Millennium: The Complete DVD Collection

All three seasons ( 67 episodes including the pilot ) of Chris Carter's "Millennium" series ( airing on Fox 1996-99 ) are found in this attractive slip-case box set containing three plastic cases ( each housing 6 DVD discs =18 discs total ). Given the quality of the show itself, this comprehensive set, loaded with generous extras ( booklets listing each episode title along with writer & director, documentaries on each season, commentaries on select episodes from each season, etc ) could only be bettered by being issued in Blu Ray format. In fact, my plea would be for just that to occur, as the box set being reviewed was released long ago ( 2004 ); surely a series of this quality deserves an upgrade to the highest current audio-visual format.When "Millennium" first aired ( fall of 1996 ), I only tuned in to the first couple episodes; while I was ( and still am ) a huge fan of Chris Carter's "The X Files", with regard to Carter's ( then ) new project I was in that category of folks who found "Millennium" too dark and graphically violent. However, after recently watching the series in its entirety ( over a two month period ), I can state definitively that this was my loss, for the show exhibited high standards that withstand comparison to Carter's famous franchise. "Millennium" boasted an excellent lead actor, good supporting cast, a talented staff of writers, hard-working crew ( filming in Vancouver BC ), and last but not least, outstanding music by composer Mark Snow.As the informative ( and unusually honest ) documentaries point out, the three seasons of "Millennium" exhibited their own very distinctive traits. First off, a basic description of the show: it revolved around the talents of a former FBI 'profiler' Frank Black ( played by Lance Henriksen ) who had a unique ability ( in Black's words, "my gift and my curse" ) to get inside the minds of serial killers and succeed in capturing them. It was this uncanny 'gift' that eventually led ( in an implied back-story mentioned in the pilot ) to Black's complete nervous breakdown, necessitating his departure from the Bureau. Subsequently, Black left D.C., taking his wife Catherine and young daughter Jordan to reside in the protective environment of an idyllic neighborhood in ( his childhood hometown of ) Seattle. In this locale Frank Black functioned as a consultant for a mysterious group of ex-FBI agents ( known as the 'Millennium Group' ), helping the Seattle police solve challenging cases of violent crime, while Frank's wife ( played by Megan Gallagher ) was employed as a social worker.***Season 1 ( 1996-97 ) of "Millennium" was very much informed by the strong hand of creator Chris Carter, who used the clout of his hit series ( "The X Files", then in its glory years ) to prevail upon nervous Fox executives who were essentially forced to allow Carter total creative control over first a pilot, and then an entire season of extremely violent ( for the period ) and spiritually unsettling material. It is no accident that the word constantly used to describe "Millennium", and especially its first season, is *dark*. And indeed, Season 1 ( along with the very first episode of Season 2, which wrapped up a season-spanning cliffhanger ) could actually stand on its own, should one wish for some reason to imbibe the bleakest possible atmosphere without any admixture of the subsequent twists and turns the series took in following seasons. Because most of the 22 episodes from the first season are of uniformly high quality, it is not really necessary to point out specific episodes; they are *all* worth viewing ( and I can't recall a truly mediocre episode in the entire bunch ). Nevertheless, I will mention ( aside from the essential Pilot ) some personal favorites:"Dead Letters" ( good subplot; Frank Black working with a stressed-out colleague ), "522666" ( perfectly paced thriller about a mad bomber on the loose in Washington D.C. ), "The Well Worn Lock" ( featuring Megan Gallagher in a wrenching episode about incest), "Wide Open" ( truly terrifying home invasion murders ), "Loin Like a Hunting Flame" ( bizarre sex-fetishist and another stressed-out detective working alongside Frank Black ), "The Thin White Line" ( tense thriller in which an old case comes back to haunt Frank Black ), "Walkabout" ( Frank suffers from memory loss ), "Lamentation" ( written by Chris Carter, this shocker features the first series appearance of the sinister character 'Lucy Butler' ), "Broken World" ( an animal-rights perspective artfully woven into this episode set in North Dakota ), "Paper Dove" ( Catherine Black kidnapped in season ending cliffhanger ).Sidenote: one thing I should point out that might pose a bit of a challenge to a certain type of viewer would be the tremendous amount of supporting actors that a committed fan of "The X Files" can recognize from that series ( in one particular "Millennium" episode I counted no less than half a dozen actors that I had seen in one or another installment of "The X Files" ). But of course one can hardly blame the casting agents for employing these talented players working in the Vancouver area.***Season 2 ( 1997-98 ) opened up ( as mentioned above ) with the second part ( "The Beginning and The End" ) of two excellent season-spanning episodes. It was both fitting and ironic that this opener was penned by the writing team of Glen Morgan and James Wong ( well known for their work on the first four seasons of 'The X Files' ). *Fitting* in the sense that ( as the accompanying documentary points out ) Morgan & Wong essentially took the "Millennium" reigns from Chris Carter ( who was then completely preoccupied with post-production work on 'The X Files' motion picture ), and thus the writing of the opening Season 2 episode seemed a harbinger of their creative input for the rest of the year. But *ironic* in the sense that, while the Season 2 opener ( due to its nature as a 2-part episode ) truly belonged to the "dark" aesthetic realm of Season 1, the Morgan/Wong influence in "Millennium's" second season demonstrated a marked attempt ( non-too-subtle ) by the writing team to lighten the mood of the show. Whether the impetus behind this related to the efforts of worried Fox executives or not is a matter of conjecture ( though I certainly believe it was the case ). In any event, in Season 2 you start hearing Bobby Darin (!) tunes played during segments ( sometimes as part of the general atmosphere, sometimes with Frank Black turning his CD player to 'Mack the Knife', etc ). I have nothing against the classic "cool lounge" music of the sixties, but that is quite an insertion when contrasted with the grim cases Frank Black investigates. And while this style of playfully ironic juxtaposition can work effectively, as in great Morgan/Wong "X Files" episode titled 'Home' (replete with Johnny Mathis crooning amidst the grotesquerie ), in the context of "Millennium" this element seemed very contrived. Another change was the introduction of a bit character, an obnoxious twenty-something computer-geek, his putative purpose being as an assistant to Frank Black regarding tech issues. Here again the feel of contrivance ( "hey, let's do something like the 'Lone Gunman' from 'X Files' " ) was palpable. In fact, I would not be a bit surprised if Morgan and Wong took substantial heat at the time from fans, other writers, and the series creator himself. Indeed, in the Season 2 documentary Chris Carter, while being diplomatic enough ( c. 2004 ) definitely gives the impression that the change of direction in Season 2 was in fact a *misdirection* ( it is noted at the end of documentary that Glen Morgan and James Wong were invited to appear but declined ). But, in all fairness one should point out that the Morgan/Wong duo had already ( prior to the change of tone in Season 2 ) produced three truly excellent scripts ( all appropriately pitch-black in mood ) in the first season.In any case, most of the 23 episodes from the second season were, irrespective of aforementioned factors, quite well done. Chip Johannssen ( a particularly stalwart writer for the series ) penned "Sense and Antisense" ( great plot twist at the end ). "Monster" introduced Lara Means, who would be a major character throughout the second season. Morgan & Wong's "The Curse of Frank Black" was a well-crafted Halloween episode with some flashbacks to Frank Black's childhood.One the positive aspects of Morgan & Wong's second season stewardship was the involvement of Glen's brother Darin Morgan ( the latter well-known for his famed triptych from Season 3 of 'The X Files' ), who wrote and directed two clever and bizarrely humorous episodes: "Somehow Satan Got Behind Me" and "Jose Chung's Doomsday Defense", the latter being ( among other things ) both a send-up of apocalyptic ( millennarian ) fixations and a savage parody of a very well-known "religion" favored by the rich and famous."Midnight of the Century" was a beautifully done Christmas episode with a guest appearance by the great Darren McGavin ( playing Frank's father ). "Goodbye Charlie" had a script in which the aforementioned Bobby Darin fixation actually had a legitimate purpose ( great job by the guest actor ). Chip Johannssen's uniquely touching "Luminary" didn't even involve a crime of any sort; set in Alaska, it seems loosely based on the now famous ( true ) story of young, ill-fated Chris McCandless and his journal ( "Into the Wild" )."The Mikado" was an exciting and brilliantly edited thriller ( and justifiably receives its own special feature commentary by writer Michael R. Perry ). The two-part episode airing mid-season ( "Owls" & "Roosters" ) was probably the most ambitious of Morgan and Wong's attempts to flesh out a Millennium Group conspiracy arc. Whether this was successful or not depends upon ones conception of the show as a whole. "A Room with a View" brings back the evil character Lucy Butler ( the elevator music of "L'Amour est Bleu" is deployed to diabolic effect ). The final two episodes of Season 2 ( and the last two written for the series by Glen Morgan & James Wong ) accelerate the 'Millennium Group' conspiracy, ending the year with a series of plot and character twists that would have a major impact on the following season.***Season 3 ( 1998-99 ) opened up with Frank Black a widower, he and his daughter Jordan re-locating to the DC area where Frank re-joins the FBI ( his own motive primarily being to expose the Millennium Group ). New characters emerged in the form of his young partner, Emma Hollis ( played by Klea Scott ), an older colleague ( FBI assistant director ), and an ambitious field agent. Series founder Chris Carter came back on board to reassert control of his original vision ( only part of which was possible due to aforementioned developments ), and to that end Carter brought his frequent partner Frank Spotnitz to the "Millennium" team for three episodes they co-wrote: of these, "Antipas" ( featuring another appearance of the diabolical 'Lucy Butler' ) and "Seven and One" ( Frank Black on the brink of a nervous breakdown ) are quite good.The actual opener ( "The Innocents" ) introduces all the aforementioned new characters; the episode is an attempt at linking the events of the viral outbreak that killed Catherine Black, with Frank focusing on Millennium Group involvement. The plane crash site is amazingly ( disturbingly ) detailed; undoubtedly the crew had studied the pioneering work done by 'The X Files" team in one of its episodes airing a few years earlier ( NOTE: this episode has commentary from Lance Henriksen and Klea Scott ).From my perspective, the character Emma Hollis started out shaky; there are scripts ( "Closure", "Human Essence" ) occurring early in Season 3 where practically everything Agent Hollis did seemed bone-brained, really the only moments in "Millennium" where the writing was redolent of standard low-brow television fare. But Ms. Scott really can't be blamed for this defect, having inherited a messy situation ( one in which Lance Henriksen himself was frustrated at the contradictions the scripts were forcing on his character ). In any case, as the season progressed so did the depth of the Emma Hollis character via the writing and Klea Scott's acting. The last few episodes of the season ( and of the series itself ) had a very moving subplot involving Emma Hollis and her ailing father ( suffering from dementia ); excellent work from all involved. In terms of chemistry, Henriksen and Scott were very effective together by the last third of the season. "Nostalgia", one of the last "Millennium" episodes, was a gritty drama with excellent acting from both of the leads ( a clear indication that the show would have had "legs" if it had been fated to continue up to and beyond the turning of the actual millennium ).Michael R. Perry wrote both the wacky Halloween ( "Thirteen Years Later" ) and Christmas ( "Omerta" ) episodes; both are quirky, quasi-humorous affairs ( the rock band Kiss appears in the former ) that were far too tongue-in-check for my taste. However, as the special feature documentary on Season 3 brings out, Mark Snow's ( always excellent ) music was particularly unique in "Omerta" and was rightfully acknowledged as such. "Through a Glass Darkly", "The Sound of Snow", and "Darwin's Eye" were uniformly excellent scripts, with superb performances by guest actors ( and all three were penned by Patrick Harbinson ). On the other hand, "Saturn Dreaming of Mercury" and "Bardo Thudol" were duds.The series as a whole closed out with a two-parter ( "Via Dolorosa" and "Goodbye to all That" ). Ken Horton, who co-wrote the very last episode, explained in the documentary that he and Chip Johannssen designed the closer with a deliberately ambiguous ending ( Frank Black and his daughter Jordan driving out towards paths unknown ) just in case the series was canceled. A truly prescient move, which allowed a great ( if protean ) television series to end with dignity and some semblance of closure.***Finally, it should be mentioned that while Chris Carter was the creator of "Millennium", the true heart of the series was Lance Henriksen and his dynamic portrayal of the uniquely gifted Frank Black. Henriksen is a superb actor, the lined ( lived-in ) face and rough voice allied to a depth of range that was well beyond most acting one experiences on network television. "Millennium" itself is now a cult classic; I believe the series will only gain in reputation as the years go on. Needless to say, this box set is highly recommended. One can only hope for its release in Blu Ray format sometime in the near future.

Lance Henriksen hunts serial killers in gothic, rain drenched 90s Seattle. From the creative team behind The X-Files. I just started this series, but so far it’s as grim and cerebral as promised. Lots of pensive silence and artsy backlighting. Still waiting to see if anything actually supernatural happens. Enjoyed the first disc, at least.

Millenium 5/5.Watched it a while back, but recently the series became cheap enough to purchase on amazon (I got all 3 seasons for $30). TV show is sort of a crime drama, which has a religion focus. It started in 1996 and is a spin off of x-files. Personally, I think it's better than x-files, but I'm not a fan of aliens in fiction, so could be a bias there. Series ends abruptly at season 3, as the show got cancelled, but there is a follow up episode in season 7 of the x-files. Show is worth seeing and is 5/5 despite it being prematurely cancelled.Protagonist is Frank Black, a formed FBI profiler, who has an uncanny ability to understand a serial killer and predict their next move. Every episode focuses on a murder which he needs solve, with the overall series focusing on the more metaphysical end of crime, murder, and the nature of good and evil. Like the x-files, the cases start mundane and gradually become weirder and weirder. Series is devoid of romance and is very dark (not for kids at all, maybe not for some adults).Two neat side features of this series. First is all the old "state of the art" technology in the series - they really choose product placement which leaves the entire series feeling very dated and this can be very funny at times. Second is that the protagonist has a genuine Lawful Good alignment, which is so very uncommon in modern crime shows (and on TV in general).

One of the most original television series I have ever seen. I remember watching as a child in the 90s (the few episodes my parents would let me watch, that is) and being astounded by the depth and detail of the series. Lance Henriksen captured my attention each and every time with his intense portrayal of Frank Black. And not just him, but every actor in that series had a completeness to them as if every actor truly believed in their character, and the writing was so complete that I found myself believing them.Even now, more than 20 years since the series pilot first aired, I still cannot shake my feeling that despite changes in the story as it progressed and the ever evolving shape that it took, I have never seen another series that had as much intensity to the story or as much detail in its characters, Even side characters (those of you who have seen the show might remember Cheryl Andrews and Lucy Butler as examples) were incredibly detailed and well written.If you haven't seen MillenniuM, I will say only that if you do pick it up, for whatever reason you do, you will not be disappointed.Unless that is, you want to see how this series depicts the end of the world. In which case, I'm afraid you'll be sorely disappointed, but you'll have to watch to find out why.

Loved this show and so happy to find the dvd set!

If you read the five star reviews you will know how I feel. I will add that the juxtaposition of the music with the images was both intense and very insightful. The music chosen ranges from old to very new (remember this is 20 years or more ago).I was intensely disappointed when the show was cancelled and have yet to forgive the network for doing it. However, and this is a big however, it is still worth watching all the episodes. Lance does an amazing job portraying the main character and is well supported by very well chosen people to play the other roles. Also, great photography to capture the various moods and levels of terror and dread. This series is not for the faint of heart. In some respects it is prescient even up to the present. Millennials....you were very young when this show aired and probably were not allowed to watch it. Good thing. Watch it now!

Très bons épisodes

bien recu ce dvd

Per i fans di X-Fiked non può mancare. Confermo che è in Italiano. Prezzo da super occasione. Amazon Ok.

not a huge fan of x-files but this was awesome. Lance Henrikson as a lead? should have happened more. the discs arrived promptly, and in pristine condition.

I don't know why this show isn't more well-known? Perhaps it is because it was (understandably) overshadowed by it's sister show, the world-conquering X-Files. But rest assured, this is excellent television for horror and supernatural lovers. It is much darker than the X-Files, creepy and atmospheric, and builds on the premise that, as the millennium approached, something was going 'wrong' with society and all was not as it seemed. The series revolves around Frank Black, a retired FBI profiler who now works with the Millennium group, an organisation of consultants and former agents who help police with their most difficult and strange murders cases. The first series hints at the proliferation of serial killers being as a result of some unidentified, approaching cataclysm, while the second explores Frank's worries that the Millennium group is not all it seems. That we are in Chris Carter, near X-Files territory becomes clear: Frank Black has an almost supernatural way of seeing what the killer sees, and we enter the realms of conspiracy, Armageddon and good vs evil as the show progresses. The show is a clear crossover from the X-Files: actors and characters from the X-Files show up in Millennium, and one episode of the X-Files even deals with the group and Frank Black himself. The show itself is remarkably atmospheric - the constant rain, the contrast between Frank's home life and his job, a never-ending parade of psychopaths that in itself hints at something worse to come and memorably weird imagery all help to make this one Hell of a show. One or two scenes stayed with me for a while afterwards: for instance, in one episode Frank is out on the streets on Halloween and sees what appears to be the Devil looking back at him from an upstairs bedroom window. Even the theme music is strangely disturbing. Currently not available on Blu-Ray, but well worth adding to your X-Files collection, for it definitely inhabits the same universe.