That is some bad embalming. Millennium opens up in a funeral home with people attending a viewing. Afterwards, Mark Johnson opens up the coffin to do his resurrecting thing and you see the body. It's all blueish-gray and already looking like a zombie. I've been to several funerals, and nobody has ever looked that bad. I know that he eventually turns into a zombie and needs to look creepy, but shouldn't he be looking like a normally embalmed corpse at the viewing? Sorry for the tangent. It just stuck out to me. I don't know what to say about Millennium. While watching it, I didn't take many notes which I normally do for my review. It was an interesting story that held my attention. I don't have anything negative to say about it. It just didn't "wow" me. Now, I have never seen the series Millennium, and am therefore unfamiliar with it. Perhaps seeing the series would change my opinion of this episode. What I did like about the episode was the New Year's Eve kiss between Mulder and Scully, showing that they can show affection for each other without their world crashing down. Millennium is a good, yet unspectacular episode that I know a lot of fans watch for the last minute of the episode.
8 Reviews
Coda For a Conspiracy
andyetris24 October 2006
When a retired FBI agent dies an apparent suicide one of his colleagues knows the truth - as does retired FBI agent Frank Black, former member of the mysterious Millennium Group. When the dead man's coffin is found empty, Mulder spots clues to a necromantic ritual and demands Black's aid. Black's refusal to act may doom Mulder's investigation, as the resurrection of the dead seems to be running a few steps ahead of the end times!
"Millenium" was another Chris Carter series that lasted from 1996 to 1999. Frank Black (Lance Henriksen) was a retired FBI profiler who joined a group of ex-law-enforcement consultants secretly preparing for the apocalypse. While some members hoped to guide humanity through an end times starting in 2000, an inner group of religious fanatics plotted to clear the earth of all but the chosen few.
This is a decent episode with an OK plot without anything in the way of twists. My usual post-season-4 complaint is that too much of the story is straightforward witchcraft with no possible logical explanation.
This is a stand-alone X-Files episode, which is good since "Millenium"'s conspiracy didn't exactly jive with that of the X-Files! However this doesn't EXACTLY work as a wrap for "Millenium," which left off with Frank on the run and a demon having evidently penetrated the Group's inner circle. This episode is in a way a betrayal of the whole mythology of "Millenium" as the ending suggests that the whole threat of millennial apocalypse was occult-inspired self delusion.
"Millenium" was another Chris Carter series that lasted from 1996 to 1999. Frank Black (Lance Henriksen) was a retired FBI profiler who joined a group of ex-law-enforcement consultants secretly preparing for the apocalypse. While some members hoped to guide humanity through an end times starting in 2000, an inner group of religious fanatics plotted to clear the earth of all but the chosen few.
This is a decent episode with an OK plot without anything in the way of twists. My usual post-season-4 complaint is that too much of the story is straightforward witchcraft with no possible logical explanation.
This is a stand-alone X-Files episode, which is good since "Millenium"'s conspiracy didn't exactly jive with that of the X-Files! However this doesn't EXACTLY work as a wrap for "Millenium," which left off with Frank on the run and a demon having evidently penetrated the Group's inner circle. This episode is in a way a betrayal of the whole mythology of "Millenium" as the ending suggests that the whole threat of millennial apocalypse was occult-inspired self delusion.
"He was dead, and somehow, he wasn't."
classicsoncall2 August 2017
Warning: Spoilers
Anybody else remember what they were doing as the year 1999 turned into 2000? It wasn't actually the beginning of the new millennium, as Scully rightly pointed out, earning her that "Nobody likes a math geek..." comment from Mulder. At the time, I was working for a supermarket company that brought in an 'expert' on what to be concerned about as the world entered Y2K. Places not to be - on an airplane flight or an elevator - chances are some of them might fail at the stroke of midnight. What a bunch of crapola. Nothing, absolutely nothing out of the ordinary happened. All those computers that were supposed to stop working for lack of a Y2K fix? - just another panic that never happened.
Well, this episode of the X-Files also took the concept and ran with it, as the fictional Millennium group, composed of former FBI agents disillusioned with the agency, and offering consulting services to law enforcement, in turn spawned a renegade faction that not only believed in the literal end of the world, but were actively working to bring it about. I can't imagine how that was going to work out to their advantage, but hey, it takes all kinds.
For a short while I was a viewer of the 'Millenium' TV series until scheduling conflicts interfered and I had to drop out. I might get back to it after I finish watching and reviewing the entire run of the X-Files, because I recall some really intriguing shows. Lance Henriksen was ideal in his role as Frank Black, a serial killer profiler who often experienced much angst looking into the minds of murderers, rapists and the like. Henriksen's character is introduced to X-Files fans here, sought by Mulder to help solve a mystery involving a necromancer who's revived four former FBI agents who committed suicide. Modeled on the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, it's believed by Mark Johnson (Holmes Osborne) that by doing so, he can help bring about Armageddon.
As chilling as all this might sound, this doesn't turn out to be one of the series most memorable episodes. If anything, what most fans will remember about this story is the finale in which the coming New Year is heralded by Scully and Mulder with their very first kiss. One can read whatever semblance of a romance might have been imparted with that kiss, but at least it ended the endless wait of what a lot of loyal viewers and fans had been waiting for. I have to admit, I was getting a little impatient myself. As for Armageddon, looks like it was pushed off till Y3K.
Well, this episode of the X-Files also took the concept and ran with it, as the fictional Millennium group, composed of former FBI agents disillusioned with the agency, and offering consulting services to law enforcement, in turn spawned a renegade faction that not only believed in the literal end of the world, but were actively working to bring it about. I can't imagine how that was going to work out to their advantage, but hey, it takes all kinds.
For a short while I was a viewer of the 'Millenium' TV series until scheduling conflicts interfered and I had to drop out. I might get back to it after I finish watching and reviewing the entire run of the X-Files, because I recall some really intriguing shows. Lance Henriksen was ideal in his role as Frank Black, a serial killer profiler who often experienced much angst looking into the minds of murderers, rapists and the like. Henriksen's character is introduced to X-Files fans here, sought by Mulder to help solve a mystery involving a necromancer who's revived four former FBI agents who committed suicide. Modeled on the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, it's believed by Mark Johnson (Holmes Osborne) that by doing so, he can help bring about Armageddon.
As chilling as all this might sound, this doesn't turn out to be one of the series most memorable episodes. If anything, what most fans will remember about this story is the finale in which the coming New Year is heralded by Scully and Mulder with their very first kiss. One can read whatever semblance of a romance might have been imparted with that kiss, but at least it ended the endless wait of what a lot of loyal viewers and fans had been waiting for. I have to admit, I was getting a little impatient myself. As for Armageddon, looks like it was pushed off till Y3K.
Umm...what happened in this episode?
ThisIsNotHappening9 April 2008
Warning: Spoilers
Hell, as a die-hard X-Files fan and rabid Mulder/Scully shipper, how could I give this episode less than 10 stars? Vague recollections tell me that this basically served to wrap up Chris Carter's (cancelled?) show 'Millennium', and concerned some conspiracy theory about the new Millennium, finished up Frank Black's storyline much in the same way The Lone Gunmen's story was wrapped up in the Season 8 episode, 'Jump The Shark'. But, really, after 40-odd minutes (without ads) of this convoluted storyline that kinda doesn't matter if you've never seen 'Millenium', the premise wears thin, and a happy little hospital reunion for Frank Black and his daughter is nice if not totally satisfactory. And then...the moment every Mulder/Scully fan waited for, after seven years of hints and banter and flirting. The only reason the episode is worth watching, and bumps it's rating from a 5 to a 10.
Frank Black's Monkey gone to Heaven
XweAponX1 April 2012
I loved MillenniuM, it was a great show. I watched every episode of it. And I was very disappointed by Fox' treatment of the series. Not only Musical Producers, but they forced changes that Carter never should have allowed. In a sense, they no longer TRUSTED Carter to create quality Television like he had been doing for the last seven years with this, The X-Files.
And so part of Carter's Revenge was to end MillenniuM within an X-files episode. I did not like the non-resolution ending of the series, Fox held up announcing cancellation until the day the episode was broadcast.
Not giving Carter a chance to wrap it up.
So, in this X-File, Carter annihilates The MillenniuM Group.
It may be me, but I do not think Carter wanted to make The MillenniuM Group the heavies of MillenniuM - The actual group on which The MillenniuM group was based, the Academy Group, seems like it does a lot of good and being able to reach in where FBI may be bound by Law and Jurisdiction.
And so, what occurs in this special episode of The X-Files, Carter destroys the ERSATZ MillenniuM Group that was created during the time he was absent from Exec Producing MillenniuM.
Carter totally obliterates the last remnants of the Group - Who had gone Off Radar by this time. We don't know what happened to Black's FBI partner who had gone to the Group - And we do not know what happened to the Character played by Terry O'Quinn - Frank Black's former Boss in The Millennium Group. But we can safely watch this episode and not have to worry about those people.
Instead, we can watch Mulder and he digs into The X-File dropped in his lap - Which has to do with odd activity from The Group, and the suspicion of some kind of misrepresentation of The Bible End Times prophecies being carried out by the last five "Members" of the Group - Four of which happen to be Dead.
In relating this episode to MillenniuM, one has to remember this is an X-File, not a case Frank Black would be working on. So the overall story is simplified, because most of the story regarding MillenniuM Group was told in MillenniuM.
This episode, ends the MillenniuM Group but more importantly wraps up Frank Black's story. And gives frank a much-needed break from his MillenniuM-Group induced problems.
This episode is very much Carter's revenge to Fox on their treatment of his MillenniuM project. You can feel Carter stabbing it to them in every scene.
It does not really matter, that the world "Didn't End" at the end of the Episode, It didn't end that year, and may not end at the end of 2012, as The X-Files predicted in it's very last Episode.
What does matter is Mulder working with Black, and Black doing his very last work as a kind of Saviour - He does save Mulder at the end. Even though it is doubtful that the actual world would have ended - Mulder WAS in real trouble - And, it probably would not have been very good to have four Apocolpse-Zombies roaming about, would it?
And so part of Carter's Revenge was to end MillenniuM within an X-files episode. I did not like the non-resolution ending of the series, Fox held up announcing cancellation until the day the episode was broadcast.
Not giving Carter a chance to wrap it up.
So, in this X-File, Carter annihilates The MillenniuM Group.
It may be me, but I do not think Carter wanted to make The MillenniuM Group the heavies of MillenniuM - The actual group on which The MillenniuM group was based, the Academy Group, seems like it does a lot of good and being able to reach in where FBI may be bound by Law and Jurisdiction.
And so, what occurs in this special episode of The X-Files, Carter destroys the ERSATZ MillenniuM Group that was created during the time he was absent from Exec Producing MillenniuM.
Carter totally obliterates the last remnants of the Group - Who had gone Off Radar by this time. We don't know what happened to Black's FBI partner who had gone to the Group - And we do not know what happened to the Character played by Terry O'Quinn - Frank Black's former Boss in The Millennium Group. But we can safely watch this episode and not have to worry about those people.
Instead, we can watch Mulder and he digs into The X-File dropped in his lap - Which has to do with odd activity from The Group, and the suspicion of some kind of misrepresentation of The Bible End Times prophecies being carried out by the last five "Members" of the Group - Four of which happen to be Dead.
In relating this episode to MillenniuM, one has to remember this is an X-File, not a case Frank Black would be working on. So the overall story is simplified, because most of the story regarding MillenniuM Group was told in MillenniuM.
This episode, ends the MillenniuM Group but more importantly wraps up Frank Black's story. And gives frank a much-needed break from his MillenniuM-Group induced problems.
This episode is very much Carter's revenge to Fox on their treatment of his MillenniuM project. You can feel Carter stabbing it to them in every scene.
It does not really matter, that the world "Didn't End" at the end of the Episode, It didn't end that year, and may not end at the end of 2012, as The X-Files predicted in it's very last Episode.
What does matter is Mulder working with Black, and Black doing his very last work as a kind of Saviour - He does save Mulder at the end. Even though it is doubtful that the actual world would have ended - Mulder WAS in real trouble - And, it probably would not have been very good to have four Apocolpse-Zombies roaming about, would it?
The world didn't end.
Sanpaco138 February 2009
Warning: Spoilers
I have very mixed feelings about this episode. I am going to try and do this review in two parts. One part as a fan of the show Millennium, and the other part as a fan of The X-Files.
As far as I understand from interviews with Chris Carter, this episode was originally supposed to be an homage to Frank Black and the fans of Millennium who were left at the end of Season 3 with an unresolved pseudo-cliffhanger pseudo-ending without any real closure to the series. That's what it was supposed to be. But then Chris Carter gave the assignment of writing and directing to people who were not involved with Millennium and who hadn't even really seen the show and who decided to make the show about zombies attacking on New Year's Eve 2000. Frank Black is hardly even in the episode let alone his daughter Jordan. On a defensive note to anyone who might be upset about Frank being in a mental institution, this is something that is hardly uncharacteristic for Frank. He was in an institution before Season 1 of Millennium we know and then between Seasons 2 and 3 he also went through a "recuperation" period after his wife's death via the chicken plague that was let loose by Executive Producers Morgan and Wong as a goodbye note. Anyway, so as an episode that was supposed to provide some kind of closure and pay homage to the show Millennium, this episode completely misses the mark and would receive a rating of probably a 4 or 5 from me out of 10.
Now hold on just a second. As an episode of The X-Files, ignoring all the homage to Millennium stuff, the episode is actually quite entertaining. The teaser is one of the better teasers with the creepy necromancer chanting scriptures as he gets naked with a corpse. Flashbacks to "Irresistible" anyone? It is the only zombie episode (at least that I can think of at the moment) and it is the first official on screen kiss of Mulder and Scully. The guest star acting by both Lance Henriksen as Frank Black and Holmes Osborne as Mark Johnson the Necromancer is superb. Frank Black is the character Lance Henriksen was born to play and no matter what I see him in he will be Frank Black. This is the first thing I had seen Holmes Osborn in but I have since seen him in other shows but I always think of him as the necromancer. The most notable other role for him in my mind was as Donnie Darko's father which he also did a wonderful job as. With just these two roles he has left an impression enough on me that if I were to ever make a movie, I would write a character for him. The zombie portion of the episode is admittedly a little weak but the end of the world cult story works well. As an X-File episode I would probably give a rating of 8 or 9 out of 10.
That being said, I have to average out the ratings for each therefore the episode gets a 6 out of 10.
As far as I understand from interviews with Chris Carter, this episode was originally supposed to be an homage to Frank Black and the fans of Millennium who were left at the end of Season 3 with an unresolved pseudo-cliffhanger pseudo-ending without any real closure to the series. That's what it was supposed to be. But then Chris Carter gave the assignment of writing and directing to people who were not involved with Millennium and who hadn't even really seen the show and who decided to make the show about zombies attacking on New Year's Eve 2000. Frank Black is hardly even in the episode let alone his daughter Jordan. On a defensive note to anyone who might be upset about Frank being in a mental institution, this is something that is hardly uncharacteristic for Frank. He was in an institution before Season 1 of Millennium we know and then between Seasons 2 and 3 he also went through a "recuperation" period after his wife's death via the chicken plague that was let loose by Executive Producers Morgan and Wong as a goodbye note. Anyway, so as an episode that was supposed to provide some kind of closure and pay homage to the show Millennium, this episode completely misses the mark and would receive a rating of probably a 4 or 5 from me out of 10.
Now hold on just a second. As an episode of The X-Files, ignoring all the homage to Millennium stuff, the episode is actually quite entertaining. The teaser is one of the better teasers with the creepy necromancer chanting scriptures as he gets naked with a corpse. Flashbacks to "Irresistible" anyone? It is the only zombie episode (at least that I can think of at the moment) and it is the first official on screen kiss of Mulder and Scully. The guest star acting by both Lance Henriksen as Frank Black and Holmes Osborne as Mark Johnson the Necromancer is superb. Frank Black is the character Lance Henriksen was born to play and no matter what I see him in he will be Frank Black. This is the first thing I had seen Holmes Osborn in but I have since seen him in other shows but I always think of him as the necromancer. The most notable other role for him in my mind was as Donnie Darko's father which he also did a wonderful job as. With just these two roles he has left an impression enough on me that if I were to ever make a movie, I would write a character for him. The zombie portion of the episode is admittedly a little weak but the end of the world cult story works well. As an X-File episode I would probably give a rating of 8 or 9 out of 10.
That being said, I have to average out the ratings for each therefore the episode gets a 6 out of 10.
Not a bad episode, maybe just underdeveloped.
Sleepin_Dragon20 September 2022
Mulder and Scully chase a man known as The Necromancer, after the bodies of several men, are tampered with, and show some signs of life.
I felt like there were a few missing jigsaw pieces, and as I never saw Chris Carter's Millennium series, maybe that's the reason why. I struggled to connect with this one.
Not one of my favourite episodes, but it does have some strong elements. Firstly, there are some true horror moments, and if you're a fan of the zombie movie genre, this will have several scenes that'll appeal to you.
Some interesting ideas surrounding The Four Millennium members, I would like them to have been developed a little more, the concept is a good one, their story seems half baked.
There is some very good imagery, scenes at the graveyard, and at the operating theatre look great, and or course there's some fantastic makeup used on the undead.
Wasn't that Octavia Spencer, The awesome Octavia Spencer playing the small role of a Nurse? This show always managed to surprise.
Not sure, after the excitement and originality of Hunger, this felt flat, 6/10.
I felt like there were a few missing jigsaw pieces, and as I never saw Chris Carter's Millennium series, maybe that's the reason why. I struggled to connect with this one.
Not one of my favourite episodes, but it does have some strong elements. Firstly, there are some true horror moments, and if you're a fan of the zombie movie genre, this will have several scenes that'll appeal to you.
Some interesting ideas surrounding The Four Millennium members, I would like them to have been developed a little more, the concept is a good one, their story seems half baked.
There is some very good imagery, scenes at the graveyard, and at the operating theatre look great, and or course there's some fantastic makeup used on the undead.
Wasn't that Octavia Spencer, The awesome Octavia Spencer playing the small role of a Nurse? This show always managed to surprise.
Not sure, after the excitement and originality of Hunger, this felt flat, 6/10.
Y2k zombies
jmorrow88814 January 2011
Warning: Spoilers
So this episode on the whole is entertaining enough. The first 20 minutes of it actually managed to creep me out a couple of times. A story about four zombie horsemen of the apocalypse, how can u go wrong with that? Then I noticed a problem. How exactly are four zombies going to bring about the end times? Keep in mind these aren't Romero-type zombies. They don't bite people and turn them into zombies. They bit Mulder on the arm and nothing bad happened to him as a result. The viewer is just supposed to accept that these four zombies will cause the apocalypse....somehow. It's a problem that I think a lot of biblical end of world type stories often have. Even in the HBO series Carnivale, which I still love, there's never much of an explanation of what the villains ultimate plan is, it's just hinted that his plan will result in some kind of end of times scenario if the hero doesn't stop him. So that kind of ruins this whole episode for me. I'll give it a six only because of the much awaited kiss at the end.
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