X-Files Season 10 Volume 1

“The X-Files: Cold Cases” is a fairly short, nostalgic audio drama featuring a full cast from the original series. What is an audio drama you say? Well, it's a full cast format with music and sound effects that harkens back to the 20's, 30's and 40's when families would sit around the radio and listen to their favorite caped crusaders (check out The Shadow – Its voiced by Orson Welles!), detectives that smoke pipes (Sherlock is voiced by Basil Rathbone in the audio production, who is great, but we all know Jeremy Brett portrayed him the best.) and fun horror anthologies. (The inimitable Bela Lugosi guests stars in some of these – need I say more?)

Sorry about the slight tangent. On wards with the review:

I really enjoyed the TV show as a youngster, so once I found out about how this audiobook expands upon some of the original cases, I had to check it out. So, the first thing I would say is that this is extreme fan service. There is practically no backstory, so if you pick this up without a strong knowledge of the show, you might be a bit lost.

Mulder and Scully dust off their trench coats and are pulled back into the X-files after a security breach on the bureau's firewall. Did you use an IDS instead of an IPS? Tsk, tsk, FBI. It is set after the movies, I believe, and right before the revival show.

I'm going to nerd out here, so please skip ahead if you so desire. Each mini-episode is about 15–25 minutes long and covers a vast array of exciting episodes. I was so INCREDIBLY excited and giddy when they chose to cover the Flukeman. Remember the weird, half-man, half-worm creature that floated around in the waste water system? Well, you find out (no spoiler) where it came from. Oh, Mr. X is back, Smoking Man is back, and the Lone Gunman are back. I could go on and on. It's just so much fun to briefly catch up with the characters.

There is a problem, though. It's not a turn-off by any means; it's just the nature of the production, I think. Since it's audio, some scenes have to explain away what is happening. For example, a gunshot will go off and someone has to say, “I think I shot (so and so)” or someone will transform into something and they have to describe what they are seeing. It has a campy feel, so it could be considered humorous, but it could also play as a negative for others. Your results may vary.

The bottom line is if you like the show, ‘I want to believe' that you will enjoy this. It's nostalgic and oh, so fun.