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[–] 51 points 1 year ago (4 children)

It is revealed in passing that Scully used to go by Velma Dinkley.

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  • [–] 7 points 1 year ago

    That’s not even a stretch. Her full (married) name could easily be Dana Velma Scully, but she doesn’t go by her very distinctive middle name anymore. If I’d had a super funky middle name, I definitely would have used it in high school and definitely wouldn’t as an adult. And I’m not half as (lovably) joyless as Scully is.

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    [–] 47 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 child)

    That would turn it into Scooby Doo. In the end it always turns out to be done by some greedy prick trying to cover things up with mysticism.

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  • [–] 37 points 1 year ago (2 children)
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    [–] 36 points 1 year ago* (6 children)

    I hear you but nah. We have more than enough "realistic" and "gritty" shows. The whimsy of X-files was what made it tick. Taking that away would just make it boring which is the worst possible outcome for such a show.

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  • [–] 14 points 1 year ago (5 children)

    We don't have nearly enough shows that promote healthy skepticism and the scientific method though.

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  • [–] 16 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    True, but I feel the original X-files had that in droves with Scully and practically everyone else opposing Mulder at every turn. It took a damn long time for him to finally be vindicated, arguably until the movie.

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  • [–] 11 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Did it promote skepticism and science though? It showed them being applied, sure. In the end though, the show was always on Mulder's side of the "truth". Of course it also kind of said "Scully's work is important" but it was always assumed that her view of any situation would ultimately be the wrong one. Her science-oriented methods break down when it comes to (in the broadest sense) "supernatural" phenomena - because they are, by definition even, outside science.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago* (1 child)

    Her science-oriented methods break down when it comes to (in the broadest sense) “supernatural” phenomena - because they are, by definition even, outside science.

    I only watched the first 2 or 3 seasons of The X-Files, so I there's lots of episodes I haven't seen, but this seems incorrect to me. Scully and Mulder were chasing unexplained phenomena, which are entirely within the realm of science. Humans tend to call things "supernatural" when we don't know how to explain them (ghosts, monsters, aliens, etc), but those entities (in the context of The X-Files where they are actually real), once observed, can be subjected to the scientific method the same as anything else. Aliens and cryptids and such in The X-Files aren't magic; it's just extremely rare for humans to be able to observe and study them.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago

    Counterpoint: there's an episode where a genie kills a man by giving him a giant penis but not enough blood to fill it and keep his brain alive, then turns another person invisible. It's a monster-of-the-week episode, but still. Definitely magic.

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  • [–] 28 points 1 year ago

    and this time Gillian Anderson is paid the same as David Duchovny from the very beginning

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  • [–] 19 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    This idea but with MAGA instead of Mulder.

    Haha, but the show sounds like a fun twist, but probably only good for 2-3 seasons. It'd get really hard to keep interest in a show like that for very long. I.e. the good place ending itself after 4 was perfect.

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  • [–] [S] 9 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Perhaps more of a Miniseries. And the thing driving the plot would be not just the investigations but Mulders Struggle to rethink everything he belived in.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    That'd work, 8-12 episodes of him on the rollercoaster, maybe even seeking therapy in the end. Scully babying him less and less as she gets more sick of his bullshit and stops pulling punches.

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  • [–] 17 points 1 year ago (6 children)

    So serious scooby doo.

    As long as Gillian Anderson reprises her role... sign me up.

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  • [–] 14 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Nah, go for the darker more realistic version. Mulder just goes further down the rabbit hole, ends up going full Qanon, and ends up being killed trying to storm the capital building.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago

    Great 1st season arc. I would add, not killed. Arrested then pardoned, but not before befriending some right wing militia that swears they captured Bigfoot and are breeding and training him to make super soldiers.

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  • [–] 13 points 1 year ago* (2 children)

    How about a reboot where Mulder gradually loses his grip on reality and slides deeper into paranoia, hallucinations, and delusions. A tragic story where Scully is forced to helplessly watch as her partner fades away.

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  • [–] 10 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    No, he doesn't just fade away, slowly converts from a protagonist to an antagonist. At first, everything is naturally explainable. He slowly grows increasingly agitated with that. Is the series progresses, a few paranormal, unexplainable things start to happen. Evidence, proving natural causes slowly wanes. Scully starts to suspect. Occasionally finds a small piece of evidence that is not quite where it should be. Suspicion grows over the run of the show, eventually they end up on the trail of an ever elusive criminal mastermind.

    It's Mulder. He goes whole ham evil and it's up to her to stop him.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago

    Or Mulder is a subj of MK Ultra 2.0, and he naturally can not believe the only real conspiracy is him being drugged and exposed to fake leads and evidence. His father, the originator of that program, thought they've created a batch of people immune to mind control and mind altering through procedures his son doesn't remember well. Skully learns and exposes the scheme to him and he turns on her and other people thinking he's the insane one while only he know The Truth. Plot narrowly misses a point, where out-of-mind federal cop with access to weapons, data and training could do what USA is sadly famous for.

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  • [–] 11 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    NO. Do NOT meddle with my X-Files just because you want to satisfy some selfish bullshit. Good DAY, sir.

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  • [–] 10 points 1 year ago (7 children)

    I feel that any sufficiently understood form of the supernatural would just folded into science, it would be cool to see a show with a hybrid character like scully that is still a scientific and skeptic minded person that can ratle off the sub species of gnomes but knows that they where chased out of the reagon centuries ago and there haven't been any reports of them in the neighbouring regions that couldn't be explained away, while yes gnomes exist it turns out it was a serial killer using folk tales to throw off the investigation

    I guess the short way to put it is there's no reason things need to be mundane to be logically explored with scientific methods

    "Most humans regect the existence of the supernatural just as some regect the validity of vaccines despite the vast documented evidence."

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    [–] 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 child)

    Hot take: Debris was on track for something like that.

    It had "new strange" style storytelling with a very grounded Sci-Fi basis, interesting episiodes, and a conspiracy arc to tie it all together. There were also hints at things well beyond understanding, turning typical X-Files formula inside out: "it's all explainable phenomena and everyone knows it, but some things take time to understand." The major flaw here were wooden performances and un-charismatic characters that just fail to pull you in.

    That said, there's no reason to wait for an X-Files reboot. SCP has more than enough lore to get the ball moving, and there's gotta be a webisode series or small-studio production team out there just waiting for eyeballs and donations.

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  • [–] 8 points 1 year ago

    Partly what made the TV series 'Evil' so good was that it was horror from a skeptical perspective.

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  • [–] 8 points 1 year ago (1 child)
  • [–] 7 points 1 year ago
    [–] 6 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    I just read a book that somewhat follows this kind of premise: A person believes in ghosts, and all these things happen, and, as the reader, I'm totally on board with it being ghosts. Then a new character enters, and gives logical explanations for everything, and the main character, and me, the reader, realize that, oh damn, it's not ghosts at all. Except then it turns out it WAS ghosts, and the shit hits the fan.

    It was a really fun read.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago (3 children)
  • [–] 5 points 1 year ago

    “Swamp gas”

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  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago

    Thinking about that now, it's one of the most long-running and popular media-things concerning 'deep state' fears before 2016. And while The X-Files ended, and for someone like me ended too late, one that toppled it is still running around on coke and hamberders having the most unpenetrateable fanbase ever. Why it's not Firefly but Taco having a second season?

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago

    That's literally what happened in the reboot that came out a few years ago...

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    I would love this except the twist would be everything he gave up believing in turns out to be true

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago
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