|
| Foocha! is a non-profit Web site. We do it for kicks, not for cash. If you're interested in writing for the site, click here |
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
| TV,
Justin Harries,
20 January 1999 |
Rating: F3
|
|
| |
| |
|
It has become rather fashionable of late for the upper echelons of the geek fraternity to pour scorn upon what was arguably the most influential science fiction show of the ‘90’s. OK, so the show, now in its seventh year, is not quite the sharpest tool on the box, but beneath those rather too familiar beams of searchlights and mutterings of oncoming doom one can still find the elements that made it such essential viewing.
The X Files reemit is actually biased toward the horror side of SF (it could be decribed as Sci – noir), and this is one of the reasons the show appeared as fresh as it did when it first arrived. The genre was in a sad slump in the early ‘90’s, the crappy assortment of horror/comedies movies prevalent at the tail end of the ‘80’s had pretty much burnt out the genres potential for producing anything remotely near to being scary. Horror on telly was non existent, the mediums inability to properly portray exploding body parts being a problem. SF was relegated to the stuffed shirt utopia of Star Trek, a future where (rather laughably) humanity has become the moral guardians of the universe.
What the X Files actually brought to the small (and later, big) screen was a dimension of uncertainty, that perhaps us humans aren’t as smart as we think we are. This followed through to the underlying concepts of the central characters, Their unequivibical faith in the ‘truth’ was shattered more times than I care to imagine. Also they got beaten up a lot and failed to solve any of their cases. If you ever get Mulder & Scully assigned to you know it’s time to cash in on that life insurance.
However, as the years rolled by, people got understandably sick of seeing Mulder get another beating, Scullys point blank refusal of the bleedin’ obvious, so instead of popping the cherry to soon the writers left it to wither on the vine. Seven years is too long for the truth to be still out there.
So is it still worth watching? Well, as this season’s the last, some of those elusive truths will finally be revealed. Personally, I couldn’t care less about this aspect of the series – the strength of the show for me lies in the stand-alone episodes. This year S & M will encounter teens who can move at the speed of light, the camera crew of COPS, and the return of Scullys nemesis, Donnie Pfaster. There is a rather more base reason for me to tune in; give me Gillian Anderson up to her armpits in cadaver each week and I’m the worlds happiest camper.
Sky One Sunday 21.00 GMT
Top Home |
|
|
|
|
