by Jen
 | Before Joss Whedon gave us Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Chris Carter won the hearts of sci-fi geeks everywhere with The X-Files. Viewers followed FBI Agents Mulder and Scully (David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson) as they researched mysterious happenings that may or may not have had alien origins. |
The show aired on FOX for a total of nine seasons, from 1993 to 2002, and spawned two movies - with rumors of a third still floating around the internet.
| I remember when the X-Files first came on the air. Though I’d been raised on various Star Trek incarnations and developed what my mother thought was a morbid taste for true-crime shows, I’d never encountered anything quite like this - and I was hooked from the start. I generally preferred the monster episodes to the ones that focused on aliens, but I tuned in every week almost without fail to see what Mulder and Scully would stir up. |  |
 | It’s especially fun to spot the now-famous guest stars in various episodes. MTV.com has a comprehensive list of the 54 best celebrity cameos in the series, but I’d also add Seth Green in the episode “Deep Throat” and Gotham’s Donal Logue in “Squeeze”. |
| The villains hold up pretty well - William B. Davis’ Cigarette-Smoking Man is a quietly menacing presence, Eugene Tooms is horrific in “Squeeze,” and don’t even get me started on “Home” - I still can’t bring myself to watch that masterpiece on the horrors of inbreeding again. Mulder and Scully’s allies seem to have held their own over time as well, particularly The Lone Gunmen and Mitch Pileggi's Skinner. |  |
Nostalgia (and Netflix recommendations) led me back to the X-Files recently, and I’ve been watching the show again beginning with the first season. It’s a little funny to see how much technology has changed from the early 1990s to today - in one episode, secret agents take Mulder’s camera and rip the film out; today’s audiences would wonder why he didn’t just take photos on his phone and post them on Instagram before any government agency could shut him down like that!
There are three episodes that always stand out in my mind: “Bad Blood”, featuring a guest appearance by Luke Wilson; “Chinga”, which was written by Stephen King; and “How the Ghosts Stole Christmas”, a poignant episode featuring Lily Tomlin and Ed Asner as ghosts in a haunted house.
Whether you believe The Truth Is Out There, or that we should Trust No One, the X-Files is still a great show to revisit today.
Sound off in the comments - what was your favorite X-Files episode?
Whether you believe The Truth Is Out There, or that we should Trust No One, the X-Files is still a great show to revisit today.
Sound off in the comments - what was your favorite X-Files episode?
