Remember when The X-Files was genuinely cool? We do. It was awesome. It was the last TV show I actually cared about and followed weekly. Of course, the series made the mistake of believing it's own hype and went on for about 6 series too long. But in the beginning, when it first started, it was interesting, intelligent TV. And Gillian Anderson is HOT.
The X Files centered around a couple of FBI agents, one; Mulder; an almost rabid paranoid conspiracy theorist and the other, Scully; a rational skeptic. Both approaching cases from two very different viewpoints. Each week, they'd be sent to investigate strange goings on, and usually they'd fail to solve anything, or come up with any answer as to what caused it. In hindsight, these two agents, though intelligent and capable, never really solved anything. A bit rubbish really.
I liked the show in this format, but unfortunately, two annoying elements would begin to take hold and affect the overall story and quality of the show. These two things were:
The Alien Conspiracy:
In the beginning of the show, it was explained that Mulder's sister was abducted by persons unknown when he was a teenager. That was his incentive to join the FBI and to run the X Files. To find his sister and find out what happened. This was fine, and a good start point. Unfortunately, the writers would then weave the "Alien conspiracy" storyline into more and more episodes, but each time changing the facts and information. It was as if they couldn't make up their minds, or disagreed with what the previous writer had written. Just when you thought you knew what was going on, a few weeks later, they change it completely and twist it further, till it just got annoying and deeper into absurdity and improbability. This bogged the show down and killed the interest for me, much like Lost did years later.
Mulder and Scully's "Relationship"
Mulder is male, Scully is female. Thus they must have some underlying tension and need to screw each other. Cos that's not cliché right? At the start of the show, in the first few episodes, they didn't really like each other and were frustrated by the others believes, this eventually started to grow into a respectful trusting partnership. But no, the fans and the writers demanded that the two fancy each other and would eventually get together. This again bogged things down and made it more into a soap opera than a drama show.
As these two plot elements took more hold, so my interest waned and I stopped watching. I caught the last ever episode and the first movie and concluded I'd left at the right moment, for the film and conclusion was dire.
I only own the first three series. The quality control on the first and second series is top notch, but takes a dip on the third series before falling off completely on the rest of the shows life. The show is dated (It's over 10 years old now) but the writing and the stories are sound. Some of my favourite episodes are Ice (even though it royally ripped off The Thing) Tooms, Darkness Falls, Deep Throat, Shadows, Shapes, and The Erlenmeyer Flask. Series Two had the brilliant Die Hand Die Verletzt, Humbug, The Calusari, Soft Light, and Our Town. Some of the stories had real bite to them, and I remember being properly shocked at the death of Deep Throat. Sometimes, things did get silly though, and there were only so many times that Scully could be knocked out, or arrive too late to see the alien/ghost/monster before it just got ridiculous.
Whether the X Files will return as another film or not I don't know. If I'm honest, it's well past it's sell by date and too caught up in its own stories to make anything fresh. Shame, as for a while, it was one of the best shows on TV.
To end things, let's have a look at Gillian Anderson as the mighty Agent Scully, and remember the good times
Booya.
0 comments:
Post a Comment