I'm first?! How did that happen! Better get this posted before anyone else does? ;-)

Okay, now that I've got the first slot wrapped up, let me be the first to say it:

THEY WENT FOR THE BIG RESET BUTTON!!

Man! This was familiar! I've seen this thing happen in Trek lots of times! (Snicker, snicker)

But--on the other hand--that was about the only way to end the episode.

But--on the other other hand--I'm must confess that I was yelling, "No! No! Oh, no!" during the last few minutes of the episode.

Here's why.

Mulder and Morris switch bodies. Okay fine.

Mulder and Morris switch back. Why?

Because the warp is healing itself (or something)

Okay fine.

Mulder and Scully make it back to the FBI.

Scully calls Mulder and tells him that their boss didn't realize they were gone. At this point I'm thinking, oh, so they went out late one afternoon and then got back late that same evening. Sure. They could get away with that!

And then . . . and then . . . and then . . . Mulder finds his apartment clean--and Scully finds the coins--so that means the events had to happen and they weren't away for several hours, they were away for several DAYS!

How could they get under their boss's "radar" for DAYS?!

And on the trip back were there *no* indicators that they had lost DAYS?!

No, no, no, no, no . . . something's wrong here!

And I'm second ... or I will be if I type fast.

Why do the cells at Area 51 have plexiglass walls with gaps large enough to stick your arm through? What possible purpose does this serve? A cell wall you can get a grip on and tear out? Somebody explain this.

I never noticed it before, but Byers has a wedding band. To whom is he married, and why does he live with the other Lone Gunmen, and not her? We need to know this stuff. ;-)

And speaking of watching too much "Star Trek", I've seen enough of these "erase the whole episode(s)" endings on Trek. And how could the temporal rebound effect restore Scully's record, but leave her the fused coins and Mulder his renovated apartment? I fear that any semblance of rigor is going out of this series ...

Great Episode. I wondered how they would rap this one up. Luckly, the spacetime continum was playing nice.

The Lovelies:
-Youth Mulder dressed as Mr. Spock.

-Scully's line: "I'd kiss you if you weren't so damn ugly." This is a line from Planet of the Apes said by Dr. Zara to Taylor AKA Bright Eyes.

-Topgun Grandma. WEIRD!

ANP

great line: there is no saddem Hussain. I had a feeling since last week that the lone gunmen were going to be in it. It was a little bit like Yesterday's Enterpise with a timeloop correcting itself.

Really obsesive nit: If young Mulder was supose to be Spock, why does he have capiain's stripes. Spock wasn't a captain during his bule shirt days. (It's quite possible that this comes from the faux-Mulder's imigination, though.)

Oh well... Although, it was funny to see young Mulder in a 1960's-era SF Uniform, stomping on a pair of Spock ears!
Also - Saddam Hussein - Lounge Singer!

Phil - Supposedly, everything that was "in the path of the wave" reset itself. So, either the wave dissipated after it hit Scully, Mulder, Morris, and Company, or it just hasn't hit D.C. and the surrounding area yet. (It is all the way across the country, y'know...)

Great Lines:
"If I shoot him, will it be murder or suicide?"

"Neither, if I get to him first..."

Nice touch to prove Morris was really Mulder, the scene with the sunflower seeds...!

I really liked this episode, although the rewind/erase concept was a bit hokey.

I got the feeling that the Mulder-Spock thing was a real home movie.

ANP

One more thing,

Was Mulder's bedroom filled with junk or porn? (I'm not trying to be crude or anything. I just saw a room full of stuff. I the mind begs to ponder.

ANP

Actuall, the only things that were "corrected" were things that were in the same area when the rebound occured as they were when they were messed up. The coins stayed fused because they were no longer anywhere near their original location. And once things were corrected, any memories associated with them were eliminated. This is why Kersh had no memory of the events. The events still occured, but noone had any memory of them. The gas station being restored is a bit tougher to explain, but still possible. When the rebound occured, anything that had been affected by the original blast was restored to it's state immediately beforehand. Since the original blast affected the gas station, it was restored; the fact that it had been blown up further in the meantime was incidental. Presumably Mulder and Scully did notice the "missing time" off camera. Them and Morris would observe it, since all of their memories were erased. Others who had no direct experience with the anomalies would be missing only bits and pieces, of the times they had encounters with Mulder, Morris, or the other amonalies. Their remaining memories would be unaltered. Thus, they did not go back in time, and no events were undone except the original body switch and the other anomalies. So it's not really a BRB (Big Reset Button) since nothing was 'reset'. Yeah, that's a bit of a stretch, but it works!

Also, from the preview, it looks like "How the Ghosts Stole Christmas" is next, rather than "Terms of Endearment".

One more comment, why hasn't TPTB thought of switching Scully. We've had 2 people replace Mulder, Scully none.

But, why oh why would we want Scully to be replaced? :)I say more screen time for Gillian!:) (I thought the eps were great fun and David & Gillian did some great work in them.)

It does seem that the next episode is the one about "ghost-busting." I'm glad that I'd get to see "How the Ghosts ..." before I go on my vacation. :-)

Ok, about the episode tonight ...

At least we all now know that Mulder has a bedroom but not used as such probably ... (as Morris states "... no bedroom ..." when he enters Mulder's room). But why would he only note that now ... wasn't he in this apartment when he invited Kersh's secretary the last episode? And he must've stayed there for a while to be going through the home-movie we saw at the beginning. It seems that Morris-as-Mulder is only now taking stock of the apartment. And when he opens the closet, some mags fall out. It might be the famed collection of those mags/tapes noted several times in the nitpickers guide. Or Mulder could be keeping a couple X-Files in those boxes and made sure a couple sleazy mags fall out to turn-off nosy people that ever got to his closet.

Has anyone noted that the drawing above the men's room at the bar was an alien-looking being? Maybe they get a lot of "visitors" and want them to know where to go to answer the call of nature. Reminds me of that TV ad for one hotel (I can't recall which just now) where aliens were welcome so they didn't have to "dress-up" as humans.

When Mulder and Morris meet up at the men's room, Mulder locks it but then when the general-guy goes in, it's open. And why did they hide in the stall?

Morris-as-Mulder gets that bedroom spruced up really quick. Must've been one of those rent-a-furnitures that delivers in an hour. Or maybe he flashed that FBI badge to get faster service. And he probably got another 6-pack.

Scully must have a lot of faith that Morris isn't going to bail on her. And though he seems to want to stay as Mulder, he doesn't do anything to thwart Scully's attempt to undo the switch. When they drive back to Area 51, Scully drives and Morris isn't handcuffed. Granted that Scully's a good shot, Morris could've escaped or grabbed her gun while she was driving. And she trusts him to go in to rendevous with the contact ... with not much as a wire. She should've gotten that so she'd know what's going on in there. And she trusts him to take him to the Lone Gunmen's place. Assuming that they could undo the switch, how was she going to keep the guys' location a secret? Zap him with one of those MIB mind-eraser? He must have it on him ... after all he was an MIB-person (noticed the glasses he was wearing when he was driving ... reminded me of those MIB guys). I know, pick, pick, pick. ;-)

Would someone explain why the guy who's undoing the switches doing it? He states that prior to this he had a "spotless record." Huh? Well, maybe TPTB blames him for the time-warp ripple eh. So, he's correcting things by first testing it with the teens that get melded together. Then going through everything else ... last being Morris and Mulder. Which is why he stops the other guy who's got the trio.

The 2nd newspaper Morris had was at the Lone Gunmen's place was ... about Monica.

I refuse to nitpick this ep. Yes, I know, this is unlike me, but Ididn't nitpick Jose
Chung, and I won't nitpick this. However, I will do some clarifications:
1. Adam, you were right about the coin. I figured this out kibitzing with my father
during commercial breaks. My guess is also that only *objects* removed from the
immediate vicinity stayed changed, since the necking teens and our Dynamic Duo
didn't seem to remember. (Although Mulder gave a slight shudder, like God called out
his Name, as we say in my part of the U.S. of A.)
2. I don't know about all of the stuff in Mulder bedroom, but the mags that tumbled
out were porno. Playpen was one of them. BTW, I found it kind of amazing that he
cleaned The Whole Room and bought that bed in one day.
3.I would have no trouble at all believing that TPTB created Saddam and Monica.
4.I, too, loved the Spock stuff...and you know, that reminds me, I bet CC got together
with Michael Okuda and just basically took convincing terms out of the Tech Manual
for thi

Uh I hate to rain on your parade there Adam and KND, but people who have memories of the events still have them, that is as long as they weren't in the path of that wave. I prove it by pointing out that the kid that was with the kissing couple _remembers_ the kissing couple as being melded together, even after they had been returned to normal. The only possible explaination is that he wasn't "in the path" of the wave because he ran to get help. So that means that Kersh and his secretary and the others remember what happened because they weren't in the path of the wave. There is no way to get around this and the TPTB will shrug it off, so it is a really big nit.

Uh oh. Mulde's gonna be in some serious fewmets with Kersch's secratary. That makes
sense. Query: were the final scenes after the change however many days in the past,
or in the future? All indications were that it was in the future, but Kersch should
have noticed in that curciumstance that his two agents had been doing goodness
knows what for however long. If his memory was wiped completely, it won't be long
before he looks at a calender and realizes that he's had (gasp) MISSING TIME!!! Aaah!
Run for your lives, men!
BTW, Jose Chung is gonna have to move down a notch on my top twenty list, I'm
putting this in second place, right behind One Breath.

It's good to know that Scully learned at least something from "Small Potatoes"!

I actually liked this one quite a bit, more than "Small Potatoes". Even the reset button was so nicely set up that I can excuse it.

I like the way they totally change Mulder's apartment, but it makes complete sense. On top of that Mulder dosen't remember changing the apartment. On minor nit though, wouldn't the lone gunmen still have the data recorder from the UFO?

That's what they're asking on alt.x-files.creative . I think that we have a serious
snag in the spacetime continmum (see my post above.).

Since Scully was under suspension, I don't understand why she still had handcuffs. Shouldn't she have had to turn them in? Also, was her gun FBI issue? Shouldn't she have had to turn that in as well?

scully: hey mulder it looks like we fooled out boss again by chasing after another x files case against orders teehee.
mulder: are you calling on your cell phone?
scully: DOH!

Unlike the other characters, we the audience saw Mulder and Fletcher as they really were. That's fine. However, we also saw the Indian woman's body when the air force pilot inhabited it. Shouldn't we have seen the air force pilot instead?

And speaking of the air force pilot, there's a mad rush at the end to get Mulder and Fletcher back to their original positions at the time of the switch. I'd like to know how they got the air force pilot back to his original position, since the ship he's been flying at the time was destroyed!

The actor who plays Saddam Hussein, "John Gillnitz", also was the drunk that Leonard Betts murdered in the self-titled episode. John Gillnitz is a melding of the writers John Shiban, Vince Gilligan, and Frank Spotnitz.

Fa fa fa...

A nit, but first, a comment: I don't know if the whole time warp-erase-o-rama would actually work that way, so I can't nitpick it, but I was left feeling vaguely dissatisifed.

A nit: Scully is sitting in the car with Morris; he says something snide, she points her gun at him and WE HEAR THE SOUND OF A HAMMER BEING DRAWN BACK. Morris is chastened. However, Scully has a semi-automatic, not a revolver. Revolver hammers have the little curve at the top so the shooter can cock the gun with their thumb, but semi-autos don't. The way to cock a semi-auto is to pull back the slide at the top of the gun. Pulling back the slide makes a distinctive sound, which is often amplified for the benefit of TV shows and movies, but this time our foley technicians at Fox screwed up and used a revolver hammer FX.

Another problem: What happened to Mulder's confidenal source? He was the general and that part wouldn't be erased, because that was the whole point of Mulder visiting in the first place. To meet the confidental source. So wouldn't Mulder have met him even if everyhing snapped back to as it was before the craft flew over?

NSetzer: I assumed that noone's memory was erased until the rebound was finished. When the necking teens were seperated, their friend remembered because the rebound was still going on. Once it finished (just after restoring Mulder and Fletcher) the kid's memories were erased along with everyone else's. So it's not neccessarily a nit. Of course, a *lot* of people will have a *lot* of missing time, but oh well...

I thought it was kinda interesting that the general, --with *Majestic 12* clearance--
didn't know anything about the stuff they were flying. Not that this is a nit, just an
indicator of how eyes-only--no, that doesn't cover this. How
Show-This-To-Anyone-And-You're-Both-Dead this is.
BTW, I'm putting this on my top twenty list in second place, right behind One Breath.
Did I already say this?

This episode ranks right up there with Yesterday's Enterprise and Year of Hell as my all time favorite episodes

I hope Morris joins the Lone Gunmen.

So how did the Police Commisioner from L.A. Confidential wind up a general at Area 51? How do I know it's him? Because they're both fond of the word "son"...

I'm surprised Mulder didn't grill Grandma Top Gun on flying saucers when he had the chance.

Sigh. Before I start with the nitwatch/review, I want to say I'm a major major major fan. Just wanted you to know, because taking this review out of context will make it sound like I'm disenchanted with the show itself. Also, I'm warning ya, this is long, and pretty negative.

Well, I didn't want to review or rant until I saw both parts, but now I have, and it left me cold.

First off, imagine how great this episode would have been if we actually saw the characters the way everyone else did. Instead, we had Mulder behaving like Mulder, and Michael McKean behaving like Michael McKean. Ehh.

Secondly, throughout this two-parter, the seams between the Vince Gilligan and the Frank Spotnitz story became obvious (Yes, I know John Shiban did a bit of contribution, but I couldn't tell what.) I loved "Bad Blood", "Unusual Suspects", "Small Potatoes", etc. (Gilligan), and I loved the mythological episodes (Many of which were major Spotnitz projects). Unfortunately, the mix of humor and mythology felt jarring, lumpy, and at worst, inappropriate. It had too many funny moments to be taken seriously, and too many serious moments to be taken as a comedy. I like both of those genres on X-Files, but together? No thank you.

Thirdly, I was uncomfortable with the overall story. A warp in the space-time continuum? Come on. Many times during the episode, the justification for some things seemed to be "It's a time-warp, it doesn't have to make sense". That didn't sit well with me.

Then, we had the awkward ending. It's one thing to paint yourself into a corner. It's another to step through the painted area and leave a mess behind you. Time snapping back like a rubber band? Got it. Everything that happened undoing itself in backwards order? Got it. I mean, really...

Plus, The Unanswered Questions: (And Possible Nits):
Did time reverse itself? Did everyone just forget, or did everything end the same night it started? Then what about the coins stuck together? What about Mulder's apartment? How did everyone's memories change, but everything physical stay the same? What about Kersh's secretary (I'm trying to be tactful)? Is there any evidence there of their little encounter? If everything physical stayed the same, shouldn't Mulder be coughing and addicted to nicotine? I mean, what really happened? And wasn't it a coincidence that Mulder switched places with Morris rather than, say, the car for example...

The episode wasn't a complete loss. Michael McKean was fun. The Mulder and Scully scene where they realize they'll probably never see each other again tugged at the heartstrings for me. The scene with the Lone Gunmen was superb.

And then, they'res the apartment number...ah, 42, big as life. I know it's been brought up before and it's been there ever since "Colony", but who would have known that as Mulder looks for the answer to life, the universe, and everything, it's sitting right there on his door. (as any Hitchhiker's Guide fan knows .)

So, sorry everyone, but I'd have to classify "Dreamland I & II" as one of the few two-part episodes that left me unimpressed.

To quote Zaphod Beeblebrox, "10 out of 10 for style, but minus several million for good thinking, yeah?"

Just my opinion. I might be wrong.

We forgive you, Mike! (Sorry. I heard that a lot at some stupid counseling session my
mom made my go to ages ago. The counseler said (Big Surprise!) that I was perfectly
normal. A little wierd but normal. I didn't tell them I watched the X-Files.) Anyway,
everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Ccabe and Omer even liked Home.
re Saddam: Do you know that Bwebber plans to kill you off?

A Note: It occurs to me that The Big Reset Button was in the Voy ep before last. I
think it was the one before last. The one with Kim and 'Chaco'tay traveling back to
the Federation...

I believe the episode was Year Of Hell.

I was generally unimpressed by this episode. The last was deffinately better. I did like the ending though, when Mulder went home and had to come back into the hall to look at the door. That was soooo funny. I wonder what he'll with his bedroom now.

Do 47's work for the X-files as well as Star Trek because when Mulder goes back to Morris's house it was 4:47.

I, too was lost about the whole "why didn't he notice the bedroom before" thing. There is only one explanation that I can think of: he didn't spend the night there. So, he must have spent the night at the blonde's place. Scully caught them right after she had dropped "Mulder" off at his place. Did anyone pay close enough attention? How many days did this episode take place over? How many nights have to be glossed over?

soooo mark,
I for one, was impressed with how fast one guy
could clean up an entire apartment, order
and set up a huge waterbed, and redecorate
in one afternoon? Do you know what a pain it is
to set up a waterbed?
sheesh!

Apparently, Morris is Just That Good!

Is he "Morris, Olympic Gymnast" -- at least in his own mind?

Or maybe he flashed that FBI badge and got an entire cleaning crew on top of the one-hour delivery of bedroom set crew ... I know, I know, I'm stretching it ... but Morris seems awfully impressed at what an FBI badge could do when he and Scully were driving ... right before Scully asks him to stop and back up to the "restored" gas station. ;-)

Just some (semi) minor Nits.
What happened to the pilot who was imbedded in rock? The Area 51 guys were there cleaning up in the first part, then it was completely abandonded. But, when time "snapped back", did he get out? And, on the same theme, what about that poor lizard with it's head in the rock?
Which, by the way, shouldn't have been moving. Even if the lizard's head and the rock were co-existing, rock is NOT breathable!
One side note, when the MIBs were destroying the gas station, the order given was "Burn it." Does this mean that CSM did some service with the MIBs, or is it just coinicidence?

<<A nit: Scully is sitting in the car with Morris; he says something snide, she points
her gun at him and WE HEAR THE SOUND OF A HAMMER BEING DRAWN BACK.
Morris is chastened. However, Scully has a semi-automatic, not a revolver.
Revolver hammers have the little curve at the top so the shooter can cock the
gun with their thumb, but semi-autos don't. >>

This isn't entirely correct. There are a variety of types of semi-auto pistols. The Glock, for instance, has no external hammer and this observation would be correct. But those with a mechanism known as "single-action," such as the classic 1911 Colt (still one of the most popular handgun designs in use today), or the newer "single-action/double-action" (including Sig, Smith & Wesson, etc) do have an external hammer very much like that of a revolver. They are cocked by pulling the hammer back (or, in some cases, simply by a very heavy pull on the trigger). I didn't pay attention to Scully's gun in this particular episode, but in the past she has most commonly used a Beretta, if memory serves. Phil's a Beretta fan and can tell us if they all have external hammers. (At least some do.) This was an issue in the episode "Ice," too, if I recall correctly.

re this whole coexisting at the same time/place thing: from what we could see, the
lizard had it's head inside a rock. But were the molecules truly existing at the same
time/place (which, as we know it, is impossible)... or had the rock simply 'made room'
for the lizard's head? And i agree the lizard should've been dead.

I did enjoy the episode, but a few more nits must be made....
It seems the "warp" changed a few times. When we first saw it in part one (when Mulder and Morris switched) it appeared as just a bright light (or am I wrong, and that was just from the ship?), then when the gas station got hit by the warp, it was a whirlwind with glass exploding. Then, in part two, it changed into the warp that looked like some kind of weird transparent wave.
Also, while on the subject of the warp, why did it snap back after two days? Did it stretch all the way out to the end of the universe in that time, or is there a simply a limit to how far "tears" in the space-time continuum can extend?
Also, (I'm sure someone has already covered this , but...) How did Morris clean up Mulder's apartment AND get a waterbed constructed AND FILLED in less than a day? And, assuming he bought the bed, how did he pay for it? With Mulder's credit cards or checks? So does this mean that later Mulder will get the bills for these purchases? (That would be one excuse the credit people probably haven't heard before: " I didn't buy this stuff, I was victim to a tear in space-time.")
And finally, not really a Nit, just a question. What is the deal with special guest stars this season? First Junior Brown, then Michael McKean, and next week we have Ed Asner and Lily Tomlin. It's as though it's suddenly "chic" to be a star on X-Files.

Me again!
I forgot to mention this in the last message before blindly clicking "Post Message." (DOH!)
After Mulder and Morris switched back, MORRIS LET THEM GO!!! Major mistake! In part one, right after they switched the first time, when Morris (now Mulder) got back in the van, his co-workers asked him ,"Why'd you let them go?"
Mulder responded something about the leak (my memory isn't the greatest right now.) But, when the switch back occured, Morris wouldn't've had a reason to allow them to leave. Unless....Morris retained his memories...
just a thought.

Whike we're on the subject of the leak: Is there still a leak in Area 51? Will he be contacting Mulder later (after all, it all RESET!)

Okay, I accept the fact that everyone's mind was reset by the reverse timewarp, because Scully says "We snuck in under Kersh's radar." And the coin was unchanged because it was moved.

But Mulder's room wasn't moved, and it was (apparently) in the state Morris left it. So physical objects not directly changed by the blast did not revert.

Here's my problem--what happened to all the paperwork that was created at the FBI during those two days? Specifically, if Scully was suspended, Kersh must have filed papers to have her suspended (stop payroll, alert security, note to personnel file, etc.). What happens when Scully goes to pick up her check and there's nothing there? HR checks records and finds this letter outlining event that no one remembers.

And did the whole world reset? We're talking two days passed. Wouldn't people begin to wonder what happened if they were suddenly missing two days?

Hmmmmmmm.....
This sounds like the beginnings of a really good nit, the kind you save up in case you
ever meet CC. You shake his hand, thank him for creating such a great show, and then,
as he's starting to relax, say, "By the way, remember Dreamland? Well..." TIC ;-)

I'm Back!!!

Just saw the ending here... At the end, right at the time of the big reset switch in the sky, everyone is all together... Scully, Mulder, Morris. Morris looks at Mulder and Scully. This comes up again in a nice touch in "Three of a Kind". Morris looks at Scully and does kind of a doubletake. Kudos.

-12-

The real question is do the Lone Gunmen remember meeting Fletcher/Mulder on Huevlos Rancheros night. Since the penny/dime thing is in Washington and the Lone Gunmen live near Washington the logical conclusion is that they were unaffected by the big reset like the penny/dime.

As for how Morris could have redone Mulder's apt. so fast maybe he took lessons from Monica Geller when she worked at his Mocklate company. Any if the apt reset itself at the end maybe Monica sensed it and drove all the way to Washington to put it back the way Morris left it.

I just saw it again and realized that something was wrong. The first time that they switched places, they also switched clothes. At the end of this episode, they switch again but they're both wearing suits. After the switch, Mulder is wearing his T-shirt and Morris is wearing a suit. This implies that time went back, they didn't just switch and have their memories erased. I like how the initials of the two guys are FM and MF. Finally, this should probably go under "Monday" but I like in that episode where Scully asks Mulder when he got a water bed and he cant remember.

Don't remember if it's this one or Dreamland I.

In the mirror sequence (tribute to Lucy and Harpo Marx), Fox Morris isn't quite in sync with his Fletcher Mulder reflection. Of course, that's really hard to do, and Duchovny and McKean did a very good job.

ANTI-NIT: I think after the rubber band undid what it did there was still lost time (remember it's been long established that these spacecraft do have an effect). The reason the FBI may no longer have on record of Scully's termination is that after Area 51 did their thing, CSM, etc. were contacted to remove all documentation, etc. It's why they slipped "under the radar" of their new supervisor (when the first time around they didn't). The question then is whether or not the Lone Gunmen still have the memory? (Given that at least for a moment my impression after the reversal of the switch happened there was a look of recognition on behalf of both Mulder and Morris-- so they may still have retained their memories).