In the USA
beginning in 1996, the X-Files began to be issued in VHS (yes, that
clumpsy magnetic thing before the Digital Versatile Disc or whatever
it's
officially called came along), with each VHS tape containing two
episodes. With these tapes came insert cards with art on the tape's
specific
episodes. Not all the episodes were issued so not all episodes have
their card, and for some reason the cards stopped being issued after
Tunguska/Terma came out, so in
all there are 42 panels. Not content to be novel enough for releasing
so many episodes on VHS, the X-Files made entire pieces of art
for each single episode!
I do not own these cards and I have salvaged the following scans from
defunct 1990s fan sites, saving them from oblivion along the way. As
far as I know, they
now only exist here and in some collectors' houses -- which is a shame
since this really is memorable X-Files art. I believe I had seen the
panels for the
Pilot and
Deep Throat printed on T-shirts a
while back. If you come across
this page and can provide better scans for the world to see, please
contact me.
The cards were made by
Thom Ang and
Cliff
Nielsen. These are the same
people who, with Miran Kim, did the artwork for the Topps trading cards
of seasons 1-3. The trading card sets had cards and panels like this
for each episode, but these are not the same paintings/collages. The
artwork is not credited individually; I believe most, if not all, were
made by Thom Ang (you will notice a trademark 'a in a triangle' in most
panels).
The art is haunting and beautiful in its own, twisted way. Some "to be
continued" episodes were given a special treatment, with imagery in one
panel echoing the other's: in particular take a look at
Duane Barry / One Breath,
Colony / End Game and
Nisei / 731. Artist and X-phile
Jared Adams tried to continue in the same vein, making panels for all
the mythology episodes that followed, going so far as to use the same "
The X Files" logo and the echoing
between continued episodes' panels -- I find the result very successful
and I encourage you to visit it
here.