The X-Files (Page 7 of 7)

The Lost Art of Forehead Sweat was really such a classic episode.

The irony is die-hards loved it and casual viewers did not.   I think a lot of what hardcore fans vs. the casual audience wanted was in conflict at times.

At least have the decency to let us see that novel you wrote!

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"The Lost Art of Forehead Sweat" rubs a lot of X-Philes the wrong way because the Dr. They conspiracy and the plot are deliberately contradictory. Reggie is a mental patient, yet Mulder meets Dr. They and Skinner recognizes Reggie as a an FBI colleague. The episode also declares that in an era of absurd misinformation and conspiracies that have terrible real world consequences, THE X-FILES has become an artifact that might best be laid to rest.

It's a good episode.

I'm only 20 minutes into the X-CAST episode, but regarding Chris Carter's post-Season 11 interviews: Carter's comments have been incoherent and nonsensical and contradictory. He said he didn't adjust his script for Gillian Anderson quitting; then he said he did adjust. He said that he knew Gillian Anderson was quitting; then he said it took him by surprise. He said he'd do a Season 12 without Gillian; then he said he wouldn't. He's also said that the mythology of Season 10 isn't meant to pick up on the original mythology and then claims that it does; that the black oil was going to return in Season 11 (even though it didn't), that Monica Reyes would have a huge role in Season 11 (but didn't), etc..

My personal opinion: Carter smokes a lot of weed. And there's nothing wrong with personal enjoyment, but it's pretty clear to me that constant, daily, high usage has damaged his memory and made him incapable of planning or recall, which is also why Carter couldn't seem to keep track of where Mulder and Scully were living in Season 11 or which cars they drove.

And when he's like this, Carter is hopeless. Oh, in X-CAST, I've just come to the segment where Carter says he wasn't aware that Gillian was quitting until he read about it on the internet at which point he decided to create a cliffhanger with Skinner getting run over -- except Gillian didn't say she was quitting until well-after that episode had been filmed.

This man can't remember what he's saying or doing from minute to minute. I really don't think it would kill him if he stayed sober on weekdays or the night before interviews.

I give up.

Regarding the X-Files (and SLIDERS), it's interesting how they were both fox shows, shot around the same time.  Both filmed in vancouver (and eventually relocated to LA).

Does anyone find it interesting that with these similarities, there really feels like there is a different style in how each one was shot.   As extremely respectable as Sliders S1 was, X-Files just seemed to feel a bit better done, a little bit more cinematic, and even more of an expensive feeling.   I wonder if this is because SLIDERS in part had a sitcom-ish tone to some degree, and it was more trying to be reflective of its heavy humor element in how it was shot, etc.

great observation, makes sense.  (btw, wrong thread?).

we also do see some twin peaks style pacing, cinematography as well, i think.

one interesting thing was i was a HUGE fan of the Naked Gun movies (and Leslie Nielsen) growing up.  It wasn't until SLIDERS was finished that I realized it's Weiss connection and the shared DNA.

X Files had a 30th anniversary event in Saratoga Springs, New York, home of the X-Files Preservation Collection / Musuem.   They have another planned July 5-7 in 2024.

Looks like this year's was a success despite the location being somewhat out of the way:
https://twitter.com/William_B_Davis/sta … 1607228416

Coverage:
https://twitter.com/XFilesMuseum

https://www.saratogian.com/2023/07/08/t … f-x-files/

Podcast episode on the event

https://twitter.com/TheX_Cast/status/16 … 6184169473

I have this and love it.

I honestly wish you would do a SLIDERS book -- something more on the history of the show, perhaps with essays and critques as well. 

Although I admit it, you might only sell 100 copies (not because of the quality, of course). 

That said, it would be great to have a history before anyone associated with SLIDERS passes away --- though obviously Peckinpah is gone.

I did hear that.

Yes, when the strikes end, I have a feeling less content will be ordered in the past.

Even if X-Files  is a bit of a mess re: mythology and handling Scully and her child, it's staying power feels significant.

THE X-FILES was definitely groundbreaking when it first aired 1993. It presented horror and science fiction in the context and budget of a TV budget police procedural. It presented itself as a show with an ongoing mythology with fans urgently combing through ancient texts from cultures across the globe to uncover Chris Carter's secret code. It delved into shadow government conspiracy theories that were often too bizarre for the mainstream and presented them in the familiar cop show context. It made ideas that were too fantasy-oriented and too peculiar seem accessible.

However, it quickly became a follower rather than a leader. BABYLON 5 debuted in 1994 and began an ongoing arc. BUFFY debuted in 1997 and showed that you could do ongoing continuity as well. BABYLON 5 and BUFFY would hint at cataclysmic events... and show them. And move onto something new.

Meanwhile, THE X-FILES, even by its ninth season, was still teasing a future alien invasion story that it could never actually show onscreen with a TV budget.

Of course, BABYLON 5 and BUFFY were niche shows for sci-fi and fantasy fans. THE X-FILES, however, was a major network show courting a general audience, and THE X-FILES had a viewership and a fanbase and a legacy that BABYLON 5 and BUFFY can never hope to match. And THE X-FILES could have absolutely achieved the same pop cultural immortality as STAR TREK if it had reinvented and updated itself.

But unfortunately, it came back in 2016 and was hilariously dated. The idea of federal government masterminding a secret shadow government was laughable in an age where conspiracies are obvious and open in the capitalistic gluttony of the military industrial complex. The idea that aliens could be hidden from the public in an age of YouTube was absurd.

THE X-FILES revival mythology was toxic: a lot of the X-FILES shadow government conspiracy concepts had become based in fraudulent health misinformation where essential and life-saving vaccines were falsely called toxic by pseudoscientists and fakes.

THE X-FILES revival doubled-down on this anti-vaccine, anti-health misinformation that was eccentric in the 90s but outrageously foolish and harmful in 2016. It was truly misguided for Chris Carter to present polio vaccines as the delivery system for the Spartan Virus, especially when Carter himself is absolutely not an anti-vaxxer and just wanted the dangerous vaccines as a plot device.

It's funny: when comparing the 2018 season of SUPERNATURAL and the 2018 season of THE X-FILES: SUPERNATURAL's 2018 season (its 14th) was a strong combination of ongoing arcs and standalones. The season premiere established the threat of a rogue archangel. Character relationships progressed each week even if individual cases were wrapped up, the rogue archangel story expanded the show's mythos with new developments and revelations.

In contrast, THE X-FILES' 2018 season seemed deeply confused. The Season 10 cliffhanger was dismissed as a dream. The Season 11 premiere established that Mulder and Scully were searching for their son; it isn't mentioned again until Episode 5, doesn't come back until Episode 10. Episode 2 has Mulder and Scully living in the same house in a romantic relationship; Episode 7 has Mulder visiting Scully's separate house and saying he's never been there. Episode 1 has Mulder driving a Mustang; Episode 7 has Scully driving an SUV that Scully drove in the 2017 season.

Episode 3 has Mulder and Scully romantically involved; Episode 4 has Mulder disappearing for days and not bothering to tell Scully. Episode 1 has Mulder and Scully losing all trust in Skinner; Episode 6 has them helping Skinner without confronting him. Season 11 had some great episodes ("This", "Lost Art of Forehead Sweat", "Ghouli", "Followers", "Nothing Lasts Forever"), but against the incoherent continuity, the characters seemed like different people in different lives from week to week. It was alienating and confusing.

I'm not saying that the continuity of SUPERNATURAL was ever perfect, but SUPERNATURAL never lost track of where the characters were living, who they were dating and what they were driving.

Looking at the 2018 series finales for SUPERNATURAL and THE X-FILES: SUPERNATURAL's season finale asked some difficult questions about why evil and injustice exist, featured some strong comedy and compelling action, and had a shocking climax where Sam and Dean confront their enemy: God.

In contrast, THE X-FILES' season finale had a shootout, a car chase, a run around a dark warehouse... and had nothing much to say about conspiracy, legacy, family, faith or science. THE X-FILES finale had nothing to say about anything.

This sort of time-slot filling, statement-free mediocrity is no longer enough for a TV show to become a global phenomenon.

There is a lot of good work in TV. QUANTUM LEAP is a heartfelt treatise on empathy augmented by technology, STRANGER THINGS is a haunting period piece, and even low stakes comedies like the SAVED BY THE BELL and iCARLY revivals were able to revisit former storylines with care, introduce ongoing arcs, and keep track of where everyone lived and who was dating whom from week to week.

It's absurd that Mulder and Scully were not receiving ongoing character arcs in 2018 when that same year featured Archie Andrews, Sabrina the Teenage Witch and the Ninja Turtles with season-long development. If THE X-FILES can't meet the standard of Archie, Sabrina and the Turtles, then THE X-FILES has no business being on TV.

I hope THE X-FILES will come back someday with a showrunner who can keep track of where everyone lives and who is dating whom from week to week.

A bunch of interviews by the X-Cast team from PhileFest.

https://www.spreaker.com/show/the-x-cas … es-podcast

I suspect that THE X-FILES' longevity is not really about the diehard fans. THE X-FILES was not like SLIDERS or BUFFY or BABYLON 5 in that THE X-FILES did not sustain and survive and become successful as a niche show. THE X-FILES was a success across a wide demographic and a success for a general audience. I think it's because the science fiction and supernatural stories of THE X-FILES were presented in a highly conventional formula: the formula of police procedural.

Visually, THE X-FILES resembled a lot of dark cop shows and detective shows like NYPD BLUE or HOMICIDE. The scripting was underplayed and subtle as opposed to bombastic and stylized like BUFFY or BABYLON 5. It looked and sounded like other high profile, pseudorealistic cop shows of the era, but the stories were decidedly otherworldly and unnerving. And because THE X-FILES was able to camouflage its eccentricities in a conventional guise, the general audience was willing to accept it and follow it from a conventional(ish) beginning to some very strange places.

This allowed THE X-FILES to hit a wide range of demographics, and as a result, its viewers were just viewers in general, not a specific range of genre fans. I think this is probably why Chris Carter avoided ongoing continuity, perpetually reset the characters, never had too much advancement or development, and kept the show in a permanent holding pattern. Whatever his faults, he was trying to keep the show from alienating that general audience.

Slider_Quinn21 once remarked that his reaction to the continuity changes in the mythology were usually, "Okay! I guess this is happening now!" and admitting that he didn't remember the myth-arc well enough to be concerned by continuity errors. I suspect that's what Carter wanted most of the time, for better or for worse.

More coverage of Philefest:

The X-Files Chat Room Podcast
https://thexfileschatroompodcast.buzzsp … al-episode
&
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/p … 0628358985

Scully Nation
https://scullynationpod.buzzsprout.com/ … after-dark

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/b … 0628420051

https://twitter.com/thexfiles/status/17 … 2143474852
Coming July 30th from #1 New York Times bestselling author Claudia Gray…
The X-Files: Perihelion extends Scully and Mulder's story beyond season 11.

interestingly enough, the twitter account deleted the tweet and didn't repost.  maybe sucked into the Bermuda Triangle.

https://www.inverse.com/entertainment/c … -interview

Apparently, that might be the case.  As apparently Dean Haglund may have mentioned it 15 minutes into this interview:

https://rumble.com/v4ly10b-xfiles-lone- … llian.html

I just discovered Hoopla has some x-files audiobooks I hadn't see before:

https://www.hoopladigital.com/audiobook … n/12244243

https://www.hoopladigital.com/audiobook … s/15992453

And a philosophy ebook
https://www.hoopladigital.com/ebook/the … s/11883924

It's really tough. Fan gatherings are a leisure activity. And it's hard to spend on hotels, meals, travel and such for leisure.

I think the last movie I saw in a movie theatre was MADAME WEB and only because my job gave me a gift card. The last movie I saw in theatres on my own dime was MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: DEAD RECKONING. It just does not make sense to go to a movie theatre and pay for a $15 ticket, parking, concessions, gas and such when I have an adequate TV at home with an okay speaker system.

It may not make financial sense for a lot of people to travel to a fan convention when they could use message boards, Facebook, Reddit, podcasts and ebooks for a facsimile of meeting cast and crew and attending discussion panels.

On another note: Claudia Gray's upcoming X-FILES novel, "Perihelion", costs $28 USD. https://a.co/d/4C4yXFc

Twenty. Eight. American. Dollars. Look, Claudia Gray may be a splendid author and "Perihelion" may be the greatest literary achievement since HUCKLEBERRY FINN. But even then, it would not be worth $28 American dollars in the year of our Lord 2024. It cost less to watch MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: DEAD RECKONING in a movie theatre than it does to buy "Perihelion".

(I actually preordered the ebook from a Canadian bookseller for $12 USD awhile ago.)

This book is excellent so far.

I can't find the guest list. Who was on it?

Considering all the B-list, C-list, and D-list celebrities whom Grizzlor has met and photographed -- if Grizzlor says the event guest list was lousy, then it was undoubtedly terrible.

(Disclaimer: B/C/D-list is merely a measure of the level of public interest in the celebrity, and I don't use it as a reflection on their talents characters. I would love to meet Tom Welling someday and ask him some diet and fitness questions, and Tom is C or D list.)

I have been struggling with event planning in recent years, and one challenge: your event has to offer a reason to go that's worth the trouble of leaving your home. And if your event is not located in a major hub, your event has to offer an attraction that is rarely if ever offered by anyone else. If Mitch Pillegi was the biggest name on the guest-list, as Grizzlor notes, that doesn't appeal to anyone who could go to a more accessible appearance in a closer major city.

It seems to me that the Preservation team would be better off creating a travelling version of their exhibits and holding their event in a more central locale, perhaps partnering with an existing X-FILES event.

I'm going to say no. I think, for SLIDERS to be effective in contrasting parallel worlds with our world, the sliders' home Earth needed to be almost aggressively mundane even if it wasn't exactly our own specific Earth. If the sliders' home Earth is the center of a confusingly contradictory alien invasion plot in addition to housing vampires, werewolves, poltergeists, demon children, talking tattoos, talking dolls and that Flukeman thing, then the wonder of parallel worlds is diminished.

But also... I cannot get a handle on the Earth in which THE X-FILES took place, and nearly every season just baffles.

The alien mythology episodes position THE X-FILES as being set in a sci-fi biotechnology universe where all paranormal events are the result of alien technology and genetics experiments and their biological properties being harvested and transplanted in some way.

However, the monster of the week episodes often present THE X-FILES as a supernatural universe in which demonic forces and incomprehensible beings of darkness and monstrosity exist just outside human perception and manifest as vampires, werewolves, the walking manifestation of Death, that goat eating thing near the Mexican border, and present a world where genies can rewrite reality, writers can make their fictions appear as flesh and blood, and people have other inexplicable powers.

Some of the monsters of the week do approach pseudoscientific explanations of genetic anomalies or unusual brain and biological structures, but these sit awkwardly next to episodes with witches and magic golems which are explained through folklore and mysticism.

It's like the separate universes of SUPERNATURAL (magic) and FRINGE (technology) have somehow crashed together and THE X-FILES, somehow ricocheting between the rules of either universe, never establishes any rules for its own universe. And THE X-FILES pre-dates SUPERNATURAL and FRINGE!

The fictional alt history of THE X-FILES is also baffling. The original backstory was that in the late 1940s, the black oil Purity alien race attempted to invade Earth only to be warded off by threats of nuclear armageddon and a treaty to organize the human race for Purity to infect as parasites to reproduce, efficiently and without resistance for maximum production while the conspirators would be spared.

Season 10 abruptly changed this to claim the alien invasion was a hoax and a distraction from the real conspiracy of unleashing the Spartan Virus for population control.

Season 11 changed this again by claiming that the original invasion plan was real, but the aliens lost interest in Earth due to global warming and resource depletion (although the only resource they cared about in the original arc was human bodies). Season 11 also had the conspiracy not unleashing their population control virus for no stated reason whatsoever and instead being concerned with a manhunt for William Mulder.

I have no idea what is going on in the parallel Earth featured in THE X-FILES. Is it a sci-fi universe or a magic universe? Is the mythology about alien colonization of human bodies, population control of the human race, or something or other with William? Are the monsters based in genetics experiments or in supernatural powers?

I don't know, but I'm pretty sure that whatever's going on there is not happening on the sliders' home Earth.

The first two seasons of SLIDERS and the first five seasons of THE X-FILES were basically neighbours filming in Vancouver. And I certainly think of SLIDERS and THE X-FILES as existing on the same multidimensional axis.

**

What are you enjoying about the books you've been listening to?

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Every couple years, I like to re-read the SEASON 10 and SEASON 11 comic books. They had a slightly more muted, low-key (and rushed) finale than I would have liked, but they mostly resolved their stories except for two loose ends.

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I still have the two IDW X-FILES prose anthologies from the SEASON 10/SEASON 11 era of 2013 - 2015 to read.