Monsters of the Week by Zack Handlen; Emily Todd VanDerWerff was interesting enough while I was reading but ultimately mostly forgettable and I skim read most of it. I do want to give this book another try when I'm not in a reading slump though.

I have loved the X-Files since it first came on the air in the '90s. I remember recording the episodes because some of them were too scary for me to be able to watch at night--it would take me hours to calm down after watching them. I owned the videos, then the DVDs, I watched the movies and I revisited the series when the new episodes came out. This guide made relive the great moments spent with Mulder and Scully. The titles of the episode made me instantly recall the plot which was described by the author in a such a way that it made me feel like he is a kindred spirit... It also made me want to sit down and binge watch every episode which I might do this summer.

Handlen and VanDerWerff's Monsters of the Week takes the reader on a whirlwind review of every single episode from all 11 seasons, as well as looking at the two feature-length films. This was an interesting read, to be sure. I'm already a huge fan, so there were no spoilers for me, but those new to the series should watch the episodes before reading about them, both to avoid spoilers, and to avoid going in with preconceived notions picked up from the essayists that may colour the viewing. Each author offered unique opinions, sometimes flattering, and at other times decidedly not, so don't go in expecting a rave fest for how great a show it is. Much of the information was old hat, but I did learn a few new things! Perfect for X-Philes of any flavour.

***Many thanks to the Netgalley and Abrams Press for providing an egalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Excellent, detailed information on The X-Files. My sister is a huge fan of the show, but I taught here some new things that I learned from this book! MONSTERS OF THE WEEK will thrill X-File fans!

The first X-Files episode I clearly remember watching was Squeeze. I was wedged into a beanbag on the floor of a darkened lounge room. Behind me was an open door leading to the kitchen which, like the rest of the house, was dark and Eugene Tooms creeped me out enough that several times he had me looking over my shoulder. My love of the weird and the wonderful and all things spooky began that night and I’ve been an X-Phile ever since, collecting episodes on VHS and then DVD and an assortment of books and memorabilia.

As soon as I saw Monsters of the Week I knew I had to have it. I loved the picture of Mulder and Scully on the cover and the title called to me. I suspected immediately that reading this book would lead to an overwhelming urge to binge watch the entire series (again!) but the reason why I need to surprised me. I’d expected to binge read this book and then slowly reread it as I rewatched each episode but in my rush to get my hands on this book I somehow missed the ‘critical’ part of the subtitle.

There was always going to be some disagreement between myself and the authors; you can’t be this invested in a series for so long and not have strong opinions about it. While the writers shredded some episodes that I count amongst my favourites, most of their comments were a fair balance of the good, the bad and the creepy. However, sometimes the criticism was so critical that it had me wondering at times if this pair even liked The X-Files. My stubborn has kicked in so my upcoming binge will now be about confirming to myself that the episodes I always loved are still worthy of my adoration.

I adored Patrick Leger’s cover artwork and the illustrations accompanying each section of the book. There are several of these that I’d love to have framed. I do appreciate how much time and effort has gone into this book. Besides watching or rewatching 11 series of TV and two movies between them, Zack Handlen and Todd VanDerWerff have tackled all of the monsters and mythology in a fair amount of detail; ranging from half a page to over three pages of commentary per episode. The authors also really like footnotes; most pages have several, ranging from really interesting extra information to seemingly random.

As a huge fan I wanted this read to feel as passionate about the series as I am and it was to a point. There were some quotes I loved:

“Mulder’s defining trait is his willingness to charge headlong into danger if he thinks he will find the answers he seeks, and Scully’s defining trait is her willingness to ultimately trust her partner, even when she doesn’t believe him.”

“The X-Files is a cop show, yes, but it’s also one in which you could wake up in a safe, standard reality, then turn the wrong corner and end up becoming a thing that goes bump in the night. No one is safe, and any given door could lead to madness.”

“this isn’t a show about aliens as much as it is about our need to believe in something, lest the night become too dark and terrifying. There’s so much darkness in the night sky, but there are also so many stars. And maybe one of them is looking back at us.”

“If Deep Throat was a cheat code to the quest for the truth, X is a walkthrough written by somebody who doesn’t want to share his secrets, doesn’t like you, and might not even be playing the same game.”

While I loved most of their take on the first few seasons I found the book became a bit of a slog to get through towards the end as it became more focused on the negative when discussing the later seasons:

“The mythology episodes would come to feel more and more poorly motivated, and eventually, you’d start to wonder how Mulder could believe in any of this bullshit.”

“you won’t just be wondering why you decided to watch this episode; you’ll be wondering why you decided to watch a show that could produce an episode this bad at all.”

“Other people die, but those deaths don’t have any weight, and the point the episode tries to make is too unwelcome and backward to really care about.”

“Like nearly everything else in the episode, there’s no real joke here, just a joke-shaped hole where comedy could have theoretically existed.”

“The X-Files has been reheating its leftovers for several seasons now”

“The X-Files is frantically trying to find a new reason to justify its own existence as it circles the drain.”

But then I’d find sentences like these and know they understood after all:

“we wouldn’t still be talking about the series if it didn’t hit more than it missed.”

“”The Sixth Extinction,” parts one and two, are ridiculous television, but dammit, they’re our ridiculous television.”

I acknowledge that had I written this book most reviewers would be commenting on how annoying it was to keep reading, “This is one of my favourite episodes!” almost every time they turned the page. It was a really nice trip down memory lane and it reminded me of so many episodes that shocked, horrified, intrigued and amazed me. I’d forgotten or maybe never realised that the Lone Gunmen made their appearance before Skinner did. I did keep waiting for the commentary about how each time Mulder pulls his gun on someone he loses it but sadly it never happened.

I had some objections when criticisms were made based on what is or isn’t acceptable today without consideration for the time that the majority of this series was made, when we thought computers were going to do some really scary things once the clock stuck midnight at the end of 1999. In particular the embarrassment the writers supposedly felt by being two white men critiquing a TV show written predominantly by white men irked me. By focusing so much on the gender, racial and cultural inequalities of the show they missed the obvious; Scully, being such a strong lead, inspired so many women to study and go on to work in STEM.

If you’re not already a fan you probably won’t pick this book up anyway but if you are just beginning your journey to find the truth out there I’d definitely recommend watching each episode prior to reading the commentary about them to avoid spoilers.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Abrams Press for the opportunity to read this book.

This books is the ideal companion for an X-Files fanatic! I can definitely see myself picking this up near Christmas time as it would make the perfect present!

This is the episode guide for The X-Files I longed for back in high school!

Adapted from the authors' AV Club coverage, each episode is approached conversationally, but with most of the "muse of the week" asides common to weekly TV show recaps edited out. The result is a fairly comprehensive, thoughtful trip down memory lane that recaptures the fun of watching the show for the first time. I burned through this book, staying up late into the night because I couldn't wait to relive the next season.

Also impressive, the authors mostly avoid Internet groupthink ("Everything after [blank] is terrible!" "The showrunners don't know what they're doing!"), and attempt to frame their criticism in the proper historical context. Occasionally they reach a little too far. The credit they give the show to changing the look of television should also go to ER, and you can't tell me any of the half-hearted attempts to continue the series after David Duchovny (kind of) left carry the same weight as the show in its prime. But for the most part, the authors stay on point. When this show was on, there was nothing else like it, and it was awesome... until a vaguely indeterminable point that will depend upon your personal preferences.

A few other quibbles. There's some behind the scenes speculation which comes off like amateur armchair showrunning, and the second movie and revival seasons really get short shrift. Season 11 in particular comes up pretty light. Earlier entries take pains to provide a short summary of each episode, but that's almost entirely absent in the final chapters. And the footnotes throughout the book are really, really weird, highlighting general pop culture information I think would be obvious to anyone who would pick up an episode guide. But then again, this show is really old. Maybe kids these days don't know what an Ed Asner or a Robert Patrick is?

However, if I wasn't up for some quibbling, I wouldn't be the type of guy to read this book! The X-Files was the beginning and the ending of my romance with fandom, and I learned a little bit about courage and how TV shows are written along the way. My only regret is that I can't send this book back in time to a younger version of myself. That guy really loved talking about The X-Files, and this is a great book for anyone else who still feels the same.

Your very own aftershow in a Kindle!

(Full disclosure: I received a free e-ARC for review through NetGalley/Edelweiss.)

I went back, as I often do, to read some contemporaneous reviews of “Pilot” (S1E1) from TV critics, and what struck me was how many of them insisted that UFOs were “played out” as the subject matter for TV series. Even the positive ones – and there were many – were worried about The X-Files becoming just another UFO series.

– Todd, “Things That Go Bump”

I feel kind of silly reviewing a book I haven’t read cover-to-cover but, since I plan on devouring Monsters of the Week: The Complete Critical Companion to The X-Files as part of an upcoming X-Files rewatch, it will likely be months before I actually finish it. So here goes nothing.

Monsters of the Week is a collection of the AV Club’s X-Files recaps – published well after the original airing of the show – revised and updated for modern viewers, and with all the spoilery bits removed so that newbies can enjoy it too.

What you won’t find here: point-by-point episode recaps. (If you’re anything like me, you already purchased those books, in print form, as they were released in the late ’90s and early aughts, well before e-readers were a thing.)

Instead, you’ll find critical analyses and reviews of each episode, as well as interviews with the actors and writers. Again, I’ve only read a selection of the essays, but overall they seem insightful and engaging, and certainly amped up my excitement to rewatch the show. I guess my only complaint so far is that I wish each essay was a little longer, but at 480 pages that might be a little unreasonable. (Or not, because X-Philes gonna phile.)

Based on some other reviews – either praising or criticizing the authors’ social justice bent – I have high hopes for this compendium.

(Full disclosure: I haven't completely finished this, but that's not how this book works. It's a compendium of sorts. Enjoy bits at a time.) The X Files is my all-time favorite show, so there was really no doubt that I was going to love this. It is wonderfully nostalgic, but doesn't cut corners on calling out the show (and its creator and writers) for some of its obvious problems (rape in one form or another as a recurring theme, for one). If you've stuck around for the 25 years of highest highs and lowest lows, I think you will enjoy coming back to this book time and again. The illustrations leading into each chapter are really superb! (I was able to read an advance copy through Netgalley. This book publishes Oct. 16, 2018.)

Just in time for Halloween---and the TV show's 25th anniversary--Zack Handlen and Todd VanDerWerff are releasing their new book, Monsters of the Week: The Complete Critical Companion to the X-Files. If you were a fan of this television series, you'll want a copy for your shelves. The book recaps each episode of the show and even includes interviews with some of the stars and a foreword by its creator and showrunner, Chris Carter. You'll get the authors' take on what they liked and disliked about the various monsters and paranormal entities. Reading the book, which was provided to me for my unbiased opinion by Netgalley, makes me want to start watching X-Files all over again.

My review has been posted to my blog & Goodreads.

Review has also been tweeted as usual.

Thank you! :c)

I've always been a huge fan of the X-Files. This will be a great addition to our library and to my personal collection.

As a die-hard X-Files fan, I love this book. It has a forward by Chris Carter, the creator of the TV series and the book is arranged in Chapters by Season.

So, each chapter is a critique of every episode in that season, it covers the brilliant parts, the good parts and the downright bad ones. It covers the relationship between Murder and Scully, the cigarette smoking man and the lone gunmen. It even names the, now more well known, actors that had parts in the X-Files, such as Donal Logue, Giovanni Ribisi, Seth Green et al. I loved being able to read about my favourite episodes and it really captures the mood of the show. Brilliant.

It’s a great companion to the TV show for fans and those who are new to it (are there any?)...




I would like to thank the Author/the Publishers/NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a fair and honest review

This is a must for fans of X Files. This run through of the monsters and paranormal entities that grace the show is detailed and on point. Each one is give the context of its episode. The only thing lacking for me is screenshot accompaniments for the monster of the week; the need to google a significant number of them certainly has informed me that I’m due a rewatch of the show.