Official X Files episode guide/reference books

[Guest WaveCrest]

Why, oh why did they stop publishing those official X Files episode guide books after the seventh season? (I know there was the obvious reason, at the time there being a lot of anti-Season 8 and 9 feelings. But it would still have been nice to have seen a book for the eighth and ninth seasons released, and one for I Want to Believe).

[ethsnafu]

I guess there's two possible reasons:

When Cornell et. al. wrote the superb Xtreme Possibilities they ended with the first X-Files movie stating that their love of the show was decreasing and they no longer possessed the passion to put in the necessary work to continue. As you note, interest was on the wane towards the latter end of the show and I guess the degree of passion required to take on projects of this kind was not as prevalent as it was with the early seasons.

Secondly, even if the will was there there is no assurance that publishers would be interested in the product. Rob Shearman wanted to write a guide book to all the seasons of X-Files long before he was finally allowed to do so but the publishers rejected the idea stating there was not a sufficient market for such a book. It was only the greenlight for the second movie that swayed them.

You should consider investing in his book Richard as it covers all the seasons of all the shows Ten Thirteen ever made and you can't get much better than that!

Eth

[Guest WaveCrest]

That'll do Mark. Just ordered a copy after having a look at the first few pages of the book. I either didn't take much notice of this book, or didn't know about it. I knew about the other one with the green cover and a promo image of David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson from around the fifth season.

[Guest WaveCrest]

Received the episode guide book in the post last week Mark and had a good read through it. It's a good book, although I didn't agree with plenty of the marks out of five.

[ethsnafu]

Hi Richard,

Neither did I my friend. My feeling was that Rob didn't enjoy MM, TLG and HR as much as he did XF but in many ways that's one of the more enjoyable aspects of reading the book. I found myself challenging a lot of what he wrote, certainly with regards to MM and it's nice to have someone hold an alternative view to that which a lot of fandom holds.

I did make the mistake of picking up a guide-book (can't recall the name off hand) that was evidently written by a passionate XF fan and almost every episode was rated either 8,9 or 10 with gushing praise and oodles of 'squeeeee' and there really was no point reading it. It wasn't a critical analysis of the show but an exercise in being a sycophant.

Rob states on the cover that this book is a critical analysis and whilst I didn't always agree with him I enjoyed someone dissecting the shows and giving a balanced opinion of them.

I might transcribe, if I get time, a review and put it up here and see how Rob's opinion compares to those of the fans. I'm guessing we will see lots of contrary opinions but it might be fun to do.

Glad you got the book however, it is definitely a must buy.

Eth

[Guest WaveCrest]

Some of my favourite Millennium episodes Rob Shearman wasn't overly keen on (even if the marks out of five were good, from his reviews it didn't feel like he rated them), like "The Mikado".