31 years ago — thirty one! on 24 Sep 1993 — the first non-aliens-related “monster of the week” episode of #TheXFiles aired, “Squeeze”, and a myth was born with Eugene Victor Tooms! With his green eyes against a pitch black background, he became one of the most recognizable aspects of the X-Files “brand”. His influence is still felt today: here is a 2022 song entirely dedicated to him, video clip and all, named after Tooms’ address, from the German thrash metal band TRAITOR!
(And 30 years ago, Piper Maru Anderson was born, all the while “The Host” and “Blood” were airing.)
Today is the 30th anniversary of #TheXFiles season 2 premiere, “Little Green Men“! Yes, time flies and the series as a whole 31 years old, not just 30. “LGM” had a great atmosphere and plenty of memorable character and visual moments with unique photography (Mulder’s introductory monologue, Mulder’s recollection of Samantha’s abduction, the introduction of Senator Matheson, Mulder recording his thoughts for Scully at Arecibo, Scully trying to escape her surveillance, “contact”…). And yes, this was my first X-Files episode, way back then (but not in 1994).
[FRENCH] Podcast suite et fin (pour l’instant !) avec, parce qu’il le faut, la saison 9 de #TheXFiles — mais il faut avouer que je suis bien d’accord avec les participants, il y a bien peu de choses à sauver de cette saison. Je me demanderai toujours qu’est-ce qui se serait passé s’ils avaient fait une cassure nette avec le duo Mulder-Scully et consacré cette saison qu’à la nouvelle génération : est-ce que ça aurait plus réussi ou est-ce que ça aurait était pas plus mémorable que ce qu’on a eu ?
Here’s a quick interview with Chris Carter about the new book “Perihelion” in this episode of XF Diaries: in short, he is very glad that there are still new things TXF coming out. He was consulted and offered notes, but this was really Claudia Gray’s work. As usual, he avoids answering anything directly, but he stresses that the book is “keeping with the canon” (a nuance of “canon” per se), I think he just makes the distinction because this is a novel and not a live continuation and it’s not his own work; but it also means that whatever happens in the novel does not comes into contradiction with what he would have done were there to have been a season 12. It’s not clear if he directly shared his own ideas for the future with Gray or just tried to steer Gray away from something. But if the book series continues, more answers will have to be given and we might end up knowing what he’s hiding. For what that’s worth.
He also teases that there’s an easter egg in “My Struggle IV” about where the show and the characters were going and leaves us wondering My bet? William/Jackson was shown holding an egg hatching, and the episode ends with Scully pregnant: he is a life-giver, and he could have had a role in Scully’s new pregnancy, hence the final smile. What do people think?
Some obligatory references to #TheXFiles in this video essay arguing for the return to the episodic format on television, which has been lost with the “everything must be relevant to the main plot” trend of streaming shows.
set right after the season 11 finale (so expect Scully-Mulder dealing with the aftermath of that, and stuff about William and the second pregnancy)
Chris Carter-approved (whatever that means! we know how the IDW comics were decanonized as soon as there was a live revival)
written by a long-time fan of the show (wrote TXF fanfic as early as 1995) mostly known today for paranormal/romance young adult novels and Star Wars tie-in novels
mixes new mythology with monster-of-the-week investigation
sets up more novels in the future (as any respectable Disney tie-in would do: this is, after all, a lucrative business)
freely comment with spoilers below + shortish review coming soon
