X Files

The X Files ran on Fox television from 1993 to 2002, an eon in television time. In that time, it spawned a cult, raised the visibility of conspiracy theorists everywhere, and gave us the memorable tagline: "The Truth is Out There".

Created by Chris Carter, the series starred David Duchovny as Fox Muldar and Gillian Anderson as Dana Scully.

Muldar and Scully are FBI agents with a peculiar mission - to investigate cases in the X Files. These are the cases that the FBI officially will not admit exists; the alien abductions, mutants in the sewers, dangerous cabals and the like. The stuff of tabloid journalism, in fact.

Scully is assigned to work with Muldar on his paranormal investigations in the first episode - the subtext is that Muldar is getting a little to far off the farm, and Scully, a forensic scientist, is brought in to bring a little scientific rigor to the investigations.

Muldar is, if not credulous, at least more open to accepting unconventional explanations for mysterious phenomena than Scully, who persistently fights to find a 'logical' explanation. Fortunately for the series, some mysteries only have a paranormal explanation.

The series created a number of memorable characters, some of whom are only known by their cognomens, such as the Cigarette Smoking Man, played by William B. Davies, who represented a mysterious governmental cabal, and the Lone Gunmen, a trio of hapless conspiracy theorists whose geeky skills were often put to use by Muldar.

An X Files story might be a stand-alone episode that needed no backstory, which the fans called the Monster of the Week episode, since they often dealt with mutants, or other deviant types. Or it might be part of a longer story-line or plot-arc, which was called a 'myth-arc' story, since it added to the evolving show mythos.

Over the course of the series, Scully's initial mistrust, almost contempt, of Muldar is replaced by deepening trust and even affection. Many of the fans wanted this resolved in a romantic relationship; these fans call themselves 'shippers', short for 'relationshipper'. Fans who thought romance would kill the series were 'noromos', for 'no-romance'. Carter maintained a healthy balance between the two extremes and kept both contingents happy until Duchovny left the series in 2001.

Duchovny's stated reason for leaving the series was to pursue a film career, and he has made a number of more or less successful movies since then, although only a Duchovny fanatic would claim that his film career has caught on fire. Carter brought in Robert Patrick, fresh off his appearance in Terminator 2, in which he played the bad terminator, to play Special Agent Doggett. Gillian Anderson also started winding down her own appearances, and Annabeth Gish was cast as Special Agent Reyes, to cover for her. Alas, without the chemistry of the original characters, and the freshness of the original premise, now nine years old, the newly cast show could not generate the ratings it needed to survive, and it left the air in 2002.

The X Files is one of the few rare shows that for whatever reason, resonated with enough people to create a large and healthy 'cult' in sci-fi fandom. And for the record, the Truth is still... Out There.

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