Static Thoughts - X-Files: The List

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As I write this, the largest prison strike in US history is currently going on and is getting almost no media coverage.  It comes on the heels of a year of major push back against what’s come to be called the prison-industrial complex; the system by which states prisons have become a massively profitable business and proliferated mass incarceration throughout the US.  

Earlier in the year Obama actually made a visit to a US correctional facility and spoke with prisoners there and later he officially closed down all 13 federal sanctioned for-profit prisons.  It’s a major issue that seems to have sprung up over night alongside the rampant police fascism that’s been in the news since 2014. It’s tempting to consider these to be new problems facing society and while that’s partially true past had its fair share of misconduct by the justice system, that’s where the X-Files comes in.

Week of Review - X-Files S7 Episode Guide

And so we reach the final season in my X-Files episode guide.  This is the last season I watched through when I did my original sit down with the X-Files, mainly because after this things got really weird.  This is really the last season where you could count on finding the Scully/Mulder versus monster of the week type episodes I really like, after this the two got split and the episodes were far more conspiracy based.  

However, this is still a superb season with a ton of episodes I totally recommend, even if the actors are starting to feel a little worn and sick of one another.  I’m told that Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny had grown perturbed with each other over the years of shooting, which is why season 8 had them split up.  I’m not sure if that’s true but there is a degree of passive aggressiveness to their performances this season that makes it seem plausible.  Nothing major, just know what you’re getting into before hand.  With that said, here’s your guide to The X-Files season 7.

Week of Review - X-Files S6 Episode Guide

Season 6 was a very different time for The X-Files.  The season is still in shock after the impact of X-Files: Fight the Future and the season 5 finale, which saw the destruction of the X Files that Mulder had been pulling from and the agents getting reassigned to a new assistant director.  As such, a lot of the episodes ended up with the agents stumbling into an X-File type situation, Mulder pulling together old fragments of the burned cases, or actively seeking out weirdness other agents had written off.  Eventually this fell away as the status quo was returned to normal but it was still a major shift when it happened.  As such, some of these one-off episodes are a little difficult to jump into if you don’t know who like AD Kresh or Agent Spender are.  However, if you just role with those punches there’s a lot to like this season.

Week of Review - X-Files S4/S5 Episode Guide

Seasons 4 and 5 are actually where the X-Files closed off one of its primary plotlines.  People tend to forget this but in season 5 they actually resolved their major mythology plots involving the gray alien invasion and the global syndicate that had been manipulating the Earth.  Both groups would resurface in season 6 and during X-Files: Fight the Future but this is still where one chapter closed and another opened.  That doesn’t have a huge impact on the one-off episodes but it’s worth mentioning for the shift in elements.  That would ramp up even more come season 6 but we’ll get to that when we do, for now this is your guide to The X-Files season 4 and season 5.

Week of Review - X-Files S3 Episode Guide

Season 3 of the X-Files is really where the show found its feet and put together its excellent formula.  Basically, this is the season where the show finally decided to start adding in a greater amount of subtext and purpose to its monster of the week stories.  There are still plenty of fun one-off episodes and light hearted romps through the ridiculous weirdness of the X-Files mythos but there are just as many about neglected veterans, the plight of immigrants, or the cruel miscarriages of the American justice system.  So, let me guide you through The X-Files season 3. 

Week of Review - X-Files S1/S2 Episode Guide

I’m not sure how much of a preamble this article requires.  The X-Files is coming back to screens and so we’re all involved going back to rewatch the old show and fondly enjoy our ‘90s nostalgia.  As such, now is the perfect time for a retrospective, but rather than try to encapsulate each season in a review I’m doing this in the form of an episode guide.  The basic rules are that these are the one-off episodes I recommend from each season.  

They’re the “monster of the week” type adventures you can just jump right into without needing to know anything about X-Files continuity or canon other than Fox Mulder believes and Dana Scully doubts.  I’ll talk about each episode and try not to give anything major away but if you really want to be 100% spoiler free, going in totally cold, just read the list names and go from there.  I’m only going through season 1-7 because those are the ones I watched and I’m starting with season 1 & 2 because there weren’t a ton to recommend.  We’ll be doing that same trick with a few other seasons later on too, for now this is the X-Files Episode Guide for season 1 and season 2.

Static Thoughts - X-Files: Pusher

One of the majorly anticipated events of 2016 is the return of the X-Files, a genre show from the ‘90s that lasted 9 seasons, 2 movies, and served to dominate the sci-fi landscape in that decade.  Seriously, Star Wars may have been king in the ‘80s and Terminator was an early wonder of the ‘90s but it was X-Files and Star Trek that truly ruled the ‘90s sci-fi conversation and with good reason.  X-Files managed to grow from a ‘90s curiosity revolving around conspiracy theory Americana like big foot and Area 51 into an incredibly tight and well written horror sci-fi series that was the first time cops and the paranormal were combined in the mainstream. 

The entirety of genre TV has been impacted by the X-Files, with some additional points even into mainstream television, like how Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan got his start on X-Files.  One of Gilligan’s episodes is my subject for today’s review, a season 3 installment called ‘Pusher’ that revolves around a disaffected sociopath with the power to psychokinetically impose his will on people.  Basically, the titular Pusher is like the first draft version of Kilgrave, the villain of 2015’s hit streaming superhero show Jessica Jones.

X-Files 2016 Full Trailer Breakdown

So, as the 2010s hit their middle years the trend of ‘90s nostalgia has emerged from a simple curiosity to a full on cultural force.  These days our TV, movies, comics, and games all must live in a world where people are generally nostalgic for the cultural malaise of the 1990s as signified by the massive success heaped upon ‘90s revivals like Jurassic World as well as major fan interest in upcoming revivals like Power Rangers.  At the forefront of this cultural redefinition is the X-Files, who will be enjoying a revival of their own in 2016.  This is a big moment, the X-Files defined television in the ‘90s in a big way and are one of the most influential and successful genre shows to ever broadcast.  Even if you don’t like the show or feel some of its conspiratorial elements are now dated or less charming there’s no denying that it changed the television landscape over the course of its 9-season run.  I already looked at the first teaser trailer for the January 2016 revival series but now a full 2 minute trailer has been released, so let’s break it down.

X-Files Season 11 #1 Review

Last week I took a look at IDW's X-Files Season 11 #1, the comic book continuation of the show, it's a real treat for fans and a great jumping on point for the X-Files Extended Universe, check out the full review over on Front Towards Gamer:

http://ftg.operationsupplydrop.org/2015/08/14/x-files-season-11-1-review-comics/

X-Files Season 10 Teaser

So, the first legitimate teaser trailer for the X-Files revival mini-series has finally dropped from Fox.  Even though the new X-Files episodes won’t be hitting the air for another 6 months or so it makes sense that Fox is looking to get the ball rolling on this particular project early.  It’s becoming more and more obvious that this is the year Hollywood is waking up to how impactful 1990s nostalgia really is.  We’ve already seen 90stalgia make Jurassic World a monster hit and I wouldn’t be surprised if we see the same thing again in a few months when that Goosebumps movie comes out.  The X-Files stood as one of the defining cultural touchstones of the ‘90s so Fox trying to really build up its return makes a lot of sense especially given the uphill battle the revival is facing story wise.