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xf_book_club2014-06-27 10:00 am
wendelah1) wrote in xf_book_club2014-06-27 10:00 am
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5x4: Detour
It's our final day. Was it a fun change of pace or an unwelcome diversion?
This is another MOTW episode I enjoy more for the relationship bits than for the X-File. The scene where Scully sings "Joy to the World" to Mulder actually made me tear up, in part because she'll sing it again much later in the series in a much different context. Other than that scene and the one in the car where they talk about building the tower of office furniture, the writing falls a little flat for me. I don't see the slightest resemblance to "Deliverance," which writer Frank Spotnitz claimed was his inspiration.
Writer: Frank Spotnitz
Director: Brett Dowler
Original air date: November 23, 1997
Synopsis: Mulder and Scully are carpooling with fellow FBI agents, Michael Kinsley and Carla Stonecypher, to an FBI team-building seminar in Florida. When they are stopped by a roadblock, Mulder gets out of the car to stretch his legs. Before Scully can ask, "Mulder, where are you going?", he has ditched the seminar and headed into the woods to assist with a missing persons investigation which Mulder is convinced is an X-File.
Most Memorable Quote:
Scully: Mulder, you need to keep warm. Your body's still in shock.
Mulder: I was told once that the best way to regenerate body heat is to crawl naked into a sleeping bag with somebody else who was already naked. (scoots closer to her)
Scully: (grinning) Maybe if it rains sleeping bags, you'll get lucky.
Links:
Transcript
Autumn Tysko
Drew Vogel
Fanfiction:
We get to season five and suddenly there's fanfic.
Communication by Wintersong.
Summary: So, what if Mulder and Scully really did get to build a tower of office furniture someday? What would we see?
Energy and Light by Oracle (on her Gossamer page) Wendy's note: not specifically a post-ep but it's season five, the fic takes place in a forest and it fits the mood. Plus I'm the mod.
Summary: Four girls have vanished, each one on a different night. Each one by the light of a full moon. Is it just a coincidence?
Still Life with Implant by denynothing1 aka Barbara D.
Summary: Adjusting to life in remission.
This Her Fever by Aloysia Virgata. Wendy's note: I'd never read this because the summary made it sound like cancer fic, which I mostly avoid for personal reasons. But it's not about Scully having cancer, it's Scully-in-remission fic and canon-compliant, too.
SUMMARY: It is, she thinks, a fitting coda to her life that Mulder and Father McCue should cross paths in this room, both trying to offer her salvation.
This is another MOTW episode I enjoy more for the relationship bits than for the X-File. The scene where Scully sings "Joy to the World" to Mulder actually made me tear up, in part because she'll sing it again much later in the series in a much different context. Other than that scene and the one in the car where they talk about building the tower of office furniture, the writing falls a little flat for me. I don't see the slightest resemblance to "Deliverance," which writer Frank Spotnitz claimed was his inspiration.
Writer: Frank Spotnitz
Director: Brett Dowler
Original air date: November 23, 1997
Synopsis: Mulder and Scully are carpooling with fellow FBI agents, Michael Kinsley and Carla Stonecypher, to an FBI team-building seminar in Florida. When they are stopped by a roadblock, Mulder gets out of the car to stretch his legs. Before Scully can ask, "Mulder, where are you going?", he has ditched the seminar and headed into the woods to assist with a missing persons investigation which Mulder is convinced is an X-File.
Most Memorable Quote:
Scully: Mulder, you need to keep warm. Your body's still in shock.
Mulder: I was told once that the best way to regenerate body heat is to crawl naked into a sleeping bag with somebody else who was already naked. (scoots closer to her)
Scully: (grinning) Maybe if it rains sleeping bags, you'll get lucky.
Links:
Transcript
Autumn Tysko
Drew Vogel
Fanfiction:
We get to season five and suddenly there's fanfic.
Communication by Wintersong.
Summary: So, what if Mulder and Scully really did get to build a tower of office furniture someday? What would we see?
Energy and Light by Oracle (on her Gossamer page) Wendy's note: not specifically a post-ep but it's season five, the fic takes place in a forest and it fits the mood. Plus I'm the mod.
Summary: Four girls have vanished, each one on a different night. Each one by the light of a full moon. Is it just a coincidence?
Still Life with Implant by denynothing1 aka Barbara D.
Summary: Adjusting to life in remission.
This Her Fever by Aloysia Virgata. Wendy's note: I'd never read this because the summary made it sound like cancer fic, which I mostly avoid for personal reasons. But it's not about Scully having cancer, it's Scully-in-remission fic and canon-compliant, too.
SUMMARY: It is, she thinks, a fitting coda to her life that Mulder and Father McCue should cross paths in this room, both trying to offer her salvation.
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I enjoyed rewatching and I really liked a) reading a few new fics and b) revisiting some good fics related to the episodes we watched. I admit, I'm all about the fic now; when I (re)watch episodes, I tend to tune out or skip the parts that have neither Mulder nor Scully (though I tried not to this time). Yes, the plot / x-files parts. No wonder I am so canon-deficient ;)
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The trip down the X-Files' memory lane was fantastically fun. Enjoyed so much of it. Fun to be talking about the series again, fun to be reading some truly insightful comments again, and fun to be reliving what was a passionate obsession for me about twenty years ago.
Here's the funny thing. More than wanting to plunge into X-Files again, and I do, I really do, I want to re-watch Millennium, which was the series that became an absolute addiction for me, well, except for the third season, which kinda bit.
Thanks so much for doing this. It's been a real treat for me.
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In the woods, no one can hear you scream...
I loved it!
I don't see the slightest resemblance to "Deliverance," which writer Frank Spotnitz claimed was his inspiration.
I've never seen it, so I wouldn't know.
See what I mean? Bad things always happen in the woods!
Do companies really put employees through those types of ridiculous team building exercises? I've been out of work for 7 years now, so I wouldn't know. I never had them when I used to work. Good thing, too. I'd react just like Mulder: "Kill me now." I can't imagine wasting my time with playing games, knowing that I had actual WORK to do!
To me, this is one of the less convincing MOTW eps. Maybe it's the effects or something, but it wasn't remotely creepy to me.
Is it just me or was that Jeff guy annoying? If he's used to being out in the woods, wouldn't he have to be a little less panic-prone? Sheesh, what a whiner.
I loved 'Joy to the World' long before this ep! It also reminds me of a now-former friend's XF-themed wedding. It was the first time a bunch of fans met, after knowing each other in an online group for several years. It was my first time meeting online strangers in that way. My parents thought I was nuts. But we all made it back alive and had a fantastic time!
Not a brilliant ep, but enjoyable.
Plus, Mulder in that gray turtleneck! Too bad it got ruined.
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Detour isn't a bad episode. The dialogue is dry and in some scenes feels incomplete or badly edited (for example, the scene where Scully is trying to wax existential and GA delivers the line well about "...trying to give it meaning" and then the next line of Mulder's is about losing hair? Really? I hope that was an editing restriction because if they go from Wilma and Betty to terminal cancer to baldness, I have a problem).
I remember a long time ago seeing some behind the scenes interview where the crew were complaining about the rain and it interrupting the continuity in this episode and you can tell and that detracts a little. But, I do like any episode where Scully pulls her gun and shoots somebody/something, so this ep has that at least! And it has Scully singing. And it has Scully packing Mulder's things, which feels nicely conjugal for a season five episode.
As for the fics that were rec'd I have to say "This Her Fever" is the only one I've read. I read it for the first time this April. It was quite good. I think the author, Aloysia Virgata kept everybody in character, perhaps to a larger degree than the show's actual writers in the post Redux world. So far, everything I've read by Aloysia Virgata I have liked.
This rewatch was fun!
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New fanfic, yay!
I agree, the dialogue seemed stilted in places.
This episode supposedly took 19 days to film, much longer than usual, because it rained every damn day. I think they had to call in a second director to get it in the can.
"But, I do like any episode where Scully pulls her gun and shoots somebody/something, so this ep has that at least! And it has Scully singing. And it has Scully packing Mulder's things, which feels nicely conjugal for a season five episode."
Ha ha!
"As for the fics that were rec'd I have to say "This Her Fever" is the only one I've read. I read it for the first time this April. It was quite good. I think the author, Aloysia Virgata kept everybody in character, perhaps to a larger degree than the show's actual writers in the post Redux world. So far, everything I've read by Aloysia Virgata I have liked."
I run more hot and cold on Aloysia's work. Some of it is excellent, some--not so much. But I liked this story a lot, in part because she kept it more or less canon compliant.
If you haven't already, I would definitely try Syntax6's season five story, too, although I didn't list it here. We read and discussed it a number of years ago. "Laws of Motion." But read "Universal Invariants" first.
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Now, I think I've read some of Kel but need some guidance. What do I read first?! There's 54 listings at gossamer and I don't know where to start! Help!
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For Kel, my personal favorites are Basketball Therapy, Angular Momentum (I commissioned fanart for it, I loved it so much), The Beginner's Guide to Tight-rope Walking, Hollow Day, and co-written with Michelle Kiefer, Bone of Contention. Her stories are well-written, well-plotted, have great characterization and wit. Her Mulder and Scully are just as smart, sarcastic and witty as they are on the show.
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If you are weird for this, then I am too. I *still* have not read Machines of Freedom because Wendy says I will like it (and, I'll be honest, it has lots of follow-up stories and snippets and I don't want to spoil it by accidentally reading them out of order, so I just haven't started it - if there was a collector's edition, that would be superb).
Also, I was ecstatic when I found one of syntax6's stories that I had somehow missed - it was Embers; but I didn't hold out very long before succumbing and reading it. I would be curious as to which one you are saving for later.
For Kel, I would agree with Wendy's favorites and add that I also really enjoyed A Neurotic Need for Validation, Recycled Virgins, To Have it All, Ricochet, Failure to Die, and Waiting for Agent Right.
Kel has lots of stories, but some of them are kind of odd little things. Given what you said about saving stories, I would get everything of hers from Gossamer and then read the ones that we didn't mention first. That way you (probably) won't be disappointed with any of the ones you save for last. Or does that sound like insanity? :)
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Embers wasn't linked on syntax6's website, but I found it anyway. So mysterious! Thanks for the tip!
As for Machines of Freedom, I read it recently and had no idea what I was getting myself into or else I would probably still be in the same boat as you. I still haven't finished everything in the "Caseyverse" but HIGHLY recommend you do read MoF. Ditto on needing a collector's edition - I too am afraid to read the rest for fear of being spoiled.
Looks like my summer reading list is bulking up...
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Mulder really is looking for a better mommy. Tough on Scully. I speak from experience.
Do we not agree that the (d)evolution of the conquistadors was a little rushed, scientifically speaking? I mean, what, four centuries? And now they're all barky and invisible? Wendy???
I have adored this rewatch. It was like putting gas in the car. Which I must remember to do tomorrow.
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I think most everyone is in agreement on that. This interactive timeline from the Smithsonian shows how slowly evolutionary changes appear: human origins. Come on Mulder, you know there must have been aliens from outer space involved--it just stands to reason.
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And since my daughter has requested a "space" themed party for her third birthday next month, I'm spending my extracurricular time planning that (toddler birthday parties. space. all my dreams are coming true! I don't know which one of us is more excited!), and not on fanfic. So, if I don't return to comment, I just wanted to say that I began reading "This Her Fever" by Aloysia Virgata and can't put it down. Love the canon-compliance and all the little scenes and character insight we would have loved to see but never got. The Redux II bit is basically the post-ep fic I've been waiting to read for that episode. It's a lovely scene between Mulder and Scully. Overall, their characterizations are nice, the dialogue is especially well done, but there are a few things that strike me as a bit off. First, our serious Scully is a tad more bubbly throughout than I feel is right for her. Not in a bad way, just ever so slightly a different Scully than I imagine. Especially at this time in her life, and then with Ellen, which brings me to point two - I question that her relationship with Ellen could have remained that strong and open, especially at this time in her life. I don't imagine canon Scully being able to be as open with anyone as she is with Ellen at the beach (the third point. Scully recovers from cancer by taking a girls beach trip? There's something so anti-x-files about a girls beach trip, which I believe was pointed out in the story, but it just didn't feel right to me). I did love that this story makes some sense of Bill Scully, and he's very likable. There's even some sweet scenes of brother/sister camaraderie! Finally, I can take or leave the smut, but the surprise of Scully's dream was just the best. Oldest trick in the book, and it was done perfectly here. And Skinner. That's all I need to say, right? Bringing us back to where we find our heros in Detour, this is a lovely story that fills both the temporal and emotional gaps at the beginning of season 5. Excellent read, thank you for the recommendation.
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You Know You've Been Watching Too Much X Files When... I read this and for a moment thought you meant a "Space" themed party, as in the episode "Space" and for the life of me I couldn't figure out what that would even entail. Face on Mars cupcakes?
Hoo boy.
I liked Bill Scully in "This Her Fever," too. I'm always happy when he's not immediately cast as the villain in fics, since he just seemed like a hard-nosed protective big brother the few times we saw him on screen.
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Thanks for the laugh.