So, I like X-Files. A friend of mine got me really hooked on it, and I have the whole series on DVD. To prepare for the new movie, called X-Files: I Want to Believe that opens in about two weeks (Friday, July 25th), I’ve been watching many of the best episodes again. Rumor has it that this new film is going to be standalone, with little mention of the mythological story arc filled with aliens, deceit and carpet-tugging that the series is well known, and sometimes infamous, for.

I’ve compiled a list of my own personal favorite standalone, “MOW” (Monster of the Week) episodes in preparation for the film. Keep in mind these are just my preferences, and I tried to get at least one or two from each season. So, here goes…

25. Redrum: A lawyer is arrested for the murder of his wife. He tries desperately to clear his own name, but it’s made complicated by the fact the days seem to be progressing backwards. The episode comes late in the series (season 8). The idea is intriguing, somewhat reminiscent of great cerebral films such as Memento.

24. Daemonicus: Dogget and Reyes investigate their first case together on the X-Files. This one’s about Satanic, ritual murders. It’s one of the better episodes of the last season, and quite eerie at some parts.

23. Roadrunners: Scully investigates a Cult group that seems to worship a slug creature – one they want to insert into her body. Gruesome episode. Tense dynamic between Dogget and Scully after Mulder’s recent disappearance.

22. The Pine Bluff Variant: An anarchist terrorist group tests a biochemical agent on innocent people in a movie theater. And Scully becomes suspicious that Mulder is sympathetic to their anti-government cause. A very tense, solid episode that catapults Mulder into some vary tough situations.

21. Triangle: Mulder and Scully on a ship in the Bermuda Triangle. A lot of long shots, good dialog work, strong acting by Gillian Anderson.

20. Irresistible: Donnie Pfaster is a serial killer who mutilates and kills women, especially prostitues. Scully is deeply affected by the case, and Mulder puts his criminal profiling to the test to find the killer.

19. John Doe – Dogget wakes up in Mexico with a bad case of retrograde amnesia. He can’t remember anything, including his own name. The entire episode is shot beautifully, with stark cinematography that catapult it much higher than it would appear otherwise. Still, it holds it own as a mystery too.

18. X-Cops: The “Cops” crew meets up with Mulder and Scully while they track an entity that may or may not be a werewolf… or a giant bee-man. Or Freddy Kreuger. The format is a welcome change-up to the series and makes for a very entertaining episode. The case itself, involving an extremely mysterious and elusive creature, is also intriguing. Just, minus points for the two embarrassingly over-the-top gay characters.

17. Rain King: Hailstones shaped like hearts, a frozen, flying cow and dating advice from Mulder. Someone calling himself “the Rain King” seems to be able to control the weather and has the agents – well, really only Mulder – suspicious in a small town plagued with a horrible drought.

16. Tooms: Mulder tries desperately to keep Eugene Tooms, the stretchable liver-eating from being released. Failing that, he attempts to gather evidence against Tooms before he kills again and gets the fifth and last liver he needs before he goes into hibernation – only gathering the evidence might mean a strict reprimand to both Mulder and Scully’s career.

15. Grotesque: Mulder and Scully investigate a homicide case in which a serial killer claims he’s been possessed by demons. When the murders continue after the suspect is apprehended, though, a convicted Mulder investigates the case tirelessly, while Scully fears he might be going too far. Both Mulder’s profiling abilities, as well as his reputation as ‘Spooky’ are explored deeply here. Some of Mulder’s past is revealed by the agent’s former supervisor, played by Kurtwood Smith (of “That 70’s Show”).

14. Dod Kalm: A lost ship sits in the middle of the ocean, seemingly warped by time. While investigating, Mulder and Scully are left stranded on this ship, dying from old age and dehydration by the hour. One of the more emotional standalone episodes that sees both agents at one of their grimmest moments.

13. Never Again: A man gets a tattoo that seems to talk to him – in the voice of Jodie Foster – and leads him to murder. By chance, Scully and him land a date… and Scully even gets a tattoo herself! This episode is notable for its focus on Scully’s character. It also helps the scene where Scully gets inked has beautiful music.

12. F Emasculata: A flesh-eating contagion is released in a prison population. When two inmates escape who may or may not be infected, Mulder and Scully race to detain the inmates and get a cure to the deadly virus.

11. Humbug: Take a murder mystery set in an old circus down. Fill it with former sideshow performers, including a shaved police chief wolf-man, a professional blockhead, and a fish-eating human piranha called ‘The Conundrum’. Add some witty banter between Mulder and a maybe-oversensitive-little-person hotel manager, and a slimy monster that kills people, and you have… a great X-Files episode.

10. The Host: Easily one of the most disgusting, disturbing creatures to cross TV screens… the Host features the Flukeman, a grotesque sewer-monster. The creature is one of the creepiest that the X-Files ever produced. The resulting episode is also one of the most terrifying. Mulder and Scully travel between a sewage plant and the sewers beneath New Jersey to find this… thing. Definitely one of the best Monster-of-the-Week episodes.

09. Orison: Donnie Pfaster, the serial killer who disturbed Scully last time, is back again. This episode is even stronger than the previous, with a very emotional climax at the end involving Scully. One of the number of truly great episodes this series produced.

08. Ice: Though it hints at the greater alien conspiracy that occurs later on in the story, Ice also acts as a very solid, psychologically tense standalone episode towards the beginning of the series. Mulder, Scully, and a handful of other scientists are stranded in a facility in Alaska. There appears to be some deadly bacteria living in the ice that alters behavior and eventually kills the host… and any of them could be effected. It isn’t long before the situation gets tense, characters struggle and blood is shed. One of the best psycholgically thrilling episodes of the first season, and, the series.

07. Folie A Deux: A telemarketer thinks his boss is a monster. He takes his coworkers and Agent Mulder hostage to prove it. But is the man really crazy, or is his boss actually a giant zombie-making cockroach creature? Fantastic episode.

06. Small Potatoes: A shape-shifting monkey man impregnates a bunch of women in a small town, and M & S are on the case. The second half of the episode, in which (SPOILER!) the suspect, Eddie Van Blundht, steals Mulder’s life – and even almost-successfully seduces Scully – makes the episode particularly compelling. (END SPOILER)

05. Pusher: A man is able to force his will upon others. Mulder is manipulated, and a deadly game of Russian Roulette at the end of the episode, make it a must for most X-Files fans.

04. Bad Blood / Clyde Bruckham’s Final Repose: In Bad Blood, Mulder has killed a boy, and the FBI is threatened with a multi-million dollar lawsuit. Mulder and Scully recite their own version of the events that transpired in a rural town that may or may not be infested with vampires. It’s one of the funniest episodes of the series. Clyde Bruckham (awesome performance by the late Peter Boyle) is an insurance salesman who can see how people die. When a serial killer starts killing fortunetellers and psychics, Mulder and Scully want to use Clyde to catch the killer and put an end to his murder spree. Equal parts humor and intrigue.

03. Drive: One of my personal favorites, Patrick Crump (Bryan Cranston, of “Malcolm in the Middle”) has a horrible ringing in his head that is only alleviated when he travels west. He abducts Agent Mulder and force him at gunpoint to drive straight through California to appease the pain that’s becoming increasingly unbearable. Meanwhile, Scully investigates the cause for the man’s strange condition. As they evade police, and “run out of West”, Crump’s fate looks more and more bleak. Simply one of the finest standalone episodes.

02. Jose Chung’s ‘From Outer Space’: As funny as Bad Blood is, Jose Chung is even funnier. Scully tells a novelist her experience on a recent case involving two teens who have supposedly been abducted by aliens. The episode features a hilarious depiction of two Men in Black, Mulder eating a pie, a snarky detective with a foul mouth, and an English-speaking alien smoking a cigarette.

01. Home: Home is arguably the most haunting episode of the entire run of the series. Telling the story of a violent, deformed, inbred family, with a savage murder occurring in the middle of the episode to an oldies song… it’s one of the most stunning episodes of television I, and many others, have ever seen. Simply perfect.

Honorable mentions:

4-D: Strong episode of Season 9 with a serial killer who cuts out women’s tongues and can hide in other dimensions.

Post-Modern Prometheus: Shot in black and white, an homage to both Frankenstein and The Elephant Man. Some funny scenes including the [somewhat] titular character dancing to Cher.

War of the Coprophages: Funny, with lots of spoofs of B-movies.

Feel free to leave comments on what your thoughts are of the series or episodes mentioned, or post your own list.