When I was growing up, Fox was the channel to watch. It was the new kid on the block and aired programming no one else would dare to. Married with Children still holds up as an act of sitcom rebellion and those early The Simpsons episodes still air censored before 8PM in reruns. Fox aired programs that created angry editorials about the impact on American culture and the poor children (Mrs. Lovejoy's "Won't someone think of the children?" started after the show's first wave of negative cultural critique).
The X-Files was really the serious breakout hit that forced people to pay attention. It is, essentially, an hour-long procedural drama, only with a focus on horror and sci-fi, not medicine or crime. Sure, medical oddities and bizarre crimes crossed into the series all the time, but the draw was two smart FBI agents butting heads over the existence of the paranormal while investigating cases no sane agent was allowed to go after.
The X-Files imprinted on my memory at a young age. The trailer for the first season gave me nightmares so bad that just hearing the theme song screwed up my sleep patterns well into middle school. Yes, I liked horror, but this was something else. This was intelligent people investigating the stuff I'd laugh at and finding some kernel of truth to those claims. That's messed up.
Of course, Mark Snow's theme song "Materia Primoris" being so off-kilter and synthy didn't help matters.
The X-Files ran for nine seasons in various formats (characters leaving and returning, different combinations of agents, more or less focus on the paranormal) until ending in 2002. The series spawned two polarizing films, Fight the Future and I Want to Believe, a spin-off series (The Lone Gunmen), and a long-running series of comic books.
Now, Fox is reviving the series for a six episode mini-series. Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny are back as Agents Scully and Mulder. Series creator Chris Carter is also onboard, which is reason to celebrate.
We know very little about the plot. All we know is that Mulder and Scully are back to will they or won't they relationship status and seem to be reuniting, again, after some kind of absence. How many times can they reboot this relationship and keep us coming back? All the times. All the times they want. It works, even after the characters have canonically been together.
We do know the mini-series has wrapped filming and we also know that the actors have no clue which version of the ending will be used. So, bonus DVD/Blu-ray content aplenty is available. We'll all get to fight about which ending (no matter how minor the changes) is the best ending months after the 10th season airs.
The mini-series debuts 24 January, 2016 on Fox. Are you excited?
Thanks to Pajiba for some of the extra tidbits in this article.
