• Aprill Brandon •
• Originally published July 25, 2008 at 12:54 p.m., updated July 25, 2008 at 12:54 p.m.

I was 11 and my mother and I were getting ready for our weekly ritual. As 9 p.m. ticked closer, she would head into the kitchen to make the popcorn as I methodically went through the entire house, double checking that every window and door were locked.

And then, as the familiar, haunting theme song came on, we would bunker down on the couch, ready to have the snot scared out of us for the next 60 minutes.

When it was all over, I once again went through the entire house, double-double checking that every window and door were locked before I went to bed (and consequently dreamt of giant, mutated worms taking over my body).

You gotta love the X-Files.

In case it’s not already blaringly obvious, I was huge fan of the TV show (scaring the snot out of me aside). I mean, we’re talking I had a “Trust No One” T-shirt in sixth grade, folks.

Besides the obvious reasons of loving the show (cough, cough, a young David Duchovny, cough), it also made me truly want to believe there were things out there beyond our everyday, normal, humdrum lives.

I wanted to believe the truth was out there. Heck, I still do. While I may not go as far as to claim little, green men are plotting to take over the Earth, I do believe that there is no way we are alone in this universe. I mean, have you seen the size of this universe? It’s uh...pretty durn big.

And thus was the genius of the show. It took material that had long been the fodder of jokes, such as aliens, mutants and conspiracy theories, and dealt with them in a way that was intelligent and yet with a dash of humor. It had that wonderful capability to make even the most cynical of us look up at the sky and think “I wonder...”.

Sadly the show went off the air in 2002 but the creators are throwing us fans a bone by making another X-Files movie.

And for the past few days, in honor of the release of the movie today, I have been having mini-marathons of watching the original show on DVD (and yes, I realize this makes me a geek of gargantuan proportions).

And each night, as I pop in a new disc and bunker down on the couch, I’m reminded again why I loved the show so much. It allows me to still believe.

Although afterward, I still go around the house double checking that every window and door is locked.

Aprill Brandon is a reporter for the Advocate. Contact her at 361-580-6514 or abrandon@vicad.com, or comment on this story at www.VictoriaAdvocate.com.

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