The Final Weekend Before Shooting

So here we are. The last weekend before Gillian Anderson, David Duchovney and Chris Carter begin shooting a new X-Files movie in Vancouver.

It's still hard to believe how quickly it all happened. I mean, we all knew Carter needed to finish up his lawsuit with Fox before a new film would go ahead, but did anyone expect it would happen this fast? I doubt it! Just a few months ago, it was all still rumours. Now, we're three days away from shooting.

It's strange. My life has changed so much since the final episode of the X-Files aired so long ago. In the years following the airing of "The Truth" I finished my undergrad, and then grad school, split from my long time girlfriend, started a career, got married… I am a completely different person than who I was back then. Will Mulder and Scully have changed too? Have they spent five years on the run from the government? If so, is William with them? He would be, what, six years old now? Are Mulder and Scully even still a couple? So many questions. I suppose foremost among them (and really the only one that matters) is will the movie be good?

It's strange… this whole thing feels like some sort of flashback to the 1990's, a period of time which has started to look better and better given the hindsight of the post 911 era. I think Mulder represented a mode of heroic idealism that has been washed away by the complexities of life in the 21st century. We just don't have dreamers like Mulder anymore. Everything is now cynical and ironic, with an underlining sense of utter futility.

I wonder if Carter's 90's politics were a really a response to Clinton's administration, or if they were actually a reflection back on the era of Nixon's conservative and corrupt reign which would have taken place during his formative years; a reflection that was, in fact, afforded by the freedom offered by Clinton's Democrats. I would definitely lean towards the latter, which truly makes me wonder how Carter's new film will reflect life under Bush Jr. I just hope he hasn't lost his sense of unbridled optimism and belief in goodness, even in the face of ever amassing evil.

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It has become a very different world since Mulder and Scully last graced our screens. I'm looking forward to finding out who they have become.