THE TRUTH ABOUT
the X-Files movie is
out there, and here
it is: After nearly
five years of watch-
ing FBI special
agents Fox Mulder
and Dana Scully
skulk around aban-
doned warehouses
in search of
extraterrestrials,
enigmatic father
figures, and per-
haps even one
anothers affec-
tions, we can
discern virtually
nothing about The
Conspiracy or
about the shadowy
government entities
behind it. For all we
know, those green-
blooded shape-
shifters are really
just a bunch of
Shriners from
Scranton who got
hold of some spoiled
pimiento loaf. Now
a reportedly $60
million movie ver-
sion of The X-Files,
opening June 19,
promises to unravel
some of the
series' darkest mysteries. Picking up where the
show's season-ending cliff-hanger leaves off, the
movie could possiably tie up some of the loose
ends that have kept The X-Files' cult of view-
erscoming back week after week: Who (or what) is behind the govern-
ment investigation? And will Scully and Mulder ever probe
anything other than aliens (like each other)? As Chris Carter,
the shows creator, who also wrote the movie script, puts it,
"We're definatly going to give away big secrets."
And therein lies perhaps the years biggest entertainment
gamble:What happens when a series based on unexplained
phenomena starts explaining itself?
Never before has such a successful show tried expanding
its scope by stretching onto the big screen this way (a 1966
film version of Batman featured the show's stars but had very
little plot connection with the popular TV series).It's a risk
Carter thinks The X-Files requires. "By answering some of
the bigger questions," he says,"we think we can reinvigorate
the series. By the start of the sixth season, the characters will
have seen things, done things that they hadn't
known before. And they'll have new reasons to carry on".
The mysteries of The X-Files' success. "It's a big risk tampering with
the formula," says Scott Edelman, editor of Science Fiction
Age magazine. "Those mysteries are what keep the show alive
after all these years. Answer anyone of them in the movie and
the show's in danger of losing some of it's steam."
Then again, the filmakers are smart enough to relize the
power of giving out choice bits of information. "There's no such
thing as solving these mysteries," says director Rob Bowman.
"As you dig for clues, new questions keep poping up. It's like
you hit sand, then gold, then sand, then more gold."
But will the movie be able to mine an audiencethat isn't
slavishly devoted to the show? Carter thinks so. "If you make
something well enough," he says, "it will bring people to the
movies. All I'm trying to do is something that's really cool with
charactersthat have been successful already."
Cult hit or not, nothing's a sure thing. "My fear is that what
works well on TV might come across as vapid in a movie," ad-
mits Gillian Anderson, who plays Scully. "There's a chance that
the cryptic, cultic dialogue we use [every week] could prove con-
fusing to people. I hope not. I don't want people walking away
from the movie asking, "What was going on with that chick?"
As for the nitty-gritty of the plot, it's being as carefully
guarded as one of Mulder's Roswell files. We do who this: ac-
cording to reports from the set, part of the story takes place in
an elaborate ice cave. There's also a spaceship involved. And
Carter acknowledges that "the Mulder/Scully relationship will
certainly become much more interesting."
Beyond that, it's anybody's guess.
As Anderson says, "There are certain avenues the audience
might be surprised about, but what fun would it be if I told you
what they were?" BEST CASE SCENARIO:X marks the spot-
with $100 million at the box office. WORST CASE SCENARIO:
Revealing too much of the show's delcate labyrinth leaves
nothing shocking for a weekly series.- David Hochman