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So is X-Files just Alex Jones Conspiracies: The TV Show?

I’ve heard a lot of high praise but it’s such a weird fucking show. It’s like as if Alex Jones made a TV show with all the cliche conspiracy theories.

I don’t know if I want to continue.

12 comments

MF_COOM

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I don't really see what it has to do with Alex Jones unless that's just the only other time you've heard of a conspiracy theorist. It's a show about the deep state and I hate to tell you this but the deep state isn't just like a right-wing fringe lunatic thing it a) exists and b)has been studied and analyzed by many on the left.

I give props to the show for putting the postwar US-West German-Japanese fascist axis on Primetime. They have episodes called "Paperclip" and "731".

Also a lot of the Monster of the Week episodes explain their paranormal phenomena by talking about actual US programs and history like MKULTRA, testing drugs on troops, testing bio weapons on civilians, etc.

It's a goofy, silly show with two young hotties, but it has decent politics.

Frank

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You've got cause and effect backwards. X-files created the cliche theories for the show. It's really more Art Bell's Coast to Coast AM than Jones. Keep in mind this was the 90s. People were just as ignorant but there wasn't an infinite fountain of bizarre delusion at everyone's fingertips the way there is now. There were fewer venues to fall in to the "Fluoride is a commie plot" world.

A big thing with the X-Files wasn't the conspiracy stuff, it was that David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson had great stage presence and were regarded as the sexiest people on television. Or that the show had "arc stories" related to an overarching plot, which wasn't really a thing at the time. It was sort of a horror anthology show for the most part. You were supposed to sympathize with Fox's moon eyed credulity and willingness to believe every silly thing that came along bc of the disappearance of his sister, while Scully's flat-earth atheist businesslike professional attitude provided a foil and, like, seriousness to an otherwise silly series. Together they made for a fun team as they coped with whatever weird thing happend this week.

It had some notably good episodes. The one stand-out I can remember is the recurring character who was responsible for a bunch of locked-room mystery murders. It turned out he could squeeze himself through tiny spaces and came out of hybernation every few decades to eat people's livers before going back to sleep. it was creepy as hell by the standards of 90s television.

Leon_Grotsky

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The one stand-out I can remember is the recurring character who was responsible for a bunch of locked-room mystery murders. It turned out he could squeeze himself through tiny spaces and came out of hybernation every few decades to eat people’s livers before going back to sleep.

Eugene Tooms, great episode whenever I see like a grated vent or something like that in a bathroom it's the first thing my mind goes to all these years later

weeping_angel

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The ep where Mulder doesn't believe in aliens anymore and pisses off the other ufo conference attendees by explaining that UFOs are a psyop that provides cover for actual gov black ops :very-smart:

CyborgMarx

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There was that one episode where it's made perfectly clear MLK was assassinated for "talkin like a maoist"

Bloobish

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Honestly it's a fun watch when I want to turn off my brain and see Mulder deal with something stupid (like there's a Midwestern vampire episode that's pretty awesome), the overall metaplot is fuckin' weird though but I prefer it over Supernatural that just defaulted to Christian mythology

NephewAlphaBravo

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Kinda, but with the Seinfeld caveat that it's the source of all those cliches rather than a hack show that's just copying them all. It also takes the concept seriously and comes out the other end with decent politics, Alex Jones came later and is just abusing famous cliches to smuggle in his fascist ideology. Like seriously, he's an unbelievable hack and moron, 99% of shit he says is reworded movie quotes or plot points.

Obviously there's no accounting for taste and all that, but "idk I'm just not having fun" is unironically a better reason to dislike something than misunderstanding what it is.