Millennium

Singers or rock bands will release an album. It may be their first and sometimes that album can be very successful selling copies by the bucketful and then when it comes to their follow up they disappoint. Sometimes the quality of that second album is higher than the first, but the case is the mainstream are either disappointed, or not interested. So it is with Chris Carter's Millennium, the second series he made after the mammoth success of his breakthrough series The X Files. Whereas The X Files is about how their is light at the end of that dark journey you may journey, Millennium was always about the opposite and thus the tone of the show was set and it may have led to the disappointing ratings and a sudden cancellation after three seasons. This is a shame as this was undeniably one of the finest television dramas ever created, giving us one of the best central performances in a television drama series and giving us sixty odd episodes of thought provoking if very disturbing drama.

Whereas The X Files gave the audience a quirky set of characters in the shape of Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, Millennium gave us the dark, secluded and world weary Frank Black, a man who investigated cases of serial killer using a unique, almost clairvoyant like ability to see what the killer was able to see. This set up was fantastic and like The X Files paved the way for over twenty mini movies a season. The stories were frequently clever and very well told and the main performance from Lancer Henriksen, the most underrated actor if there ever was one, was a sight to watch. The series was frequently disturbing, offering some of the most graphic images on mainstream network American television, the stories were hard hitting (incest and child molestation was dealt with at one point) and even the dip into X Files-esque waters worked as the paranormal element usually had something to do with the end of the world thus sometimes facilitating an explanation as to why so many bad things were happening in the world all of a sudden.

The thing was viewers were not prepared for this in light of The X Files. While both shows had the same creator and the same writers and directors, there was no break from the inherent darkness of Millennium. The X Files would counter balance the conspiracy and horror stories with episodes of light humor and whimsical comedy, but here there was not. Even the odd comedy episode had darker elements. A cross over with The X Files would see the character of Jose Chung appear. He was dead at the end of the episode he appeared in. It was story developments like these that let one know that this was not show of optimism and hope, even if the title sequence tried to tell us that. Nope, Millennium was dark, hideous and violent, but it was still a great show that was never given much of a chance. The critics outside of horror and science fiction circles didn't like it and audiences found it too much, but there was denying that this was a superb show.

Like The X Files the visual level and production values were superb and the moody Vancouver locations worked a charm, whilst there was rarely ever a bad episode. Here's hoping time will catch up with this fantastic show and that maybe some day an audience will appreciate it fully.

Fantastic mixture of drama, suspense, action, horror, and mystery. Raises the bar of Television to a whole new level. The masterful combination no-tell-all driven plot and detailed personal characters creates a canvas on which great things have come. The dark photography and surreal flash scenes surpass current mystery and horror series. The detailed historical and mythological connections interwoven within the story line is commendable. This series does not rely on a physical monster, but the monster within everyone. The horror of pure evil and the evils of mankind. The music of Mark Snow is an excellent backdrop to this type of setting. His use of synthesized strings in thick chords compliments the dark visions of the drama. Snow also uses sounds and alterations of the human voice to set effect. The use of a solo violin in the main title and though out the series reflects the struggle of a single man (Frank Black) against the undeviating force of evil in the world. Together, Carter's vision for a dark, artistic drama has come to life.

How do you make a great, spooky television series? Well, here is one recipe for success. Take a pound of flesh from the 1995 movie 'Seven', with Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt, add a little demented serial killer from 1986's 'Manhunter' with William Peterson and Dennis Farina, and place it in an industrial sized microwave oven for a few minutes. Then add a slice of 1992's 'Silence of The Lambs', some fava beans and pop the cork on a nice bottle of Chianti. With this recipe, you have the hit Fox TV series that ran from 1996 to 1999 Years before TV shows like CSI' or 'Cold Case Files' and 'Law and Order SVU' were even thought of, there was this remarkable show. It was called MillenniuM.

MillenniuM was a series about a profiler named Frank Black. He could see into the mind of serial killers and offered us a glimpse at the world of the criminally disturbed. He worked for the Millennium group, an investigative firm that worked in the private sector. Every week, violent crimes, as well as the disturbing images they create, were the primary focus on this great series. The first season was superb. We all got to meet and know Frank, Catherine, and Jordan, who lived in their big yellow house in Seattle, WA, and we could almost feel the dampness and heavy rain that Seattle is famous for. However, after the haunting opening theme and the awesome boomp-boomp that led us into each segment with the white screen, we all immediately looked to the bottom of that screen to read the type-writer font, and see where this week's episode was taking us to. We would usually meet a member of the Millennium group within the first 15 minutes, and usually that character was Peter Watts. Looking like a Marine and always in control of his emotions, he quickly learned to trust Frank's feelings on most issues.{Peter Watts was played by Terry O'Quinn, and now stars on the ABC series "Lost" as John Locke.}These two made an excellent team, as well as the others from the group, and these relationships really made the show. Frank also had his demons, as all great heroes do. He was in search of a way to suppress his gift, for the love of his daughter, who may also be cursed with the visions. Frank was also working on his marriage, which was, as most marriages are, a daily battle. Frank Black was uncomfortable with his chosen profession, but he also knows it was his destiny to do this job, which he did so well.

That's enough about the show. If you are reading this review, you are already a big fan. Let's talk about the DVD's.

Besides the fact that I want to tell Fox thank you and it's about bloody hell time, this DVD set is great. All 22 episodes are in crisp, clear and in vivid color, and that awesome theme song before each episode. Sweet! I highly recommend this DVD to anyone who is a Chris Carter fan, as well as CSI fans and any fan of current TV programs that review evidence and solve crimes. Give it a try. You will not be disappointed.

Thanks, Brian R. Collins {BC}

P.S. As I am writing this the date is September 1, 2004 and I just received word that MillenniuM Season 2 will be released in the UK on September 27, 2004. So it can't too far behind for the good old U.S. of A.

BC

When Millennium first aired on television, I was 12 years old and a huge fan of The X-files. I didn't pay much attention to the series, I guess, because in a way, the series was different from The X-files. Recently I re-watched most of the episodes on cable TV for the first time in 10 years, and it caught my attention in a way that it hadn't before.

I can say that I re-discovered Millennium. It is undoubtedly a wonderful show, comparable to The X-files. The writing is superb, especially on season 2,my favorite season, the acting is great, the characters are totally likable, Mark Snow's score is wonderful as always. I think James Wong and Glen Morgan did a terrific job on season 2, with memorable episodes, such as: "The beginning and the end", "Monster", "The curse of Frank Black", "Midnight of the century", "The time is now", among others. And season 3 also has it's memorable episodes, such as: "Borrowed time" and "Antipas".

I think it's sad the show only lasted 3 seasons, in my opinion The X-files should have ended earlier, maybe on season 7, but Millennium had the potential to go on, I believe the series ended prematurely. Chris Carter created a masterpiece with The X-files, and he did it again with Millennium, creating another unique series on the history of TV, and a classic, no question about that.

This is undoubtedly one of the most intelligent and thought-provoking series that has come out in a long time. If we were able give it a vote, I would give it a 10/10.