My favorite sci-fi TV series of all time, #13: The X-Files

Unless you’ve been locked up in Alcatraz (and even then, you’d get free cable), you’ve probably seen the X-Files at least once. (Yes, yes I will keep doing this for the ENTIRE SERIES.) Straitlaced, no-nonsense FBI type Dana Scully (played by Gillian Anderson) is paired with “Aliens are real guy” Fox Mulder (played by David Duchovny). I think if this series were made today, it would probably be a buddy comedy, which would be, in the words of 80’s Guy, “awesome. Awesome to the max.” It isn’t, though.

The basic plot is that they investigated the weird, unexplainable stuff, while the government alternately tries to stop them/helps them/ignores them, as is convenient for that particular episode. There have been a bunch of rip offs of this show, some good, some bad, some fantastic (if I could justify it as science fiction, Millennium would be on this list), but X-Files did it first-ish.

Favorite character: This is a tough one. I like Mulder slightly more than Scully, but they’re both awesome and/or irritating at times. We’ll say Mulder.

Favorite side character: I like the Lone Gunmen, who add the comic level of absurdity that this show desperately, desperately needs.

Why this show is on here: It’s an interesting concept, and a dumping ground for virtually every urban legend/myth that existed at that time. The special effects were very good, and some of the story arcs were exceptionally well done.

Why it isn’t higher: It got ridiculously repetitive, and honestly, I think the show takes itself way too seriously. I haven’t seen the entire series — the wife and I are up to the bit where the first movie fits in — but I think they were starting to run out of ideas after season four or so.

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