The X-Files: Season One

The X-Files: Season One, 1993-1994. Two FBI agents investigate spooky cases.

Created by Chris Carter. Directed by David Nutter (6 episodes), Daniel Sackheim (2), Joe Napolitano (2), Jerrold Freedman (2), William Graham (2), Larry Shaw (2), Michael Lange (2), Robert Mandel (1), Harry Longstreet (1), Michael Katleman (1), Fred Gerber (1), Rob Bowman (1), & R.W. Goodwin (1). Written by Carter (9 episodes), Glen Morgan (6), James Wong (6), Howard Gordon (6), Alex Gansa (5), Kenneth Biller (1), Chris Brancato (1), Larry Barber (1), Paul Barber (1), Scott Kaufer (1), Marilyn Osborn (1), & Chris Ruppenthal (1). Starring David Duchovny, & Gillian Anderson.

Concept: Conspiracies and bad science as the foundation for a series. D
Story: C
Characters: B
Dialog: D
Pacing: B
Cinematography: C
Special effects/design: C
Acting: Duchovny is terrible. Anderson's performance carries the entire show. Which is actually kind of fitting. C
Music: C
Enjoyment: Despite being apparently written by idiots, and being formulaic and predictable on top of that, I find myself loving this show even more than when I watched it as a kid. It never drags, and even at it's dumbest - and boy howdy is it dumb - it's always entertaining. There's just something about Mulder and Scully that's inexplicably endearing. (I suspect a lot of it is that most of the TV shows I've watched in recent years have had ensemble casts, while the two-character set-up means that every detail and moment in the show is contributing to their characters in some little way. I can see why the pair-of-investigators trope is a thing.) B

GPA: 2.1/4