The X-Files Virgin

This morning, I realized that the summer movie season really is upon us. With Up and Drag Me to Hell opening this week, following Terminator Salvation of last week, it hit me: the bombardment of blockbusters plus the just-frequent-enough showings of decent “real” movies over at the Angelika will surely be enough to keep my weekends busy and my debit account dangerously low. But the middle of my week remains void. For months, my girlfriend and I partook in a nightly ritual of firing up Hulu or ABC.com (we don’t have cable or even “over the air” TV) and consuming our daily bread. We were fed by the likes of Ben and Locke, Jack and Tony, Echo and Topher, Olivia and the Bishops, Jim and Pam, and -- okay, sure -- even Serena and Blair. Now that’s all gone for the season, and even though the occasional TV gem plugs along into the early days of the hot Texas summer, the void remains.

Thanks to the magic of Netflix, the summer has transformed into a time for my girlfriend and I to discover what has left us behind. With nothing but hours on our hands we turn to DVDs and we binge. A few summers ago, we took on Gilmore Girls; this year, our project is The X-Files. Nine seasons are a lot to watch, and I know we won’t make it through every one before the summer ends, but to quote Cedric the Entertainer, we can put somethin’ on it. We can put a little bit on it.

Before watching the pilot episode the other day, here’s what I knew about The X-Files:

• It’s got David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson.


• It has to do with aliens, I think.


• It’s supposed to be amazing.

Beyond that, I really didn’t know what to expect from the show. I chose to catch up on it because of its acclaim and its perennial status on Top Ten lists, but I was able to sell the idea to my girlfriend based on the ever-present Fringe comparisons. A bit ironic when you consider that this comparison is what drew a good chunk of people to Fringe in the first place, however I suspect that many fans of this year’s breakout show, like my girlfriend, may find themselves in the reverse situation -- and good for them, even if the comparison isn’t nearly as valid as previously believed. Sure, if you want to be generic, you can connect a few dots: FBI agents, supernatural occurrences, the way Fringe annoyingly repeats, “The Pattern” and the way The X-Files keeps saying, “The X-Files.” You can even make a connection between Agent Mulder and Walter Bishop, as both were formerly considered great minds until their obsessions with the paranormal turned them into outcasts. Beyond that, the two shows seem to go their separate ways. While Fringe takes a few things from The X-Files and its predecessors, I’d say it gets more from Alias than it does from anything else, with its jumble of character types, its helicopter establishing shots, and sure, even some of its subject matter and mythology (lest we forget Rambaldi, Page 47, and the such. Man, I need to watch Alias again).

The X-Files, however, is...well, I don’t know what it is yet. By attempting to watch the show as one would have when it premiered in 1993 (when I was just 7 and not allowed to see anything dealing with aliens or the occult), it’ll take me a while to formulate my feelings on the show. I obsess over completion, meaning I’d never abandon a show a few episodes into a season, no matter how much I hated it; I’d feel better watching a complete season of a bad show than only watching a fragment of it. So even if The X-Files rubs me the wrong way early on, I plan to stick with it for a while, giving it a chance to grow into its own (even though it’s, y’know, already grown and spawned two films).

Almost every pilot episode needs to work as a standalone; lead a little too much into the hypothetical “next episode” and you’re getting presumptuous -- a total turnoff. It would be foolish for me to judge The X-Files by its pilot’s standalone elements, but I fear the “freak of the week” syndrome of the Smallville and Fringe variety will get the better of this show. TV episodes work best when they contribute to the overall arc, so I worry when a show about “seeking the truth” regarding extraterrestrials strings its viewers along for nine seasons plus change. How long before I start dreading episodes, waiting for the “significant” ones to rekindle my interest? It’s a bit of a pessimistic way to view things, but I’ve probably seen enough TV to know that it can happen to even the best of shows. I guess I should watch the darn thing before I begin to complain, right?

Speaking of which, my girlfriend keeps walking by my office, “subtly” letting me know she’s been waiting for me long enough. Time to watch another episode of The X-Files.