X-FILES World Premiere Report From MIPCOM‬

This past week, Cannes once again hosted MIPCOM, the year’s most anticipated global market for entertainment content across all platforms.  There are plenty of deals being made and lots and lots of screenings.  One intriguing one in particular was a screening that was held to promote the new season of The X-Files.

A well known associate and friend of the site (let’s just call him Clyde Bruckman) attended the screening and sent back some intel.

Spoilers after the jump.

Bureau agents at the screening

Here are Bruckman’s impressions of the screening:

• I did like the first episode, but it’s a little bit heavy-handed in giving fans all the things they want. There’s a terrible prologue narrated by Mulder, that sets up what happened basically prior (what the X-Files were, how he lost his sister to alien abduction). Kind of sucks for a starter into this new “season.” 

• Chris Carter spoke to the fact that in the past 13 years he would “open the newspaper and see potential storylines for the series every day.” So there’s a lot of modern material that’s updated the show (post-9/11, global warming, security leaks, the internet in general as a research tool).

• The original opening credits sequence has been retained intact exactly as it appears on the over 200 episodes prior.

• This first episode is a “mythology” episode that picks up after the last film, but Carter confirmed that episodes 2 through 5 will be “monster of the week” episodes, with the sixth continuing the mythology.

• You can expect a lot of the greatest things about the series in this one episode. Also it’s more efficient in storytelling, since there are only 6 episodes to this “miniseries event.” There are tie-ins to Roswell, alien abduction, alien-DNA in humans, pencils still in the ceiling back at the FBI, and yes, the cigarette smoking man has the best line in the episode, but you’ll have to wait until the ending for him.

• They’ve clearly taken advantage of modern special effects, but don’t overdo it too much. There’s a nice balance still of practical effects and make-up with the CGI. 

• Joel McHale has the best role, as a boisterous Bill O’Reilly type “Truth Seeker,” and it’s free of any of his typical comedic performances. Very interesting casting move, but he aces the part.

• Mulder and Scully haven’t missed a beat, nor have the actors playing them of course. Feels like they never left. That’s a credit to the writing team of course, and Carter.