X-Files Episode Elimination Game

[joelene]

Season 2:

Harry Cokely

Flukeworm

Leonard

Season 3:

Cockroaches

Patterson

Puppet

[queequeg]

Season 2:

Harry Cokely through BJ Morrow (Aubrey)

Leonard, the detachable conjoined twin (Humbug)

Mrs. Paddock (DHDV)

 

Season 3:

Special Agent Bill Patterson (Grotesque)  -- I sincerely remember nothing about this episode

Robotic Cockroaches (War of the Coprophages)

Virgil Incanto (2Shy)

 

Ya know, I have a very hard time separating the villain from the episode mentally.  Like how much I liked the episode doesn't necessarily correlate to how interesting the villain/monster is.  I LOVE WOTC, but could not care less about the bugs (robotic or not).  I had to remind myself that I'm not voting against WOTC, but just the monster.

[Bastet]

Harry Cokely and Leonard, the detachable twin, both got eight votes, and with weighted voting they're out in that order.  Following them out the door is the Flukeworm with six votes.

 

The robotic cockroaches and Special Agent Bill Patterson got seven votes apiece, and go out in that order.  Behind them is Virgil Incanto with five votes.  Puppet also got five votes, but Incanto's were stronger by a hair.

 

That leaves us with our final three.

 

Season Two:
 

Duane Barry (Duane Barry and Ascension)
Donnie Pfaster (Irresistible)
Mrs. Paddock (DHDV)

 

Season three:

 

The bellhop, Puppet (Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose)
Terri and Margi (Syzygy)
Robert Modell (Pusher)

 

Vote for your pick as most-interesting villain of the week. 

 

Since I don't think it's outside the realm of possibility for Robert Modell to get every season three vote cast, to avoid a 0-0 tie for second place, please also state your pick for second place in season three.

[queequeg]

Season 2:

Duane Barry

 

Season 3:

Robert Modell

The bellhop, Puppet

[Bastet]

Season three is easy for me: Modell for the win, and Terri and Margi for second.

 

But season two, man.  All three are quite interesting, and pretty well tied.  But I'll have to go with Mrs. Paddock because, on the whole, she's a character type seen less often than Duane Barry or Donnie Pfaster, which gives her the edge.

 

At any rate, the top three for season two are my picks for the top three.  But in season three, Virgil Incanto would replace Puppet for me; I love CBFR to pieces, but find Puppet too generic a villain to rank that high.

Edited October 24, 2014 by Bastet

[janestclair]

Mrs. Paddock!  Mrs. Paddock is awesome. 

 

Modell followed by Terri and Margi I guess.  Puppet is incidental to the story in CFBR.  Bruckman is a more important character. Hell, even the stupendous Yappi stands out more than he does.

[Taryn74]

S2:

 

Duane Barry, because he was every bit as much a victim as Scully, and I don't think he kidnapped her out of evil intent.  He just wanted them to leave him alone.  (And I'm a sucker for a sympathetic villain.)

 

If I was going for pure creepy/evil, it would be Donnie Pfaster.  He has ruined every appearance of that actor in anything else for the rest of my life.

 

S3:

 

Modell

Terri and Margi -- why did it take me this long to put together that Red Foreman and his daughter are in back-to-back episodes?  LOL.

 

Puppet is incidental to the story in CFBR.  Bruckman is a more important character. Hell, even the stupendous Yappi stands out more than he does.

 

 

So true!  He is like the most boring serial killer ever LOL.

[queequeg]

Well geez people, just rain all over my vote.  ;)   

[Taryn74]

Hee!  I adore CBFR, the episode, but honestly usually forget that it has a main secondary character other than Clyde Bruchman in it LOL.  And he's not even the bad guy!

[smrou]

Man, season two has a great top three, huh?  That's an extremely tough call to make.  Those are all really interesting villains and really different from each other.  

 

I'm going to go with Duane Barry, though.  I find him really fascinating.

 

For season three that's an easy choice.  Modell number one and Terri and Margi number two.

[joelene]

Mrs. Paddock for the same reason Bastet said. A demon (the devil?) in the guise of an older female substitute teacher? Too awesome for words. I think she might even be my favorite villain of the whole series.

Donnie Pfaster would come in second.

Modell followed by Terri and Margi. Virgil Incanto would be third if it wasn't for Puppet.

Edited October 25, 2014 by joelene

[mauve]

Duane Barry

 

Modell, followed by Terri and Margi (even though I don't think they are all that interesting). Makes you realized that season 3 had some really weak villains overall.

[Bastet]

By a one-vote margin, Duane Barry beats Mrs. Paddock to the title of most-interesting villain of the week for season two (Editor's note: boo).  Creepy Donnie Pfaster didn't get any votes, so he takes third.

 

To the surprise of absolutely no one, Robert Patrick Modell got everyone's vote for season three.  Terri and Margi got all but one vote for second place, so Puppet comes in third.

 

Most-Interesting Villains of the Week, Season Two:

1. Duane Barry (Duane Barry and Ascension)
2. Mrs. Paddock (DHDV)
3. Donnie Pfaster (Irresistible)
4. Flukeworm (The Host)
5. Leonard, the detachable conjoined twin (Humbug)
6. Harry Cokely through BJ Morrow (Aubrey)
7. Dr. Banton (Soft Light)
8. Walter Chaco and the other townspeople of Dudley (Our Town)
9. Contaminated Water (Dod Kalm)
10. Dr. Trepkos/Volcanic Lifeform (Firewalker)
11. Col. Wharton (Fresh Bones)
12. The spirit of Michael, the dead twin (The Calusari)
13. Invisible attacker (Excelsis Dei)
14. Augustus Cole (Sleepless)
15. The Unholy Trinity (3)

 

Most-Interesting Villains of the Week, Season Three:

 

1. Robert Modell (Pusher)
2. Terri and Margi (Syzygy)
3. The bellhop, Puppet (Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose)
4. Virgil Incanto (2Shy)
5. Special Agent Bill Patterson (Grotesque)
6. Robotic Cockroaches (War of the Coprophages)
7. Darren Peter Oswald (D.P.O.)
8. Big Blue (Quagmire)
9. Carl Wade (Oubliette)
10. Neech Manley (The List)
11. Organ harvesters (Hell Money)
12. Sgt. “Rappo” Trimble (The Walk)
13. Simon Gates (Revelations)
14. Succubus (Avatar)
15. Jaguar spirit (Teso dos Bichos)

 

I need help filling in a couple of villains for seasons four and five, so I'll put that up shortly so we can finalize the lists today and be ready to play tomorrow.

[Bastet]

Okay, usual deal -- where the villain is a mytharc character, or comes down to "aliens" or "shadow government," they're omitted.  Take a look and see if you think I improperly excluded anyone or got the villain wrong. 

 

Most important: 

 

1) Should Dr. Goldstein be included as a villain of the week, or should Demons be considered more of a general shadow government, whatever the hell Bill Mulder and CSM were up to back in the day type of thing?

 2) Is there a villain of the week in Travelers or is it mytharc background (literally all I remember is the stupid ring)?

 3) WTF happened in All Souls?  I hate that episode, despite GA's amazing performance.  I read a detailed summary, and I still don't know.  So there was a priest, and someone else, and some kind of angels or something (seraphims?), but them maybe a god or devil was doing all this shit ... I don't know, and I'm not watching it again to find out.  So is there a VOTW?

 

S4:

 

The Peacock family (Home)
Samuel Aboah (Teliko)
Gerry Schnauz (Unruhe)
Vernon Ephesian (The Field Where I Died)
Dr. Jack Franklyn (Sanguinarium)
John Lee Roche (Paper Hearts)
The Buente brothers/El Chupacabra (El Mundo Gira)
Leonard Betts (Leonard Betts)
Bettie the Talking Tattoo through Ed Jerse (Never Again)
Golem (Kaddish)
Nathaniel Teager (Unrequited)
Jason Nichols (Synchrony)
Eddie Van Blundht (Small Potatoes)
Nurse Innes (Elegy)
Dr. Charles Goldstein? (Demons)

 

 

S5:

 

 

The “Mothman” creature (Detour)
Dr. Pollidori (Post-Modern Prometheus)
Linda Bowman (Kitsunegari)
The tree monster through Karin Matthews (Schizogeny)
The killer Chinga doll (Chinga)
The AI (Kill Switch)
Ronnie Strickland (Bad Blood)
???? (Travelers)
Charles Wesley Gotts (Mind’s Eye)
????? (All Souls)
Greg Pincus (Folie a Deux)

[joelene]

I think the villain in Travelers is Alien Bounty Hunter? If I'm thinking of the right episode.

In All Souls it's a demon (or something?) posing as a social worker or a cop. I remember his face but not his name...

[Taryn74]

All Souls.......Aaron Starkey (yes I had to check the transcripts LOL).  He was supposedly a seraphim or something though.

 

I think Dr. Goldstein should be included for the same reasons Duane Barry was last time.  The episode may have been mytharc but he acted independently of the shadow government.

 

Nobody knows what happened in Travelers.  I vote skip it altogether.

[joelene]

I thought the seraphim was a benign entity Scully saw (who "rescued" the girls)? I don't remember why. I distinctly remember her seeing the shadow of Aaron and he had horns. Hmm.

Edited October 25, 2014 by joelene

[Bastet]

A priest, a seraphim and a demon walk into a bar ...

[Taryn74]

All Souls really doesn't make much sense, honestly.  They definitely made Starkey out to be a bad guy, and he's the one that had the four faces and Scully figured out he was a Seraphim.......but Seraphim aren't evil, they're just powerful angels.  The priest that they thought was the bad guy (because of the inverted cross - which he later explained was for St. Peter not the devil) was the one trying to protect the girls.  Starkey killed him because he was getting in the way.  It's pretty convoluted.

[Bastet]

Aaron Starkey it is, then, if whatever the hell was going on with demons and/or angels, he's the one we saw kill someone.

 

Goodness, season five only has ten villains of the week (17 for season one and 15 each for seasons two through four). 

[joelene]

You know, I've always liked All Souls, but now I have difficulty remembering why. He was creepy godammit, whatever he was!

ETA: Writing this in a smoke room in a club, that's how much I'm enjoying this game.

Edited October 25, 2014 by joelene

[joelene]

"[...] When Gregory does not answer, he is burned alive by Starkey, who is revealed to be a demon.

Scully is approached by the Dark Figure, who is revealed to be a Seraph, an angel who descended from the heavens and fathered four children with a mortal woman. God sent the Seraph to return the girls to Heaven in order to keep the Devil from claiming them as his own. Scully and Starkey find the fourth girl, Roberta Dyer (Perkins) at Gregory's church. However, Scully sees Starkey's horned shadow, revealing his true origins."

So, yeah, Starkey and the seraph are two different beings sent by The Devil and God respectively.

One wonders how come it took so long for the seraph to locate these girls, being a higher being and all. Unless it was perusing social service reports and stalking the priest as it appears demon Starkey had to do. The Devil should've sent Mrs. Paddock again if it wanted the job done.

Edited October 26, 2014 by joelene

[Bastet]

Okay, time to rank the villains of the week for seasons four and five.  There are five more to choose from in season four, however, so we'll work on that season alone for two rounds before bringing season five into the mix so that the final round happens at the same time for both.

 

Season Four

 

The Peacock family (Home)
Samuel Aboah (Teliko)
Gerry Schnauz (Unruhe)
Vernon Ephesian (The Field Where I Died)
Dr. Jack Franklyn (Sanguinarium)
John Lee Roche (Paper Hearts)
The Buente brothers/El Chupacabra (El Mundo Gira)
Leonard Betts (Leonard Betts)
Bettie the Talking Tattoo through Ed Jerse (Never Again)
Golem (Kaddish)
Nathaniel Teager (Unrequited)
Jason Nichols (Synchrony)
Eddie Van Blundht (Small Potatoes)
Nurse Innes (Elegy)
Dr. Charles Goldstein (Demons)

 

Vote for your three least-interesting villains, in order.

[joelene]

I guess I'll start with the ones I don't remember, however unfair.

Season 4:

Vernon Ephesian

Dr. Charles Goldstein

El Chupacabra

[Bastet]

Nathaniel Teager (I can't even picture him, and the episode was dreadfully boring, so by definition, he's uninteresting)

Samuel Aboah (see above)

Vernon Ephesian (again, see above)

[smrou]

Samuel Aboah (Teliko)
Vernon Ephesian (The Field Where I Died)
Jason Nichols (Synchrony)

 

[janestclair]

Nathaniel Teager - I can't remember him either, Bastet.

El Chupacabra - because in the end, wasn't it a killer fungus?  I barely remember.

Vernon Ephesian - boring

[Bastet]

El Chupacabra - because in the end, wasn't it a killer fungus?  I barely remember.

 

Two characters tell two different stories, and M&S tell Skinner they don't know.  But that's about who shot somebody.  I don't know if there's even a good guess on the fungus.  The brothers each turn into El Chupacabra and at the end they escape.

Edited October 26, 2014 by Bastet

[Taryn74]

Aboah from Teliko

 

Dr. Franklin from Sanguinarium

 

Nichols from Synchrony

 

That was easy LOL. 

[Bastet]

I think Jason Nichols is a rather interesting villain, knowing he has to kill his friends and himself in order to protect the rest of the world. 

[Taryn74]

See, when you talk about it you make it sound interesting, but I swear I have no recollection of anything that happens in this ep whatsoever, as far as picturing scenes in my mind.  For the longest time I thought it was either a fanfic I had read that I had a vague memory of, or that it was a Doggett/Reyes case.

[Bastet]

For me, it's one of those where the episode as a whole ranks as pretty blah - I basically think of it as the episode with the Nancy Kerrigan lookalike - but the villain on his own ranks as moderately interesting.  Like Soft Light, with Dr. Banton.

[queequeg]

The Buente brothers/El Chupacabra (El Mundo Gira)

Dr. Charles Goldstein (Demons)

Dr. Jack Franklyn (Sanguinarium)

[mauve]

The Buente brothers/El Chupacabra (El Mundo Gira)

Samuel Aboah (Teliko)

Vernon Ephesian (The Field Where I Died)

[Bastet]

With five votes, Vernon Ephesian is the least-interesting villain of season four.  Note to writers: cult leaders are supposed to be charismatic.  Following him with four votes each are, in order, Samuel Aboah and The Buente brothers/El Chupacabra.

 

Season five joins us this round so we can even things up and go forward with nine villains in each season.  Vote for three season four villains and vote for the one season five villain you find least interesting.
 
Season Four
 
The Peacock family (Home)
Gerry Schnauz (Unruhe)
Dr. Jack Franklyn (Sanguinarium)
John Lee Roche (Paper Hearts)
Leonard Betts (Leonard Betts)
Bettie the Talking Tattoo through Ed Jerse (Never Again)
Golem (Kaddish)
Nathaniel Teager (Unrequited)
Jason Nichols (Synchrony)
Eddie Van Blundht (Small Potatoes)
Nurse Innes (Elegy)
Dr. Charles Goldstein (Demons)
 
Season Five
 
The “Mothman” creature (Detour)
Dr. Pollidori (Post-Modern Prometheus)
Linda Bowman (Kitsunegari)
The tree monster through Karin Matthews (Schizogeny)
The killer Chinga doll (Chinga)
The AI (Kill Switch)
Ronnie Strickland (Bad Blood)
Charles Wesley Gotts (Mind’s Eye)
Aaron Starkey (All Souls)
Greg Pincus (Folie a Deux)

[Bastet]

Nathaniel Teager

Golem (I'm supposed to be moved, and I'm so ... not)

Dr. Jack Franklyn

 

Tree monster/Karin Matthews

[smrou]

Jason Nichols (Synchrony)
Golem (Kaddish)
Nathaniel Teager (Unrequited)



The tree monster through Karin Matthews (Schizogeny)
 

[Taryn74]

Dr. Jack Franklyn (Sanguinarium)

Jason Nichols (Synchrony)

Golem (Kaddish)

 

The tree monster through Karin Matthews (Schizogeny) -- not a terrible ep, actually, but hard to figure out what the heck was supposed to be going on

[janestclair]

Nathaniel Teager

Dr. Jack Franklyn

the golem -  like Sleepy Hollow's golem better.

 

The tree monster/Karin Matthews - because killer trees are a big, fat no in my book. So boring.  I think Schizogeny is a terrible episode, made only slightly worthwhile when Mulder climbs the tree.

[joelene]

Season 4:

Nathaniel Taeger

Dr. Charles Goldstein

Golem

Season 5:

So much hate for the tree lady! My vote goes to Charles Wesley Gotts. Marty was the interesting thing about Mind's Eye. Charles was just a thug.

[Bastet]

It hasn't quite been 24 hours, but I need to get this done before a meeting; sorry to anyone who didn't get a chance to vote.

 

With five votes, the Golem goes out first this round.  Nathaniel Teager disappears next with four votes, and Dr. Jack Franklyn follows with three.
 
The tree monster through Karin Matthews is our pick for season five's least-interesting villian of the week.
 
Season Four

The Peacock family (Home)
Gerry Schnauz (Unruhe)
John Lee Roche (Paper Hearts)
Leonard Betts (Leonard Betts)
Bettie the Talking Tattoo through Ed Jerse (Never Again)
Jason Nichols (Synchrony)
Eddie Van Blundht (Small Potatoes)
Nurse Innes (Elegy)
Dr. Charles Goldstein (Demons)


Season Five

The “Mothman” creature (Detour)
Dr. Pollidori (Post-Modern Prometheus)
Linda Bowman (Kitsunegari)
The killer Chinga doll (Chinga)
The AI (Kill Switch)
Ronnie Strickland (Bad Blood)
Charles Wesley Gotts (Mind’s Eye)
Aaron Starkey (All Souls)
Greg Pincus (Folie a Deux)

 

Back to the normal routine this round: Vote for the three villians (in order) from each season you find least interesting.

[Bastet]

Dr. Charles Goldstein

Nurse Innes

Jason Nichols

 

Charles Wesley Gotts

Aaron Starkey

Dr. Pollidori

[mauve]

Season 4

Jason Nichols (Synchrony)

Dr. Charles Goldstein (Demons)

Nurse Innes (Elegy)

 

Season 5

Aaron Starkey (All Souls)

Charles Wesley Gotts (Mind’s Eye)

Dr. Pollidori (Post-Modern Prometheus)

[smrou]

Jason Nichols (Synchrony)

Dr. Charles Goldstein (Demons)
Nurse Innes (Elegy)
 

 

Charles Wesley Gotts (Mind’s Eye)
Aaron Starkey (All Souls)
The killer Chinga doll (Chinga)

[Taryn74]

Jason Nichols (Synchrony)

Dr. Charles Goldstein (Demons)

Nurse Innes (Elegy) -- great ep, but I have yet to make sense of the "she is me" stuff.

 

Charles Wesley Gotts (Mind’s Eye)

Aaron Starkey (All Souls)

Dr. Pollidori (Post-Modern Prometheus)

[janestclair]

Jason Nichols

Dr. Goldstein

Nurse Innes

 

Charles Wesley Gotts

Aaron Starkey

killer Chinga doll

[joelene]

Season 4:

Dr. Charles Goldstein

Jason Nichols

Nurse Innes

Season 5:

Charles Wesley Gotts

Aaron Starkey

Dr. Pollidori

[queequeg]

Season 4:

Dr. Charles Goldstein (Demons)

Nurse Innes (Elegy)

Bettie the Talking Tattoo through Ed Jerse (Never Again)

 

So many votes for Jason Nichols!  I thought that was such a cool episode, and he was such an interesting character.  :)

 

Season 5:

Aaron Starkey (All Souls)

Charles Wesley Gotts (Mind’s Eye)

The AI (Kill Switch)

[Bastet]

Dr. Charles Goldstein and Nurse Innes each got seven votes, and with weighted voting the are out in that order.  Jason Nichols follows them with six votes.

 

Charles Wesley Gotts and Aaron Starkey also each got seven votes, and are out in that order.  Dr. Pollidori joins them with four votes.

 

Season Four
 
The Peacock family (Home)
Gerry Schnauz (Unruhe)
John Lee Roche (Paper Hearts)
Leonard Betts (Leonard Betts)
Bettie the Talking Tattoo through Ed Jerse (Never Again)
Eddie Van Blundht (Small Potatoes)
 
Season Five

The “Mothman” creature (Detour)
Linda Bowman (Kitsunegari)
The killer Chinga doll (Chinga)
The AI (Kill Switch)
Ronnie Strickland (Bad Blood)
Greg Pincus (Folie a Deux)

 

We're already at the penultimate round!  Vote for your three least-interesting, in order.

[Bastet]

The Peacock family

John Lee Roche

Gerry Schnauz

 

Greg Pincus

Linda Bowman

The killer Chinga doll

 

Man, season four is hard!  I know my number one, but the top six are all pretty interesting, so it's difficult to rank two through six.  (Which is why I voted for Jason Nichols last round, as I think he's the next tier down of interesting ... and then stands alone, because everyone after him is just sort of there.)