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By
WAYNE KLEIN
Part of the attraction of
"The X-Files" were the trio of goofballs that
helped Mulder and Scully from time to time who
called themselves The Lone Gunmen. These
conspiracy theorist, hackers and underground
Mother Jones type journalists could always be
counted on for humor and for helping to save
Mulder's butt. So it's no surprise that these
popular characters created by Glen Morgan and
James Wong (the duo that created "Space: Above and
Beyond" and wrote key episodes of both "The
X-Files" and "Millennium") eventually got their
own series. The big surprise was how briefly it
was on Fox Network; the show was cancelled after
13 episodes. With a much more tongue-in-cheek
approach and less emphasis on the supernatural and
more on the spy elements that always lurked in
"The X-Files," "The Lone Gunmen" quickly found its
own tone after the pilot episode. The pilot
episode, which aired six months before 9/11, had
more or less the same "plot": a group of men are
planning on crashing an airplane into the World
Trade Center as part of a terrorist attack on
America. While the results were quite different,
the episode is both spooky for its prediction of
what occurred six months later and a highly
effective suspenseful episode. After the pilot,
the series veered into a more comic direction with
the character of Frohike (Tom Braindwood) getting
knocked on his butt and the trio's earnest attempt
to fight all the conspiracies that try to
undermine the American way. With the introduction
of Jimmy Bond (Stephen Snedden) and Yves Adele
Harlow (Zuleikha Robinson whose character's name
was an anagram for Lee Harvey Oswald) the trio had
two very different people trying to help them
achieve their goal of saving America. In future
episodes the Gunmen try and catch a poacher
dealing in grizzly bear gallbladders, prevent a
tango dancing smuggler from passing along top
secret information, help a man recover the house
and wife that were stolen from him and other
slightly off beat stories. Needless to say this is
Chris Carter's whimsical side. His frequent
collaborators Frank Spotnitz and Vince Gilligan
give the show just the right mix of serious
jeopardy and whimsy giving it a distinct identity
separate from other Carter produced shows.
I've finally figured out why Glen Morgan and James
Wong didn't do a commentary track for the second
season of "Millennium"; they came up with the
original characters of The Lone Gunmen and while
they are credited as creating the characters
themselves, they didn't participate in the
production/writing/direction of the show nor were
they credited as "creators" of this particular
series. I'm sure that probably caused hard
feelings between Morgan & Wong and Carter.
Regardless, The Lone Gunmen were always a
highlight of any "X-Files" episode and here with
the show all to themselves, they do a fine job of
creating enough havoc and solving enough mysteries
to keep fans of "The X-Files" (and fans of this
series) happy. The best part is one of the most
popular villains from "The X-Files" Morris
Fletcher returns in one of the best episodes (also
featuring a cameo from David Duchovny) "All about
Yves."
As usual an extremely good transfer from Fox.
Clearly there was no conspiracy to make this
series look bad on DVD. With a sharp, crisp
transfer and vivid colors "The Lone Gunmen"
actually looks better than the Fox flagship series
"The X-Files." With less episodes per disc side,
that's not a surprise. Although not a dual layered
DVD, it's clear the short cuts that Fox took with
this set didn't hurt the image quality. The
surround sound mix is also quite good taking
advantage of the 2.0 surround format.
A generous helping of extras for this fine but
short-lived series makes up for some other
shortcomings. We get a retrospective featurette
with the stars of the show and producers/writers
Spotnitz & Gilligan as well as director Rob Bowman
and others discussing the failure of the series to
find the audience it needed to survive. It's also
clear that the Fox Network made a commitment to
the series but failed to give it a chance just as
it had "The X-Files" and "Millennium." It's a pity
because, as much as I liked "Millennium," "The
Lone Gunmen" clearly was the more inspired,
original series crossing "Get Smart" with "The
X-Files" in a unique way. There are also four
promo spots included for the show as well. Fox has
thoughtfully also provided the season finale which
never aired as part of the original show. "The
Lone Gunmen" was cancelled after just 13 episodes
so Chris Carter and his crew decided (as they did
with "Millennium") to conclude the series and show
the fate of the characters in a vastly underrated
"X-Files" episode entitled "Jump the Shark." It's
a funny, sad sent off for some of the most
memorable characters from "The X-Files." It's a
pity that the tone of "Millennium" didn't allow
for "The Lone Gunmen" to show up on that show as
well-perhaps the two shows might have generated a
synergy and made the two more successful.
The negatives about this set are few but
substantial; the boxed set (like "The Pretender")
features three single layered, dual sided discs
with all 13 episodes, the bonus episode from "The
X-Files" and extras on them. The packaging leaves
a lot to be desired. While I like the design
overall, two discs are housed in a single slimline
DVD holder facing each other. This increases the
chance of damage to the discs. The third disc is
housed alone in the second holder. It wouldn't
have cost all that much extra to put each disc in
its own holder and it also would have ensured
better care of the discs. I'm a bit surprised that
Fox has instituted this cost cutting move and I
wish they would abandon it in the future for other
series.
We get commentary tracks featuring
writers/producers Spotnitz, Gilligan, director Rob
Bowman as well as the actors from the series. The
pilot episode commentary track is one of the best
as the writers and director ruminate on the
shortcomings of the episode, what they liked best
about the performances and the chilling fact that
they predicted what would occur on 9/11 nearly six
months to the day before it happened (although the
outcome was quite different). "Bond, Jimmy Bond"
is also an outstanding commentary track with stars
Haglund, Braidwood, Harwood, Snedden, Robinson and
director Bryan Spicer giving each other a hard
time about their performances and having a grand
old time busting each other's chops. It's clear
that the trio from the "X-Files" and their cast
mates had a great working relationship. It's a
pity that more commentary tracks aren't as good as
those included here. Curiously, Carter is
completely absent in the commentary section.
Perhaps it's because at this stage he was spending
more time on "The X-Files" after having been away
from his flagship series for the debut season of
"Millennium." It also leads me to believe that
Carter had less to do with this spin-off than
"Millennium."
A delightful, funny and entertaining series that
never found its audience, "The Lone Gunmen"
finally arrives on DVD (the hold up might have
been the residual feelings about 9/11 and the
similarity to the plot of the pilot episode). It's
a terrific series that deserved better. |
