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.

Film Land - 8 Actors Who Should Play James Bond

Edited by Robert Beach 

At the time of writing, Daniel Craig has done everything outwardly possible to indicate his time as James Bond is at an end.  I say this because it’s Hollywood, and things have a tendency to be false from the start, so it’s still remotely possible Craig will have another film outing, just not terribly likely.  

With Craig now done with 007, ending on the spectacularly bad Spectre, the hunt is on for a new James Bond. As is ever the case with the recasting of one of pop culture’s most enduring fixtures, everyone is throwing out ideas. It seems every hat is ending up in the proverbial ring. As someone who writes about geekery and pop culture on the net, here are my top 8 choices for the next James Bond.

 

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.

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/