A FRESH START FOR A CLASSIC SERIES? 'THE X-FILES' COMES TO BLU-RAY

In their investigative prime: FBI agents Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) and Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) in THE X-FILES. Image: FOX.

The recent trailblazing success of CBS PARAMOUNT's STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION's release in beautiful and viewer acclaimed high definition Blu-ray has meant that other studios are now looking at their vaults and seeing what potential classic TV hits can be adapted to the format and generate further income. And it looks as if FOX will be getting out the big guns first, sometime in 2013, with the so-far rumoured release of THE X-FILES season by season, in what will surely be a labour of love job, ditching the fuzzy film to video converted prints of old and presenting pristine made on film transfers, going back to the original camera negatives and starting from scratch, along with new or upgraded optical effects. The series wasn't made in widescreen until Season Five, but who cares when the potential picture quality of those early best seasons will look sooo much better, and with the kind of presentation they should have had when they originally aired. The chance for additional behind the scenes material should also be eagerly anticipated.

Here's also hoping that THE X-FILES gets the kind of sales success that might help jump start the franchise back into live-action motion, what with the recent desires of creator Chris Carter and the cast to do one more movie-hopefully with FOX giving them a bigger, better production budget this time, and with a storyline that hearkens back to the original tone of the series and the alien conspiracy. Or perhaps something entirely new with nods to the past?

The truth remains to be found...

UNFINISHED BUSINESS. WILL 'THE X-FILES' RETURN?

Just the two of us? Agents Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully (Gillian Anderson) take on a worldwide conspiracy in the iconic THE X-FILES. Image: FOX.

The evil and intimidating Cancer Man's predictions of an end of the world alien attack on planet Earth on December 21st, 2012 will surely and sadly fail to materialise on cinema multiplex screens any time soon, but those champions of the truth who fought against him so valiantly for nine seasons, determined ex-FBI agents Agents Fox Mulder and his lovely partner Dana Scully, might possibly and hopefully return in the not too distant future for another big-screen adventure into the heart of the unknown. After a few years way from playing their respective and iconic roles, and with the sad failure of the last THE X-FILES movie, the very under-rated I Want to Believe, which many thought was too low budget and too intimately small scale to be released as a summer tent-pole movie for the blockbuster period (where so many Hollywood films face off for box office receipts and glory), lead stars David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson-both of whom currently have fine careers flitting between film and TV- have on a personal and professional level understandably begun to miss playing the characters they brought to life so well under the aegis of series creator Chris Carter and producer Frank Spotnitz (whose new work on the BBC ONE action/thriller series HUNTED, starring Melissa George (and the next evolutionary step up from the popular SPOOKS), will make its premiere soon).

And we miss them, too! M and S's first big screen appearance in FIGHT THE FUTURE proved a big success worldwide, and showed tremendous future potential to take the series in bigger, bolder directions for drama, horror and action set-pieces. So much so that it may have been a mistake to have continued the series on the small screen beyond its sixth year, in the light of such a positive and solid response to their cinematic debut. Considering such past creative accomplishments in its TV life cycle and a worldwide fan base that could be reactivated, alongside the right kind of storytelling taking it in to the next decade, it's easy to see why the shows loyal crew in front of and behind the camera are enthusiastic and willing to return and continue the dangerous game that is fighting the menace of the contagious Black Oil-whose alien infections and influence during early prehistoric history on Earth would launch the key aspects of the series mythology and help X truly mark the spot!

All its needs now is some faith and commitment from FOX, and some executive suits who realise there's plenty of life left in the format and its characters.

Over to you...


All of THE X-FILES- it's movies and the spin-off THE LONE GUNMEN, plus the separate Chris Carter created MILLENNIUM- are available on DVD.

PIP'S PROGRESS - THE DARK ROAD OF "GREAT EXPECTATIONS"

The all-star cast of the BBC's lavish new adaptation of GREAT EXPECTATIONS. Images: BBC.

No one can make lavish and engrossing costume drama quite like the BBC, as has been proved time and again with so many critically acclaimed and popular audience hits like 2005's beautifully made BLEAK HOUSE and its successor LITTLE DORRIT, as well as going back to the late seventies and early eighties with their Sunday Afternoon Classics strand, produced by Barry Letts and Terrance Dicks, encompassing such iconic adaptations of THE OLD CURIOSITY SHOP and OLIVER TWIST amongst its accomplished entries. Now comes a new version of Charles Dickens beloved, emotionally complex GREAT EXPECTATIONS, deemed one of the great British novels of all time, and set around the mysterious Satis House and the adventures of the orphan Pip, guided into his destiny as a gentleman by an unknown benefactor.

Trailer: Great Expectations Trailer - BBC One - YouTube

Gillian Anderson continues to carve out a fine character acting career.

With an all-star cast portraying the books memorable characters, including Gillian Anderson (can she possibly top her sterling work from BLEAK HOUSE?) as the ghostly and manipulative Mrs Havisham, wandering the corridors of her equally decayed estate in her crumpled fading wedding dress, Ray Winstone as the escaped fugitive Abel Magwitch, POIROT's David Suchet as the clever and malevolent lawyer Jaggers, and, playing the all-important lead role of Pip, THE PILLARS OF THE EARTH star Douglas Booth, hopes are high for Dickens fans, who admire the authors seemingly timeless and resonant storytelling showing us a mirror to the very best and worst of the Human condition, that this new adaptation will be of the highest calibre yet.

Check out the lovely BBC site for the three part series here: BBC One - Great Expectations

Here's the recent DAILY MAIL article: GREAT Expectations: Gillian Anderson leads an all-star cast in the BBC's festive adaptation of Charles Dickens classic | Mail Online

KOOL TV BABE OF THE WEEK: GILLIAN ANDERSON - BEYOND "THE X-FILES"

Beyond THE X-FILES! Gillian Anderson: popular actress and quirky world-wide sex symbol. Image: ULIKE.

Breaking the mould of small screen TV heroines in playing compassionate and dedicated scientist/FBI agent Dana Katherine Scully, investigating the dark and dangerous recesses of THE X-FILES for nearly ten years, the excellent and gorgeous actress Gillian Anderson has escaped any typecasting worries she may have had from the long term sci-fi/horror hit to become an excellent character actress of note, appearing in a wide variety of varying degrees of successful UK theatre and worldwide films, from comedy (HOW TO LOSE FRIENDS AND ALIENATE PEOPLE) to drama (THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND), in between 1993 and 2002, and beyond. She was marvellous, and awards nominated, as the tragic Lady Dedlock in the 2005 BBC dramatisation of Charles Dickens BLEAK HOUSE, held her own as main lead in the sad and poignant story of Lily Bart, a singular woman beyond her time, in the movie THE HOUSE OF MIRTH, brought the controversial Mrs. Wallis Simpson to life in CHANNEL FOUR's recent ANY HUMAN HEART, and is now playing a bitter, twisted and money hungry brothel keeper of the Victorian era, Mrs Castaway, in the ambitious new, star-studded BBC TV adaptation (starting tonight) of Michael Faber's acclaimed 2002 period novel THE CRIMSON PETAL AND THE WHITE, about the life and fortunes of what looks like a seemingly ordinary family of the time and their links/involvement within a seedy new world of sex and debauchery, and how the poor often had no choice but to become embroiled in it if they were to survive, that would become so prevalent and shocking for its time.

In her most famous role, as Dana Scully, alongside David Duchovny as Fox Mulder in THE X-FILES. Image: FOX.

As the controversial Mrs Wallis Simpson in ANY HUMAN HEART. Image: CHANNEL FOUR. 

As brothel owner Mrs Castaway in the upcoming CRIMSON PETAL AND THE WHITE. Image: BBC.

As the tragic, haunted figure of Lady Dedlock in the acclaimed BLEAK HOUSE. Image: BBC.

Pussy galore! Anderson as Pamela Head in JOHNNY ENGLISH REBORN. Image: UNIVERSAL. 

Mostly living in the UK these days, and finding challenging and diverse work here (hopefully she'll also bring some much needed good laughs to the next Rowan Atkinson starring JOHNNY ENGLISH spy comedy (the first was pretty awful!), playing his upper crust Stella Rimmington/M17 boss, Pamela Head), Miss Anderson's spirited and quirky personality, sense of humour, and good acting instincts, look set to keep her in fine life and career stead for a long while to come...