X-FILES, THE (1994-2000) Photo archive

[Los Angeles]: Fox Broadcasting, 1994-2000. Set of 38 vintage original 8 x 10″ (20 x 25 cm) black-and-white photos, some with photo agency stickers on verso, overall fine.

“The X-Files was a science fiction drama television series created by Chris Carter. The original series aired from September 10, 1993, to May 19, 2002, on Fox, spanning nine seasons, with 202 episodes.

“The series revolves around FBI Special Agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), who investigate the eponymous ‘X-Files’: marginalized, unsolved cases involving paranormal phenomena. Mulder is a skilled criminal profiler, an ardent supernaturalist, and a conspiracy theorist who believes in the existence of the paranormal, whereas Scully is a medical doctor and skeptic who has been assigned to scientifically analyze Mulder’s case files. Early in the series, both agents apparently become pawns in a much larger conflict and come to trust only each other and select others. The agents discover what appears to be a governmental agenda to hide evidence of extraterrestrial life. Mulder and Scully’s shared adventures initially lead them to develop a close platonic bond, which develops into a complex romantic relationship. Roughly one third of the series’ episodes follow a complicated mythopoeia-driven story arc about a planned alien invasion, whereas the other two-thirds may be described as ‘monster of the week’ episodes that focus on a single villain, mutant, or monster.

“The X-Files was inspired by earlier television series featuring elements of suspense, horror, and speculative science fiction, including The Twilight Zone, Night Gallery, Tales from the Darkside, Twin Peaks, and especially Kolchak: The Night Stalker. When creating the main characters, Carter sought to reverse gender stereotypes by making Mulder a believer and Scully a skeptic. The first seven seasons featured Duchovny and Anderson relatively equally. In the eighth and ninth seasons, Anderson took precedence while Duchovny appeared intermittently. New main characters were introduced: FBI Special Agents John Doggett (Robert Patrick) and Monica Reyes (Annabeth Gish), among others. Mulder and Scully’s immediate superior, Assistant Director Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi), began to appear regularly.” (Wikipedia)

This is an unusually complete visual archive for this groundbreaking science-fiction television series. Since there is a date on each photo, we can confirm the archive covers nearly the entire run of the series.