Mulder, it's me...

Earlier tonight, I hosted an X-Files mini-marathon in my livingroom. Eight of my closest fan friends, a whole lot of snacks and beverages, and a very nice projector pointed at a plain white wall of the room, and I was on. There is perhaps no other time in which I'm more in my element than when people are quizzing me about things that happened, lines that were uttered, or actors who played whom on "The X-Files". I love that T.V. show, and probably know it better than any other T.V. show I've ever followed. Certainly better than any life I've ever led. (No matter how much you pay attention to things happening in your own life, you'll never be as familiar with it as you can be with something that you can view over and over again. And, let's be honest, nobody's writing books that cover seasons of your life, episode by episode, which you can use as reference material.)

My good friend Marin started me collecting all the seasons of The X-Files on DVD a few years ago. She successfully bid on the Season 1 set on eBay, and when she gave it to me, the floodgates opened to a yearning to be 9 seasons strong, and I didn't look back until eBay, Amazon used, and Best Buy in-store sales made me so. Now, I'm working my way through the entire show again, episode by episode, season by season, until I get to that 1-hour, 30-minute series finale again and we start the cycle at the Pilot once more. All the while, throwing little marathons like this one, in which I curate what episodes I see fit, according to any themes I've been thinking of, requested eps I've been asked to show, or because there's some new X-Files event coming soon.

Which brings me to the reason I had this marathon tonight: In 7 days, the new X-Files movie will premier, and while I'm excited to see what's become of our heroes, I'm a little worried that the magic won't still be there. You never know how weird dinner with an old lover will be. You never know how reunion tours will sound.

So, I had to get into the mood by screening a few episodes (5, in the end) of Chris Carter's primer list of what to watch before you see the movie if you're new here.

These were the 8 on his list:
Pilot (season 1, episode 1)
Beyond the Sea (season 1, episode 12)
The Host (season 2, episode 2)
Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose (season 3, episode 4)
Memento Mori (season 4, episode 15)
Post-Modern Prometheus (season 5, episode 6)
Bad Blood (season 5, episode 12)
Milagro (season 6, episode 18)

A DVD of these 8 eps has been released to consumers, making this seem like a cheap way to get more DVD sales out of fans, at least new ones, which makes me kind of sad. I love Muldy, and I try to emulate Scully in every pinched and concentrated face I make, so I have all 9 seasons in boxed sets on my shelf. But, who loves them so little that they would buy some random collection of 8, yet loves them so much that they would buy some random collection of 8? It doesn't make sense to me.

I sure hope the movie itself makes better sense and lives up.