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'Do you believe in the existence of extraterrestrials?'
Title: "Pilot"
Season: One (1993)
Duration: 46m
Written by: Chris Carter
Directed by: Robert Mandel
Rating: ****
It's fair to say that The X-Files hasn't aged amazingly well, or become that well regarded since it finished airing. The fact that it actually reached its natural lifespan during its run didn't help, going on for at least three years past its sell-by date. Until 2016, the last that had been heard of the series was a second movie in 2008 with Billy Connolly as a child molester - it bombed at the box office, struggling to make back its $30m production costs. And look back through these earlier episodes and its so very 90s - Mulder has shoulder pads bigger than the cast of Dynasty and he communicates with Scully on a mobile phone the size of a house brick.
Yet the pilot episode of The X-Files brings us back to a time when the series was actually good. The first season is the season for purists, a low-key series of investigations that are generally anchored in some form of realism. And although David Duchovny could never be accused of overplaying in his lead role, there's a playfulness about him here, and a nice line in sexual tension between his character and Scully's that doesn't feel overdone. Perhaps most importantly, the conspiracy theories introduced here and in the equally good second episode Deep Throat aren't tied up in labyrinthine knots as they would be after nine years on air. A great start to a fine first season.
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Visit X-File On Main St.'s Online Store in association with Amazon for gifts on the series.
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