Editorials
A Plea to Make the New “X-Files” Limited Series Amazing
Hi, my name is Trace and I have only seen one episode of The X-Files. I know that is terrible, but when I was growing up I wasn’t allowed to watch it. Though for some reason, my mother thought it would be fine to go see The X-Files Movie in theaters with the whole family (the reasoning behind that is a mystery to me). I digress. I like to consider myself on top of most things TV and movie related, but I am very sad to say that I never went back and watched all of The X-Files (and the thought of binge-watching 9 seasons is daunting to say the least). You can imagine how left out I felt when it was announced that FOX would be renewing the series for a 6-episode limited series. I felt that I needed to write a post to explain my conundrum.
As I mentioned above: I have only seen one episode of The X-Files. I have also seen both movies in theaters. The one episode I have seen is the second episode of the show’s fourth season: “Home.” Why have I seen that episode, you ask? Because that episode is always mentioned on “Greatest TV Episodes of All Time” lists of “Most Disturbing TV Episodes of All Time” lists, so I thought it only appropriate to at least watch that one.
I loved “Home.” A lot. I enjoyed the first movie, and I was kind of bored during the second movie. I fully realize that watching those three things do not make me an X-Files expert in the slightest, but since those are the only three pieces of The X-Files that I have ever seen, that is all I can go off of right now when I make a plea to the TV gods to please make this new limited series amazing. Make it more like “Home,” and less like The X-Files: I Want To Believe. Basically, I don’t want another Arrested Development Season 4.
I know some of you will cry foul: I’m bitching about something I know nothing about, but that’s really not what I’m doing here. Presumably, I have seen The X-Files at it’s best (“Home”) and at its worst (the movie’s sequel). Bear in mind that I didn’t hate I Want To Believe like so many other people did, it was just kind of forgettable to me. All I’m asking is that for the sake of the show’s millions of fans, make the show’s 13-year hiatus worth it. I have faith, especially considering that original stars Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny will both be returning. Series creator Chris Carter will also be overseeing the new episodes, which does inspire confidence.
All of this being said, my goal this year is to watch all of The X-Files and be done by the time this new season airs so I can make a better judgment on its quality. What do you think? Do you think my request is a valid one? Or do I just need to shut up and let it happen? I can’t help but be both extremely excited and nervous about the quality of the new episodes we are going to get. I’m cautiously optimistic. TV gods, please, don’t f**k it up.
The trailer for Ti West’s upcoming adaptation of A Christmas Carol raised a lot of eyebrows when it dropped earlier this week. While plenty of folks initially dismissed Ebenezer as a derivative project meant to cash in on the recent wave of unnecessary prequels that expand the backstory of beloved characters (such as 2023’s Wonka), Charles Dickens’ original novel already made a point of exploring Ebenezer Scrooge’s origins in detail – meaning that this new film is likely just a particularly faithful adaptation of the source material under a different name.
Couple that with the fact that the movie is being helmed by a genuine horror auteur and I think it’s safe to say that the latest iteration of the first modern ghost story is in good hands.
That being said, one detail that immediately jumped out at me during the brief teaser (other than a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it nod to Johnny Depp’s iconic bedroom death scene from the original A Nightmare on Elm Street) is the fact that many of Ebenezer’s ghosts appear to have been directly lifted from the iconic John Leech illustrations that accompanied the first edition of Dickens’ novel.
Here are a couple of stills from the trailer compared to the original artwork:
The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come in ‘Ebenezer’ and ‘A Christmas Carol’
The Phantoms in ‘A Christmas Carol’ and ‘Ebenezer’
Marley’s Ghost in ‘Ebenezer’ and ‘A Christmas Carol’
Mainly working with old-school wood and steel engravings that would later be transferred to print, Leech was instrumental in crafting the iconic look of history’s most influential phantoms – especially since Dickens is said to have been deeply involved with the creation of these so-called “comic illustrations.”
And since the novel is commonly said to have popularized spiritualism in Victorian England, much of the ghostly iconography that we still see in genre media to this very day (including some of Ti West’s previous films) can be traced back to the author’s partnership with Leech.
Ebenezer won’t be the first A Christmas Carol adaptation to borrow heavily from these designs, but I can appreciate how Ti West is incorporating an important part of horror history into his latest film.
Ebenezer will be available in theaters starting November 13.
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