New X Files

Mulder and Scully have returned!  The iconic characters investigated unusual occurrences ranging from enigmatic alien conspiracies to mysterious creatures of mythic proportions on FOX's X Files.  The TV show started in the early 90's as a Friday night cult classic sleeper and ballooned into a genuine ratings juggernaut with a move to Sunday nights.  The X Files' popularity even transported its adventures to the silver screen. The paranoid atmosphere of the series influenced many other shows of its era and since.  Chris Carter, creator of the X Files, fashioned several other moody TV offerings himself, such as The Lone Gunman which followed some conspiracy minded techno gurus and Millennium starring Lance Henriksen as a gifted profiler named Frank Black. 


Myself and Lance Henriksen of Millennium.


But now the X Files are back!  Fox Mulder and Dana Scully are reunited once more to explore new weird crimes.  The two are perfectly matched.  Both are physically able to handle themselves in a tussle and each has a brilliant mind.  Where those brilliant minds lead on a case can be dramatically different.  Scully is a medical doctor with a very healthy skepticism of the supernatural who was originally assigned to the FBI's X Files to debunk it.  Mulder is seasoned FBI agent with a drive to understand the inexplicable.  Over the course of the original series trust was earned between the two and each came to appreciate the other's point of view. 

And now The X Files are back on Mondays at 8pm on FOX.

The X Files was great at generating occasional humor alongside bizarre ideas.  The February 1st 2016 episode certainly succeeded, ranking at the top of my X Files favorites' list.  The agents were in pursuit of a were-lizard and ain't that strange enough to illicit a guffaw or a gasp?  It was a lot of fun watching as Mulder pondered how unfortunate it is that with today's proliferation of cameras on phones and such, no one ever seems able to get a good shot of a monster when it appears!  Alas, his attempt to master a phone's new app fails to land any proof.  What it does produce is a rapid series  of photoflashes.  It actually reminded me of the rapid photography of an earlier investigator of the unexplained, Carl Kolchak of the TV show The Night Stalker.  Darren McGavin played Kolchak, a reporter whose taste for lurid monster stories landed him working at a low rent news service.  Although following the good investigator's guideline of taking plenty of pics with his '70's era camera, Kolchak was never able to substantiate his wild claims with proof.  In fact police often exposed his film!  Kolchak always wore a straw hat, black tie and rumpled suit.  How interesting it was to see Mulder's principal suspect dressed in the exact same clothing!  The Night Stalker was a fun show that never took itself too seriously - how nice to see it smiled at in such a fun episode.  It was a fantastic way for Chris Carter to pay tribute to a show that he cited as an influence upon the creation of The X Files.

The Night Stalker did return to prime time TV years ago with a new cast and a tone much more in keeping with the serious tone of The X Files.  It was too much removed from the original series to be enjoyed on the same level and new fans didn't flock to it.  It disappeared after a handful of  airings.

The X Files seem to be getting good ratings for FOX - so will it return past its current limited run?
And its success may mean a return of other classic 90's shows, like Millennium.  In fact there is to be a Millennium twitter campaign Saturday February 6th  3pm to 5pm EST via the BacktoFrankBlack.com requesting fans to tweet for FOX to BRING BACK #MilleniuM20th. I'd love to see more Millennium and X Files - guess the answer is at FOX or 'out there'.

90's TV Classics

TV's about to look like the 90's all over again, due to the proposed return of two cult classics - The X Files (returning to its former home on Fox for a limited run) and Twin Peaks.

Paranoia seemed highly popular in the 90’s, especially if one judges by the coolest programs on the air waves. Twin Peaks seemed to usher in the decade’s dark obsessions with its odd characters and unsettling visions occurring in small town USA, but it was The X-Files (whose mottos include ‘The Truth Is Out There’ and ‘Trust No One’) that seemed to make paranoia a TV fashion. The investigators of The X-Files routinely encountered aliens and ancient monsters while never quite managing to prove their existence. The show’s creator, Chris Carter, launched two other series of X-Files stylistic sensibilities – The Lone Gunmen, and Millennium. The first series continued the outrageous adventures of conspiracy crazed computer masterminds who had regularly appeared on The X-Files. Millennium was something a bit different, with complex storylines dealing the darkest motivations of human nature as well as destructive Biblical prophecies. After all a new millennium was looming with the dreaded Y2K bug approaching.

Myself & Lance Henriksen (Frank Black on Millenium) at Monstermania.

Millennium gets my vote as the best series of the 90’s due in large part to an excellent turn by Lance Henriksen as Frank Black, a tortured former FBI profiler in league with the mysterious Millennium group. The group is comprised of talented investigators whose interest in violent crimes often goes beyond the mundane goal of simply catching a killer.

Other favorite series of mine from that era includes…

Twin Peaks – “Who killed Laura Palmer?” was the catch phrase of the early 90’s.

Babylon 5 – A complex sci-fi narrative charting treachery and intrigue on a space staion playing host to alien ambassadors.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – Even the normally optimistic Star Trek franchise painted a bleak picture in this entry focused on the aftermath of war and corruption on another planet.

Forever Knight – Before TV’s Buffy took a swing at a vampire, this series delved into the remorse felt by its title character after ages of evil acts as he continued his interaction with fellow vampires.