It's definitely too early to be thinking about Christmas and which Blu-rays, books, computers, or whatever will be put under the tree, but Fox just made it nearly impossible to not think about it. TVShowsonDVD (via /Film) reports this morning that Fox is giving The X-Files the high-def buff-and-shine, releasing all nine of the original series on Blu-ray. The handsome-looking package will be released on December 8th, right in time for science fiction nerds and neophytes of the hit 1990s series to add it to the top of their Christmas list.
Here's the artwork for the complete Blu-ray boxset of The X-FIles:
The release of the box-set also works as a nice anticipatory boost for Fox's revival of The X-Files, which will see release in late January, with David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson returning in their iconic roles of Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully. The new six-episode series will also see the return of William B. Davis as the Cigarette-Smoking Man and Mitch Pileggi as Walter Skinner, as well as Tom Braidwood, Bruce Harwood, and Dean Haglund as the beloved Lone Gunmen. The series has also added Lauren Ambrose, Robbie Amell, and Joel McHale in supporting roles, while series creator Chris Carter is also on hand for all six episodes.
One can only hope that the new series will be better than the last filmic outing of Mulder and Scully, the wretched The X-Files: I Want to Believe, which remains one of the biggest disappointments of my moviegoing life. Still, there's simply no substitute for the perceptive direction and pulpy, procedural writing of the original series, especially the initial four seasons. Episodes like "The Host," "Genderbender," "Ice," and "Humbug" remain some of the greatest episodes of television that the 1990s gave us. Even the later seasons, which saw far less Mulder and Scully, and way too much heavy-duty story arcs that watered down the creature-of-the-week charm of the series. Only time will tell if the revival will attempt to tell one big story or take the more inventive route and pile on the oddities and creatures.
