The X-Files is a Canadian/American cult science fiction television series and a part of The X-Files franchise, created by screenwriter Chris Carter. It first aired in September 1993 and ended in May 2002. The show was a hit for the Fox network, and its characters and slogans (e.g., "The Truth Is Out There", "Trust No One", "I Want to Believe") became pop culture touchstones in the 1990s. Seen as a defining series of its era, The X-Files tapped into public mistrust of governments and large institutions, and embraced conspiracy theories and spirituality as it centered on efforts to uncover the existence of extraterrestrial life. The series spawned a spin-off show, The Lone Gunmen, and paved the way for the creation of Chris Carter's later show Millennium.

In the series, FBI agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) are the investigators of X-Files: marginalized, unsolved cases involving paranormal phenomena. Mulder is a believer in the existence of aliens and the paranormal, while Scully, a skeptic, is assigned to make scientific analyses on Mulder's discoveries. Early in the series both agents become pawns in a larger conflict (termed the "mythology" or "mytharc" by the producers), and come to trust only each other. They develop a close relationship, which begins as a platonic friendship, but develops into a romantic relationship by the end of the series' run. In addition to the long-term story arc, "monster of the week" episodes made up roughly two-thirds of the series. In such stand-alone X-Files episodes, Mulder and Scully investigated bizarre crimes with few long-term implications on the storyline.

The show's popularity peaked in the mid-to-late 1990s, leading to a 1998 film, called The X-Files. This was followed in 2008 by a post-series film, The X-Files: I Want to Believe. In the last two seasons, Gillian Anderson became the star as David Duchovny appeared intermittently, and new central characters were introduced: Bureau agents John Doggett (Robert Patrick) and Monica Reyes (Annabeth Gish). Mulder and Scully's boss, Assistant Director Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi), also became a central character. By its final airing, The X-Files had become the longest-running science fiction series in US broadcast television history, though it was later surpassed by Stargate SG-1.

Series overview

The X-Files follows two FBI Special agents, Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson). Mulder is a firm believer in the supernatural, the occult, and paranormal and extraterrestrial forces, leading to his nickname of "Spooky" and his assignment to an obscure department of unsolved "crackpot" cases known as the X-files. Scully is a trained scientist and medical doctor who is initially assigned to keep tabs on Mulder and debunk his theories by supplying logical, scientific explanations for the cases they encounter. The main story arc involves the agents' pursuit to uncover a government conspiracy hiding the existence of extraterrestrials and the U.S. government's collaboration with them. A mysterious group of men comprising a shadow element within the U.S. government, known as "The Syndicate", is behind the conspiracy. They are usually represented by the Cigarette Smoking Man (William B. Davis), a main villain in the series.

A major part of the story arc is Fox's relentless search for his sister, Samantha Mulder, whom he believes was abducted by aliens when she was 8 years old and he was 12. He eventually finds out, late in the series, that she was indeed abducted by the government and the aliens, who subjected her to medical experiments in the interest of creating a human-alien hybrid.

The series also centered on the relationship between the two agents. For most of the series, Mulder and Scully were outwardly close as partners and platonic friends, yet underlying romantic feelings seemed apparent at times. Later in the series, the two finally admitted having romantic feelings for each other and began a romantic relationship.

The agents are joined late in the series by two new agents, John Doggett (Robert Patrick) and Monica Reyes (Annabeth Gish). When Mulder is himself abducted, Doggett replaces him as Scully's partner and helps her in her search for Mulder. The series ends when Mulder is put on trial in secret by military tribunal for breaking into a top-secret military facility and viewing plans for alien invasion and colonization of Earth. He is found guilty, but escapes punishment with the help of the other agents, and he and Scully become fugitives.

Cast and characters

• Fox Mulder (seasons 1–7 main, seasons 8–9 recurring) – is portrayed by David Duchovny. Mulder is an FBI special agent who believes in the existence of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) and a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth regarding such craft. With his FBI partner Dana Scully, he works in the X-Files office, which is concerned with cases that were marked as unsolvable and shelved by the FBI; most of these cases involve supernatural or mysterious circumstances. Mulder considers the X-Files and the truth behind the supposed conspiracy so important that he has made their study the main purpose of his life. After his abduction by aliens at the end of season seven, he is replaced on the X-Files by Agent John Doggett. He appeared in an episode of The Lone Gunmen and both The X-Files feature films.

• Dana Scully (seasons 1–9 main) – is portrayed by Gillian Anderson. Scully is an FBI special agent, who is the partner to agent Fox Mulder. They work out of the cramped basement office at FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C. to investigate unsolved cases labeled "X-Files". In contrast to Fox Mulder's credulous "believer" character, Scully is a skeptic, choosing to base her beliefs on scientific explanations. However, as the series progresses, she becomes more open to the possibility of paranormal happenings. In season eight she is assigned a new partner (agent John Doggett) after Mulder is abducted by aliens. Later in the same season, she leaves the X-Files office to be replaced by Agent Monica Reyes. She has appeared in both The X-Files feature films.

• Walter Skinner (seasons 1-8 recurring, season 9 main) – is portrayed by Mitch Pileggi. Skinner is an FBI assistant director who served in the United States Marine Corps in the Vietnam War. During this time he shot and killed a young boy carrying explosives, an incident which scarred him for life. Skinner is originally the direct supervisor of special agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully in the X-Files office. He later serves the same position for agents John Doggett and Monica Reyes. Although he is originally portrayed as a somewhat malevolent character, Skinner eventually becomes a close friend of Mulder and Scully. He appeared in an episode of The Lone Gunmen and both The X-Files feature films.

• John Doggett (seasons 8–9 main) – is portrayed by Robert Patrick. Doggett is an FBI special agent who makes his first appearance in the season eight episode "Within". Doggett served in the United States Military from the 1970s to the 80s. Later, he started to work with the New York Police Department, eventually being promoted to the rank of detective. After his son's death he joined the Criminal Investigations Division of the FBI. In 2000, Alvin Kersh assigned him to the X-Files office as Dana Scully's partner after an unsuccessful task force attempt to find missing agent Fox Mulder in "Without". He did not appear in either of the The X-Files feature films.

• Monica Reyes (season 8 recurring, season 9 main) – is portrayed by Annabeth Gish. Reyes is an FBI special agent who was born and raised in Mexico City, Mexico, where her parents still live (as of 2002). Because she was raised in Mexico, Reyes speaks fluent Spanish. She majored in folklore and mythology at Brown University, and has a master's degree in Religious Studies. In 1990, Reyes enrolled in the FBI Academy at Quantico, Virginia. Her first assignment in the FBI was serving on a special task force investigating Satanic rituals. She is a longtime friend of Agent John Doggett and becomes his replacement partner on the X-Files after the departure of Agent Dana Scully. Reyes was last seen in the New Mexico desert in 2002, where she warns Mulder and Scully of the arrival of Knowle Rohrer. She did not appear in either of the The X-Files feature films.

Production

Conception

California native Chris Carter was given the opportunity to produce new shows for the Fox network in the early 1990s. Tired of the comedies he had been working on, inspired by a report that 3.7 million Americans may have been abducted by aliens, and recalling memories of Watergate and the 1970s horror series Kolchak: The Night Stalker, Carter came up with the idea for The X-Files and wrote the pilot episode himself in 1992. He initially struggled over the untested concept—executives wanted a love interest for Scully—and casting. The network wanted either a more established or a "taller, leggier, blonder and breastier" actress for Scully than the 24-year-old Gillian Anderson, a theater veteran with minor film experience, who Carter felt was the only choice after auditions.

Carter's initial pitch for The X-Files was rejected by Fox. He fleshed out the concept and returned a few weeks later, leading to the commission of the pilot. Anderson commented, regarding her early work on the show, "It's a complete learning experience for me – the pilot was only the second time I'd been in front of a camera." The X-Files opening-closing theme music is not used in this episode. David Duchovny's father (Amram Duchovny) appears here as a plane passenger.

Carter's idea was to present FBI agents investigating extraterrestrials and paranormal events, but Carter also wanted to deal directly with the characters' beliefs. Carter said, "I think of myself as a non-religious person looking for religious experience, so I think that's what the characters are sort of doing too." Dana Scully, in addition to being the scientific "skeptic" and a trained medical doctor, was open to the Catholic faith in which she was raised; while Fox Mulder, in addition to being an Oxford-educated psychologist and renowned criminal profiler, was the "believer" in space aliens, derisively nicknamed "Spooky Mulder" by his colleagues. Carter said, "Scully's point of view is the point of view of the show. And so the show has to be built on a solid foundation of science, in order to have Mulder take a flight from it... If the science is really good, Scully's got a valid point of view... And Mulder has to then convince her that she's got to throw her arguments out, she's got to accept the unacceptable. And there is the conflict." Carter also felt Scully's role as the more rational partner and Mulder's reliance on guesses and intuition subverted the gender roles usually seen on television.

Cast

Glen Morgan and James Wong's early influence on The X-Files mythology led to their introduction of popular secondary characters who would continue for years in episodes written by others, such as the Scully family — Dana's father William (Don S. Davis), mother Margaret (Sheila Larken) and sister Melissa (Melinda McGraw)— as well as conspiracy-buff trio The Lone Gunmen.

David Duchovny had worked in Los Angeles for three years prior to The X-Files; at first he wanted to base his acting career around films. But in 1993 his manager, Melanie Green, gave him a script of the "pilot episode" of The X-Files. Green and Duchovny were both convinced it was a good script, so he auditioned for the lead. Duchovny's audition was "terrific", though he had talked rather slowly, and while the casting director of the show was very positive towards Duchovny, Chris Carter thought that he wasn't particularly bright. This inspired him to ask Duchovny if he could "please" imagine himself as an FBI agent in "future" episodes. Duchovny turned out to be one of the best-read people Carter knew.

The character Walter Skinner was played by actor Mitch Pileggi, who had unsuccessfully auditioned for the roles of two or three other characters on The X-Files before getting the part. At first, the fact that he was asked back to audition for the recurring role slightly puzzled him, until he discovered the reason he had not previously been cast in those roles — Carter had been unable to envision Pileggi as any of those characters, due to the fact that the actor had been shaving his head. When the actor had attended the audition for Walter Skinner, he had been in a grumpy mood and had allowed his small amount of hair to grow back. Pileggi's attitude fit well with Walter Skinner's character, causing Carter to assume that the actor was only pretending to be grumpy. Pileggi later realized he had been lucky that he had not been cast in one of the earlier roles, as he believed he would have appeared in only a single episode and would have missed the opportunity to play the recurring role of Walter Skinner.

After Duchovny's semi-departure following the seventh season of the show, the producers introduced Special agent John Jay Doggett, played by actor Robert Patrick. Carter believed that the series could continue for another ten years with new leads, and the opening credits were accordingly redesigned in both seasons eight and nine to emphasize the new actors (along with Pileggi, who was finally listed as a main character). This was not to be the case, however, as over the course of the final two seasons, John Doggett's presence gave only a small ratings boost. Following the launch and U.S. commercial failure of spinoff show The Lone Gunmen, whose March 2001 premiere episode dealt with an airplane being hijacked and flown into the World Trade Center, writers also found it hard to deal with stock X-Files themes in the wake of the September 11 attacks. At the start of the ninth season, viewership declined by 29% in the United States alone, and the series was soon canceled.

Filming

The first five seasons of The X-Files were filmed and produced in Vancouver, British Columbia, but they eventually moved down to the United States when David Duchovny had been unhappy with his geographical separation from his wife Téa Leoni, although his discontent was popularly attributed to frustration with climatic conditions in Vancouver. Gillian Anderson also wanted to return home to the United States, and Chris Carter decided to move production to Los Angeles following the fifth season. The season ended in May 1998 with "The End", the final episode shot in Vancouver and the final episode with the involvement of many of the original crew members who had worked on the show for its previous five years, including director and producer R.W. Goodwin and his wife Sheila Larken (who played Margaret Scully and would later return briefly).

With the move to Los Angeles, California in season six, many changes behind the scenes occurred, as much of the original X-Files crew was gone. New production designer Corey Kaplan, editor Lynne Willingham, writer David Amann, and director and producer Michael Watkins would stay on for several years. Bill Roe became the show's new director of photography, and episodes generally had a drier, brighter look due to the sunshine and climate of California, as compared with the rain, fog and temperate forests of Vancouver. Early in the sixth season, the producers took advantage of the new location, setting the show in parts of the country they had not been able to write episodes in previously. For example, Vince Gilligan's "Drive" (about a man subject to an unexplained illness) was a frenetic action episode, unusual for The X-Files, not least due to its setting on roads in the stark desert of Nevada. The "Dreamland" two-parter was also set in Nevada, this time in the legendary Area 51. It marked another comedy outing for the show, in a season increasingly light in tone, with guest star Michael McKean playing man in black Morris Fletcher, who switches bodies with Fox Mulder during the course of the episodes. It is the only non-mythology two part episode of The X-Files.

The X-Files crew later returned to Vancouver to film The X-Files: I Want to Believe. According to Spotnitz, the script was written specifically for these locations. Filming began in December 2007 in Vancouver under the direction of Carter, and shooting finished on March 11, 2008.

Music

Composer Mark Snow got involved with The X-Files through being good friends with executive producer R.W. Goodwin. Initially when the production staff was talking about who was going to take the composing duties, Chris Carter didn't know whom to ask. In total about "10-15" people were looked at, but Goodwin continued to press for Snow getting the chief composer duties. Snow auditioned around three times, but he didn't get any signs from the production staff as to whether or not they wanted him. Then one day, Snow's agent called him, talking about the "Pilot episode", and hinting that he had got the part.

The theme song, "The X-Files" used more instrumental music score than most hour-long dramas. According to the "Behind the Truth" segment on the Season 1 DVD, Snow created the echo effect on his famous X-Files theme song by accident. He said that he had gone through several revisions, but Carter felt that something was not quite right. Carter walked out of the room and Snow put his hand and forearm on his keyboard in frustration. Snow said, "this sound was in the keyboard. And that was it." The second episode, "Deep Throat", marked Snow's debut as solo composer for an entire episode of The X-Files. The production crew were very careful about using too much music in the early episodes of the series.

Snow also composed the soundtrack score for The X-Files: I Want to Believe and released the soundtrack album The X-Files: I Want to Believe: Original Motion Picture Score. He recorded the score with the Hollywood Studio Symphony in May 2008 at the Newman Scoring Stage at 20th Century Fox in Century City, California. British performers UNKLE recorded a new version of the theme music for the end credits to the movie. Some of the unusual sounds were created by a variation of silly putty and dimes tucked in between and over the strings of the piano. Mark Snow also commented that the fast percussion featured in some tracks was inspired by the track 'Prospectors Quartet' from the There Will Be Blood soundtrack.

Opening title sequence

The original opening sequence was made in 1993 for the first season and remained unchanged throughout the series, until David Duchovny left the show as a main character in season seven. When they created the opening credits, Chris Carter found a video operator to stretch the face seen in the credits. According to Paul Rabwin it is one of the best known parts of the sequence. As Rabwin put it, the music and the special effects lead to a opening sequence "never seen on television before."

The premiere episode of season eight, "Within", marked the first major change to the opening credits. Along with the addition of Robert Patrick to the main cast, the sequence used new images and updated photos for Duchovny and Gillian Anderson, (although Duchovny only appears in the opening credits when he himself appears in an episode). The titles had never been changed in the series' seven year run, so Carter and the production staff saw this as a chance to change the opening credits since Duchovny was leaving the series. The opening shows various pictures of Scully's pregnancy and according to Frank Spotnitz showed an "abstract" way of Fox Mulder's absence in the eight season, seeing him fall into the eye (supposed to be Scully's) being shown prior to the change.

When creating the opening sequence for season nine, they decided to create a new sequence to give birth to the "new X-Files". The reason behind this was that Gillian Anderson wanted to move on, so the production crew moved up Monica Reyes and Walter Skinner to new main characters of the show to show viewers that season nine was not like the previous seasons. With Duchovny's return to the show and the opening credits for the two-part series finale, "The Truth", this marked the most number of cast members (five) to be featured in the opening credits of the show.

The X-Files: Fight the Future (1998)

In summer 1998 the series produced a feature length motion picture, The X-Files, also known as The X Files: Fight the Future. It was intended to be a continuation of the season five finale "The End", but was also meant to stand on its own. The season six opener "The Beginning" picked up where the film left off. The majority of the film was shot in the break between the show's fourth and fifth seasons.

The film was written by Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz and directed by series regular Rob Bowman. In addition to Fox Mulder, Dana Scully, Walter Skinner and the Cigarette Smoking Man, it featured guest appearances by Martin Landau, Armin Mueller-Stahl, and Blythe Danner as characters that only appeared in the film (though Mueller-Stahl's Conrad Strughold is later mentioned in the series). It also had the last X-Files appearance by John Neville as the Well-Manicured Man. Jeffrey Spender, Diana Fowley, Alex Krycek and Gibson Praise do not appear in the film. The film had a strong domestic opening and got mostly positive reviews from critics. However, its box office dropped sharply after the first weekend. Although it failed to make a profit during theatrical release, due to a very high promotional budget, The X-Files film was more successful internationally. Anderson and Duchovny received equal pay for the film, unlike their original contracts for the series. The worldwide theatrical box office total was $189 million. The film's production cost was close to $66 million, and its advertising budget was similar.

Themes and allusions

In parallel to its character development, episodes of The X-Files include a number of mysterious elements which draw inspiration from science fiction and/or paranormal phenomena. The creators of the series refer to these elements as composing the mytharc of the series, and they form the basis of fan speculation. Among the show's mythological elements are the "Monster-of-the-Week" characters, the government conspiracy, the "Syndicate", and the Colonists.

During its earlier seasons, episodes mostly covered miscellaneous murders and monsters of the week; however, as the series progressed, the series delved more deeply into exploring its alien mythology. The first episode of season 8, "Within" explores "loss", "loneliness" and "pain" after the disappearance of Fox Mulder. "Per Manum" includes the basic themes for the series' "dark, foreboding terror," overriding sense of paranoia" and "the fear of the unknown" among others. Death and resurrection emerged as a major sub-theme during the season starting with "The Gift" were John Doggett was resurrected and later in "Deadalive" when Mulder was awakened from his deathbed. This subtheme would continue well into the ninth season. The main story theme prior to this one alluded that humanity is a greater danger to itself, even with all our technology and progress. The main theme has focused most of its years on human resurrection and salvation from ourself (the Syndicate) and the threat outside (the Aliens). Some other themes are rebirth, life and belief as seen in "This Is Not Happening" and "Deadalive".

Broadcast and release

International syndication

The first season averaged a Nielsen rating of 7.0, a share of 12.3, a household rating of 6,696,000 and the average viewership was 7,100,000. During its second season, The X Files finished 64^th out of 141 shows, a marked improvement from the first season. The ratings were not spectacular, but the series had attracted enough fans to be classified as a "cult hit," particularly by Fox standards. Most importantly it made great gains among the 18-to-49 age demographic sought by advertisers.

Some longtime fans were alienated by the show in season six, due to the different tone taken by most stand-alone episodes after the move to Los Angeles, California Rather than adhering to the previous style of "monsters of the week", they were often romantic or gently humorous or both, such as "Arcadia" and "Terms of Endearment". Meanwhile, some felt there was no coherent plan to the mytharc, that Carter was "making it all up as he goes along". The show ended season six with solid ratings, but its lowest average since season two, beginning a decline that would continue for the final three years of its run. This may have been due to different competition on Sunday nights, or because viewers felt the show had dropped in quality. The show's producers acknowledged they had been trying to do something different from previous years in season six. The X-Files was nevertheless Fox's highest rated show that year. In 1998 alone, the series was broadcast in more than 90 countries worldwide.

Season eight episode, "This Is Not Happening" received the highest Nielsen household rating of the eight season. It earned a 10.6 rating, with a 15 share, being viewed by 10.833 million households and gathered around 16.800 in total. The season premiere "Within" received the second strongest rating, getting a 9.5 in rating, 13 in share, 9.709 million in households and gathered 15.870 million viewers around the United States. "Per Manum" gathered the most viewers in the season, gathering around 16.900 million. "Salvage" was the least viewed episode of the season and gathered the lowest rating and share. The season average was 8.2 in ratings, 12 in share, 8.332 million in households and 13.573 million viewers, a small rise from the previous season. The three first episodes of season eight average about 12.99 million viewers, while season sevens three first episodes averaged about 12.97 million viewers. The series finale, "The Truth" became the lowest season finale for the series since season two episode "Anasazi". By its final airing, The X-Files had become the longest-running science fiction series ever on US broadcast television, though it was later surpassed by Stargate SG-1.

Future

On May 19, 2002, the series finale aired, "The Truth", the Fox Broadcasting Company confirmed that The X-Files was not being renewed for a tenth season. When talking about the beginning of the ninth season, Chris Carter said "We lost our audience on the first episode. It's like the audience had gone away, and I didn't know how to find them. I didn't want to work to get them back because I believed what we are doing deserved to have them back." While news outlets cited declining ratings because of "dull" episodes and "boring" characters as possible reasons for the viewership decline, The X-Files production crew blamed 9/11 as the main reason for a decline in viewership.

In November, 2001, Carter and the production crew of The X-Files decided to pursue a second feature film adaptation of the series, following the 1998 film. Carter was expected to collaborate with Frank Spotnitz, who had co-written the first film, on a script for the follow-up. Production of the film was slated to begin after the completion of the ninth season of the television series, with a projected release in December 2003. In April, 2002, Carter reiterated his desire and the studio's desire to do a sequel film. He planned to write the script over the summer and begin production in Spring or Summer 2003 for a 2004 release. Carter described the film as being stand-alone, "We're looking at the movies as stand-alones. They're not necessarily going to have to deal with the mythology." Director Rob Bowman, who had directed various episodes of The X-Files in the past as well as the 1998 feature film, expressed an interest in filming the sequel in July, 2002, but it was later known that Carter was going to take over director duties for the film.

The X-Files: I Want to Believe became the second movie based on the series, after the original 1998 film adaptation, The X-Files: Fight the Future. Filming took place in Vancouver and ended on March 11, 2008. The movie was directed by Carter and co-written with Frank Spotnitz. It was released in the United States on July 25, 2008. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Chris Carter said that if I Want to Believe proved successful, he would propose that a third movie go back to the television series' mythology and focus on the alien invasion foretold within the series, due to occur in December 2012.

Home video release

All nine seasons have been released on DVD along with the two X-Files films. The entire series was re-released on DVD in late 2005-early 2006, in a "slimmer" package, sans some bonus materials that were featured in the original fold out versions. Seasons six, seven and eight contain all of the bonus material found in the original versions. All other seasons in the U.S. region 1 DVDs are missing the additional special features. European editions of the slim sets include all the features of the original packages. Episodes have also been released on DVD, such as Deadalive, Existence, Nothing Important Happened Today, Providence and at last, The Truth in Region 2. Various other episode home releases have been released over the years on DVD and VHS among others. In 2005, four DVD sets containing the mytharc episodes of The X-Files. The four being Volume 1 - Abduction, Volume 2 - Black Oil, Volume 3 - Colonization and Volume 4 - Super Soldiers.

Impact

Critical response

Ian Burrell from the British newspaper The Independent called the show "one of the greatest cult shows in modern television." Richard Corliss from the Time Magazine called the show the "cultural touchstone of" the 90s. Hal Boedeker from the Orlando Sentinel claimed in 1996 that the series had grown from a cult favorite to a television "classic". The Evening Herald claimed the show had "overwhelming influence" on television, in front such shows as Twin Peaks and The Simpsons. Virgin Media called the most memorable monster-of-the-week "Eugene Tooms" from "Squeeze" and "Tooms".

The "Pilot episode" was generally well-received by fans and critics alike. Variety magazine criticized the episode for "using reworked concepts", but praised the production and noted its potential. Of the acting, Variety stated, "Duchovny's delineation of a serious scientist with a sense of humor should win him partisans, and Anderson's wavering doubter connects well. They're a solid team...". Variety also praised the writing and direction: "Mandel's cool direction of Carter's ingenious script and the artful presentation itself give TV sci-fi a boost." The magazine concluded, "Carter's dialogue is fresh without being self-conscious, and the characters are involving. Series kicks off with drive and imagination, both innovative in recent TV." Entertainment Weekly noted that Scully "was set up as a scoffing skeptic" in the pilot but progressed toward belief throughout the season. After the airing of just four episodes, the magazine called The X-Files "the most paranoid, subversive show on TV", noting the "marvelous tension between Anderson – who is dubious about these events – and Duchovny, who has the haunted, imploring look of a true believer".

Amy H. Sturgis was positive to the eight season, praising Anderson's performance as Scully as "excellence" and was positive to the new character, John Doggett, saying he was "non-Mulderish". Collin Polonowonski from DVD Times said that the season included "more hits than misses overall" and was throughout negative about the mythology episodes claiming them to be the "weakest" episodes in the season. Jesse Hassenger from PopMatters was throughout negative to the new season, claiming that Robert Patrick was miss-cast and calling David Duchovny's appearances as Fox Mulder shallow.

Awards and nominations

The X-Files has been a recipient of and nominated for many awards; it has been nominated for a total of 102 awards and won 26 awards. These nominations and awards have been in diverse categories (including, but not limited to, editing, acting, drama, and makeup).

Capping off its successful first season, The X-Files crew members James Castle, Bruce Bryant and Carol Johnsen won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Graphic Design and Title Sequences in 1994. In 1995 the show would be nominated for seven Emmy Awards but won none. While the following year, the show won five Emmy Awards out of eight nominations. The following year, wouldn't be as successful for the show at The X-Files, only winning three awards out of twelve awards. In 1998, the show won one Emmy Award out of fifteen nominations. The X-Files won one Emmy Award in 1999 out of eight nominations, in the category "Outstanding Makeup for a Series". Season seven of The X-Files won three Emmy Awards out of six nominations, the following season wouldn't be as successful, capping only two nominations and winning one in the category "Outstanding Makeup for a Series" for "Deadalive". The season finale, "The Truth" was the only episode or work of the ninth season to be nominated for an Emmy Award. Mark Snow was nominated in the category "Outstanding Music Composition for a Series (Dramatic Underscore)", but lost.

Fandom

As The X-Files saw its viewership expand from a "small, but devoted" group of fans to a worldwide mass cult audience, digital telecommunications were also becoming mainstream. According to The New York Times, "this may have been the first show to find its audience growth tied to the growth of the Internet." The X-Files was seen to incorporate new technologies into storylines beginning in the early seasons: Mulder and Scully communicated on cellular phones, e-mail contact with secret informants provided plot points in episodes such as "Colony" and "Anasazi", while The Lone Gunmen were portrayed as Internet aficionados as early as 1994. Many X-Files fans also had online access. Fans of the show became commonly known as "X-Philes", a term coined (from the Greek root "-phil-" meaning love or obsession) on an early Fidonet X-Files message board. In addition to watching the show, X-Philes reviewed episodes themselves on unofficial websites, formed communities with other fans through Usenet newsgroups and listservs, and wrote their own fan fiction.

The X-Files also "caught on with viewers who wouldn't ordinarily consider themselves sci-fi fans." Chris Carter said the show was plot-driven, while many fans saw it as character-driven. David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson were characterized as being "Internet sex symbols." As the show grew in popularity, subgroups of fans developed, such as "relationshippers" hoping for a romantic or sexual partnership between Mulder and Scully, or those who already read one between the lines. Other groups arose to pay tribute to the stars, their characters, while others joined the subculture of "slash" fiction. As of summer 1996, a journalist wrote, "there are entire forums online devoted to the 'M/S' relationship." In addition to "MOTW" (monster of the week), Internet fans invented acronyms such as "UST" (unresolved sexual tension) and "COTR" (conversation on the rock) to aid in their discussions of the agents' relationship, which was itself identified as the "MSR."

The producers did not endorse some fans' readings, according to a study on the subject: "Not content to allow Shippers to perceive what they wish, Carter has consistently reassured NoRomos [those against the idea of a Mulder/Scully romance] that theirs is the preferred reading. This allows him the plausible deniability to credit the show's success to his original plan even though many watched in anticipation of a romance, thanks, in part, to his strategic polysemy. He can deny that these fans had reason to do so, however, since he has repeatedly stated that a romance was not and would never be." The Scully-obsessed writer in Carter's 1999 episode "Milagro" was read by some as his alter ego, realizing that by this point "she has fallen for Mulder despite his authorial intent." Writers sometimes paid tribute to the more visible fans by naming minor characters after them, the best example of this is Leyla Harrison.

Merchandise

The X-Files spawned an industry of spin-off products. From 1993-present. In 2004, The US-based Topps Comics and, most recently, DC Comics imprint Wildstorm launched a new series of licensed tie-in comics based on The X-Files. The Fox Broadcasting Company publishes the official The X-Files Magazine. A The X-Files Collectible Card Game were released in 1996 the expansion pack was released in 1997. The X-Files has inspired three video games. In 1998, The X-Files: The Game was released for the PC and Macintosh and a year later for the PlayStation. This game is set within the timeline of the second or third season and follows an Agent Craig Willmore in his search for the missing Fox Mulder and Dana Scully. In 2000, Fox Interactive released The X-Files: Unrestricted Access, a game-style database for Windows and Mac, which allowed users access to every case file. Then, in 2004, The X-Files: Resist or Serve was released for the PlayStation 2. This game is an original story set in the seventh season and allows the player control of both Mulder and Scully. Both games feature acting and voice work from members of the series' cast.

Legacy

The X-Files directly inspired numerous other TV series, including Strange World, Burning Zone, Special Unit 2, Mysterious Ways, Lost, Carnivàle, Dark Skies, The Visitor, with numerous key aspects being carried on to more standard crime dramas, such as Eleventh Hour, Fringe, Bones. The X-Files is parodied in The Simpsons episode "The Springfield Files," which was part of the The Simpsons eighth season and aired on January 12, 1997, during The X-Files' peak in popularity. In it, Fox Mulder and Dana Scully (voiced by David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson) are sent to Springfield to investigate an alien sighting by Homer Simpson, but end up finding no evidence other than Homer's word and depart. The Cigarette Smoking Man appears in the background when Homer is interviewed, and the show's theme plays whenever the "alien" is on screen, albeit a rather animated version. Nathan Ditum from Total Film ranked Duchovny and Anderson's performances as the fourth best guest appearances in The Simpsons history.

The influence can be seen on other levels: television series such as Alias have developed a complex mythology that may bring to mind the "mytharc" of The X-Files. In terms of characterization, the role of Dana Scully was seen as somewhat original, causing a change in "how women [on television] were not just perceived but behaved", and perhaps influencing the portrayal of "strong women" investigators.Russell T Davies said The X-Files had been an inspiration on his current British series Torchwood, describing it as "dark, wild and sexy... The X Files meets This Life. Other shows have been influenced by the tone and mood of The X-Files, e.g., Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which drew from the mood and coloring of The X-Files, as well as from its occasional blend of horror and humor. Joss Whedon described his show as a cross between The X-Files and My So-Called Life.

The well-known catchprase "The Truth Is Out There" was among Britain's top 60 best known slogans and quotes. Welsh music act Catatonia released a single in 1996 entitled "Mulder and Scully", which became a huge hit in the United Kingdom and one of many impacts The X-Files had on pop culture. The X-Files is ranked as number 2 on TV Guide's 2007 list of "The 30 Top Cult Shows Ever". and the 37th best television show of all time. In 2007, Time magazine included it on a list of the "100 Best TV Shows of All Time." In 2008, Entertainment Weekly named it the fourth best piece of science fiction media, the fourth best TV show in the last 25 years and in 2009, it named it the fourth best piece of science fiction, in their list of the 20 Greatest Sci-Fi TV Shows in history. Empire magazine ranked The X-Files ninth best TV show in history, further claiming that the best episode was "Jose Chung's From Outer Space." According to The Guardian, MediaDNA research found out that The X-Files was on top of the list of the most innovative TV brands. On July 16, 2008 Carter and Frank Spotnitz donated several props from the series and new film to the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. Some of the items included the original pilot script and the poster "I Want to Believe" from Mulder's office.

Influences on the show

Chris Carter listed television series Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Twilight Zone, Night Gallery, Tales from the Darkside and especially Kolchak: The Night Stalker as his major influences for the show. Carter said, "Remembering that show, which I loved, I said to the FOX executives, 'There's nothing scary on network television anymore. Let's do a scary show.'" Actor Darren McGavin, who played Carl Kolchak in Kolchak: The Night Stalker, appeared in two episodes of The X-Files as Agent Arthur Dales.

Carter has mentioned that the relationship between Mulder and Scully (platonic but with sexual tension) was influenced by the chemistry between John Steed (Patrick Macnee) and Emma Peel (Diana Rigg) in the 1960s British spy TV program The Avengers. One journalist documented possible influence from Nigel Kneale's Quatermass series and its various television and film iterations. Kneale was invited to write for The X-Files, but declined the offer. The early 1990s cult hit Twin Peaks is seen as a major influence on the show's dark atmosphere and its often surreal blend of drama and irony. David Duchovny had appeared as a cross-dressing DEA agent in Twin Peaks, and the character of Mulder was seen as a parallel to the show's FBI Agent Dale Cooper.

The producers and writers have cited All the President's Men, Three Days of the Condor, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Rashomon, The Thing, The Boys from Brazil, The Silence of the Lambs, and JFK as influences on the series. A scene at the end of the episode "Redux II", for instance, directly mirrors the famous baptism montage at the end of The Godfather. Chris Carter's use of continuous takes in "Triangle" was modeled on Hitchcock's Rope. Other episodes written by Carter made numerous references to other films, as did those by Darin Morgan.

References

Notes

1. Hurwitz, Matt. " Directing The X-Files", DGA Monthly, March 2002.
2. Kessenich 2002, pp. 149.
3. Kessenich 2002, pp. 156.
4. Kellner 2003, pp. 155.
5. Powers, William F. (1995-09-17). "X-Files: Signs of Intelligent Life—Cult Favorite Gains a Following Among the Masses". The Washington Post.
6. Brownfield, Paul. "Exploring the Unknown: 'X-Files' Future." Los Angeles Times, August 28, 1999
7. Boedeker, Hal (May 17, 1996). "Having Grown From a Cult Favorite to a Classic, 'The X-Files' Wraps Up Its 3rd Season". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved August 18, 2009.
8. Sarah R. Wakefield. "'Your Sister in St. Scully': An Electronic Community of Female Fans of The X-Files—Critical Essay." Journal of Popular Film and Television, Fall 2001. [1]
9. Clerc, Susan J. "DDEB, GATB, MPPB, and Ratboy: The X-Files' Media Fandom, Online and Off" in Deny All Knowledge: Reading The X-Files, 1996. ed. David Lavery.
10. O'Donnel, Maureen (June 25, 1997) "UFO lore alive in Chicago area". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved on July 27, 2009.

Bibliography

Further reading

Books

• Jeanne Cavelos, The Science of the X-Files (New York : Berkley Boulevard Books, 1998), 288 pp.
• N.E. Genge, The Unofficial X-Files (New York: Crown Trade Paperbacks, 1995), 228 pp.
• James Hatfield and George "Doc" Burt, The Unauthorized X-Files (New York: MJF Books, 1996), 309 pp.
• Dean A. Kowalski (ed.), The Philosophy of The X-Files (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2007), 275 pp.
• David Lavery (ed.), Deny All Knowledge: Reading The X-Files (Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 1996), 280 pp.
• Frank Lovece, The X-Files Declassified (New York, N.Y.: Citadel Press, 1996), 246 pp.
• Brian Lowry, Trust No One: The Official Third Season Guide to The X-Files (New York: Harper Prism, 1996), 266 pp.

Essays

• Christy L. Burns, "Erasure: Alienation, Paranoia, and the Loss of Memory in The X-Files", Camera Obscura—45 (Volume 15, Number 3), 2000, pp. 195–224.
• Paul Cantor, "Mainstreaming Paranoia: The X-Files and the Delegitimation of the Nation-State", Gilligan Unbound: Pop Culture in the Age of Globalization (Rowman & Littlefield, 2001), pp. 111–198.
• Eleanor Hersey, "Word-healers and code talkers: Native Americans in The X-Files", Journal of Popular Film and Television, Fall 1998.
• Douglas Kellner, "The X-Files and the Aesthetics and Politics of Postmodern Pop", The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Vol. 57, No. 2, Spring 1999, pp. 161–175.
• Mikel J. Koven, "Have I Got a Monster for You: Some Thoughts on the Golem, "The X-Files" and the Jewish Horror Movie", Folklore, Vol. 111, No. 2, October 2000, pp. 217–230.
• Paul C. Peterson, "Religion in The X-Files", Journal of Media and Religion, Volume 1, Number 3, 2002, pp. 181–196.
• Christine Scodari and Jenna L. Felder, "Creating a pocket universe: 'Shippers', fan fiction, and The X-Files online", Communication Studies, Fall 2000.
• Klaudia Seibel, "'This is not happening': The Multi-layered Ontology of The X-Files", In: Narrating TV Series: Towards an Analysis of Narrative Strategies in Contemporary Television Series, eds. Gaby Allrath and Marion Gymnich (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005), pp. 114–131.

External links

• The X-Files Wiki—a wiki about "the X-Files television series, film, and related spin-offs"
• BBC X-Files Site The BBC's X-Files section, with information, pictures, interviews, and more.
• The X-Files: I Want To Believe (2008) (official website)