Slashdot Mirror


'The X-Files' Returns For 8th Season

Shturmovik[KGB] writes "It's official - Scully and her assistant, what's his name, that guy, umm, Mulder, that's right, are back for another season, though it looks as if Agent Mulder will appear in only 6-9 episodes: but then, as long as we have Agent Scully, who cares...? Check out the official announcement here at the FOX XF Web site. "

31 of 100 comments (clear)

  1. Plotlines revealed! by pixelix · · Score: 2

    Keep this hush-hush, here's the lowdown on some of the new plotlines for the latest series of the X-Files!

    - Mulder finds yet another facet to his sister's disappearance (episodes 1 thru 12)

    The X-Files, duller than ditchwater since 1996.

    --
    jambo
    system.admin.without.a.clue

    --
    -- js.
  2. The Best X-File yet.. Its longevity by SirStanley · · Score: 2

    This show was great the first two seasons. Then X-File Mania Hit Full Swing and it was still good but I started to get reall sick of it reall quick. This show should ended a while ago... How many times will Mulder And Scully get soo Close but never ever get an answer?
    the show has two major issues.
    1. It suffers from the "gilligans Island" syndrome
    2. It suffers from the "gilligans Island" syndrome
    What i mean is this. We all know that Mulder and Scully will never get what they are looking for. In order to keep the audience captive, the show must keep some sort of reality. And Admist all of the monsters and such Mulder and Scully never do _really_ get proof of anything. That way some doubt can be left to the viewers mind. The show has always been like this and we know darn well it won't change.
    Secondly... Carter has stated numerous times Mulder and Scully will never have any kind of real romantic relations (Yea they might have almost did once but I remember scully getting stung by a Bee right before it happened then they dropped it). And because carter has stated this we know it aint gonna happen. When either do the show is over. This applies to Gilligans Island because.
    The whole premise behind that show was a Cast of Tourist stranded on a desert Island looking for ways to get off. They won't get off.. If they did the show would be over.... And do you remember when they did? They went on another cruise and ended up on the same STINKIN island (IIRC).
    Anyways
    Tag

    --
    --------========+++Dont Feed The Lab Techs+++========--------
  3. Re:It's time to give up by Junks+Jerzey · · Score: 2

    The X-Files was a great series when it came out, and lasted well for what it was, but no show should be pushed beyond its shelf life.

    Any show gets old after you've watched it too long. For people who only started watching recently, the new ones are just fine. But those people don't get to rant on about how great things were back in The Day and how the scene has totally fallen part.

  4. Re:It's time to give up by CausticPuppy · · Score: 2

    Especially since this is the the second(?) season after the "full disclosure" 2-part episode which was supposed to answer all the questions.

    I'm not even interested in the episodes that deal with the long-term plot anymore (Mulder's quest for truth/sister, who's the smoking man, etc). I think even Chris Carter is getting tired of trying to come up with new material. I'm not quite the X-files freak I used to be either, but I still love watching shows from the first 4 seasons or so.

    --
    -CausticPuppy "Of all the people I know, you're certainly one of them." -Somebody I don't know
  5. Re:Without direction by BoLean · · Score: 2

    Read the other replys to my comment. apparently this is a money issue caused by Fox screwing over the actors and giving the syndication to Fox affiliates. I saw a great interview on PBS with Charlie Rose and David. He really has the right attitude. As far as the conflict between personal life and work, we all have this problem. Balance is important.

  6. Re:It's time to give up by fiziko · · Score: 2

    "TV actors sign a five-year contract with a two-year renewal option."

    In this case, Chris Carter and David Duchovny are (now) signing on a year-by-year basis, but Gillian Anderson has been signed to season 8 for a number of years. As it stands, none of them are required to return for a ninth season. Based on statements I've heard in the past, it could mean all three walk at the end of this season, dealing only with movies.

    Fox has expressed interest in running the show without Mulder and Scully, to overwhelmingly negative fan response. Some will still give it a chance, but most have little hope for the show's future without the stars that define it.

    --
    - W. Blaine Dowler
    http://www.bureau42.com
  7. Re:It's time to give up by jabber · · Score: 2

    Amen to that. And let's add to it.

    There was a time when Fox was a cutting edge network. They moved faster, and kept up with the times better than any of the Dinosaurs (ABC, NBC, CBS).

    Remember when the Simpsons debuted?

    Fox still has some fast-movers, like MadTV (which is hands-down better than the current SnL), but it's lost it's way. The edge has gone dull on crap like COPS and 9021blow. retch!

    There are still SOME good shows out there, but they're spread out all over the channel spectrum, and often at inopportune times.

    Looks like I'll be treating myself to a TiVo or ReplayTV. Now, about getting bigger HD in those puppies...

    --

    -- What you do today will cost you a day of your life.
  8. Re:they should've stopped BEFORE the movie by 348 · · Score: 2

    That was supposed to be my point, guess I didn't word it very well. IMO the movie was hyped to be "the answers to all the open plots" and in actuality it blew chunks. It closed the "are there really aliens" plot line but didn't address the inter twined relationship stuff which made the show interesting. I stopped watching after the movie came out, most of the shows now just seem silly.

    --

    More race stuff in one place,
    than any one place on the net.

  9. Once more, with feeling by The+Llama+King · · Score: 2
    You whiners. The X-Files has at least one more good season in its hoary old body, and here's what should happen:

    Duchovny signs on. It's announced that this is the last season. The entire season is spent in a wind-down of Mulder/Scully vs. the Mega-Conspiracy. CM plots to completely shut down the X-Files investigations for good, and succeeds. At the end of the season, Scully/Mulder are fired and are set up to become X-file-investigators for hire, which will be the theme used in several follow-up movies that will make everyone rich.

    The Llama King | Q3A\\ClanDamn

    --
    C'mon, baby, kiss The King.
  10. Re:Feh. by EvlG · · Score: 2

    The Lone Gunmen are my least favorite characters on the show. They just sort of babble on in the X-Files equivalent of marketspeak -- "You mean they downloaded the virus into the defense mastrix and how the system is overloaded and can't be rebooted? What about the carrier tones"....

    You get the idea. They try to be geeks for non-techy people, but I just don't think it works.

    Besides, everytime they come on the plot ends up being "we need to save our friends!" like in that lameass FPS episode.

    I really, really hope Fox kills that stupid idea for a Lone Gunmen series after the pilot is made. It just won't be worth watching.

  11. x-files before X-files? by geekoid · · Score: 2

    Night stalker. that was a great,for the 70's, show. every week this reporter would go out and dig up some 'monster' then defeat it in the end. the Actor (Gavin McCloud(?)) was on an episode or 2 of the X-files. When Mulder first went to visit him, I thiught the y where going to tie the 2 shows together, in a loose sort of way. I think it would have been cooler then the actor playing a retired FBI agent.
    Foe some strange reason Chris Carter didn't ask for my opinion on that one... ;)

    --
    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  12. Re:Without direction by paRcat · · Score: 2

    Hence, my point.

    Actors have real lives. In this case, David wants to spend his time with his family. His contract is up. But if he doesn't renew his contract, he's looked at as a "prick". Tell me the reasoning behind that one.

  13. Mulder is expendible by way2slo · · Score: 4
    Hear me out. Mulder is expendible. His entire purpose in the show is to make the initial correlation, either through the X-File archives or through investigation, of the new case to some myth, obscure fact, government cover-up, or whatever. After that, anybody could do the investigation. Sure, Mulder also supplied his natural intuition to take the path less traveled, but that too can come from somewhere else. The obvious answer is The Lone Gunmen.

    I can imagine several ways to set up the main storyline, but this is one:
    Kill Mulder off. That would have been what I would have done seasons ago if I were one of the government guys trying to cover up my conspiracy. Why risk him finding you out and shutting you down? Ok, so they finally wise up and kill Mulder and get rid of their greatest liability. They killed Deepthroat and his sucessors, it's about time they got to Mulder.

    Mulder is dead so they try to shut-down the X-Files, again. No. They should have learned by now, over the past 7 seasons, that they can't really kill it. There will always be an FBI unit that has X-File cases shoved it's way. They reason that by taking Mulder out of the picture it is crippled, or so they believe. They leave Scully to do the X-File investigations with the idea that she can't make the same connections that Mulder did and therefore will be ineffective. Weather the FBI assign her a new partner or not is trivial. Trying to duplicate the chemistry between Scully and Mulder would be a bad idea, IMHO. She should probably be on her own as an agent making it more difficult for her to figure out the government coverup.

    But that eliminates the conversations between her and a partner. Well, that is another area where the Lone Gunmen can play. Besides, there does not need to be that much dialogue. You can do a lot with the camera. Have Scully just observe and as you see her investigate or just look around the camera angle switches and zooms in on the clue. Or maybe she dosen't see it and leaves, but the camera pans over to show it to us and maybe she finds it later in the episode after she as learned more and it becomes signifigant. There are lots of things that can be done.

    The other elements, the "path least taken" intuition and the initial correlation of the case to an X-File type thing, should come from The Lone Gunman or others, which ever is more appropriate for the plot. Like Deepthroat, they can tip Scully off to things, but more importantly they can play a role in the case as well. Not just as mere informants, but as co-investigators behind the scenes doing what they do best. They could be worked in as much as the plot needs.

    Still, there is one small problem. Why would they stop after killing Mulder? Why not just kill off everyone and assign the X-File cases to some new rookie agent that is in way over their head and has no clue. Why not hunt down and kill off The Lone Gunmen if they appear to be helping. Well, they could cover their tracks digitally, but sooner or later a standard tail on Scully would reaveal them and then that would be it. It's obvious that there needs to be some kind of trump card that is throw to counter that sort of thing. A gardian-angel of sorts.

    Someone, or something, that intervienes on their behalf once in a while when it looks as if they might get caught or worse. The gardian should be totally mysterious. Perhaps you never even see it, just the results of what is has done to save Scully and the Lone Gunmen, but the show should not focus on it that much and make it into a "transporter" that always saves the day like on Star Trek. The government guys would try a couple attempts and when they are mysteriously foiled they go "What the heck?!?!" and stop the attempts until they figure out who is helping them. Perhaps Scully and the Gunmen know who/what it is? There are different angles that could be played with it.

    With all that going on and add in some neat/creepy storylines, a good plot, and good scripts. It would be easy to keep the show going for another season without Mulder. There is nothing wrong with re-inventing yourself from time to time.

    "A little revolution now and again is a healthy thing, don't you think?" - The Hunt for Red October

  14. Re:It's time to give up by Ralph+Wiggam · · Score: 2

    I say that they should have a second show called "X files: Syndicate" starring Mimi Rodgers (Agent Fowley) and Krycek. They would take orders from Smoking Man and try to rebuild the syndicate that got burnt up. I just think there should be more shows focusing on bad guys.

    -B

  15. The first X-File by Breakdown · · Score: 3

    Looks like the first X-File for the new season should be to figure out what's wrong with Fox's javascript on the X-Files press release page.

  16. It's time to give up by spiralx · · Score: 4

    The X-Files was a great series when it came out, and lasted well for what it was, but no show should be pushed beyond its shelf life. There always comes a time when it's obvious that a show should stop, but it seems like Fox is so desparate to make money from it that they're going to keep pushing it, even though one of the two main characters is practically pulling out.

    No, it's time for the X-Files to bow out gracefully. Eight seasons is too many - even Star Trek only ever lasts for seven.

    1. Re:It's time to give up by turg · · Score: 4
      Eight seasons is too many - even Star Trek only ever lasts for seven.
      Well, that's got more to do with contracts than whether the show's gotten old. TV actors sign a five-year contract with a two-year renewal option. That means that after seven years, they're "free agents" and it has only been for a few rare shows that the producers have been willing to pay what the actors can ask after that.

      ========
      --
      <sig>Guvf vf abg n frperg zrffntr
  17. Should End It by BWS · · Score: 3

    They should've end it now instead of dragging on for another seasons.

    This happens to a lot of shows and they drag it on till the show is no longer popular and then cut it off. This is like what happened with 'Home Imporvement'.

    I thought that XF should go out when they were at least popuplar. That's what 'Sienfield' did and people still rate that show as #1.

    I think that basically, they should end it now. And espically if Mulder isn't on everyweek, its going to suck. One of the best things about the show was the heat/arguments between Mulder and Scully. Without Mulder, Scully can't argue unless she's arguing with herself but then that would be crazy.

    --
    -- Note: These Comments are Generated by ME! Not You! ME!
  18. They should have stopped with the movie by 348 · · Score: 2

    Once they got away from the "Criecheck(sp?) and CSM" style plots, the show seemed to suffer. The ongoing saga of the government conspiracy to hide alien experiments and such was at least entertaining. Now the story lines just seem weird and unconnected. They should have stopped with the release of the movie.

    --

    More race stuff in one place,
    than any one place on the net.

  19. Re:Without direction by BoLean · · Score: 2

    Hardly an excuse since they moved the show to California for him. As far a beating a dead horse, there are virtually no limits to what stories they can persue. Unlinke a lot of shows where the characters are limited by either storyline continuity or setting, X-Files could do anything.

  20. Let the self-parody go by TomatoMan · · Score: 2

    Face it, the X-Files has just deteriorated into a parody of itself. It's time to let it go.

    My gf got me into it a couple of years ago, and there were a few really thoughtful and brilliant episodes, and the big main storyline held my attention. But now, where are they? At the open and close of the season we get an episode about this impending invasion of earth and the conspiracy to conceal it, but in between it seems everybody forgets about it and we get tongue-in-cheek episodes about brain-eating, shapeshifting fast food workers, the occasional slimy monster, and just plain idiotic concepts like "First Person Shooter," written specifically to make gamers watch and see Mulder and Scully dress in ridiculous outfits, "disappear into the game" (oooh! original!) and display combat tactics that would lead me to sneak up behind them with the gauntlet and get a quick "Humiliation!"

    I say, finish the damn story; it's interesting. Forget the cheese whiz space-fillers. Then move on.


    TomatoMan
    --
    -- http://frobnosticate.com
  21. Not over - we've only just begun! by fleener · · Score: 4

    If Mulder leaves, have the alien conspiracy shift to strip clubs. Scully goes undercover to investigate. Turns out the strippers are using innocent club customers for deviant sexual encounters to produce hybrid offspring to combat the government's own hybrid project. Byers, Langly and Frohike play starring roles as they willingly provide their seed in an undercover operation.

  22. Could be good by harmonica · · Score: 2

    I'm not sure how the show will be without the Scully / Mulder interaction. However, there were episodes before with one or the other missing, and they weren't all bad (remember the Scully-in-Maine episode?).

    I also hope for the conspiracy-crap being dumped forever -- I can't stand that subplot.

    But I guess I'll miss the humour in the dialogue between the two.

  23. Re:Kill the show already! by CrazyJoel · · Score: 2

    "Secondly, Corporations Do not "Control" the government. Corporations Control the TV-Brainwashed Public. But the public Controls the government. And by controling the public Corporations get what they want."

    Which leads to fear which leads to anger which leads to hate which leads to suffering....

    But if Corporations control TV, don't they control the X-files? That's why you'll never find a corporate conspiracy on tv. It's not part of the regular brainwashing programming.

    --

    Such is the infinite Grace of Popeye.
  24. To many "Freak of the Week" episodes by ahg · · Score: 2

    I enjoy the "mythology" episodes more.

    After the movie too much was answered to keep things interesting. All they could reasonably get out of the series was one season past the movie to add some closure like Mulder learning the truth about his sister and perhaps...

    1) The good aliens defeat the bad aliens and humanity never knows what happened. (we're not evolved enough to handle the truth)
    2) The good aliens are assisted by humanity, people learn the truth and we have our new friends come visit.
    3) The bad aliens start the invasion and the future of humanity looks bleak. - Ths opens the opportunity to new plots in future periodic movies - somewhat like StarTrek.

    I like #3 the most.

    --

    --Aaron Greenberg

  25. Why /. keeps falling for trolls (OT) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2

    Sorry this is offtopic and all, but I'm curious about what people think and there's not really anywhere ontopic to post it, so I'm posting it here as an AC. Thanks :)

    Every so often I see posts like this, which are pretty blatent trolls to me, but time and time again I see /.ers falling for them hook, line and sinker. This seemingly complete inability to spot a post that overtly relies on a hostile reaction seems puzzling at first given that /.ers are supposed to be intelligent, thoughtful people (or so I've been led to believe), and I've come up with some ideas about why trolls are so successful here on /.

    Firstly I think that a lot of the problem is the strong opinions about certain subjects that is so prevalent on /. and seen in the bias imposed by the selection of stories and the moderation system itself, which is a system which rewards conformity and inclusion rather than promoting diversity. /. suffers a lot from what is known to social psychologists as community reinforcement and propagation, in which a community is the process by which people promote other people with whom they agree with and push out those who are not within the accepted range of beliefs for that community, hence the reinforcement part, and since this behavoiur snowballs we get the propagation part.

    This process is often not a conscious one on the part of the members of the community, but even a little thing such as only replying to people with whom your opinions mesh can accomplish the driving out of others with undesirable beliefs. After all, nobody wants to admit to themselves that they are biased against other opinions in any way, no matter how small, but the end result is the same whether done purposefully or not.

    The trouble with /. is that the moderation system takes this subconscious prejudice and places it at the level of doctrine. Moderators are encouraged to use their points to "promote discussion" and since the vast majority of /.ers are Linux and open source zealots, promoting discussion means moderating up party line posts which do not conflict with the majority of readers views. These highly rated posts which agree with people's views are safe to reply to - they provide positive reinforcement of the views that are already held and do not require the reader to challenge their core beliefs through a process of argument and counter-argument.

    Anyway, the reason why /.ers fall for trolls is related to this principle. Since the moderation system reinforces already held beliefs /. readers are used to a parade of easy to digest party line opinions, and their scepticism is slowly subsumed by an apathetic view of the world where the party line holds truth. When a troll comes along that is a) written in complete sentances and b) written by someone with at least half a brain this apathy overcomes the scepticism that people should bring to bear on every post they read.

    Even with the false information, erroneous logic and blatent flamebait contained within a troll it is still accepted as being a genuine and valid point of view no matter how extreme, and the /.er is forced to accept that someome holds a different view from what they have become used to. Since the average /.er is a zealot at heart and used to a comfortable world of agreeing viewpoints, they become enraged at this deviation from their belief system, and fall hook, line and sinker for said troll.

    So anyway, my point is that as long as there is /., there will always be Slashbots who fall for trolls. The dynamics of community interactions and the nature of /. demands it.

  26. Without direction by BoLean · · Score: 3
    What i used to really like about X-Files was that the show wasn't serial. You could watch any episode as a stand-alone mini-movie. Then two years ago they started turning it into a soap opera. Recent episodes have been better, but the stories seem to lack the same creative inspiration of the origional stories. For awhile I thought they were shifting more from space alien stuff to the supernatural. But recent episodes seem to be all over the place.

    Its sad to see that Duchovney(sp) is being such a prick. I've seen him in numerous interviews and he is a really sharp, funny guy. His movies have been flops for the most part so I wonder why he is dissing the show that made him. If he could manage to get the right movie role he could become much more sucessful, but until then he really should give his old fans some respect. In this respect Clooney from ER is really a cool guy. I hardly ever watched ER buy most of his movies have been great. The days of actors having to choose beteen a screen career or TV career are over.

    1. Re:Without direction by paRcat · · Score: 2

      Ya, moving it to California should've fixed it. Right.

      If the guy wants to be with his family, and he should, that means time, not location. He could work next door and not be spending enough time with them. X-Files is huge, and it probably requires a lot of dedication and time on his part. He may not have minded this 7 years ago, but now he wants it different.

      They aren't puppets there for our amusement. They have real lives. More big actors should be this intelligent.

  27. Re:Kill the show already! by CrazyJoel · · Score: 2

    "No, it is the only true insight we have to the secret workings of the American government and the shadey links between the CIA, FBI and the aliens who have been visiting Earth over the last few thousand years."

    Awww, c'mon! Government conspiracies are so '90s. Get with the times!

    We all know that it's the corporations that are behind everything.

    --

    Such is the infinite Grace of Popeye.
  28. Why David D. is holding out... by SethJohnson · · Score: 2


    David Ducovney is suing Fox.

    The dispute is over how the company sold the rights to the syndication of the show. Instead of handling it via a normal bidding war open to all stations everywhere, they simply gave it to all the FOX affiliates for a set price in every FOX market. This resulted in Rupert Murdoch cutting his own tv stations a cherry of a deal while screwing over the actors' whose contracts featured strong compensation via the syndication revenue.

    I am betting that Mulder will win the lawsuit and get a huge amount of money to coast on for the rest of his life, regardless of how his future movie career unfolds.



    Seth
  29. Dammit by Graymalkin · · Score: 2

    This show has been dead since the movie. PLEASE STOP FLOGGING A DEAD HORSE. If you want a cool show put the Lone Gunmen into wacky situations on a weekly basis. And do yourselves a favor and get Darin Morgan to write another episode. Yet another reason to firebomb Fox headquarters.

    --
    I'm a loner Dottie, a Rebel.