come! The spoilers for both these shows are so damn dangerous for you.) The Truth Is Out There.

Yeah this one's an ok episode. It is an interesting subversion of the Jersey Devil myth, where you learn that the reality behind the popular cryptid is less supernatural but no less weird. And once again, a nice stinger before credits roll. These are the best TA episodes though, where you guys have a lively and enthusiastic conversation afterwards about what you liked about it. As you've done to so many Trek episodes, you've elevated this episode. I think there'll be a lot of great comments when this hits yt

"Yup! Filmed in Canada!" Like a number of shows in the 90s, production and principle photography for The X-Files were primarily done in the Canadian Pacific Northwest of Vancouver in British Columbia. Various city streets, suburban neighborhoods, office buildings, motels and hotels in Vancouver doubled for random U.S. city locations and Washington D.C.. This also included a forest reserve outside Vancouver. Here's an article's description with no spoilers and episode locations you've yet to see redacted: "Among all of the locations the show used to portray the agents’ adventures, there is one forest that worked overtime. ...the show wanted us to believe that the Lower Seymour Conservation Reserve (LSCR, previously known as the Seymour Demonstration Forest) in Northern Vancouver was actually everywhere from [STORY LOCATION REDACTED] and [STORY LOCATION REDACTED]. And we viewers did ... but the actors and production crew rarely ever left Vancouver’s rainy climes." The LSCR doubled for the Pilot's Bellefleur, Oregon woods: "Standing in for the Collum National Forest in Oregon, the woods saw the abduction of Billy Miles and the introduction of Mulder and Scully to the world of the X-Files." And again here for The Jersey Devil. In the last episode - Conduit - Sioux City, Iowa's fictional Lake Okobogee was filmed about twenty miles north of Vancouver at the popular tourist area of Buntzen Lake. For many seasons to come, the conservation reserve will double for forrest or wooded locations, mountain areas, even the occasional jungle, scattered all over America and some other countries.

When Josh mentions watching the road side ghost thing when he was younger, I remember watching the same thing that still scares me thinking about back in 1993 on a UK TV series called "Strange But True" S2EP5 "Cursed Stone/Phantom Hitch Hiker" you can check out full episodes in low quality on YT.

😈

This is representative of a lesser monster of the week episode. Having said that these episodes are never wanting for some great character writing for Scully and Mulder. No matter how average the episode is there is something to love. B-

Due to the Internet being down almost everywhere near me, I'm gonna have to wait to watch this until something I can use to sync this up is available.😞

As someone who is a direct descendant of the Leeds family (the family the Jersey Devil legend is based on, 100 percent serious), this episode has always slightly disappointed me. Was hoping for a bit more LORE about the Jersey/Leeds Devil and having it tie in because it's actually interesting but hey, you can't have everything.