3 ms·

I think it's pretty funny to call out the clothing as stylish. As far as I remember, Mulder's suit was meant to look like the cheap and ill-fitting suit that a

I think it's pretty funny to call out the clothing as stylish. As far as I remember, Mulder's suit was meant to look like the cheap and ill-fitting suit that a low-level, young government employee would buy for a dress code and because he didn't want to think about clothing. And so much of the environment was slightly strange to US viewers, I think, because it was mostly filmed in the Pacific Northwest and Vancouver, and felt just ever so slightly in the uncanny valley of being like much of the US but also not. I also think the technology was somewhat reduced for plot purposes. Consider the "road warrior" template that already existed for business travelers, with more use of laptops, cell phones, email, etc. I think the writers just found it convenient to make communication and information research more cumbersome than it really had to be in that era...

kstrauser 6mo ago
I agree with most of that, but disagree about the "road warrior" bit. Laptops and cell phones and email existed, but not pervasively when the show started in 1993. It was around 1998 or '99 when work issued me my first cell phone that didn't require me be careful how I used the minutes. A powerful laptop of the time had a 250MB hard drive, a 486, and 2 hours claimed battery life (but in reality the battery was more like a UPS so you could carry it between power outlets). Pagers were common but coverage sucked outside metro areas. Email was uncommon. Email that worked between organizations was science fiction for most people. On a personal level, when X-Files first aired, I navigated around with a Thomas Guide, and you were out of luck if you got to a friend's house and they weren't home. My dad had a car-mounted cell phone and warned me not to touch it at risk of my life and bank account. No one I knew could afford a laptop. I dialed into a lot of local BBSes with my Amiga but only knew of the Internet from magazine articles and hadn't actually seen it in person. FidoNet was the closest I got to wide-area email. No, I'd contend that X-Files was reasonably accurate for the time.
- saltcured 6mo ago
  It would be interesting to hear anecdotes about whether FBI agents were being issued or were finding it worth purchasing their own notebooks, cell phones, for use in the field back then! Anecdotes about what we thought was affordable or common place in our neighborhoods isn't very relevant to whether the tech was available for enterprises and workers who needed it. With no insider knowledge, I can only guess whether a federal agency like the FBI was aggressive with such options or lethargic and stuck in their legacy methods. Likewise, the writers and show producers may have made choices based on what they thought the audience would relate to rather than what was actually possible or in use. Or maybe they didn't have any insider knowledge either..? However, the term "road warrior" was jargon for a category of business travelers in PC advertising by the late 1980s. There were various portable computers back then, and "notebooks" became idiomatic in the early 90s. PowerBooks and ThinkPads were already around when this show launched, and being used by companies and individuals who saw the value. It's hard for me to imagine that a Hollywood writer wouldn't know about these things if they did any background research at all. People had modems and various forms of dial-up interface with larger enterprises. You likely dialed a modem bank specific to your employer to access some kind of mainframe app or terminal server within the enterprise. But the transition to things like SLIP and PPP was also happening at this time in some enterprises. And CompuServe and Prodigy were more retail focused. You could imagine agents using something like this in the field much like people today use unofficial social media and personal phones. It's hard to prevent it... The first 2G digital cellular networks were rolling out in the US around the same time this show launched. But, yeah, coverage was not as universal as it is now.
  - kstrauser 6mo ago
    I can't speak to the FBI, but I was in the military at the time and almost no one had a personal laptop. Our department got one in 1994 that we could share around the office. I would be gobsmacked to hear that the FBI were given the budget for laptops and cell phones back then. Remember also that 2G didn't meaningfully have data until the very late 90s. Its first "data" offering was SMS, which was pay-per-message. Not that it mattered, because a phone couldn't do anything with data at the time, and if laptops and cell phones were rare, cell modems were unicorns. In any case, cell coverage outside cities sucked until 2010 or so. My wife had to commute to a nearby city once a month to run a medical clinic, and she lost signal about 5 miles outside our town and picked it up again when she could physically see the other. Those tiny towns in the middle of Washington state forests were probably busy upgrading to IP over Avian Carrier during X-Files times.
    - CamelCaseCondo 6mo ago
      This strikes me as weird. In 92/93/94 I was on packet radio, a ham equivalent of digital lora which used hopping to get you to neighbouring countries. Most had 1200 baud, some 9600. I downloaded executables from bbs’es over the air and chatted with likeminded folks. Around that time we also had the first guest lectures about software defined radio with proof of concepts. I find it impossible to believe that a bunch of amateurs in EU were more digitally connected than the folks this thread talks about. Without a monthly payment, mind you.
      - kstrauser 6mo ago
        I absolutely believe it! I’ve seen exactly one packet radio in my life, a giant rack mounted thing on a US Navy ship. It was neat tech but you’ve gotta admit it was far from ubiquitous. I think the modern analogy would be surprise that they don’t issue Meshtastic radios. First and foremost, Mulder and Scully worked for an enormous federal agency. They have some pockets of incredibly high tech stuff. They don’t procure cutting edge gadgets for the average employee. Think of it like going to work at IBM or similar, where you get issued exactly the set of tools that your job description and organization say are required for your job. If that still says you need a Pentium 4 desktop and a BlackBerry, guess what’ll be in your cubicle on your first day at the office.
- sys_64738 6mo ago
  Remember that AOL hook into the internet in late 1993 just as the X-File was showing season one. Dial up internet was a big thing by the mid-90s, especially for CS students who used it when at college.
Scroll_Swe 6mo ago
>As far as I remember, Mulder's suit was meant to look like the cheap and ill-fitting suit that a low-level, young government employee would buy for a dress code and because he didn't want to think about clothing. 1000% times better than what people are wearing today. Today is so hoodified you have office workers in sneakers. The white shirt, suit and trench looks so good. ALSO people where not as obese. This has of course an effect on the fit.
- AlecSchueler 6mo ago
  > Today is so hoodified you have office workers in sneakers. I'm not sure if that was intended as a dog whistle but you might want to consider that it's coming across as one.
  - Scroll_Swe 6mo ago
    [flagged]
    - Foreignborn 6mo ago
      you’re admitting this is a dog whistle? on behalf of the amazingly well dressed colleagues over my career, post a fit and let’s see.
      - Scroll_Swe 6mo ago
        Yes. On the second question, you make the mistake of framing it as a completely personal choice. But we are formed by our environment. I had no chance growing up in the 00s. Everyone had jeans and hoodies, maybe a sweater. I did not pay attention. I carried that into my 20s and only in my 30s have I started to care about my clothes and weight, which I regret so, so much I want to die almost. I blame everyone. My parents are and where preppy but they made the mistake of thinking I would pick it up through osmosis somehow. But getting things handed to you or seeing, you dont learn tools, what things are called. I really have had to study and try on things, I remember I saw well dressed people in our capitol and HM models for inspo. 4chan fa board has helped a lot too but now overrun with zoomers but there are good threads. I am too paranoid to post myself openly online, I have no instagram nor an active facebook so I will not post some imgur of myself here. But for work I tend to go with business casual chinos, OCBD and boots or loafers. You must understand, everyone is casual here and wears jeans at most. Same with books and quality movies. It really is a struggle to find quality, but the internet does help. Like finding xfiles. Our state does upload good old movies to sort though the modern slop.

kstrauser 6mo ago

I agree with most of that, but disagree about the "road warrior" bit. Laptops and cell phones and email existed, but not pervasively when the show started in 1993. It was around 1998 or '99 when work issued me my first cell phone that didn't require me be careful how I used the minutes. A powerful laptop of the time had a 250MB hard drive, a 486, and 2 hours claimed battery life (but in reality the battery was more like a UPS so you could carry it between power outlets). Pagers were common but coverage sucked outside metro areas. Email was uncommon. Email that worked between organizations was science fiction for most people. On a personal level, when X-Files first aired, I navigated around with a Thomas Guide, and you were out of luck if you got to a friend's house and they weren't home. My dad had a car-mounted cell phone and warned me not to touch it at risk of my life and bank account. No one I knew could afford a laptop. I dialed into a lot of local BBSes with my Amiga but only knew of the Internet from magazine articles and hadn't actually seen it in person. FidoNet was the closest I got to wide-area email. No, I'd contend that X-Files was reasonably accurate for the time.

saltcured 6mo ago
It would be interesting to hear anecdotes about whether FBI agents were being issued or were finding it worth purchasing their own notebooks, cell phones, for use in the field back then! Anecdotes about what we thought was affordable or common place in our neighborhoods isn't very relevant to whether the tech was available for enterprises and workers who needed it. With no insider knowledge, I can only guess whether a federal agency like the FBI was aggressive with such options or lethargic and stuck in their legacy methods. Likewise, the writers and show producers may have made choices based on what they thought the audience would relate to rather than what was actually possible or in use. Or maybe they didn't have any insider knowledge either..? However, the term "road warrior" was jargon for a category of business travelers in PC advertising by the late 1980s. There were various portable computers back then, and "notebooks" became idiomatic in the early 90s. PowerBooks and ThinkPads were already around when this show launched, and being used by companies and individuals who saw the value. It's hard for me to imagine that a Hollywood writer wouldn't know about these things if they did any background research at all. People had modems and various forms of dial-up interface with larger enterprises. You likely dialed a modem bank specific to your employer to access some kind of mainframe app or terminal server within the enterprise. But the transition to things like SLIP and PPP was also happening at this time in some enterprises. And CompuServe and Prodigy were more retail focused. You could imagine agents using something like this in the field much like people today use unofficial social media and personal phones. It's hard to prevent it... The first 2G digital cellular networks were rolling out in the US around the same time this show launched. But, yeah, coverage was not as universal as it is now.
- kstrauser 6mo ago
  I can't speak to the FBI, but I was in the military at the time and almost no one had a personal laptop. Our department got one in 1994 that we could share around the office. I would be gobsmacked to hear that the FBI were given the budget for laptops and cell phones back then. Remember also that 2G didn't meaningfully have data until the very late 90s. Its first "data" offering was SMS, which was pay-per-message. Not that it mattered, because a phone couldn't do anything with data at the time, and if laptops and cell phones were rare, cell modems were unicorns. In any case, cell coverage outside cities sucked until 2010 or so. My wife had to commute to a nearby city once a month to run a medical clinic, and she lost signal about 5 miles outside our town and picked it up again when she could physically see the other. Those tiny towns in the middle of Washington state forests were probably busy upgrading to IP over Avian Carrier during X-Files times.
  - CamelCaseCondo 6mo ago
    This strikes me as weird. In 92/93/94 I was on packet radio, a ham equivalent of digital lora which used hopping to get you to neighbouring countries. Most had 1200 baud, some 9600. I downloaded executables from bbs’es over the air and chatted with likeminded folks. Around that time we also had the first guest lectures about software defined radio with proof of concepts. I find it impossible to believe that a bunch of amateurs in EU were more digitally connected than the folks this thread talks about. Without a monthly payment, mind you.
    - kstrauser 6mo ago
      I absolutely believe it! I’ve seen exactly one packet radio in my life, a giant rack mounted thing on a US Navy ship. It was neat tech but you’ve gotta admit it was far from ubiquitous. I think the modern analogy would be surprise that they don’t issue Meshtastic radios. First and foremost, Mulder and Scully worked for an enormous federal agency. They have some pockets of incredibly high tech stuff. They don’t procure cutting edge gadgets for the average employee. Think of it like going to work at IBM or similar, where you get issued exactly the set of tools that your job description and organization say are required for your job. If that still says you need a Pentium 4 desktop and a BlackBerry, guess what’ll be in your cubicle on your first day at the office.
sys_64738 6mo ago
Remember that AOL hook into the internet in late 1993 just as the X-File was showing season one. Dial up internet was a big thing by the mid-90s, especially for CS students who used it when at college.

Scroll_Swe 6mo ago

>As far as I remember, Mulder's suit was meant to look like the cheap and ill-fitting suit that a low-level, young government employee would buy for a dress code and because he didn't want to think about clothing. 1000% times better than what people are wearing today. Today is so hoodified you have office workers in sneakers. The white shirt, suit and trench looks so good. ALSO people where not as obese. This has of course an effect on the fit.

AlecSchueler 6mo ago
> Today is so hoodified you have office workers in sneakers. I'm not sure if that was intended as a dog whistle but you might want to consider that it's coming across as one.
- Scroll_Swe 6mo ago
  [flagged]
  - Foreignborn 6mo ago
    you’re admitting this is a dog whistle? on behalf of the amazingly well dressed colleagues over my career, post a fit and let’s see.
    - Scroll_Swe 6mo ago
      Yes. On the second question, you make the mistake of framing it as a completely personal choice. But we are formed by our environment. I had no chance growing up in the 00s. Everyone had jeans and hoodies, maybe a sweater. I did not pay attention. I carried that into my 20s and only in my 30s have I started to care about my clothes and weight, which I regret so, so much I want to die almost. I blame everyone. My parents are and where preppy but they made the mistake of thinking I would pick it up through osmosis somehow. But getting things handed to you or seeing, you dont learn tools, what things are called. I really have had to study and try on things, I remember I saw well dressed people in our capitol and HM models for inspo. 4chan fa board has helped a lot too but now overrun with zoomers but there are good threads. I am too paranoid to post myself openly online, I have no instagram nor an active facebook so I will not post some imgur of myself here. But for work I tend to go with business casual chinos, OCBD and boots or loafers. You must understand, everyone is casual here and wears jeans at most. Same with books and quality movies. It really is a struggle to find quality, but the internet does help. Like finding xfiles. Our state does upload good old movies to sort though the modern slop.