The X-Files in retrospect

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he X-Files is one of those shows which is truly genre-defining. A cultural phenomenon, the show spent nine years on the air (and two movies) tracing the lives of FBI agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) as they fought aliens, faced off against the supernatural, and battled in the ‘mythology episodes’ against an ongoing government conspiracy. After all that, one could argue its 13-year rest from the airwaves was much deserved, but Fox announced last month that filming for a six-episode revival will begin this year.

Perhaps one of the greatest strengths of the show is the sheer variety on display. Upon reflection, the ease with which it was able to switch between genres and tones, all whilst maintaining solid ratings, is nothing short of miraculous.

It moves from episodes of true horror, such as the seriously chilling ‘Home‘, the tale of a murderous family of inbred mutants evocative of classic horror films such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, to sublime comedy like ‘Bad Blood’, a vampire tale which adopts a he said/she said structure, showing events from both Mulder and Scully’s perspective and gaining maximum comedic effect from it.

The variety means that this is a show where the phrase ‘something for everyone’ can actually be applicable

For example, some fans were not enamoured with the more comedic episodes of the show, however Season 6 (possibly the year which most embraced humour) is one of my personal favourites. That’s the brilliance of The X-Files — no matter what your thoughts are on one particular tone of episode, there’s always the assurance that the show will switch back to a genre that will be of interest to you relatively soon.

Photo: Gillian Anderson as Dana Scully – Flickr/yotambientengosuperpoderes

However, even a show boasting the greatest writing on television rests on the laurels of the actors who must bring this material to life on screen — and The X-Files certainly struck gold with the masterful partnership of David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson. There is a reason that Mulder and Scully resonate as such cultural icons; the pair create an extraordinary on-screen chemistry which enchants fans to this day. The hundreds of YouTube fan videos (‘Last Friday Night — Mulder and Scully‘ is a personal guilty pleasure…) and fan-fiction which persist are certainly testament to this.

Like any long running show, The X-Files has its lesser episodes, but in the hands of these two, the show is never less than entertaining as their presence on screen is always sheer joy to watch. Each of the characters gets their chance to shine, and much like the tone of the show itself, they move from moments of high tragedy to comedy effortlessly.

Indeed, many attribute the show’s eventual decline to Duchovny leaving as a regular cast member after Season 7 (although he continued to recur in the remaining two seasons). Whilst Anderson remained brilliant as Scully, it was hard to deny that some of the magic had been lost.

One of the most exciting aspects of this revival is simply the chance to see this iconic partnership back on television once more

The pair have not shared any time on screen together outside of X Files related projects, so this really is something historic.

Granted, the show was not without flaws; however, the shortened run of this new revival is something which I believe will go a long way towards fixing the issues of the classic series.  After nine seasons, there was so much back-story attached to the mythology episodes that it gradually became more and more difficult to keep track of what was going on — in early seasons, these stories were styled in the manner of taut, tense sci-fi thrillers but by the final year of the show, they had lost some of their original magic.

Photo: David Duchovny (Fox Mulder) – Flickr/David Shankbone

Likewise, with the ‘monster-of-the-week’ episodes, whilst there was consistently imaginative creativity present, at times it could feel as though you were seeing an episode the show had already done before. After all, there’s only so many times an opening teaser can feature a mysterious death in the woods and feel truly original.

This is what’s brilliant about this revival, however. Whilst admittedly it would be brilliant to get as many new episodes as possible, keeping the episode count short could be a real bonus here.

In a recent interview, David Duchovny suggested that the six episodes would maintain the balance of monster/mythology episodes, and now it would appear that the writers have less time to become bogged down by overly complex mythology and can keep these elements of the show engaging. Equally, they can ensure that they do not have to constantly churn out new ideas for villains and can make sure that the ones they do include feel unique.

This is a show with influence over so much of the programming of recent years, from Torchwood to Fringe, and had so much star power that it was able to attract Jodie Foster to appear in a cameo role which wasn’t even on screen (she appeared as the disembodied voice of a tattoo. Yes, you read that correctly). If you’re a long-time fan, what better excuse to dust off those box-sets and watch it all over again? And if you’ve never seen The X-Files before, take this news as an incentive to start: you’re in for a treat. The truth is out there…