Chiudere gli X-Files, per fermare il lavoro di Mulder e Scully e soprattutto per impedire a Mulder di continuare a fare domande scomode: non c'era modo migliore per concludere questa prima stagione. O forse sì. Forse ce n'era uno: mostrarci il grande burattinaio, l'Uomo che Fuma, mentre si aggira fra gli scaffali che nascondono tutti i segreti del mondo. Tutte le prove che le teorie di Mulder sono fondate, e che il Pentagono - perché è qui che si trova il magazzino dei segreti - nasconde cose indicibili. Prove di rapimenti alieni, torture, manipolazioni. Prove di abusi e ... [Continua a leggere]

Una delle tappe fondamentali nella storia di X-Files è il nostro incontro con loro, i Lone Gunmen. I Guerrieri Solitari. Anche questa volta siamo di fronte a una presentazione dei personaggi estremamente efficace: tre personaggi molto diversi, un "capellone" biondo, un "piccoletto" più anziano e un "damerino" in giacca e cravatta (così ne parlò Chris Carter parecchi anni fa, durante un'intervista). I tre sembrano tipi apparentemente inconciliabili, ma bastano poche parole per farci capire che sono tutti sulla stessa lunghezza d'onda: in una manciata di secondi ... [Continua a leggere]

Eugene Tooms. Un nome che per tutti i fan di X-Files evoca ricordi spaventosi e indelebili. Perché è il protagonista di un episodio che ha lasciato il segno per molte ragioni. Innanzitutto siamo di fronte al primo, vero "mostro" incontrato da Mulder e Scully. A soli due episodi dall'inizio della sua incredibile avventura, X-Files mette le carte in tavola: questa non è solo una caccia agli alieni. La cospirazione che ha portato gli extraterrestri fra noi è solo uno fra i moltissimi misteri che i nostri eroi dovranno affrontare. Li attendono molti altri casi inspieg ... [Continua a leggere]

"Sono già qui, vero?". "Signor Mulder, sono già qui da molto, molto tempo". Siamo solo al secondo episodio di X-Files e la nostra video storia ci regala già una grande rivelazione. Fox Mulder si è finalmente guadagnato una risposta. Ha la certezza che gli alieni esistono, e che sono già fra noi. La sua ricerca della verità è appena iniziata, eppure lascia che il suo misterioso informatore, che conosciamo solo come Gola Profonda, si allontani. Mulder non lo subissa di domande perché, in fondo, ha già avuto l'unica risposta che co ... [Continua a leggere]

Aspettando la miniserie-evento in arrivo su FOX a gennaio, in contemporanea con gli Usa, ripercorriamo insieme la storia di X-Files attraverso alcuni dei momenti più significativi della serie di Chris Carter. E non potevamo che iniziare da qui, dall'episodio pilota. Con il primo incontro fra Mulder e Scully. Come ti creo il mito: prendo "l'agente più rompipalle dell'FBI", quello che in ufficio ha i poster con le astronavi e che i colleghi hanno soprannominato Spooky ("spettrale") e gli affianco un'agente donna, un medico con una specializzazione in fisica che ha addirittura risc ... [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]

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]

In “Beyond the Sea,” which originally aired on Fox TV on January 7, 1994, Scully’s father (Don Davis) unexpectedly passes way during the holidays following a sudden, massive coronary. Scully (Gillian Anderson) experiences a premonitory vision of her late father immediately before her mother (Sheila Larken) notifies her by phone of his death. At work the next day, Scully and Mulder (David Duchovy) attempt to locate and rescue two kidnapped teenagers in Raleigh, North Carolina by meeting with a notorious death row inmate, Luther Lee Boggs (Brad Dourif). Boggs claims psychic p ... [Continua a leggere]

“Eve” is our X-Files episode of the week as we continue to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the classic Chris Carter TV series.  This eleventh episode of the fledgling series was penned by Kenneth Biller and Chris Brancato, and directed by Fred Gerber. “Eve” commences as Scully (Gillian Anderson) and Mulder (David Duchovny) fly to Greenwich, Connecticut to investigate the death of a suburban man who was drained of blood.  Mulder suspects alien abduction is behind the murder, citing examples of cattle-mutilations with a similar modus operandi. At first, the o ... [Continua a leggere]

“Squeeze” is The X-Files (1993 – 2002) first “monster-of-the-week” installment. As such, it represents a template for future entries such as “2Shy,” “Teliko,” “Hungry,” and “Alone.” Most of these monster-of-the-week-styled outings deal with a murderous genetic mutation of one type or another, but one who -- out of some biological deficiency -- kills human beings in order to survive. This mutant pinpoints in the human physiology, then, the key to controlling its own existence and satisfying that aforementioned defici ... [Continua a leggere]

The X-Files first episode, “Pilot” written by Chris Carter and directed by Robert Mandel, remains a strong introduction to this classic horror/sci-fi series. The inaugural installment not only presents an intriguing mystery and introduces audiences to engaging characters caught up in life-changing events, it also presents a first and ominous peek at the dark forces aligned against the protagonists, and against “the truth” itself. But even better, the X-Files “Pilot” is skillful in the manner by which it deploys (and co-opts) horror imagery or symbolism. I a ... [Continua a leggere]

Perhaps the most interesting new character on television is the enigmatic informant on The X-Files, a strange but marvellous program that intertwines imagination, suspense and sexual tension. The informant, modelled after the “Deep Throat” who helped unravel Watergate, appears every few episodes to offer guidance to the Fox show’s hero, an FBI agent with a Lone Ranger complex. The agent pursues unsolved cases that seem to prove the existence of UFOs and paranormal forces. The informant is cryptic, but apparently aware of government coverups. Each has credibility, but each a ... [Continua a leggere]

“Inspired by actual documented accounts” from various sources, “The X-Files” will offer a tantalizing sitcom alternative from 8 to 9 p.m. Fridays on WFLD-Channel 32. “Television needs a good, scary, weekly show,” said writer-producer Chris Carter, who created “The X-Files” for Fox. “That’s what I want to do. We’re going to be scary and entertaining. “I’m frightened by the unknown. By technology, genetic engineering and their consequences. By things that can take place in the realm of extreme possibility,” said ... [Continua a leggere]

In which we creep into the head of Chris Carter, Creator and Executive Producer of The X-Files, and crawl behind the scenes. Q. Did you always have in mind a two-person cast, male and female? A. The Mulder-Scully idea was there from the start. And I wanted to flip the gender types, so that Mulder, the male, would be the believer, the intuitive one, and Scully the skeptic, which is the more traditional male role. It was also important that Scully be Mulder’s equal in rank, intelligence, and ability–because in real life the FBI is a boy’s club–and I didn’t want he ... [Continua a leggere]