First look: 'X-Files' returns to theaters, minus alien mythology

LOS ANGELES — The sequel is out there.

The conspiracy theories will not be.

Ten years after the first film and six years after the show went off the air, The X-Files returns to theaters with Fox Mulder, Dana Scully — and a lot riding on the bet that fans want more of the FBI's paranormal-investigating agents.

The film, which remains without a formal title, will dump the long-running "mythology" plotline — that aliens live among us and are part of a colonizing effort — that made it one of the most popular television shows in the late 1990s but ultimately drove away some viewers who found it too complex and ambiguous.

"We spent a lot of time on (the mythology) and wrapped up a lot of threads" when the show went off the air in 2002, says Chris Carter, creator of the series and director of the new movie. "We want a stand-alone movie, not a mythology conspiracy one."

That will come as welcome news to fans of the show's stand-alone episodes, which included cults, ghosts, psychics and ancient curses.

Carter refuses to divulge any plot points of the movie, but says he wanted to make the film immediately after the show ended. A contractual dispute with 20th Century Fox kept it on the shelf until the case was settled out of court.

He says the delay may turn out to be a blessing.

"There's a whole audience I want to introduce X-Files to," Carter says. "There were kids who couldn't watch it on TV because it was too scary. Now they're in college. I wanted a movie that everyone could go to."

Whether they will could be a test of the show's legacy, says Blair Butler of the G4TV network, which caters to video-game enthusiasts and science-fiction fans.

"At its strongest, it had really creepy stand-alone episodes," she says. "They turned it into a great franchise. But a lot of years have passed. We'll see if it's fallen off the radar."

She says the film could benefit from an ironic twist: the Writers Guild strike.

"I think it could be a sort comfort food for the people who loved how original the show was and aren't seeing original TV now," she says.

But Carter believes they'll be drawn by something else: the show's stars, David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson.

"For me, The X-Files has always been a romance," he says. "They had an intellectual romance that's very rare and restrained compared to so many relationships on TV. I think that's what appealed most to the fans. And they're back."

Source (http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2008-01-16-x-files_N.htm)

The X-Files has had its day...
Better to have let it rest in peace...

:fly:
:mod:

http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/8903/xfilesmovieposternm5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

I must admit I never watched the show much. I was always busy doing something else I guess. But when I saw that X-Files movie I was blown away. That move kicked some serious ass and made me an instant fan. I'm pumped for the next one after reading this thread.

But why knock the first movie. The global conspiracy theme was compelling as hell! I was a newbie to the series and I got swept up in it. Awesome flick.

I hardly knew the characters when I saw the first one and didn't know anything about the conspiracy stuff from the TV show but it was a dynamite script and had a supporting cast of veteran actors that stole the show. There are phrases from that flick that were so well delivered by the actors that something as simple and low key as a meeting (of the secret cabal of powerful old men/conspirators) became an exercise in slicing down someone in conversation with the King's English.

The text doesn't do this badass scene justice but it will have to do. The looks these actors gave each other - like they were ready to kill each other right there on the spot - and their knife-like tone of voice when speaking thinly veiled insults and apocalyptic statements. It's too cool. You've got to see the scene. But here is the script, exceptionally well written. I've added notes in italics. That scene made the movie for me.

The badass, pivotal scene: THE SECRET MEETING OF THE GLOBAL CONSPIRACY CABAL

Strughold: "We began to worry. Some of us have traveled so far and you are the last to arrive."

Well-Manicured Man: "I'm sorry. My grandson fell and broke his leg."

Strughold shoots a withering look at Well-Manicured Man since he has a soft spot for some little kid when they are trying to negotiate world domination. They had to wait for his ass. "While we have been made to wait..." Excellent verbal smack in the mouth.

Strughold: "While we have been made to wait, we watched surveillance tapes which have raised more concerns."

Well-Manicured Man: "More concerns on what?"

Strughold: "We have been forced to reassess our role in Colonization by new effects in biology which have... presented themselves."

First Elder: "The virus has mutated."

Well-Manicured Man: "Into what?"

Strughold: "A new Extraterrestrial Biological Entity."

Well-Manicured Man: "My god!"

Strughold: "The geometry of mass infection presents certain conceptual re-evaluations for us about our place in the Colonization."

Well-Manicured Man: "This isn't Colonization, this is spontaneous repopulation! All our work... If it's true, they've been using us all along. We've been laboring under a lie."

"We've been laboring under a lie." A first class zinger to keep in your verbal box of bullets. Used sparingly it can really make a person think hard about what they just said. Ya big dummy! We were lied to!

Second Elder: "It could be an isolated case."

Well-Manicured Man: "How can we know?"

Strughold: "We're going to tell them what we've found, what we've learned, by turning over a body infected with the gestating organism."

Well-Manicured Man: "In hope of what? Learning that it's true? That we are nothing but digestives for the creation of a new race of alien life-forms? By co-operating now, we are but beggars to our own demise."

Now THAT is the phrase that makes the scene pop off the screen. "By co-operating now we are but beggars to our own demise." Hell yeah!

Use of the King's English in ripping apart a plan born of a hopelessly niave mentality has never been better said. You ignorant ass you'll just get us killed more quickly with your plan - we're in deep trouble as it is!

Note: I told a hot-shot young attorney who was coaching me on taking the stand in a bitterly fought unemployment hearing in 2005 that if I had to pay back the money I had been awarded I would lose my house and my car and a whole lot more. I broke the line out: "To walk out now would make me a beggar to my own demise." Dead silence followed.

That young Perry Mason mofo digested the point and got back to work without another word. Lazy Johnnie Chochran wannabe - he got the message that I was serious, X-Files style. I couldn't resist. And I won the case. The Truth is Out There, after all.

That last statement is the best "quote from a movie" story I've heard in a long time. hahaha

And yeah, it's not so much that the conspiracy plot line was bad, it's just that it became overwhelming. Especially when they knew the series was ending and they had to try to wrap things up. They didn't leave time for the random "creatures in the basement" stories anymore.

Can't wait to watch it. One show I was sad to see go.

I'm looking forward to it coming out..

Aww, c'mon now, Scully's hot. She's edging on cougar territory for me, but I'd let her clean my pipes any day.