I (still) want to believe
After watching Fire in the Sky on Freevee, I want to go back and rewatch classic episodes of The X-Files, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year! Coincidentally, that's when I first started at university.
Alien abductions and UFOs captured my nascent imagination with director Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind in 1978. Ever since I’ve always looked at the night sky with a sense of wonder. What is life like out there amongst the stars…
However, the abductions chronicled in Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World weren’t so benign. An ITV series I was most likely too young to see at the time of its original broadcast in 1980. Years later, Whitley Strieber’s Communion cemented a lifelong fascination.
Fear of abduction had entered my subconsciousness in the wake of a life-changing injury.
Awaking from a coma and finding oneself paralysed in an alien environment (a children’s hospital) is something you never fully process and the sci-fi genre has always afforded a forum to explore trauma. For years I suffered from night terrors and still have troubled dreams.
A close college friend was given a copy of The X-Files (taped off Sky One) and we watched Pilot - arguably one of the best in television history. We were mesmerised by this thrilling Hitchcockian tale of alien abduction, conspiracies and paranoia, which aptly ended with a knowing nod to Spielberg’s Raiders of the Lost Ark.
The X-Files went from cult viewing to a pop culture phenomenon that tapped into the zeitgeist as the new millennium approached, and Chris Carter’s series followed me from graduation into a media career. “Trust no one.” and “The Truth is out there.” entered the lexicon.
I religiously read the official magazine, owned a mouse mat and still have a copy of the famous FHM issue featuring Gillian Anderson on the cover!
A few of my favourite episodes (in no particular order):
Pilot
Home
Squeeze
Duane Barry
Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose
So, I’m looking forward to revisiting the adventures of FBI agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) on Disney+.
I may go in search of Dark Skies, too.