5 ms·

Feels like it was yesterday it came out. It's hard to convey to people who didn't watch it growing up just how special it was. It landed on TV right as the col

Feels like it was yesterday it came out. It's hard to convey to people who didn't watch it growing up just how special it was. It landed on TV right as the collective zeitgeist around the governments around the world getting up to shady things ("Echelon's trunk trawler") and the perpetually amusing mythology and conspiracy theories around aliens, ufos, DNA and parascience. Few had BBS/internet/WWW access, so it was much harder to stamp out a lot of the low-level conspiracies that used to float around back then. That helped keep the spirit of X-files alive, somehow. Hm, it's hard to describe. It's weirdly of its time, and yet it holds up so well -- or at least until it goes off the rails in the later seasons. Still, fantastic cast; great writing, all around; and surprisingly, the special effects and costumes hold up really well, too. The first 4-5 seasons are electrifyingly good because they filmed it in Canada, so it retains this dark, brooding boreal feeling to it. The amount of gossip around school and between friends whenever a new mythology episode landed was especially fun.

neom 3y ago
It was also around the time star trek was really finding it's stride so between x files and ST, space related/adventure content on TV was really really good. This is what getting old feels like huh? Heh.
- southwesterly 3y ago
  Don’t forget Twin Peaks. Another 90s classic mystery show.
  - saltcured 3y ago
    To me, only real similarity between The X-Files and Twin Peaks was the PNW environments and certain moments of surreality and smirking, almost breaking the third wall. Somehow, I barely even remember that they were both FBI agents as main characters. As far as the conspiracy and end-times-horror zeitgeist, I think Millenium with Lance Henriksen had a lot more overlap with The X-Files. Also, David Lynch almost makes his own genre.
    - ascagnel_ 3y ago
      > As far as the conspiracy and end-times-horror zeitgeist, I think Millenium with Lance Henriksen had a lot more overlap with The X-Files. Millennium is more than overlap -- it's an extension of The X-Files: same series creator (Chris Carter), same group of writers (Glen Morgan, James Wong, Frank Spotnitz, Vince Gilligan, among others), same shooting locations (PNW), same writer deconstructing the show from within (Darin Morgan, Glen Morgan's brother, who also appeared in TXF in the Flukeman suit). Millennium even got a stealth finale/reverse spin-off that explicitly links the two together -- S07E04 of The X-Files ("Millennium") has Lance Henriksen's Frank Black teaming up with Mulder & Scully.
- syntheweave 3y ago
  There was a whole run of decent sci-fi TV back then: Quantum Leap, Sliders, Babylon 5 all aired in that period. Some of them I watched as a kid, others I didn't, but I see all of them referenced occasionally. Then the late 90's hit and the zeitgeist changed. Time marches on.
Chabsff 3y ago
It's hard to believe nowadays that conspiracy theories used to be a fun thing to engage with leisurely.
- rob74 3y ago
  Yeah, back in the nineties, as a teenager, I would consider it harmless entertainment. While watching the new seasons or revisiting the old episodes, knowing that there are people who actually believe even crazier things gives me a very uneasy feeling...
  - Chabsff 3y ago
    It's not so much that there are people who genuinely believe that stuff, there have always been some of those. The issue is that they have managed to reach a critical mass where they can exert some real and harmful social and political influence.
    - parineum 3y ago
      I'd argue that the cause of that is that they've been proven right very publicly because the ability to actually cover things up has been degraded. I think that gives people the "tip of the iceberg" mentality.
    - tonyedgecombe 3y ago
      The real issues is they get to talk to each other now. Years ago the nut job in my village was pretty harmless because everybody knew him for what he was. Now he can talk to thousands or millions of people just like himself.
    - southernplaces7 3y ago
      Yes, how terrible that large numbers of people can not only believe "harmful" things but also freely share their ideas with others. It behooves society to stop both of these things from being too easy, no? What's more harmful? That basic freedom to believe whatever you please and share it with like-minded people without imposing on others against their will, or having legal authority to impose against such voluntary sharing for supposedly lofty ideals of fighting harmful thinking? (However you want to define harmful)
grahamlee 3y ago
The change in that zeitgeist is also one of the things the creators "credit" with its decline, though Duchovny getting into a lawsuit with Fox and checking out certainly didn't help. After the 9/11 attacks public interest in not trusting the government sharply declined. The pilot episode of the Lone Gunmen spin-off, released earlier in 2001, featured a plot where "terrorists" had flown a passenger liner into the WTC but it was really a government inside job to gain support for a new war. That show didn't get renewed.
- mickeyp 3y ago
  I mean, speaking of conspiracies, I've watched the spin-off show and it's... not that good. Turns out, you need good writing and Mulder/Scully to keep those three interesting. It most assuredly got cancelled because it wasn't that good :-)
  - hnbad 3y ago
    I'd say X-Files largely survived because of the dynamic of the characters. A lot of the episodes were not very good except for the interplay between the two. But in the absence of good writing you definitely needed Mulder and Scully and the spin-off didn't have them.
    - the_doctah 3y ago
      The Smoking Man and AD Skinner were good characters too.
- keepamovin 3y ago
  The pilot episode of the Lone Gunmen spin-off, released earlier in 2001, featured a plot where "terrorists" had flown a passenger liner into the WTC but it was really a government inside job to gain support for a new war. That show didn't get renewed. That’s incredibly prescient! What the hell?
  - bryanrasmussen 3y ago
telesilla 3y ago
I lived in a large shared house during the early seasons and every single one of us ran to the TV together when it was on, from young politicians, hair dressers, DJs, developers .. We all loved it.
mytailorisrich 3y ago
Many series were filmed in Canada at the time (still now?), I think it was around Vancouver. Humid forests everwhere... But they are indeed great for X-files. Anyway, I think the earlier seasons were better in that they were more varied before the show really became all about aliens conspiracies with the odd non-alien episode here and there.
- j_not_j 3y ago
  I remember watching the filming of an episode at the Steveston docks while having dinner at a nearby restaurant. Can't find the episode name but it was a rainy rainy night (what else). I think the set was the interior of a small fishing boat. X-Files filming happened all over Vancouver for years. People didn't pay excessive amount of attention to the actors and guest stars when they were at hotels, restaurants etc. Unlike some cities.
causi 3y ago
I wish I had grown up with it. I recently started trying to watch it for the first time and it's, well, difficult. Things seem to drag a lot and Mulder and Scully seem to really not think about the implications of a lot of the details they're exposed to.
- unethical_ban 3y ago
  If you look up an X-Files episode guide, you should find something that helps you get through the muck. I found it on red several years ago and I have it on my share drive but it's offline at the moment. It ranked each episode as part of the story arc, generic monster of the week episode (MotW), or "not story arc but particularly good". I use that to get through five seasons of X-Files and really enjoyed it. I did the same thing with deep space nine.
7thaccount 3y ago
I was a kid when it came out and watched part of an episode when I was home alone and was so scared lol. I'm a big scifi nerd, but didn't get a chance to start watching until I was an adult. It's such a great show and a lot of fun. It's also held up much better to time than most in that genre.

neom 3y ago

It was also around the time star trek was really finding it's stride so between x files and ST, space related/adventure content on TV was really really good. This is what getting old feels like huh? Heh.

southwesterly 3y ago
Don’t forget Twin Peaks. Another 90s classic mystery show.
- saltcured 3y ago
  To me, only real similarity between The X-Files and Twin Peaks was the PNW environments and certain moments of surreality and smirking, almost breaking the third wall. Somehow, I barely even remember that they were both FBI agents as main characters. As far as the conspiracy and end-times-horror zeitgeist, I think Millenium with Lance Henriksen had a lot more overlap with The X-Files. Also, David Lynch almost makes his own genre.
  - ascagnel_ 3y ago
    > As far as the conspiracy and end-times-horror zeitgeist, I think Millenium with Lance Henriksen had a lot more overlap with The X-Files. Millennium is more than overlap -- it's an extension of The X-Files: same series creator (Chris Carter), same group of writers (Glen Morgan, James Wong, Frank Spotnitz, Vince Gilligan, among others), same shooting locations (PNW), same writer deconstructing the show from within (Darin Morgan, Glen Morgan's brother, who also appeared in TXF in the Flukeman suit). Millennium even got a stealth finale/reverse spin-off that explicitly links the two together -- S07E04 of The X-Files ("Millennium") has Lance Henriksen's Frank Black teaming up with Mulder & Scully.
syntheweave 3y ago
There was a whole run of decent sci-fi TV back then: Quantum Leap, Sliders, Babylon 5 all aired in that period. Some of them I watched as a kid, others I didn't, but I see all of them referenced occasionally. Then the late 90's hit and the zeitgeist changed. Time marches on.

Chabsff 3y ago

It's hard to believe nowadays that conspiracy theories used to be a fun thing to engage with leisurely.

rob74 3y ago
Yeah, back in the nineties, as a teenager, I would consider it harmless entertainment. While watching the new seasons or revisiting the old episodes, knowing that there are people who actually believe even crazier things gives me a very uneasy feeling...
- Chabsff 3y ago
  It's not so much that there are people who genuinely believe that stuff, there have always been some of those. The issue is that they have managed to reach a critical mass where they can exert some real and harmful social and political influence.
  - parineum 3y ago
    I'd argue that the cause of that is that they've been proven right very publicly because the ability to actually cover things up has been degraded. I think that gives people the "tip of the iceberg" mentality.
  - tonyedgecombe 3y ago
    The real issues is they get to talk to each other now. Years ago the nut job in my village was pretty harmless because everybody knew him for what he was. Now he can talk to thousands or millions of people just like himself.
  - southernplaces7 3y ago
    Yes, how terrible that large numbers of people can not only believe "harmful" things but also freely share their ideas with others. It behooves society to stop both of these things from being too easy, no? What's more harmful? That basic freedom to believe whatever you please and share it with like-minded people without imposing on others against their will, or having legal authority to impose against such voluntary sharing for supposedly lofty ideals of fighting harmful thinking? (However you want to define harmful)

grahamlee 3y ago

The change in that zeitgeist is also one of the things the creators "credit" with its decline, though Duchovny getting into a lawsuit with Fox and checking out certainly didn't help. After the 9/11 attacks public interest in not trusting the government sharply declined. The pilot episode of the Lone Gunmen spin-off, released earlier in 2001, featured a plot where "terrorists" had flown a passenger liner into the WTC but it was really a government inside job to gain support for a new war. That show didn't get renewed.

mickeyp 3y ago
I mean, speaking of conspiracies, I've watched the spin-off show and it's... not that good. Turns out, you need good writing and Mulder/Scully to keep those three interesting. It most assuredly got cancelled because it wasn't that good :-)
- hnbad 3y ago
  I'd say X-Files largely survived because of the dynamic of the characters. A lot of the episodes were not very good except for the interplay between the two. But in the absence of good writing you definitely needed Mulder and Scully and the spin-off didn't have them.
  - the_doctah 3y ago
    The Smoking Man and AD Skinner were good characters too.
keepamovin 3y ago
The pilot episode of the Lone Gunmen spin-off, released earlier in 2001, featured a plot where "terrorists" had flown a passenger liner into the WTC but it was really a government inside job to gain support for a new war. That show didn't get renewed. That’s incredibly prescient! What the hell?
- bryanrasmussen 3y ago

telesilla 3y ago

I lived in a large shared house during the early seasons and every single one of us ran to the TV together when it was on, from young politicians, hair dressers, DJs, developers .. We all loved it.

mytailorisrich 3y ago

Many series were filmed in Canada at the time (still now?), I think it was around Vancouver. Humid forests everwhere... But they are indeed great for X-files. Anyway, I think the earlier seasons were better in that they were more varied before the show really became all about aliens conspiracies with the odd non-alien episode here and there.

j_not_j 3y ago
I remember watching the filming of an episode at the Steveston docks while having dinner at a nearby restaurant. Can't find the episode name but it was a rainy rainy night (what else). I think the set was the interior of a small fishing boat. X-Files filming happened all over Vancouver for years. People didn't pay excessive amount of attention to the actors and guest stars when they were at hotels, restaurants etc. Unlike some cities.

causi 3y ago

I wish I had grown up with it. I recently started trying to watch it for the first time and it's, well, difficult. Things seem to drag a lot and Mulder and Scully seem to really not think about the implications of a lot of the details they're exposed to.

unethical_ban 3y ago
If you look up an X-Files episode guide, you should find something that helps you get through the muck. I found it on red several years ago and I have it on my share drive but it's offline at the moment. It ranked each episode as part of the story arc, generic monster of the week episode (MotW), or "not story arc but particularly good". I use that to get through five seasons of X-Files and really enjoyed it. I did the same thing with deep space nine.

7thaccount 3y ago

I was a kid when it came out and watched part of an episode when I was home alone and was so scared lol. I'm a big scifi nerd, but didn't get a chance to start watching until I was an adult. It's such a great show and a lot of fun. It's also held up much better to time than most in that genre.