Regarding The Lone Gunman: they're dead. In the last episode of the series, Mulder is visited by the ghosts of just about every secondary character who died during the show's run. TLG appear to him in the desert on the way to meet with Cancer Man in the Anasazi ruins.

I dunno. Getting excited for the X-Files is like getting excited about a handjob you got for three and a half hours six years ago by a mysterious, sexy partner who took all your money, threw up in your silverware drawer, and disappeared before you got your "happy ending."

Sure, there are some pretty unique memories there, but I think I'm much happier having moved on...

@GentlyClubBillPart2: I kept wondering what had happened in my silverware drawer.

That episode pictured above was my favorite episode of the X-Files. How many other places do you get to see Jesse "The Body" Ventura (future Governor of the good state of Minnesota) as a Man in Black explaining that what you saw was not an UFO, but swamp gas? I still use swamp gas as an explanation everytime someone brings to my attention something I can't explain.

For those who are too young to understand the impact of this show, Chris Carter invented a genre that laid the groundwork for many of the shows you grew up on and worship, unlike other series which struggle to last four or five seasons and at their peak reach only a small fraction of the audience that the X-Files did on regular basis because they have a hard time sustaining originality or producing feature film quality stories or production values.

Before the X-Files the only shows that produced high quality drama and could sustain audiences for more than a couple dozen episodes were police dramas. Also, the X-Files avoided commercialization and soap opera tactics unlike most genre entertainment. I wish there were shows on television today that could stand up to the test of time like this show did.

Woah, woah, hey! Last time I checked Gillian Anderson's boobs were both big and magnificent. Just sayin'. :P

... And, David Duchovny left after which season? (I'm marathon-watching before the movie, but I am only mid-season 2 right now.)

I was more interested in Brisco County at the time.

Still am.

@psych0fred:
yeah, but what has chris carter done for us lately?

Exactly.

@GentlyClubBillPart2: You know the proverbial monkeys with typewriters? They could have written the complete works of Shakespeare twice before I could have come up with an analogy that perfect. Spot. On.

@psych0fred: Exactly what genre did Chris Carter invent? The "it will all make sense at the end" genre? Because I believe Twin Peaks came first.

@Plague:

I think you missed the point, he created quality entertainment because he DIDN'T sell out. In short what he's done since then is kept his diginity intact. He didn't just write what the fans or the studios wanted. He's not our/your monkey who's here to please us like other commercial writers. If he was then Scully would have been the blonde bimbo and Mulder and Scully would have been having sex in season 1 and the show would have revolved around their relationships because it's what all the shippers wanted. It also would have lead to a shallow show that appealed to the shallow masses, not something original that's deeper with legs that invented a whole genre. That's the difference between art and commercialism. It's a demonstration of a deeper understanding of the craft, of a philosophy, and not just McFiction. Books have been written on the differences.

If you're not familiar with the logos and the mythos, check out the works of Joseph Campbell and The Hero with a Thousand Faces. There's a whole science/philosophy behind good literature that reaches into the collective unconscious of society at large. It's the kind of thing that's taught in schools and you don't see from commercial writers or hacks. All good "classic" works can be held up to the teachings of Joseph Campbell and stand the test of time. That's why it's taught in schools.

Hey, I'm watching X-Files right now (it was a bit too creepy for me when it first aired).

Gibson Trivia: Darryl Musashi, one of the characters in the William Gibson Episode 'First Person Shooter', is recycled in Pattern Recognition. Or at least his name is.

However, the show was still so budget strapped that they couldn't afford location filming, and in the episode "Ascension," a rock quarry had to be painted to look like the desert of the American Southwest.

There was no rock quarry in Ascension. You're mixing it up with the season finale, Anasazi.

For Nivair: Duchovny left after season 7, came back for half of season 8, and then left again for good until the series finale.

Comment on The Complete X-Files on The X-Files The best thing Chris Carter ever did was recruit an incredibly talented team of writers, directors, effects guys, cinematographer and whatnot. (Most of whom, unlike Carter, have gone on to bigger and better things.) The worst thing he ever did was drive those crew members away with his ego and ineptitude; his legacy stands in the form of a once-great sf show that is now frequently held up as an example of How Not To End Your Series. (ie. by dragging it out 4 years too long, until it resembles an emaciated caricature of itself.) I laughed when I read Carter's comment about how 9/11 supposedly killed The X-Files/Lone Gunmen. I'd thought it was the substandard writing and increasingly stupid storylines. In the early years, Carter claimed he would do the show for about four or five years, hopefully bowing out while it was still quality. When Millennium failed to pull in enough viewers, when Harsh Realm turned out to be a stinker (and from memory, the creators of the comic book which inspired the series, had to LITIGATE just to get their name in the show's credits...), when The Lone Gunmen were turned into a crashing bore, suddenly Carter's new refrain about the X-Files became "We have so many more stories to tell." This was disproven pretty swiftly, on a near-weekly basis. If they managed to get lazy-ass Darin Morgan to script the new movie, I'd be first in line; in fact, I'd plow down old women and children to get there. He's one of the best writers that show ever had, and is it coincidence that when Darin won the show's only Best Writing Emmy for a comedic script, suddenly Carter decided to write some attempted comedies of his own? (No Emmies, though; not even a nom.) Aaahhh well. I'm happy to be proven wrong. But I suspect we're in for disappointment.

@nivair and royen - I started rewatching all the series about eight months ago, right from the pilot episode, in anticipation of the upcoming film. Sadly I'm only three quarters through the third season, gahhh!

Nice post Kevin - hope you didn't nick *too* much from Wikipedia ;)

@psych0fred: For those of us who are more than old enough to remember this show, yes, it was important and influential, but it was also drawing on a lot of stuff that came before it, including The Invaders, Kolchak, and Twin Peaks.

Being important and influential only helps you so much when you go so far up your own backside you can see out of your mouth. The inability to resolve the complicated backstory without retconning and/or adding new complications, combined with the departure of David Duchovny, pretty much killed the show and made the last season or two eminently missable.

How many people have really been waiting for more X-Files?

3.7 Americans abducted by aliens? That's madness! My question is this: does that .3 guy get a break on his taxes?

BBZZZT! Sorry, do not pass go, etc. etc.

The movie takes place between the Season Five finale, "The End," and the Season Six premiere, "The Beginning." This is because Season Five ends with *SPOILER RETRACTION*.

@Lieutenant 030: Me!And millions of other people!I'm sorry, yes I've moved on and I'm glad other people have too, but the sheer fact that people had to MOVE ON after the series ended proves to me the impact that the series had.People became devoted to it in a way that has not been experienced since the bloody Lone Ranger.I know this because Dads around the world still sit, transfixed by the screen when foggy clips of it by chance, appear on the TV.Nothing, for me, has come close to capturing the magic that the X-Files created on TV in recent years and I live in hope that something does.I really miss the writing and the way those stories were told.There's lots of people who are dying for a Mulder and Scully reunion and I for one will be first in line.
Lost be damned..

@GentlyClubBillPart2: That goes for you too!!

Comment on The Complete X-Files on The X-Files I'm aware this could be construed as spam and I'm not sure commenting rules allow it, so I apologize in advance. Anyway, a friend and me are pretty big fans, and we've now set ourselves the ultimate geek challenge of watching all nine seasons before the movie comes out :)We've set up a website to document our efforts, if you're interested you might want to check it out at http://www.thexfilesproject.com We're kicking off tonight (Tuesday) with Episode 1 and 2! Who knows, you might even want to join in ;)

Point by point --

I, too, adore the ep from the cap. One of the very best, and hilarious. People groan about them, but I love the humor eps -- including that couple of eps with Michael McKean. And "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose". And the one with the vampires and the pizza. And the one...

Didn't the shippers pretty much get what they wanted by the end of the series? Sure, there could always be more on-screen sex scenes, but they're basically "together", aren't they? No pleasing some people.

I haven't watched a lot of X-Files in a while, but by chance I saw "Space" pretty recently, and ooh. Yeah, it was pretty bad. Mostly just boring.

I'm something of an X-Files apologist, I'll admit. I can understand the complaints of the various people who have complained about the show, but I loved it all the way through -- not just loved it despite, but I actually went with them when they did something different and enjoyed what they were doing -- and you do have to admit it was seminal. I'm really looking forward to the movie.