I Want to Believe!!

 

Lets talk about The X-Files!!  Now this show is one of my top 5 shows ever. It was the first show on the Fox Network to break through the Nielsons top 20 rated shows. It is a story of Spooky Fox Mulder (David Duchovny), the once the potential fair haired boy for the FBI.   Fox (Spooky) Mulder, is now the butt of jokes about his drive for finding answers in the cases with paranormal, and alien origins. The FBI relegated him to a space in a corner of the basement, with a poster that says, "I Want to Believe".  It has a UFO on it.

FBI agent and  medical doctor Dana Scully is sent to keep watch on Mulder, apply scientific reason to his enthusiastic embrace of the paranormal. She is to report back to director Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi), and the other "higher ups."  They have become frustrated with Mulder's  "unbecoming professional behavior" in the pursuit of the X-files (the paranormal cases).  He is the believer and Scully is the skeptic in all areas, except she is a catholic. Stories around religion seem to bring out a believer in her. It is usually Mulder in these cases who becomes the skeptic.

I can not tell you how much I love this show!!  It incorporates my love of horror, mythology, paranormal and UFO conspiracies.  It also taps into the fear of ordinary peoples distrust with the federal government. As Mulder always says, "The truth is out there!!" Mulder believes the government is covering up the existence and even interaction with the extra terrestrials. Mulder's sister Samantha (Megan Leitch)  was abducted out of their living room while he was watching her. He was 12 years old. As the show progresses Mulder's father Bill Mulder  is found to be part of the conspiracy.  His mother, Teena Mulder ( Rebecca Toolan) has some idea of what happened, and the whole family is part of the backdrop of the show.

Scully's family too plays a part. Her father William Scully (Don Davis) dies early in the show, during an episode called Beyond the Sea.  He is a retired naval officer. He and Scully share a love of Moby Dick, as evidenced by the nick names Ahab and Starbuck they have for each other.  Her mother Margaret Scully (Sheila Larkin) is a recurring character, as well as her intuitive sister Melissa Scully (Melinda McGraw).  Melissa Scully  is killed in season 3.

The supporting cast in this show was brilliant. In season one they introduce a character called "Deep Throat", (Jerry Hardin).  He was cast in the vein of  President Nixon's Watergate Scandal of the 1970's.  He met with Mulder and Scully in secret to give them information. He was killed at the end of the first season. His replacement was "X", played by Steven Williams. These men were inside the government and remind me of the Men in Black. Director Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi) plays their supportive and yet grumpy director.  There is an antagonist that belongs to a "secret society" trying to keep the knowledge of the aliens and the experimentation of the human/alien hybrid a secret. The call him first the Cigarette Smoking Man, later I called him cancer man. His name CGB Spender (William B.Davis) who turns out later to be Mulder's bio dad.

 Alex Krycek (Nicholas Lea)  is sent to work with Mulder in the second season by Cigarette Smoking man. Gillian Anderson gets pregnant season 2 and her pregnancy is written into the script as an abduction. Krycek murders Bill Mulder, helps in the kidnapping of Dana Scully and is part of the team that murders Melissa Scully. He is really an enemy that seems to shift lines, but never really does.

The Lone Gunman, are 3 UFO conspiracy theorists who are the fan club of Fox Mulder. They actually help him and Scully with several cases, and get a spin off of their own.  They are; Richard "Ringo" Langly (Dean Haglund),  Melvin Frohike (Tom Braidwood) and John Fitzgerald Byers (Bruce Harwood).  They are the comic relief of the X files, and one of my favorite parts of the show.

The last 2 years of the show David Duchovny, only made recurring appearances on the show.  However this is one show where the guy gets the girl.  Eventually Mulder and Scully have a baby, William.  He is adopted out because the journey had gotten difficult for our heroes, and the federal government wants Mulder. Scully and Mulder fall in love. Eventually Mulder is cleared, and they are off to Canada, and the filming of their 2 movies. The saddest thing was to see this show over. It was a wonderful part of the romance with my science fiction loving mate, and the beginning of our lives together.  I still think it is one of the best shows ever made. This show will require many blogs to evaluate the episodes and the characters.