X Files - Season 7

The extras are miss and miss - a few deleted scenes and some international clips in different languages - with the exception of three audio commentaries, which are better than expected.

Chris Carter, creator of the series, talks about directing First Person Shooter, one of the most bizarre and least convincing episodes. He's delightfully modest and refreshingly candid about the problems of trying to make boring scenes - people standing about talking - half way interesting on a tight budget, as well as admitting, with a hint of embarrassment, that "this one stretches the limits of reality." He drops in amusing asides about the crew's responses to Krista Allen's outfits. She plays the personification of a virtual sex goddess carrying a big gun.

Gillian Anderson, talking about the episode she wrote and directed, All Things, is even better. She's honest about having written three times as much as required and having to cut back dramatically at the editing stage and then worrying about whether the audience will understand the nuances of the relationships. She goes into depths about the construction of the script and talks of Scully's feelings entirely objectively, as if this character has nothing to do with her. She talks of the difficulty of starting scenes, where to put the camera, how much movement and so on. Often, she laugfhs at her own mistakes, or misjudgement. As a commentary, it is sensitive, intelligent and thoughtful.

Sadly, I wasn't sent the disc with the documentary, featurette or Paul Rabwin's special effects narrative, which means I have no views on them. The documentary is half an hour long. It can't be dull, surely.

X fans can't be without this. You know it's true. Say goodbye to Mulder. You may not miss him.