So, I finished that movie, went directly to watching Fringe, and was just hugely impressed. I even found Walter amusing, and usually I just despise him. Massive Dynamic trying to bring back John Scott to get "the information" was hugely intriguing, and who doesn't like a good reference to the Fibonacci Sequence (okay, so I probably liked that because I recognized what the numbers were)? I did get the weirdest sense of déjà vu however with the going through the wall thing – I swear I just saw that in some other TV show or movie (with equally bad results for the participants).
Really, in the end, Fringe succeeded last night where The X-Files failed because Fringe kept its plot interesting and kept moving it forward; one just knows that all the story elements we saw last night are going to come back again later. The X-Files was a simple one-off thing (yes, there were some moments from the original series that informed it, but nothing hugely important); it was just another random bad guy doing random bad things for some random (never well-defined) reason.
I would love for The X-Files to exist as a movie franchise or even a new TV series (not that I'd place money on either happening), but if the only stories they have left to tell are ones like the one from this new movie, maybe it's better that they just go away quietly. It'll make me sad, but it might be better for everyone.
Article comments
1 - Luke
You can not be serious. How on earth can you compare a mediocre show (Fringe) to the holy juggernaut and the greatest TV show in the world (The X files)
2 - lynne3
comparing fringe to the x files movie makes fringe look better, but if you compare it to the TV episodes of the x files you are far from the truth. the x files beats fringe any day!
3 - Phillip Winn
I'm sorry, Josh; I just don't buy it. I guess I would have to watch Fringe again to make a similar comparison, and I just don't want to. Life's too short, and Fringe sucks too much.
Then again, I actually liked the recent The X-Files movie. :-)
4 - ruzel
What is awesome about Fringe as compared to X-files is that they bother to explore the questions of why and how. X-files should have done that. We all faithfully watched for years and then... nothing. Here Fringe is in its first season and already the writers have given us so much to go on and be paranoid about--fantastic for this kind of show. It's what I used to love about X-files, but that the writers of the show ultimately failed at. Just given the green, green, green red lights and the "observer," it's very clear that the Fringe writers have a plan. And they are going to leak it out to us inch by inch. Awesome, I saw. I wish Chris Carter had seen the light--namely, an answer to the viewers who hang on to the edge of those cliffhangers every week.
5 - JThom
The new x-files movie deliberately avoided the conspiracy/alien elements. There are talks that if the DVD sells well enough (out a week before the Dark Knight this time) the third movie will deal with these themes. I look forward to this if it does happen. But at the same time, I can appreciate wanting to make a movie a one-off since there is no guarantee of sequels. The X-Files does not have the luxury of the batman or spiderman or star wars franchises and cannot make one movie with knowledge that there will be a trilogy to complete the story.
6 - BlissBoo
Let's not forget...Cancer Man is DEAD.