X-Phile

The Odd Couple Heroes : Spooky Mulder and Scully

Take a TV show and add a dollop of "horror", a cup of "conspiracy", a slice of "science"and blend in an assortment of "legends both urban and ancient" and finally sizzle it with the tension between a believer and a skeptic. The result is something called the X-files which has held my attention for most of its nine seasons. It had all the ingredients that I liked and it was good story-telling.

In recent years, this has been perhaps the only TV show that I have tried not to miss no matter how busy my schedule. Although, my interest did wane towards the last two seasons when I felt that the ideas and the writing had become a little stretched and that it had dragged on a little too long. Ah, but I could go on and on about the stories covered in the first seven seasons. The real spark was in the story writing and the story telling where the kudos must go to creator Chris Carter and his team. Chris Carter has said that part of the inspiration for the series came from his memory of a TV series entitled "Kolchak: The Night Stalker". Well, that was one of my childhood favorites too.

The filming which was mostly done in the early years around Vancouver provided a dark and misty atmosphere which went well with the tales. Also as the years went by, the growing relationship was a fan favorite.

This post was prompted by the recent release of the second feature film from this franchise called "X-Files : I Want to Believe". As a fan, I went dutifully to see it at the very first opportunity and I was ............disappointed. I don't want to leak out the story elements but there were definitely somethings there that will make fans happy. This movie was touted as a stand alone story and a return to a more understated style. Unfortunately, it achieved that so well that it was in the end too mundane and inconsequential. For me, the first movie, "X-files: Fight the Future" was far more satisfying with the grander story scheme and background and the fact that it answered many old questions and advanced the story line.

Having said that, I hope the message gets back to Twentieth Century Fox that I and millions of fans will willingly spend our hard earned money to see the third movie of the series. So even if this current one flops, don't let it stop you from making the third and hopefully Chris Carter will have found his happy spot by then.

In the meantime, I will return and watch re-runs of the TV series. It is probably impossible to have a favorite episode as there were many good ones. Apart from the alien abduction/conspiracy story arc, there were many good single episodes.

Here are some of my favorites that come to mind;

1. Darkness Falls (with the life-sucking luminous insects)
2. Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose ( about a man who can foretell people's death)
3. Folie a Deux (an insect like creature that hides in plain sight)
4. Drive (in which a man has to keep driving to prevent his inner ear from exploding)
5. Tithonus (in which a man tries to capture death on film)

Which were your favorites?