While growing up in the ’90s, you rarely made it through a school day without someone asking, “Do you believe?” The question covers a wide array of topics. Still, they mostly want to know if you believe in aliens, cryptids, and other supernatural phenomena featured in Fox’s science-fiction series The X-Files. Starring David Duchovny (Special Agent Fox Mulder) and Gillan Anderson (Special Agent Dana Scully), The X-Files is a cultural touchstone for many. The show introduced creatures like El Chupacabra, the Human Bat, the Jersey Devil, the Soul Eater, Mr. Chuckleteeth, The Great Mutato, and Flukeman to scores of viewers. While parents were fretting about kids listening to Marilyn Manson, The X-Files was feeding their imaginations with abominations aplenty, with a smattering of relationship drama and sci-fi action for good measure.
Programs like The Twilight Zone, Night Gallery, Tales From the Dark Side, Twin Peaks, and more inspire The X-Files. Like those shows, The X-Files isn’t afraid to embrace taboo topics like conspiracy theories, government influence, and spirituality. Fans celebrated the show for most of its run before elements of the seventh and eighth season soured even its die-hard viewership. Duchovny’s Fox Mulder steadily becomes a guest character instead of a primary player, with new characters FBI Special Agents John Doggett (Robert Patrick) and Monica Reyes (Annabeth Gish) entering the picture. Response to the new characters varies, with many missing Duchovny and Anderson’s chemistry on screen.
Regardless of the perceived dip in quality, The X-Files holds a special place in the hearts and minds of viewers. The show continues to endure with box sets selling like hotcakes, fan sites continuing to post analysis and theories, and general audiences pining for the program’s “monster-of-the-week” formula rarely seen in today’s episodic offerings. Thankfully, shows like Fringe, Channel Zero and Wayward Pines carry the X-Files torch for audiences craving mystery, urban legends come to life, and things that go bump in the night while escaping from beneath the bed. Who doesn’t like a good scare?
Are you a fan of The X-Files? Are you a Team Believer or a Team Skeptic? Could a reboot of The X-Files work in today’s streaming space? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
Gone But Not Forgotten: The X-Files is written by Jessica Dwyer, narrated by Travis Hopson, edited by César Gabriel, and produced by Dave Arroyo.