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I am a late bloomer to the X-Files. So I must say there is still hope for you if you have never even seen an episode. I watched the first few episodes and then stopped. I watched off and on if I was bored on Sunday nights. In the fifth season an episode called Bad Blood reeled me in and I 've been addicted ever since. David Duchovny is absolutely luscious, Gillian Anderson is one sexy lady, and of course the stories are great. I'm pretty much caught up by reading summaries, watching reruns, and of course seeing the movie. The X-Files has it all: great acting, great writing, great special effects, and, what else are you going to be doing on a Sunday night ?

I was 17 years old when TV4 broadcast this show for the first time in Sweden back in 1994. Back then I had a big geeky interest in UFO:s and the paranormal so you can imaging how I felt when this TV-show came along. It was like my heart could explode of joy. Well, the geeky interest for UFO:s faded and sometimes I was quite tired of the X-files but I always kept on watching. The funny thing is that it is now, a year after the "end" of the show, when I'm 27 years old, that I realize how extremely important the show has been to me. It has been a big part of my life for ten years. And now, life feels a bit empty without it.

What is the best part of the X-files then? Well, of course, first of all, Mulder and Scully and the tension between them. You can't describe it with words, it's magical. That is, very good acting. (If the main goals of life for Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny weren't to become icons, well tough luck :)!) Second, the Gothic atmosphere. The X-files is forests, fog, darkness, snow, mud, autumn, rain, desert. Mmm, me love. Third, the dialog. "SCULLY: Mulder, I wouldn't put myself on the line for anybody but you. MULDER: If there's an ice tea in that bag, could be love. SCULLY: Must be fate, Mulder. Root beer." That says about everything. Forth, all the other characters. They are so complex and carefully created. And fifth, the story. I mean, this is the story of all stories. It has everything. A love bigger than the universe, heroes, diplomats, true evil, a father-son-tragedy and a big, huge and completely wonderful conspiracy. And some aliens not to forget.

I love this story and it will never end. Not in my heart anyway...

According to my friends, I am not a true X-phile (don't ask why). Oh well.

The X-Files ranks as one of the most intelligent and brilliant shows on television. It is a cinematic show, using techniques that are more associated with movies than the tv show (like the long unedited sequence in Triangle). Admittedly it was once a better show than it is now, but most episodes are minor masterpieces. But when it peaks, like with "Redux", "Triangle", and "One Son", it peaks like no other show has before.

It is completely unclassifiable. It is a mystery, a sci-fi, and sometimes self parody, and the show has several markedly sexual overtones (the cigarette smoking man). The sexual tension is what probably has attracted the most people. The byplay between Mulder and Scully is cool and reserved, yet you wonder exactly what there really thinking.

It pays homage to old shows, and movies as well ("Duel in the Sun", "Rope"). This show doesn't always give you what you want.

Though it has gotten more Hollywood-ish, it's a testament to the creators and writers that they haven't put Scully and Mulder together (will they or won't they? Probably. It is Hollywood, after all).

This show is a thinking person's show. Sometimes it does get slow, but it always remains interesting.

I find it hard to comment on The X- Files because it simply transcends words. It's an intelligent masterpiece, an epos of beautifully complicated scenarios, plots and characters. Eruditely taking on the grayest of areas, confronting those things under your bed and inside your closet thus bringing new meaning to the fears brought on by conventions and the imprudent obstinacy of social norms. The script, the actors and the direction make the most unbelievable seem believable and the unfathomable- unfathomably real. So thought provoking that if you really let yourself dwell in its essence, it can change the way you see the world, if only just by believing in the conviction that The Truth Is Out There.

Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) is a marginalized loner FBI agent stuck in the basement. He's been ostracized because he's a true believer in the paranormal. Dr Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) is a skeptic, a woman of science, and assigned to keep Mulder under control.

The X Files represents a breakout for the sci-fi genre. Its success gave it license to put on more paranormal shows treated as reasonable. It also became a benchmark by which these shows are measured. There are amazing episodes with some less so. The best is the chemistry between the two leads. It broke new ground with great writing from some future notable names. It lasted 9 seasons. It may have gone on too long but it was great while it lasted.