linzee | first fandoms

The X Files premiered twenty years ago today, which I find absolutely ridiculous and a little bit terrifying. XF was my first fandom -- I got into it pretty late in the game (late season five), and into fandom after the movie came out -- back when I was a relatively tiny Linzee (well, 90s internet-tiny -- I feel like there are nine year olds on tumblr now so apparently fourteen would not be all that young? YOUTHS). For better or worse it shaped most things about my fannish experience, but the one thing XF did for me is give me a group of friends that I've had for over a decade now. Most of them aren't in fandom anymore, but we've all kept in touch. I always joke -- most people have high school friends, I have XF friends, but it's true and I am grateful for that. The show gave me a sense of belonging during my teenage years I wouldn't have had otherwise. Which is perhaps a weird memory to have of a show and a fannish experience, but, well...XF was weird.

Tonight I re-watched "Field Trip" and "All Things," because "Field Trip" is one of my favorite episodes and because I hadn't watched "All Things" in years. Miscellaneous thoughts on both include:

Okay so up until now it has never meant anything to me that Jim Beaver was in "Field Trip," but it is now my personal headcanon that back in the day, Bobby had a run-in with Mulder and Scully while he was investigating a couple of strange deaths and posing as a coroner. The entire time Mulder and Scully are tripping balls on mushroom stomach acid Bobby is finding out about the FBI's "X" classification and getting increasingly annoyed by/worried about the two reckless morons they've put in charge of it. Idjits got carried off by a giant mushroom. It can't even chase you; it's a mushroom.

"All Things" was a lot better watching it now, with a lot of hindsight. It's still a little (okay, a lot) over the top, but it's kind of endearing in its transparency. The entire episode feels like Gillian Anderson writing some sort of weird self-insert fanfic where she sits herself down and tells Scully to hit that, and hey, you know what? Sometimes a good in-character wish-fulfillment fic is all you want in life. Even better when it's an actual episode.

What a spectacular anvil of an episode though, my god. I still don't know for sure if the show intended for "All Things" to be the episode M&S got together in/during/after/whatever, but I'm not entirely sure it matters given that the entire plot of the episode was Scully having a crisis over and then coming to terms with the transformation of her relationship with Mulder into something sexual/overtly romantic.

Can we talk about how "Field Trip" will always be my favorite pun-based episode title ever? Because it is.

I was going to come up with a "top ten X Files episodes" list or something for the occasion, but every time I started I ended up getting distracted watching episodes. One day I will triumph and come up with that list though. One day.