The X-Files was a huge show when it first aired; perhaps the biggest and most successful sci-fi show there has ever been. It was still popular enough to spawn two movies and now, excitingly, a six part mini-series that is essentially the tenth season.

But why has X-Files captured people for so long? Why after over twenty years and so much change in America does this show still resonate with people? I think the simplest answer is that the X-Files was always in search of the truth and that is something that we all do, no matter the time period.

Throughout the show we found Scully and Mulder (Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny), polar opposites, finding out that the truth of their lives wasn’t as simple as they had assumed it to be. There ended up being ghosts, monsters, aliens, cover-ups and conspiracy; all things that lurked under the surface of seemingly normal lives. Is your neighbor who he really says he is? What is your government really doing? What really happened to that person? Is this really how things are?

The X-Files allowed a large audience to explore this while being simultaneously entertained. I was only eight when the show came on, but I know that it was a time of political and government mistrust from the public. Peoples interest was already peaked about these topics and the X-Files was a fantastical approach to it all. The monsters brought me in as a kid (even if the theme music made me hide because it was scary), but finding the truth is what kept me watching.

I couldn’t understand about the government and spying, but I did understand needing to search for answers. Right before the show started, my family had a lot of upheaval. People around me were different, one was gone and I couldn’t even understand myself at that point. The X-Files allowed me not only an escape, but a hope that I could find the truth out when my life wasn’t anything like what it used to be.

The years the show was on only saw my time get more confusing as I soon became a teenager. If anything my life became even more complicated and convoluted; still, the X-Files was trying to figure it all out so I would too. I also realized that Dana Scully was the kind of woman I wanted to be; smart, strong, brave and never ever in the background to the men in her life. I cannot tell you how happy it makes me to see Gillian Anderson continue those same qualities in the roles she had for movies and television since then.

As with life, things changed and ended. The show wasn’t its best the last couple seasons and I figured out some things and found new things too. Then the show ended, there were some movies that came out and I watched with enthusiasm. I don’t think they were as good as the show, but that is a high bar to jump. I really thought that was the end of the X-Files, but now we get another season. Life is full of surprises.

So what is this mini-series going to bring us? We know that they are retconning some of the elements introduced in the movies. It will be more streamlined now and we will also get to see more of Scully and Mulder’s relationship. They were still together, but time has passed and they are now broken up. There are other references too to show time has passed. Mentions of Uber, surveillance and such are common in letting us know that this X-Files is set in the present.

What will happen during the show? Will Scully and Mulder be able to mend their relationship? Are they still partners or does something come up that they have to be partnered together again? Will we get lots of cool monsters or aliens? What is the government covering up this time? Will it still have the same emotional tugs that the original had? We won’t know until we watch. Here is the preview trailer of the show:

When can you watch? Very soon actually. Tomorrow January 24th will show the first episode titled My Struggle on Fox at 7:00PM, then the second episode, Founder’s Mutation, will air the next day, Monday January 25th at 8:00PM, which will be its regular time slot from then on.

Now there’s only one more question to ask; do you believe?

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