The Lone Gunmen (DVD, 2005, 2-Disc Set, Dual Side)

The Lone Gunmen centered around the three characters of The Lone Gunmen; Melvin Frohike, John Fitzgerald Byers and Richard Langly, a group of "geeky" investigators who ran a conspiracy theory magazine. Unlike The X-Files, whose story lines dealt mainly with supernatural creatures and government alien conspiracies, episodes of The Lone Gunmen generally featured more down to Earth stories, such as cheating husbands, corporate crime, arms-dealers, and escaped Nazis. The show had a light atmosphere and focused heavily on physical comedy. The trio were often aided but mostly hindered by a mysterious thief named Yves Adele Harlow. Her alias is an anagram for Lee Harvey Oswald. In the pilot episode an unintentional foreshadowing of the September 11, 2001 attacks, the plot of the March 4, 2001 pilot episode of the series depicts a secret U.S. government agency plotting to crash a Boeing 727 headed for Boston into the World Trade Center via remote control for the purpose of increasing the military defense budget and blaming the attack on foreign "tin-pot dictators" who are "begging to be smart-bombed." This episode was broadcast in Australia on August 30, less than two weeks before the 9/11 attacks. The show was canceled after the first season even with the ratings being higher then the first season of the X-files.

The spin-off from the X-files is interesting BUt it is also campy in a lot of ways. It centers around the three characters from the X-files and it has a few moments when it seems like the people from the X-files are taking center stage. Those moments pass quickly, however, and a person has to be aware that the show, lasting 1 season, was not a success because of a lot of things - including this. Still, it is entertaining.

What you have here is what you see in a lot of spin-offs. It references the stuff in the main show but it is not what the show was. The one thread that makes it constant is the paper they write, The Lone Gunmen, is here and the episodes are them trying to put together columns. Some of the things that happen are good in it, too, but they do not have that Chris Carter feel. True, there are some times when you have the main characters added on - you get two new people and they last through most of the show. The show struggles after a little while, though, and you see it crashing. That is why I took a star and why I cannot say it would be for everyone.

One thing to note. In X-files, Season 9, there is a final episode that concludes this set. It takes the main people and shows you what happens. This also says this might be for fans of the show and not for those who just watched to watch. Still, if you liked the people and the way they take shape you might enjoy this. Remember it will end abuptly. however, and you might need the episode Jump the Shark to help you out.

Oddly enough, I was never a fan of the X Files, but when this Spinoff series came out, I was glued to my seat. It was sad to see it barely made a full season before getting cancelled, and once again Fox gave up on something I truely enjoyed watching. It was nice to have the X Files episode included which finished the story off, and crushed any hopes of bringing the series back.

This series stood out for a few reasons, it offered a wide array of high tech gadgets and gizmos, a great cast that appeared to work well together, and humor ranging from slapstick to even intelligent (the monkeys banging on keyboards while shakespear was eminanting from one computer was classic).

All in all, it was great to see this series made it out on DVD, and would make a fine addition to any sci-fi/techie/average joe's collection.

I bought this series to see the pilot episode about the government flying a jetliner into the World Trade Center. It didn't disappoint (much like real life!) The rest of the shows are fun to watch (a little corny) and each involves some clandestine effort by the US Government to deceive the American people (like that wouldn't happen!) No wonder it was taken off the air after 9-11. Great entertainment (and possibly education) for the whole family. A

I never missed an episode of the X-Files or an episode of the Lone Gunmen. I always enjoyed watching the Gunmen when they were dealing with Sculley and Mulder. The thing that caught me by surprise is that in the pilot, terriost have remote control of a jet liner and it is set to crash into the World Trade Center. Of course, the Gunmen stop the attempt but I thought how strange that in little over 2 years, 2 jets would crash into the World Trade Center. It made watching the pilot a very sobering experience. I am sure that the rest of the spisodes will be much lghter. Get the set, watch the episodes and enjoy.