Own the rights?
22 out of 24 people found the following comment useful :- On my Top 10, 11 September 2006 Author: Tom-91 from Chicago, IL
*** This comment may contain spoilers ***
While Scully and Mulder make only brief appearances, this episode is one of my all-time favorites from the series; and is truly an homage to the passion for baseball that so many have had over the years.For a series that forces the viewer to suspend so much disbelief, this episode is unique in that it requires the viewer to suspend belief even within the universe created for the show, with an almost Pinocchio-like ending for a great character. In lesser hands, the ending would make the audience roll its collective eyes. Instead, it is quite moving.Jesse L. Martin and Frederic Lane deserve most of the credit for creating two characters whom you are really drawn to care about: an alien who couldn't leave Earth after falling in love with the game of baseball, and a lawman who protects him from a sadly racist world in 1947. Long time fans will be gratified to see Brian Thompson's Alien Bounty Hunter finally get to speak a little bit more than usual. M. Emmet Walsh does what he does best: taking what could have been a minor narrative role, and making it yet another in a line of memorable characters that fans can embrace.Tremendous kudos go to writer/director David Duchovny. I thought it an especially nice historic parallel to have the evil Alien Bounty Hunter dressed as and leading a group of Klansmen; even a non-fan of the show would instantly realize this man was evil to the point of supporting enslavement at all costs. The dialog walks the line of being genuine and syrupy at times, but is genuine enough that the actors were able to keep their characters believable.I think too many episodes like this would have turned the show a bit sappy, but one episode makes for a beautiful and unique tribute in a series that contained many beautiful and unique stories. Any fan of baseball would love this episode.
15 out of 18 people found the following comment useful :- X files as it's best, 15 December 2006 Author: Rodolfo Anzaldua from Mexico
When it comes to baseball you have to do something brilliant, like Field of Dreams. This movie was nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award. This episode deserves an Academy Award only if those were given to television episodes.It has been said that all superstars, no only from sports but all superstars, are Alien. In Men in Black even George Lucas was from outer space. In this episode, Arthur Dales tell Mulder a story from Roswell in the late 40s when he had the mission of guarding a black baseball player that happens to be an Alien.The story is magnificent, the way it is told sometimes makes you think that you are watching a movie instead of a TV episode. Wonderful performances by Fredric Lehne and Jesse L. Martin, just wrap it up.It is ironic that one of the best written X- Files episode just have Mulder and Scully in in for a few minutes. If you like the X-Files and you like baseball like Chris Carter do, you must see this episode, but not just one, but over and over again.
4 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :- They're all aliens, Agent Mulder-- all the great ones., 23 July 2008 Author: Sanpaco13 from Sandy, UT, United States
The Unnatural is a great episode about baseball, written and directed by David Duchovny. I really like this episode. The episode is about a black man who is one of the baseball legends of the 40s playing for Roswell's local team The Roswell Grays. Agent Mulder is investigating the disappearance of Josh Exeley because of a newspaper picture he finds with Exely, the alien bounty hunter, and Arthur Dales. He goes to visit Arthur Dales but instead encounters Arthur's brother, Arthur Dales. The episode turns into a baseball tall tale except Exely is an alien who just wants to play baseball. I love some of the dialog between Mulder and Arthur and the story is very lighthearted with a carefree atmosphere that en captures what the game of baseball really represents. The ending is somewhat bittersweet as the main character dies however he dies happy because he has turned into what he always pretended to be, a carefree human. The how and why of all this is not the point of the story as Arthur tells Mulder. It is simply meant to be a good story that makes you appreciate the simple things in life that we take for granted. I love the final scene with Mulder teaching Scully how to hit a baseball although I can't imagine how she could grow up as a tomboy and never have hit a baseball. I also am interested in just how much Scully and Mulder flirt in this episode. First with the ice cream cone and then Scully calling Mulder a rebel and finally this final scene. Good fun episode. 10 out of 10.
baseball rules!, 28 May 2009 Author: mrdonleone from belgium
okay, let me begin with saying I don't know baseball - well, in fact I didn't know it until now. off course I had heard about it, but I never really cared to search anything that's got to do with it. then, the episode 'The Unnatural' started, and wow man, these baseball images were so fascinating! I want to know more and more about baseball. thank you, Chris Carter, for letting David write and direct this episode. it's very obvious David liked baseball and he managed to make a good tequila mix of baseball and science fiction. yes, the story was a bit like all the other X-Files episodes I've seen till now, but it was original using baseball in the series, even if it was only this episode. it changed my habits. Baseball rules!
6 out of 21 people found the following comment useful :- I have seen the life on this planet, Scully and that is exactly why I am looking elsewhere., 11 June 2008 Author: Muldernsanta from Washington Terrace, Utah
The Unnatural is an enjoyable x-files episode, written and directed by David Duchovny.It's pitiful to see Mulder and Scully in the X-Files basement office on a weekend. I can see Mulder hanging out there, but Scully? I don't think so. Usually Mulder gives her some lame excuse to join him on a weekend excursion, but apparently she is with him on her own volition. What really hampers this episode from truly being better is the loss of the memorable Darren McGavin. Now, while "Travelers" and "Agua Mala" aren't the best episodes in the x-files library, Darren McGavin's performances are great. During the filming of "The Unnatural", Darren McGavin became ill and couldn't continue. This was a great loss, because it affected the quality of the episode, causing David Duchovny to do re-writes in the middle of filming the episode. They got M. Emmitt Walsh to replace Darren McGavin, who, a fine actor in his own right, just doesn't fill McGavin's shoes as Arthur Dales' brother, Arthur.The re-write may have caused Duchovny to forget that Arhur Dales had moved to Florida(Agua Mala), because it doesn't make sense that Mulder would go looking for Arthur Dales in D.C. when he already knew Dales was in Florida. The re-write leads Duchovny to creating the lame joke of Arthur Dales' brother also being named Arthur, along with their sister and goldfish. The DVD allows you the opportunity to compare McGavin's performance with Walsh's. It's not even close. Walsh calls Mulder "Agent MacGyver"? It had already been established that Dales knew Mulder's name, and didn't have problems remembering it. The episode shows that Josh Exley is afraid of exposure of his true nature so he avoids going to the big leagues. Yet, Arthur Dales tells Mulder that several big names in baseball BEFORE Exley were aliens, and they didn't seem to have any problem keeping their identity secret. Later, the police are asking Dales where Exley is, like it's a big mystery, yet he's still with his team, playing a game that very night. I really like the scene transitions in the episode. They were very creative, especially when Mulder and Dales were watching the Alien Bounty Hunter on TV.The Unnatural is a cute little baseball story that is fun to watch. David Duchovny doesn't do a bad job writing and directing, but the loss of Darren McGavin shows, and the episode suffers for it a little. However, The Unnatural still is a solid hit.
4 out of 18 people found the following comment useful :- Why baseball? Just... why?!, 18 June 2008 Author: n-town-smash from United Kingdom
There's a few episodes of The X-Files that really jockey for the place of "worst episode ever", by being bland, unoriginal, dumb or lumbering. And yet, somehow, "The Unnatural" just walks it, without apparently even trying, by finding ways to suck you never thought possible.The story is just... it's an alien who becomes human so he can play baseball. Which is fine... except it's not. It's being told as a joke, or a fib, or a fable, by a character who doesn't really have any reason to be there (Arthur Dales just kinda appeared and disappeared, didn't he), and it's not much more than annoying, folksy Americana with some kind of social commentary about the KKK crowbarred in there for good measure. The viewer is just left to ask "why?" I get that it's just supposed to be a bit of fun, but it's not fun, it's an endurance test. I get that it's about baseball and that, as a Britisher, it's impossible to imagine anyone from outside America liking baseball, let alone coming from another planet for it. I get that. But I still don't like it. You give it the benefit of the doubt for a while, but it just persists in being nothing but bilge, so in love with its concept - that it's just a story and that it doesn't matter if it's true, and that everything comes down to baseball apparently - that it just doesn't notice how bad it's being.I'm amazed to find that people actually like this one.
Add another comment
