Rating: - It's like an old friend...
I just purchased this set from Amazon for the great low price of $164.99. I've never seen it cheaper in any brick and mortar store - and besides, how can you beat the free shipping and no tax?

I was a bit reluctant to pull the trigger at first. I was a die-hard X-Files fan for the first several years that the season was on television. I began to lose interest during the Doggett years and never finished watching the series. I questioned whether or not I could still have interest in this series after so many years of not watching it. Let me tell you - it was a really great purchase. I've told my husband several times over the past few days how glad I am to have made the commitment.

My package arrived fairly quickly - within 5 calendar days. The box that it was shipped in was pretty much trashed, and not much packing inside. The box set itself was unscathed, though. I was careful to remove the shrink wrap so as to not hurt the box. Like most other reviewers, I had problems getting the "goody drawer" open. Each season comes in it's own "flip book", with each individual DVD taking up a page and sliding into sleeve of cardboard which leaves the top half of each disc exposed for easy removal. Since there are nine seasons, there are nine flip books, plus one skinnier flip book for the movie.

The first thing I did was remove each flip book from the box and then tried to pull open the goody drawer. Even with the weight of the flip books gone, the drawer was still very difficult to open. I finally did get it open, and reviewed everything inside. It came with a very nice episode guide book, a comic book, a movie poster and several art cards - the same type that were found in the VHS box sets. I decided to put all the goodies back in the drawer and just leave it closed.

The flip books are so nice that I have decided to display them individually in my DVD storage rack. This way, I can access them easily without having to pull out the whole box to get to them.

As with other reviewers, I was concerned about the cardboard sleeve pages of the flip books. These pages caused some scratching on several discs. Instead of contacting Amazon about this, I have decided to watch the discs to see if I have any trouble playing them. So far, disc 2 of the first season seems to be scratched the worst (visually), but it has played wonderfully. I would suspect that most sets have some scratched discs, and trying to return the set will only get you another scratched set. My advice would be to check all of your discs when you get the set, and try out the ones that you feel might cause you problems.

I would have given the set 5 stars, but due to the goody drawer functionality (or lack there of) and the scratching of some discs, I give it 4 stars. The series itself deserves 5 stars.

If you're wondering whether or not to buy this set (like I did), and you're willing to deal with the minor imperfections, it's truly a must have. I don't regret buying it for one second. The X-Files is truly a classic show and I'm so glad that I purchased this set.