BONES vs. CASTLE: Who Did Their X-FILES Homage Better?
November 16, 2010 by Marisa Roffman
BONES and CASTLE often draw comparisons to each other.
Both shows have Whedon-alumni as leading men. Both pair a writer with a member of law enforcement (though on BONES, Brennan’s primary job is in forensic anthropology) to solve quirky crimes.
And yes, with tonight’s episode of CASTLE paying homage to THE X-FILES, both shows have honored the sci-fi series in the past calendar year. (BONES aired ‘The X in the File’ last January).
So, which show did it better?
This is where you come in.
Did you prefer BONES’ special guest star Dean Haglund (formerly of THE X-FILES) or CASTLE’s Lyle Lovett and Lance Henrickson (formerly of MILLENNIUM)? The corpse’s X-FILES ringtone on BONES or Castle repeatedly whistling the tune?
Vote below, deciding which drama did their X-FILES homage best and defend your choice in the comments!
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Filed under #1 featured, Bones, Castle
Ok, I love Bones, and I love their X-Files related episode, but Caslte really did it better. They must have had like 50 references to the show!! PLUS, they got abducted!!! PLUS, Rob Bowmen is an executive producer on the show! I mean, the man directed X-Files: Fight the Future!! How much more awesome can it get?? I believe most X-Philes will agree. 🙂
X-Philes are happy campers tonight! Great job Castle team!
Steampunk-check
X-files-check
What is next? Bring it on!!! =)
This is not even a contest. Castle wins in a first round TKO. I love this episode; it is so full of awesomeness. Nathan’s whistling of the X files theme, and Stana’s stating that the “Trust is out threre” and the now infamous “PLEASE, LET’S JUST STICK IT IN AND GET IT OVER WITH”. WOW. Ted Carter or should I say Chris Carter, Lance Freaking Henriksen, Men in Black, and abduction all add up Castle leaving Bones in the proverbial dust.
I have loved Bones from the pilot & it is still one of my favorite shows, but my other favorite, Castle, definitely had the better XF tribute. Absolutely loved it! Will be watching it numerous times over the dreaded upcoming hiatus.
I haven’t watched the Bones tribute but last night’s Castle was awesome. Favorite part was when Beckett said, “Just stick it in and get this over with.” Castle’s expression was priceless!
With Rob Bowman at the helm, CASTLE had the better episode, hands down. Starting with a grizzly corpse, to an abduction, the white light from above, the repeated usage of the theme song (something Nathan does not excel at: whistling), cracks about dying Beckett’s hair red, and the entire “don’t take this too seriously, ’cause we sure don’t” was a perfect echoing of the tone of X-Files. Yes, the truth is out there – Castle won this round over Bones. And this doesn’t even take into account the return of the continual banter between the leads, something that has been notably lacking in recent episodes (IMHO), and the additional Chinese dialog from “Firefly”. I can’t wait for an episode that takes on “Star Trek” or “The Brady Bunch” (Castle could pull it off; I don’t know how, but I bet they could.)
As much as I love Bones, and would generally defend it “to the death,” Castle’s homage episode really was better. Sorry Bones.
How is this even a contest? Bones’ “homage” was pathetic.
How is this even close? I’m not sure how even the biggest die-hard fan of Bones could come to the conclusion that the Bones episode was better. Castle knocked it out of the park with this one.
Agreed. I love BONES and I don’t even watch CASTLE but I tuned in last night and their homage was a “true” homage and it made the BONES attempt look rather pathetic. I mean at the time I was happy that BONES was paying tribute to the XF and was glad with it’s very tiny references and guest stars but CASTLE went above and beyond. It was an hour full of X-Files references and guest stars. The entire episode felt like an X-Files also. So hands down, CASTLE and I don’t think any hardcore philer fan would vote for BONES unless they are voting for the better show overall and not for the better homage because again, the BONES homage paled in comparison. The CASTLE homage was simply superior.
I have to give this one to Castle. Not only was their case more in the vein of the X-Files, but hello “Nathan + Mandarin Chinese = Firefly FTW”. Castle made all the right nods in all the right places. They didn’t just bring in a Chris Carter acting alumnus, they brought in a director too. Rob Bowman knows what he is doing when it comes to the X-Files franchise. I do however love them both. The Bones homage made me miss The Lone Gunmen (yeah that’s right I watched it) more than The X-fles. Castle made me miss The X-Files, Millenium, and Firefly.
castle hands down.i just love castle.cant wait till dec 6. it’s just getting better n better
no doubt about this one: Castle! (I did love some scenes, like the ringtone, and the Brennan examining the body, and the scream scene on Bones…) But Castle was better, as a whole episode. The whole story. That’s my opinion.
This is even close? I downloaded the iTunes Bones episode, then realized I had watched it when it aired. That’s how memorable it was. I thought it was OK, and totally missed the X-Files references then. As a Castle fan, I have tried to fairly evaluate other shows like Bones, Chuck, Fringe, and cannot warm up to any of them. Is it Monday yet?
So clearly we all agree that castle is the winner here.. Let’s just give them more episodes and a higher budget already, MORE CASTLE!
I have to say i am not a huge fan of Castle. I tune in every week but i am more of a Bones fan, actually im a HUGE Bones fan. Having said that I do agree that Castle had the better homeage with shoutouts to XF the entire episode and i loved when Nathan spoke in chinese (Huge firefly fan here). So yeah, I honestly wish i could say that Bones had won on this one but then i would be just plain stupid of me to say that because we all know its not true.
I love both Bones and Castle, Bones definitely being my favourite…But I have to say that Castle did a better job on the x-file theme…I just found it funnier and loved Castle with all his gesticulations and facial expressions throughout…Had to love the whole abduction/interrogation scene as well…Loved the ‘bat phone’ reference, the CSM referernce and of course Castle speaking chinese although that was more a shoutout to Firefly instead…Very well done. Ger
Haven’t see the Castle one yet, but I like Bones better either way so I just picked it.
CASTLE IS A WANNABE BONES, AND A TOTAL COPY!! BONES ALL THE WAYYY
Castle does it best, no contest. The scene in the car was perfect, (Before and after ‘abduction’). Guest stars, perfect. Banter, perfect. Murder plot, perfectly X-Philian. And then there’s Nathan Fillion. And the shout out to Firefly, not relevant to this discussion, I know. But… Come on. Castle FTW.
Although Im a DIE HARD Bones fan (I mean come on Booth=Angel wats not to love) I have to admit Im a huge X-Phillie and i have to conceed that Castle had the better episode i mean i was already for cancer man to come stroling in with a lighted cigerette plus the truth is out their come on sadly with the Bones i didnt even relize that that was Langley who guest started i had to look it up LUVED all subtle refrences
I thought they were both great but the Bones episode was better. The sheriff was great and the scene with the MRI machine was hilarious, add that the murder was one of the X files Lone Gunman and it wins in a landslide.
The Castle episode was ok but the acting by Lylle Lovett was extremely hard to watch.
I swear I’ve died and gone to fangirl heaven now that my two favourite shows of the naughties have both done homages to my favourite show of the nineties. I don’t know what I would do if one of them did a moonlighting tribute.
Back to the present, CASTLE’s was the better homage. There were so many references – “oh wait, he’s the cigarette smoking man”, “I’m not asking you to dye your hair red and call me mulder”, or the way they get abducted in the car aka the xfiles pilot.
PLUS, Lance freaking Henrickson. What more could a fangirl ask for?
actually, don’t answer that one…
Castle! They definitely paid the better homage, imo.
absolutely loved Castle…haven’t watched Bones’ yet but i think it will be hard to top.
also – i am a GINORMOUS firefly fan, so hearing nathan speak in chinese at the end made me squee with fangirl delight 🙂
Do you really have to ask? Castle wins, hands down. So many great references. Fantastic episode, as always.
Bones is my all time fav show and Castle the next but I honestly think Bones did it way better. Also I think its funny how every time Bones does a “themed” episode, Castle ends up doing an eerily similar one.
Castle seems to have to do everything Bones does, so of course they would do an X Files homage…rip off…
Really? I don’t remember Bones doing a Steampunk episode for instance. Hm, maybe I’ve missed? IMO Castle > Bones, and yeah, I watch both, but Bones hasn’t been good since season 3.
Athena, you’re entitled to your opinion and I am entitled to mine, and I prefer Bones to Castle. I just find it so amusing how as BonesFreak said before I did, Bones does a themed episode and Castle seems to do one eerily similar…just saying…
That’s why I said “IMO” 😉 Anyway, I was talking about the “everytime”. It’s not everytime. X-Files is an iconic show. Castle and Bones aren’t the only shows to have episodes with x-files references.
I don’t watch Bones at all, and I think that Castle’s homage to X-Files, which definitely is an iconic show, so I believe that many other TV shows also do a themed episode now and then, is absolutely BRILLIANT 🙂 As it should be, after all Rob Bowman used to work on X-Files… 🙂
I was a huge fan of The X-Files and I watch both Bones and Castle. Castle knocked it out of the park. No question. Great episode.
Steph, Castle wasn’t copying Bones. They did this homage because several people working on the show — Rob Bowman being most notable — worked on X-Files first. And, like the Vampire episode, the steampunk episode, and the ‘con’ episode, this theme was right up Castle’s ally: we’re talking about a show whose main character loves to play with light sabers and theorize about CIA conspiracies or time-traveling killers. If any show was primed for an X-Files tribute, Castle was! And they did it brilliantly.
No question, Castle did it WAY better.
(And I’m not just saying that because Castle also included a kick-ass Firefly reference in their episode… :P)
Bones’ effort was lame and entirely unoriginal. The jokes were flat and they fed into every ridiculously overboard stereotype ever created, which made you cringe when you watched it.
Castle on the other hand managed a wonderful balancing act between joking about the the idea of alien abduction and keeping the murder investigation interesting and plausible.
Castle’s episode was better, without a doubt. It was a true homage to X-Files, with the way it was filmed down to the little references like train yards, waking up on one another’s shoulder, cigarette smoking men, etc.
Before the Bones episode aired and for the first 5 minutes I was incredibly excited that Bones would do a tribute episode to my favourite show, but I was quickly disappointed with the way it was done. And making Dean Haglund aka Langly the murderer was just a travesty, IMO.
Also, the “Castle copies everything Bones does”-argument doesn’t really count here, because of the close ties Castle has to X-Files with Rob Bowman, who used to be an in-house director on XF, now being an exec producer on Castle, along with the DP for both shows Bill Roe, who also worked on the last X-Files movie.
Of course they were going to do a tribute at some point and with Castle in its third season they are finally in a position were they are established enough and can experiment every once in a while.
I’m a fan of both shows. Frankly, Castle did it better. Hands down. All falls into the right place. Castle is getting better and Bones is getting lamer. And Castle is not THAT the same with Bones. Because if you say that, you would be fighting with Bones as same to Moonlighting. The closest similar thing to Castle and Bones would only be the swordplay.
Castle, definitely. They captured the tone and offbeat humor of The X-Files much better. I was so excited when I heard Bones was doing a tribute show but ended up hugely disappointed by the actual episode.
castle captured the theme but I seem to have heard lines that reminded of the ill fated Roswell series Now that would be a tribute
This is not really fair because the Bones episode was nearly a year ago and the Castle episode is fresh in everyones mind. Many people who vote here did not even see both eps.
Castle, without a doubt.
Bones had slim to no references apart from the X-Files theme, and Dean Haglund (I do have to give them credit for the cooler guest star).
But Castle was just loaded with them, from sneaky ones like:
Beckett: And nothing to do with little green men.
Castle: Grey, actually.
To the “He’s the cigarette smoking man!” Which was so well done, with the cigarette from the beginning, but I didn’t anticipate it. And the quick flash at the very end of the lightning from the X-Files intro.
And you can’t forget the Firefly one, I love how many they slip in.
But was I the only one who wanted Castle to say, “I think you drooled on me,” when Beckett was asleep on his shoulder? Because I just love Pusher.
I appreciate any homage done for The X-Files.
Castle did a better job. It had Lyle Lovett as their mysterious MIB and Millenium’s Lance Henderiksen.