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"I want to reinvent the series for the character of John Doggett." And so the first Official Fan Club Magazine to focus on season 8 is published, and the above words spoken by Frank Spotnitz set the scene for what is to come. How does that R.E.M. song go? ‘It's the end of the world as we know it’? With all this talk of the Scully and Doggett hour, it feels like the end… and many of us certainly don't feel fine. You know, some people were perfectly willing to give The X-Files: The Next Generation a go – some maybe still are - but in their haste to launch this particular ship, 1013 et al. seem to have forgotten there is already one in orbit. Or maybe they realize it, and they're hoping the new model will crash through the old and send the latter hurtling back to earth in pieces. Well perhaps its time they realized that there are many of us who will be there to pick up those pieces, to carry them off to be reverently laid to rest, and to turn our backs on the new light shining brightly from above. Melodramatic? Perhaps. But would 1013 et al. care? While Frank said one or two good things in the latest interview, the majority of his words (which at least lacked the ‘deceive, enveigle and obsfucate’ tendencies of the show’s creator) seemed to give further validity to our belief that they couldn't be rid of Mulder - and David - fast enough. When asked what the changes in XF mean for the show, Frank stated: "The series is really redefined by Mulder's absence and by the addition of Robert Patrick's character John Doggett." A gratifying and understanding view. But he also managed to re-emphasize, as so many at 1013 seem to be falling over themselves to do, that 'masculinity' of their new lead. "Doggett is really a guy's guy, somebody who's got a very successful career at the FBI, former cop. Smart, self-made man. Really different from Mulder and Mulder's background." Why does every praise of the new character have to be at the expense of Mulder? Why do not 1013 et al. understand how pivotal Mulder is to Phile love and enjoyment of the show? A brilliant background in profiling, a high rate of case resolution in his job, and achieving this while being somewhat isolated from some of the boys club he works with because of his unique methods, beliefs and success… if that isn't smart and self-made, what is? Whatever. As for the mythology without Mulder, Frank commented: "So, off-screen issues forced the mythology to really get started in Season Two and again to be reinvented in Season Eight. And it's really a new ballgame. It really is like a fresh slate. I think you will see the characters of Krycek and Covarrubias, but they are very much a part of Mulder's world. So, I think we'll see them after Christmas in the back half of the season." Hang on. Did we miss something? So some of the key players in the consortium got toasted. So CSM is (we hope) finally dead. That's the end of that mythology? What about what the movie presented to us? Did the aliens just take their bats and balls and go home because of one bad innings? Are they that flaky after so many years? What about Strughold in Tunisia? What about the Samantha clones and the Kurt Crawford clones? What about the oil in the rocks in Tunguska? Krycek and Marita part of Mulder's world? I thought they were part of The X-Files as a whole. So we get MOTWs for the first half of the season, with a lead character who doesn't believe in this stuff - afterall, even in the brilliant Je Souhaite she didn't believe in such possibilities - and a guy's guy who is being painted as the Scully character in this new format. Let me know how it goes, someone. Or not. Of the pregnancy we heard that: "It's not gonna be something we dramatize. Trust me, off screen she's thinking about it…" Well, if the latest rumors are to be believed, more than just thinking about it happened off-screen during season 7. The planning did, too. And Krycek got put in jail off-screen last year. Diana Fowley was murdered off-screen. And in previous years, just a sample: Skinner's wife did or didn't die, and his divorce apparently did or didn't go through depending on her health, Krycek somehow got out of the silo and Jeffrey Spender was not only buried, but forgotten completely. While we don't expect every nuance to be filmed, we can't help thinking at times that with so much happening off-screen, perhaps next season is actually season 10, not 8! Frank also expressed his hopes for season 8: "Well, to be honest, I was unsure whether it was wise to even go forward with this season, and the decision was really not mine. It's one that other people made." Where you were unsure, Frank, many of us knew. But we have accepted that in a battle between finance and creativity, the former won, and have moved on with a hope to at least get a just and dignified ending for Mulder. "And having embarked upon this season, I want it to be vindicated creatively. I want people to understand that creatively, it was a good thing to do. I want to reinvent the series for the character of John Doggett. I want that character to be rewarded with the full potential that I know that character and actor possess." All well and good. But why does this make it sound like season 8 is going to be all about Doggett, and nary a word about Mulder? With a potential season 9 and who knows how many more seasons after, why not make this season about Mulder, easing in the new character and format in the process rather than just hitting us repeatedly over the head with it? It not only hurts, Frank, its downright insulting. And what of Scully, Frank? Reinventing the series for Doggett when a character of 7 years standing is apparently primed to take over the role as believer? "It's really a different show than it's been in the past seven years because the characters of Mulder and Scully so much defined the way every episode unfolded. And now when you take Mulder out and put in this other character, it changes everything." You got that right, Frank. Myself, I was only ever going to tune into the Mulder episodes this year, regardless. My focus on The X-Files has always been Mulder-centric. So season 8 became season 7 ½. But Frank has shattered that number back even further, when he spoke of David's involvement in the upcoming season: "And it's gonna depend on the stories we tell how many episodes at the end of the day it'll actually be. I think 11 is kind of the maximum number he might indeed appear in, but there's a good chance it will be less. I'm not sure how it will work out best for the stories we're telling." So David is available for a certain number of episodes, but despite the ability to write towards this – and don’t deny you can, Frank, as you wrote towards the season 5 ending for the lead in to the movie - you'd rather give us less Mulder time? Thanks a lot, Frank. Guess it'll be season 7 ¼, if we're lucky.
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Fox
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