The X-Files and the 90s

Ah, the 90s. It was a simpler time, wasn't it?

We had Doritos 3D, Legend of the Hidden Temple on TV, denim jackets and music videos on MTV... The salad days.

But there was also a TV show that helped to define the strange, loner subculture that was beginning to develop and that would later blossom into one of the first ever internet cultures: The X-Files. 

One of the first shows to ever blow up the dot-ALT boards, The X-Files helped shape a generation of TV shows as well as scaring the living shit out of me as a child. My older sister would force me to watch it as a young, impressionable five year old, and - to this day - I still believe that on March 22, 1997, I saw a UFO hovering around my neighbor's house... It could have also probably been a reflection from the TV on the glass windows from a rerun of an X-Files show, now that I think about it...

For those of you unfamiliar with the concept, The X-Files was about a FBI dude named Mulder who got super into unexplained cases that always (surprise!) had a paranormal twist to them, but like a modern day Kolchak, all of Mulder's evidence would be erased/lost/confiscated, and thus the dance to prove the "truth" would be continued another season. Mulder also had a pretty baller office. Mainly, he had this poster on the wall that is also a poster every single high school science teacher has:

His partner was a FBI doctor named Scully who never believes Mulder's theories on paranormal cases even though she habitually sees things like huge elephants named Ganesha rampaging through the streets after being artificially inseminated by aliens... Yeah, I can't blame her for that one, though - even for me that's a tough one to believe. She also should have been working in an intensive care treatment center because, apparently, she can cure cancer with just a fork, a band-aid and Elmer's Glue. 

The main theme of the series is that Mulder's sister was abducted by aliens as a child so he's searching for her and somewhere along the way there's a government conspiracy thrown in; a lot of the episodes deal with stand-alone, "Monster of the Week" type of characters that are usually always caught as Scully is getting her ass kicked once again for the ninth time. 

Also (and this is the real reason I'm writing this post), the theme song is pretty fucking cool... After watching three seasons of it on Netflix, I've realized that what I like best about the show isn't so much the writing or the plots, it's the damn song; it's developed to the level with me that watching the show has become an excuse to listen to it.

This post is also mostly just a recollection for me. As I said before, I found the show on Netflix and couldn't stop watching it as waves and waves of memories floated back to me; it almost felt like I should be getting a Domino's pizza delivered to my house as I watched King of the Hill, followed by the X-Files and then, wait until Sunday night when I could watch Married With Children and The Simpsons before begging and bargaining with my parents to allow me to stay up one more hour, or faking sick so I wouldn't have to go to school.

Ah, the 90s. A time when a pager would tell you that someone somewhere wanted you for something although you couldn't really know what. A time when connecting to the internet was as difficult as transcribing the Egyptian Book of the Dead into Latin. A time when seeing a semi-naked butt on TV was risky television... 

Ah, yes. I would like to believe that my memory is correct in remembering how awesome those days were.

I want to believe.

Didn't believe me about how cool the theme song was? Well, you doubting Thomas, check this out!