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'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. "
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
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.
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.