Beginner’s Guide to THE X-FILES: Prepare for the New Series!

Posted on 2015 under Editorials, Television

Source: FOX | Official X-Files | X-Files News | Written By: Dan Geer

So hey, any of you hear about some little sci-fi/horror TV series from the 90s called The X-Files returning to television next January? Have you always wanted to watch it (because it sounded so awesome, of course) but have never been able to? Well, now is probably the best time to dig into the show for the first time (or revisit, if you haven’t seen it in a while), as it is readily available to stream online, and starting now would really give most anyone ample time to complete the series in time for when the show returns next year.

In light of the new miniseries officially beginning production today, and the likelihood of many people streaming the show over the rest of this year into next, PopcornMonster.com has decided to put together a beginner’s guide to the show, addressing everything a newbie to the franchise should know about The X-Files in order to have a proper understanding of the series and be ready in time for the premiere of the new six-episode limited series. Read on to peruse an introduction to the story of The X-Files (no real spoilers there) its impact on television and pop culture, how to properly watch the series, and what to expect from the new miniseries event next year (and don’t worry I won’t attempt to lay out the alien mythology!).

Introduction to the Story of The X-Files

The X-Files’ 9-Season TV series and its two theatrical films basically chronicle the story of F.B.I. agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully and their work on the “X-files,” which are cases deemed by the Bureau as “unsolved” that require explanations that lean toward the unconventional that seem completely ridiculous and defy rational thought and observable science – and yet seem to be the only explanation that fits or makes any sense. Essentially, these are crimes the F.B.I. are all to happy to deny the existence of. So they were filed away in a dusty basement office that no agent bothered to occupy or visit very often, with no one really bothering to dig deep enough into these cases since they were seemingly impossible to solve, and on the surface appeared to be a waste of time. The F.B.I. really sees these case files as an embarrassment to the Bureau, and initially had the X-files shut down.

Agent Fox Mulder started out the top of his class at the University of Oxford with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, and eventually joined the Quantico F.B.I. Training Academy, graduating with honors. He was very well-respected at the F.B.I. for his above-average, almost scary ability to pick up on details others miss and solve crimes so quickly. However, ever since the unexplained and outright bizarre disappearance of his sister Samantha back in 1973, he became obsessed with finding out what ever happened to her. When he discovered the X-files at the F.B.I., he came across “alien abduction” cases that seemed to line up with what he witnessed during his sister’s disappearance. From there he pushed to have the X-files reopened and pursued these cases full-time in hopes of finding out once and for all what happened to her and maybe even finding Samantha.

This incident haunted him for so many years, hitting him on such a personal level that the X-files consumed almost every waking hour of his life. He became so obsessed with the paranormal that he was eventually called “Spooky Mulder” by his peers, and became a running joke to the Bureau. It all but ruined his reputation. However, while both the X-files and Mulder himself were an embarrassment to the F.B.I., Mulder pressed on anyway. Even though the Bureau would rather bury the X-files, Mulder would go as far as it took to keep them alive, even if it meant being buried along with them – just so that he can discover the truth about alien abduction, his sister’s disappearance, and about the paranormal in general.

Agent Dana Scully studied at the University of Maryland and gained a B.S. in Physics, and eventually went on to medical school at Standford University. She was then courted by the F.B.I. for a position at the Bureau, and she accepted it because she felt her skills would be more useful and satisfying out in the field. Her story then takes a drastic turn when she is assigned to partner up with Agent Mulder on the X-files to offer a scientific point of view on Mulder’s “wild-eyed” theories, essentially to spy on him and debunk his work, which required her to write up case reports on every X-file they investigated. While she was very skeptical of each one, and Mulder was much more open to extreme possibilities, it did not take too long for her to realize that with the X-files, she was extremely hard-pressed in providing any “rational” or “scientific” explanation to any of these cases. Nevertheless, she had had a job to do, and somehow had to generate reports that the F.B.I. would accept, causing her to question her own sanity as a scientist, medical doctor, and overall person.

Their work at the F.B.I. ultimately lead to not only witnessing many paranormal or extremely weird events, but also to various government conspiracies. It also lead to an incredibly strong relationship between Mulder and Scully built on trust, close friendship, and respect for each other. With Mulder’s relentless obsession with the paranormal and the disappearance of his sister, as well as Scully’s undying commitment to her F.B.I. partner, their devotion to each other compelled them to seek out the truth in every case, despite of what their peers would say and what might happen to their careers or even their own personal lives. The truth ends up becoming so much more than the two of them ever bargained for, with both of them putting their lives on the line many times over in order to expose it.

*As a side note, keep in mind that the writers really did not have every single detail laid out from the beginning concerning the overall “alien mythology,” as it is called by the creators of the show and its fans. It wasn’t really until the second season where they really had much more of a clear grasp on where they wanted to go with it, particularly when Gillian Anderson became pregnant in real life and had to go on hiatus from the show. Certain plot elements were woven into the story to account for her absence that directly impact the mythology, and from there it inherited a much more clear path (although it still got a bit convoluted over the years).

However, while fans have criticized the “make it up as you go” approach to the mythology, binge-watching the show really helps the viewer retain story details much better than if one were to watch it over the course of nine years. It is very apparent that the story is not nearly as convoluted as people once thought back when viewing each episode as it aired was the only way to watch the series. It is easy to loose track of things and not remember details the more time goes by between each episode and season. The story does line up very well, even having episodes that come much later address plot points that originated as early as Season 1. Watch as many as you can in as little amount of time as possible, and you will benefit from it greatly!

A Brief History of The X-Files on Television and in Pop Culture

When The X-Files first premiered back in September of 1993 with a Friday night time slot, it had a slow start in the first season, but the ratings were good enough in the eyes of the network to warrant a second season. Over the course of the next two seasons, the series began to grow in its audience, and maintained quite the cult following. Eventually, during Season Four, the Fox network decided to move the show from its Friday night 9 PM time slot to Sundays at 9 PM instead. It was really then where the series took off. It spawned two theatrical films since then due to the show’s success (and of course the fans have devoted themselves ever since to campaigning for the return of The X-Files once again), and seemed to be the catalyst that brought forth other science fiction films and TV series about aliens and the paranormal. Anyone remember back in the 90s when such films as The Arrival, Independence Day, Men in Black or The Faculty were all released within just a few years? Alien movies were everywhere in the 90s, trying to cash in on the success The X-Files was having telling these kinds of stories (and they were mostly successful in their efforts). The public just had an ever growing fascination with the subject during that time.

While the series was always something unique compared with anything else on TV at the time, the quality of the show increased significantly after its first few seasons. It obtained better and better financing over the years, and the writers, directors and creatives working on the show were able to be more and more innovative. If you stick with the show, you can see how it appears much more dated in its first couple of seasons or so when compared with Seasons 4-9. It really grew into something that feels more like what you see on television today. The X-Files was the first TV show that really made it feel like we were getting a mini-movie every week at home, versus your average television show. It felt much more sophisticated than anything else people had previously seen on TV, based on how great the stories, characters, cinematography, and visual effects were at that time.

Today, TV shows are much more cinematic in their execution then ever before, and it all started with The X-Files. Because of the success of this Emmy award-winning series (not to mention tons of nominations), other TV series started to operate in the same way. The X-Files is really responsible for your modern-day series such as the CSI franchise, Lost, Fringe, The Walking Dead, 24, Grimm, or Supernatural, just to name a few. The best part is, because of the cinematic quality of The X-Files, the show still holds its own against all these other great shows even today it terms of the storytelling, acting, and visual execution.

In addition, The X-Files came at a time where the internet was just gaining its footing, and the evolution of this technology was apparent over the course of the show’s run, both in its storytelling, as well as in the real world. It was really the first show to have an online presence where people could leave feedback about the latest episode, and the creators of the series could interact with the fans and respond in their storytelling according to what they know from their online encounters with the fans. Nowadays, it’s commonplace. Once again, it all started with The X-Files.

Lastly, it was one of only a few select TV series that were released on VHS, and the very first to be released on DVD. Before The X-Files, TV shows on any sort of home video format was almost unheard of. Now it is everywhere and no one blinks an eye. What’s more, the series is once again being innovative in the home viewing arena, making the entire series available to stream on Netflix in fully-restored wide screen High-Definition format – which, by the way, the creators of the show anticipated very early on back in the 90s by filming the entire series to accommodate for both the old 4:3 aspect ratio as well as 16:9. So with either aspect ratio, you are seeing what the director intended you to see! Hopefully the rest of the seasons will be available in this format as well.

This series is hands down one of the most innovative and inspiring TV series in the history of the television industry, and any modern-day showrunner would back up everything you just read. For this reason alone, this show should be required viewing for anyone who loves and appreciates science fiction, horror, or even just a well-crafted dramatic procedural. It’s not a perfect series, and is dated in some areas (it does take place during the 90s, after all), but it is overall responsible for so much in the industry as we know it today, and the stories are still just as great as they ever were.

How to Properly Binge-Watch The X-Files

For someone not in the know, it would seem you just need to watch the series in order from episode 1 of the first season, all the way through the series finale of the final season just like any other TV series. However, with The X-Files, there is more to it than that. Not only does the series include two theatrical films on top of the series’ 9 seasons, but there is also one direct spin-off series called The Lone Gunmen, as well as another series called Millennium that is technically connected to The X-Files, but much less so.

So let’s get into the order of viewing the series, the importance of the two other series connected to the show (or lack thereof), and where the feature films fall in relation to the storyline.

If you want a simple bullet list to determine the order, it would go like this:

The X-Files – Season 1
The X-Files – Season 2
The X-Files – Season 3
The X-Files – Season 4 + Millennium – Season 1
The X-Files – Season 5 + Millennium – Season 2
The X-Files: Fight the Future (1998 – First Theatrical Film)
The X-Files – Season 6 + Millennium – Season 3
The X-Files – Season 7
The X-Files – Season 8 + The Lone Gunmen series
The X-Files – Season 9
The X-Files: I Want to Believe (2008 – Second Theatrical Film)

If you watch all of this in the order listed above, you’ll be in perfect shape. However, not all of the above is required to understand The X-Files. If you choose not to watch The Lone Gunmen or Millennium, you’ll still be in great shape to understand pretty much everything going on with The X-Files. The show’s 9 seasons, along with the The X-Files feature films stand together as one coherent story without these extra TV series. However, watching The Lone Gunmen and/or Millennium will indeed enrich your experience with The X-Files.

If you can at least watch The Lone Gunmen along with The X-Files, you will have a much better understanding of the plot lines and inside jokes in Season 9 concerning “The Lone Gunmen” characters Frohike, Byers and Langly. The Lone Gunmen series only ran for one season, starting about midway through Season 8 of The X-Files (more specifically, after the episode titled This is Not Happening), and ending around the same time Season 8 ended. The Lone Gunmen was then canceled, leaving Chris Carter with the option of wrapping up the plot of The Lone Gunmen season finale cliffhanger in a Season 9 episode of The X-Files titled Jump the Shark. Since The Lone Gunmen were originally characters created for The X-Files anyway, and were regular guest cast members on the show during the first eight seasons before even getting their own spinoff series, it was an obvious choice.

It should also be noted that two characters that were exclusive to The Lone Gunmen series play a big part in The X-Files’ Jump the Shark episode. So if you decide to watch The Lone Gunmen, these two characters will carry much more weight when watching Jump the Shark. The X-Files episode that resolves The Lone Gunmen cliffhanger does not require this in order to understand what’s going on, but it certainly helps the audience care much more about these characters as well. They are really great in The Lone Gunmen.

Millennium, however, is a different beast entirely. This series, also created by Chris Carter, originally never directly crossed paths with The X-Files like The Lone Gunmen series did. It was really its own world, and would really only have some great inside jokes that only fans of The X-Files would get. For the entire run of Millennium, the show never directly interacted with Mulder, Scully, or any of the other characters of the show, and had nothing to do with the plot of The X-Files.

But that all changed when Millennium was canceled at the end of its third season (despite still receiving good TV ratings), in favor of Carter pursuing another show idea with Harsh Realm. Unfortunately, Harsh Realm was canceled after only one season, and neither show has returned since (however, fans are currently campaigning for the return of Millennium as well). Carter’s solution to give Millennium at least some sort of closure was to have the main character of the show, Frank Black (played magnificently by Lance Henriksen), a guest role on an episode of The X-Files during Season 7, with the episode appropriately titled Millennium. While it still mainly serves as a stand-alone episode of The X-Files, with the viewer needing no knowledge of Millennium beforehand to enjoy the episode and understand what is going on, it does does enrich the viewer’s enjoyment of the episode having already seen Millennium because the plot of the episode attempts to resolve what was started with the Millennium series.

It was only then where The X-Files and Millennium officially crossed paths for the first time, now coexisting in the same universe. Since then, there have been many comics and other stories written where Mulder and Scully cross paths with Frank Black. So Millennium is kind of considered a sister series to The X-Files for those reasons. While it is generally thought of as being far less important in terms of understanding The X-Files, it does enhance the series in some ways.

Now, while it is really up to the viewer whether or not they want to watch Millennium or The Lone Gunmen while watching The X-Files, the two feature films are definitely required viewing – especially the first film, which deals directly with the “alien mythology” plot line that the series focuses heavily upon during its 9-Season run. The X-Files: Fight the Future is the second act of a three-part story arc that begins with the Season 5 finale called The End, and ends with the Season 6 premiere titled The Beginning. The second film is a stand-alone story, and is really only required viewing because it brings the audience up to speed on where Mulder and Scully are at in their lives since the end of the original series, as well as how they get pulled back into the Bureau for another outing investigating an X-file. Also, it has been confirmed that the new limited series will indeed acknowledge the events of the second film.

For your convenience, click here for a handy 2015-2016 calendar that lays out how you can watch one episode a day of The X-Files starting as late as July 4th and complete the entire series and its two films before the release of the new series on January 24, 2016. Can’t beat that!

The X-Files Limited Series Event – What We Know So Far

Potential spoilers ahead, especially if you have never seen the original series. Proceed at your own discretion…

Now that you’re all up to speed on what The X-Files is all about, its impact on television history, and just how exactly you should watch the show without being too confused – we are now finally being given more X-Files episodes. While it is not the third film fans were originally campaigning for (it is still a possibility), it is actually a better situation for The X-Files to make a successful comeback. The second feature film did not do nearly as well as the box office as 20th Century Fox had hoped, so this is really the only way The X-Files could come back without putting too much at stake for the studio. Plus, we get more stories this way than we would have had they only produced a third film.

All that matters now is how successful the new six-episode limited series does for the Fox network, because it has been confirmed by both David Duchovny and Chris Carter that they did not set out to make this new series with the intention of ending it. This is essentially intended to be the beginning of a new era for The X-Files, not the end – meaning that we probably still won’t have all our burning questions that we had at the end of the series answered (although some things will be addressed for sure).

And that’s actually okay, because it really would only be necessary to wrap up the alien mythology story line if there was only going to be one more feature film. If that were the case, it would most likely not do much better financially than the second film, and would really be Chris Carter’s only chance to resolve that story. But with the situation we have now, it is far more likely we’ll get more episodes of The X-Files beyond the six episodes premiering next January. The mythology doesn’t have to necessarily end with Mulder and Scully’s next on screen outing anymore.

So, what are the most important aspects of the series that have actually been confirmed thus far? Let us take a look (this list will be updated as more details trickle in):

As of January 24th –

The X-Files “Revival” or “Limited” Series (currently being referred to as “Season 10,” although it’s clear this is a new series) will consist of six all-new episodes, and will premiere with a special two-night event starting January 24, 2016 at 10 PM EST (7 PM PST) following the NFC Championship Game, and continue on Monday night in its regular time slot at 8 PM EST/PST. Each episode will be one hour each including commercial breaks (roughly 43 minutes without ads).
Production officially began June 8th of this year in Vancouver, BC – Canada. This is the same location the show filmed its first five seasons and two feature films (Seasons 6-9 were in Los Angeles).
David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson are back as Fox Mulder and Dana Scully for all six episodes.
Mitch Pileggi (A.D. Walter Skinner) as well as William B. Davis (Cigarette Smoking Man) will return. We do not know how many episodes they will be in, and no, we have no confirmation on how the Smoking Man will return.
Annabeth Gish (Agent Monica Reyes) will return. Unfortunately, Robert Patrick (Agent John Doggett) has confirmed he will not be returning, due to working on his latest TV show Scorpion, as well as an overall lack of interest in returning to characters he has already played.
The Lone Gunmen actors Tom Braidwood, Dean Haglund, and Bruce Harwood are set to return, according to Haglund himself via Twitter. Chris Carter has revealed that they return from the dead in a “fantasy sequence.”
Sheila Larken, who played Scully’s mother in the original series, will also return.
Michael McKean (Morris Fletcher) and Nicholas Lea (Alex Krycek) are currently listed on IMDB as returning to the series, but no official casting announcement has been made. Consider IMDB listings as rumor until they are officially announced (including the rumors here just because they’re so juicy!).
As far as new cast members go, Joel McHale (Community) is officially confirmed to play a conservative internet news reporter who eventually becomes an ally to Mulder. Aliza Vellani has been cast as well to play an alien abductee.
Chris Carter is definitely back to shepherd the scripts, as well as write the first and last episodes, titled My Struggle and My Struggle II. He also wrote and directed the fifth, titled Babylon.
Original series contributors James Wong, Glen Morgan and Darin Morgan have also been confirmed to write and produce for the new series, with Glen Morgan serving as Executive Producer.
Each writer will direct their own episode, according to Glen Morgan. It is confirmed that the second episode is titled Founder’s Mutation, and directed by James Wong. The third, currently receiving the most praise thus far from critics, will be the Darin Morgan-directed comedy episode Mulder and Scully Meet The Were-Monster (sounds like the title is inspired by Universal’s Frankenstein Meets the Wolf-Man film in a way). Glen Morgan directs the fourth, titled Home Again (which is not a sequel to his Season 4 cult episode Home).
Mark Snow scored the music for the series.
Mark Freeborn returns as Production Designer.
The series will be a mix of stand-alone and mythology stories, but be sort of like one cohesive six-hour movie, according to Duchovny, which probably means that the mythology will not be completely ignored during the stand-alone (“monster of the week”) episodes. Everything will connect together in some way. My Struggle and My Struggle II will be straight alien mythology, and everything else will be stand-alone, “monster of the week” episodes.
Regarding bringing back old monsters, Chris Carter tells EW, “We’re not going to reboot any of the old favorites, although it was something we all thought about. These are all brand new stories. We hope to scare you in brand new ways.”
The story will pick up eight years after The X-Files: I Want to Believe, and address what has happened to the characters since then and where the relationship between Mulder and Scully stands today (they will be friends, working together, but no longer a couple) . It will also address their son William in some way, as well as why alien colonization hasn’t happened yet.
The show is said to cater to both the fans as well as casual audiences who have never seen the show or only a hand-full of episodes.
There is still the possibility of a third movie and/or more TV episodes after this limited series, meaning that these six episodes will more than likely not wrap up the mythology.

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So, are you ready to dig in? Fans of the show have been waiting for far too long for the return of The X-Files, whether it’d be for television or film. It is simple one of the greatest science fiction shows of all time, having consistently provided quality storytelling and overall entertainment through the series’ entire run. The return of this show is even bigger than when Jack Bauer returned for another round of 24 last summer on Fox, if only for the simple reason that fans have had to wait for much longer, and are starving to see Mulder and Scully face the paranormal and fight the future once again. There is also at least one new generation of fans now discovering the series for the first time, with more and more people watching the show now than ever before. Now is truly the time for the show to return.

Here’s to hoping the new series is everything we always wanted, and ignites the flame to produce even more episodes and/or feature films in the years to come.

I want to believe…