After a week off, I hope everyone is rejuvenated and ready for a new assignment from the League of Extraordinary Bloggers…
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At what point did a pop culture series “jump the shark” and lose your interest:
For me I could ramble on about 'Star Trek: Voyager' but for this assignment I have decided to talk about another series which I loved, then they blew it big time. That series is 'The X-Files'. I loved that series on so many levels and for so many different reasons:
- Aliens abducting humans are real....Awesome and scary at the same time.
- Government Conspiracy's: Who isn't suspicious of big brother?
- The FBI has a department for investigating paranormal cases called the 'X-Files'...very cool.
- Special Agent Dana Scully was all kinds of special, in every good way...
- Agent Fox Mulder believes, and his own sister was abducted by aliens when they were kids and he witnessed it. Scary cool.
- Mulder was buddies with a group of conspiracy junkies who are smart, have high tech knowledge and are funny as hell: The Lone Gunman
- The series had a central bad guy, almost a 'Darth Vader' like quality to him. And as it turns out he is the father of the hero (Vader/Luke). And he smokes cigarettes all the time, he speaks a dozen languages, he assassinated JFK, he was shot and somehow survived, he has a way with the ladies and aliens, he is The Cigarette Smoking Man (CSM) & (CGB Spendor)
- There is a global syndicate which is working with the aliens to colonize our planet, in order to save themselves and their families
- Mulder had cool 'Obi-Wan'- like ad visors who were working against his Father. They were known simply as 'Deep Throat' and 'Mr X'.
- Being a Canadian it was exciting to have a hit TV series filmed in Vancouver, Canada! With many known Canadian actors making guest appearances.
Moments where the 'Shark Jumping' Began...
- But as they approached the end of Season 5 the 'Feature Film' was close to being released. This film had been filmed in Hollywood, rather than Vancouver. So when the movie was screened it didn't 'feel' the same as the TV series. Vancouver just has this 'feel' to it that couldn't be reproduced by Hollywood, and The X-Files lost that. Also add to the fact they moved production of the TV series to LA for season 6 to accommodate star David Duchovny. The X-Files just didn't feel the same and it lost it's unique Canadian element.
- Season 6 saw the death of the Global Conspiracy Syndicate at the hands of different aliens.
- Season 7 saw the death of CSM and abduction of Mulder. Why was Mulder abducted? Because actor David Duchovny wanted to pursue a feature film career. Scully finds out she's pregnant...What?
- Season 8 saw Mulder replaced by Agent John Doggett (cool name), played by Robert Patrick (T-1000 from 'T2'). Very awesome casting and I actualy liked his character. But this show was about Mulder, and having him gone just didn't seem right. This is not 'Law & Order', Mulder IS the show, his character cannot simply be swapped out. Also Doggett was a skeptic, much like Scully had been for 7 seasons. But with Mulder gone Scully all of a sudden is a believer in the paranormal... say What???
- Season 8 reveals that Mulder is the father of Scully's baby and the pregnancy was planned... huh? Why?
- Season 8 reveals a new set of aliens and another slightly different alien conspiracy which just wasn't as interesting or as cool as the Syndicate conspiracy.
- Mulder returns to the show in a limited capacity, not actually as a member of 'The X-Files'. Then he and Scully hook-up in the season finale... then Mulder is gone again in the season 9 premiere. Their hook-up was a big mistake and really didn't seem to fit. They made better friends and co-workers than lovers. And Duchovny didn't want to return for another season so he said "See you later" to fans and left (again).
- They kill off the 'Lone Gunmen'...
- Season 9 saw unneccessary additiions to the cast which just put a nail in the coffin of the series. Duchovny returned for the series finale fighting against the new alien conspiracy by being put on trial... boring. CSM returns again from the dead, if briefly...dumb. Scully and Mulder live happily ever after on the run from the Government....DUMB. But all is forgiven in the second (pointless) X-Files movie a few years later.....
It's a shame what happened with this series. It really was a great show. But it definitely 'jumped the shark'.
Check out these other blogs which are tackling this topic:
And as always check out www.coolandcollected.com
1 comment:
Yeah they lost me when they moved to LA and Mulder left. I couldn't take it. So I stopped watching.
Dan
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