The X Files - Complete Collectors DVD Box Set

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The X-Files is the granddaddy of modern science fiction shows and over 200 episodes became one of the longest running cult series ever made. It first appeared in 1993 and soon hooked audiences with its strange mysteries and paranoid conspiracy theories that delved into the world of the paranormal and the inexplicable.

The show centres around two FBI agents; Fox ‘Spooky’ Mulder (David Duchovny), much maligned by the Bureau because of his beliefs and left to investigate crackpot cases dubbed the X-files, and his partner Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) who’s the ultimate sceptic and initially there to keep an eye on Mulder and his dubious investigations. The early series are episodic, usually featuring a ‘monster of the week’, as creator Chris Carter gets the pair looking into weird goings on across America, from UFO encounters to dalliances with the occult.

Classic episodes include Squeeze, in which Mulder and Scully investigate a suspected serial killer who is able to contort his body into narrow spaces to escape, and Ice, where a parasitic organism drives people mad in the Alaskan wilderness. The X-Files does a fantastic job of creating palpable tension and genuine scares that few shows have since been able to replicate.

Throughout each series there are clues to a much larger conspiracy, usually cryptically presented by the Cigarette Smoking Man (William B. Davis), and Mulder is always on the trail of his missing sister who he believes was kidnapped by aliens. The later series become more based around government cover-ups and alien colonists with Mulder going on the run and Scully joined by two new agents; John Doggett (Robert Patrick) and Monica Reyes (Annabeth Gish).

Some could say the show gets a bit carried away with itself as it begins to concentrate more on its own mythology, but it’s still a compelling bit of television. Without it, sci-fi certainly wouldn’t be enjoying the primetime status it does now.