The new X-Files movie coming out on July 25th, 2008, made me realize that there is no good reason why I never got into the show. I watched it a few times and got bored, but I don’t think I was in the right mindset. Government cover-ups, experiments, conspiracies, and aliens… what’s not for me to like? I find it hard to believe I never got in to it. It must have been a cover-up.
I’ve made it a personal goal to get as far into the series as I can by July 25th. That gives me three months to watch as much, if not all, of the nine seasons the show ran. That’s 216 hours. I’d have to watch 2.5 shows a day to watch the series in it’s entirety by the time the movie comes out, and that’s unlikely. (But then again, who says I have to see it opening day?)
Anyway, I thought it would be fun to talk a little about each episode as I watch it.
So, yesterday I watched the first episode of the X-Files series, the aptly named “Pilot Episode.” We are introduced to Mulder and Scully for the first time, when Scully gets assigned to work with Mulder on FBI cases deemed too strange or paranormal to solve, otherwise known as the “X-Files.” Their office is in what is essentially a basement closet, and Mulder is looked down upon and laughed at, earning the nickname “Spooky,” which is not meant as a term of endearment.
The first case the agents dive into is a report of teenagers mysteriously dying out someplace in Oregon. What catches Mulder’s eye is that they all have a strange marking on their lower torso, and all seem to describe something that fits the description of alien abduction.
I like how Scully is the skeptic and Mulder wants to believe. Scully’s real-world answers are just as plausible, if not more so than Mulder’s, and I like how even though they removed some unknown piece of technology from the teenagers’ heads, it was never explicitly stated that it was aliens behind the whole thing.
I was left wondering something that could effect my enjoyment of the entire series, though, and that is: why does the X-Files even exist? If the government/FBI is going to be following their tracks and covering everything up, why even assign Mulder and Scully to the files in the first place? If they needed to “stick” the agents someplace where they would keep quiet, why not just fire them, or give them a paper-pushing job? In other words, I’m not sure I like the idea of a government agent exposing the government’s own lies. I hope this is answered as the series goes on, otherwise as of right now I’m going to have to list it as a plot hole.
