Photo by Gavin Bond (via Gillian Anderson Fan)
Fox officially announced the return of The X-Files yesterday, and as a die-hard fangirl of the series, I am ecstatic. Truly. Knowing that the show will be a short, six-episode run, makes me hopeful that the story will be a lot tighter than it would in a more traditionally American 22 episode season. As of yet, there are no scripts or concrete idea of what the story will entail – or if it will just be a collection of Monster of the Week-style episodes, but I’m happy to know that both Gillian and David are on board. It isn’t The X-Files without both of them.
Back when the show was in its eighth season, I had a bit of a falling out with it because the story had been circling the drain and Duchovny had left. I remember watching the finale of that season and not then bothering with the final season or the second feature film, I Want to Believe. I think I’d been a little hurt that my show had fallen apart. By that point, I’d gotten into other fandoms, but I would still pop on some of the older episodes or the first film.
Last year, I decided to rewatch the entire series from start to finish, even the dreaded ninth season and poorly regarded IWTB. Watching the final season made me wish I’d just left it at the s8 finale because of the mess they’d made with the William storyline. That being said, I’m glad that I decided to complete the series. As for IWTB, it wasn’t nearly as bad as people had told me, but it wasn’t great by any stretch of the imagination. It just was like a longer, less interesting MotW episode but with kissing (I liked the kissing, that was nice). I also picked up the first two volumes of the Season 10 comics series and have been enjoying it so far. Perhaps it may even tie into the upcoming series, but this is purely speculation as I don’t know if the comics are considered official canon or not.
This rewatch coincided with me rediscovering my complete love and adoration of Gillian Anderson. Her BBC series, The Fall, cemented for me how great she is at playing these interesting feminist characters, and I love that she is an outspoken feminist herself. Dana Scully really played a huge part in my development, and I’m forever grateful that Gillian was the one to play her. I couldn’t imagine Scully otherwise. Seeing newer and younger fans being influenced by Scully warms my heart, and I love that I can share something that’s still so dear to me. In fact, there are many women working in the STEM fields who attribute their interest to Dana Scully – this is known as “The Scully Effect.”
(Source: heymonster.tumblr.com)
With the show in pre-production, newcomers and old fans alike have time to watch or rewatch the series. Netflix and Amazon Prime both are streaming the show currently, but if those options are out for you, definitely check out your local library and see if they own copies or can get them through interlibrary loan (shameless plug for my day job, not sorry). You can also check out my Newbie’s Guide to The X-Files for some of my favorite episodes that require little-to-no knowledge of canon. Give a listen to Kumail Nanjiani’s X-Files Files podcast where he and a guest discuss each episode of the series. Earlier this year, Gillian Anderson sat down with the guys at The Nerdist podcast and talked about the (then) possibility of a reboot series and was generally delightful and giggly. She also drew a vagina in their guestbook (cap from @midnight, 2×81). I love her.
Go forth and celebrate, X-Philes! Our show is coming back.
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