W: The Writing

These are just some of the major writers for the show.

Just looking at my favorite episodes it would seem that I like Kim Manners, Chris Carter and David Duchovny...in that order. Of course, one of my top three favorite episodes isn't written by any of the people mentioned here, his name is Daniel Arkin.

I like anytime the writing is humorous and flirty, witty and tongue-in-cheek while still being an episode that I don't mind watching right before I go to bed.

For a list of "Best of..." click here.
From "The Hollywood Reporter".

V: Viewers Choice...pick your favorites (A Google Form)

 Click here to be taken to the survey link

U: Unidentified Flying Motifs and Symbols

I teach high school English. I can't help, but analyze everything I read, see and hear. Below are some of my observations from "The X-Files".

The Gold Cross that Scully wears: faith, truth, Faith, the power of love and of family
Little Green Men (EBEs): truth, governmental subterfuge
Samantha Mulder: loss, the search for truth, lies, justice, peace
The Cigarette: lies, manipulations, loneliness, evil, darkness
Mulder's Gun: inability to get justice/find the truth, violence, loss of power

Religion: for or against traditional religion, faith or loss of faith, finding a faith in the darkness
Life, Death and Transfiguration: What does it mean to live and die? What is life and death? Acts of transfiguration are seen throughout several episodes in the earlier seasons, characters are resurrected, evil is cast out of them or they become possessed
Helplessness and Loneliness: In the end we all die alone and we are helpless to it, we can only fight so much and we can only do so much alone
Alien abduction: the main characters are both abducted and are changed because of it

1. Having faith does not that you can't question or think for yourself.
2. Faith vs. Skepticism.
3. Chivalric quest and journeys always lead to the truth.
4. "The Truth is Out There"
5. "Trust No 1"
6. "I Want to Believe"
7. "Bad religion, bad politics, radical selfishness and the canonization of materialism have destroyed the heart and soul of Western Civilation"

And, if you want to go really crazy and, well, need enough information to write a dissertation there's all of the Tropes you could possibily think of all in one place. Enjoy!

T: The Truth is Out There

You know...I love this.

When it gets turned into a meme I love it even more...

Why don't I have these tattoos?

And, this, well, this is just friggin' hilarious!

And, if you need a fix...click here.

S: Shippers and all that shippiness

The Definitive Top Mulder and Scully Moments
IMDB: X-Files Top Shipper Episodes
"You're My 1 in 5 Billion": 18 Times The X-Files's Mulder/Scully Ruined Us for All Other TV Romances
Times Mulder and Scully Should Have Made Out This Week

Soooo, I was talking on a message board one time about my favorite X-Files episodes and one person commented, "Of course, you think that, you're obviously a shipper." I had no idea what that meant and I'm pretty sure I couldn't look it up on Urban Dictionary, so I asked the person and she told me and connected me to some great fanfiction (a link I have long since forgotten) and Stephanie the Shipper was born. For real, I ship all things...in all shows dating back to my Scooby-Doo days (who doesn't want Fred and Daphne to get together?). The fact that Mulder and Scully are together in the end doesn't really help this problem either. You know, frankly...I was also right about Felicity and Ben! I am a Shippy Goddess!

Click to be taken to link

R: Re-watching the series from the beginning

OK, so when I started this month of X-Files I was in the midst of watching the show from the very beginning. It seems like a simple task, but really it's not, and here's why:

1. Those first three seasons are so dark and the endings so dismal and the plots so scary that they are really hard to get through.
2. If you are really into the shippiness that doesn't really get any air time until late in the 4th season.
3. So many people around them die and then there's the cancer.
4. Um, Season 6 (my favorite season) isn't until um, approximately 100 episodes in.

Watching this show (and, it's two movies) again made me notice things I'd never noticed before.

1. I don't think I'd EVER seen the episode with Lance Guest and the invisible elephant.
2. Doggett and Reyes are pretty amazing characters.
3. MOTW are way more fun than alien episodes and there are more MOTW epis than I thought.
4. EVERYBODY did a guest stint on 'The X-Files'...fo' realz...Jack Black, people!
5. There are some definite shifts...DPO is the first major one...finally a little laughter amongst all the death and then there's the definite shift out of Canada, after the first movie is another shift, Seasons 8 and 9 are also major shifts.

It took me three months to watch the whole series...using mostly Saturdays and Sundays, and frankly, now I'm feeling a little lost and I'm not really sure what to do with myself...

Q: A Quick Trip through my favorites (MOTW, mytharc epi, season, episode)

So, I found this great blog post ("30 Days in a Day or a Love Song to the X-Files") and thought that I would do the same here on this blog. It's a great way to get a lot of information out and quickly.

Day 1: Favorite Season
Season 6...I like to ship all the things and this season, while it ends in a whimper, starts out with a bang by taking place right after the movie. Seriously, with shippy deliciousness like "Arcadia", "How the Ghosts Stole Christmas", "The Rain King" and "Dreamland I and II", just great episodes like "The Unnatural" and "Monday", and trippy, gross episodes like "Field Trip", how could I not be in love with this season?
Day 2: Least Favorite Season
The first three seasons of this show are quite different than the next three (of course, there's another shift after Season 6, but we don't need to talk about that now)...the episodes are just so darned dark and scary and happy endingless, but the one that the biggest downer is Season 2. Sure it's got great storylines, but by the end I just needed a good laugh.
Day 3: First Episode You Ever Saw
You probably remember me saying that I don't really remember the first episode I ever saw, but I do remember the first episode that gave me the willies...the one with the killer lightening bugs, "Darkness Falls".
Day 4: Favorite Female Character
Sooo...if I can't choose Scully as my favorite because that would be a given, I suppose, I don't know who else I'd choose. Sure, there's Monica Reyes, but isn't she also a given? Are there really a lot of secondary characters that are female? Monica, Marita, Susanne Modeski all appear in more than one episode, but do they work?
Day 5 Favorite Male Character
ADA Skinner, I spent most of the series wondering if he was a good guy or a bad guy, questioning most of his actions and motives...in the end he proved himself and it's nice watching the episodes again with all of this in mind.
Day 6: Favorite Villain
I love to hate this sexy, double-crossing SOB. I think he proves that it's better to choose a side, even if that side loses than to me all for ones self.
Day 7: Favorite Episode
If I have to pick just one...um...
Day 8: Favorite Monster of the Week
Donnie Pfaster...sure he doesn't have any extra abilities, but that just makes him scarier and creepier and...well, I'm getting chills just thinking about him.
Day 9: Favorite Mulder Moment
Any of those scenes in "Monday"...I sometimes watch this episode just so I can watch his facial expressions.
"My damn waterbed sprung a leak...Yes, I do know that...it must have been a gift."
"I endorsed my damn paycheck stub."
Day 10: Favorite Scully Moment
I prefer kick butt Scully over crying/moping/irrational Scully. I especially like her at the end of "Never Again"..."Not everything's about you, Mulder."
Day 11: Favorite Skinner Moment
When he gives Scully the coordinates in "Triangle" and she kisses him "the elevator doors open*
Day 12: Favorite Doggett Moment
The end of "Release". He'd been so full of rage for most of that episode, questioning and confused at the end we can see his pain and it, well, I teared up a little.
Day 13: Favorite Monica Moment
When she's helping Scully deliver the baby...she just so sweet and awesome. Frankly, I have loved Annabeth Gish my whole life...ever since 'Mystic Pizza'.
Day 14: Favorite Lone Gunmen Moment
Any in "Three of a Kind"...I especially like that Byers gets a bit of romance.
Day 15: Happiest Scene
The end of Season 8.
Day 16: Funniest Scene
"It wasn't even real cream cheese it was light cream cheese."
or
"Talkin' bout Shaft can you dig it..."
"I. DID. NOT."
*Gets me every time.*
Day 17: Most Dramatic Scene
The ending of "Milagro"
Day 18: Most Heartbreaking Scene
Mulder crying at Scully's bedside *tears*
Day 19: Favorite Mulder/Scully Moment
"I'd kiss you if you weren't so ugly."
Day 20: Favorite Mulder/Scully Phone Conversation
It's a toss up between all of those convos in "War of the Corprophages" and the three-way in the bubble bath tubs in "Hollywood AD".
Day 21: An Episode You Hate that Everyone Else Loves
I do not get the love for "Jose Chung's From Outer Space". I've watched that episode more than once, during the day...at night...I've read the script and still...I don't think it's funny.
Day 22: An Episode You Hated at First, but Now Love
I am sorry to say that I was one of those people that didn't watch an episode that didn't include Mulder and I was that person for a long time, then I bought the show on DVD and watched them and well, um, they are good...different than Mulder and Scully, but good. I am sad I didn't give them a chance. I especially like "4-D". WOW!
Day 23: Favorite Mytharc or Recurring Storyline
"Wet-Wired"/"Talitha Cumi"/"Herrenvolk"
Day 24: Favorite Title for an Episode
"2Shy"...I can't be the only one who thinks of that song...and then there's the fact that the killer is preying on the vulnerability of lonely women.
Day 25: Favorite Kiss
That forehead kiss in the hospital...so touching.
Day 26: Favorite Season Finale
Season 5...boy did that one have me going!
Day 27: Favorite Scene, EVER
"We just curled up like little baby cats, ain't that right honey bunch."
"Sure is poopy pants."
Day 28: Favorite FTF Moment
"I had you big time."
Day 29: Favorite IWTB Moment
The first time we see Mulder and Scully and they're in bed. He appears beside her all scruffy and it surprised the whole theatre. Seriously, people clapped and cheered. My friend and I had gone to watch it opening night and I had to by the DVD just to know what I missed after that happened the cheering was so loud. It was an awesome experience.
Day 30: Favorite Quote
"Whatever happened to playing a hunch, Scully? The element of surprise, random acts of unpredictability? If we fail to anticipate the unforseen or expect the unexpected in a universe of infinite possibilities, we may find ourselves at the mercy of anyone or anything that cannot be programmed, categorized or easily referenced."