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New X-Files Movie
An anonymous reader writes to let us know that a new X-Files movie is in pre-production, directed and written by Chris Carter and starring David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson. Duchovny said in an interview that his understanding is that filming will start in November for a summer 2008 release. The article notes that in an earlier interview, Anderson said the film "would stay away from the series' (and first film's) sometimes tortured mythology" (quoting the article, not Anderson).
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Ok, so if the 2nd movie will be staying away from the "tortured mythology" of the series and the first movie.... how is it an X-Files movie?
God help us if this turns into some John Cusak-esque romantic comedy (with a dash of aliens).
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Gillian Anderson has got to be pretty old by now. The fun may be gone.
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Part of the fun of the original series was the non-closure (no solid proof or clarity) and the tension between believer and skeptic. They drifted away from this later in the series, and even the first movie. At the end of the series, Scully became the believer and the new guy the skeptic, but it never quite worked right. For one, there was no sense of sexual tension between the new dude and Scully like there was in the original pair.
Table-ized A.I.
Oh wait, was I suppose to put a spoiler alert first?
As someone who shares a flat with an avid X-Files (or more correctly Gillian Anderson) fan, I've been hearing rumours about this for, oh, at least two years now. And even now it sounds as though the script hasn't even been finalised yet, and they might not have all the funding they require at this point. Because the series finished so long ago, and (even according to a significant portion of fans) lost it's way over the final couple of series I think this movie is going to be a hard sell for a mainstream audience. Which I think will result in budgeting problems for the producers, which could mean delays or the filming not even being completed. I'd love to seen another X-Files outing, (and not just to watch my flat mate explode in the ecstasy of a celluloid Anderson experience) however I'm a very long way from getting my hopes up.
So what's the point, other than to cash in on the franchise? Way bother to have an X-files move if you don't folow the X-files back story in it? It would be like taking some scifi space move that was completely unrelater to the star trek universe, casting a couple of aging trek actors, and slappimg the Star Trek name on it.
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a movie about the return of the sideshow freaks might be good
Oh, that was funny as shit! X-files was one of the few series that both my wife and I watched (normally, we have very different tastes). After the sideshow episode, we both starting using the cliche, "Don't worry, somebody ate the problem".
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Meh. I never really liked Fox Mulder, Dana Scully was hot initially, but over time she got older, and whinier, and then the whole hooking up with Fox, and the child and the.... oh man, totally sucked the hot right out and replaced it with booooring.
An X-Files movie would be great. But you don't need Fox or Dana to do it. Fresh faces, fresh talent, less annoying. Although, if they could get W. B. Davis back as the C.S.M in a major plot part that would be fine by me, I liked that guy. It could be a pre-quel, before the X-Files, examining some aspect of the origins of the whole back story. That'd be cool.
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What? IMNSHO, Lost stinks of focus groups and cash-cow milking. It's been treading water since the first season; since then, they've thrown out a new scrap of mythology every couple of episodes, which more often than not bears no reference to what came before (eg the six toed statue), while spending the rest of the time on pointless flashbacks and love triangles.
The X-Files had a planned story arc that should have lasted seven seasons; stupidly, Chris Carter let himself be bribed, and tried to extend things for another couple of seasons. For those first seven seasons, things did go somewhere with the X-Files; mythology was built by adding information about the conspirators, the alien invaders, the black oil. That mythology is the main reason why X-Files was so good.
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My god, you're trusting. Did you ever watch Alias, JJ Abrams' previous series? It had a lot of mysterious backstory, involving the magical Rambaldi devices and several -- I lost count -- rival secret spy organisations, and everybody related to and alternately saving or betraying each other. It ended in a disappointing, confused pile of nonsense worse than the X-Files finale.
If Abrams has an ending planned, it's going to use a lot of "it was just a dream/illusion" etc, to paper over the cracks.
Welcome back, Miss Anderson. We miss you... Oops, sorry, wrong movie quote.
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Scully's character was very complex and brought a vital part of the main dynamic of the x-files (faith/spirituality versus objectivity/rationality) to life. On matters of the paranormal, she represented science and objectivity against Mulder's sometimes irrational desire to believe. Yet on matters of spirituality, she supported religion in the face of Mulder's skepticism. Over time their roles would intertwine, invert, and revert. When Mulder left and Agent Doggett took over, Scully became the 'Mulder' type character with a belief in the paranormal and Doggett the unbeliever.
In summary: Scully was/is a great and interesting character who drove the series beyond the usual two-dimensional sci-fi claptrap. If you stopped watching because she isn't "hot" to your standards, then you are a fool of the highest order. I note that you did not make similar remarks about Duchovny's character, when he has aged quite a bit too (apart from his hands, which remain perfect).
Read Pynchon.
There has always been a big division amongst fans.
Myself, I have always loved the conspiracy arc in the x-files, and I know a lot of others who feel the same way. Although it got rather convoluted with the bees and so on, some parts of it (such as Tunguska and all that stuff with Krycek, and the shifting role of the Cancer Man/X/Deep Throat/Bill Mulder) were fascinating and were definitely what kept me tuning in week after week.
Yet some people hated that stuff, and loved the "locals tell of the mythical swamp monster... and here it is!!!!11!!!1!" type episodes, the "monster of the week" as someone called it here (also "serial killer of the week" at times). Personally I feel like those episodes were frequently poorly done, and the sfx never really carried the silly plotlines adequately. There are some notable exceptions of course (I loved the Loch Ness Monster episode, but of course that was great mostly because they never show the thing).
Of course some of the better episodes had a bit of both - a "monster of the week" which turned out to be part of the broader conspiracy arc, or segued into it.
My perception is that more hard core fans tend to prefer the aliens, casual fans prefer the wolf-man stuff. Maybe it's an attention span thing too. It will be a shame if the new episode does nothing to move the conspiracy arc forward - of course, it may well be set earlyish in the series, rather than at the end.
Read Pynchon.
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Scully and Reyes Sex scene now we are talking Box Office Gold.
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The weird sci-fi ones were the best. I liked the one where the bugs would come if they didn;t have light, or the arctic research lab with the worm that made people go nuts, or even the one on the dead tanker where the water was poisonous. Those episodes are the ones that were really scary because it was a "what if" kind of effect. It was plausible that it could happen and so it was interesting. Thats good science fiction to me. Don't get me wrong, space operas like star wars are cool and all but thats all people see as sci-fi these days.
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Age aside, I lost my fascination with Sculley when they made her vulnerable and emotional. The ice-maiden thing was quite the draw, but when I saw her crying and needy...hell, I can find that anywhere. Cerebral and aloof? Sign me up.
David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson in a new X-Files movie? That's a surprise, now that their individual, off-x-files careers have skyrocketed so completely!
"Evolution" is the only non-x-files movie I can remember having seen either of them in, and belive me; I'd rather I forgot.
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> Gillian Anderson has got to be pretty old by now. The fun may be
> gone.
Nope. She was recently in a UK TV production of Bleak House.
She's certainly less gamine, but still *gorgeous*, at least to my taste (to me Sigourney Weaver's hotter in Alien Resurrection than the original).
Conrad
I'm glad this is happening, the world was crying out for a new X Files movie. I'm glad all my protest letters to Fox finally had an effect.
Now that it's starting, I can tell you all the plotline. In the first half of the movie, Scully and Mulder will travel deep into the artic to find the lost alien mothership that contains the special brand of bees needed to resurrect the Lone Gunmen.
In the second half of the movie, Scully and Mulder will try to save the world from Zombie Lone Gunmen.
If I knew the wedgies I gave you back in 6th grade would have resulted in this . . . I might have taken a moments pause.
I was kinda hoping if X-files ever returned it would be in a parody/tribute to itself, a la Galaxy Quest. Duchovny is a pretty funny guy.
I think too much time has passed to try and re-indoctrinate folks to the "tortured mythology" of the X-files, and the monster-of-the-week episode could really work, because many of those types of episodes still stick out in my mind (like, as one user mentioned, the critter/sporeling in the arctic research station which admittedly was something of a rehash of The Thing).
However, the problem I've always had with TV-to-movie transitions is that nowadays, the production values are so good in the episodes that there's little a movie can do to add to the prestige of the original series. TV serial formats have the advantage of hours and hours of lore and backstory, while movies, though typically a bit better crafted and with bigger explosions/effects, have approximately two hours to get EVERYTHING across.
Serenity was at least an opportunity for Joss to get closure on his murdered television series, but I smell a cash cow and little else with this new X-Files flick (and maybe Duchovny's realization that his vanity exceeded his aptitude when he left the series aloft the marketing of his own name).
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