Well hello, again, Fox Mulder! After the narration at the start of the opening episode, My Struggle, we launched into the familiar theme and a tightness in the pit of my stomach finally eased. I feel like I've been holding my breath without even knowing it, but at last, The X-Files is finally back.
There are few shows with as many besotted fans as The X-Files. In that respect it's up there with series' like Doctor Who, and just like the adventures of Gallifrey's most famous son after their respective cancellations many fans petitioned for a restart to both shows. (Of course, the BBC never actually used the 'c' word when it quietly dropped Who in 1989 and instead insisted that they and the Doctor "were on a break," a-la Ross and Rachel).
The X-Files always felt like a franchise that had more stories to tell, and the ones we have seen in the first few installments of this revival are new and relevant stories. New, relevant and, most importantly, worth the journey. The show is not the same as it was, and that's to its credit. We have the characters we know and love but in a new phase of their adventure, and in the able hands of show creator Chris Carter, and with the full cast back, it's like a dream come true. The truth IS out there and we have the best guides leading us to it.
I just like hearing the character names said on screen in 2016... Skinner, Scully and Mulder. It's lovely that Duchovny is just himself. From the first moment we see him, he's Fox. As he says, "my work is a punchline," I can see the ideas flipping in his eyes (and his jawline). And when he turns The X-Files on their head... I believe him.
Once we get past the time we lost, we see the conspiracy theories alive and well, only now in a world of social media. Dana no longer doubts the existence, but the veracity of today's witnesses to the horror of alien life. In many ways, this series is the anti-Who, where the bad military kills aliens because, after all, they are inferior and always a danger.
Highlights so far include the neutralizing of the media, Left and Right, in My Struggle. I love how they were lambasted with marginalizing ridicule. Joel McHale made for a a lovely cast addition as Tad O'Malley, he fitted in so well and in his persona helped to update the franchise. So many more, from bringing Tesla's hypothesis about unlimited wireless energy to fruition, to discussing biological disfigurements with a possible alien cause. The commitment to production value and blank honesty is amazing. I especially loved seeing Mulder walk into a Faraday cage (which is something I would not know of without the Doctor. I see a fan crossover.)
Watching The X-Files in 2016 is like getting on that horse again, it's like never forgetting how to ride your childhood bike, it's like relaxing back in your favorite chair and letting the story wash over you.
The X-Files is back, for far more than just the original fans.
I wonder, is this how those Classic Whovians felt watching those first few new Doctor Who stories in 2005?
Risk-averse, Stacy would not even enter the TARDIS in case it suddenly set to motion. Yet, gentle reader, she feels compelled to clarify that she writes opinion or editorial pieces. By using logic and reasoning, she always hopes to coherently provoke honest discourse.
No comments:
Post a Comment