One little man and his mission to show the world that little green men are out there and they're coming to kick your butt! No I'm not talking about David Duchovny's Evolution movie (Not the best reason to leave the show David!) but his character in The X-Files.

Agent Mulder, an FBI agent who has been sent to the basement to do his X-Files work, lives alone and works alone. His sister was taken from him as a kid. So he searches. He searches for his sister and to prove everyone wrong.

We join the show (Episode 1 - Pilot) as agent Scully (Gillian Anderson) is sent down to the basement to aid him with his work. Agent Scully is an FBI agent but is also a medical doctor (Very handy you might say). The FBI has sent her so she can put an end to Mulder's work. If Scully uses science in her reports then surely she can put a stop to all of agent Mulder's stories. Can't see?

After the shows slow but important pilot, well it just introduces the characters and there's a small story going on, Chris Cater (Creator and Writer for some of The X-Files episodes) gives us pure X-Files gold.

If you've never seen the show before don't think you know the show after a few episodes. Every episode is different. They range from seeing little green men, to killer computers, to government conspriacies. Which brings me to the two types of X-Files episodes.

You can a have a normal standalone X-Files episode. This is where agents Mulder and Scully go off and investigate a case which has been given an "X" because it can't be solved or it's strange. Sometimes Mulder goes looking for cases or someone calls him, e-mails him ect. These episodes are fun but are over by the end of the 45 minutes unless its a two partner. You sometimes get an answer by the end of the episode but there's never any proof of anything.. Which annoys some people but its all just part of the fun and Mulder's continuing search for the truth.

The second type of episode is conspiracy episodes. Conspiracy ends are limited in season one as it the idea didn't really come to the writers until towards the end of the season. In a conspiracy episode Mulder and Scully will do an X-Files investigation but it will somehow link into Mulder's sister, tests being done on the American population or something similar. Mulder will get near to the truth and in these key episodes is where you learn the most information. These episodes also introduce a number of key characters who try to either help or stop Mulder and Scully.

Conspiracy episodes always link the last one or two episodes of a season with the next season. So the end of season one links with season two with conspiracy episodes to keep the viewers guessing and waiting.

While both types of episodes are good conspiracy episodes are always the ones I and many fans wait for. It's therefore a shame that Season One doesn't have too many of them. Like I said before the show was only getting started.

So is season one the best of the nine seasons of the show? No it's not! Are there good episodes included? Yes.. here's just a few of the X-Files golden episodes in season one..

Episode 3 - Squeeze - Something or someone is killing people in locked rooms where there is no way for a person to escape! How is this thing killing these people and will Mulder and Scully be able to figure it out. This episode is a good example of good writers, fantastic direction and ace special effects even for 1993 and a small budget TV show just getting started.

Episode 7 - Ghost In The Machine - Once again X-Files being ahead of the times. People start being killed in an office building and the only one who saw the murders is a top of the range, building security, computer. Could it know what's going on? For a Television's shows 7th episode the cost of this episode must have been HUGE. While it's way out of date now and many films and TV shows have done what is done in this episode, its well worth a look just for the idea that writers way back in 1993 decided to write what they did.

Episode List:

Pilot
Deep Throat
Squeeze
Conduit
The Jersey Devil
Shadows
Ghost In The Machine
ICE
Space
Fallen Angel
EVE
Fire
Beyond The Sea
Gender Bender
Lazarus
Young At Heart
E.B.E
Miracle Man
Shapes
Darkness Falls
Tooms
Born Again
Roland
The Erlenmeyer Flash

24 Episodes you say? Yes 24 episodes on 6 discs plus a bonus special features disc but more on that later.

I want to talk a bit about M-Lock packaging, which is what packaging is used for this X-Files and all the new updated X-Files box sets.

M-Lock box sets are about the size of two DVD cases put together. The discs are then on both insides of the case (one on each side) and the rest of the discs are held in the centre of the DVD case by plastic clips, a bit like inside a normal DVD case but there's a bit more plastic around it so it can swing about freely inside the case... confusing I know :) hehe

The good thing about M-Lock box sets is they're made from plastic so there are no more smelly cardboard box sets which get ripped or wet and start to look old after a few weeks of taking the discs out and putting them back.

Another great thing about them M-Lock range is that the clips used to secure the discs in place are fantastic.. They're very strong and even if you drop the box set the discs stay in place.

Now everything has sounded good up till now.. but.. sadly there's something wrong with the M-Lock box sets. They have gone to a lot... of trouble to make a booklet for each season. The booklet has an episode summary on each page of the 19 page booklet (Well 2 episodes per page). This is fantastic cause you get a picture of the episode, the title, the writer, director ect.. plus it lists all the scenes and there numbers so you can find where you left off ect.

The only problem is there is no episode summary included for any of the episodes.. plus some of the chapter titles give the game away.. so try not to look. There's then the matter of spoilers. This is where they have spoiled the show by including naughty text and images..

For example.. in the front of the booklet is a few lines said by agent Mulder and Scully.. you don't want to read things like this unless you've seen the episode do you now! Plus they've included pictures in the back of the booklet which are from Season 6 and show HUGE spoilers, including main characters getting killed off! Why did they include these.. Didn't they think that first time viewers might by these DVD's??

Other then that the packaging and booklet is done really well. The booklet uses a really good material so even if you spill water on it it won't get damaged (Just wipe it off)

Special Features.. yes you get a whole disc of special features. However, the disc is on the back of the booklet so try not to miss it out like we did before noticing it a few weeks later :) hehe

The special features are ok but many of them have been shown on TV or included at the end of the old video's. The special features are:

An 11 minute documentary "The Truth About Season One"

Chris Carter talks about 12 of his favourite season one episodes.

Promo TV ads, deleted scenes, special effect scene

DVD Rom Game

The special features are worth a look if you haven't seen them before. One small thing about the special features.. Don't try and play the DVD Rom Game like I did. I put it in my laptop because I've never played it before and it crashed me computer while writing this review.. so this is the second go :) Hope you like it :)

Anything else? Yeah! It's not widescreen its just 4:3. The show isn't really for children under the age of 15/16 because some of these episodes are really scary :)

Overall I'd give the Season One episodes 7/10 and the DVD M-Lock packaging gets 9/10.