The X-Files is an American science fiction drama television series created by Chris Carter. The original television series aired from September 10th 1993 to May 19th 2002 on Fox. During its original run, the program spanned nine seasons, with 202 episodes. A short tenth season consisting of six episodes ran from January to February 2016. Following the ratings success of this revival, The X-Files returned for an eleventh season of ten episodes, which ran from January to March 2018. In addition to the television series, two feature films have been released: The 1998 film The X-Files and the stand-alone film The X-Files: I Want to Believe, released in 2008, six years after the original television run ended.
The series revolves around Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Special Agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), who investigate the eponymous “X-Files”: marginalized, unsolved cases involving paranormal phenomena. Mulder is a skilled criminal profiler, an ardent supernaturalist, and a conspiracy theorist who believes in the existence of the paranormal, whereas Scully is a medical doctor and skeptic who has been assigned to scientifically analyze Mulder’s case files. Early in the series, both agents apparently become pawns in a much larger conflict and so come to trust only each other and a few select people. The agents discover what appears to be a governmental agenda to hide positive proof of the existence of extraterrestrial life. Mulder and Scully’s shared adventures initially lead them to develop a close platonic bond, which by series’ end develops into a complex romantic relationship. Roughly one third of the series’ episodes follow a complicated mythopoeia-driven story arc about a planned alien invasion, whereas the other two-thirds may be described as “monster of the week” episodes that focus on a singular villain, mutant, or monster.
The X-Files was inspired by earlier television series featuring elements of suspense, horror, and speculative science fiction, including The Twilight Zone, Night Gallery, Tales from the Darkside, Twin Peaks, and especially Kolchak: The Night Stalker. When creating the main characters, Carter sought to reverse gender stereotypes by making Mulder a believer and Scully a skeptic. The first seven seasons featured Duchovny and Anderson relatively equally. In the eighth and ninth seasons, Anderson took precedence while Duchovny appeared intermittently. New main characters were introduced: FBI Special Agents John Doggett (Robert Patrick) and Monica Reyes (Annabeth Gish), among others. Mulder and Scully’s immediate superior, Assistant Director Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi), began to appear regularly. The first five seasons of The X-Files were filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, before production eventually moved to Los Angeles, apparently to accommodate Duchovny’s schedule. However, the series later returned to Vancouver with the filming of The X-Files: I Want to Believe as well as the tenth and eleventh seasons.
The X-Files was a hit for the Fox network and received largely positive reviews, although its long-term story arc was criticized near the conclusion. Initially considered a cult series, it turned into a pop culture touchstone that tapped into public mistrust of governments and large institutions and embraced conspiracy theories and spirituality. Both the series itself and lead actors Duchovny and Anderson received multiple awards and nominations, and by its conclusion the show was the longest-running science fiction series in U.S. television history. The series also spawned a franchise that includes Millennium and The Lone Gunmen spin-offs, two theatrical films, and accompanying merchandise.
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It’s always a minefield talking to the guy at work who likes some of the same mass media as me (Witcher, he’s a big Star Wars guy, a really big WH40K guy (which I have a passing interest in but it’s fun to talk about), and is the only guy I’ve ever spoken to irl who knew what Conan: Exiles and Kingdom Come: Deliverance are) but has clearly had his brain poisoned by the manosphere. Maybe that’s not so surprising, given that particular list of media properties, but we’ll be having a conversation about some obscure bit of Star Wars lore we both think is cool and then he’ll say some shit like “the woke are ruining everything,” or “Henry Cavil will save WH40K from the wokes who destroyed The Witcher,” or “Why does all media have to make men out to be evil these days?” (I think the answer was probably the woke).
He’s a nice guy and I generally like talking him but I’m always wondering when this genial conversation is going to be derailed by vile nonsense.
But I live in a pretty conservative area so this sort of thing is to be expected. I assume everyone I meet here is a deranged christofascist until they give me cause to think otherwise. Perfect example of this, there’s an older man, upper sixties, at work who always stops to make polite small talk with me if we cross paths. Happened to overhear a conversation between him and another coworker who said she was homeschooling her child. And he said “That’s good. I don’t trust the state run schools. Teaching kids about evolution, and gender…”
Which she emphatically agreed with, as did several other coworkers who were nearby, all of various ages.
Something something all his media is about the evils that men do