The second season episode “3” has never been particularly well-regarded by fans of The X-Files, and there are reasons that support this point-of-view. For instance, this is an episode where Mulder works alone, and Scully is nowhere to be found, thus flouting conventional formula. And, shippers may be disappointed or angry because Mulder experiences a sexual liaison with a woman in the story who is not Scully. Indeed a certain percentage of the hostility aimed at “3” apparently revolves around Mulder having intimate relations with another woman. Some fans consider thi ... [Continua a leggere]

Gillian Anderson says she can replace Helen Mirren as a new queen of the TV thriller in a BBC drama she thinks is the next Prime Suspect. The X Files star, 44, is convinced her character Detective Superintendent Stella Gibson in The Fall will be on screen for years to come and could cash in on viewers love of murder series’ following the huge success of Broadchurch. The final of Broadchurch drew over nine million viewers on ITV and many of them will enjoy watching Stella track down a serial killer next month on BBC2. Speaking about the tense new drama, Gillian said: “I have al ... [Continua a leggere]

The X-Files first great two-part episode, “Duane Barry”/”Ascension” plays a lot like a 1990s action thriller, with a tense opening act involving a hostage negotiation, and a final act that gets down to business with picturesque locations, and impressive physical stunts. That description, however, only begins to scratch the surface of this two-part epic, a legitimate X-Files classic. This is also the story-line, for instance, that forwards significantly the series’ ongoing subplot about alien abduction (first introduced in the pilot), and ends on a cliffhanger in ... [Continua a leggere]

Let's put the truth out there: Gillian Anderson has never looked better. Dressed all in black, in tight jeans and a polo-neck jumper, she wears her hair scraped back in a ponytail that shows off flawless skin and those famous cheekbones. You'd never believe she was 44.She's relaxed, too, and instantly chatty, with no hint of the "spiky and serious" person she's claimed to be in the past. When she speaks - in the English accent she adopts on these shores - she's considered and thoughtful, but very aware of the clock and the minutes ticking away before she must leave to pick up her two youngest ... [Continua a leggere]

HANNIBAL, the new NBC series that premiered last night to positive reviews, is about as dark as network TV gets. The series, written by Bryan Fuller and whose pilot was directed by David Slade (HARD CANDY, 30 DAYS OF NIGHT), takes Thomas Harris’ iconic star of book and film, Dr. Hannibal Lecter (here played by Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen) and unfolds his pre-RED DRAGON life over an entire season (if the show does well, maybe a few seasons), aiding FBI profiler Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) as he hunts serial killers while the good doc himself is quietly killing and consuming even more victims ... [Continua a leggere]

When I reviewed “The Erlenmeyer Flask” a few weeks ago, I discussed the notion of the alien corpse or “wellspring” as a kind of Pandora’s Box. Use of the alien corpse’s DNA in scientific experimentation would mean -- in the universe of The X-Files --a brave new world, one with infinite variations, and infinite capacity for good and evil applications. Chris Carter’s episode “The Host” also involves, at least implicitly, a Pandora’s Box of another brand. In “The Host,” Mulder and Scully investigate a strange mutant spawned ... [Continua a leggere]

The X-Files goes big and deep with its second season premiere, “Little Green Men,” which aired on Fox television September 16, 1994. The story, by James Wong and Glen Morgan, concerns an existential crisis for Mulder. Without the X-Files as an overriding purpose, he has difficulty holding on to and maintaining his belief system. Mulder’s crisis of faith is played out in “Little Green Men” on a much bigger scale than many season one episodes of The X-Files, suggesting a budgetary boost, perhaps. Whereas many X-Files episodes of the first season were contained in ... [Continua a leggere]

With “The X-Files,” Chris Carter created the template for the modern science-fiction series and influenced the direction of serialized storytelling on television, which is why we’re thrilled to announce that we’ll commemorate the 20th anniversary of the show with a special closing-night screening at the fourth annual Hero Complex Film Festival. What’s more — you get to tell us which three episodes of the landmark series that detailed the exploits of intrepid agents Mulder and Scully that we’ll screen at the event. The Hero Complex Film Festival will ... [Continua a leggere]

Londra, seconda meta’ dell’Ottocento. Philip Pirrip, detto Pip, e’ un orfano cresciuto accanto all’eccentrica Miss Havisham. Grazie all’aiuto di un benefattore, Pip puo’ ambire a mutare la propria condizione per diventare finalmente un gentiluomo. Riuscira’ cosi’ a conquistare il cuore di Estella, la bellissima figlia di Miss Havisham della quale e’ follemente innamorato? Nuovissima versione televisiva del classico di Charles Dickens gia’ portato sullo schermo da David Lean e piu’ recentemente da Mike Newell, realizzata dalla B ... [Continua a leggere]

The X-Files’ first season finale, “The Erlenmeyer Flask” is both a logical development of the series pilot, which established extra-terrestrial incursions on Earth, and a vanguard for the overall Myth-Arc, which describes over several seasons an attempt by humans to create human-alien hybrids before alien colonization of Earth commences in 2012. Written by Chris Carter and directed by R.W. Goodwin, “The Erlenmeyer Flask” -- like many of the greatest episodes of The X-Files – also takes as its inspiration a real-life story or mystery, and then turns that mys ... [Continua a leggere]

LOS ANGELES—David Duchovny must be weary of answering questions on the status of the third “The X Files” movie. Still, he answered with his boyish smile in our recent chat, “As I’ve said many times, I’m always willing to do it. I know Gillian (Anderson) is, too. Gillian is about to come here and do a Rand Ravich drama on NBC. So, that can only help—Gillian being high-profile here again. And Chris (Carter, ‘The X-Files’ creator) is around. We all love Chris and think he’s brilliant, so…” Despite his commitment to his TV s ... [Continua a leggere]

My encounter with Gillian Anderson is a lively joust—with a constantly uncertain outcome. She arrives, punctual to the second, at the London hotel where we meet, unencumbered by that ubiquitous and stultifying accoutrement of fame—the agent or PR person. But during our interview there will be a few times when I fear she might throw her glass of water over me and walk out. At 44, the acclaimed actress is a gorgeous, petite, blonde bundle of contradictions, warm yet reticent. One moment she’s friendly, guileless, almost girlie; the next, edgy and suspicious.    S ... [Continua a leggere]

In a segment similar in structure to “Ice,” The X-Files episode “Darkness Falls” finds Mulder and Scully in an isolated location (this time an impenetrable forest a full day’s hike from civilization…) battling a microscopic life-form from prehistory with the capacity to destroy mankind if it spreads to the world at large. The factor that meaningfully differentiates “Darkness Falls” from “Ice,” however, is the episode’s context or background. In “Ice” the F.B.I. agents had to contend with an infectious parasite insi ... [Continua a leggere]

“Gender Bender,” which first aired on Fox TV on January 21 of 1994, remains one of the weirder and perhaps more controversial first season episodes of The X-Files. That controversy arises -- as it often does in life -- over one particular subject: sex. In particular, this installment directed by Rob Bowman muses upon the qualities that comprise human sexual attraction and arousal. In the final analysis, does it all simply come down to chemical attraction? Can our responses, in effect, be programmed by chemical changes? This is not merely a matter for intellectual debate, eithe ... [Continua a leggere]

"The X-Files" is returning with a Season 10 ... via a comic book series. IDW will continue the adventures of Mulder and Scully on the page with a new comic book written by Joe Harris with art from Michael Walsh. "The X-Files" creator Chris Carter is serving as an "executive producer" on the new series, like Joss Whedon does on the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" comic book. In an interview with Comic Book Resources, series writer Harris confirmed Carter "is personally reading outlines and scripts, and providing feedback and suggestions." The new series picks up after the last film and yes, Mulder ... [Continua a leggere]