Welcome to Sliders.tv! Please email ireactions (at) gmail.com to register.
You are not logged in. Please login or register.
Sliders Bboard → Sliders Bboard → The X-Files
Chris Carter doesn't want the X-Files to end. Why would he? It's his universe, his characters. He may have done other projects in the past but this is really representative of what he is interested in, especially after a fairly long break from it.
The dumb part is, Carter's unwillingness to let go of the arc that should have ended back in the mid-90's is what is ultimately killing the series/franchise as a whole. Life continues, but chapters in our lives do come to an end.
I think Chris Carter has said in interviews that he never intended for the X-Files to have a proper ending. Something like "life never ends, why should the X-Files?"
To be fair, "My Struggle IV" has closed off most of the show's plots, just not in a terribly satisfying way. The Spartan Virus isn't coming, the Cigarette Smoking Man is dead (?), the X-Files have been shut down and Mulder and Scully are starting a new family. If it weren't for Skinner being either dead or injured in an alley nearby as Mulder and Scully hold each other, this could have been an ending. But Carter deliberately aimed for the Season 11 finale to feel incomplete. CHUCK and BUFFY have shown how you can write a season finale that works as a series finale, but Carter has declined this route, instead insisting that THE X-FILES will return.
That seems unlikely to me. Season 10 started with 16 million viewers and ended with 7.6 million which is pretty solid, but Season 11 hovered around 3.5 million for most of its run.
I think something is wrong with Chris Carter. He was never the best writer on the show, but some of the decisions that went into this final season (especially the finale) were beyond just bad writing.
I think the problem is Chris Carter's anthology style. His refusal to engage in serialization is mismatched to how a modern viewer watches television.
Chris Carter once remarked shortly after Season 9 that THE X-FILES' audience had disappeared and he wondered where they'd gone. The answer: they'd gone to shows that offered ongoing plot and character development with characters who grew with the viewers.
In the 90s, it was fine for Mulder and Scully to be written with contradictory characterization from week to week and for the X-FILES universe to be magical one week and scientific the next. Most viewers didn't see every single episode. But towards the end of THE X-FILES, television was becoming more serialized. THE X-FILES wouldn't commit to serialization despite the alien myth-arc and Mulder/Scully relationship demanding it; as a result, the audience gave up on the show.
In 2016, THE X-FILES received a second chance and now it had viewers who would see every episode. Carter had an opportunity to serve this new, mainstream audience wanting to see week to week development with Mulder, Scully, the myth-arc and their partnership. But Carter instead presented episodes that contradicted each other from week to week.
"My Struggle" declares that the alien myth-arc is THE X-FILES primary content, but then "Founder's Mutation" offers no progress on delving into the Conspiracy of Men. The Spartan Virus is unleashed in "My Struggle II," but MSIII rewinds time to minutes before the outbreak – and then has it on hold for reasons never given. The Smoking Man is hideously scarred in MSII but healed in III. Colonization is debunked in Season 10 but genuine and aborted in Season 11.
One could argue that THE X-FILES is really about the characters, not the plot, but even the characterization was perplexing from week to week. Mulder and Scully had left the FBI in "My Struggle" but acted like they'd never been gone in "Founder's Mutation." Mulder went from believing in "Founder's" to skeptical in "Were-Monster." "This" had Mulder and Scully living together but "Plus One" had them apart. Later, "Followers" showed that Mulder had never been to Scully's home and had Mulder driving what was Scully's SUV in Season 10. "Plus One" wrote Mulder and Scully like they were still in their 30s and on the verge of becoming romantic while "Nothing Lasts Forever" made them amicable exes who were nearly senior citizens.
Each week, Seasons 10 - 11 found new ways to baffle. Was Colonization genuine or a fraud? Is the show about unravelling a conspiracy or weekly monsters? Are Mulder and Scully living together or not? Is the Spartan Virus coming or not? Are they searching for William or not? Is this universe scientific or magical? Chris Carter wouldn't decide. The result was a show that couldn't even figure out where the characters live or what car they're driving. A show that confused casual viewers like Slider_Quinn21 and broke diehard fans like the EatTheCorn webmaster.
Carter's view was that mandating consistency would deprive the individual writers of their creative freedom. But when even basic character details aren't consistent from week to week, viewers become detached. They can't connect, can't relate and can't get invested. The show went from 16 million viewers to 3.5 million. Alongside FRINGE and SUPERNATURAL, the modern revival of THE X-FILES looked clumsily out of touch. It's time to let THE X-FILES go.
cool:
https://www.fastcompany.com/40558899/wo … d=51809407
JRD always believed in the power of television and its impact.
interview with chris carter
So... the X-FILES comics are pretty much over too. The once canonical SEASON 10 - 11 comics were unfortunately sidelined by the Revival removing SEASON 10 - 11 from continuity. IDW published a tie-in X-FILES comic set in the Revival continuity, but without the cache of being canonical, sales sank like a stone. The series was cancelled (with an ending) on #17 and replaced by some two-issue mini-serieses: X-FILES - JFK DISCLOSURE, then X-FILES: FLORIDA MAN, and some novels and comics in the ORIGIN line featuring Mulder and Scully as children (who never meet). The next is two issues of X-FILES: HOOT GOES THERE... and then IDW doesn't plan on doing any more comics. They wouldn't stop if the sales were there.
It's strange how the show's resurgence on live action TV not only killed THE X-FILES as an ongoing TV franchise but also killed a series of comics and novels. Usually, a TV revival raises the profile of the tie-ins instead of crushing them flat.
So... the X-FILES comics are pretty much over too. The once canonical SEASON 10 - 11 comics were unfortunately sidelined by the Revival removing SEASON 10 - 11 from continuity. IDW published a tie-in X-FILES comic set in the Revival continuity, but without the cache of being canonical, sales sank like a stone. The series was cancelled (with an ending) on #17 and replaced by some two-issue mini-serieses: X-FILES - JFK DISCLOSURE, then X-FILES: FLORIDA MAN, and some novels and comics in the ORIGIN line featuring Mulder and Scully as children (who never meet). The next is two issues of X-FILES: HOOT GOES THERE... and then IDW doesn't plan on doing any more comics. They wouldn't stop if the sales were there.
It's strange how the show's resurgence on live action TV not only killed THE X-FILES as an ongoing TV franchise but also killed a series of comics and novels. Usually, a TV revival raises the profile of the tie-ins instead of crushing them flat.
Just last week, I was thinking about ordering the vol. 2 of season 10 (I have vol. 1) and maybe getting the volumes for season 11. At some point, I probably will, but I do agree the series coming back subverted the comics. Because they just don't align with where the happenings of the series, especially this finale (for late buyers like me).
The final issue of SEASON 11 -- #8 does have an ending. However, I felt that it was really rushed. SEASON 10 and SEASON 11 were all about creating a vast sense of mystery around the X-FILES mythology, delving into the past as well as exploring how the Syndicate, destroyed in Season 6, had reformed through clones seeking to continue the original project. Meanwhile, a new faction, the Believers, had stepped into the Colonization plot and somehow delayed the 2012 invasion. It was perpetually a middle chapter of intrigue and uncertainty that needed a grand finale. Instead, the finale was cut short: due to the Revival, SEASON 11's plan for 22 issues was cut to eight issues and a Christmas special. The final issue of SEASON 11 and the IDW continuity is low-key and muted rather than the big finish one would hope for.
And it's really sad because the IDW comic book line did so much good for THE X-FILES creatively. In addition to having Mulder and Scully as a couple working at the X-Files again, it resurrected the Lone Gunmen. It sidestepped the 2012 date while showing how the mythology could still be relevant and meaningful in the twenty-first century. It provided the YEAR ZERO mini-series which told the origin story of the X-Files Division. It gave the Lone Gunmen a spin-off series. It led to a MILLENNIUM series that featured Mulder with gave a big finish to this also incomplete Chris Carter show.
It was a golden age that could have continued indefinitely had the Revival not knocked them into irrelevancy and the Revival is clearly not continuing anywhere now.
And yet... SEASON 11 #8 does offer a complete and total finale to Colonization and the myth-arc while finding a way to let the comic book SEASON 10 and SEASON 11 co-exist with the finale. It's quite clever, too.
This was a great interview with Frank Spotnitz:
Very interesting. It's neat to hear that the supernaturalless/science fiction-free I WANT TO BELIEVE was the way it was because the studio wanted a minimal budget. Spotnitz graciously opted out of talking about the Revival aside from saying he would, like any writer, have told different stories.
Spotnitz was frank that the mythology of THE X-FILES suffered because there were certain stories they only wanted to tell to end the show and they never felt quite certain whether or not the show was ending. Except shows like BUFFY and SUPERNATURAL suggest it's best to wrap up your arcs after a reasonable time and eagerly create new ones rather than hoarding your stories and delaying your resolutions endlessly.
Bill Mulder, actor Peter Donat, has died at age 90.
Sliders Bboard → Sliders Bboard → The X-Files
Powered by PunBB, supported by Informer Technologies, Inc.