(no subject)

[oselle]

I've slowly been procuring complete seasons of The X-Files. I've got Season Two and Three so far, which, in my opinion, were two of the best of the series.

I was a tremendous fan of the show back in the long ago and if there'd been an online fandom back then I probably would have been fangirling it up with everyone else. I'm kind of glad there wasn't. As much as I enjoy fandom, it also has the ability to alter one's personal experience of the thing it is about. My impression of both the Lord of the Rings movies and Supernatural is forever going to be bound up in what other people said about them and covered over with that whole frosting of squee/fanfic/gripe/wank that fandom brings to the party. I don't have that with The X-Files so my experience of it remains mine alone, unchanged from when the show was first on the air.

Except for the occasional repeat on The Sci-Fi channel, I haven't seen most of these episodes since they orginially aired, some fifteen (!!!) years ago. I wondered if they would be as good as I remembered them. Well, they're not.

They're better.

I'm amazed by how well-written and carefully plotted these episodes were. I'm amazed by how thoughtful they were. And the one thing I keep thinking when I watch them is that this show would never make it on television today.

It's hard to believe it's been more than fifteen years since The X-Files debuted and it seems to me that genre television writing has changed a lot in that time. I remember The X-Files being edge-of-my-seat exciting, and it is, but at the same time, it's a slow-paced, quiet show by today's standards. Exposition unspools in long, pensive layers. Characters-of-the-week develop a life of their own. Dialogue is thick and thinky. Entire scenes are taken up by a character's contemplative voice-over. Action happens in quick, lightning bursts, and then we're back to the quiet. Special effects are minimal. Atmosphere and mood are densely textured. You come away from every episode with a feeling of such total immersion in the lives of these agents that even the most bizarre scenario doesn't seem implausible. Almost none of the episodes feels rushed or gaping with plot holes.

I don't think any genre show with an approach as slow and careful as this would be allowed on television today, at least not on network. It seems like television shows, especially scifi/horror/paranormal ones, are now required to pack in tons of material in less time than ever. The average episode of Supernatural is 39 minutes long -- an average Season Two episode of The X-Files was 44 minutes long. Five minutes of screentime may not sound like much but it is a lot. What I wouldn't give for five more minutes of Supernatural every week. I'll bet that five more minutes of every episode would do a lot to alleviate that "huh?" feeling I sometimes get at 9:58 on Thursday nights.

I know that The X-Files and Supernatural are really different shows. They might deal with similar material but they come at it from very different angles and via very different characters. But if I had one wish for Season Four of Supernatural it would be that they slow things down a little. This is a pipe dream because it's not like the CW is going to increase the show's budget or cut out that loathsome fourth commercial break at 9:50. But wow, I'd love to see Supernatural become a richer show than it is. Richer in character, in story development, in atmosphere. Lighten up on the gore and the demon wars and the writer's in-jokes. Immerse us in the lives of these guys. A show needs time to do that. And sadly, I don't think Supernatural is going to get it.

As a side note, why don't you see more X-Files/Supernatural crossover? I mean, I haven't exactly been out there looking but I don't even stumble across any. I can't even begin to imagine what a deadpan, geeky egghead like Fox Mulder would make of Dean Winchester...or vice versa. Maybe that's why there isn't much out there. It'd be a hell of a hard thing to pull off.

Comments

[mirabile-dictu.livejournal.com]

Dunno anything about Supernatural, but OH X-F HOW I LOVE YOU. My first fandom, and yes, it was online (a.t.x.f.) and how much fun I had.

I should watch those early shows again. Lord, lord, but I loved them. Thank you for reminding me!

[oselle.livejournal.com]

How big of an online fandom was there back then? It doesn't seem like the infrastructure would have been there. In one Season Two episode, Scully talks about looking up something "on the Internet" as if it was terribly newfangled and exotic...and then they show a shot of her computer screen and it's that old blinky green cursor and text on black. Primitive!

[mirabile-dictu.livejournal.com]

Well, it seemed enormous to me! As I said, you got me curious, so I started googling around and much to my surprise, atxf still exists!

http://groups.google.com/group/alt.tv.x-files/about

Someone migrated its entire history into a google group! I'm just stunned. Look at those numbers, too -- the highest is around 18,000 posts/month. I must've read every one, too; I was just glued to my computer back then.

I'm having a blast looking up names of folks I remember. Those were crazy times. Having XF as one's first fandom really shapes a person, I think; at least, it did me. It was such a volatile place! Crazy things, crazy people, and some brilliant fanfiction.

Sorry, went off on a tangent there. It was a pretty big fandom; I've heard it called the first online fandom. I know that Chris Carter checked in with atxf and other lists the minute the show ended. I heard him talk once at a con in San Francisco, and the attendance was massive.

Good times. I still have some of my favorite XF fanfiction, and I'm always excited when I see an XF author pop up in another fandom.

Oh! I just remembered Gossamer. It might have been the first online archive of fanfiction (though please don't quote me on that). I remember when it was an ftp site, but it's gone through a number of incarnations. Still around, though:

http://krycek.gossamer.org/local/history.html

"As of March 1, 2007, the database for the complete story archives contains 35,100 entries of which 33,758 are unique story entries." Not bad for a show that went off the air so long ago.

Okay, I'll shut up now. It's just that I have enormous affection for XF.

[oselle.livejournal.com]

Ah yes, alt.tv.x-files. I remember reading about that and then trying to check it out around 93-94. I didn't find it very user-friendly, not at all as easy as the fandom tools we have now, and I lost interest pretty quickly. If internet access had been as readily available then as it is now, I might have gotten more into it, but I only had a shitty dial-up connection at work. God, things have changed so much since then!

Chris Carter really was one of the first creators to care about fandom. Joss Whedon gets a lot of credit for this, but I think it was Carter who first understood and respected the power of fandom. I have a lot of respect for the guy.

I wonder if my life would be different now if I'd gotten into X-Files fandom and been introduced to the awesome power of fanfiction. Man, I was only in my twenties then! If LoTR fandom tipped me over the edge at the ripe old age of 34, what would fandom have done to me ten years earlier?

Thanks for the links! Isn't it great that all of this stuff is still out there?

[layne67.livejournal.com]

Omg I LOVE The X-Files. One of the best shows, ever. Ditto to everything you said about it up there. One of my dreams is to have Mulder and Scully guest-starring in SPN but I guess that'd be pretty impossible what with Dean always making jokes mentioning X-Files.

I didn't quite like the movie though. But still I'm looking forward to the second one. Have you seen any of Gillian's recent pics? She's HOT!!

There *are* some SPN / XFiles crossovers out there but I haven't come across really good ones. You could write one!

[oselle.livejournal.com]

I was disappointed by the movie too, but this new one sounds like it's going to kick ass. I think Chris Carter made the right decision to avoid making another mytharc movie and instead go for one that's more casefile. It will be pure, giddy joy to see the two of them together again.

And yes, Gillian is hot but then, she always was. And brilliant. And tough. And complex. There was simply never another female character like her and I don't think they'll ever be one. She's in a class by herself.

You could write one!

Good heavens, I'm still trying to cook up an SPN/Birthright crossover for you! :)

[layne67.livejournal.com]

I'm still trying to cook up an SPN/Birthright crossover for you

I think I've died and gone to heaven.

*kow tows, kow tows, kow tows*

♥

[oselle.livejournal.com]

Of course, by "trying to cook up," I mean: once in a while I think about it and put it on the proverbial back burner with everything else. It's getting real crowded back there.

:D

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Oh, there was an online fandom alright. It was my first one! (I was mostly at atxfa rather than atxf.) That was on usenet--alt.tv.x-files and I was also on DDFM on Yahoo mailing lists.

But I totally agree with you re: the whole tone and how things have changed. I still remember the moment I totally got hooked--it was the voiceover when Mulder is in the church in Conduit. Season one.

[oselle.livejournal.com]

I have a vague recollection of trying to figure out usenet and being baffled and frustrated by the whole thing...plus I only had internet access at work and it was so long ago that we had A DIAL-UP CONNECTION that used to just crap out mid-session.

It was the Season Two premiere that hooked me -- when Mulder went down to that radar station in Arecibo. My sister had taped it and we both wound up watching that episode over and over, all weekend. It became true "appointment televison" for us after that. I have such fond memories of both the show and that whole period of my life. Sigh. I miss the '90s!

[i-o-r-h-a-e-l.livejournal.com]

The problem is the network. What network was The X-Files again? Well, CW is... yeah, it's CW. :P

[oselle.livejournal.com]

The X-Files was on Fox. When The X-Files premiered (1992), Fox was still a pretty young network and was trying to set itself apart from "The Big Three" (ABC, CBS, NBC) so they were willing to take on more unusual fare. I don't think any of the Big Three networks would have picked up a show like The X-Files at that time (although I think the mood of The X-Files owed an awful lot to ABC's Twin Peaks, especially in those first few seasons). The X-Files had pretty abysmal ratings at first, but Fox was willing to give it room to grow, and I get the feeling they gave a LOT of creative freedom to Chris Carter. I don't know if there's any network today that's willing to give a show as unusual as The X-Files a few seasons to find an audience.

The CW is definitely part of the problem. It's a tacky network, much tackier, I think than the WB was. They don't seem remotely interested in having good shows, they just want sensational stuff that's going to generate a lot of buzz. The head of the network's entertainment division, Dawn Ostroff, seems to have some really ignorant ideas about what people want to see and their marketing efforts are, IMO, FUCKING AWFUL -- the promos they ran for Reaper made it look like a slapstick teen sitcom (which it isn't at all) and remember that cheesy "Girls of Thursday" promo I ranted about? It's like Ostroff has no idea what her own shows are even about. I honestly don't know how that woman still has a job.

[i-o-r-h-a-e-l.livejournal.com]

Funny that CW seems to degrade its own shows.

Oh, and Fox later had Dark Angel. :D

Yeah, and I'm always amazed at how shows like Lost are made. They're like big screen movies. *sighs*

[oselle.livejournal.com]

And Fox let Dark Angel limp on for two whole seasons before giving it a merciful death! But I think that was because they were so high on the whole "Executive Producer James Cameron" thing that they didn't realize the show sucked.

Funny that CW seems to degrade its own shows.

I also don't think they have a high opinon of their audience. Seriously, those promos for Reaper made me never want to watch the show, they just made it look so stupid. They were obviously going for the "stupid demographic."

[golden-berry.livejournal.com]

If anyone could pull off X-Files/Supernatural crossover fic, it's you. :D

I lovelovelove The X-Files. I have all of the first 7 seasons on VHS tape. Someday I really must buy the DVDs.

[oselle.livejournal.com]

Oh, I don't think I could ever capture Mulder. He is way too complex and it would take a deft pen to pull off those deadpan zingers of his. And I'm sure he'd have many, many deadpan zingers for the Winchesters.

Amazon has the individual seasons for $40, which isn't bad. I think they have the entire series as a boxed set, too, although I don't think you save any money by buying it that way.

[the0neru.livejournal.com]

the phrase "x-files/supernatural crossover" makes me see mulder and dean trying to one-up each other, both because of the general alpha-male thing and because dean will in all likelihood try to hit on scully; off to one side scully does her patented eyeroll and asks sam if he wants to go get coffee while the neanderthals slug it out.

[oselle.livejournal.com]

Well, you've got to start with the idea that Mulder and Scully would have access to the Winchesters' substantial FBI file. Imagine that this is before Agent Henriksen's death. Maybe Henriksen himself ventures down to the FBI's basement to see those two crazy agents that he's heard about, find out if they can help him draw a profile on two criminals who claim to be battling supernatural forces.

Scully would give Henriksen the benefit of the doubt but they'd probably both be turned off by his bullheaded attitude. Mulder would be intrigued enough to actually seek out the Winchesters himself. Mulder would probably think Dean was full of shit at first, but then he'd get into it and I think Dean would just fascinate him. I see him buying Dean many lunches on the FBI's expense account. Hopefully this never gets back to poor Henriksen.

Scully would do one of her lengthy voice-overs (while tapping away on her computer) about how the combination of early childhood trauma and being raised by a presumed schizophrenic resulted in two grown men who had successfully willed themselves to believe their father's delusion. Then of course something would happen to convince her that the Winchesters were exactly who they said they were.

And of course Dean would hit on Scully, who, much to his extreme bafflement, would remain immune to his many charms.

[layne67.livejournal.com]

YOU'RE KILLING ME, WOMAN OMG WRITE IT WRITE IT WRITE IT WRITE IT!!!!

Have you read this fic, Paradigm Shift? Future fic, the boys work for Henricksen, yes they're Agent Samuel Winchester and Agent Dean Winchester of the, get this, Supernatural Criminal Investigative Division or SCID, all above board and no more fake IDs. No Mulder and Scully unfortunately but there's Henricksen and omg there's a Zeke as well, an even though he wasn't the Zeke, I like to think that Zeke Tyler of Birthright had somehow wound up with Sam and Dean and Henricksen!!

[oselle.livejournal.com]

I tried reading that fic but was dismayed by the lack of Mulder and Scully.

And just for you, I'm gonna throw this out here:

Mulder/Dean

Make of it what you will.

[layne67.livejournal.com]

*grins*

Nice try, but uhm - *points to icon*

HET OTP FOREVER AND EVER!!!

But seriously, Mulder/Dean? You?

You're kidding, right? Right?

[oselle.livejournal.com]

I'm not talking OTP here.

*cough*

And yes, I was kidding. Or was I.........?

[i-o-r-h-a-e-l.livejournal.com]

Mulder is top? *giggles*

[oselle.livejournal.com]

He IS the tall one...

[i-o-r-h-a-e-l.livejournal.com]

Oh my. :D

But - really? How tall is he? Dean is 6'1".

[oselle.livejournal.com]

I don't believe for a minute that Jensen Ackles (or Dean!) is 6'1". I'm going with 5'11", tops. :P

[i-o-r-h-a-e-l.livejournal.com]

What? You've gotta be kidding me.

:D

[i-o-r-h-a-e-l.livejournal.com]

would remain immune to his many charms

Of course. Because Scully's heart is in Mulder's hand already.

[oselle.livejournal.com]

Who can blame her? To be honest, Dean's way prettier and I'll bet he's better in the sack but if I had to pick between the two of them...Mulder'd win.

[layne67.livejournal.com]

Sam and Dean meet Mulder and Scully here!!!

And Oselle, I've quite forgotten that Mulder's sister was called Samantha!

More crossovers here :))

[oselle.livejournal.com]

Heh, I knew the crossovers were out there! Thanks!

[oselle.livejournal.com]

Actually, I'm going to revise my last comment. I don't think Dean would hit on Scully. I think he'd be so floored by her that it would slap the flirt right outta him.

[layne67.livejournal.com]

I could see that happening, yes I could. He'd try but one look from Scully would freeze whatever it was that he was trying to say.

[oselle.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking of Officer Kathleen from "The Benders" and how Dean seemed to have a total respect, almost a deferral to her. I think that would be even more pronounced with Scully because Scully is, of course, a goddess.

[elanor1013.livejournal.com]

I was part of an X-Files fandom back in the day but it was harder to find - a group from AOL back when there were groups from AOL.

I still love the X-Files and I'm hoping the new movie is good.