Before I get to how I would redirect the series, including storyline, I want to discuss the series franchise directly and how it influenced my life. Also included in the discussion are the X-Files movies and the PlayStation 2 game "Resist or Serve."
I hadn't had any exposure to the X-Files until last August ever since 2008 when I watched the second movie which was no good. Prior to that I saw the last two seasons back in 2007-2008 when I was in Pakistan. I had bought them cheap on DVD. And prior to that I had played the PlayStation 2 game Resist or Serve in 2004.
The game was a piece of cake due to it's survival horror genre, which makes games more worth playing instead of senseless button pushing. Weather you're a regular gamer or not or a regular X-Files fan, this game met all standards of excitement and adventure.
But at the same time you don't really need to buy it. Once you've played the game and finished it there is really nothing more to it. It has limited difficulty selections and unlockable bonus features unlike the Resident Evil games that it was modeled after.
So aside from those I really had no exposure to the series since watching the second movie on DVD but didn't like it.
My revisit to my favorite TV franchise was rather a miracle. Back in the summer of 2011 towards the end of July I had just dropped a summer course at university that I was failing so I was left with nothing much to do until regular classes resumed in September.
During summer school I had traded my regular mobile phone service for blackberry to use Internet in the university library to help me with my summer course since the regular PCs were difficult to log into for me.
That was a big regret and I went to the local electronic super store (one of the biggest in my city actually) to get help in switching back to my regular cell phone. One of the employees there kindly helped me and showed me how it was by switching the chip back into the cell phone.
How good it felt to have my regular phone back in service. Using the blackberry to send and receive calls was a headache. What a great store and how kind and informative the employee had been. All of this help I got for free.
I was just happy to have my cell phone back in use and wanted to give the store a little business after seeing DVD case sets of the various X-Files seasons.
I wasn't planning on doing anything for the rest of the summer and also wanted to see what happened after the first X-Files film which I had on DVD. I knew the movie preceded the sixth season. I bought the sixth season and even told the kind employee that I had a good mind to buy some stuff from the store to show him my gratitude as I carried the newly purchased DVD set out the store.
I even had second thoughts about spending seventeen dollars including taxes on a box set. But since I had nothing to do for the rest of the summer and show some appreciation for the store employee's kind help, I thought why not.
It took me at least two days before I wanted to open the set and make sure all the discs worked perfectly. I just loved the episodes of season six and had no regret buying it.
It really brought back memories even though I had not seen all the episodes of each season, including six. The best part about season six was that even the stand alone episodes were good, at least most of them.
But then it came to an episode about an abductee friend of Mulder and Scully by the name of Casandra that had references which I didn't know of. I realized that to enjoy and understand the series fully, I would have to go back and see the episodes in sequence.
I found a used copy of the complete first season in October at a second hand store for only fifteen dollars and decided to buy it. It was actually also good, but not as good as season six.
I did manage to catch a lot of my favorite episodes in season one. My love for the X-Files takes me back to my childhood in Pakistan when I was in junior school (grade 3 to 6) and senior school (grade 7 to 11).
The X-Files was a great part of my childhood especially with family and close friends, both in and out of school, having an equal passion for the franchise.
The whole storyline had the fascinating theme of government conspiracy and alien phenomenon, all of which have a basis in reality. The two main characters were also very lovable and I did develop an attachment to them. I think any X-Files fan or anyone who appreciated the philosophical ideas of the show would love these characters.
When you begin to love a good franchise and it's characters you develop a sense of familiarity with them. From that familiarity comes a passion for them. That's how I developed a my likes for Mulder and Scully.
I was actually lucky during this time as a kid to have missed most of the terrible episodes in the series- mainly stand alone episodes- which I'll just discuss.
So as I kid I managed to see most of the good episodes and a few bad stand alone episodes. I didn't get to see all or even the majority of them. This was partially due to moving to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE) in grade six and attending an American school there for one term which I did not like at all and couldn't wait to go back to Karachi.
We didn't get that cable in Abu Dhabi but towards the end of my attendance at the American school in Abu Dhabi, the first X-Files movie "Fight the Future" came out that winter. I went with family friends to see it and we just loved it.
The movie blended in perfectly with in between the seasons. And it didn't feel like an extended episode to look like a film. It truly remained loyal to the mythology, it included a long plot that took an entire films length to proceed and get through.
So we saw it and I also had a few glimpses of season five rented on VHS by a family friend living with us. Then I was a free kid and moved back to Karachi to live with my father while my mother continued living in UAE with her career as she already had for many years.
I'd visit her during my vacations. But cable packages had changed by this time in Pakistan and many new channels came in, so the X-Files was there, but lost somewhere amongst the dozens of channels. But every now and then I managed to catch some episodes my uncle recorded on VHS.
My paternal uncle and I were truly science fiction "fanboys."
Then a year later I was living back in Abu Dhabi, this time going to a much better school. I managed see more great episodes when I visited Karachi, but still no proper viewing of episodes in order until I moved to North America. By this time the series was in it's last season and ready to end. My uncle also passed away from smoking in Karachi later in 2003.
Bad for me. But since the beginning of the academic year in 2011, I manged to start again by buying the seasons on DVD in order. I've reached season five and will watch it when studies are completed and if I'm lucky enough not to have to do summer school.
Season one was quite good as mentioned. Even many stand alone episodes were actually also exciting, not all. Season two was nothing like that at all and was filled with several of these lousy stand alone episodes with the worst story lines. From evil imprisoned magicians doing targeted killings using black magic to hauntings at old people's centers.
Even the episodes related to the plot were strange. For example Mulder's sister appears and later disappears. He and his parents don't treat it like a big deal and in later episodes he continues with his work as if nothing has happened.
There was also another disgusting "monster of the week" episode in which a monster sucks people into the sewer where it lived. An individual in that episode also sheds his flesh in the shower.
Season two was probably my least favorite season. Season three was not much better at all except for the episode "Oubliette" with the stunning Canadian actress Jewel Staite (she's not so stunning anymore). In fact I remember when my uncle recorded the episode in Pakistan, I used to view it every day in the afternoons, a few hours before tea time just to see her.
But other than that, season three was almost just as bad as season two with some incredibly bad stand alone episodes such as "Hell Money" and the lake monster episode. Season four was slightly better than the previous two but was again infected with stand alone episodes.
Even my favorite episodes in that season "Tempus Fugit" and "Max" were caught between lame stand alone episodes, which I did not dislike for being unrelated to the plot, but rather having terrible storylines.
Seeing the first four seasons now, I am actually tempted to sell them off and get the X-Files mythology on DVD as a substitute. The X-Files mythology on DVD contain only the episodes related to the plot, though at least one plot episode from season four about the "cigarette smoking man" are missing from this from what I read.
Regardless, if you're a hardcore fan of the mythology and get bored by the stand alone episodes then I would buy only the mythology until maybe season five.
I've viewed all the seasons now save for season five and season seven. Season six is not complete, but I'll come back to that after I finish season five. So far though I can confidently state that season six is the best and fully on track with the theme of the franchise.
It not only has good plot lines, but the stand alone episodes also somehow managed to succeed. The episode "How the Ghosts Stole Christmas" was really fascinating. It interlocked philosophy with mystery.
There were some episodes early in the series that I really, really liked and have been unable to find them. This leads me to believe that they could only be in season five.
Fans might disagree with me on most of what I've written about season six and how the franchise derailed on/after that season, but even those fans admit online in their reviews how terrible many of the stand alone episodes were in seasons one to three.
As for the second X-Files movie: I Want to Believe, it is widely accepted as a failure. I found it was not just about the psychic, but Scully fighting her own faith in technology to help children.
So to carry on, I can state the first three seasons were weak unless we remove the bad stand alone episodes. The first movie was great. The PlayStation2 game was great. Season six was great so far and I expect season five not to be too far behind since some of my favorite episodes would be in there.
Season eight and nine were also great, but the stand alone episodes really also harmed their beauty in a significant way. I would recommend newcomers watching only the good episodes of the seasons and skipping past the stand alone episodes save for some really good ones.
The movie of course is another worthy collectible. But season five is when the real excitement should start.
We also know that after season six the franchise started to loose budget due to a decline in viewing and the fact that Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny were reluctant to carry one with the series. The creator Chris Carter was running out of ideas and that's what he should have worked on to keep the series alive which is what I want to discuss.
That is my commentary of the franchise and it's positive role in my life.
How I would reboot the X-Files franchise:
Before anything else I would scrap the second movie from the storyline. Not really because of how boring it was but because it had no connection with the storyline and Mulder's sudden re-appearance and ability to evade persecution at the hands of the government was simply un-realistic.
Instead the storyline should continue where the series left off with Mulder and Scully gone underground. Since both Mr David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson didn't want to continue the series, a reboot series should continue with their characters disappeared and a new team of FBI agents seeking to trace them out.
The story could also use alien abduction as a means of removing the two characters with a set of newcomer characters following leads to Mulder and Scully at the same time replacing them as investigating paranormal cases.
Towards the ending or even in between the new series, David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson could make reappearances.
That is how I would reboot the franchise. If Chris Carter had paused to use his imagination or receive suggestions from fans, the franchise could survive with or without Duchovny and Anderson.
If such was done, the X-Files would have continued as a successful franchise even if done by a different strategy. As far as I can see, my method of rebooting the franchise would not only continue the series but also given it a new taste without repeating the same themes again and again.
