The X-Files is coming back to television

[Cat]

Two points: one, I think shows have a natural lifespan and The X-Files reached the end of its lifespan around the time when David Duchovny left the show (it was on for what, eight seasons or something before that). And secondly, I don’t think people would be bringing back these iconic shows if the shows of today were themselves iconic. Each era deserves to have its defining television and I just don’t see much out there right now that could be regarded as such.

I agree with you about the overabundance of police procedurals and overall darkness on television, however. I don’t watch police procedurals or for that matter shows about serial killers or other gruesome subjects. For one thing I have small children in the house and their mom would be horrified if she caught them peering at such stuff over my shoulder.

X Files petered out at the end of Season 7 because Duchovny was so full of himself that he demanded a high salary and played hookey from the show until the producers delivered.

This meant that the writers had to scramble to come up with plotlines that would explain Mulder’s abscence, and so they went for the very lame “alien abduction” plot. They also did something that they said they wouldn’t do earlier in the show’s history, and that was make Mulder/Scully not only a love interest, but a sexual interest as well (outside of marriage, of course).

Because they hoped that Duchovny would come back and things would go on happily the way they had gone for 7 years, they hired Robert Patrick to be a patsy for Scully while she was waiting for Mulder to be rescued from the aliens. They gambled that if Duchovny didn’t come back, Scully and Doggett could fall in love and the show would continue forever.

The Doggett/Scully plots varied wildly from excellent to horrible. The best shows were the ones in which Mulder was barely mentioned, and Doggett and Scully had their adventure with the unknown and defeated the monsters.

Most Doggett fans agree that the John Doe episode, which didn’t mention Mulder at all, is the best Doggett plot. I absolutely loved this episode, and I also loved Audrey Pauley, which is a very “pro-life” episode.

The plot really bogged down when the writers finally persuaded Duchovny to come back for a Grand Finale (because by then, it was obvious that the fans weren’t going to buy the Doggett substitution), and they threw in everything but the kitchen sink. (To the poster who wants the Lone Gunmen back–sorry, they all died, unnecessarily IMO.)

I think if Duchovny had stayed on enthusiastically (instead of throwing hissy fits for some unfathomable reason), the show could have gone on for years. After all, there are always more ghosts, vampires, zombies, poltergeists, and all kinds of other unexplainable things that happen to people, thus creatinging more “X Files.”

 

[tomarin]

(To the poster who wants the Lone Gunmen back–sorry, they all died, unnecessarily IMO.)

Eh? That was me. How/when did they die?

 

[tomarin]

I think if Duchovny had stayed on enthusiastically (instead of throwing hissy fits for some unfathomable reason), the show could have gone on for years. After all, there are always more ghosts, vampires, zombies, poltergeists, and all kinds of other unexplainable things that happen to people, thus creatinging more “X Files.”

I got the sense that he was tired of the show. Also, I remember reading at the time he was afraid of getting typecast a la William Shatner - which is more or less how things played out. He made a mediocre romantic comedy after that (with Minnie Driver if memory serves) and that was the end of his film career, if I remember correctly.

Come to think of it, that’s probably another reason I regard an X-Files revival with some glumness, as it represents a failure of David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson to do anything noteworthy as a follow-up (unless you count Duchovny’s cable show, which I’ve never seen). Plus as I mentioned earlier, they’re quite a bit older now.

 

[DaisymaeD]

Dear tomerin–I believe the episode in question was the series finale of “the Lone Gunman”.

Not sure how I feel about this revival. I’m a huge fan, own all the seasons on DVD (including all the dreadful post-season-5 seasons), and miss it greatly.

However, the last movie left me wishing for those two hours of my life back.

I’m scared of being disappointed again LOL. Maybe Chris Carter should just leave well enough alone.

 

[tomarin]

Dear tomerin–I believe the episode in question was the series finale of “the Lone Gunman”.

Not sure how I feel about this revival. I’m a huge fan, own all the seasons on DVD (including all the dreadful post-season-5 seasons), and miss it greatly.

However, the last movie left me wishing for those two hours of my life back.

I’m scared of being disappointed again LOL. Maybe Chris Carter should just leave well enough alone.

Just a tidbit of tangentially related information: apparently there’s a successful X-Files comic book that has some canonical status in which the Lone Gunmen turn out to have faked their deaths.

 

[Cat]

I got the sense that he was tired of the show. Also, I remember reading at the time he was afraid of getting typecast a la William Shatner - which is more or less how things played out. He made a mediocre romantic comedy after that (with Minnie Driver if memory serves) and that was the end of his film career, if I remember correctly.

Come to think of it, that’s probably another reason I regard an X-Files revival with some glumness, as it represents a failure of David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson to do anything noteworthy as a follow-up (unless you count Duchovny’s cable show, which I’ve never seen). Plus as I mentioned earlier, they’re quite a bit older now.

OTOH, Robert Patrick has enjoyed a busy career and has amassed a filmography and a stack of television credits that any actor can be proud of (and he is proud!). He’s been on three amazing television shows, and currently Scorpion is one of the most popular of the “new” shows and has been renewed for 24 more episodes next season. He’s worked for some of the best directors in Hollywood, and been in several “A” list movies, including Walk The Line, Flags of Our Fathers, etc. I really loved him in Bridge To Terabithia–so many of my friends were completely surprised that the father was Robert Patrick! He’s that good!

And more importantly, he’s been married to the same woman for over 25 years and they are still a loving couple with two really great kid. He has a host of friends all over the world and everyone in Hollywood seems to like him. He’s one of the most popular U.S.O. entertainers (think about how fun it must be for the troops to meet the T-1000!). He’s involved in several excellent charities. He narrated his parish’s promotional video (he goes to St. Thomas Episcopal in Hollywood), and he regularly tweets messages that describe his love for God, his church, his family, and his country!

So I would say that X Files was good to Robert Patrick!

 

[Cat]

Dear tomerin–I believe the episode in question was the series finale of “the Lone Gunman”.

Not sure how I feel about this revival. I’m a huge fan, own all the seasons on DVD (including all the dreadful post-season-5 seasons), and miss it greatly.

However, the last movie left me wishing for those two hours of my life back.

I’m scared of being disappointed again LOL. Maybe Chris Carter should just leave well enough alone.

Like I said, they need to write Doggett and Reyes into the movie.

That’s what an X-Files movie needs–energy, and that’s something that both Duchovny and Anderson lack in their acting repertoire. Patrick and Gish have energy in abundance (it helps that both of them are currently involved in successful TV shows).

The characters of Doggett and Reyes provided a edgy contrast to Mulder and Scully. Mulder was eccentric and cynical. Scully was highly-intelligent and prickly. Doggett was befuddled and by-the-book. Reyes was spiritual and compassionate.

This is a compelling combination of characters, and the best movie would combine all of them, and bring Skinner back, too, to manage all of them and defend all of them from the “establishment FBI.”

The case should involve all kinds of inexplicable phenomena, not just aliens or ghosts, but all of the above, with a good dose of humor. My personal choice would be a zombie plot, since the Zombie Apocalypse is all the rage now.

And remember, there’s the baby (Scully and Mulder’s baby)–he would be grown up and very handsome (and hot!) by now. It would be fun to bring him into the movie–perhaps he would get the zombie plot rolling by being involved with the mythology in his high school–and then–horrors!–one of his friends would be discovered with their brains eaten! Ick!

Involving the Mulder/Scully son as a teen would possibly attract the teenagers, many of whom would not be particularly interested in a movie staring four fifty-somethings! But bring a really cute teenaged boy into the move (and probably an equally-cute teenaged girl to be his girlfriend), and we have ourselves a movie!

 

[SMHW]

Cat:

I just thought I would tell you something I saw on the internet this morning.

It suggested that Robert Patrick would be kept in mind to reprise his role as Doggett in the revival series of the X-files. (And yes, I know not to believe everything I see posted on the internet.) But he would probably have to get permission from CBS and he’d have to be able to work it into his schedule. And he’d have to know all this in time for the X-files scripts to be written in a way that works him in.

I’m hoping we’ll see John Doggett in at least one episode. (If not more.)

Tomarin:

I thought the best X-Files years were the first 5. There were some good ones in seasons 6 and 8 but I was mostly disappointed with 7 and 9.

And yes, the comic books do have the Lone Gunmen alive again. I have not heard anything to suggest they will appear in this new series but I wouldn’t be surprised if they do.

While I agree that the current interest in reviving old series and movies is helping the X-Files return, I also know that fans of the series have never stopped demanding some of loose ends get tied up. A lot of fans were very upset that the last movie did not at least mention the whole 2012 issue. I suspect that included the 1 or 2 Fox executives who are big fans of the show.

 

[Cat]

screencrush.com/x-files-return-event-series-details-skinner-doggett-reyes-smoking/

Cat is one smart woman, yes?!

 

[SMHW]

screencrush.com/x-files-return-event-series-details-skinner-doggett-reyes-smoking/

Cat is one smart woman, yes?!

 

[colliric]

I got the sense that he was tired of the show. Also, I remember reading at the time he was afraid of getting typecast a la William Shatner - which is more or less how things played out. He made a mediocre romantic comedy after that (with Minnie Driver if memory serves) and that was the end of his film career, if I remember correctly.

Come to think of it, that’s probably another reason I regard an X-Files revival with some glumness, as it represents a failure of David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson to do anything noteworthy as a follow-up (unless you count Duchovny’s cable show, which I’ve never seen). Plus as I mentioned earlier, they’re quite a bit older now.

Being older never stopped Shatner reviving his role of Captain Kirk, reinventing him as an aging captain and sending Trek on it’s way to a 12 movie franchise…

He came to terms with his typecasting, and recognized that without Kirk he wouldn’t have had such a successful career(he’s said this many times). He eventually wrote several Star Trek novels, and also lobbied to be in the 2009 flick(but the writers felt they just needed Spock to link it in), That seemed to happen to all the original cast, Nimoy originally intended on retiring Spock after the second film then again after the sixth, probably never dreamed he’d be playing Spock “the elder” in Star Trek 11 and 12…

 

[kalt]

No offense, but it has been said that one can’t go home again.

Exactly. I loved the X-Files, and I don’t want the memory tarnished by a terrible new version. I’ll let others critique it before I watch.

 

[Cat]

Exactly. I loved the X-Files, and I don’t want the memory tarnished by a terrible new version. I’ll let others critique it before I watch.

All it takes is getting good writers who understand the old show, but who also are able to work with the 50-somethings that Duchovy, Anderson, Patrick, Gish, and Pileggi have become in the last 20 years.

They need to come up with a really riveting plot, just like many of the old shows had. And they need to come up with a believable backstory of what the X-Files fictional characters have been doing since the final episode of the original show.

I still think using the baby that Scully and Mulder had would be a great starting point. He would be a young man now, and centering the plot around him (and his beautiful girlfriend, although nowadays, screenplay writers might choose to make him gay and give him a beautiful boyfriend–eugh, I hope not!) would be a wise approach and a good way to attract a younger audience instead of only all of us who are fans of the old TV series.

There are sooooooo many possibilities for a good plot involving The Unknown. It’s been a fertile ground for storytellers for centuries. It makes no sense that screenplay writers keep coming up with lame plots for the X-Files movies. I think that bringing the more energetic Robert Patrick into the movie will help a lot–Duchovny and Anderson are just too laid-back in their acting style for the Big Screen. It worked (for many people, not for me) on television, but movies need Bigger Than Life acting styles.

 

[SMHW]

Exactly. I loved the X-Files, and I don’t want the memory tarnished by a terrible new version. I’ll let others critique it before I watch.

I’ve felt that way about other shows. But as someone who has never thought of the X-Files
in the past tense (and still upset that the the official X-files forum closed down just a couple weeks prior to the December 22, 2012 date scheduled for the alien invasion) I am looking forward to seeing more X-Files. I have to catch up on my x-files comic book reading!

I’ve always expected it to come back. I’m happy that it’s coming back to television because I think that’s where it words best.

What I’m wondering is if every episode will be an hour or if there will perhaps be one or two double hour episodes.

 

[7_Sorrows]

It will depend on the writers. Having the 2 main cast members will help. I was not an avid fan of X-Files. I watched every now and then though. I will probably watch one or two episodes of this one too.