Today is the 20th anniversary of the premiere of The X-Files! I'm having a little X-Files marathon/party tonight (there will be sunflower seeds aplenty) to celebrate and, as usual, trying to dress on theme. When I got dressed I was thinking "oh, green for aliens" but then I realized that's actually more of a generic interpretation of aliens, not X-Files specific.. so let's just say it represents alien blood instead. Which is green.
I was too young to watch The X-Files with my parents when it premiered, but they eventually started letting me join them when I was about 11. And I've been an X-Files super fan ever since! After it went off the air (in the days before internet streaming) I used to catch re-runs on cable and repeatedly watch my season 6 (my favorite!) dvd set over and over. I was so excited when Netflix finally put it on instant -- I think I've watched the series start-to-finish at least 10 times or more since. And I started my own little tradition of watching How the Ghosts Stole Christmas on Christmas Eve every year. It's the perfect way to start my holiday! :)
My favorite non-mythology episode, hands down, is Arcadia (Season 6.) Mulder and Scully pose as a married couple in a Stepford-esque planned community in order to figure out why residents keep disappearing without a trace. As someone who's not too keen on suburbia, that particular element to the story appeals to me, but I particularly love Mulder and Scully's witty banter while they're pretending to be husband and wife ("that's right, poopy head.") They have a lot of great back-and-forth in the series, but their dynamic in Arcadia is (in my opinion) the best.
I also love Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man (Season 4) which centers on the possible backstory of CSM. I've always had a bit of a soft spot for him -- his villain isn't as cut-and-dry as most usually are. Even if the events detailed in the episode are fictional, you're still left with the impression of a frustrated, slightly pathetic aspiring author-- hardly the sinister, shadowy figured he appeared to be.
If you haven't watched the show before, I (obviously!) highly recommend it. If you like Breaking Bad, try out the Season 6 (there I go again! It's so good though!) episode "Drive" which stars Bryan Cranston and was written by Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan, and see how you like it!
I know a lot of people who weren't immediately smitten and eventually warmed up to the show and grew to love it. I think it really all depends on which episode you see first. Some of the monster-of-the-week episodes can probably be off-putting if you've never seen the series before (like the one about the radioactive monster that lives in the New Jersey sewers or the early internet creeper who projects spider web vomit on his victims. ewww) and some of the mythology episodes can be really confusing if you weren't already familiar with the whole alien invasion backstory. I personally think it's best -- since the whole series is readily available on dvd, netflix, hulu plus, and amazon instant -- to just start from the beginning. The pilot episode was fantastic, and 20 years (to the day!) later, it definitely holds up. If I wasn't already hooked, the pilot would hook me for sure.
Happy Anniversary, X-Files!! :)
