While I have mentioned in other posts (here and here) about my love of The X Files, I thought it was time to further examine this obsession. And since it's the 20th anniversary of the premiere of the show, it's as good a time as any!
On September 10, 1993 the face of science fiction on television changed. At that time, most of the science fiction shows that had been produced usually dealt with space ships traveling the universe sometime in the future. When Chris Carter created The X Files, he didn't even considered it a science fiction show. He wanted to make a show that would scare people. His goal was to recreate the "thrills and chills" he had, when he was a kid, from shows like The Night Stalker. While the show had a lot of scary episodes, it eventually worked its way into a mythology driven, sci fi classic.
The main premise of The X Files is of the search for one man's missing sister. When he was just a young boy Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) witnessed the abduction of his sister Samantha. Or at least he believes he did. This obsession with the mystery of her disappearance leads him to study psychology at Oxford. He is then recruited by the FBI and graduates from the academy with top honors. His success in his early career and his connections in Congress lead him to start investigating "X Files" or unexplained phenomena.
He is eventually joined by the fresh, new FBI Agent, Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), which is where the show starts out. Scully is brought in to observe and report on Mulder, who has a reputation of using unorthodox methods. Their first case takes them to Oregon to investigate the alleged abductions of several teenagers from the same graduating class. The things that they see and learn leaves a powerful impression on Scully, a trained medical doctor. While she is not as eager as Mulder to believe everything is a conspiracy or the result of aliens, she is determined to understand what is happening. Thus begins one of the best partnerships in television history.
To say much more about the episodes would do the show an injustice and give away too much, if you've never watched. While many episodes stand on their own (AKA "freak of the week" episodes), the meat and potatoes of the show are the "mythology" episodes. This is where the viewers slowly start to find out about the government conspiracy concerning the existence of extraterrestrial life and what happened to Mulder's sister. The mythology episodes are what set the show apart. It wasn't a show where you had to watch every single episode to understand what was going on, but the combination of the stand alone episodes and the mythology episodes is what made it interesting.
While it had a slow start in the ratings, by season 4 (1996) The X Files was the highest rated show for FOX. The slow start was partly due to being on Friday nights, but when they made the move to Sunday nights at the beginning of Season 4, their ratings and popularity soared. With that came more demand for all things X Files. David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson were gracing the covers of magazines and making more and more appearances on all the talk shows.
Another development was the admiration and devotion of the fans, known as X Philes. These devoted fans started fan clubs and shared fan fiction in the early days of the World Wide Web. If they would have had the resources that are available today to obsessed fans, who knows what else they would have done. As it is, there are still plenty of web sites devoted to The X Files maintained by these fans. I am happy to admit that I was one of these fans - I was an early member of the fan club, bought all the books and magazines I could get my hands on and even attended a convention!
At the height of the show's popularity, The X Files: Fight the Future was released as a motion picture in the summer of 1998. The film picked up where season five had ended, but it was done in such a way that anyone would be able to follow the story. Season six picked up where the film ended. This film was concerned with many of the conspiracy theories from the show which played to the die hard fan. (Seven years after the show went off the air another film was released, The X Files: I Want to Believe).
After seven seasons, David Duchovny decided that he was ready to tackle other roles and was written out of the show. In season eight Agent John Doggett (Robert Patrick) steps in as Scully's new partner. Eventually they are joined by Agent Monica Reyes (Annabeth Gish). At the end of season nine, Mulder does return, but he faces a military tribunal on charges of murder. After Duchovny left, the show suffered from his loss and ratings for the final two seasons plummeted. The show probably should have found a way to wrap up the story at that point, but from my understanding the network was still making a profit on the show, so it stayed on the air.
So after all that, why do I love this show so much? First of all, I had never seen anything like it before. The idea of their being life on other planets has always fascinated me, as has the many stories of people claiming to have been abducted by aliens. I'm still not sure if or what I believe, but I was thrilled to see a show that treated these ideas as serious. And even though I'm not a fan of horror/slasher films, such as Friday the 13th, I don't mind a bit of scariness and suspense and The X Files delivered on that count. The show had a wonderful crew of writers over the years who wrote some of the best television I've ever seen. Some of them were exciting and suspenseful and many others were a bit outrageous and funny.
But what really kept me coming back, week after week, year after year, was Mulder and Scully. At first it seems that The X Files is Mulder's show, but we soon realize that this is Scully's story as much as Mulder's. I loved that Scully was an intelligent, dedicated and professional woman. She was every bit Mulder's equal and he treated her that way almost from the very beginning. They had their moments of disagreement and serious falling outs, but in the end they knew they could count on each other. Often, they could only rely on each other.
So take my advice, if you've never watched The X Files, take the plunge! And if you have, it's always fun to revisit a show. It's like reconnecting with an old friend.
-- Post by Tracy
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