According to transcripts from a chat in the past couple days with Peter Stradden, a Fox Home Video rep, Chris Carter's Millennium will finally be released on DVD, late in 2004! Details here. I just wanted to share the joy; IMO Millennium, at least in its first two seasons, was truly one of TV's greatest. Interesting how committed Fox seems to be to immortalizing so many of its prematurely canceled properties on DVD (Firefly, Futurama). It sure has been a long wait.

Any other fans out there? I'm very curious what sorts of extras (if any!) it will include.

ETA: I've misspelled the name of my favorite show in this thread's title. I hang my head in shame.

I really liked this show. I missed a lot of the Owl/Rooster bits but otherwise, brilliant.

And although I liked the first two seasons (the ending with the Marlburg virus taking over and his wife walking off into the woods - heartbreaking!), I thought Frank getting a partner was a good move for the character. Everyone accused of it copying The X-Files, but Frank was such an internal character there needed to be someone who could bring the exposition, y'know? The actress was good, too (and named Klea. That's important.)

Also, best appearance by the band KISS in a tv show.

SPIFFY! I'd happily take up a DVD set or two - umm, if I've paid off my vast remodeling expenses by then.

Millenium was high-class stuff on a regular basis, despite occasionally lapsing into a serial-killer-of-the-week mode. Some of Chris Carter's best work, which I suspect went frequently unseen due to the awe- and horror-inspiring pilot episode. Millenium was tough to watch, going where no television show I'd seen had ever gone before on a regular basis, but it was also very well-done and very rewarding.

I remember that pilot very well. It aired very close in time to the X-Files episode "Home" (inbred mutant Virginians) and "Unruhe" (icepick lobotomies) - my friends and I looked at one another and said, "Boy, if both of these shows are going to be this dark on a regular basis, I don't know if I'll be able to stand watching them."

Tough stuff, that was - but tasty.

About the third season, though I did really miss the arc that played out over the course of the first two years, I definitely still enjoyed it very much. It did seem to lose some of its direction, but I have no doubt that it would have found its way again. I also really liked his partner.

CleaPet: Kiss??? Wow, I can't believe I don't remember that. Do you recall which season that was in?

Whatever happened to Lance Henricksen? He was one my favorite B-movie actors before he starred on the series, but has since practically disappeared.

The DVD should have a commentary by him. IIRC, he didn't shy away from the fact that Frank had to walk a fine line between light and dark, and fully supported the darkness of the series.

TanTan, I think the last season? It was kind of a wink-wink, meta story about a serial killer on a B-horror movie set which featured the band KISS; Frank's visions were mostly of the band and his partner turned out to be a complete horror movie buff. It had some nice twists. Excellent episode.

Lance Henricksen remains a B-movie regular. Or, more precisely, a D-movie regular. Crap I've recently suffered through for a Lance fix include The Mangler 2 and Sasquatch. And, he is going to play the root of the Wayland clones in the Aliens V. Predator movie.

In other words, nothing really worth his time. Apparently, however, he has a second career as a potter--you can buy his cups and bowls etc. directly from his website.

I do hope Season 3 makes it to disc. MUST SEE KISS!

Oh dear. After one interview I remember thinking that Lance was identifying a little *too* much with Frank. Maybe the pottery was part of his therapy?

This show jumped the shark TWICE IMHO....

1) When Frank realizes the 'Millennium' group is kinda evil, so he separates from them, IMO, it was TOO early in the series to do it. I liked Frank Black as part of the millennium group. He was a consultant after that, but OK, still good.

2)When Frank loses his first partner and got the second one, the African-American cop who couldn't act to save her life. I hated her, so. much. because Millenium was my Favorite show for the first 2 seasons... can't quite remember, did it got cancelled after the 3rd or fourth?
She kept calling Frank Mr. Black all the time and I never saw her again... I blame her for the show going to hell, she was that bad an actress.

Yeah, I'll get the DVDs, at least until that cop shows up.

The one I loved is when 'Frank' is giving a talk to the FBI, and at the end of the episode, it turns out is the killer at the asylum, all imagining things.

KISS was there! I think it was supposed to be a movie promo for the dreadful 'Detroit Rock City' and people where getting killed in the set. Someone was also playing Frank Black on a movie as well.

Plus, the best Sketch on MAD-TV (besides the XXX-Files) was 'Suddenly Millennium' where Frank Black is part of the 'Suddenly Susan' sitcom. Comedy Gold!

Yes, that was the episode with KISS. See also, upthread.

Wish I had seen that Mad tv sketch.

Yay on the DVD front! Every now and again the Asian or UK versions come across eBay, or someone sells their library. I wasn't into it at all in first run on FOX except for the occasional episode here and there, but I started seriously watching it on FX and I've missed it since they dropped it.

I had hoped Sci-Fi would acquire it when they picked up the XF library.

I think LH works when he wants to. He's had a long career and my guess is that pottery is his love and acting pays the bills.

HAD to jump on this thread - I loved this show for one and only one reason...Lance Henrikson.

This man is one of the gods of sci-fi, fantasy, horror, action genre movies. He's great in everything he does, even the crappy movies. I agree, 'Sasquatch' was just about as bad as they come (yet I rented it, yes, but just to watch LH), but you've got to admit LH brightens up every movie he's in! He's a great actor that unfortunately doesn't get the roles in 'serious' films that he should. Probably because of his unususal voice and film history. His gravelly voice, his weathered face...*sigh*...I've loved him for years, can you tell? Big whoppin' crush over here...

He's the hardest working man in showbiz and deserves a special sci-fi/horror fan award of some kind.

Does anyone have a link to his website?

ed.; OK, need to spell his name right if I want to be his #1 fan...

Totally with you about Lance Henriksen. I'll sit through pretty much anything he's in. I actually love some of his cheesy stuff--Pumpkinhead and The Pit and the Pendulum are great fun.

His website is here, but it's down at the moment--there's a note that he's on location (I assume for AliensVPredator). You can see some of his work here. It's actually quite lovely.

Somehow I don't see LH as bright and cheery :-).. but I know what you mean. One of those actors that did not need a full character to have a presence, kinda like Christopher Walken.

I loved LH from 'Aliens' on down... I agree his picks in working on certain movies have been horrendous, but maybe he just does it to pay the bills.

I was hoping for him to get more visibility after 'Milennium, but it didn't happen.

And how about Terry O'Quinn, who added a lot to the show? What a fine actor. My favorite eps I think are from the maligned last season--the one where they find the mass graves of Millenium group victims, and the one where the murderer is the park ranger who raped & drowned his victim. Powerful stuff. The eps with the demon chick who murdered Frank's policeman friend in the first season were amazing too, though. An incredibly atmospheric and haunting show, I think.

Wow. Just remembering those eps...excellent. I wonder if I took this show for granted a little bit, throwing it in the same basket as the XF.

I always liked the episode with the dogs gone wild in the small town. The dotcom millionaire cracked me up, and so did Frank's exasperation with him, but the whole point about balance, that was interesting.

But the park ranger one, I remember being uber-impressed with that one; maybe because it's a standard cop show story that they took to a new level.

This show took LOTS of things to next levels...

Oi. [grimace of appalled admiration]

Peep shows, severed heads in plastic bags, serial killers, psychodrama that probably rivals Clockwork Orange, demonological interpretation - the List of Fun just goes on and on...

Indeed; and I would have to add Kirsten Cloke (Lara Means).

None of these actors seem to have got the recognition they deserved (except for James Marsters, who was in one 3rd season episode). Sarah-Jane Redmond made my blood run cold as Lucy Butler, for example.

SunlessNick:



Personally, I'd go further: with Lucy around, the blood kinda runs rather more freely than could ever be considered healthy, and then stops running entirely. /B-b Yeeesh...

Like to add my relief that the shows finally making it to DVD and my favorite episode: "Force Majeur" from season 1. Cloning, an iron lung, Pocatello, Idaho, and Brad Dourif add up to a fine, fine hour. Fortunately, May 5, 2000 came and went with no funky stuff.

The latest poop on the DVDs, from The Millenial Abyss:



Possibly a summer release!

I hope that any DVD release includes the X Files episode that was broadcast after Millennium was canceled and resolved the characters. I always liked the irony of how Frank reacted to New Year's Eve at the end of the episode.

Does anyone by any chance have a copy of "Collateral Damage" from season 3? It's for a friend.

Ah, Millennium. I really loved this show. I think it was my favorite at the time it was airing. Which was, unfortunately, not nearly long enough. I was so pissed when I found out that it was cancelled. So many things left unfinished. Like his daughter having similar abilities. And didn't it look like they were finally going to start getting into the big, revealing arc-y stuff right before it ended?

And it's just really a shame that it didn't even make it to the millenium. Much as I appreciate its X-Files resolution episode, I also hate the fact that it only got one episode of a different show to wrap things up.

I was so sad when Frank's wife died. I really liked her, and her death (and final scene) was just really tragic. And I remember the whole virus (was it a virus?) storyline freaking me out, with the family that all of a sudden started bleeding to death. Yikes.


Yeah, I seem to remember a lot of criticism about the show turning a lot of viewers off because it was so unrelentingly grim and serious. I think that's why they lightened it up a little later on, doing things like the KISS episode, and one that I recall cracking me up about these four demon guys sitting in a diner talking about evil things they had done.

Oh man! Nexus, thanks for the memories! This was one of my favorites... the show starts with 4 geezers at a cafe, you know, acting like geezers... but in reality they are demons (and not nice ones mind you, they maim and kill) Each demon tells their deed of the week or something, but one of them is a killer and Frank is on the case. That one could've been a classic episode anywhere else, like Twilight Zone or X-files.

The KISS episode was fun... I would've LOVED to see Jose Chung in an episode on Millennium.

Yeah, the death of the family was GRIM stuff... but the show shot itself in the foot when they killed Frank's first female colleague, and the cop (who can't act to save her life) takes over.

The arc, though not done, moved fairly fast, (compared to X-files that is) by the end of the 3rd season, we knew a LOT about the Millennium group, and Frank quits them.

Yeah, that was a completely devastating episode, and really the thing that cemented my love for the show. It was so unrelentingly somber and harsh and experimental--I was actually a little shocked by it, just relative to what I generally expected to see on television. I recall it ended with a click to static, then a shot of now-gray Frank realizing she had died, then another click to static. Cold, hard, and gorgeous.

There was a Chung episode from season 2:

"Jose Chung's Doomsday Defense"

:)

Thanks scotti damn! I must've missed that one, for the re-cap sounds interesting, so I now want to see it so bad! The whole 'Dianetics' spoof sounds delicious.

You know, I watch 'Touching Evil' in USA, and I keep thinking, this stuff was done way better in 'Millennium'.

Just saw that Millenium, Season 1 DVDs will released on July 20th, 2004.

The first three episodes will have commentaries (including "The Judge" one of my favorites).

Yup, and there are some un-confirmed rumors that the following 2 seasons' sets are already in the works as well (supposedly Fox leaked some tentative release dates to a Netherlands retailer). Woohoo! I'll be very happy to have the 2nd season, which blows my mind.

First season has been selling well at Amazon (peaked at #5 sales rank), so hopefully that bodes well for future sets.

Definitely seasons 2 and 3 are Millennium at its crisper, better self. It got too convoluted when the Millennium group turn out to be evil and Frank exits... it got Worse with 'Agent Hollis' to the point of being unwatchable.

I just can't wait... the pilot episode was so good.

Woot! This is great news. Although, as much as I loved S1, I look forward to the later seasons more. I want Kristen Cloke on dvd.

Speaking of KC, anyone remember the (halloween?) episode where there's a guy in a Chig (Space: above and beyond) costume?

You have no idea, ciscokidinsf! This episode is one of the most inspired and hilarious things ever shown on TV. You just have to see Chung's outburst when no one comes to his book signing. I still laugh just thinking about it. And the Selfosophy fanatic is an absolute revelation. "I will maintain my upbeatness."

I am thrilled to death to see the DVD is coming out. I am going to go order it right now.

BTW, the USA Touching Evil is absolute drek. You have to see the original British version with Robson Green. Outstanding.

Can't wait... I have to give up my Nip/Tuck DVDs for the 'Millennium' ones instead.

Hope the commentaries are good. Lance Henriksen didn't get any on the 'regular' Alien DVDs (I don't know about the [stupidly named] Quadrilogy)

With the DVDs just a week away, this one needs a bump.

A few things from the upcoming set (all imho, of course):

* I only saw it once, but 'The Thin White Line' is Glenn Morgan & James Wong's finest TV hour.

* 'Powers, Principalities...' is season 1's best episode, and probably from the whole series.

* With the lone exception of TTWL, the episodes between 'The Judge' and 'Lamentation' are serial killer pudding; my memories of them are all meshed together. I guess this is were the mass audience got murdered.

* Everytime I think about how cheap this set is compared to those of the X-Files, I can't help but laugh and laugh...

What was the name of the episode where the demons got together at a coffee shop to bitch about Black?

"Somehow, Satan Got Behind Me" -- Written and directed (one and only time he ever did, I believe) by Darin Morgan.

'Jose Chung's Doomsday Defense' was Darin's directing debut (of a script of his own, of course).

Thanks for the link, NickChick.

Does anyone know if any cable channels are planning to show reruns of Millennium? I have e-mailed Scifi begging them to pick it up, but haven't seen it anywhere. I never did see the early episodes.

Sniff. Despair.

SnippyScholar, I haven't heard of anyone in the US picking it up. It's still rerun in the UK, I believe.

'Twould appear that all 3 seasons will hit DVD this year (!!!!); release dates have already been announced for 2 and 3 for Region 2. US announcements can't be far behind. Pre-orders have done well; I'm sure that's helped influence that decision.

My set shipped today. I squealed when I heard that. Absolutely can't wait for it.

That'd be The Curse of Frank Black, second season I think. It was done in black and white as well as being the halloween ep.

Now that these are out on DVD and in my Netflix queue, I watched the first four episodes last night/this morning. Here's the question:

In "Gehenna" -- the guy with the night vision goggles? Is he a demon? Does he really have the wings and the eeek! and the you know? Demon powers? Or is he just a crazy guy with night vision goggles?

Keep watching, the answers are later in the box. All I can say is you haven't seen the last of "The Gehenna Devil".

I've watched the first three so far and have been giddily happy to revisit this show. I'm as impressed with it now as I was in the 90s. So damn dark and humorless, I can't believe it made it to TV. Some very impressive visual ideas, and some unexpected, very character-driven, twists. "Dead Letters" is great--the borderline Portland detective is very well written and performed. Generally, I feel like this show gets a lot closer to its characters' hearts than X-Files did--Millennium is gutsier in a lot of ways. I love X-Files, but it sure doesn't strike the nerves the way this show does.

Coincidentally, I saw that the actor, Jefferey Donovan--who plays the lead in TE, was in the first season MM ep, "The Wild and the Innocent".

I ran out and purchased my DVDs Tuesday morning and have been watching 2-4 episodes per day since. While the packaging graphics are very nice, the packaging, itself, isn't of the same quality as X-F or Star Treks, but much more user-friendly: all discs are in separate slimline cases--no more having to unfold the entire set on the floor, coffee table, etc., to find the disc you want (I hate those multi-fold cases).

I hadn't seen any episodes since the series ended, and, while watching the opening scenes of the pilot, I was thinking (and echoing what TanTan wrote): How the hell did this make it on the air? Did Fox have more guts back then or didn't they watch any of this?

The answer is given in the 50 minute documentary, which is very, very good. There's another bonus feature focusing on The Academy Group, the real-life investigative collective on which the Millenium Group was based: very good, too.

While the DVDs' sound is not 5.1, it's so nice the hear the opening theme (one of the most beautifully melancholy themes I've heard) pumping cleanly through my stereo/subwoofer.

This first season is so forthright and intelligent with the gravitas that most shows don't even know exists. Other than Frasier, how many shows can use the term sangfroid so effortlessly and rightfully?

I'm torn. On one hand, I can see why they needed to give Frank Black a wife and a kid because, seriously, girlfriend broods a lot. And since they had to give him a wife and kid, I can see why an LCSW-C might be the most obvious choice.

However, I just watched the "Well-Worn Lock" episode last night, and when it's only Catherine, the episodes tend to be a little too "Strong-Willed Woman Movie of the Week." I like that he stayed out of the way and let her do her job and all that; she's just not as strong a character when he's not in the scene.

I love these DVD's! Excellent packaging and damn even the quality of the transfer is great.

Can't wait for season two.

This is my full review

Thanks for the review. My copy of the first season DVD is on its way to me right now in a Fedex truck. Oh, what joy!

I never did see the first season, so this will be especially exciting.

I looked at Lance Henriksen's pottery web site, btw. The pieces are truly gorgeous. I would buy one if I could afford it.

I just bought the DVD's on Sat. and I forgot how much I loved this show, even more than the X-Files at the time. The pilot episode reminded me alot of the movie "Se7en" with the rain and darkness (and those women were way too attractive to be working in that dingy peepshow), actually alot of the early eps were like that with the biblical- apocalyptic stuff. In the commentary Chris Carter mentioned how shows like CSI do alot of the same stuff today, but without the darkness and atmosphere, and I have to agree. Great stuff!

Buying the DVDs this weekend! Yay! I can't wait. Did they manage to have Lance Henriksen gigving any commentary on the DVDs? (on an episode?)

No. He just has parts in the documentary about creating the show, talking about constructing Black and working on the show.

Speaking of which. I was watching Aliens yesterday, with Henrickson in the commenatary. He doesn't say much, but he is interesting (though he is so quiet anbd mysterious whenever you see him, anything he says has added gravity).

I hope that they might have gotten him to comment on ep in the other seasons, or at least got an indepth interview with him and his first and only experience as lead on TV. At least S1 has 2 commentaries, one with Carter.