The Legacy of The X-Files examines the content and production of the show, its reception, its use of legend and folklore, its contemporary resonance in politics and society of the 21st century, and its impact and legacy on film, television, the Internet and beyond. Having converged with the early widespread use of the Internet, The X-Files became a cultural touchstone of the 1990s, transforming from a cult TV show into a pop cultural phenomenon by the end of the decade. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of The X-Files, this collection examines the content and production of the show, its reception, its use of legend and folklore, its contemporary resonance in politics and society of the 21st century, and its impact and legacy on film, television, the Internet and beyond. The series' themes of government mistrust, conspiracy, folklore, UFOlogy, and faith are dissected and applied to how the show spirituality resonated with post-Cold War Western society. Contributors to this collection discuss the wide-ranging impact of the television show in popular culture, from Mulder and Scully 'shippers' to the show's slogan entering the contemporary lexicon. The Legacy of The X-Files serves as an all-encompassing, multi-disciplinary, contemporary account of The X-Files, reflecting upon critical, historical, political, and social contexts, and featuring an in-depth and comprehensive introduction making it a vital work for researchers and students alike.

More than 20 years after it was first broadcast, The X-Files still holds the public imagination. Over nine seasons and two feature films, agents Mulder and Scully pursued monsters, aliens, mutants and shadowy conspirators across the American landscape. Running for more than 200 episodes, the series transformed television, crafting a postmodern mythology that spoke to the anxieties and uncertainties of the end of the 20th century. Covering the entire series from its debut through the second feature film, this book examines how creator Chris Carter and his team of writers turned a scrappy cult favorite on Fox into a global phenomenon.

The truth is out there. Do you believe? Twenty-five years ago, FBI agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully introduced us to a world shrouded in secrecy and wrapped in paranoia. The X-Files chronicled their experiences with the paranormal. What began as a cult hit that blended urban legend, supernatural horror, B-movie science fiction, and shadowy government conspiracy became a pop sensation that changed how television was written. The charisma and chemistry of actors David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson, one a crusader for the truth no matter how strange, the other grounded in scientific skepticism, brought viewers back week after week, eager to plunge deeper into the unknown. Now, on the occasion of The X-Files' 11th season, Entertainment Weekly takes you behind the curtain into the show's universe with an all-new Collector's Edition, The Ultimate Guide to The X-Files. This must-have dossier includes an oral history of the show, coverage of every season and both movies, dozens of photographs, a primer to the mythology of The X-Files, and in-depth interviews with David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, show creator Chris Carter, and writers of the show. Whether you are a long-time fan or new to the series, The Ultimate Guide to The X-Files will become a definitive and highly entertaining resource that will keep you on the hunt for the truth.

A social and cultural analysis of The X-Files focusing on the genres the program employed in its interrogation of American history, politics, and identity. Premiering in 1993 on FOX Network, The X-Files followed the investigations of two FBI special agents, Fox Mulder and Dr. Dana Scully as they pursued the supernatural, the bizarre, and the alien, as well as the government conspiracies at work to conceal the truth of their existence. For nine seasons, Chris Carter's series broke new ground in complex narrative television by integrating science fiction and horror with the forensic investigation of the detective genre. Shaped by the conspiracy films of the 1970s, the series had the ability to comment on the contemporary political climate one week and poke fun at its own self-seriousness the next. Responding to its cinematic visual style, haunting score, complex and nuanced writing, witty dialog, and the exceptional acting of David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson, who elevated the show with their chemistry, fans embraced The X-Files, making it one of the most beloved cult television series to this day. The aim of this book is to provide the reader with several points of entry into the television series, with social, cultural, and political analyses framed by the examination of the show's many overlapping genres. Divided into chapters highlighting the episodic standalones known as the "monster-of-the-week" (MOTW) and the serial mythology or "mytharc," the first section of the book explores the ways the MOTWs represented social differences in stories of fantastic, supernatural beings both strange and estranged. Through comparative analyses and detailed discussions of individual episodes, it becomes clear that the MOTWs were less concerned with the alien than with alienation, using the figure of the "monster" to focus on a range of ethnic, racial, and social outsiders. The latter half of the book turns to the serialized mythology, examining both the arc of the alien conspiracy as well as the fan-driven relationship between Mulder and Scully. While the romance subplot was powered in part by the show's fans, the alien-government conspiracy mythology was Carter's unique vision. This volume argues that The X-Fileswas a milestone because it employed the generic tropes of science fiction to call our attention to contemporary global politics and the history behind them.Specifically, Theresa Geller maps the ways the series used the mytharc not to predict the future, but to unbury the violence and injustice of our own past. With its return to television as an "event series" in 2016, this volume offers a timely assessment of the show's cultural relevance and social significance. Fans of the show, as well as readers interested in cultural studies, genre criticism, race and ethnicity, fan studies, social commentary, and gender studies will appreciate this insightful examination of the series.

The X-Files FAQ explores Chris Carter's popular 1990s science-fiction TV series, which aired on Fox for nine seasons and inspired spin-offs, including feature films, TV shows, toys, novels, and comic books. The book explores the series in terms of its historical context and analyzes how many of the episodes tackle the events of their time: the Clinton era. The X-Files FAQ also tallies the episodes that are based on true stories, selects touchstone moments from the almost decade-long run, and organizes the series by its fantastic subject matter – from serial killers to aliens, from prehistoric menaces to ethnic and religious-based horrors. In addition, the book recalls the TV antecedents (Kolchak: The Night Stalker) and descendants (Fringe) of The X-Files, examines the two feature films, and investigates Chris Carter's other creations, including Millennium, The Lone Gunmen, Harsh Realm, and The After. Featuring numerous stills and the show's most prominent writers and directors, The X-Files FAQ allows readers to relive the “Mytharc” conspiracy and the unforgettable monsters of the week – from the Fluke Man to the Peacocks.

For six acclaimed seasons, FBI paranormal detectives Mulder and Scully have been chasing monsters and little green men and exposing government conspiracies, while espousing the mantras "trust no one" and "the truth is out there." This work takes a close look at the popular television series and shows how its style, character and narrative structure have continued to tease and please a wide viewing audience every week for six years. The first section examines the text of the series and the progression of its mythic story arc. This part also looks at the show's use of expressionistic techniques in both its visual and sound effects; the related tropes of self-reflexive humor, irony and the grotesque; and its ability to give the audience an occasional strong sensory jolt. The second section explores the context that has given rise to The X-Files phenomenon in the 1990s. The show's gothic horror tradition is established, and its contribution to the Zeitgeist of the 90s is also acknowledged.

Although horror shows on television are popular in the 1990s thanks to the success of Chris Carter's The X-Files, such has not always been the case. Creators Rod Serling, Dan Curtis, William Castle, Quinn Martin, John Newland, George Romero, Stephen King, David Lynch, Wes Craven, Sam Raimi, Aaron Spelling and others have toiled to bring the horror genre to American living rooms for years. This large-scale reference book documents an entire genre, from the dawn of modern horror television with the watershed Serling anthology, Night Gallery (1970), a show lensed in color and featuring more graphic makeup and violence than ever before seen on the tube, through more than 30 programs, including those of the 1998-1999 season. Complete histories, critical reception, episode guides, cast, crew and guest star information, as well as series reviews are included, along with footnotes, a lengthy bibliography and an in-depth index. From Kolchak: The Night Stalker to Millennium, from The Evil Touch to Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Twin Peaks, Terror Television is a detailed reference guide to three decades of frightening television programs, both memorable and obscure.

From abductions to cloning, the black oil to alien-human hybridization, follow the epic journey of two agents battling to discover the truth, whatever the cost. Includes exclusives interview including Chris Carter, David Duchovny & William B. Davis, and the inside story of the making of the first episode. This volume collects together some of the best features and interviews from The official X-files magazine to celebrate one of the greatest conspiracy theories of all time.

The X-Files and Literature: Unweaving the Story, Unraveling the Lie to find the Truth provides an innovative and valuable exploration of the groundbreaking television program. Although much academic work has been devoted to the social, psychological, and spiritual significance of The X-Files, until this collection none has fully addressed the series’ rich adaptation of literature to interrogate our perception, definition, or recounting of the “truth.” This collection not only unveils new twists and insights into expected connections between The X-Files and Gothic writers or with its modernist and post-modernist slants on narrative, plot, and characterization. The X-Files and Literature also delves into some unexpected literary sources shaping the series, such as the Arthurian quest, Catholic and Biblical mythology, folkloristics, and James Fennimore Cooper and the “vanishing American” mythos. This collection of essays covers both how The X-Files works with literature’s own constantly morphing definition and portrayal of truth through form and content, as well as how the television program may or may not subvert our own contradictory expectations and distrust of literature’s providing us with enlightenment. "As television becomes more and more literary, with shows like Lost and Gilmore Girls sending us off to the bookstore and the library so we might read them more carefully, a book like The X-Files and Literature is welcome indeed. Sharon R. Yang’s diverse collection on one of Nineties’ TV’s richest texts finds the truth of the gothic and the Arthurian and the folkloric, of the postmodern and the metafictional, of Poe, Pynchon, Cooper, Nabokov, and Tennyson, not just “out there” but in the perhaps too complicated narrative of the perpetually frustrated quests of Mulder and Scully. Valuable-in-itself as an intellectual exercise, its real worth may come when we put the book down and return, smarter, better readers, to the primary text." --David Lavery, Co-Editor, Deny All Knowledge: Investigating The X-Files "Sharon Yang's X-Files collection deals with an important subject addressed by thoughtful writers. The idea that television can be seen as a branch of literature is certainly sustained by The X-Files, and the contributors to this volume succeed in making the case. Brian Hauser on Fenimore Cooper, Cary Jones on Mary Shelley, Tamy Burnett on Poe, Thomas Argiro on Pynchon, Matthew VanWinkle on Tennyson-these and more explore the connections with The X-Files not only in terms of sources but also themes and techniques. Both students of television and literature will want to own this book." —Rhonda V. Wilcox, Ph.D., Professor of English, Gordon College, Barnesville