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30 The Complete ‘X’ Files on The ‘X’ Files 30 The Complete ‘X’ Files on The ‘X’ Files The Complete X-Files The Complete X-Files on The X-Files on The X-Files by by io9 io9 The long-awaited X-Files sequel (as yet unnamed) will be in theaters this summer, and even though it'll have been six years since X- Files fans have seen anything new, there's already a lot of excitement buzzing around this movie. Will they find the truth? Will they make a believer out of skeptics? Will they finally just shed their clothes and do it so all the "Shippers" (fans who think that Mulder and Scully should be in a relationship) can finally get their deepest desires? We don't know yet, but we have put together an exhaustive list of what we do know about the show below . . . where your questions will never be answered unless you want to believe. * Show creator Chris Carter hadn't had much success in television writing, having written mostly comedies and worked for The nominated for an Emmy, and the theme song ratings ever, and Carter's new show Millenium Disney Channel, before he was offered a chance was remixed and became a hit in dance clubs in (set in the X-Files universe) was put on Friday to create shows for Fox. the UK, Australia, and France. nights, so they moved The X-Files to Sunday * Carter was inspired to delve into the * The legendary writing team of Morgan night. mysterious world of The X-Files by both the and Wong, who were also co-executive * By the fall of 1996, it was the most Watergate scandal, the old television show producers, wrote many of the best episodes in popular show on Fox, and Fox got the rights to Kolchack: The Night Stalker, and a report that the first season, although they left in season two broadcast the Superbowl. So, they decided to was circulating around 1992 that said 3.7 to produce their own show Space: Above and feature an episode right after the game, and Americans "may have been abducted by aliens." Beyond. Sadly it tanked after one season, "Leonard Betts" (about the guy who could * Originally, Fox executives wanted although Morgan and Wong didn't return to The regrow his body) received the highest ratings someone blonder with big boobs instead of X-Files until season four. ever for an X-Files episode. More awards and Gillian Anderson. Thankfully they didn't win * The show didn't actually show an alien kudos followed. that fight. until the "Little Green Men" episode in season * Season Five opened to even bigger * The company Carter formed to run the two. ratings, and the show was supposed to end there production was called Ten Thirteen * Gillian Anderson was pregnant and become a series of feature films. However, Productions, after his October 13th birthday. throughout season two, and the producers Fox desperately wanted to keep the show, and Sound Designer Thierry Couturier's son says the decided to hide the fact by having her behind a worked out a new contract with Carter. "I made this" over the company logo. desk or a medical exam table most of the time. * Carter had been planning a feature * Fox left Carter and his production It helped that she'd been transferred to Quantico film versin of the show ever since season two, team alone for the most part during the first to teach. and security was so tight that they were sending season because they were putting a lot of time * By the end of season two, the show the script around on red paper, which would and effort into The Adventures of Brisco had climbed to 64th out of 141, although it was make it unable to be photocopied. County, Jr. Now, as a Bruce Campbell fan, I gaining cult status and spreading fast by word of * They filmed the X-Files movie, X- have to say I loved that show, and I'm glad it mouth. The show had also spread beyond the Files: Fight the Future, inbetween seasons four was able to take some heat off of The X-Files. U.S. borders, and was one of the most popular and five, although it ended up pushing the start * The writing staff didn't want to follow TV shows in the world, outside of the country. date for season five back, and as a result that Carter's all-alien abduction storylines, The show was also named the best show on TV season was two episode shorter, with only 20 especially since the UFO show Sightings was by Entertainment Weekly that year, and also instead of 22. It was code named "Blackwood" airing on Fox. As a result, the show "Squeeze" won a Golden Globe for best drama. after Algernon Blackwood, a British writer of with the creepy guy who ate livers, hibernated * However, the show was still so budget ghost stories. for 30 years and had Plastic Man like stretching strapped that they couldn't afford location * By season five, the two main stars abilities became a template for the "freak of the filming, and in the episode "Ascension," a rock were also becoming popular, and as a result week" style the show eventually adopted. quarry had to be painted to look like the desert many episodes featured either Scully or Mulder, * Besides the pilot episode, Carter also of the American Southwest. and not usually both of them together. This was wrote "Space" during the first season, which * Season three brought on a cavalcade of to allow them time to concentrate on other was about a ghost in the Space Shuttle program. comedy, and a slew of guest stars including projects. It was extremely expensive to make, and Carter Alex Trebek, Jesse Ventura, Giovanni Ribisi, * Season five also featured episodes calls it "one of the worst hours ever produced J.T. Charles Nelson Reilly, Walsh, R. Lee written by guest writers, including Stephen for the show." Ermey and Jack Black. King and William Gibson. * The show often fought for its life * Guest star Peter Boyle won an Emmy * By the end of season five, both during the first season, having low ratings and a for his portrayal of a man who could predict Anderson and Duchovny wanted the show to Friday night timeslot. Despite finishing 102nd death in the episode Clyde Bruckman's Final move from Vancouver to Los Angeles (where it out of the 118 programs in the Nielsens that Repose, and the show also won for best writing. was originally supposed to be shot), and so the year, it was picked up for a second season. This The show went on to win five Emmys that year, sets were struck and production moved at the is why the season one finale "The Erlenmeyer and Gillian Anderson won a Screen Actors end of the season. Flask" has the X-Files being shut down, and Guild Award. By now The X-Files was here to Mulder and Scully being reassigned. stay. Complete ‘X’ Files on The ‘X’ Files Continues * The X-Files' opening sequence was * Season four premiered to their highest on Page 32