The X-Files: An Updated Overview

[wendelah1]

Because the original overview was done in 2004, I thought I'd take this opportunity to post a brief update for the series, along with some new, working links, and suggestions on where to find fanfiction in a fandom that just celebrated its 20th anniversary. Do I need to warn for spoilers?

The X-Files gets a second movie.



After the television series ended in 2002, the franchise got a jump-start in 2007 when plans were confirmed for a second movie. In 2008, 20th Century Fox released The X-Files: I Want to Believe, directed by Chris Carter, with a script written by Carter and Frank Spotnitz. The movie begins in the winter of 2007, five years after Fox Mulder and Dana Scully became fugitives from justice at the climax of the series finale.

When the film opens, Dr. Dana Scully is practicing medicine in a Catholic hospital in Virginia, and commuting to the rural property she shares with Mulder.



Fox Mulder is...hiding out from the law in his home office, clipping newspaper articles about x-files, and not doing much of anything else, at least as far as I could see.



Fortunately for him, Scully is approached by an FBI agent, Special Agent Mosley Drummy, who has an offer for Mulder. The FBI is offering him immunity from prosecution in return for assisting with a criminal investigation into the kidnapping of several women in rural Virginia. One of these victims, Monica Bannan, is an FBI agent.



Drummy's partner is Special Agent in Charge Dakota Whitney. She wants to utilize Mulder's special expertise in analyzing paranormal phenomenon because...

SAC Whitney has a pedophile/defrocked priest on tap who reports having psychic visions, claiming to know stuff about the crime. Mulder is skeptical, particularly about the FBI's motives, but Scully successfully argues that the no-strings-attached pardon plus the opportunity to help a victim who may still be alive justifies the risk. I also think she'd like to get him out of the house.



Although I prefer Scully with short red hair, to me the best thing about this movie was how hot Gillian Anderson looked playing her character.



It's a creepy enough story, which with some judicious editing, would have made a decent episode. It did reinvigorate the fandom for a couple of years, and attracted some fantastic new writers too, so I will be forever grateful to Chris Carter for that. However, the film didn't do the business the studio wanted to see so our chances of getting a third movie to tie up the myth-arc's loose ends are slim at best.

Ready or not here it comes.

No third movie on the horizon. But we did get a new comic book series: The X-Files Season Ten. Chris Carter says it's canon. Of course, right from get-go, it also contradicts canon. Sigh. I've only read one comic, and I didn't like it enough to buy more. But I thought you should know it's out there, in both print and digital editions.



But a Shadow of Her Former Self

Although the fandom contracted even before the series ended, and has continued to shrink, there is still a contingent of devotees, still discussing the episodes, still writing fanfic, creating art, graphics and fanvids, and still maintaining the archives. In 2008-2009 when many fandoms lost entire websites, The X-Files fandom successfully saved and resurrected many of ours. I so wish I could get the person who wrote the Fanlore article about The X-Files to update it and include the newest links. I will assume everyone here knows about FF.net and AO3. Tumblr.

The X-Files Fanfic Authors List - this site includes helpful instructions on how to use the Wayback Machine to retrieve fanfiction. Read them. Trust me, you will need them. Broken links are rampant.
The X-Files Fanfic Specialized Archives - for when nothing but a One-Bed fic will do. The ones that say "new" were all rescued from oblivion and re-posted. There are also links to still active boards.
Gossamer - this is still the largest archive of X-Files fanfic on the web, with 40,000+ stories. It can be searched by title, author, episode spoilers and genre. Unfortunately, it has not been updated in over a year. What this portends for the future of the archive remains to be seen.
Fugues Fiction Archive - owned and maintained by foxestacado, it is a excellent collection of mostly plotty, old school MSR, casefiles and genfic.
The X-Files Lost and Found Board - where to go when you can't find the story you want to read. They also have FAQ lists for every XF fanfic trope under the sun, and they keep creating more lists, too.

Other resources, especially for fanfic writers:
Inside the X: The X-Files Complete Transcripts
The X-Files Timeline
Deep Background - includes everything from a floor plan for Mulder's apartment to a link to the Fortean Times Wired for Weird page.

I'm also going to list the still "active" communities here on LiveJournal, which isagel didn't do, I'm assuming because back in day there weren't any.

xfiles - the big LJ community. It doesn't get updated that often but it's a good one to watch for fandom news.
xf_is_love - a yearly, month long celebration of The X-Files with daily posting of multimedia fanworks. It usually runs in June but this year in honor of the 20th anniversary it was held in the fall.
xf_santa - the annual holiday gift exchange.
xf_bigbang - it hasn't run for a couple of years but I'm listing it because there is some good long fic there you can't find anywhere else on the net.
xf_book_club - a fanfic discussion community which just entered its seventh year. There are searchable tags and a master list for the discussions, which is in need of an update.
xfilesfanfic - for new fanfic at LJ. Unfortunately, there are no tags, so it is not searchable.
xf_icons
xf_15_fics
xfstoryfinders
ontd_trustno1
scully_fest - newly created to celebrate the 50th birthday of Dana Scully.
If you believe I have inadvertently left something off, please let me know. But do check the archive links first, as they are exhaustive.

Comments

[sheldrake.livejournal.com]

Thanks for doing this! :) Really helpful.

[wendelah1]

You're welcome. I've been wanting to do this forever, especially because of the lack of links to communities. In 2007, I had to stumble onto everything myself. Back then I was the new kid on the block. I'm not anymore so I finally got up the nerve to ask if I could do it.

[sheldrake.livejournal.com]

I recently rewatched the series and scoured the internet looking for fic I remembered reading in 2001/2002, when I first got into fandom. But obviously things have changed a lot since then! So this is great.

[sheldrake.livejournal.com]

I recently rewatched the series and scoured the internet looking for fic I remembered reading in 2001/2002, when I first got into fandom. But obviously things have changed a lot since then! So this is great.

[whitewriter]

Randomly, I came across this post and then after throughally enjoying it's content I realised who it's author was.

You came to fandom in 2007??? I will need to hear how you found it. Somehow, I thought you'd been around longer.

[wendelah1]

I lurked for a number of years before joining LJ. My first internet fandom was Stargate. My laptop died and I am typing this on my phone with one finger. Remind me when I get my cast off to tell the story of how I found LJ.

[whitewriter]

I'll remember to ask.
How many weeks do you have left?

I don't think I can remember how I found it.... but maybe my first ever post states it...

[wendelah1]

Im due to get Cast II off on June 30th. Then a wrist brace and PT. oh joy

[femmenerd.livejournal.com]

Thank you for doing this.

[wendelah1]

You're welcome.

[(Anonymous)]

"I so wish I could get the person who wrote the Fanlore article about The X-Files to update it and include the newest links."

As of April 2015, the Fanlore X-Files article's edit history page cited 33 authors. Fanlore is a wiki, which means it's open for anyone to edit.

Even adding current links on the page's talk/discussion page is helpful.

[wendelah1]

Thank you. It makes me so happy to see that people are still visiting this place. I put a lot of my time into it over the years.

I haven't visited Fanlore in a long time. I know it's a Wiki but my experience with editing them is limited, and so is my time and (especially) my energy. I am impressed that there are 33 people who cared enough to work on the page. Maybe when my current projects are completed, I'll see about adding to Fanlore.

[(Anonymous)]

Fanlore is a friendly place, and there are folks there happy to assist in many ways.

You know a lot about X-Files fandom and fan history; I personally have enjoyed your recs here, and at xf book club. Whatever you added to Fanlore (big or small) would be most welcome. :)

[wendelah1]

Thank you, you're most kind.

[유리아 (from livejournal.com)]

It's really helpful. Thanks!! I didn't know there are so many xf communities here.