Trust No One
The Truth Is Out There
Friday night September 10th, 1993 8PM: It all began - The X-Files premiered on Fox. And those three sayings were on posters in a dingy basement, cluttered with files in the FBI building. They would become mainstream over the next few years.
The trailers for the show were intriguing from the first time I saw them. This was the show I had been waiting for a long time to see.
David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson starred in what would be the longest running science fiction series ever on US television up to that time. Running from 1993 until 2002.
The premise for the show was everything I love. Paranormal phenomena, aliens, conspiracy theories, government cover-ups...the whole ball of wax. Hell, there was even an episode where the Kennedy assassination was shown to be the conspiracy theory so many think it was. And it is pretty believeable the way they played it out...even the real film footage meshed with the shows B&W footage. It was so cool.
Duchovny played the ever skeptical Fox Mulder (tip: when pitching a show to the Fox network use the name of the network as the star character) and Anderson plays Dana Scully the FBI agent "assigned" to Mulder to keep his wild speculations grounded in some scientific logic. And she is THE hottest redheaded FBI agent ever to be on a show. I was in lurv with Scully!
The episode names were as memorable as the episodes themselves. Kitsunegari. Squeeze. Deadalive. Syzygy. Chris Carter and a host of others were genius at coming up with real attention grabbers every week. Adding William B Davis as the Cigarette Smoking Man and Mitch Pillegi as Asst. Director Skinner along with a host of others from time to time were all casting home runs.
The show was a good time and had many different people writing the episodes and many different directors and rarely had the same writer/director combination in consecutive weeks. Many of the episodes were referred to as "monster of the week" shows. In effect they were stand alone shows not affecting the underlying theme of the entire series. I found it a unique and refreshing way to present a series and its longevity is a testament to how well it worked.
The X-Files became a huge cult classic and the term "Mulder and Scully" weaved its way into many other shows scripts referring to investigative or alien type moments. The series spawned a short-lived spinoff called the Lone Gunmen about a trio of conspiracy theorists. During the X-Files run Mulder often sought assistance from these three modern day stooges that made for some comical moments.
Once I got hooked on this weekly fix I knew it would be a sad day when it ended. Mulder did not make it as a main character beyond season 7 and Anderson was done after season 9. Both were cast in their roles for the two movies that were made and then it was over.
If you have never seen the show and you have any sci-fi bones in your body, I strongly recommend picking up season one on DVD and have an X-Files marathon. Find someone who is a fan and have a good time. It truly was the best show of its kind in the 90's.
But for me....
Extra Credit Points for anyone who can tell me (without Googling) what Kitsunegari means. Pat, no fair asking your wife!
Y not wait til tomorrow...
11 comments:
Ah- one of my favourite stop-the-world-I-MUST-see-this programmes!
I remember hustling the kids off to bed and settling down for some 'me' time! (hubby was always out the night 'X-files' aired on BBC - his loss!)
Feet up, glass in hand, I'd wait to be spooked out of my life! Sometimes after the show finished I'd skip past the kitchen in case I saw 'shadows' or 'shapes' out there in the gloom...! :-0
I can't tell you what would be my favourite episode - there were so many and all for different reasons! Some were quirky and almost humorous, some were baffling, some were so feasibly possible they were downright terrifying!
I do remember one episode about 'beings' that lived/became part of the trees in a forest - I didn't walk the dog my usual route through the woods for quite a few days after!
As time wore on and the repeats got re-repeated, the kids had grown up enough to sit and watch them too - we'd fight for the biggest cushions to hide behind on the sofa!!!
For a long time, nothing came close to the calibre of 'X-Files' on UK TV.
Then we discovered 'Fringe'.....! :-o
Can you believe it? I have never watched the show. I guess it wasn't my think back then. I should check it out now on netflicks.
I, too, was hooked on the X. Though that wore off about halfway through season 5 when they started focusing too much (for my tastes, anyway) on ongoing story lines instead of the one-off episodes so prevalent in the first half of the series. But still, fantastic stuff.
Oh, and I can tell you what Kitsugenari means, and I didn't even Google it. (I Yahooed it.)
Unfortunately, I've only seen the movie. It was years ago so I mostly forget it. But a friend of mine raves about the show. Once I'm done with the A-Z Challenge, I'll have to give this show a try; although I have about 20 different shows I need to catch up on.
I was a devoted fan, even when they moved it to Sunday nights. Lost steam with the last couple seasons but i watched to the end. My wife just wanted to see Mulder and Scully get together.
I absolutely loved this show. It is one of my favorite all time series. I hated to see it go. Although, it's not the same, I was so happy to see Fringe come along. It fills a void for me!
I don't know what Kitsunegari means, but I don't know what a kitsune is!
Hey, I can't know everything! I'm gonna ask my M.I.L....
Sue: I loved the fact that Fox was brave enough to put it in a noramlly "death rating" time slot on Friday night. It was such a great thing to look forward to at the end of each week. I loved all the episodes for what each one was. I am going to have to pull out my box set and watch a few episodes now! And I am so into Fringe!!
Clarissa: Make sure you start at the beginning. Watch all of season one and you'll be in.
Nate: I liked both the monster of the week and the on-going story line. I thought they did a masterful job at that. Yes it means fox hunt.
Chiz: If you like sci-fi with a hint of possiblity it should keep you interested. It really was a great series.
Alex: Yeah, I didn't like the move to Sunday. Friday was the perfect end of the work week time for this show. Sunday was always my "mindless comedy to start the week" night (Simpsons, Futurama, etc.) I hated when Duchovny left the show...knew then it was a matter of time.
Pat: We agree on that...and on Fringe. I really like it. And kitsunegari means "fox hunt".
Hi Chuck .. I enjoyed the X file programmes I saw .. they were light amusement .. well to me they were!
Gillian Anderson is over now and often appears on the stage and tv programmes - she's very good.
Cheers Hilary
I loved this show! Sometimes I wanted to strangle Scully, but I definitely had a crush on Mulder. Would you believe I still have my X-Files collector's cards, both the U.S. and Australian versions? I had this dream of writing an episode for the show, but I was working 8am-10pm every day and had no energy left over. Sad sigh. I was done with the show when Mulder left it, though.
Hilary: Some of those shows were pretty creepy too!
Shannon: Great to know you were a fan! Can you believe I still have a shelf in the closest full of VHS tapes of every show? It started before DVR's and I set it to record every Friday in case anything came up and I wouldn't be home. I also have VHS tapes of another great show that started as a quasi-parallel themed show to the X-Files, called Millenium, starring Lance Henrickson...it was an awesome show too!
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