X-Files mythology, TenThirteen Interviews Database, and more

Twenty Years

As the Placebo song goes…

Twenty years ago, a show nobody would have expected to last more than a couple of seasons started broadcast, and put the channel FOX on the map of the large US television networks. It was a simple beginning, with a humble budget but big ideas and ambitious production values that kept being pushed towards the better by showrunner Chris Carter.

The beginning of The X-Files is now as far away from the present as was The Night Stalker, the show that inspired Carter to do his series, from when The X-Files began!

Twenty years later, many people still remember it as an important show for television history. The greatest gift that one could hope for at this day would be that the people involved in this small part of history are still active and creative. And indeed, Chris Carter, after a long period of absence from television and all things cinema, is returning with several creative projects simultaneously! The pilot for one show, “The After“,  has been ordered for production, and the pilot for another, still untitled, is in advanced writing stages. Here’s to hoping that Carter’s creative batteries have benefitted from a decade of surfing and of discovering the world. Quite unsurprisingly, no word on X-Files 3 from Carter, although Spotnitz still strongly promotes it in interviews.

Tributes to the X-Files for its 20th anniversary have been many in the media. The best, by far, that I have encountered is in French: Sullivan Le Postec’s series of 20 articles is perhaps the most complete history of the series, be it in print or online, that one can find!

The other gift, in the absence of the announcement of a BluRay set and FOX’s complete radio silence around this important anniversary of a once trademark show, is La La Land Records’ release of a Volume 2 of Mark Snow’s music for the show! Volume 1 was released in May 2011, after a long wait since The Truth and the Light in 1996, and Volume 2 has been expected since then, going through an extended production period until the date was set for today (as a result of teasing of the anniversary date opportunity by yours truly!). Here’s to hoping there will be a Volume 3! Here is the announcement and track listing:

THE X FILES: VOLUME TWO: LIMITED EDITION (4-CD BOX SET) LLLCD 1270
Music by Mark Snow
Limited Edition of 3000 Units
STARTS SHIPPING Sept 10th
RETAIL PRICE: $49.98

ORDER “THE X FILES: VOLUME TWO: LIMITED EDITION (4-CD BOX SET)” starting Sept 10th at 12pm PST at www.lalalandrecords.com and get your CD tray card (clamshell front cover) autographed by composer Mark Snow at no additional charge. Autographs are available while supplies last and are NOT guaranteed.La-La Land Records and Twentieth Century Fox mark the 20th anniversary of the beloved television series THE X FILES with this second, 4-CD volume of Mark Snow’s original score to the award-winning landmark program. More than 5hrs of incredible X-Files music, complied from many episode favorites, have been assembled in this strikingly attractive collection, produced by Mark Snow, Nick Redman and Mike Joffe and mastered by James Nelson. The 40-Page CD booklet contains exclusive, in-depth liner notes from film music writer Randall Larson and features comments from show creator Chris Carter and writer/producers Frank Spotnitz, Glen Morgan and James Wong. Limited to 3000 units, the set’s CD Booklet and 4-CD Clamshell case are housed in a hard cover slipcase, in the same fashion as our acclaimed, sold-out first volume. The truth is in here – this is truly some of the most daring and enthralling music ever created for television.

 Disc One1. THE X FILES Main Title
(Season 1) 0:47

1X11 – EVE
2. Swinging Dead Daddy 1:26
3. Meet Your Clone 1:19
4. Attached 0:53

1X16 – YOUNG AT HEART
5. The Eyes Don’t Lie 1:46
6. Ain’t Dead Yet 4:03
7. Youth 3:37
8. Shot in the Crowd 2:29

1X17 – E.B.E.
9. Swimming With Sharks 5:14
10. Here We Go 2:42

1X21 – TOOMS
11. Druid Hill 2:42
12. Rats & Babes 1:59
13. Toilet Tooms 5:49

1X22 – BORN AGAIN
14. Psycho-Electric Attack 6:27

2X03 – BLOOD
15. Drive for Blood 3:26

2X14 – DIE HAND DIE VERLETZT
16. Prayer 0:45
17. Suicide Exam 2:34
18. Snake Hold 1:22

2X16 – COLONY
19. Hypothermia 2:43
20. Alta 2:35

2X17 – END GAME
21. Scully’s Discovery/Mulder’s E-Mail
Message/Skinner Helps Scully 8:19
22. Showdown/Saving Mulder/
Faith to Keep Looking 11:18

Disc One Total Time: 74:49

 Disc Two1. THE X FILES Main Title
(2nd Season) 0:49

2X23 – SOFT LIGHT
2. Eaten by Light 2:44
3. Spontaneous Combustion 4:39
4. Shadow on the Wall 2:21

2X22 – F. EMASCULATA
5. Flesh on Bone 4:31
6. Pustule Package 3:21

3X01 – THE BLESSING WAY
7. Blown Up and Beaten 2:50

3X02 – PAPER CLIP
8. Smoky Gets in Your Eyes 2:52
9. Outmined 2:23
10. Sacrifice/
Skinner Gets Skinned 4:04

3X04 – CLYDE BRUCKMAN’S FINAL REPOSE
11. Yappi 2:18
12. Dumpster 3:00

3X14 – GROTESQUE
13. Disarmed 1:28

3X24 – TALITHA CUMI
14. Fries and Faith 2:38
15. Discreet Distance 3:04

4X01 – HERRENVOLK
16. Needle Neck 6:54

4X02 – HOME
17. Newborn 2:11

4X09 – TUNGUSKA
18. Worm Rock 12:48
19. Chicken Wire Wrap 7:57

20. THE X FILES End Credits (Extended ) 0:35

Disc Two Total Time: 74:23

 Disc Three1. THE X FILES Main Title
(7th Season) 0:35

4X10 – TERMA
2. Black Vermiform 6:03
3. Fire of Terma 8:47

4X17 – TEMPUS FUGIT
4. Pieces 6:28
5. Nine Minutes 3:24

4X24 – GETHSEMANE
6. Trails 5:37
7. Thawed 11:30
8. Deep Dupe 4:17

5X01 – REDUX
9. Little Vials of Proof 8:23

5X02 – REDUX II
10. Remission 5:42

5X14 – THE RED AND THE BLACK
11. Red Letter 2:46
12. Resist or Serve 3:45
13. Lil’ Cabin in Quebec 8:42

Disc Three Total Time: 76:35

 Disc Four1. THE X FILES Main Title
(9th Season) 0:36

5X17 – ALL SOULS
2. Baptism 3:45
3. Four Faces 7:28

6X09 – S.R. 819
4: Orgell 2:26
5. Bill of Health 4:29

6X22 – BIOGENESIS
6. Map of the Genome 4:00

7X14 – THEEF
7. Voodoo Doll 7:19

7X22 – REQUIEM
8. Déjà vu 3:55
9. Ray 5:09

9X04 – 4-D
10. Pulling the Plug 9:00

8X21 – EXISTENCE
11. Something Feels Off 3:03
12. Replicant Revolution 6:21
13. Under Investigation 3:14

8X15 – DEADALIVE
14. Deep Six 2:53
15. AliveAlive 11:03

16. THE X FILES End Credits
(1st Season) 0:30
17. I Made This/
20th Century Fox Fanfare* 0:08
* – Music By Alfred Newman

Disc Four Total Time: 76:04

Total Set Running Time: 298:27

Elsewhere on Eat The Corn:

S10 #3: The Lowdown

Continuing with the lowdown series (#1, #2), on to the issue of the “Believers” arc that writer Joe Harris called his favourite: “upon which shit gets very, very real.” Obviously, spoilers below, proceed at your own risk.

9X17_vandekamps

10X03_vandekamps

Read the rest of this entry »

XF at SDCC 2013, Part 2: Season 10

Part of the San Diego Comic Con is still about comics, and IDW at SDCC 2013 was there to promote The X-Files Season 10, of which #2 came out the day before the con. Chris Carter and Gillian Anderson, present for the TV Guide panel, also participated on the IDW panel, along with IDW Editor-in-Chief Chris Ryall, XF Season 10 Editor Denton J. Tipton, XF Season 10 writer Joe Harris and Lone Gunman and conventions regular Dean Haglund.

IMG_24371

From left to right: Tipton, Ryall, Anderson, Carter, Harris.

The X-Files Season 10 IDW panel was somewhat covered in the press (less so than the TV Guide panel, the audience was also smaller):

Articles: Badass Digest | Wired | Joe Harris’ blog | Comic Book Resources (very detailed!)

Video: Part 1 | Part 2

Audio (bad quality, but includes Chris Ryall’s intro and an awesome joke on X-Files #3)

Interspersed below are also drawings from Michael Walsh, who has continued to tease with art from the next issues on his Instagram account — with a lot of Scully!

XF Season 10: More or less canon?

SDCC was the opportunity to ask Chris Carter repeatedly about the future of the X-Files, his role as executive producer of Season 10, and how do these new comics articulate with his vision for a potential third X-Files feature film.

More below the jump!

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XF at SDCC 2013, Part 1: XF3, BluRay, Carter projects

More than any other event earlier this year, and I expect more than any even for the remainder of 2013, The X-Files‘ 20th anniversary was celebrated at San Diego Comic Con International 2013. The size of the event and the media coverage it got is the reason why this was a key event. The big panel was hosted by TV Guide, the second panel by Season 10 comics publisher IDW, and then there were of course signings and pricey photo shoots.

X-Files’ 20th anniversary

sdcctvguide

This was the biggest cast & crew reunion since the Paley Festival in 2008. From right to left: host Michael Schneider; Chris Carter; David Duchovny; Gillian Anderson; James Wong; Glen Morgan; John Shiban; Darin Morgan; Howard Gordon; Vince Gilligan; and out of frame, David Amann (photo from syzzlyn). From the writing team, you could say that all the people who shaped the show were there, apart from Frank Spotnitz (in Europe, busy with other projects) and Gordon’s writing partner Alex Gansa. As would be expected in such media-intensive events, the focus was much more on Anderson and Duchovny instead of the rest of the creative team — given how short the panel was, some of them only spoke once!

Video of nearly the full panel

Video of the full panel

Host Michael Schneider posted a kind of “making of” of the whole event, which is a very entertaining read but is also revealing. The panel was organized by TV Guide, and within TV Guide, Schneider played an essential role: in inviting people and handling the organization of the event on the day. The involvement of FOX is nowhere to be seen apart from their mere approval. Still, we guess that they were watching, gauging interest in the X-Files to see if it has a future. The fans were certainly there!

More after the jump.

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S10 #2: The Lowdown

As with the lowdown on #1, a full review will only make sense once the five-issue arc closes. But these lowdowns are the opportunity to mention some details that will be lost on a review of 110 pages of comics, and to theorize like it’s the 1990s again.

Before we delve in the story, as is often the focus in EatTheCorn, two words on the art: Michael Walsh is doing a great job on the likeness of the characters, and his style that gives importance to thick black lines fits perfectly with the X-Files. Jordie Bellaire’s colouring stands out in the issue, with scenes having their own distinct atmosphere, the dreams/flashbacks in particular. Joe Harris’ dialogue continues to be spot-on (with the exception of where Mulder explains Dana Scully and William to the Lone Gunmen, who know all this much better than us readers).

10X02_scully

Huge spoilers below!

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S10 Week Three and Beyond

The X-Files Season 10 #2 is coming out tomorrow!

Art by Michael Walsh

Art by Michael Walsh

As with every issue, Comic Book Resources has published a 7-page preview (which corresponds to about a third of the length of the issue!…). A season 8-9 character makes a painful return, and it’s been months we have been teased with the return of the Lone Gunmen. Will they be ghosts like in 9X19/20: The Truth? Will they have faked their deaths, as Dean Haglund has been saying for years? Will they be zombies?

#2 cover gallery previously posted in EatTheCorn here.

As with every month over three months before publication date, IDW Publishing releases its solicitations, for comic book buyers to place their pre-orders and for comic book makers to better assess their print volumes. The program is out for October 2013, and The X-Files Season 10 #5 is out; beware of spoilers below!

S10 #5 cover by Carlos Valenzuela

S10 #5 cover by Carlos Valenzuela

The X-Files: Season 10 #5
Joe Harris (w) • Michael Walsh (a) • Carlos Valenzuela (c)
“Believers,” Part 5 of 5: The sense-shattering conclusion! Reunited at last, Mulder and Scully pursue the Deacon deep beneath the surface of Yellowstone National Park. Also in pursuit are the telltale black helicopters of the FBI, but are they friend… or foe?
FC • 32 pages • $3.99

The first translated edition for Season 10 is known: it will be in German! The edition will collect the first five issues (128 pages), i.e. the whole of the first story arc, Believers, and is announced for December 2013. This will also be the first collected volume of Season 10 to be published: for the time being, no word yet from IDW on a first trade paperback (TPB) and how many issues it would collect. Previous IDW collections gather 4 issues, Believers is 5 issues, most comics TPBs gather 6 issues. (Thanks to Thomas!)

Edit: Thanks to the super powers of Twitter, we know that the IDW collections will be hardcovers for every 5 issues, with collected “Believers” coming in December 2013. (Thanks to S10 editor Denton J. Tipton!)

Michael Walsh has continued teasing with art from the upcoming issues, with an old lady who will probably be appearing somewhere around issue #4. As per twitter (amazing how much you can find!), he finished #4 on July 12!

Edith. X-Files inking.” (July 9 2013)

f68f72d4e8ba11e2867a22000a9f1266_7

So what’s coming after the mythology-filled Believers? menton3 has posted his cover art for issue #6. My take on the title? “Invasion of the Mutant Fluke Men!

978843aeea6f11e29bb822000a1f9abd_7

For those interested in numbers, Bleeding Cool announced the comic books sales for June 2013 and issue is barely at number 94 — however consider that it came out late in June (on the 19th), that it exceeded IDW’s expectations as a second printing was necessary, that it’s IDW’s third best-selling title (after My Little Pony!…), and that digital sales are not included (which should be important given that X-philes are a quite international group).

On July 10, IDW also started publishing its “X-Files Classics” in hardcover, which collect the old Topps Comics. Volume 1 collects the first 9 issues of the monthly comic, in my opinion among the best issues of the entire XF comics run, by Stefan Petrucha & Charlie Adlard. More on this later; in the meantime, read more about pre-S10 XF comics on EatTheCorn here!

The other big event is the Mecca of popular culture, crowd madness and consumerist marketing, the 2013 San Diego Comic Con, in which several events celebrate the X-Files’ 20th anniversary and the publication of Season 10!

Los Angeles-based X-Files News has collected all the XF-related events in one nice post here. Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter, Comic Book Resources, Joe Harris and Chris Ryall (IDW) have also posted. The biggest event is TV Guide’s panel, with the biggest cast & crew reunion since the Paley Festival in 2008 right before the release of I Want To Believe, and as it seems it will be the biggest event related to the 20th anniversary of the series! I still hope FOX will announce in September a BluRay release, but don’t hold your breath about anything related to an X-Files 3. Interesting that Carter will be joining the IDW panel for promoting Season 10, which shows his good faith in the project. Expect a host of SDCC-related news in all pop culture sites this week!