33 Years Ago Today, One Of The Best Sci-Fi TV Shows Of All Time Began

More than three decades later, the truth is still out there. 33 years ago today, "The X-Files" premiered on Fox and changed everything. The dark and moody procedural blended a vast, far-reaching alien conspiracy with episodic "monster of the week" stories to become one of the greatest sci-fi shows of all time. Hell, it's one of the greatest shows in general.

Highly influential, "The X-Files" was the brainchild of creator Chris Carter, who took inspiration from cult favorite series like "Kolchak: The Night Stalker" and "Twin Peaks" to create something that's stood the test of time. Not only did the show make stars of David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson, but it also launched the career of Vince Gilligan, who wrote several of the show's best episodes and would go on to create "Breaking Bad," "Better Call Saul," and "Pluribus."

The premise was deceptively simple: outcast FBI Agent Fox Mulder (Duchovny) and his skeptical partner Dana Scully (Anderson) investigate strange, supernatural cases involving ghosts, monsters, and of course, aliens. Along the way they get mixed up in an admittedly confusing conspiracy that has rogue government agents teaming up with evil aliens who want to colonize our planet (or something like that; it's difficult to keep track of it all).

While aliens were the hook the show hung its hat on, I was always more of a fan of the monster of the week episodes, and I don't think I'm alone there. Those episodes had Mulder and Scully dealing with paranormal serial killers, mutated monsters, and all sorts of things that go bump in the night (heck, one episode, the excellent and spooky "Die Hand Die Verletzt," heavily implies that Mulder and Scully once came face to face with Satan himself, or rather, herself, in the form of the mysterious Mrs. Paddock).

While many shows would try to replicate "The X-Files," very few were successful, mostly because they could never nail down the specific details that made "X-Files" so great. First and foremost was the chemistry between Duchovny and Anderson, who click right out of the gate in the first episode. While fans would inevitably ship the characters (and sure enough, they did eventually hook up), the show was always more fun when Mulder and Scully both flirted and respected each other without actually jumping into bed together. The dynamic between the leads was so essential that when Duchovny actually left the show for a period, things never really recovered.

Mulder is the believer who is willing to accept any and all supernatural scenarios, while Scully, a medical doctor as well as an FBI agent, is constantly skeptical. The very nature of the show meant that Mulder was seemingly always right, and yet the writing, and Anderson's performance, both found ways to make Scully seem reasonable in her skepticism. We loved these characters, and we loved watching them work together. 

Another detail that made the show so special was how flexible and malleable it was. When the writers realized they could start making episodes that were genuinely, intentionally funny to go along with all the scary stuff, "The X-Files" really hit its stride. The show could essentially adapt itself to any and every genre, as long as it remained true to its two lead characters. And sure, there were plenty of duds along the way, but even the bad episodes have a certain charm to them.

There's a cozy element baked into the series, even when it's trying to be scary. This is particularly prevalent in the first five seasons, which shot Vancouver, a location that resulted in episodes frequently shrouded in fog and mist. It was the TV equivalent of curling up by a fireplace on a rainy night with a book of scary stories.

"The X-Files" spawned two feature films (one pretty good, the other ... not so good) and two revival seasons after it ended (save for a handful of episodes, those revival seasons were a bit of a bust). Even now, the show lives on, in both streaming form and a new reboot series coming from "Sinners" filmmaker Ryan Coogler. I'm hopeful Coogler's take will be successful, but the original "The X-Files" was such a product of the 1990s (and I mean that in a complimentary way) that it's going to be hard to recreate the magic. Then again, the show's main storyline, which dealt with corrupt forces working within the American government for nefarious purposes, might seem more relevant than ever when held up against our current political hellscape. As the show always told us, trust no one.