Are we the same person? This is exactly my childhood and adult experience. In addition to being obsessed with X-Files, I watched so many alien sightings shows/“documentaries” on TV. Who could forget Fire in the Sky? I mean literally. That shit scarred me for life. I think it was pre-trump, but still in the thick of “Thruthiness” when I did a full rewatch and it was so great, but I couldn’t help mourn my teenage self a bit because I had grown from Mulder into Scully. I mourned the age of the innocent, fun conspiracy. Today Mulder would have been into QAnon. When I saw this news break, I didn’t have any reaction. Makes me sad that we live in this world.
I think we have lived a very similar pop culture timeline. I love it.
I kinda wondered if in the two seasons of "new" X-Files if Chris Carter would touch on modern day stuff - kind of play with the old and new conspiracy narratives. But no, just back to the old stuff.
I feel like most of the people commenting in this thread are the same person!
You hit me right in the feels with mourning the fun conspiracies - the ones that couldnt realistically get you dead or didn't tell a group of people they shouldn't exist. I owned the Big Book of Conspiracies as a teen and found it fascinating. If they rewrote it today, it would be soul destroying.
I love this for you David! Everything about it is gold. Recognizing the lose of wonder as we age, but also still holding on to it and letting it bubble forth when opportunity presents. I too try to hold on to a bit of my childhood wonder, even as I tip from my early 40s and closer to *gulp* the big 5O.
Recently my 23 yo told me she was watching X-Files and I was so excited! I guess I did raise her right. 😂
I posted somewhere else that you should look at what Jason Colavito had to say about this, but I dunno if you maybe followed through or not.
My gut feeling was that this was unmitigated bullshit. Colavito agreed in a much more knowledgeable way. Pretty embarrassing for the media to not try to factcheck any of it.
Twenty bucks for that absolute goldmine? Holy shit! What a find. You really dismiss everything after S6, though? S7 had some quality stuff. I didn't watch all of the revival seasons but the Darin Morgan episode with Rhys was as excellent as any other Darin Morgan episode!
I'm not a convention type of fan, but I am really tempted by this year's PhileFest for the show's 30th anniversary. Check out the guest list, it's unreal!
I also scrolled right by the alien news, and I think it's a case of millennihilism, one of my favorite words. From UrbanDictionary: "A term for the gallows humor that millennials (or “gen Zers”) indulge in to cope with the situations of our overheating planet, dim political future, crushing economy, and the ever present avaccado [sic] toast problem."
A big report just came out saying it's now too late to save the Arctic ice and we'll likely lose it within a decade or so. Aliens are kinda "meh" in comparison, imo.
Jun 7, 2023·edited Jun 8, 2023Liked by David Farrier
The reality we live in is just—can we go back and get a do-over plzz?? Seeing those cards took me back so intensely! and I'm choosing to believe in the fantastical whimsy of the alien crafts. We could really use something bizarre in this timeline that is actually *fun*
Yeah I'm really not enjoying living in the end times. I'm in a part of the US that's got a code red air quality alert this week for the wildfire smoke. But we've actually been dealing with smoke from various fires for 3 weeks...most people just aren't sensitive enough to have noticed until now. But lucky me, I've got super-senses (i.e. an autoimmune disorder lol)!
I've said this on Twitter,but will repeat it here...
I recently purchased a DVD (yes DVD, I'm so 2000AD) with selected "X-Files" episodes. Like you and others, David, I was thrilled by the weirdness of it all. It was different to "Star Trek", so removed from our daily lives. "X Files" mixed the banal normality of our 20th century lives with aliens, mutants, and other weirdness.
Then Qanon and other conspiracies took hold, and manifested into our lives. The occupation of Parliament, anti vaxxers harassing our Prime Minister and schools, and other cultish behavior got into our faces.
Suddenly, the outlandish conspiracies of "X Files" was no longer outlandish. It was no longer a fun thrill-ride like a mental roller coaster. It was in our lives and it was malevolent.
I can no longer stomach watching it. It's like we're living a mirror version of "X Files", but Muldur and Scully aren't here to save us from the brainwashed zombies.
The conspiracy cultists have taken the fun out of part of our lives.
The episode where Scully is trying to herd the pigs and says ‘baa ram ewe’ to them is etched in my mind. ‘When did she get the time to go watch Babe?!’ I said to myself. I also missed this news. Let’s hope it’s not the start of the next ‘‘big thing’! ...and what have the aliens been doing since the last mission? Was that their last hope to save a civilisation and humans just let them fall prey to the Empire or the Borg or The Master?
When I read the line "I get the feeling alien craft could arrive Independence Day style and hover over various world monuments and the best we could muster up would be a collective shrug." I instead saw the scenes from that movie where people are up on top of buildings waving handwritten signs at the spacecraft like they're at a sporting event or musical concert. Especially in this day and age, when they can post about it to their social media.
On a side note, Black Mirror got me and I loved watching it so much! Such clever imaginative stories that seem so possible yet terrifying. Up until the Bandersnatch episode which left my extremely overtired (mum life) and PTSD (unknown to me at the time following a traumatic birth of my son) brained me so unhinged and freaked out. It literally unlocked my PTSD spiral. Its humorous to me now that a TV episode had such an effect on me but I related to that guy, stuck in all his separate possibilities and not knowing which path was real. It's amazing what tiredness and trauma and a really well, written show can do to ones brain. I absolutely do not recommend watching that episode to anyone feeling slightly out of sorts with their mental health.
I’ll admit my heart skipped a beat when I saw the headlines. I was too unnerved to even read the article. I love scary movies, but nothing freaks me out like aliens 👽 Signs is still one of my favorite movies.
I was a huge X-Files fan as well and am slowly rewatching it. Loved the juxtaposition between Skully and Mulder
It's a great rewatch - but gosh, there is so much of it! Very long seasons, and a lot of them!
As a kid I would tape episodes on VHS as it was on past my bedtime - then get up early and get in half of the episode before school, and rush home after to finish it!
Oh my god I had some of these. Wow the blast from the past just felt hahahha. I remember being so spooked out by even the theme song of X Files when it first started.
Jun 7, 2023·edited Jun 7, 2023Liked by David Farrier
If you really want to explore an alien brain, read The Mind of a Bee, by Lars Chittka. If that doesn't excite your sense of wonder, nothing will.
As for extra-terrestrial visitors:
(a) this assumes a civilisation not only similar to our own but in the same state of being, ie not mollusc or cavemen and not some futuristic situation that only exists in our imagination (and, moreover, a civilisation that managed to survive destroying its planet, which we seem determined to do, one way or the other).
(b) this assumes that they are also on the same scale as us, ie not the size of ants or apartment blocks. The former could have already visited us dozens of times. I guess we might have noticed the latter. And of course, they could be the size of bacteria, in which case they could also be here.
(c) this assumes their forms of transport would be similar to ours, which implies that their evolution is also similar (otherwise why would they have the same requirements?).
(d) ths assumes that they would also have our low standard of ethics whereby we consider we have a right to impose oursleves on another planet and/or culture.
I'm sure any alien intelligence would be absolutely fascinated by our Blue Planet. After all, it's the only one that we know of after all our explorations of the near universe (and we know more about that, than we do the depths of the oceans on this planet). However, they might be able to observe without unduly disturbing us. They might also be interested in all the other intelligent life on earth. I doubt they'd be impressed with homo so-called sapiens.
But yes. All our thinking about 'intelligence' is grossly anthropocentric and all our assumptiions are about being next to God, who created everything for us to pillage and destroy.
On a similar note, it also assumes that an earth-type planet would be of interest to them in the first place. The assumption that “earth-like” and “habitable by life” are one and the same isn’t entirely justified, so it’s completely plausible that some alien civilization would simply gloss over our planet as worth prioritizing, the same way we do with many others.
Considering how vast the universe is, it would be very surprising there isn’t other life forms out there. However, if they’re looking for intelligent life, I doubt they would be knocking on earth’s door! “Take me to your leader.” Presents Trump. “Nah we’re good, bye!”
“Scully, it’s me”
I had an X files Kick too. Started my crush on Gillian Anderson. Absolute queen.
Mulder and Scully were the bisexual awakening for sooo many elder millennials, man.
Correct.
Yo you are absolutely on to something. This is worth a scientific study. I’m very very bisexual.
THIS!
Ughh me too!
Hard same!
Are we the same person? This is exactly my childhood and adult experience. In addition to being obsessed with X-Files, I watched so many alien sightings shows/“documentaries” on TV. Who could forget Fire in the Sky? I mean literally. That shit scarred me for life. I think it was pre-trump, but still in the thick of “Thruthiness” when I did a full rewatch and it was so great, but I couldn’t help mourn my teenage self a bit because I had grown from Mulder into Scully. I mourned the age of the innocent, fun conspiracy. Today Mulder would have been into QAnon. When I saw this news break, I didn’t have any reaction. Makes me sad that we live in this world.
I think we have lived a very similar pop culture timeline. I love it.
I kinda wondered if in the two seasons of "new" X-Files if Chris Carter would touch on modern day stuff - kind of play with the old and new conspiracy narratives. But no, just back to the old stuff.
Happy 30th X-Files for next year, man!
I feel like most of the people commenting in this thread are the same person!
You hit me right in the feels with mourning the fun conspiracies - the ones that couldnt realistically get you dead or didn't tell a group of people they shouldn't exist. I owned the Big Book of Conspiracies as a teen and found it fascinating. If they rewrote it today, it would be soul destroying.
Conspiracies used to be a lot more fun :(
Give me the moon landing any day of the week!
I love this for you David! Everything about it is gold. Recognizing the lose of wonder as we age, but also still holding on to it and letting it bubble forth when opportunity presents. I too try to hold on to a bit of my childhood wonder, even as I tip from my early 40s and closer to *gulp* the big 5O.
Recently my 23 yo told me she was watching X-Files and I was so excited! I guess I did raise her right. 😂
You have an excellent 23 year old. I hope they're loving it. Great taste - and what a thing to watch for the first time here in 2023!
I posted somewhere else that you should look at what Jason Colavito had to say about this, but I dunno if you maybe followed through or not.
My gut feeling was that this was unmitigated bullshit. Colavito agreed in a much more knowledgeable way. Pretty embarrassing for the media to not try to factcheck any of it.
https://www.jasoncolavito.com/blog/whistleblower-tells-congress-the-us-has-a-secret-ufo-crash-retrieval-program
I hear ya - someone else posted this, but The Atlantic has a really fucking great piece here: https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2023/06/alien-intact-vehicles-ufo-us-government/674323/
That was my thought, how is this remotely verifiable? What sources? Just this guy?
yeah, I would argue that people *would* care in the face of compelling evidence by a reliable source, lol.
Bang- friggin’-on with that Aliens and God take. 10/10 beautiful sentiment and great visual
Twenty bucks for that absolute goldmine? Holy shit! What a find. You really dismiss everything after S6, though? S7 had some quality stuff. I didn't watch all of the revival seasons but the Darin Morgan episode with Rhys was as excellent as any other Darin Morgan episode!
I'm not a convention type of fan, but I am really tempted by this year's PhileFest for the show's 30th anniversary. Check out the guest list, it's unreal!
I also scrolled right by the alien news, and I think it's a case of millennihilism, one of my favorite words. From UrbanDictionary: "A term for the gallows humor that millennials (or “gen Zers”) indulge in to cope with the situations of our overheating planet, dim political future, crushing economy, and the ever present avaccado [sic] toast problem."
A big report just came out saying it's now too late to save the Arctic ice and we'll likely lose it within a decade or so. Aliens are kinda "meh" in comparison, imo.
You are totally correct about the joy of Rhys and Kumail's X-Files epi.
Darin Morgan is a God.
Where the fuck is he now? Off down another rabbithole....
The PhileFest has me salivating.
The reality we live in is just—can we go back and get a do-over plzz?? Seeing those cards took me back so intensely! and I'm choosing to believe in the fantastical whimsy of the alien crafts. We could really use something bizarre in this timeline that is actually *fun*
Even the SMELL of the cards got me! Amazing how smell can transport you back in time so quickly. Such a strong sense!
Yeah I'm really not enjoying living in the end times. I'm in a part of the US that's got a code red air quality alert this week for the wildfire smoke. But we've actually been dealing with smoke from various fires for 3 weeks...most people just aren't sensitive enough to have noticed until now. But lucky me, I've got super-senses (i.e. an autoimmune disorder lol)!
I've said this on Twitter,but will repeat it here...
I recently purchased a DVD (yes DVD, I'm so 2000AD) with selected "X-Files" episodes. Like you and others, David, I was thrilled by the weirdness of it all. It was different to "Star Trek", so removed from our daily lives. "X Files" mixed the banal normality of our 20th century lives with aliens, mutants, and other weirdness.
Then Qanon and other conspiracies took hold, and manifested into our lives. The occupation of Parliament, anti vaxxers harassing our Prime Minister and schools, and other cultish behavior got into our faces.
Suddenly, the outlandish conspiracies of "X Files" was no longer outlandish. It was no longer a fun thrill-ride like a mental roller coaster. It was in our lives and it was malevolent.
I can no longer stomach watching it. It's like we're living a mirror version of "X Files", but Muldur and Scully aren't here to save us from the brainwashed zombies.
The conspiracy cultists have taken the fun out of part of our lives.
The episode where Scully is trying to herd the pigs and says ‘baa ram ewe’ to them is etched in my mind. ‘When did she get the time to go watch Babe?!’ I said to myself. I also missed this news. Let’s hope it’s not the start of the next ‘‘big thing’! ...and what have the aliens been doing since the last mission? Was that their last hope to save a civilisation and humans just let them fall prey to the Empire or the Borg or The Master?
Oh, same: https://x-files.fandom.com/wiki/Babe
That's the episode called "Home" that David rec'd above! A true classic.
So, so incredibly dark, right?
AND THIS WAS NETWORK TV!
Not HBO or some R film! Network TV!
"I can’t even imagine the audience reaction at the time THIS episode came out!!"
Funny you should say that, because for many years after the original airing of this ep, it was banned/pulled out of syndication!
When I read the line "I get the feeling alien craft could arrive Independence Day style and hover over various world monuments and the best we could muster up would be a collective shrug." I instead saw the scenes from that movie where people are up on top of buildings waving handwritten signs at the spacecraft like they're at a sporting event or musical concert. Especially in this day and age, when they can post about it to their social media.
The scenario David describes is basically the plot of the movie Don't Look Up
I wish I loved that film, but I hated it so much!
On a side note, Black Mirror got me and I loved watching it so much! Such clever imaginative stories that seem so possible yet terrifying. Up until the Bandersnatch episode which left my extremely overtired (mum life) and PTSD (unknown to me at the time following a traumatic birth of my son) brained me so unhinged and freaked out. It literally unlocked my PTSD spiral. Its humorous to me now that a TV episode had such an effect on me but I related to that guy, stuck in all his separate possibilities and not knowing which path was real. It's amazing what tiredness and trauma and a really well, written show can do to ones brain. I absolutely do not recommend watching that episode to anyone feeling slightly out of sorts with their mental health.
I’ll admit my heart skipped a beat when I saw the headlines. I was too unnerved to even read the article. I love scary movies, but nothing freaks me out like aliens 👽 Signs is still one of my favorite movies.
I was a huge X-Files fan as well and am slowly rewatching it. Loved the juxtaposition between Skully and Mulder
It's a great rewatch - but gosh, there is so much of it! Very long seasons, and a lot of them!
As a kid I would tape episodes on VHS as it was on past my bedtime - then get up early and get in half of the episode before school, and rush home after to finish it!
Oh my god I had some of these. Wow the blast from the past just felt hahahha. I remember being so spooked out by even the theme song of X Files when it first started.
If you really want to explore an alien brain, read The Mind of a Bee, by Lars Chittka. If that doesn't excite your sense of wonder, nothing will.
As for extra-terrestrial visitors:
(a) this assumes a civilisation not only similar to our own but in the same state of being, ie not mollusc or cavemen and not some futuristic situation that only exists in our imagination (and, moreover, a civilisation that managed to survive destroying its planet, which we seem determined to do, one way or the other).
(b) this assumes that they are also on the same scale as us, ie not the size of ants or apartment blocks. The former could have already visited us dozens of times. I guess we might have noticed the latter. And of course, they could be the size of bacteria, in which case they could also be here.
(c) this assumes their forms of transport would be similar to ours, which implies that their evolution is also similar (otherwise why would they have the same requirements?).
(d) ths assumes that they would also have our low standard of ethics whereby we consider we have a right to impose oursleves on another planet and/or culture.
I'm sure any alien intelligence would be absolutely fascinated by our Blue Planet. After all, it's the only one that we know of after all our explorations of the near universe (and we know more about that, than we do the depths of the oceans on this planet). However, they might be able to observe without unduly disturbing us. They might also be interested in all the other intelligent life on earth. I doubt they'd be impressed with homo so-called sapiens.
But yes. All our thinking about 'intelligence' is grossly anthropocentric and all our assumptiions are about being next to God, who created everything for us to pillage and destroy.
This sounds right up my alley. Thank you.
On a similar note, it also assumes that an earth-type planet would be of interest to them in the first place. The assumption that “earth-like” and “habitable by life” are one and the same isn’t entirely justified, so it’s completely plausible that some alien civilization would simply gloss over our planet as worth prioritizing, the same way we do with many others.
Exactly!
Amazing though how all the alien stuff conveniently happens in the US.
This could be a good read for you - recommended: https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2023/02/unidentified-flying-objects-chinese-spy-balloon-american-alien-ufo-obsession/673068/
Hardly surprising... it is the weirdest society on Earth...
Aliens messaging back to their Homeworld: "You couldn't make this sh*t up!"
Considering how vast the universe is, it would be very surprising there isn’t other life forms out there. However, if they’re looking for intelligent life, I doubt they would be knocking on earth’s door! “Take me to your leader.” Presents Trump. “Nah we’re good, bye!”
This is the wholesome thing I needed to read today. It's a wonderful thing when we can reconnect with things that were important to us in our youth.