MillenniuM XX
October 25 2016 marks the 20th anniversary of MillenniuM!
Chris Carter’s second-longest creation saw its pilot premiere on October 25 1996, replacing the Friday night time slot of The X-Files, while The X-Files moved to Sunday nights early in its fourth season. MillenniuM went on for 67 episodes during three very different seasons which had one thing in common: the character of Frank Black, who, Christ-like, seems to bear the worries for the sins of the whole of humankind on his shoulders, and his memorable portrayal by Lance Henriksen.
Since the 2008 release of the second X-Files movie I Want To Believe (very Millenniumistic, by the way) in 2008, the MillenniuM fandom is marked by the Back To Frank Black campaign, which did everything in its power to bring MillenniuM back in some form — and gave the world many interviews of cast and crews in the process, and produced a remarkable book of interviews and analysis in 2012.
Additionally: In 2014, IDW published a comics on MillenniuM, written by Joe Harris, but it did not continue beyond the initial five issues. In 2008, La La Land edited a 2-CD compilation of Mark Snow music from MillenniuM, and unexpectedly followed suit in 2015 with a Volume 2.
One more reason to celebrate: a new Millennium documentary project has been launched by a team involving B2FB, fan-made but professional-grade! The documentary Millennium after the Millennium is open for crowdfunding support.
Millennium after the Millennium is a new documentary focused on Chris Carter’s landmark television series Millennium. Set twenty years after the show ended, we take a look back at what makes Millennium so enduring to fans and critics alike. With virtually every major crew and cast member including Chris Carter, Lance Henriksen, Frank Spotnitz, Chip Johannessen, James Wong, Glen Morgan and many, many more, we delve into how Millennium came to be and explore its turbulent production history while finding hope for the future. This documentary will be packed with thoughtful reflections and candid never before seen interviews. Want to know about that infamous missing Millennium script? Or the definitive answers to how Millennium ended up with three very unique seasons? How about the REAL reasons why Millennium was canceled? It’s all here including all the major players’ thoughts and ideas on how to bring our beloved Frank Black back!
It is expected to be released in 2017.
The X-Files Volume 3
Today is also another important date: Volume 3 of Mark Snow’s music for The X-Files is edited by La La Land Records! Limited edition of 3000 units.
After Vol.1 in 2011 and Vol.2 in 2013 (The X-Files‘ own 20th anniversary), Vol.3 is another 4-CD compilation of music from across the whole length of the show, covering episodes not included in the previous two. EatTheCorn had compiled a long list of requests for Snow music worthy of a clean release for LLL’s consideration — the Massive Music Compilation, massively updated in 2015 — and I’m glad to see many requests made the cut! It will be updated again soon to incorporate Vol.3.
The TRUTH is out there OCTOBER 25, 2016
THE X-FILES VOLUME 3 — 4 CD BOX SET
MUSIC BY MARK SNOW
LLLCD 1370
Here is the tracklist:
[table id=1 /]
Vol.3 covers just 18 episodes (and no episodes from seasons 3 and 7) compared to 40 and 33 from the previous two volumes. This means much longer cues and more time spent per episode on average — which is great news given the atmospheric nature of Snow’s soundtrack, especially in those early seasons. But it also means that many essential cues from many episodes still haven’t been released and are postponed to a potential Volume 4.
Here are the running totals summed across all three volumes:
[table id=2 /]
Seasons 2, 4 and 5 get the most music, season 7 the least by far. Today it is almost common practice for TV shows to have a 1-CD release per season, thanks in no small part to labels like La La Land, and thanks to these 3 releases The X-Files has now caught up. But as the Massive Music Compilation list shows, there is more than enough material for 4 more CDs of a Volume 4! However, the latest news is that La La Land would be planning of a limited 2-CD release to wrap everything up. I hope at least Duane Barry/Ascension, Apocrypha, Never Again will be on that, not to mention episodes already covered but still have great music that was skipped, like Talitha Cumi or Redux II.
Still: Thank you La La Land!
EDIT Oct-27-2016: More good news: Day+1 sales were so good for La La Land that they are considering a full 4-CD Volume 4 after all!
