X-Files War of the Coprophages

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

https://sfdebris.com/videos/xfiles/xfiles3e12.php

W/ever a coprophage is... amirite!!

Oh this is a memorable episode I think. The one with Bambi?

[RandyPan]

Hey, has Chuck ever seen the 1975 movie "Bug"?

[AllanO]

I was waiting for the shit eating pun, I was thinking shit eating grin, but Chuck went with a play on eat shit and die, this is acceptable.

Yeah this was a pretty memorable episode, but perhaps more for iconic bits like the guy who died from an aneurysm while straining to on the john, then for the overall plot. It has been decades since I last saw it but I remembered.

Of course in X-files there are no accidents, the mere accumulation of coincidences can itself be a sign of fantastical WTFery as in the Rube Goldberg Variations. Of course the X-files felt no need to explain such events or consider broader explanation...

I think I might like quirky weird X-files more than I liked big conspiracy X-files...

[ChiggyvonRichthofen]

This is one of the more memorable episodes, as all Darin Morgan episodes are. Darin Morgan is a good choice for the best writer The X-Files ever had, although I see three possible choices depending on your preferred style- Darin Morgan (smart, funny, and literate), Glen Morgan and James Wong (the best of the prototypical X-Files episodes), or Vince Gilligan (tight action thrillers).

War of the Coprophages is good and funny, but one of the lesser Morgan episodes in my opinion. Jose Chung's From Outer Space covers a lot of the same ground more effectively. The episode is all about taking the piss out of The X-Files (and people in general) and the way most of its episodes are framed. Mulder probably has a better case than usual that something sinister is going on, and any of the strange deaths in this episode would have been more than enough to kick off Mulder's imagination and get the episode rolling. Only this time Scully does have the answers to debunk him.

[FaxModem1]

Honestly, if more X-Files had more episodes like this, where there was more of a Scooby Doo style explanation for what's going on, then I think the show would have been stronger, as it would have given the show more options than "Mulder is always right", which is where the show usually went with the monster of the week plots.

[Jonathan101]

I think the episode has a bit of the same problem that the film Cube had.

Yeah, it's possible that things are not quite as sinister as they seem...but at the same time, that's a shocking number of coincidental deaths in the same small town over the course of a handful of days.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

I think the episode has a bit of the same problem that the film Cube had.

You mean the movie Friday?

[Hiccups]

This is one of my favorite TXF episodes simply because Mulder's initial outlandish theory is proven wrong; I wish TXF had done that kind of episode a little more often, not all the time obviously, then the show would be just as predictable as when all of Mulder's outlandish theories are correct. Maybe if the show had consistently had something like a 70%/30% split between Mulder being right and Scully being right, that way, the supernatural stuff is still the case a majority of the time (providing cool or interesting monsters for the audience), but there's enough episodes where things are normal that the audience are kept guessing a little more, and the world of the show is a more believable, since the abnormal would be just rare enough that we're not left wondering how any skeptics can exist within TXF universe.

[Nevix]

I remember this as a rather silly, but fun, episode of the X-Files.

I honestly agree with the opinion that X-Files needed at least a little more "it's mundane, and not even all that creepy, but just kinda weird" episodes.

It's like the Big Conspiracy deliberately sent Mulder and Scully on EVERYTHING that was Supernatural, because they knew Mulder would come across like a crazy man, and that Scully would never believe the truth until it put on a massive musical number outside of her house that was all caught on video, complete with 4,876,087 major scientists who all agree... and Mulder as the only one who disagreed.

[ChiggyvonRichthofen]

I'll be the dissenting voice here and say that I'm not sure what the point would be to litter the show with Scooby Doo mysteries. Could they have done that a little bit more often to keep Mulder on his toes and make sure he's not always right with his improbable theories? Sure, but doing it regularly would just make those episodes feel like a waste of time.

To me, the one thing that this show really holds over other great tv shows is its versatility. This is especially true in this age of television with 8-13 episode seasons with one continuous arc. Episodes often end up more like chapters. But even those shows that are probably technically better than The X-Files have way more trouble changing tone and genre. Those shows will get criticized for "filler" episodes that don't contribute to the overall story. The X-Files has its mythology and long-term arc, but its more about those kind of experimental episodes. In some ways it's much closer to a show like The Twilight Zone than some of the shows it went on to inspire. If you start reigning in Mulder's (probably supernatural) ability to sniff out cases, you risk damaging that versatility.

To use an analogy-

If you're writing a Sherlock Holmes novel, you don't want Holmes to be solving a murder every chapter. You want challenges, false starts, and Holmes not knowing where to turn to next. You might have a few secondary cases for Holmes to solve, but the novel itself would all be about one thing.

If you're writing a Sherlock Holmes short story, you may want to rarely throw in something mundane, a case of mistaken identity or something where a crime did not occur. But overall, you want catharsis and resolution in that story. If you add the short story collection together, of course it's unbelievable and improbable that one guy should solve all those murders, but it's ultimately about the individual pieces.

The X-Files is more like the latter. It's not chapters, it's episodic. If the show were remade, I have little doubt that it would be more arc-based, and there's no reason that might not work. But it wouldn't be the same show with the same strengths, and it certainly wouldn't work with Carter at the helm.