Rewatch Organization and Planning

[queequeg]

Idea... would anybody up for doing a rewatch of sorts?  Like an ep a week or something?  Then discuss on here?   I've never gotten to do something like that, and it sounds dorkily awesome to me.

[smrou]

I would be interested in doing that, but I fear I might not be great with follow-through if the past is any indication. An episode a week sounds like a pace I could handle, though.

[mstaken]

I'm definitely in! Do you guys envision rewatching the entire series, or just certain episodes?

[queequeg]

I hadn't really considered details yet.  I suppose a full rewatch, every ep, would take nearly 4 yrs.  lol.    I 'd be down with a selective rewatch. 

[mstaken]

I'm hoping we can include Fight the Future in the rewatch...not just because I happen to be inexplicably fond of it (though I am), but because there are a few parts of it I STILL don't understand and need you guys to explain to me :) 

[Taryn74]

I would LOVE to do a group rewatch, but as MsT knows (from knowing me elsewhere) it's very hard for me to commit to being able to watch and comment on a regular basis.  But the kids go back to school next week so I'm hoping it gets a little bit easier.

 

I love FtF too!

[queequeg]

I look at this like this, if you miss a week or two or three... ah well.  :)  Watch when you can, what weeks you can.  Whoever watches that week can chime in.  

[janestclair]

Sounds like fun to me! I was thinking of starting a selective rewatch anyhow. 

[Hidebehind]

I'd be interested :)

 

On a related note, the other day I was thinking about how the constant seesawing between mythology and MOTWs often makes the show seem inconsistent if you watch the episodes in the aired order. I think it would be interesting to "reorder" the episodes in each season and try to create a more coherent storyline somehow.  

[Taryn74]

On a related note, the other day I was thinking about how the constant seesawing between mythology and MOTWs often makes the show seem inconsistent if you watch the episodes in the aired order. I think it would be interesting to "reorder" the episodes in each season and try to create a more coherent storyline somehow.

 

 

Interesting observation.  I did noticed during my somewhat recent mytharc rewatch that I was a tad more able to follow it than if I had been watching all of the MotW's in between.  At least, up until a certain point, heh.

[queequeg]

So would everybody rather divide the eps into a mytharc rewatch (including FTF) and a selective MOTW rewatch?

If so, mytharc rewatch first?

Edited August 13, 2014 by queequeg

[smrou]

Personally I don't have much interest in a mytharc-only rewatch. It would mean skipping almost every one of my favorite episodes, which is tough for me to find enthusiasm for. There are a number of mytharc episodes that I really like individually, but as a whole the mytharc doesn't really hold my attention. So I actually like that the mytharc is sprinkled in with the MotWs. Sure, that might make it a little more difficult to follow, but does it really hold together even if you watch it all in one go?

[queequeg]

To quote Krycek, " There's no truth. These men, they make it up as they go along."

Truer truths were never spoken about this show, specifically the mytharc. Lol

Edited August 13, 2014 by queequeg

[Hidebehind]

Well, when I said reorder, I didn't necessarily mean picking only myth-arc or MOTW (though that would be interesting). One example would be moving D.P.O. to a later point in season 3 and putting a more somber episode in its place. And I would definitely put Sunshine Days before William.

 

I'm just being unnecessarily pedantic, though. I'm fine with anything you guys want to do as far as re-watching goes.  

Edited August 13, 2014 by Hidebehind

[Taryn74]

Sure, that might make it a little more difficult to follow, but does it really hold together even if you watch it all in one go?

 

 

Not at all, LOL.  It just made it easier, for me personally, to not forget what had happened in the most recent previous mytharc eps.

 

What if we made a list (that everyone could contribute to) of eps that we feel are important to understanding Mulder and Scully's journey as a whole, and used that as our rewatch?  That would get rid of some of the truly awful MoTW's and even some of the mytharc too (Travelers, I'm looking at you).

[queequeg]

Well, when I said reorder, I didn't necessarily mean picking only myth-arc or MOTW (though that would be interesting). One example would be moving D.P.O. to a later point in season 3 and putting a more somber episode in its place. And I would definitely put Sunshine Days before William.

Sorry, I post a lot from work b/c my job is BORING, but that sometimes means I misread a post in my hurry.  For some reason my brain translated reorder into a mytharc/MOTW rewatch followed by the other top of rewatch... cause I dunno why.  Derp. 

 

To make a list, would it be easier to go season by season or just a list from all 9 seasons?  I was going to suggest like listing out Season 1 first and ordering it.  And then as we get towards the end of that list, then make our list from Season 2?

[Taryn74]

Season by season would definitely be easier, I think.

[joelene]

This sounds like fun! I've never been part of a rewatch before, but I'm worried about me following through as well, heh. I read a bunch of what you guys write here but then I either forget to respond of can't think of anything to add. Ah well. I'd certainly be up for trying.

As for which episodes, if we're being selective, personally I'd be more interested in watching the good AND the bad. The greats I've watched so, so many times, that I think it would be fun to watch some "bad" ones as well just because I haven't watched those nearly as much and it's fun to pick on episodes that just don't work more than fawning over just the good stuff, you know?

Divisive episodes, might be more what I'm going for here. Like, everyone loves Ice, so for me, rewatching Jersey Devil or Fire or Born Again would be more fun, I think. Idk, just an idea. Not that Ice couldn't be rewatched as well! Just an example.

Edited August 16, 2014 by joelene

[queequeg]

OK, so I thought I'd kick off the creation of a Season 1 rewatch list.  I don't really know what I'm doing, or how this is normally done, but here goes...

 

Season 1 mytharc eps: 

(keep these since there's only 6?)

Pilot

Deep Throat

Conduit

Fallen Angel

E.B.E.

Erlenmeyer Flask

 

MOTW:

(there are 18 of these in Season 1)

Squeeze

Tooms

Ice

Eve

Beyond the Sea

Darkness Falls

(the above 6 overall seem pretty popular from our elimination game)

Jersey Devil?

Born Again?

Young at Heart?

(3 controversial ones)

 

I'm guessing the group overall is OK with eliminating Space, Shapes, Miracle Man, Roland, Ghost in the Machine, Gender Bender?

 

More middle of the road eps (keep or go?):  Shadows, Fire, Lazarus 

[Lisin]

Here's your place for all things rewatch!

[Lisin]

So, with regards to how we set up topics for this rewatch, do you all want to talk about individual episodes and create topics for each one or would you prefer to keep all Season 1 talk in the Season 1 topic? Either is fine, but we do try to encourage Episode rather than Season topics here if we expect the thread to get super long as it's hard for a new member to jump in on a 60 page topic. Does that make sense? The other general rule in rewatches here is that we spoiler tag things that reference events beyond the episode topic we're in so that people who are new to the show don't get spoiled if they're playing along with the rewatch. So, for example if you want to reference something from Season 3 episode 12 in a Season 1 episode topic it's fine as long as you spoiler tag it. Every other topic is free game for spoilers, meaning in the Mulder topic there's no need to tag anything etc. Feel free to post questions about this stuff in this topic which we'll consider the Rewatch Organization and Planning topic. (*goes to change the name now*)

[joelene]

Season 1 mytharc eps:

(keep these since there's only 6?)

Pilot

Deep Throat

Conduit

Fallen Angel

E.B.E.

Erlenmeyer Flask

 

MOTW:

(there are 18 of these in Season 1)

Squeeze

Tooms

Ice

Eve

Beyond the Sea

Darkness Falls

(the above 6 overall seem pretty popular from our elimination game)

Jersey Devil?

Born Again?

Young at Heart?

(3 controversial ones)

 

I'm guessing the group overall is OK with eliminating Space, Shapes, Miracle Man, Roland, Ghost in the Machine, Gender Bender?

 

More middle of the road eps (keep or go?):  Shadows, Fire, Lazarus

 

See, selfishly, I'd rather group watch the eliminated ones (except Space, my god, I wouldn't want anyone to suffer through that). But I get if I'm alone in that so I'm good with the suggested ones (including the three controversal ones + Lazarus... and possibly Shadows and Fire too) Those mytharc ones I haven't watched in forever so those I would look forward to. I think the first few seasons are gonna be the most difficult to decide which episodes not to watch!

 

So, with regards to how we set up topics for this rewatch, do you all want to talk about individual episodes and create topics for each one or would you prefer to keep all Season 1 talk in the Season 1 topic? Either is fine, but we do try to encourage Episode rather than Season topics here if we expect the thread to get super long as it's hard for a new member to jump in on a 60 page topic. Does that make sense? The other general rule in rewatches here is that we spoiler tag things that reference events beyond the episode topic we're in so that people who are new to the show don't get spoiled if they're playing along with the rewatch. So, for example if you want to reference something from Season 3 episode 12 in a Season 1 episode topic it's fine as long as you spoiler tag it. Every other topic is free game for spoilers, meaning in the Mulder topic there's no need to tag anything etc. Feel free to post questions about this stuff in this topic which we'll consider the Rewatch Organization and Planning topic. (*goes to change the name now*)

 

It would be fun if people who haven't seen The X Files before joined in but if everyone have already watched then spoiler tagging is gonna be a bitch for the mytharc eps! But a rule's a rule. If we're going with spoiler tagging then we should definitely have episode threads so we can talk freely in the Season threads.

Edited August 19, 2014 by joelene

[Lisin]

TBH I'm probably going to just watch all the episodes because it feels sort of wrong to skip them, so maybe I can just open topics for them all and y'all can talk in the ones you're watching and ignore the others? We can also make a Mytharc Discussion topic or some other name I'm not creative enough to come up with for the Mytharc talk? We're open to suggestions, really this is your rewatch after all :) 

[Bastet]

Thank you for moving this into its own topic!

 

I'm not an organized re-watch person -- it's sort of like for Honors or AP English, where you had to read certain books over the summer; I'd spend much of my summer reading, anyway, but once you told me I had to read Book A by X date, I wanted no part of that book -- so I'll just be joining in the discussion from memory when something being discussed strikes my fancy.  With that said, I find a string of episode topics with half a dozen posts in them more annoying than season topics, even when the latter meander.  So while I'm certainly fine with either, I do prefer keeping discussion in the season threads rather than creating episode topics -- especially if only certain episodes are going to have topics.  And while I take the point regarding long topics being cumbersome to later readers, given the relatively low level of participation in this forum, I wouldn't bet on that being an issue.  (And, not that PTV is TWoP, but there's significant overlap in posters and the TWoP re-watch went nowhere.) 

 

I do think a general Mytharc thread is a good idea, though, if we don't already have one.  Just on general principle, and as a good place for the kind of "do you think this is foreshadowing X, or does X just coincidentally not contradict this?" talk that would involve a bunch of spoiler tags elsewhere.

[queequeg]

There's already a mytharc thread, "The Mytharc: Deny Everything."   Although, it has 0 replies presently and is on the 2nd page.

 

We could also just do an ep a week if people want, so we hit everything.  People can participate or not, based from memory or not.  Or if you hate the ep that week then you can skip it.  Or you can rip it to shreds!  I don't want to make this too complicated or stringent; I was mostly looking for a way to stir up conversation and an excuse to rewatch with other people.  :)  That should keep the forum slowly rolling for 3-4 years.  lol.  Hey, maybe they'll be another movie by then?!

[Taryn74]

Since it's not a show that's currently airing, I don't really see the point in having separate episode posts.

 

If it's a rule, I will abide by it, but personally I don't think we should have to spoiler tag stuff for a show that's been off the air for over a decade.  Just my opinion.  Any newbies that come into the discussion are going to expect to be spoiled to some degree, I would think.

[joelene]

Thank you for moving this into its own topic!

 

With that said, I find a string of episode topics with half a dozen posts in them more annoying than season topics, even when the latter meander.  So while I'm certainly fine with either, I do prefer keeping discussion in the season threads rather than creating episode topics -- especially if only certain episodes are going to have topics.  And while I take the point regarding long topics being cumbersome to later readers, given the relatively low level of participation in this forum, I wouldn't bet on that being an issue.  (And, not that PTV is TWoP, but there's significant overlap in posters and the TWoP re-watch went nowhere.) 

 

Yeah, I agree that separate episode threads would be kind of unnecessary, considering they presumably won't be posted extensively in. It's only I feel that the spoiler tagging would ruin the existing season threads. A compromise could be a "Season 1/2/3 REWATCH" thread. Or...

 

Since it's not a show that's currently airing, I don't really see the point in having separate episode posts.

 

If it's a rule, I will abide by it, but personally I don't think we should have to spoiler tag stuff for a show that's been off the air for over a decade.  Just my opinion.  Any newbies that come into the discussion are going to expect to be spoiled to some degree, I would think.

 

... we forget about the spoiler tagging. I agree with this Taryn74. I mean, would anyone know about the rewatch besides us anyway? Or will it be advertised somewhere else on Previously? I don't know how these things commonly work.

[Bastet]

Yeah, I agree that separate episode threads would be kind of unnecessary, considering they presumably won't be posted extensively in. It's only I feel that the spoiler tagging would ruin the existing season threads.

 

Unless I'm missing something, commencing a re-watch isn't going to add any spoiler requirement that doesn't already exist -- unless you're in an "All Episodes Talk" or otherwise all-encompassing thread, there need to be spoiler tags used when discussing something beyond the episode or season at hand.  So if you're in a season one thread and want to draw a comparison to something in season two, you have to spoiler tag that portion of your post, and if you're in an episode topic and want to draw a comparison to something in a later episode, you have to spoiler tag that.  So it's the same principle either way, but at least in a season thread you can talk about anything within that season without needing to spoiler tag (as compared to an episode thread where you have to spoiler tag other episodes from the same season). 

[smrou]

FWIW, I agree with those who would prefer not to have individual episode threads because I think they would end up having very few posts, which would result in little on-going conversation.  

 

Could we just make it so that the current season-by-season threads having the rewatch spoiler policy?  So things from later seasons get spoiler tagged?  Do people think that would lead to an obnoxious amoung of spoiler tags?  I'm not sure if it would or not.  

[joelene]

I see. I'm so used to reading/posting in series of the past, like X Files, Buffy, Angel, Lost, where no one ever seem to spoiler tag when mentioning other seasons so didn't think about that being a rule.

[Lisin]

Often Dave will mention an organized rewatch on the Podcast, and sometimes we'll have the show moved to the main page during the rewatch to drum up more participation. Honestly the spoiler issue is probably not huge and I can get a ruling on if it's needed here. I don't personally have a horse in the race as it were, but in general the site's policy is that you don't spoil past the episode topic you're in. Especially A-bomb spoilers (X character dies later, B&C get married etc.) just out of courtesy for people who are just discovering the show. This is also how we deal with Netflix/Amazon/Hulu original programming. Since X-Files is streaming on Netflix I feel like people are just discovering it so I'd like to respect them and at least have one area that's "safe" from spoilers. 

 

I feel silly for not realizing we had a mytharc thread *goes to make sure she didn't create it herself* whew, at least I didn't create it! 

[Taryn74]

I feel silly for not realizing we had a mytharc thread *goes to make sure she didn't create it herself* whew, at least I didn't create it!

 

 

Hee!

 

I didn't think about XF being a "current" show on Netflix.  That does make a difference when it comes to spoilers, I guess.

[janestclair]

I also agree that separate threads for each episode would be cumbersome.  It makes more sense to me just to keep the rewatch discussion in the already existing season threads. 

 

I hadn't considered the spoiler thing. It's weird to me (but also very cool!) that there are people who have not seen these episodes.   I'm kind of jealous, actually.

 

So....X does die on this show. Apropos example?  Do I need a spoiler tag? 

[Bastet]

So....X does die on this show. Apropos example?  Do I need a spoiler tag?

 

If you're in a season thread for seasons one, two or three or in an episode thread for an episode prior to Herrenvolk.

[queequeg]

So... people who have done a rewatch before...  How has this normally been done in the past?  So say, for example, if we say we start with The Pilot next week (beginning Sunday), is there usually some sort of moratorium on beginning discussion until a certain date, or just start posting about that week's ep once you watch it.

[Lisin]

@queequeg that's almost why episode topics work better. For example we did a Veronica Mars rewatch before the movie was released, it was a "power through" type of rewatch because there was a deadline of the movie release date, but basically what worked well then was that I (but this time it doesn't have to be me, thought if y'all want I can do it) opened up lets say 3-5 episode topics a week, gave the plot summary and my thoughts on the episode and then as people watched they joined in the discussion, we spoiler tagged anything that was a bombshell spoiler (like who dates who or who dies etc.) and had a great time. I think that could work well for X-files as well, if y'all want a large mytharc discussion based on episodes you can always post "I'm moving over to the mytharc topic for some spoilery talk" or something in your post, I know it's kind of annoying but it can work. Alternately I can spoiler tag each episode thread and we can speak freely in them, and I can post a note that the episode threads aren't safe from future episode talk. 

[Taryn74]

Hey I'm willing to try individual episode threads if TPTB don't mind so many threads!  LOL.  I think since most of us came from TWoP we're just used to too many threads being frowned upon.  But having individual threads would allow each person to watch and participate at their own pace without feeling like they were dragging the rewatch down by being behind.  We could just let whomever watches the episode and gets here to start a thread first, do so.  That would keep any one person from feeling like they have to spend a lot of time setting things up.  *shrug*

 

What does everyone think?

[queequeg]

I don't mind the idea of individual episode threads, but my concern with a show like this is that there are 202 episodes.  So unless there is a way to organize/clump them by season, I think it could get tricky flipping through all the pages trying to find the ep you're looking for.

[Lisin]

You can set the forum to sort alphabetically which when the episodes are entered correctly will put them all in order. 

[queequeg]

Well, since we can sort alphabetically and use the formatting (ex: S01.E01: Pilot) to help us sort alphabetically, I'm not against it.   Whatever the majority of people want to do.   I think Taryn's idea was good in that whoever watches it first and is ready to post can create the thread, and it may be helpful to have individual threads for each episode.  That way if someone is behind on the rewatch they can chime in on that episode when they get a chance, and they're not getting left behind in the season thread because people have moved on to another episode in the rewatch.

[Lisin]

My thoughts exactly queequeg, also for everyone's info when you start a topic you'll see a little check box that says "Use Episode Format?" if you check that it auto-formats the correct way and you just have to fill in the blanks. It's pretty nifty. 

[joelene]

I'm down with that. I expect the season/actor/mytharc threads will reappear in the front anyways. I'm pumped to get started! However little I might have to say about the eps myself...

[queequeg]

So shall we start the Pilot this week?

[Taryn74]

Sure!  I should have time to watch it.  Hopefully LOL.

[Bastet]

Alternately I can spoiler tag each episode thread and we can speak freely in them, and I can post a note that the episode threads aren't safe from future episode talk.

 

Yes, please.  I have yet to recover from the TCM thread being created with a "No Spoilers" tag.  And, yes, if I can endure spoiler tagging discussion of 80-year-old films, I can manage to spoiler tag discussion of 20-year-old episodes.  I'm really quite good with that in the case of season threads.  But if we're going to create 200-something episode threads rather than using season threads, I'd really rather not have to be so limited.   

 

So that's my vote.

[joelene]

Seconded.

[Lisin]

OK, so here's what we're going to do. I'm going to post a mod note and pin it to the top of the forum warning people that episode topics are allowed to have spoilers for future events. It will say this:

I suspect everyone who comes to this forum will have seen the entire series at least once, so it would be silly to try to keep it spoiler-free. We're already spoiled, so to speak.

 

And then, you all can post what you like about future eps wherever you want! 

[Lisin]

I was about to post the first episode topic but then I realized, if we place our start date on Sept. 10 we'd be at exactly 21 years from the first airing. So, unless others object I'm going to start the Pilot episode topic on Sept. 10. Because I am a nerd. 

[joelene]

Hah, aw, that's kinda cool actually. Let's nerd on, I say!

[queequeg]