The truth is out there: Celebrate 30 years of The X-Files with our 30 favorite episodes
Enlarge / FBI agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) were the heart and soul of The X-Files. (credit: 20th Century Fox)
In September 1993, fictional FBI Special Agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) made their broadcast TV debut on The X-Files and went on to investigate alien abductions and all manner of strange phenomena for nine full seasons and two feature films, followed by two additional limited-run seasons in 2016 and 2018. This hugely popular and influential series celebrates its 30th anniversary this month, giving us a prime opportunity to pay homage to our favorite episodes and characters.
(Spoilers for The X-Files below.)
Stream The X-Files (Ars Technica may earn compensation for sales from links on this post through affiliate programs.)The X-Files was created by Chris Carter, who was a fan of the 1970s horror series Kolchak: The Night Stalker, featuring a wire service reporter (Darren McGavin) investigating mysterious crimes with a supernatural or science fiction element. Other cited influences included The Twilight Zone, Night Gallery, Twin Peaks (in which Duchovny played a transgender DEA agent), and Jonathan Demme's 1988 Oscar-winning film The Silence of the Lambs.