The Arrow says: There’s still life in The X-Files! What I want from The X-Files Part 3!

Last Updated on July 23, 2021

I think THE-X-FILES, I think simpler times. I think the site being more of a hobby than a business. I think JoBlo and I meeting up every Sunday, making some crazy ass plates of nachos and watching the show. I think having a mammoth crush on Gillian Anderson (who didn’t), I think playing THE X-FILES GAME (first video game based on the show) on Jo’s PC with Jo and some Rum & Cokes on the side. That was a tough game by the way, (we wound up finding cheats to beat it) and I also think the fanboy excitement I had when the first feature came out in 1998, and the semi let down I got when the answers I was seeking were not in there. But that was then and this is now. And now we’re at THE X-FILES 3.

A couple of days ago, DAVID DUCHOVNY chimed in about the future of THE X-FILES 3 and said this as to the failure of the second film THE X-FILES I WANT TO BELIEVE (2008): “Unfortunately, with the last one, they didn’t spend the money to compete in a summer fashion, and they brought it out in the summer. It should be a summer film. It should be an action film. But, the last one we made was not. The last one we made was a dark, contemplative, small $25 million film. It was basically an independent film.”

Mulder and Scully still got it!

I disagree with Fox Mulder. A The X-Files movie, specially now that the brand is not nearly as hot as it was when the first film came out should NOT be a summer movie (the fall would be ideal, around Halloween). And I doubt the budget had anything to do with it. 25 Million is plenty to tell an engrossing and potent story. Also going higher than that with a The X-Files 3 would be financial stupidity. Again the brand is just not hot right now (Hansel is though). The franchise needs to gain steam again before the budget should be inscreased. Nope, The second X-Files film underwhelmed because the story it told was weak tit; specially when compared to the greatness THE X-FILES TV show had given us. Which brings me to how they should handle a Part 3 in my perfect world.

Now the first movie tried to have its cake and eat it too; please the TV fans who wanted answers to the cliffhangers they were left with via the show while appealing to a virgin audience with its aliens, action bits and special effects. Part 2 was smarter in its approach (go the stand alone way) but failed with its TV Movie of the Week limb trafficking BS narrative. The X-Files is better than that! Straight up I have no idea why Chris Carter thought that would be a good idea. Personally when I think The X-Files; I think aliens, ghosts, monsters and oddities of nature… NOT “grounded human evil” (which admittedly the show did display but that angle came in second).

The evil plastic man Tooms from the Squeeze and Tooms episodes

So how do go about Part 3? Easy. Take the stand alone angle of the second film but mix it with the Sci Fi elements of the first film. It’s kind of a no brainer! It’s too late now to go back to the story/unanswered questions of the show or the first film and the second film had nothing in it worth following up. So the way to go is: Mulder and Scully get called in to investigate an odd happening, they take the case, are hit by varied threats/obstacles, they crack the case, beat the baddie, get in bed and start doing it – end credits. But it has to be something supernatural in nature! Give me The Jersey Devil, more aliens, Bigfoot, a werewolf, evil psychics (like the episode Pusher which Fringe wound up ripping off) shit I’d even go with ghosts or the Bermuda Triangle (which the show addressed in the Triangle episode)!

Remember the monster-of-the-week The X-Files episodes (Like Tooms…from the Squeeze & Tooms episodes… brrr)? Do the same thing but in feature film format! I don’t even care if they go back to the show and inspire themselves from one of their best stand alone villains (like that insect-ish monster in Folie a Deux or the chameleon humanoids with red eyes in Detour). It’s been so long, nobody would remember or care! And looking back, the show was filled with so many unqiue monsters or novel takes on known ones! So, go back in that creative pool Carter and fish away! It was rich! So yeah, just have an otherworldly evil, make the film suspense driven, have a handful of stand out/chase action scenes in there, pour on the Scully/Mulder charm, hire 50 Cents to play an Agent (that’s a joke) and voila, you got a hit movie! I’d then keep to that M.O. For future films as well. Every movie is a stand alone supernatural tale, a self contained story, with Mulder and Scully (and get Skinner in there) as the constants within the franchise.

The chameleon monster from the episode Detour.

So that’s it. That’s how I would wrangle THE X-FILES 3 and beyond! In my Necronomicon there’s still a lot of potential in The X-Files to be a STAND OUT film series. Chris Carter just has to stick to what worked with the show in terms of the stand alone episodes and run with that. Hey; they can even go straight to VOD or DVD (cut PNA cost put more $$$ onscreen), I don’t care! As long as the quality is the house, as long as it meets the level of excellence THE X-FILES TV show once had, I’ll keep watching. So come on Carter and company; give us The X-Files 3 I know you can deliver! I still want to believe!

GET ALL THE X-FILES SEASONS ON DVD HERE!