666

Improbable 666

I seldom watch television and I can barely remember the last time I was in a movie theater, but I did recently watch the 6 hour Syfy adaptation of Childhood's End. Next month I'll watch the 6 hour-long 2016 X-Files miniseries.

Science Fiction?
Neither Arthur Clarke's Childhood's End or Chris Carter's The X-Files fit into the conventional science fiction mold. Clarke wrote his story at a time when people like John Campbell were pushing science fiction writers towards explorations of paranormal pseudoscience. Chris Carter found himself creating a television show that included some science fiction elements in amongst a tossed salad of horror and mystery and paranormal themes. However, given my personal interest in science fiction, I have to look at both of these 6 hour television "events" from a Sci Fi perspective.

monster of the week

Previously, I've fantasized about how one might push this X-Files miniseries in the direction of more science fiction and less horror. Horror stories don't interest me, particularly when they involve a cheesy rubber mask monster.

Mythology

Annet Mahendru

I've always been more interested in the "mythology" part of the X-Files rather than the "monster of the week" stuff. It would be fun if some television network would go ahead and do a pure science fiction genre "X-Files: The Next Generation". Mulder and Scully could be "retired" into minor roles and a new group of actors could be brought on board to move the mythology forward.

Subtract Carter

Tad O'Malley

A major impediment to such a Sci Fi reboot of the X-Files is that Chris Carter has learned that he can endlessly tease a television audience with aliens who never show up. Carter is fixated on conspiracy theories, not aliens. Thus, we get Tad O'Malley as a character who is playing the role of the kind of "journalist" that Chris Carter would probably enjoy being.

Add a New Producer
If there could ever be a science fiction spin-off from the X-Files, you would have to subtract Carter and bring in a producer who wanted to work in the science fiction genre.

THE X-FILES  Re-Opened

The Tease
In advance of the 2016 miniseries, we are being teased with a Roswell-type alien spaceship. My guess is that the "spaceship" crash scene will turn out to be the crash of some super-secret government-built flying machine.

Or part of a dream sequence.

Or some other trick that Chris Carter can erase and forget about after that particular episode.

"prop" takes on new meaning...
how did they prop-up all that paper mâché?

Spaceship
The "crashed spaceship" looks like 1940s aircraft design gone wrong. What happened? Did aliens fly half way across the galaxy to Earth and then run out of gas?

gone William

Shippers Gone Wild
It sounds like we will not see what has become of William, but we will get all of Scully's tearjerker angst about not being a good mom.

Monica Reyes

What about other old hands from the past? Skinner is back as the unpromotable FBI figure-head. Monica Reyes will apparently show her face in the mini-series. However, Annabeth Gish is almost as old as Gillian Anderson, so I don't see any hope there that she could pick up the flag and lead an "X-Files: The Next Generation" charge coming out of this miniseries.

"Einstein was one of them."

Humor
One of the new 2016 episodes will be "funnier than the others". For humor, my bet is on the "Lone Gunmen" to be involved.

Another possibility for the "funny episode" might involve Agent Einstein. Lauren Ambrose is pushing 40, so despite the red hair cred, I don't see her as being a "new generation" flag-bearer for a possible X-files reboot.

X marks the spot
Get out your new 2016 calendar and put a big X on January 24th.

Next: 2015 recap of the wikifiction blog. 
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January 23rd update.

I wrote this blog post (above) on December 29th, 2015. In advance of the televised "6-episode event" some people have already been allowed to watch the first 3 episodes.

I just read that episode 3, "Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster" by Darin Morgan is funny.