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"The X Files" How the Ghosts Stole Christmas (1998)


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18 out of 19 people found the following comment useful :-
Lonely winter night, 29 November 2007
10/10
Author: Edgewalker from Tuxford, England

How the Ghosts Stole Christmas is tailor made for a lonely winter night, it pulls up a chair like an old friend and instantly makes you feel less alone. Chris Carter's writing is sublime and his direction pulls all the richness and warmth out of everything the camera touches. Edward Asner and Lily Tomlin are strong and assured guest stars that understand when to let go and when to hold back, there is no substitute for experience and every line and every expression is an absolute joy. Duchovny and Anderson are given plenty of space and time to really work the material and they make the most of it, turning in performances of such depth and subtlety that you feel duty bound to watch as closely as you can. Loneliness and despair has no right to be this beautiful.

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20 out of 23 people found the following comment useful :-
A must see even for everybody, 11 December 2006
9/10
Author: Rodolfo Anzaldua from Mexico

For the first five years the X-files didn't have a Holiday episode. This is one of the best Holiday episodes that I've seen. I'm not going to write about the plot that I can say is marvelous. Let me tell you the the acting that is great, the music really wraps you in the mood for the episode, the lightning is very good, and yes: The plot is more than good. Wonderful performances by Edward Asner and Lily Tomlin spice the episode. Just four characters in a mix that really made a Merry Merry Christmas.

Mulder and Scully find themselves in a situation where they need to thrust themselves and maybe they have to find out about how much they care about each other and maybe how much they love each other. Of course the plot wouldn't have worked without previous knowledge about how Mulder and Scully think. Maybe if you see this episode as your first X files episode it wouldn't make sense, but if you are connected to the characters you will love this one, one of the best of season 6 an one of the best of the whole series.

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16 out of 17 people found the following comment useful :-
Not Your Typical Christmas Episode, 24 January 2007
8/10
Author: Muldernsanta from Washington Terrace, Utah

Continuing with the X-files-lite theme of season six, How The Ghosts Stole Christmas takes a funny look into the personalities of Mulder and Scully and their relationship with each other. This is a story more appropriate for Halloween, but told as a Christmas tale. Mark Snow's use of the organ and harpsichord are perfect for this episode, giving it a nice, unique feel. This episode has the smallest cast in the history of the X-Files, with only two guest stars, Ed Asner and Lily Tomlin as the ghosts. The two do a great job as the star-crossed lovers who attempt to get Mulder and Scully to commit a double murder. It is funny to hear all of Mulder and Scully's shortcomings revealed by the ghosts. The set of the haunted house is very cool-looking and perfect. This is definitely not an episode to show to a newcomer to the X-Files. It deals with all the quirky aspects of our favorite agents that we've come to learn and love over the years. A newcomer would just be lost. But, for the long-time x-phile, this is a fun episode that delves more into the relationship between Mulder and Scully. If you're not into that, and just want to see scary monsters and freaks, this is not the episode for you. I enjoyed the episode a lot for those reasons. However, because of the less than x-files feel to it, I don't give it full marks. Still, How The Ghosts Stole Christmas is a good Halloween story for Christmas time.

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7 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
Best Christmas TV episode since Steptoe and Son., 28 December 2006
10/10
Author: sub_mish from United Kingdom

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

I disagree with both the above posters. I think this episode would be very accessible to non-X-files fans. And, in the world of the X-Files, all the paranormal things are real, so the ghosts are real.

Being ghosts, they can read people's minds, and so they accurately diagnose Mulder as a narcissist and Scully as his co-dependant. The psychology is accurate; pairings of this sort are quite common, and the parapsychology milieu seems like ideal place for such people to hang out in.

I think this episode is a brilliant insight into the characters of Mulder and Scully. I mean, how surprised were you when Mulder shot Scully? Even if it did turn out to be the ghosts playing games; as in other episodes where evil Mulder dopplegangers attack Scully, (and where the real Mulder attacks Skinner) there's something in there that suggests that Mulder could indeed turn violent on his friends in the right circumstances. Narcissists become very nasty when crossed, and that's what makes that ghosts lay analysis of Mulder so good.

In summation; this is probably the best Christmas episode of any TV show since Steptoe and Son.

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5 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
A metaphor, 14 October 2006
8/10
Author: aurrora_australis from United States

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

I think that this entire episode was a metaphor for how each agent fears the other thinks of him/her. The ghosts were in their minds of course. Maurice is Mulder's projection of how he believe Scully sees him, and Lyda is a personification of how Scully believes that Mulder sees her. When Mulder talks with Maurice he is actually arguing with his perception of how Scully sees him, and the same is true of when Scully speaks to Lyda. When Mulder interacts with Lyda he is really speaking to himself and when Scully interacts with Maurice, she is interacting with herself. I am not completely certain that this was the intention of the writers of this episode but it was something that dawned on me as I listened to what the ghosts and the agents were saying to each other. Examples: Maurice describes Mulder as narcissistic, over zealous, and a self-righteous egomaniac, things that Mulder probably suspects that Scully would label him as; Lyda tells Scully the only reason she followed Mulder to the house was because she gets a kick out of proving him wrong--something that Scully probably suspects that Mulder thinks of her reasons; then Maurice (Scully) produces her car keys, further emphasizing that she still suspected that Mulder took them from her to prevent her from leaving. Of course there are things that I can't explain, such as why Scully would believe that Mulder (notice it was Lyda) would shoot her, but maybe she thought he had gotten too involved with the legend of the murder/suicide,had gone off the deep end and was attempting to re-enact it. I am not sure why the two of them would both hallucinate in tandem after walking into that house, but perhaps it was actually a haunted house, even though the ghosts of Maurice and Lyda, in my opinion, were definitely figments of Mulder and Scully's imagination. Maybe the nature of the house itself caused them to concurrently imagine the things they did. I am sure the skeletons and the maze of the house itself were all imagined by Mulder and Scully, but in the world of the X Files, reality has to be suspended in order to not analyze every aspect of why things are. But their conversation in the end strengthened my belief that Lyda and Maurice were Mulder/Scully personifications because of the way Mulder and Scully picked up with each other where they left off in arguments that each had with Maurice and Lyda. Whether their perceptions of what the other thinks of him/her are true, they each seem worried of the other viewing him/her negatively, which reveals that they both want to be respected by the other. It is not the best episode, but it is definitely a departure from their normal conspiracy and monster of the week installments. I still enjoyed it because you can tell a lot of detail went into making it and I can appreciate it for that.

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2 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
Merry Christmas, 10 August 2008
10/10
Author: koalablue_1993 from Australia

This episode had excellent cinematography and really creepy ghost special effects. I love how it begins with Mulder narrating to Scully the ghost story. I like it how Scully finally comes to admit the house their in is really haunted. This episode revolves around Mulder and Scully's love for each other and how the ghosts are aware of that love. It is kind of like a metaphor. The last 5 minutes where really suspenseful and had me biting my nails even though this is more of a comedy episode. The ending is really cute with Scully and Mulder exchanging gifts on Christmas eve. A rather touching and extremely weird episode.

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3 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
Left cheek sneak, 9 July 2007
7/10
Author: Sanpaco13 from Sandy, UT, United States

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Yet again we have an episode where it seems that the crew of the x-files needed an excuse to show off their new access to special effects. All in all however the effects were pretty cool. And the story wasn't that bad although this is still not one of my favorite episodes to watch. It makes me feel like I am in the haunted mansion which has classic spooky elements but looses some of the classic darkness that this show usually brings to these types of stories. It was good that the writer and director recognized this fact and kept the episode pretty light-hearted with some of the dark humor and I also liked that we got to see things from the ghosts point of view also. I also have to admit that the first time I watched this I really thought that Mulder and Scully and shot each other so the twist was well done. I give this episode 7/10.

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