The Truth Is In Here (Maybe)
September 11, 2023 6:02 AM Subscribe
Yesterday (September 10th) was the 30th anniversary of the premiere of The X-Files, the paranormal-sorta television phenomenon starring David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson. To mark the occasion, Rolling Stone has posted its ranking of all 217 episodes, worst to best.
Clicked to see where "Home"was ranked; was not disappointed.
posted by Adridne at 6:34 AM on September 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Adridne at 6:34 AM on September 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
Clicked to see where "Home"was ranked; was not disappointed.
"Bad Blood," the one with Luke Wilson; same.
posted by St. Oops at 6:38 AM on September 11, 2023 [2 favorites]
"Bad Blood," the one with Luke Wilson; same.
posted by St. Oops at 6:38 AM on September 11, 2023 [2 favorites]
Has anyone done a fan edit where Mulder never appears, like Garfield without Garfield, and it's like Scully is talking to no one, reacting sceptically to an entity that we cannot perceive....
posted by seanmpuckett at 6:48 AM on September 11, 2023 [23 favorites]
posted by seanmpuckett at 6:48 AM on September 11, 2023 [23 favorites]
I often wonder whether the X-Files was just a reflection of 1990s era right-wing conspiracy theories or whether it's responsible for normalizing them and providing a framework for the likes of QAnon to latch onto.
It's very difficult to see the 1998 feature film, where FEMA deliberately stages a terrorist attack in order to cover up an outbreak of alien pathogens and advance their plans of taking over the country during a contrived national emergency, as anything but a primer on how to create a conspiracy theory that connects all the dots.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 6:51 AM on September 11, 2023 [10 favorites]
It's very difficult to see the 1998 feature film, where FEMA deliberately stages a terrorist attack in order to cover up an outbreak of alien pathogens and advance their plans of taking over the country during a contrived national emergency, as anything but a primer on how to create a conspiracy theory that connects all the dots.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 6:51 AM on September 11, 2023 [10 favorites]
The X-Files is a top 5 show for me. There's a LOT of cruft in there and Carter never really got that the Anderson-Duchovny chemistry WAS the show, but when it was firing on all cylinders it was a thing to behold. Seasons 1-5 are still some of the best television ever made.
It still astonishes me that it was such a massive hit.
posted by rhymedirective at 7:04 AM on September 11, 2023 [7 favorites]
It still astonishes me that it was such a massive hit.
posted by rhymedirective at 7:04 AM on September 11, 2023 [7 favorites]
If you want to narrow down your rewatch (or first watch list), Ars Technica has The truth is out there: Celebrate 30 years of The X-Files with our 30 favorite episodes.
posted by ShooBoo at 7:08 AM on September 11, 2023
posted by ShooBoo at 7:08 AM on September 11, 2023
I'd put First Person Shooter at dead last. Fight Club would probably be second to last, but at least RS put it near there.
posted by TheKaijuCommuter at 7:16 AM on September 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by TheKaijuCommuter at 7:16 AM on September 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
Also, I don't care if it was just a silly episode. I consider this to be the canonical ending to the X-Files. Scully doesn't deserve this ending, but Mulder certainly does.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 7:23 AM on September 11, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by RonButNotStupid at 7:23 AM on September 11, 2023 [4 favorites]
X-Files was absolutely borrowing heavily from existing conspiracy theories. The FEMA thing for instance definitely wasn't original work. It's important to remember though that holding these beliefs in the 90s wasn't a hard-right phenomenon. Plenty of old hippies didn't trust the government. There was a kooky, paranoid style that cut across the political spectrum in a way you can still see traces of today - the crunchy hippie mom appeal of anti-vax beliefs for example. One of the many sad legacies of the Trump administration is that no self-respecting lefty can bitch about certain kinds of corruption, graft, lack of transparency, etc without feeling like they're stealing someone's bit.
What X-Files did do was unfortunately give those conspiracy theories a platform WAY bigger than they probably should have ever gotten. I consider the show to be the only inoculation I ever needed against conspiracist thinking, personally, but I'm certain that isn't the only reaction to the show people had.
It's also the case that people believed in a lot of random, stupid crap. Like for real, 90s kids, didn't we all at some point think the Bermuda triangle would be something we'd need to know about? I feel like there's a lot of stuff that people just look up on the Internet now and are like "that's not true dumbass, lol" but back when X-Files was really at its peak, most people weren't doing much of that.
I started watching at the start of season 5 (little too young before that) and never quit, even when it got bad. I reckon I've seen every episode at least once, or close to it. Some sentimental faves closer to the bottom than I'd probably have put them. Some in the top ten I barely remember. But overall the list isn't terrible.
I do think it was a weird move to have a non-American put together this list though! I can't even imagine what I would be like to watch the show as a non-American. I think it'd lose a lot.
posted by potrzebie at 7:23 AM on September 11, 2023 [13 favorites]
What X-Files did do was unfortunately give those conspiracy theories a platform WAY bigger than they probably should have ever gotten. I consider the show to be the only inoculation I ever needed against conspiracist thinking, personally, but I'm certain that isn't the only reaction to the show people had.
It's also the case that people believed in a lot of random, stupid crap. Like for real, 90s kids, didn't we all at some point think the Bermuda triangle would be something we'd need to know about? I feel like there's a lot of stuff that people just look up on the Internet now and are like "that's not true dumbass, lol" but back when X-Files was really at its peak, most people weren't doing much of that.
I started watching at the start of season 5 (little too young before that) and never quit, even when it got bad. I reckon I've seen every episode at least once, or close to it. Some sentimental faves closer to the bottom than I'd probably have put them. Some in the top ten I barely remember. But overall the list isn't terrible.
I do think it was a weird move to have a non-American put together this list though! I can't even imagine what I would be like to watch the show as a non-American. I think it'd lose a lot.
posted by potrzebie at 7:23 AM on September 11, 2023 [13 favorites]
Can't argue against the bottom 5 or the top 5. I don't envy anyone the task of writing a ranked list of hundreds of episodes of tv 20 years after it ended, especially when the vast majority were kind of mid.
X-files started right when I was old enough to appreciate "grownup" tv and it being filmed in my home city always made it feel special.
What X-Files did do was unfortunately give those conspiracy theories a platform WAY bigger than they probably should have ever gotten.
I think it's difficult to overstate how in the zeitgeist the kind of paranormal and paranoia that X-files featured was in the early 90s. Consensus reality was only just beginning to break down on a mass scale and shows like X-files were a symptom, not a cause.
posted by Reyturner at 7:44 AM on September 11, 2023 [11 favorites]
X-files started right when I was old enough to appreciate "grownup" tv and it being filmed in my home city always made it feel special.
What X-Files did do was unfortunately give those conspiracy theories a platform WAY bigger than they probably should have ever gotten.
I think it's difficult to overstate how in the zeitgeist the kind of paranormal and paranoia that X-files featured was in the early 90s. Consensus reality was only just beginning to break down on a mass scale and shows like X-files were a symptom, not a cause.
posted by Reyturner at 7:44 AM on September 11, 2023 [11 favorites]
The X-FIles definitely sent me down the conspiracy theory rabbit hole. I was living in DC at the time in the age of Robert Hanssen, so that didn't help (one of his dead drop sites was literally blocks away from my apartment). I started amassing a "freak lit" library and found it hilarious as well as interesting. It was filled with gems like David Icke, William Cooper, and the Book of Urantia. It wasn't until years later that I realized how anti-semetic, racist and generally terrible all that shit really is. I definitely see it as a precursor to Pizzagate and QAnon and the weaponized lunacy that has been warping us for the last few years.
Anyhoo, back to the FPP. Any X-Files ranking list is worthless if does not begin with season 10, followed quickly by the "series finale" in season 9. (I had completely erased season 11 from my memory, so I can't comment on it, but I don't hold much hope.)
posted by slogger at 7:56 AM on September 11, 2023 [5 favorites]
Anyhoo, back to the FPP. Any X-Files ranking list is worthless if does not begin with season 10, followed quickly by the "series finale" in season 9. (I had completely erased season 11 from my memory, so I can't comment on it, but I don't hold much hope.)
posted by slogger at 7:56 AM on September 11, 2023 [5 favorites]
Loved, love the X-Files - but my favourite characters (and short-lived spin-off) were "The Lone Gunmen". (Oh, and the Millennium cross-over was nifty as well)
posted by rozcakj at 8:07 AM on September 11, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by rozcakj at 8:07 AM on September 11, 2023 [4 favorites]
I'm glad to see some of the awesome Darin Morgan episodes ranked at or near the top, although I wish the article had mentioned (and celebrated) him more by name.
(For me, "Jose Chung" would be #1)
posted by doctornemo at 8:09 AM on September 11, 2023 [5 favorites]
(For me, "Jose Chung" would be #1)
posted by doctornemo at 8:09 AM on September 11, 2023 [5 favorites]
Jesus H. Christ, Rolling Stone, do you even have copy editors? Since the author can't be arsed to spell Alex Krycek's name correctly, could someone there maybe take a moment to run their eyes over the text to see if, perhaps, an actual episode title referencing an actual extremely well-known event might also be misspelled? ("Tungusca," good freaking lord.)
Having said which, reading this was a strange experience; I was such a huge, huge X-Files fan back in the first five seasons or so, and my disenchantment and bitterness about the later seasons were such that I think it permanently affected my ability to get emotionally invested in a TV series ever again. Which feels ridiculous, in retrospect, but there we are. Reading the recaps, it now sounds like there might have been some good stuff I missed out on, but I just can't bring myself to go back and make the effort. (*elderly sigh*)
posted by Kat Allison at 8:12 AM on September 11, 2023 [8 favorites]
Having said which, reading this was a strange experience; I was such a huge, huge X-Files fan back in the first five seasons or so, and my disenchantment and bitterness about the later seasons were such that I think it permanently affected my ability to get emotionally invested in a TV series ever again. Which feels ridiculous, in retrospect, but there we are. Reading the recaps, it now sounds like there might have been some good stuff I missed out on, but I just can't bring myself to go back and make the effort. (*elderly sigh*)
posted by Kat Allison at 8:12 AM on September 11, 2023 [8 favorites]
Hey, where're they takin' Reggie?
posted by Servo5678 at 8:14 AM on September 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Servo5678 at 8:14 AM on September 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
it now sounds like there might have been some good stuff I missed out on, but I just can't bring myself to go back and make the effort. (*elderly sigh*)
If you ever want to do a rewatch, I will go to bat for seasons 6-7. They are definitely "lesser", and season 6 in particular grates because it has like 7 comedy episodes in a row, but overall they're worth watching and season 7 even acts as a nice ending with episodes like "Closure" and "Requiem".
There is a little bit of good stuff in season 8, but overall it's not really worth forcing your way through. Season 9 is execrable and should be shot into the sun.
posted by rhymedirective at 8:19 AM on September 11, 2023 [2 favorites]
If you ever want to do a rewatch, I will go to bat for seasons 6-7. They are definitely "lesser", and season 6 in particular grates because it has like 7 comedy episodes in a row, but overall they're worth watching and season 7 even acts as a nice ending with episodes like "Closure" and "Requiem".
There is a little bit of good stuff in season 8, but overall it's not really worth forcing your way through. Season 9 is execrable and should be shot into the sun.
posted by rhymedirective at 8:19 AM on September 11, 2023 [2 favorites]
Regardless of what the o.g. X-Files relationship with conspiracy theories was in the 1990s, it was not cool for the 2010s reboot to feature an obvious Alex Jones expy as an ally. Chris Carter's "My Struggle" episodes are so transparently trying to target a right-wing audience that it's extremely uncomfortable to watch.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 8:23 AM on September 11, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by RonButNotStupid at 8:23 AM on September 11, 2023 [2 favorites]
I think Season 8 was a nice shot in the arm for the series in a lot ways, but yeah, Season 9 is really tired. However, "4-D," "John Doe," and "Audrey Pauley" are worthwhile MOTW episodes.
posted by AndrewInDC at 8:36 AM on September 11, 2023
posted by AndrewInDC at 8:36 AM on September 11, 2023
What X-Files did do was unfortunately give those conspiracy theories a platform WAY bigger than they probably should have ever gotten.
I'll return to Darin Morgan and point out how his episodes satirize some of those pretty hard.
I think it's difficult to overstate how in the zeitgeist the kind of paranormal and paranoia that X-files featured was in the early 90s.
Agreed. I'd mention the growth of the internet then, which gave people more access to more materials and people, plus the World Wide Web's birth.
There were also other media sources at the time. Cooper's _Behold a Pale Horse_ appeared in 1991. Art Bell launched Coast to Coast in 1988.
posted by doctornemo at 8:48 AM on September 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
I'll return to Darin Morgan and point out how his episodes satirize some of those pretty hard.
I think it's difficult to overstate how in the zeitgeist the kind of paranormal and paranoia that X-files featured was in the early 90s.
Agreed. I'd mention the growth of the internet then, which gave people more access to more materials and people, plus the World Wide Web's birth.
There were also other media sources at the time. Cooper's _Behold a Pale Horse_ appeared in 1991. Art Bell launched Coast to Coast in 1988.
posted by doctornemo at 8:48 AM on September 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
Well, they got number 1 right…
posted by atoxyl at 8:54 AM on September 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by atoxyl at 8:54 AM on September 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
Bill Coopers book was sold in specialty bookshops; Bell’s and Cooper’s shows required hunting on the radio to find (and maybe living in specific parts of the country). The X-Files was on easily-accessible broadcast TV. They really don’t compare, and the X-Files did participate in the recirculating of conspiracy thinking. I don’t particularly blame Carter for it; it was in the air, after all, but it was part of a cycle.
You can’t really parody conspiracies; they are syncretic and fundamentally unserious. A zine in the 90s devoted an issue to a jokey theory that Rosie Greer had killed RFK, and Paranoia magazine stole and published it as true within a year or so.
posted by GenjiandProust at 8:55 AM on September 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
You can’t really parody conspiracies; they are syncretic and fundamentally unserious. A zine in the 90s devoted an issue to a jokey theory that Rosie Greer had killed RFK, and Paranoia magazine stole and published it as true within a year or so.
posted by GenjiandProust at 8:55 AM on September 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
never liked X-Files and you'd think I would've been all over it, because I was all over stuff like The Illuminatus and Philip K Dick at the time.
But I suppose that's the point. Where Illuminatus was laughing its mad head off at the conspiracy stuff and Dick was so deeply, fantastically embedded in it all, X-Files was just kind of foolish, over serious, way too earnest. Or as Robert Anton Wilson (co-author of Illuminatus) put it once, when asked what he thought of X-Files, "Not much. It's not funny or mad enough. I far prefer a movie like Repo Man."
As for, should we place blame on Repo Man for where our culture is today? Maybe some. But not for its subject matter so much as its tone, taking all that fabulous nonsense and rendering it blandly, seriously ... un-funny, not nearly mad enough. Because the issue to me isn't the concept of malevolent aliens and related conspiracies and whatnot, it's that the culture has dumbed itself down so much that people who really should know better have bought in. And X-Files has definitely fed some of that dumbing down.
posted by philip-random at 9:08 AM on September 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
But I suppose that's the point. Where Illuminatus was laughing its mad head off at the conspiracy stuff and Dick was so deeply, fantastically embedded in it all, X-Files was just kind of foolish, over serious, way too earnest. Or as Robert Anton Wilson (co-author of Illuminatus) put it once, when asked what he thought of X-Files, "Not much. It's not funny or mad enough. I far prefer a movie like Repo Man."
As for, should we place blame on Repo Man for where our culture is today? Maybe some. But not for its subject matter so much as its tone, taking all that fabulous nonsense and rendering it blandly, seriously ... un-funny, not nearly mad enough. Because the issue to me isn't the concept of malevolent aliens and related conspiracies and whatnot, it's that the culture has dumbed itself down so much that people who really should know better have bought in. And X-Files has definitely fed some of that dumbing down.
posted by philip-random at 9:08 AM on September 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
Kat Allison, +1000 that I really never got invested in a TV show again like I did in X-Files. The whole time I was watching Battlestar Galactica every time "and they have a plan" flashed on screen I was like "do they though? I've been burned by this sort of thing before". Like, cool if they do, but I'm going to proceed with the assumption that the writers room is in fact still coming up with the plan and I'm not gonna be impressed when they tell me what it is.
posted by potrzebie at 9:16 AM on September 11, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by potrzebie at 9:16 AM on September 11, 2023 [5 favorites]
God, I loved this show so much. It was true appointment tv for me at a time when timeshifting content was not a thing, and as a kid who grew up on the Time Life Mysteries of the Unknown books, it felt like it was made just for me.
It was also my introduction into the larger community of "fandom" -- TWOP message boards and background discussions of fan theories ... and we should not forget that it was for Mulder and Scully that the word "Ship" (as in "I ship those two characters") entered the common lexicon of fan words.
Of course it was imperfect. But it was almost always entertaining even when it was bad.
posted by anastasiav at 9:25 AM on September 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
It was also my introduction into the larger community of "fandom" -- TWOP message boards and background discussions of fan theories ... and we should not forget that it was for Mulder and Scully that the word "Ship" (as in "I ship those two characters") entered the common lexicon of fan words.
Of course it was imperfect. But it was almost always entertaining even when it was bad.
posted by anastasiav at 9:25 AM on September 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
I haven't like, looked at every entry, but I am not finding the Jersey Devil episode. FAIL.
posted by supermedusa at 9:28 AM on September 11, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by supermedusa at 9:28 AM on September 11, 2023 [3 favorites]
That's the one where Mulder's big insight is that someone drew boobs on his Bigfoot picture, right?
posted by AndrewInDC at 9:31 AM on September 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by AndrewInDC at 9:31 AM on September 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
that interface is a nightmare. glad to see "Quagmire" up there tho, that one was really fun!
posted by supermedusa at 9:33 AM on September 11, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by supermedusa at 9:33 AM on September 11, 2023 [3 favorites]
They really don’t compare, and the X-Files did participate in the recirculating of conspiracy thinking. I don’t particularly blame Carter for it; it was in the air, after all, but it was part of a cycle.
They do compare, as part of a cultural moment, albeit in different levels and to different degrees. Perhaps I was just hanging out with and following a lot of strange people in the 1990s, but I definitely saw this stuff.
You can’t really parody conspiracies; they are syncretic and fundamentally unserious.
Do you mean it's formally impossible, or that you don't see any of the parodies being funny? I put "Jose Chung" out there as an example, and it's both very funny and precise as a critique.
posted by doctornemo at 9:38 AM on September 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
They do compare, as part of a cultural moment, albeit in different levels and to different degrees. Perhaps I was just hanging out with and following a lot of strange people in the 1990s, but I definitely saw this stuff.
You can’t really parody conspiracies; they are syncretic and fundamentally unserious.
Do you mean it's formally impossible, or that you don't see any of the parodies being funny? I put "Jose Chung" out there as an example, and it's both very funny and precise as a critique.
posted by doctornemo at 9:38 AM on September 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
I can't read the words "great x-files episode" without Cher's The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore popping into my head.
In college we held a stoned X-files viewing every Sunday night for years. One of the bright periods of my life.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 9:38 AM on September 11, 2023 [2 favorites]
In college we held a stoned X-files viewing every Sunday night for years. One of the bright periods of my life.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 9:38 AM on September 11, 2023 [2 favorites]
I don't recall where I read it recently -- there's a lot of anniversary posts out there -- but that XFiles was the real start of modern television story structure, where there is a season-long story arc, interspersed with each episode having its own story that could be either related to the arc, or the arc completely absent from the episode. The article I read claimed that before XFiles TV series was either serialized, or purely episodic, no in-between. I don't know that this is 100% right -- ST:TNG had some season-arcish storylines -- but it may be XFiles really made it part of the modern TV structure with its network-broadcast high-popularity.
posted by AzraelBrown at 9:44 AM on September 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by AzraelBrown at 9:44 AM on September 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
In college we held a stoned X-files viewing every Sunday night for years.
We used to have X-Files season premiere and season finale parties; a friend and I would co-host, both of us cooking for 3 straight days to get all the food sorted out.
I think something at the finale parties was a telling moment that illustrates how quickly fans became jaded. At the season 2 finale - which ended with Cancer Man ordering the underground train car that Mulder was trapped in to be firebombed - we all were floored, and spent an hour discussing what the hell we'd just seen and where was the show going to go now and was there a chance Mulder was going to escape and.....
Then two years later, the season 4 finale ended with Scully addressing a panel of FBI functionaries, telling them that "Agent Mulder died at 4 am this morning of a self-influcted gunshot wound to the head." There was silence in the room as the closing credits rolled, and then finally one of us cynically said: "Pfft, he's been dead before."
That was that.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:45 AM on September 11, 2023 [3 favorites]
We used to have X-Files season premiere and season finale parties; a friend and I would co-host, both of us cooking for 3 straight days to get all the food sorted out.
I think something at the finale parties was a telling moment that illustrates how quickly fans became jaded. At the season 2 finale - which ended with Cancer Man ordering the underground train car that Mulder was trapped in to be firebombed - we all were floored, and spent an hour discussing what the hell we'd just seen and where was the show going to go now and was there a chance Mulder was going to escape and.....
Then two years later, the season 4 finale ended with Scully addressing a panel of FBI functionaries, telling them that "Agent Mulder died at 4 am this morning of a self-influcted gunshot wound to the head." There was silence in the room as the closing credits rolled, and then finally one of us cynically said: "Pfft, he's been dead before."
That was that.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:45 AM on September 11, 2023 [3 favorites]
W/r/t conspiracy and paranoia being pushed by popular culture, shows like Unsolved Mysteries and the seemingly endless A&E documentaries about ghosts, aliens, monsters, conspiracies, and psychics, hell psychic hotline commercials, loom far larger in my memory, along with cults and militias and satanic panic and televised first person war footage in the news and daytime tv.
If anything, X-files already seemed like a reaction to all of that at the time, rather than something novel.
posted by Reyturner at 9:46 AM on September 11, 2023 [3 favorites]
If anything, X-files already seemed like a reaction to all of that at the time, rather than something novel.
posted by Reyturner at 9:46 AM on September 11, 2023 [3 favorites]
makes me miss usenet and alt.tv.x-files....
posted by ersatzkat at 9:57 AM on September 11, 2023 [8 favorites]
posted by ersatzkat at 9:57 AM on September 11, 2023 [8 favorites]
What X-Files did do was unfortunately give those conspiracy theories a platform WAY bigger than they probably should have ever gotten.
I often wonder whether the X-Files was just a reflection of 1990s era right-wing conspiracy theories or whether it's responsible for normalizing them and providing a framework for the likes of QAnon to latch onto.
The X-FIles definitely sent me down the conspiracy theory rabbit hole.
I wonder what we do with these observations, if we accept them. Do they mean we should revise our admiration of the show downwards? Should we rethink the past generation of pop culture (broadly construed) to check for items which may have fed into Q-Anon? Should we check today's pop culture for the same and urge producers and distributors to tamp it down, lest it drive real harm?
posted by doctornemo at 10:02 AM on September 11, 2023
I often wonder whether the X-Files was just a reflection of 1990s era right-wing conspiracy theories or whether it's responsible for normalizing them and providing a framework for the likes of QAnon to latch onto.
The X-FIles definitely sent me down the conspiracy theory rabbit hole.
I wonder what we do with these observations, if we accept them. Do they mean we should revise our admiration of the show downwards? Should we rethink the past generation of pop culture (broadly construed) to check for items which may have fed into Q-Anon? Should we check today's pop culture for the same and urge producers and distributors to tamp it down, lest it drive real harm?
posted by doctornemo at 10:02 AM on September 11, 2023
#1 is accurate. I also have a deep love of Jose Chung's From Outer Space and it deserves a top 5 spot.
My feelings for the X-Files are complex now. Before I watched X-Files, I rushed home after school to watch re-runs of In Search Of... on A&E and I devoured every book the library had on Bigfoot, UFOs, and other paranormal phenomena. X-Files felt like it had been created just for me. Looking back now it's hard to (rightly or wrongly) separate it from the kind of conspiratorial thinking that has sadly become mainstream. I'm not sure if I could comfortably root or Fox Mulder or The Lone Gunmen today. That makes me sad.
On the other hand, I'm relieved that reading what I did that, in the early days of the Internet, there were rabbit holes I was thoughtful enough to not go down.
When I watched X-Files, I never imagined that kind of thinking as having any kind actual clout; it's sad that it does. But then, I taught an American Studies class on the Tea Party movement and included an episode of the X-Files alongside Hofstadter's "The Paranoid Style in American Politics" and "Young Goodman Brown" to help illustrate the genealogy of that conspiratorial imagination.
posted by synecdoche at 10:10 AM on September 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
My feelings for the X-Files are complex now. Before I watched X-Files, I rushed home after school to watch re-runs of In Search Of... on A&E and I devoured every book the library had on Bigfoot, UFOs, and other paranormal phenomena. X-Files felt like it had been created just for me. Looking back now it's hard to (rightly or wrongly) separate it from the kind of conspiratorial thinking that has sadly become mainstream. I'm not sure if I could comfortably root or Fox Mulder or The Lone Gunmen today. That makes me sad.
On the other hand, I'm relieved that reading what I did that, in the early days of the Internet, there were rabbit holes I was thoughtful enough to not go down.
When I watched X-Files, I never imagined that kind of thinking as having any kind actual clout; it's sad that it does. But then, I taught an American Studies class on the Tea Party movement and included an episode of the X-Files alongside Hofstadter's "The Paranoid Style in American Politics" and "Young Goodman Brown" to help illustrate the genealogy of that conspiratorial imagination.
posted by synecdoche at 10:10 AM on September 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
Clicked to see where "Home"was ranked; was not disappointed.
Maybe it's well-known at this point, but wasn't mentioned in the article or yet in this thread. "Home" was based, in part, on a story from Charlie Chaplin's autobiography (also briefly mentioned on the wikipedia entry for the episode).
posted by msbrauer at 10:21 AM on September 11, 2023 [2 favorites]
Maybe it's well-known at this point, but wasn't mentioned in the article or yet in this thread. "Home" was based, in part, on a story from Charlie Chaplin's autobiography (also briefly mentioned on the wikipedia entry for the episode).
posted by msbrauer at 10:21 AM on September 11, 2023 [2 favorites]
AzraelBrown, about serial TV, I would say Babylon 5 did it better but a lot less mainstream. They kinda aired at the same time. Early B5 has quite a lot of episodic episodes but by the end, there's precious few episodes you can miss, The X-Files never quite got that serialized.
Yeah, X-File + Usenet + hacking culture + the beginnings of the internet and wider exposition to conspiracy theories, they kinda all blend together for me. I wouldn't say conspiracy theories were really a right-wing thing at the time. It just seemed more plausible for the government to hide things with the era's communication tools.
Also Aliens + coverup of the colonisation were the main conspiracy, they are a nice fantasy but the ubiquitousness of phones will good cameras and instant internet uploads/social media kinda killed all those old myths that were based on blurry/noisy camera pictures.
posted by WaterAndPixels at 10:30 AM on September 11, 2023 [4 favorites]
Yeah, X-File + Usenet + hacking culture + the beginnings of the internet and wider exposition to conspiracy theories, they kinda all blend together for me. I wouldn't say conspiracy theories were really a right-wing thing at the time. It just seemed more plausible for the government to hide things with the era's communication tools.
Also Aliens + coverup of the colonisation were the main conspiracy, they are a nice fantasy but the ubiquitousness of phones will good cameras and instant internet uploads/social media kinda killed all those old myths that were based on blurry/noisy camera pictures.
posted by WaterAndPixels at 10:30 AM on September 11, 2023 [4 favorites]
The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. also ran on Fox (in the time slot before the X-Files!) and also did the whole some episodes are standalone stories, some episodes are part of a season long arc thing.
Honestly, as much as I like the X-Files, I'd rather live in the timeline where Brisco became Fox's big breakout hit.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 10:41 AM on September 11, 2023 [2 favorites]
Honestly, as much as I like the X-Files, I'd rather live in the timeline where Brisco became Fox's big breakout hit.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 10:41 AM on September 11, 2023 [2 favorites]
It’s hard to address, say any of the stuff the 60s era CIA actually did without falling into the conspiracy theory form a little bit. How to draw the line between that and the crackpot kind of conspiracy thinking is kind of an interesting question. The basic format of the X-Files positions Mulder and Scully as, between the two of them, one sane and responsible investigator of outré ideas, and I feel like that’s actually a good setup to approach these kinds of themes. The show just falls into the pattern of Mulder (almost) always being right for plot reasons, and plays off of the contemporary conspiracy subculture in a way that comes out a little too far in “one big conspiracy” territory and a little too close to endorsing the kooks as straightforward heroes.
posted by atoxyl at 10:54 AM on September 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by atoxyl at 10:54 AM on September 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
The show just falls into the pattern of Mulder (almost) always being right for plot reasons
Of course the episodes that subvert this (or come closest) are some of the best.
posted by atoxyl at 10:55 AM on September 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
Of course the episodes that subvert this (or come closest) are some of the best.
posted by atoxyl at 10:55 AM on September 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
I don't know that this is 100% right
It's not even 1% right. I understand the desire to find one television series that changed everything, but it was a slow accretion. I mean, St. Elsewhere had multi-episode story arcs and feels astonishingly modern to a current-day viewer, and it went off the air in 1988.
Chris Carter just isn't brilliant enough to have invented modern serialized television.
posted by rhymedirective at 11:10 AM on September 11, 2023 [2 favorites]
It's not even 1% right. I understand the desire to find one television series that changed everything, but it was a slow accretion. I mean, St. Elsewhere had multi-episode story arcs and feels astonishingly modern to a current-day viewer, and it went off the air in 1988.
Chris Carter just isn't brilliant enough to have invented modern serialized television.
posted by rhymedirective at 11:10 AM on September 11, 2023 [2 favorites]
Chris Carter just isn't brilliant enough to have invented modern serialized television.
Heh; the TV Tropes page refers to fans' starting to suspect that a twisty-turny plot is never going to be satisfactorily resolved as The Chris Carter Effect.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:21 AM on September 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
Heh; the TV Tropes page refers to fans' starting to suspect that a twisty-turny plot is never going to be satisfactorily resolved as The Chris Carter Effect.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:21 AM on September 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
It’s hard to address, say any of the stuff the 60s era CIA actually did without falling into the conspiracy theory form a little bit.
My takeaway from visiting the DC Spy Museum is that I lot of stuff I thought was just fanciful embellishment was stuff the CIA was actually doing, or at least trying to do.
posted by COD at 11:25 AM on September 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
My takeaway from visiting the DC Spy Museum is that I lot of stuff I thought was just fanciful embellishment was stuff the CIA was actually doing, or at least trying to do.
posted by COD at 11:25 AM on September 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
I remember X-Files as one of the things that my older sister introduced me into in the "you'll like this" sort of way. Rule of Three here, it was William Gibson and Neuromancer, Laurie Anderson, and X-Files. I pretty much liked all three. Same 90's stuff, pretty much yup what governments might do to keep a snooping FBI agent distracted from the truth of the matter. That's how you keep the cabal safe and continuing, believable distraction from the truth.
posted by zengargoyle at 12:57 PM on September 11, 2023
posted by zengargoyle at 12:57 PM on September 11, 2023
William Gibson also wrote at least one X-Files episode.
posted by doctornemo at 1:09 PM on September 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by doctornemo at 1:09 PM on September 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
Ah, In Search Of... Loved watching that when it aired. Also Project Bluebook (the tv series).
I'm not sure if I could comfortably root or Fox Mulder or The Lone Gunmen today
I think that's one response to my question. Although perhaps Cancer Man is smiling now.
posted by doctornemo at 1:11 PM on September 11, 2023 [2 favorites]
I'm not sure if I could comfortably root or Fox Mulder or The Lone Gunmen today
I think that's one response to my question. Although perhaps Cancer Man is smiling now.
posted by doctornemo at 1:11 PM on September 11, 2023 [2 favorites]
Thanks for posting this. I live in the US now, but my bedroom at my parent’s house in NZ remains largely untouched 25-ish years after I last lived there. I think my “I want to believe” X-Files poster is still on the wall. Which is really my way of saying I have a great idea for a opening sequence for an X-Files episode….
posted by inflatablekiwi at 1:24 PM on September 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by inflatablekiwi at 1:24 PM on September 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
Watching Duchovny crying for the umpteenth time about Samantha broke my fascination for the show. I wanted to slap Mulder's face, ("Wake up, dope. By now she's one of Jabba's love-slaves or was the breakfast special at the star Aldebaran Denny's").
posted by Chitownfats at 2:42 PM on September 11, 2023
posted by Chitownfats at 2:42 PM on September 11, 2023
Chris Carter's "My Struggle" episodes are so transparently trying to target a right-wing audience that it's extremely uncomfortable to watch.
You know who else's "My Struggle" was transparently trying to target a right wing audience?
posted by dannyboybell at 2:48 PM on September 11, 2023 [8 favorites]
You know who else's "My Struggle" was transparently trying to target a right wing audience?
posted by dannyboybell at 2:48 PM on September 11, 2023 [8 favorites]
Fun fact (if you're me): The character of Michael Kritschgau was named after a friend I went to university with. I was a photography student; he sat for me several times, and we hung out at the same bars a lot during those years. He was a theatre major and apparently met Gillian Anderson in grad school, and they became friends. I always loved his name and was so surprised when that character showed up with it! Gillian has good taste.
posted by heyho at 3:17 PM on September 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by heyho at 3:17 PM on September 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
They do compare, as part of a cultural moment, albeit in different levels and to different degrees. Perhaps I was just hanging out with and following a lot of strange people in the 1990s, but I definitely saw this stuff.
Eh, there’s a difference when you have to hunt for it and when it’s served up to you. I’m not sure that Carter is to blame for his “spreading the news,” since it was a more innocent time, but he didn’t help. And I purchased and sold books to strange people in the 90s. How many of yours turned out to be Nazis? In my case, way more than I’d like. Maybe they just headed that way, but I think a lot of them were already there.
Do you mean it's formally impossible, or that you don't see any of the parodies being funny? I put "Jose Chung" out there as an example, and it's both very funny and precise as a critique.
I mean that there is nothing so risible or stupid that it can’t be worked into a conspiracy theory. “Haha, flat earthers, so funny. Oh shit, they are antisemites.” “Jose Chung” is pretty funny, but it doesn’t really make fun of conspiracy theories, it makes fun of the show. I’m sure it could be mined for texture pretty easily, if you put your mind to it.
So, what do you do with that? Realize that your youth has been poisoned by fascists, I guess, and that, in the real world, you can probably get to “the Jews did it” in three steps from any plot. It sucks, but, then the swastika used to be a symbol of good luck around the world.
posted by GenjiandProust at 3:52 PM on September 11, 2023
Eh, there’s a difference when you have to hunt for it and when it’s served up to you. I’m not sure that Carter is to blame for his “spreading the news,” since it was a more innocent time, but he didn’t help. And I purchased and sold books to strange people in the 90s. How many of yours turned out to be Nazis? In my case, way more than I’d like. Maybe they just headed that way, but I think a lot of them were already there.
Do you mean it's formally impossible, or that you don't see any of the parodies being funny? I put "Jose Chung" out there as an example, and it's both very funny and precise as a critique.
I mean that there is nothing so risible or stupid that it can’t be worked into a conspiracy theory. “Haha, flat earthers, so funny. Oh shit, they are antisemites.” “Jose Chung” is pretty funny, but it doesn’t really make fun of conspiracy theories, it makes fun of the show. I’m sure it could be mined for texture pretty easily, if you put your mind to it.
So, what do you do with that? Realize that your youth has been poisoned by fascists, I guess, and that, in the real world, you can probably get to “the Jews did it” in three steps from any plot. It sucks, but, then the swastika used to be a symbol of good luck around the world.
posted by GenjiandProust at 3:52 PM on September 11, 2023
Smith, Lamont Duvoe and Philo Drummond “began collection pamphlets from UFO cults, Atlantis aficionados, John Birch Society chapters, Scientology freaks, white supremacy groups and Hare Krishna devotees.”...
They then combined all the elements found in these pamphlets with some basic tenets coming from the Three Stooges films and wrote their first zine with 16 pages in 1978.
The Church of the SubGenius is a parody religion[1] that satirizes better-known belief systems. It teaches a complex philosophy that focuses on J. R. "Bob" Dobbs, purportedly a salesman from the 1950s, who is revered as a prophet by the Church. SubGenius leaders have developed detailed narratives about Dobbs and his relationship to various gods and conspiracies. Their central deity, Jehovah 1, is accompanied by other gods drawn from ancient myth and popular fiction. SubGenius literature describes a grand conspiracy that seeks to brainwash the world and oppress Dobbs's followers. In its narratives, the Church presents a blend of cultural references in an elaborate remix of the sources.If it was in the air, Bob put it there.
Ivan Stang, who co-founded the Church in the 1970s, serves as its leader and publicist.
posted by MrVisible at 5:53 PM on September 11, 2023 [7 favorites]
I know I am late to this party, but I want folks to know that anyone fascinated by how The X-Files mined conspiracy theories for ideas and in how conspiracy theory "culture" feeds back into other narratives should go read The Department of Truth.
posted by forbiddencabinet at 6:30 PM on September 11, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by forbiddencabinet at 6:30 PM on September 11, 2023 [2 favorites]
So for my partner who has never seen the show, what 4 episodes should we watch?
posted by Sophont at 6:51 PM on September 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Sophont at 6:51 PM on September 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
1 The Pilot
2 Tooms
3 Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose
4 Humbug
In my opinion
Home is a phenomenal episode but it is also genuinely intense and disturbing.
Jose Chung's from Outer Space is my favorite episode but I think you need a solid sense of the show and the characters to get the most out of it. That said, it could easily be in the first 10 episodes since it's not tied up in continuity.
posted by Reyturner at 7:02 PM on September 11, 2023 [5 favorites]
2 Tooms
3 Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose
4 Humbug
In my opinion
Home is a phenomenal episode but it is also genuinely intense and disturbing.
Jose Chung's from Outer Space is my favorite episode but I think you need a solid sense of the show and the characters to get the most out of it. That said, it could easily be in the first 10 episodes since it's not tied up in continuity.
posted by Reyturner at 7:02 PM on September 11, 2023 [5 favorites]
I don't know, GenjiandProust. I don't know.
I don't think any book I sold turned someone into a Nazi.
I don't think my youth was poisoned by fascists - beyond the gutting of parts of my family tree in WWII. I definitely don't think reading about conspiracies and the many other odd ideas (religion, folklore, cryptids, hacking, etc.) that the X-Files touched on did anything like that to me as an adult.
(The Jews did it: I am curious, now, to think about how the X-Files portrayed Judaism. Offhand I can't think of any instances, but might be worth digging in.)
"“Jose Chung” is pretty funny, but it doesn’t really make fun of conspiracy theories, it makes fun of the show." It mocks various UFO beliefs, especially Whitley Strieber. (Babylon-5 teased Strieber as well, by name)
posted by doctornemo at 7:44 PM on September 11, 2023 [3 favorites]
I don't think any book I sold turned someone into a Nazi.
I don't think my youth was poisoned by fascists - beyond the gutting of parts of my family tree in WWII. I definitely don't think reading about conspiracies and the many other odd ideas (religion, folklore, cryptids, hacking, etc.) that the X-Files touched on did anything like that to me as an adult.
(The Jews did it: I am curious, now, to think about how the X-Files portrayed Judaism. Offhand I can't think of any instances, but might be worth digging in.)
"“Jose Chung” is pretty funny, but it doesn’t really make fun of conspiracy theories, it makes fun of the show." It mocks various UFO beliefs, especially Whitley Strieber. (Babylon-5 teased Strieber as well, by name)
posted by doctornemo at 7:44 PM on September 11, 2023 [3 favorites]
Relevant, albeit at risk of seeming too academic:
“These Are Just Stories, Mulder”: Exposure to Conspiracist Fiction Does Not Produce Narrative Persuasion
Kenzo Nera, Myrto Pantazi, and Olivier Klein
Narrative persuasion, i.e., the impact of narratives on beliefs, behaviors and attitudes, and the mechanisms underpinning endorsement of conspiracy theories have both drawn substantial attention from social scientists. Yet, to date, these two fields have evolved separately, and to our knowledge no study has empirically examined the impact of conspiracy narratives on real-world conspiracy beliefs. In a first study, we exposed a group of participants (n = 37) to an X-Files episode before asking them to fill in a questionnaire related to their narrative experience and conspiracy beliefs. A control group (n = 41) had to answer the conspiracy beliefs items before watching the episode. Based on past findings of both the aforementioned fields of research, we hypothesized that the experimental group would show greater endorsement of conspiracy beliefs, an effect expected to be mediated by identification to the episodes' characters. We furthermore hypothesized that identification would be associated with cognitive elaboration of the topics developed in the narrative. The first two hypotheses were disproved since no narrative persuasion effect was observed. In a second study, we sought to replicate these results in a larger sample (n = 166). No persuasive effect was found in the new data and a Bayesian meta-analysis of the two studies strongly supports the absence of a positive effect of exposure to narrative material on endorsement of conspiracy theories. In both studies, a significant relation between conspiracy mentality and enjoyment was observed. In the second study, this relation was fully mediated by two dimensions of perceived realism, i.e., plausibility and narrative consistency. We discuss our results, based on theoretical models of narrative persuasion and compare our studies with previous narrative persuasion studies. Implications of these results for future research are also discussed.
posted by doctornemo at 7:45 PM on September 11, 2023 [2 favorites]
“These Are Just Stories, Mulder”: Exposure to Conspiracist Fiction Does Not Produce Narrative Persuasion
Kenzo Nera, Myrto Pantazi, and Olivier Klein
Narrative persuasion, i.e., the impact of narratives on beliefs, behaviors and attitudes, and the mechanisms underpinning endorsement of conspiracy theories have both drawn substantial attention from social scientists. Yet, to date, these two fields have evolved separately, and to our knowledge no study has empirically examined the impact of conspiracy narratives on real-world conspiracy beliefs. In a first study, we exposed a group of participants (n = 37) to an X-Files episode before asking them to fill in a questionnaire related to their narrative experience and conspiracy beliefs. A control group (n = 41) had to answer the conspiracy beliefs items before watching the episode. Based on past findings of both the aforementioned fields of research, we hypothesized that the experimental group would show greater endorsement of conspiracy beliefs, an effect expected to be mediated by identification to the episodes' characters. We furthermore hypothesized that identification would be associated with cognitive elaboration of the topics developed in the narrative. The first two hypotheses were disproved since no narrative persuasion effect was observed. In a second study, we sought to replicate these results in a larger sample (n = 166). No persuasive effect was found in the new data and a Bayesian meta-analysis of the two studies strongly supports the absence of a positive effect of exposure to narrative material on endorsement of conspiracy theories. In both studies, a significant relation between conspiracy mentality and enjoyment was observed. In the second study, this relation was fully mediated by two dimensions of perceived realism, i.e., plausibility and narrative consistency. We discuss our results, based on theoretical models of narrative persuasion and compare our studies with previous narrative persuasion studies. Implications of these results for future research are also discussed.
posted by doctornemo at 7:45 PM on September 11, 2023 [2 favorites]
William Gibson also wrote at least one X-Files episode.It absolutely kills me how bad the two episodes he worked on are. I mean, "Kill Switch" has at least a few Gibsonian touches and over-the-top '90s cyberculture elements to help take the edge off a shitty plot, but "First Person Shooter" is (and was, even then) so embarrassing that if you can bring yourself to keep watching you can't help but think "Who the fuck wrote this? An alien?"
posted by heteronym at 7:48 PM on September 11, 2023
(The Jews did it: I am curious, now, to think about how the X-Files portrayed Judaism. Offhand I can't think of any instances, but might be worth digging in.)
There was at least one episode about a golem.
fwiw, any time the main conspiracy guys were depicted they were pretty much exclusively parodies of the ultra elite WASPs, oil men (sometimes literally), and failed creatives that typified the founders of the post war American intelligence and business community.
posted by Reyturner at 8:06 PM on September 11, 2023 [2 favorites]
There was at least one episode about a golem.
fwiw, any time the main conspiracy guys were depicted they were pretty much exclusively parodies of the ultra elite WASPs, oil men (sometimes literally), and failed creatives that typified the founders of the post war American intelligence and business community.
posted by Reyturner at 8:06 PM on September 11, 2023 [2 favorites]
Cold warriors, that's the term I was looking for.
posted by Reyturner at 8:22 PM on September 11, 2023
posted by Reyturner at 8:22 PM on September 11, 2023
1 The Pilot
2 Tooms
3 Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose
4 Humbug
Solid list but “Tooms” is the second Tooms episode, right? It probably doesn’t matter that much but you might as well watch the first one (“Squeeze”) first.
posted by atoxyl at 11:05 PM on September 11, 2023 [3 favorites]
2 Tooms
3 Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose
4 Humbug
Solid list but “Tooms” is the second Tooms episode, right? It probably doesn’t matter that much but you might as well watch the first one (“Squeeze”) first.
posted by atoxyl at 11:05 PM on September 11, 2023 [3 favorites]
(The Jews did it: I am curious, now, to think about how the X-Files portrayed Judaism. Offhand I can't think of any instances, but might be worth digging in.)
The most unrealistic thing about the X-Files was that the conspiracies as presented in the show, when peeled back, didn't turn out to have roots in antisemitism.
posted by charred husk at 6:06 AM on September 12, 2023
The most unrealistic thing about the X-Files was that the conspiracies as presented in the show, when peeled back, didn't turn out to have roots in antisemitism.
posted by charred husk at 6:06 AM on September 12, 2023
So, what do you do with that? Realize that your youth has been poisoned by fascists, I guess, and that, in the real world, you can probably get to “the Jews did it” in three steps from any plot.
This comes up explicitly in the excellent Season 6 episode "Drive," which features Bryan Cranston as the guy who must keep moving ever-faster westward or else his head will explode. He's a rural, working class guy from Nevada who is convinced (it turns out correctly) that the government did this to him, but he also asks Mulder if his name is Jewish and calls him part of the "Jew FBI."
posted by AndrewInDC at 6:55 AM on September 12, 2023 [2 favorites]
This comes up explicitly in the excellent Season 6 episode "Drive," which features Bryan Cranston as the guy who must keep moving ever-faster westward or else his head will explode. He's a rural, working class guy from Nevada who is convinced (it turns out correctly) that the government did this to him, but he also asks Mulder if his name is Jewish and calls him part of the "Jew FBI."
posted by AndrewInDC at 6:55 AM on September 12, 2023 [2 favorites]
> (The Jews did it: I am curious, now, to think about how the X-Files portrayed Judaism. Offhand I can't think of any instances, but might be worth digging in.)
This comes up explicitly in the excellent Season 6 episode "Drive," which features Bryan Cranston as the guy who must keep moving ever-faster westward or else his head will explode. He's convinced (it turns out correctly) that the government did this to him, but he also asks Mulder if his name is Jewish and calls him part of the "Jew FBI."
Upthread someone also mentioned the episode Kaddish, which was about a golem and an Orthodox Jewish community. Also, David Duchovny was personally of the opinion that Mulder was Jewish, but just really casual about it. There were no formal statements either way so he just decided that on his own; so he has some terse responses to Cranston's character comments in Drive.
....My own favorite Duchovny moment in Drive actually came when Cranston's character, a guy named "Crump", grabs Mulder's cell phone and throws it out the window at one point. Now - Mulder is supposed to have grown up in Chillmark, Massachusetts, a small town on Martha's Vineyard; David Duchovny grew up in Brooklyn. When Crump throws the cell phone out the window, Mulder is understandably upset - and when he is yelling at Crump, the supposed Massachusetts-raised Mulder lapses into a VERY thick Brooklyn accent as he yells that "that was SO STOOPID, Crump! That was SO STOOPID!" And that makes me laugh every time.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:06 AM on September 12, 2023 [3 favorites]
This comes up explicitly in the excellent Season 6 episode "Drive," which features Bryan Cranston as the guy who must keep moving ever-faster westward or else his head will explode. He's convinced (it turns out correctly) that the government did this to him, but he also asks Mulder if his name is Jewish and calls him part of the "Jew FBI."
Upthread someone also mentioned the episode Kaddish, which was about a golem and an Orthodox Jewish community. Also, David Duchovny was personally of the opinion that Mulder was Jewish, but just really casual about it. There were no formal statements either way so he just decided that on his own; so he has some terse responses to Cranston's character comments in Drive.
....My own favorite Duchovny moment in Drive actually came when Cranston's character, a guy named "Crump", grabs Mulder's cell phone and throws it out the window at one point. Now - Mulder is supposed to have grown up in Chillmark, Massachusetts, a small town on Martha's Vineyard; David Duchovny grew up in Brooklyn. When Crump throws the cell phone out the window, Mulder is understandably upset - and when he is yelling at Crump, the supposed Massachusetts-raised Mulder lapses into a VERY thick Brooklyn accent as he yells that "that was SO STOOPID, Crump! That was SO STOOPID!" And that makes me laugh every time.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:06 AM on September 12, 2023 [3 favorites]
Solid list but “Tooms” is the second Tooms episode, right? It probably doesn’t matter that much but you might as well watch the first one (“Squeeze”) first.
Oops! You're correct, I meant Squeeze.
posted by Reyturner at 7:28 AM on September 12, 2023 [1 favorite]
Oops! You're correct, I meant Squeeze.
posted by Reyturner at 7:28 AM on September 12, 2023 [1 favorite]
It absolutely kills me how bad the two episodes he worked on are
Yeah, I agree. I had *really* high expectations and was bummed out by the result.
It can be really hard for a creator to leap media.
posted by doctornemo at 7:42 AM on September 12, 2023
Yeah, I agree. I had *really* high expectations and was bummed out by the result.
It can be really hard for a creator to leap media.
posted by doctornemo at 7:42 AM on September 12, 2023
"Kaddish" and "Drive" - yes, good catches.
I should rewatch 'em.
posted by doctornemo at 7:43 AM on September 12, 2023
I should rewatch 'em.
posted by doctornemo at 7:43 AM on September 12, 2023
The X-Files was my first pop culture obsession after I discovered it in season 3--joined the fan club, bought the collectable card game, read all the novelizations. I re-watched it last year in a fit of nostalgia, and because my girlfriend had never seen it. (Albeit, we watched a condensed version of about 13 episodes each season, since I don't really have the time anymore for 24 season episodes).
It raised some of the same eyebrows mentioned above in terms of how some of the themes now reflect right-wing tropes. It was useful to me to remember that Carter grew up watching the Watergate coverage, which of course came on the heels of the Pentagon Papers, secret bombings and invasions, etc. In other words, a lot of that government conspiracy theorizing was the domain of the left (though not exclusively, of course.)
I felt the conspiracy stuff was at it's best in episodes like "Paperclip", where the real conspiracy was America's post-war compromises with war criminal scientists, and wish the show had proceeded more along those lines. I guess it was too late to say "aliens don't exist", but I'd have preferred them to be more of unknowable force the government was just using a red herring. I remember at the time thinking it was daring for a popular network show to be so critical of the U.S.'s self-conception of being "the good guys".
posted by kaisemic at 8:56 AM on September 12, 2023
It raised some of the same eyebrows mentioned above in terms of how some of the themes now reflect right-wing tropes. It was useful to me to remember that Carter grew up watching the Watergate coverage, which of course came on the heels of the Pentagon Papers, secret bombings and invasions, etc. In other words, a lot of that government conspiracy theorizing was the domain of the left (though not exclusively, of course.)
I felt the conspiracy stuff was at it's best in episodes like "Paperclip", where the real conspiracy was America's post-war compromises with war criminal scientists, and wish the show had proceeded more along those lines. I guess it was too late to say "aliens don't exist", but I'd have preferred them to be more of unknowable force the government was just using a red herring. I remember at the time thinking it was daring for a popular network show to be so critical of the U.S.'s self-conception of being "the good guys".
posted by kaisemic at 8:56 AM on September 12, 2023
“The Enduring Appeal of The X-Files Lies in Its 'Monster of the Week' Episodes,” Stephen Robinson, Primetimer, 05 September 2023
posted by ob1quixote at 9:43 AM on September 12, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by ob1quixote at 9:43 AM on September 12, 2023 [1 favorite]
What X files really needed was a geeky hacker, a stoner troublemaker and a talking dog. Posited: Scooby Doo Mystery Inc is a better X-Files than X-Files.
posted by seanmpuckett at 9:52 AM on September 12, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by seanmpuckett at 9:52 AM on September 12, 2023 [2 favorites]
We wouldn't have Mystery Incorporated or Gravity Falls if not for the X-Files.
I'd also argue that we wouldn't have found out who those kids pictured in the locket Daphne found in the cave were or who authored the Journals if it wasn't for the X-Files completely blowing any hope of a satisfactory resolution to Samantha Mulder's abduction.
You can divide every show that's followed in the footsteps of the X-Files into two categories: those that learned from it's mistakes and understand that you can't jerk the audience around for multiple seasons and expect them to still be interested, and those that didn't.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 10:49 AM on September 12, 2023 [3 favorites]
I'd also argue that we wouldn't have found out who those kids pictured in the locket Daphne found in the cave were or who authored the Journals if it wasn't for the X-Files completely blowing any hope of a satisfactory resolution to Samantha Mulder's abduction.
You can divide every show that's followed in the footsteps of the X-Files into two categories: those that learned from it's mistakes and understand that you can't jerk the audience around for multiple seasons and expect them to still be interested, and those that didn't.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 10:49 AM on September 12, 2023 [3 favorites]
“The Enduring Appeal of The X-Files Lies in Its 'Monster of the Week' Episodes,” Stephen Robinson, Primetimer, 05 September 2023
I came to the series late - actually it was probably a bit after the original run ended - after my aunt lent me some VHS tapes of classic episodes and yeah, I only really ever cared about the standalone episodes, though some of the early arc ones are exciting if you pretend you don’t know it doesn’t go anywhere.
posted by atoxyl at 10:51 AM on September 12, 2023 [1 favorite]
I came to the series late - actually it was probably a bit after the original run ended - after my aunt lent me some VHS tapes of classic episodes and yeah, I only really ever cared about the standalone episodes, though some of the early arc ones are exciting if you pretend you don’t know it doesn’t go anywhere.
posted by atoxyl at 10:51 AM on September 12, 2023 [1 favorite]
At the time I also thought episodes like “Monday” (tired concept) and “The Field Where I Died” (melodramatic) both ranked highly here, were a letdown from the early monster stuff. But I was a teenager so I don’t know - was I right, or did I just expect monsters and clever Darin Morgan scripts?
posted by atoxyl at 10:56 AM on September 12, 2023
posted by atoxyl at 10:56 AM on September 12, 2023
I had a telling experience in college sitting around watching an early episode with friends. On the show a high school student grabs a kid, pushes them into a locker, and yells, "psycho killer" in their face. Without missing a beat this girl I barely knew sitting next to me whispered, "Qu'est-ce que c'est."
Dear reader, I didn't quite marry her, but we went on to have a great relationship.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 1:52 PM on September 12, 2023 [5 favorites]
Dear reader, I didn't quite marry her, but we went on to have a great relationship.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 1:52 PM on September 12, 2023 [5 favorites]
« Older “Oh yeah,” I said. “Call me Mister Diamond Hands.” | Oh yeah, he's THAT guy! Newer »
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posted by AndrewInDC at 6:32 AM on September 11, 2023 [1 favorite]