THE X-FILES at Comic-Con 2013: Live-Blog

THE X-FILES may have been off our television screens for 11 years (and it’s been five years since the last movie), but in honor of the 20th anniversary of THE X-FILES pilot debuting on Fox (its official debut was on September 10, 1993), TV Guide Magazine is hosting a panel that will reunite many of the key players.

I’ll be live-blogging the panel when it begins at 3:30 PM PT, but here’s the official description in the meantime: “It’s been two decades since FBI Special Agents Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully (Gillian Anderson) first partnered to investigate unsolved paranormal cases. The X-Files made primetime safe for sci-fi, and spawned a generation of hugely successful writer/producers. Somewhere, the truth is still out there. TV Guide Magazine Los Angeles bureau chief Michael Schneider leads a panel scheduled to include series creator Chris Carter, plus writers/producers David Amann, Vince Gilligan, Howard Gordon, Darin Morgan, Glen Morgan, John Shiban, Jim Wong, and more guests to come.”

3:34: Our moderator started us off with a “Joy to the World” finish the lyrics game. Introductions are underway right now.

3:39: The writers have been introduced and they’re rolling THE X-FILES credits; few things as cool as seeing those on a very, very, very big screen. Okay, and David and Gillian came out with flashlights, so that was quite excellent.

3:41: “They came; they’re just delaying their entrance,” Chris says of whether the aliens invaded on the proposed 12/2012 alien invasion date brought up in the series finale.

3:43: What did David and Gillian not realize about their characters?  Gillian says she realized Mulder was cool a few years post-series. She jokes Scully should have gone there faster. When David jokingly asks if the characters have gone there, Gillian says they had to have, since they had a kid.

3:44: An adorable mix-up just happened when our moderator said a fan wanted to know if we’d get a Mulder-Scully sex scene. Gillian jokes they’ve shot it, and realized too late David has made that joke in the past and then she started laughing hysterically.

3:46: Vince and Howard (who have BREAKING BAD and HOMELAND to their names currently) say they wouldn’t be where they were at without X-FILES.

3:47: David says he always thought they would do more movies, and they’d keep doing it. Chris says he’d rather answer the movie question later. Would they be up for a 24-esque limited run series again? No. But Gillian says she would like to do a movie.

3:48: The changes in technology between now and then is being brought up — cell phones weren’t used initially, Mulder had to look up things with books, etc.

3:51: John’s son played the first baby William, and John brought him on stage. (Which probably made us all feel very old.)

3:52: “It’s a comic book series, so the stories are more comic book-y…they’re called season 10, so they’re kind of their own mythology,” Chris says of season 10.

3:53: There was a lot of debate on whether or not the Lone Gunmen should be killed off. Still some debates, but they felt it was an honorable death for the three men.

3:55: Glen is talking about the experience of writing “Home,” which if you know your X-FILES history, you likely know Fox actually refused to reair the episode after its initial airing because of it’s gory content. Glen’s talking about how it took a documentary he watched, returning to the X-FILES with Jim after one of their other shows had failed, Scully wanting to be a mother, a Chaplin anecdote, and then actually finding a location called home in PA to make “Home” happen.

3:59: Favorite Mulder/Scully moments? David mentions the dance from the end of “Post Modern Prometheus.” Gillian mentions the conversation on the rock. David says that he thinks it was the one where Mulder said he’d like to be born with no legs, and Gillian seems confused. Chris reiterates he’s right.

4:00: Favorite baddies? David Amann says Roche from “Paper Hearts.” Vince says Clyde Bruckman, even if he wasn’t a bad guy. When our moderator points out Bryan Cranston’s season 6 “Drive” episode, Vince calls that “fruitful.” Howard says Eddie Van Blundht. (Howard also helped create Krycek, and when it’s pointed out he lost an arm, Gillian starts giggling.) Darin says his two characters “if I’m being honest.”

4:05: John is talking about “Badlaa” and the “butt genie.” Glen points to Tooms. Jim says CSM. Gillian says she was going to say Tooms, but also liked the Bounty Hunter. But when she couldn’t remember the Bounty Hunter’s name, someone asks Gillian jokingly, “Did you watch this show?” David’s favorite villain ended up being a joke story. Chris pointed to Well-Manicured Man, wanting to pay tribute to him since his real-life portrayer died in the past few years.

4:09: What would Mulder and Scully do on a real date? “Have sex,” Gillian replies. “And then maybe dinner?” David finishes.

4:11: A fan asks what monster the writers wished they had written. It first stumped them into silence. Vince says he wanted to do an episode with Drew Barrymore — whom he had done a movie with in the past – but it ended up not working out.

4:12: When did Mulder and Scully realize they were in love with each other? “I think it was when [Scully] first walked into [Mulder’s] office,” Chris says.

4:13: “In terms of the feedback I’ve gotten from [women], Scully had quite a huge impact on people from just aspects of her personality and her personal strength and things she stood up for. She was also a decent human being, people listened to her, she got to boss people around.” – Gillian on the impact of Scully on the genre.  “Scully was basically my fantasy woman,” Chris says.

4:15: Chris says it was natural to make Scully religious: it gave her two warring aspects to her character. Had she only been a scientist, it could  have made the character too one-dimensional.

4:17: Chris notes that people credit them for having open-ended serialized, but he says what they really did was show that a series could have a spine while having one-off episodes.

4:19: “I think for me, nostalgically, [Vancouver] will always be X-FILES’ home,” David says of which location he enjoyed filming in more. Gillian agrees, but notes it was completely different to shoot in both places.

4:22: “From my point of view, people often come up to me and say they got into Scully because of me,” David jokes, after Gillian is told a fan went into science because of her, and Gillian shares she does hear that often.

4:23: Chris says he thinks there was a period when X-FILES wasn’t relevant because people wanted to trust the government. Now? People are suspicious.

4:24: Darin says he initially wrote the part of Jose Chung for Rip Taylor. He had the idea in his head for the opening and Jim told him to never share the story with anyone; Jim left the next season and so Darin wrote the episode.

4:27: Why did Gillian return to TV? It was all about timing. And she responded very much to THE FALL. She had only planned on doing three episodes of HANNIBAL.

4:28: Will David and Gillian ever work together again on a non-X-FILES project? Gillian jokes, “Apparently not.” David says they have something special and it can’t be on a project he could think of right now.

4:28: “You need a reason for going on and getting excited…this is very inspirational,” Chris says of X-FILES 3.

4:31: Gillian is auctioning off the cardboard Mulder/Scully that are on the stage for charity. So far, up $1500. They joke this is how they’ll make the third movie, and Gillian jokes this is their kickstarter.”

4:33: And we’re done! Thanks for following along!