Own the rights?
20 out of 21 people found the following comment useful :- Jehovah's Witness meets Harrison Ford's "Witness", 14 July 2007 Author: Muldernsanta from Washington Terrace, Utah
Hollywood A.D., written and directed by David Duchovny is a mixed bag. The episode is really fun to view and you can tell the cast is having a fun time. However, the writing and story is a little uneven and the episode suffers for it. It's interesting to see Wayne Federman compare Scully to Jodie Foster, since many fans feel that the character of Scully was inspired by Jodie Foster's character from "Silence of the Lambs". Assistant Director Skinner finally receives a nickname in the series, being called 'Skinman' by his college buddy Wayne Federman.If you are a little young and didn't get the Micah Hoffman reference, I'll explain it to you. The character of Micah Hoffman is based on a real person back in 1980's Utah named Mark Hoffman who was a forger of historic Mormon religious documents and bomb maker. Even though the case is not an x-file, Skinner sends Mulder and Scully to investigate it while Wayne Federman tags along to observe them.The dancing skeleton that Federman sees is silly and is really out of place. Then, later, Scully has hallucinations of Micah Hoffman on the cross instead of Jesus and on the autopsy table. It is never really explained why she had the hallucinations and how it connects to the story.After Mulder and Scully apparently resolve the forgery and bombing case, the rest of the episode is spent with them in Los Angeles, seeing the production of the movie "loosely" based on them. The episode is quite funny and enjoyable here as Mulder and Scully meet Garry Shandling and Tea Leoni who are the actors playing them respectively. Of course, Tea Leoni is David Duchovny's real life wife. Garry Shandling bugs me for some inexplicable reason. I think I could see Billy Crystal in that role easily. The funnest scene is when Mulder, Scully, and Skinner are each taking bubble baths separately and have a humorous conversation with each other over the phone. Also, at the end, after Mulder walks out of the movie, Scully comes to join him on the set and they talk. You get to hear Gillian Anderson's true laugh, a very rare occurrence on the X-Files. It's very cute to hear.The idea of a movie being made based on Mulder and Scully was very interesting. However, the first 3/4 of the episode involving the case, was a bit convoluted. I wasn't sure whether I should take it serious or if it was supposed to be all funny.Hollywood A.D. is funny in delving once more into Mulder and Scully's relationship with each other, but had the potential to be more. Anyway, where else can you learn that zombies yearn to do more than just eat people?
21 out of 23 people found the following comment useful :- A good ghoulish time, 13 January 2007 Author: kahurley from United States
With the Syndicate gone and the answer to Mulder's sister's disappearance finally answered, there are many more stand-alone episodes in the series. I've seen a lot of fans dislike Seasons 6 & 7 because of the increase in stand-alones and the increase in the show's humor. Not for me. This episode (directed by Duchovny) is an example of the cast just having a good time. The show doesn't have to be all about aliens, conspiracies, and seriousness all the time. The bubble bath scene alone is priceless! Plus, how many times do we get to see Scully laugh? There are outtakes where they would have to stop shooting for a period of time because Gillian Anderson couldn't stop laughing. All in all, this episode shows the actors in a somewhat different light and it's enjoyable to see.
2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :- I am the bearded cow-like sea beast., 22 October 2008 Author: Sanpaco13 from Sandy, UT, United States
*** This comment may contain spoilers ***
This isn't one of the greatest episodes as far as X-Files go, but if you look at it in more of a David Duchovny "Evolution" sort of a way it works extremely well as a comedy episode. In fact some of my favorite comedic moments of the entire series come from this episode.The actual story of the episode deals with the "Lazarus Bowl". This is supposedly a bowl which was made in the vicinity of Christ as he told Lazarus to rise from the dead and therefore has in its "element" or something like that the incantation to raise the dead. So I guess the bowl is supposed to have the power to raise the dead? Something like that. I think if I paid really close attention to the actual story in the episode I might actually be able to figure out what is going on but the side story of the producer making of movie of the case is a little too distracting and I get completely lost every time.The cast obviously has a lot of fun on this one and it is fun to watch some of the novetly scenes and in-joke comments like Tea Leoni thinking Mulder is hot and Richard Gere playing Mulder in the movie, etc. I also love the part where they find out what the "words" are that the bowl is "speaking". "I am the bearded cow-like sea beast." Some of the interaction between the characters and the movie maker are fun and the whole movie itself is pretty fun too. Other than that however the episode is confusing and kind of lame. I give it a 7 out of 10.
9 out of 43 people found the following comment useful :- Plan 9 From Hollywood, 25 October 2006 Author: (andyetris@yahoo.com) from Philadelphia, PA
When a '60s radical turns up dead in the crypt of a prominent Catholic it looks like a great basis for a movie to Deputy Director Skinner's old college pal, writer/producer Wayne Federman (as himself.) It's inexplicable weirdness on screen and off as Mulder and Scully try to handle Hollywood and a case that involves a Da-Vinci-coded soup bowl and the dancing dead.I guess it had to happen - the show about show business. And it is just as awful as you might expect, combining both a self-parodical X-File AND a parody of a Hollywood treatment of the X-Files! Where does this leave viewers? Near the bottom of the unbrakeable slide in quality that is season 7. Once we were on a search for answers, then we were on a search for questions. Now we're just looking for laughs.In the finale scene, keep your eye peeled for the Chris Carter zombie - the one with tongue THROUGH cheek and skewered in place with a blue pencil. Oh wait, that's not visible on-screen...
Add another comment
