ROTTEN TOMATOES: Kim Newman's Guide to The X-Files

Kim Newman's Guide to The X-Files

As the movie arrives in cinemas, catch up on the show!

by Kim Newman | July 31, 2008

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FBI agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully are assigned to the X-Files, the department dealing with inexplicable phenomena -- flying saucers, killer mutants, werewolves, bigfoot, etc. -- the bureau can't officially acknowledge. Meanwhile, other factions in power know all about aliens and monsters, and pull strings to frustrate Mulder's quest for a truth which is 'out there'. And factions within factions betray the conspiracy by doling out information to the heroes.

Writer-producer Chris Carter was inspired by earlier paranoid sci-fi/horror shows (The Invaders, Project UFO, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, Twin Peaks) but spun The X-Files into a ten-year run by combining weird stuff which industry wisdom deemed a turn-off with police procedural business in the manner of Thomas Harris and, crucially, a developing but ambiguous relationship between coolly sexy leads David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson which evoked successful TV teamings like Steed and Mrs Peel on The Avengers, Maddie and David on Moonlighting and Starsky & Hutch. They were professional partners, but undercurrents suggested they were potentially a lot closer.

When the show first aired, the nascent Fox network thought a comedy western with Bruce Campbell (The Adventures of Brisco County Jr.) would be their break-out hit and were surprised by its runaway success. Among other things, The X-Files brought TV fantasy back from the wilderness (leading to such hits as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Heroes and revivals of Doctor Who and Battlestar Galactica) and put imported American series back on UK primetime TV.

The X-Files Magazines

The mannerisms were always easy to parody, though the show was among the first to salt slyly satiric jabs at itself in the occasional comedy episodes ("that's supposed to be a name?" a suspect responds when presented with a card reading 'Fox Mulder'), and its 'mythology' episodes (an ongoing storyline about alien abductions and the hero's complicated family) eventually strangled the series to the point when few could actually follow successive, contradictory revelations (and Duchovny's semi-escape from later seasons didn't help).

But the series managed more than enough outstanding episodes to qualify among the greats of pop TV -- as a cop show, a horror show, a conspiracy saga and a workplace romance.

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(1-13 of 13 posts) | Reply

reapermad writes:
on Jul 31 2008 11:01 AM

The X Files is still the greatest telecision show in history. Prove me wrong, y'all, I freakin dare ya!

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jaredisme writes:
on Jul 31 2008 11:51 AM

reapermad, you are 110% right! there will never be another show quite like it....

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Archivist writes:
on Jul 31 2008 12:24 PM

I would hasten to add Bad Blood and Triangle to this list.

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Archivist writes:
on Jul 31 2008 12:25 PM

I would hasten to add Bad Blood and Triangle to this list.

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the_reasons writes:
on Jul 31 2008 01:14 PM

A fine list.

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cgcbooks writes:
on Jul 31 2008 03:21 PM

Never watched it.

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wakeman490 writes:
on Jul 31 2008 04:53 PM

In reply to this comment (#1940144)
The Simpsons is the greatest TV show ever, at least the first 10 seasons are, and they have an X-Files episode, which was awesome. Mulder has a picture of himself in the nude inside his wallet! Hilarious.

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Joe Utichi writes:
on Jul 31 2008 05:18 PM

Archivist: Agreed. Kim actually said it was a hard list to come up with because there were so many exceptional episodes.

Personally I'd add Arcadia and War of the Coprophages.

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JHE writes:
on Jul 31 2008 07:09 PM

twin peaks is the greatest =D

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nevermachine writes:
on Jul 31 2008 09:15 PM

yeah, X-files is awesome. i vote for bad blood too. and the Host! both very awesome episodes. i dont know where any of you people out there in internet land live or how you feel about walmart, but my local walmart has one HELL of a deal on buying these shows. What originally cost upwards of $100 per season is now only going for $20 per season. when i saw the sale for the first time i felt like a crack head finding a big ol pile of crack rocks. i spent $80 on the spot and have gone back and spent $60 more. one hell of a sale, FYI.

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vdominick writes:
on Aug 01 2008 12:27 AM

I would replace Jose Chung, X cops, and Hollywood AD with
Bad Blood
War of the Corpophages
Small Potatoes

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jimgysin writes:
on Aug 01 2008 10:21 AM

I agree that there should be room here for WAR OF THE COPROPHAGES, and I also believe that any list that excludes GROTESQUE is a fatally flawed list.

But let's face it. This was one of a very few exceptional shows in which it truly is difficult to narrow things down to a top ten.

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dirtygerman03 writes:
on Sep 02 2008 05:23 PM

I'd say Twin Peaks is #1 with X-files being a VERY close 2nd. Both phenomenal shows.

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