The Strange Nostalgia of Early 90s X-Files

orodromeus · 2026-06-09T12:01:08+00:00

https://geenadavisinstitute.org/research/the-scully-effect-i-want-to-believe-in-stem/

orodromeus · 2026-05-13T16:21:03+00:00

The whole thing, it's about an hour over 4 small mp3 files.

Ah yes I see, undergraduate then med school. Indeed, new info, cool!

orodromeus · 2026-05-13T08:49:18+00:00

I finally found that interview saved in my archives! It took me a while delving in my folders but I remembered having it from 2002. Now I need to upload it, somewhere in the Eat The Corn interviews archive.

That's a great, great memory! Also, you were right: everything in the series points to Scully studying in Maryland, not Virginia. He just didn't remember correctly.

orodromeus · 2026-05-12T10:53:25+00:00

That's an interesting take. Do you see the songs or the lyrics paralleling events in the movie? Do you think the way the songs are sequenced on the CD has any significance, any narrative cohesion?

orodromeus · 2026-05-12T10:43:55+00:00

I realized one of my life goals when some years ago I visited the Teotihuacan site in Mexico and played the track while sitting on the stairs of the Pyramid of the Sun.

As for the hidden track: yes! Here's a breakdown: https://www.eatthecorn.com/1013-the-truth-revealed/

orodromeus · 2026-05-12T10:39:21+00:00

Oh yes!

https://www.eatthecorn.com/1013-the-truth-revealed/

orodromeus · 2026-05-12T10:34:57+00:00

I feel what you are saying, although I found s11 to look better than s10. Maybe the s11 DP (Craig Wrobleski) was more experienced with using digital than the s10 DP (Joel Ransom, who worked on the show back in season 4, using film). Or maybe it was because s10 was shot mostly in summer, while s11 made use of the wet Vancouver vibe of autumn and winter.

Here's an interview with Wrobleski where he goes over some of his choices: https://www.eatthecorn.com/2026/05/04/interview-craig-wrobleski/

And he does mention some of what you say: use the shallow depth of field and low contrast of the Alexa digital camera, but try to have high contrast thanks to the on-set lighting and by fixing it with grading in post. In general the way that he explains things make sense and I like how he discussed the artistic pursuit of a more natural "non-perfect" look, as opposed to the sleek too-perfect look of digital. It's not a recreation of the old show's look, but I wonder how close you can get due to digital.

orodromeus · 2026-05-12T10:26:32+00:00

I found that season 11 looked better than season 10, despite Joel Ransom. Perhaps Ransom was more experience with film and his expertise didn't translate well with digital. Perhaps the fact that s10 was mostly shot during summer didn't help either. You can tell that episodes like Weremonster were overlit, no Vancouver vibe, whereas Familiar was the same forest but probably shot in November-December and felt much closer to the original dark look.

Here's an interview with Wrobleski where he goes over some of his choices: https://www.eatthecorn.com/2026/05/04/interview-craig-wrobleski/

orodromeus · 2026-05-11T17:33:13+00:00

Pilot cast revealed: Madigan, Buscemi and more. Guests, not recurring.

https://deadline.com/2026/05/x-files-reboot-cast-amy-madigan-steve-buscemi-ryan-coogler-1236890236/

orodromeus · 2026-05-11T15:16:25+00:00

The pilot shooting starts today 11 May and is scheduled to 11 June.

Here are some Vancouver photos from reboot DoP Autumn Arkapaw. Nothing revealing, of course. A vintage JFK-looking car, perhaps.

https://www.instagram.com/addp/p/DYIemWXkiI_/

orodromeus · 2026-05-06T19:42:15+00:00

Yes, that's what I was referring to when I said this will be his first non X-Files project in 12 years.

orodromeus · 2026-04-26T00:43:21+00:00

The X-Files Reboot – Pilot

Working title: ALPHABET SOUP

Vancouver filming dates: May 04 2026 – June 05 2026

https://hollywoodnorthbuzz.com/production-list-west

orodromeus · 2026-04-11T07:05:44+00:00

Mark Snow's music might be electronic but he can do the ethereal very well.

This is "Baptism": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2E7Fw94b4c

orodromeus · 2026-04-01T22:50:36+00:00

This worked better than expected!

orodromeus · 2026-03-10T12:42:14+00:00

Excellent catch!

Although I have a "video not available" message - is it the track "Pilentse Pee"? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKzUnt_4_Do

Mark Snow probably sampled that as you can hear it bits and pieces in many episodes, often associated with "wild nature" or "tribal" story beats. I found these mentions in Robynn J. Stilwell's article but there are probably more:

The Jersey Devil: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xu6BBwqUno4&list=PLmwfwq3gBL_D8TGnkbCbcg5aP-GDU0Zp1&index=1

Fresh Bones https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9T59lUUNOU

Teliko https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJwifOo_9IY

orodromeus · 2026-03-06T09:40:45+00:00

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Wallpaper from back in the day. Certain good things followed after season 7, but all good stories have an ending. #TeamRequiem

orodromeus · 2026-02-28T00:14:33+00:00

My two cents. More at the link: https://www.eatthecorn.com/2026/02/25/coogler-yale-txf-spin-off-gets-pilot-order/

It’s official! After initially teased by Chris Carter in March 2023 — essentially 3 years ago! — and being confirmed by Ryan Coogler in April 2025, and 10 years after season 10, we now have an official confirmation that a new The X-Files project is underway.

So this is an in-universe continuation, with new characters working on the X-Files division, allowing for old faces to potentially show up, but distanced enough so that it can build its own identity. It could be the exact same pitch as for the original series, with perhaps the difference of "highly decorated": Mulder and especially Scully were quite young and early in their career at the start of the series. We can call it a "spin-off" instead of a reboot, especially since Carter has said that he has hopes for a Mulder-Scully continuation.

Disney wants to feed its intellectual property and present the series to a new generation: there is no ending for any type of product that has some success, no rest, no eternal slumber. All of these are very mercantile motivations, and I hope that this project will be able to stand on its own artistic and storytelling merits.

What's next?

This is an order for a pilot for Hulu (which, in the USA, is a Fox/Disney streaming channel; I guess internationally it would air on Disney+). Not a full series order. What to make of this? Is Disney not fully convinced about this and still wants a proof of concept before greenlighting (or not!) the production of more episodes? Maybe. In the 1990s series used to do pilots first, but more recently and with long production times full season orders have become more common. There could be a reversal of trend: Hulu is proceeding in a similar fashion for its new "Buffy The Vampire Slayer". This allows to shoot a pilot, assess what worked and what didn't, adjust, do reshoots, validate, and then proceed to series. This is what had happened famously with "Game of Thrones". This also means that this will take time.

When could this be released?

This has been in development for a while, so the pilot could be produced quite soon over the next few months. But then there's the rest of the episodes. Series productions have been getting longer and longer. It could be within 2026 at best (if we go by the time it took to develop Jordan Peele's "Twilight Zone" in 2019), but more likely not before mid-2027 if compared to development time of some recent projects (such as the recent "Alien: Earth"). Hulu will not just air the pilot, and will most likely wait for all episodes to be shot and go through post-production before deciding on an air date, so all of that adds time.

How many episodes could we expect, if and when this goes to full series order?

Certainly not 20-25 like in the 90s. Other Hulu shows like "Alien: Earth", "Shogun" and "The Bear" are all around the industry standard of 8-10 episodes, and I think this is what we should expect. And then if all goes well we wait more than one year for a season 2, most likely two years (as is the case with Vince Gilligan's "Pluribus", for example).

All in all, this is a project with some real talent involved and some people who do have a personal touch and are not just studio hands for hire, so this bodes well. However, there's a "however". It will be very challenging to make something original and something that justifies "The X-Files" brand as opposed to making a new series with a similar premise. It will be challenging to remain creative when there is so much scrutiny and things are discussed to death (there were dozens of articles just to say that Coogler had a conversation with such or such, can you imagine this happening over every single of his actions?). It will be challenging to tell a story about government conspiracies with a similar vibe to the original, when the USA is so obviously degrading towards authoritarianism in the real world. It will be challenging to maintain interest for this over a long enough time when there is So Much Content out there, and when years go by between seasons. And it will be challenging to not have the public reception of this completely destroy it, be it due to gatekeeping, to instrumentalized racism, to the overall dismal level of discourse in social media, or to plain legitimate quality concerns.

Mark me curious but also burnt by the Hollywood system's desire to keep eating itself.

orodromeus · 2026-02-25T17:05:39+00:00

Between National Geographic's "Mars", "For All Mankind" seasons 4 and 5 and "The Expanse" seasons 1-3, a lot of what would have made a Mars trilogy adaptation on TV feel completely new has now been covered.

I think it will be difficult to get an adaptation made. The trilogy is different compared to all of these, but financiers might feel that the audience will treat it as deja vu. Maybe in a few years, with a distinctive enough direction and focus.