The X-Files (2016 miniseries). [Spoilers]

[The Romulan Republic]

With the X-Files returning to television for the first time in over a decade, I'm creating this thread to discuss the new miniseries. Their will be a premier airing shortly, and a second episode airing tomorrow night.

Personally, I have mixed feelings. I liked the show despite its faults, and I was reminded of that when I watched some reruns of old episodes on tv today. But I do not like the conspiracy theorist culture the show potentially plays into, and the last movie was... somewhat lacking. It was okay as a reintroduction to the series and had some good moments, but suffered, as I recall, from a weak performance from Gillian Anderson, some missed opportunities, and what seemed to me to be a nasty undercurrent of homophobia.

It was also utterly unsuitable as a finale (it was, as I said, more a reintroduction), so in that sense, I'm glad the show's coming back. Especially since it seems that they'll be going back to the "mythology" arc with the aliens, where their are some unanswered questions.

I'll likely post more comments after the episode has aired tonight.

Edit: Added a poll.

[The Romulan Republic]

Well, that was... a lot more political than I recall the X-Files generally being.

I'm not sure weather they're endorsing the Right wing paranoid extremist crowd, mocking and refuting them, or both. They seemed to be going back and forth on the subject. I suppose I'll hold off judgement until I see part two.

The tone was a little different from the old series. They showed more, with bigger special effects, than was sometimes the case in the past. I guess you can do more with TV effects now. That might detract from the mystery of it somewhat.

It was very hard to buy, at this point, that Scully would be skeptical about anything after everything she's seen or that Mulder would get so easily convinced that his long held convictions and cause were a lie. Mulder's been down that road before, of course, but after everything they've seen...

Of course, Mulder was also being intentionally depicted as not the most stable person, which is certainly in character, so...

Really, too early to say.

Great CSM cameo at the end though, and some genuinely emotional moments. And its nice to see that they're giving Skinner opening credits status.

Edit: It was a bit much, even for a die-hard Democratic voter like me, to hear Scully dismiss Right wing conspiracy theorism as fear mongering and comparable to treason. I mean, sure, it was obvious Mulder was getting taken in by a politically motivated individual, but at the same time- honestly, the stuff Mulder and Scully have seen, and tried to prove, with aliens is every bit as outlandish and frightening.

[FaxModem1]

Is there any explanation for why the alien invasion of 2012 hasn't happened, which was the crux of the series finale?

[The Romulan Republic]

Not really.

Mulder goes off on some wacko theory about how the invasion is already secretly underway, but he now seems to think that its a covert government takeover of the world using alien technology rather than an actual alien invasion.

For that matter, their's no explanation of how CSM is alive. I'm hoping all this will get explained, but with the X Files, you never know.

I suppose part of it might come down to weather they think they're likely to get any more episodes or films after the current six. If the answer is yes, they may want to set up stuff without fully explaining it. If not, they'd be better off trying to wrap up the plot lines they do have in a satisfactory way.

Edit: While it might be implied, I realize now that I should have put a spoiler warning on this thread. My apologies for overlooking this.

[The Romulan Republic]

A rather disturbing thing that I found out about through TV Tropes, and can't believe I didn't notice before:

The premier's title "My Struggle"... is of course "Mein Kampf" translated to English.

I don't think the X Files is aiming for subtle Nazi propaganda, because I don't think that would be consistent with the show's past (though the flirtation with far Right lunacy makes me wonder if Chris Carter has lost it in his old age) but a title which draws parallels between your protagonist (presuming, as seems to be the case, that the "struggle" in question is Mulder's) and Hitler is an... interesting move for the first episode of a revival. I really wonder where they're going with this. Unless of course its just a really strange coincidence.

That said, I can't believe their hasn't been any sort of notable controversy over that title in the media yet. Guess no one's caught on outside of a few geek websites.

[JI_Joe84]

It did feel like moulder just jumped in with both feet and way too early. That just turned me off right there. If they had just played it cool using the episodes events to draw moulder in ( talking the pregnant girls murders) then it would have been way more interesting and believable. Not to mention watchable.

[FaxModem1]

Okay, I watched the first episode, and what the hell was that?

First off, aliens are the invading monsters that have abducted people numerous times and kowtowed the world's major governments into what they want, but are instead victims who crashed on Earth, and were killed by the American military so that the elite Corporations and Government leaders could make a coup on the US? Okay, if that's the case, what's the point? Why nuke your own country so that you can rule over it?

Also, if the Alien bounty hunters, alien conspiracies, etc. were all bullshit, then what were we watching previous seasons? When the alien bounty hunters killed the original syndicate, that was all for Mulder's benefit? Was there a conspiracy over the Syndicate to make them think they were talking, pretending to surrender, and making a bioweapon against the aliens? Were these top-tier government conspiracy people dressing up in alien costumes to talk to the Syndicate and forcing them to cooperate with their elite alien spacecraft?

What's their plan after the US destroys itself? Are they hoping the rest of the world just shrugs its shoulders and does nothing while the US falls apart and has a fake alien invasion?

Honestly, I was completely with Scully for the majority of this episode, the rest of these people are crazy and idiotic.

[The Romulan Republic]

Yeah, it seems they've abandoned the old aliens arc in favour of more generic Right wing extremist conspiracy nuttery.

I'll probably keep watching out of a mix of morbid curiosity, lingering franchise loyalty, and a faint hope that it'll get better, but I'm not happy with this direction.

Hopefully its misdirection.

[FaxModem1]

Watching episode 3. I'm loving this new bitter Mulder who is tired of how a lot of conspiracies have perfectly logical explanations, along with Scully being joyful to being doing this weird stuff again. Seeing as how some of my favorite episodes of the X-Files were the comedy ones, it was a nice return to form.

[The Romulan Republic]

Damn. I heard the new one was good, but missed it for the Iowa Caucuses.

[FaxModem1]

Damn. I heard the new one was good, but missed it for the Iowa Caucuses.

Same, but it is accessible via Hulu or Fox's website. Though I don''t know if they allow viewing in Canada.