The X-Files was how I learned what a “conspiracy theory” was, as I sat glued to the screen in the ’90s as a child who probably shouldn’t have been watching this show at all. Yet, even to my young and un-jaded eyes, it was clear that this was a much more premium bit of programming than the alternatives at the time.
The adventures of Mulder and Scully didn’t look like any TV show I’d seen up to that point. In fact, it looked more like a movie, but why was that?
Shot like cinema, not TV
Credit: 20th Century Fox
In a 1995 interview, the DP (Director of Photography) for The X-Files, John Bartley, reveals that the show was shot on 35mm film. This was done for various reasons, mainly to allow for better low-light performance, but it also has the side effect of giving the show a more cinematic look. Compared to the smaller, cheaper film formats that other TV shows typically use.
With dark and moody lighting combined with camera work and film stock more typical of movies, the show instantly elevated itself above other typical ’90s TV fare.
The power of practical effects
Credit: 20th Century Fox
Computer-generated graphics (CG) was pretty basic in the ’90s. Even pioneering big-budget CG movies like Toy Story look pretty rough by modern standards. TV shows that made use of this primitive CG, such as Babylon 5, have aged pretty poorly because of it. In contrast, shows like The X-Files mainly made use of practical effects and analog VFX methods.
The use of physical props, sets, and in-camera lighting techniques means The X-Files doesn’t feel dated at all when watching it today. It just feels like it’s set in the ’90s, not necessarily made then.
Vancouver’s atmospheric magic
While the show is set in the United States, it was actually initially filmed in Vancouver, which gave the gift of fog, rain, and natural forest backdrops for exciting cryptid chases and alien abductions. The look of the city and its surrounds became a part of the show’s visual character, and that consistent environmental language goes a long way to making it look as good as it does.
Basically, having a grounded and iconic visual style means you can never look outdated, because that look in itself is what the show is all about. If you were to remake The X-Files today, you’d have to replicate this atmosphere, not “improve” on it.
Film restoration and HD remasters done right
Credit: 20th Century Fox
Remember when I said the show was filmed on 35mm film? Well, it turns out that this was partly due to foresight on the part of Fox and the show’s makers. They knew that at some point The X-Files would have to be remastered for HD broadcast and release on HD home media. Using a smaller type of film stock, or filming the show on digital cameras, would make it hard to impossible to get more detail from the original footage.
When they remastered the show for HD, which is what you’re seeing (or should be) on streaming services, they re-scanned the original 35mm negatives, giving the full depth and color that film provides.
Not that it was easy! In an interview Ben Gourlay of TweakTown conducted with Jim Hardy, CEO of Illuminate, it turns out the process of remastering the show took over 18 months for all 200-plus episodes, with thousands and thousands of feet of film negatives to go through. This also required remaking some VFX shots, but I suspect since so many of the special effects in the show were practical and in-camera, it wasn’t as involved as, say, the remastering of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
A visual language that defined a genre
I alluded to this already, but The X-Files is one of those rare shows that defines the visual language for a genre. Many shows about the paranormal or conspiracy theories try to mimic the use of shadow and light, desaturated colors, and gratuitous use of flashlight beams to evoke what the X-Files brought to the genre.
Shows like True Detective, Fringe, and in some ways even Stranger Things pay homage to The X-Files, and that visual language and identity effectively makes The X-Files timeless.
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The X-Files
Release Date
1993 – 2018-00-00
Network
FOX
Showrunner
Chris Carter
Directors
Chris Carter
