What's Wrong With The X-Files On Blu-ray

Posted: Dec. 9, 2015

A number of problems with The X-Files on Blu-ray have been found - and continue to be found - by fans. I've been working hard to find both the problems - as well as some of the things that were fixed - when comparing The X-Files Blu-ray release to its previous DVD release. A huge thanks to all the folks over at Blu-ray.com as well as everyone who has contacted me about things they've noticed. It's with your help that this article was put together.

This article will continue to be updated. The last update was January 28, 2016.

Opening Credits Tagline Inventory

At the end of the opening credits of every episode of The X-Files, the tagline "THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE" appeared - until everything changed when a unique tagline appeared in the first season finale, "The Erlenmeyer Flask." It became part of the show's mythology to feature unique taglines on some episodes. Unfortunately, the show's original DVD releases didn't always include the unique taglines. The subsequent "Mythology" DVD releases corrected the episodes that were included on them.

With The X-Files released on Blu-ray, fans hoped that everything would finally be correct as per the original airings. Sadly, two episodes are missing their unique tagline on Blu-ray - "Redux" and "4-D." (And of course, the Blu-rays use the wrong font for the taglines.)

#	Episode	Tagline	DVD	Mythology	Blu-ray
#1X23	The Erlenmeyer Flask	TRUST NO ONE	YES	YES	YES
#2X06	Ascension	DENY EVERYTHING	NO	YES	YES
#2X25	Anasazi	ÉÍ 'AANÍÍGÓÓ 'ÁHOOT'É	YES	YES	YES
#3X10	731	APOLOGY IS POLICY	YES	YES	YES
#4X01	Herrenvolk	EVERYTHING DIES	YES	YES	YES
#4X04	Teliko	DECEIVE INVEIGLE OBFUSCATE	YES	N/A	YES
#4X10	Terma	E PUR SI MUOVE	YES	YES	YES
#4X24	Gethsemane	BELIEVE THE LIE	YES	YES	YES
#5X02	Redux	ALL LIES LEAD TO THE TRUTH	NO	YES	NO
#5X14	The Red and the Black	RESIST OR SERVE	YES	YES	YES
#5X20	The End	THE END	NO	YES	YES
#6ABX03	Triangle	DIE WAHRHEIT IST IRGENDWO DA DRAUßEN	YES	N/A	YES
#6ABX19	The Unnatural	IN THE BIG INNING	YES	N/A	YES
#7ABX04	The Sixth Extinction II: Amor Fati	AMOR FATI	YES	YES	YES
#7ABX11	Closure	BELIEVE TO UNDERSTAND	YES	YES	YES
#9ABX02	Nothing Important Happened Today II	NOTHING IMPORTANT HAPPENED TODAY	YES	YES	YES
#9ABX05	4-D	EREHT TUO SI HTURT EHT	NO	N/A	NO
#9ABX08	Trust No 1	THEY'RE WATCHING	YES	YES	YES
#9ABX14	Improbable	DIO TI AMA	YES	N/A	YES

General Blu-ray Notes

#	Episode	Note
All	All	The font used for the words "THE X FILES" in the show's official, iconic logo - Industria - has been replaced, because the remastering company didn't know what font it was. They also added an ugly black outline to it.
All	All	The other fonts used in the Emmy Award-winning opening credit sequence - Helvetica Condensed (names) and Helvetica Light (tagline) - have been replaced, because the remastering company didn't know what the fonts were.
All	All	The text on the FBI photo in the opening credit sequence has been changed from "#X69" to "EX69"
All	All	The font used for all location titles as well as credits - ITC American Typewriter Medium - has been replaced, because the remastering company didn't know what font it was.
All	All	The footage from "Squeeze" in the opening credits could have been sourced from that episode.
All	All	Text spacing of location text seems to be eyeballed instead of being evenly spaced as it should be. It's also possible a template was used that wasn't spaced evenly, as I haven't seen a 3-line location title with correct spacing yet.
#1X79	Pilot	The background "X" in the opening title card is stretched, despite the same "X" in the season opening credits appearing more accurate.
#1X08	Space	At the start of the episode, the WXDL overlay identifying Colonel Belt is missing during the news report.
#5X12	Bad Blood	In the end credits, the role of "Funeral Director" is incorrectly credited as Jerry Springer. (Jerry Springer had previously appeared earlier in the season, in "The Post-Modern Prometheus.") The role should have been credited to Forbes Angus, as it was correctly listed on the DVDs.
#6ABX03	Triangle	In the season title sequence, the "CREATED BY CHRIS CARTER" credit is missing.
#6ABX05	Dreamland II	In the opening credits, Dean Haglund is incorrectly credited as "Dean Haglung"
#6ABX12	One Son	In the opening credits, Dean Haglund is incorrectly credited as "Dean Haglung"
#7ABX12	X-Cops	This episode was shot on BetaCam to achieve a certain style. As such, the entire episode is upscaled, and the upscaling methods do not work well here. But even worse, the color grading, brightness and contrast is completely wrong on Blu-ray. It should have looked just like it does on the DVD, as the episode was NOT meant to look cinematic. It was meant to look like an episode of the reality TV show "COPS," which it no longer does.
#7ABX19	Brand X	At the 29:45 chapter stop, the location text incorrectly reads "Morely" instead of "Morley"
Season 8	All	The entirety of Season 8 has incorrect black levels. Click here for complete details.
#9ABX17	William	In the season title sequence, the "MITCH PILEGGI" credit is missing.

Blu-ray 16:9 Framing Problems

Seasons 1 through 4 are presented in an expanded 16:9 frame instead of their original 4:3 aspect ratio. In some cases, this has caused goofs because things are visible on the sides that shouldn't be.

#	Episode	Note
#2X14	Die Hand die Verletzt	In a scene of a girl doing a dissection in a classroom, she's supposed to be alone (with the teacher, and then the teacher leaves), but at 24:06, a crew member - and a light - can be seen on the left side of the frame.
#2X25	Anasazi	The X-Files famously painted a rock quarry red for this episode. In both the original DVD and Blu-ray, you can clearly see unpainted areas starting at 38:05 as Mulder and Eric drive on the motorcycle, which are more apparent with the Blu-ray's color grading. Additionally, with the wider aspect ratio of the Blu-ray, you can now also see a line where they stopped painting in the upper left corner of an overhead shot of the buried boxcar at 38:43. This would have been an easy digital fix.
#3X15	Piper Maru	The ship is supposed to be in the middle of the ocean, but when the divers jump into the ocean at 0:42, you can see land and docks in the background on the left side of the frame. At 0:58, you can see a tire on a dock and a vehicle on the right side of the frame.

Blu-ray Audio Issues

#	Episode	Note
#4X10	Terma	There is a short piece of awkward audio at the top of the episode, a leftover from a "Previously" recap that was not included on the Blu-rays (some recaps were included, others weren't).
#6ABX01	The Beginning	There is a short piece of awkward audio at the top of the episode, a leftover from a "Previously" recap that was not included on the Blu-rays (some recaps were included, others weren't).
#7ABX04	The Sixth Extinction II: Amor Fati	There is a short piece of awkward audio at the top of the episode, a leftover from a "Previously" recap that was not included on the Blu-rays (some recaps were included, others weren't).
#8ABX02	Without	There is a short piece of awkward audio at the top of the episode, a leftover from a "Previously" recap that was not included on the Blu-rays (some recaps were included, others weren't).
#9ABX11	Providence	There is one frame of stray video and a couple seconds of stray audio after the opening credits, leftovers from a "Previously" recap that was not included on the Blu-rays (some recaps were included, others weren't).

Blu-ray Typos

#	Episode	Note
#1X08	Space	In the closing credits, there are 2 typos in the NASA disclaimer message.
#4X12	Kaddish	In the closing credits, the production number is incorrectly listed as "#4X012" instead of "#4X12" - it was listed correctly in the DVD version.
#4X17	Tempus Fugit	In the closing credits, there is at least 1 typo.
#4X18	Max	In the closing credits, there is at least 1 typo.
#4X19	Synchrony	In the closing credits, there is at least 1 typo.
#4X20	Small Potatoes	In the closing credits, there is at least 1 typo.
#5X01	Unusual Suspects	In the closing credits, there is at least 1 typo.
#8ABX01	Within	In the closing credits, there are 3 typos in the "The Producers wish" message.
#8ABX02	Without	In the closing credits, there is 1 typo in the "The Producers wish" message.

Blu-ray Fixes

To the credit of the company who remastered The X-Files in HD, Illuminate, it's really great to see some errors from the DVDs corrected on the Blu-rays. Unfortunately, there are far, far more new mistakes compared to the amount of new fixes.

#	Episode	Fix
#6ABX03	Triangle	The Blu-ray corrects the location title from "SARAGASSO SEA" to "SARGASSO SEA."
#6ABX03	Triangle	The Blu-ray adds the missing final card of the end credits, which has the episode's production number.
#7ABX09	Signs and Wonders	At 8:27 on the DVD, a boom operator is seen on the left side of the frame. On the Blu-ray, a subtle zoom in and zoom out eliminates the crew member from frame.

The X-Files Goofs

Some goofs appear on both the original DVDs and the new Blu-rays, although they're generally more noticeable on the Blu-rays.

#	Episode	Note
#1X13	Gender Bender	While care was taken to make sure all vehicles that got close enough to the camera had Massachusetts license plates, you can spot some incorrect license plates with the detail of the Blu-rays. The new 16:9 framing makes the most noticeable one more obvious - at 9:10, a Ford truck with a BC, Canada license plate (where the show was filmed) can be seen on the right side of the frame.
#2X22	F. Emasculata	As Mulder walks up to the phone booth at 17:50, on the left side of the frame, a helicopter is seen on the ground with its blades spinning - this is the helicopter that lands 25 seconds later.
#5X10	Chinga	In the hotel room at 23:47, when Scully is crossing the room to the window, a crew member can be seen reflected in a mirror.