I have been a long time X Files fan.  As in, I watched the pilot when it aired so long ago on FOX with my mom, and it became our weekly bonding show.  Well, aside from the various Star Treks that were on at the time.  But there was something fabulous about the show, many things really.  The writing was David Lynchian weird but engaging, the monsters-of-the-week were well designed and executed, and the night-day belief system of skeptic scientist Scully vs alien-otherworld believer Mulder made it a classic real world science fiction series.

The show got nine years of my life, most of that good, minus a few stinkers of episodes and one truly godawful film.  I stuck with it, I was loyal and loving to my conspiracy theory fighters, watching season after season of aliens-not-aliens-but-aliens back and forth.  The mythology was strong and cerebral at times.

After the X Files comic book continuation announced at SDCC 2014, it was really only a matter of time before network FOX chose to revisit ANOTHER one of their most popular series.  I mean really, they’re bringing back 24 AGAIN, as well as Prison Break, three of the highest rated scripted dramas the network ever had.  Are they just out of ideas or what?

https://youtu.be/UgRUzEdPfHA

Needless to say, I was incredibly leery of this announcement.  Why go back and rehash a show that had an ok ending?  Why, after such a lackluster disappointment of a film, bring our favorite FBI agents back to television?  Many fans were extremely excited, and I don’t fault them for that at all.  But for me?  I didn’t want yet another convoluted entry into the X Anthology to leave me feeling used and abused.

The X Files Revisited mini series (as it was originally proposed to be) totes some of the most important returning talent for the “good ol days” feel, including series creator Chris Carter, writer/director Glen Morgan (along with his actor/writer brother Darin Morgan), and a good majority of main cast; Gillian Anderson, David Duchovny, Mitch Pileggi, William B Davis (oh, SPOILERS), Annabeth Gish, and the Lone Gunmen.  That’s right, all three of those wonderful nerdy guys are back after being killed twice.  They’re also bringing in The Soup‘s Joel McHale, and Robbie Amell (The Flash) to round out the cast.

I really did try to watch the episode with an open mind.  The first 6 minutes or so are exactly what I’d hoped to see, familiar characters doing their thing.  But as the episode continued, it felt less and less like my expectations were going to be met, and more like Duchovny’s Californication character Hank Moody was doing some research for a book and happened to be following this guy Fox Mulder’s life story.

This is a nifty special FOX did about the ‘reopening’ of the files:

https://youtu.be/UgRUzEdPfHA

Without giving too much away before the episode airs, I am confident in saying I feel as if those 9 years I gave the show have been beaten mercilessly and left on a Washington DC street corner. Every bit of story and character development is pretty much pushed off screen, CORE FRAKKING ELEMENTS that make these two FBI Agents who they are….simply are gone.  GONE, with no real reason or rhyme.  I have to think this is some grand Chris Carter plan to royally mess with the faithful’s minds here, because there really cannot be another explanation.  And it looks like after a quick search to see what other reviewers are thinking, I’m not alone in my outrage here.

You can watch the first minute of the show here.

At least I can also say I was right?  I KNEW this was going to be a disappointing beginning to a 6 part miniseries (even though rumors are swirling that FOX is eyeballing more episodes after seeing how good the ratings are).  I knew I was going to yell and throw things and be angry, because this is NOT how you bring back these characters, it just isn’t.  Or I guess I should say it’s not how *I* think these characters and legacy are best served and respected.

Yes,  I’ll be watching the rest of the series, mostly out of morbid curiosity and a strange sense of finality.  Pretty much the same reason I went to see the second movie, not what you want a hardcore XPhile to say.

FOX’s X Files: Reopened airs Sunday January 24th, 2016 at 9pm, check local listings for time.