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And though I rib the series’ mule-headed tenacity to carry on past its expiration date, I enjoyed those cast additions, even as the ever-unwieldy mythology eps drove me batty. I actually vowed in the summer of 2001 that I would watch the show as long as it was on the air, both because of and in spite of its ability to enrage me at least half the time. Thankfully, the next season proved to be the last and I was among the proud millions who slogged through the courtroom histrionics that comprised most of the finale.

Based on what I have revealed to this point, it would seem fairly obvious that I must cringe at Fight the Future and adore I Want to Believe. Of course, nothing is ever as simple as all that. Yes, Fight the Future is a mythology “expanded episode” and a very bold choice for a feature film in that it segued directly from the 5th season finale and set up the 6th season premiere, even as it was structured to appeal to a broader audience who might never have seen the show. And I Want to Believe takes place years after the show’s end, but is more concerned with a one-off mystery than in answering many of the questions left unanswered from the finale. In spite of that, it still seems more directed at core fans than the preceding film.

And if pushed, I would have to affirm that Fight the Future is the better feature, but not primarily for reasons of art, technical craft, or even storytelling. What I Want to Believe suffers from is twofold. First, the central mystery isn’t all that compelling, rates fairly high on the “oh, c’mon” scale and carries more than a whiff of homophobia. This is coupled with the movie’s seeming awareness of its own antiquity, a moroseness that sucks a lot of life and most opportunities for humor right out the window. (A visual and aural gag at the expense of George W. Bush and J. Edgar Hoover is a rare exception, but it falls flat in presentation.) And there was a definite air of anticlimax when I Want to Believe arrived.

To simply compare numbers, Fight the Future was released at the height of the show’s popularity and pulled in $84 million domestic and $190 million total worldwide. People were paying to see a two-part episode on the big screen. Ten years following that, six years after the show went off the air, and about five years later than intended, I Want to Believe didn’t make in its domestic run ($20 million) what Fight the Future made in its first two days. It finished 75% back of the first film here, and over 50% off abroad. The saving grace is that the sequel was significantly less expensive than the first film.

Jumping back a moment to why the mythology and connecting plot strands would give me fits, can also help explain the big “lack” that I think is the emotional doughnut hole of the second film. What The X-Files seemed especially good at (and I would attribute this to creator Chris Carter) was creating intriguing, long-running mysteries and then providing answers or closure long after it ceased to matter for any one particular puzzle - the disappearance of Mulder’s sister let’s say - and long after the show had piled on numerous other threads that would be followed far longer than they should have been. To make another comparison, the finale of Twin Peaks may have been maddeningly and intentionally populated with cliffhangers, but it was true to David Lynch’s spirit. As The X-Files lurched into its final seasons, the overarching conspiracies seemed to matter less and less, yet they still commanded the lion’s share of story time. Carter’s vision for the show seemed misplaced.

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