X-files

The First Trailer for Amazon’s The After By the Man Behind X-Files

Chris Carter, the creator of The X-Files, has been busy producing a new show called The After for Amazon Studios. The first trailer has landed—but it doesn’t really reveal a huge amount about what we can all expect. Entertainment Weekly debuted the first clip from Carter’s project. Depicting a panicked crowd in downtown Los Angeles—clearly…

First look at The X-Files creator’s new apocalypse TV series The After

The X-Files’ creator Chris Carter returns to TV for The After, a mysterious TV series about eight strangers, brought together to face an even more mysterious apocalypse. Here’s the first clip from the series, and, as you might have gathered by this point, it’s kind of mysterious. The After will be part of Amazon’s second…

10 Major Franchises That Have Never Been Rebooted

Most heroes get a facelift every decade or so, to keep them from showing their age. The longer an epic saga goes on, the greater the chances you’ll see everything start over from scratch. But not everybody succumbs to the Etch-a-Sketch urge. Here are 10 epic storylines that have never had a reboot. Ever. Oh,…

​The Ghostbusters become their own X-File in Conspiracy

When The X-Files’ Lone Gunmen receive a mysterious file warning them about supernatural phenomena that haven’t happened yet, they begin investigating — and their first stop is a certain firehouse in New York City in IDW’s new crossover Conspiracy. Plus, new Elfquest, the end of The Unwritten, and the worst high school bullies ever, all…

The 10 Best ‘Monster of the Week’ Episodes of All Time

The “monster of the week” episode is an endangered beast. Once upon a time, television was full of single-episode stories, in which the heroes faced an unstoppable threat and won, all in about 43 minutes. Here are 10 “monster of the week” episodes that pack more storytelling power than a season-long arc of most TV…

Does a comic book tell us what Ben Affleck’s Batman will look like?

In the next four years, Ridley Scott’s looking to make Prometheus 2, Forever War, Exodus, and Blade Runner 2. There’s also a complete cast for the BBC’s Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. Plus, Summer Glau previews her character on Arrow. Spoilers now! Prometheus 2/Forever War/Exodus Ridley Scott’s going to really busy for the next few…

Creepy body-jumping immortals! In the wake of Orphan Black’s success, BBC America greenlit Intruders from Glen Morgan (The X-Files), a show about “a secret society devoted to chasing immortality by seeking refuge in the bodies of others.”

All The Most Revolting Mosquitoes from Science Fiction and Fantasy

Everybody knows that mosquitoes are bastards. The other day, we learned this has been true for 46 million years. And with next month’s release of Sucker, the story of a suicidal man transformed into a vengeful mosquito, it’s time we confronted these creatures. Here are the most horrible mutated mosquitoes of all time. https://gizmodo.com/more-evidence-that-mosquitoes-have-been-assholes-for-mi-1445563271 Top…

The Top 50 Scariest Television Episodes of All Time, Part 1

Forget horror movies. Some of the scariest moments we’ve ever seen have happened on television, within the short span of a half-hour or one-hour TV episode. We’ve painstakingly compiled the 50 scariest episodes of science fiction and fantasy television, and here are numbers 26-50. To compile this list, we spent hours debating amongst ourselves and…

Mulder and Scully returned for an awkward conversation at Comic-Con

At The X-Files panel at this past weekend’s New York Comic-Con, David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson were asked to do a little improv as Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, respectively. Duchovny took immediate charge, making it a phone call and making it weird. [Via Topless Robot]

The Most Absurd Courtroom Scenes from Science Fiction and Fantasy TV

There’s a reason so many science fiction and fantasy shows feature trials. Legal battles can be used as an allegory, or a way to expose important issues. But sometimes, these stories just go off the deep end. Here are the most ridiculous trials from science fiction and fantasy television. Both writers and viewers love a…

The Most Fourth Wall-Breaking Moments in Television History

Television has always been a medium that broke the walls of reality. From its earliest days, television shows “came into your living room.” So it’s not surprising that television has always dabbled in metafiction, fourth-wall-breaking and transrealism. Here are the six types of “meta” storytelling on television. First, let’s define our terms. We’re defining “metafiction”…

The Biggest Winners and Losers of Comic-Con 2013!

San Diego Comic-Con is a white-hot furnace in which projects are made, or destroyed. Some emerge from the flames stronger, with invincible buzz levels, while others are melted down. Here’s our list of the people and projects that gained buzz from Comic-Con, and the ones that lost some of their buzz. Top image: Kevin Winter/Getty…

Mulder and Scully return to solve the mystery of This Week’s Comics!

What is the terrifying truth behind this week’s comic releases? I don’t have the faintest clue. I do, however, know that The X-Files is finally back thanks to IDW, continuing right where it left off. Plus a new Marvel event begins, a beloved Vertigo tale ends, and BKV’s Saga continues, all in this week’s comics!…

7 Television Shows That Took Potshots at Fanfic Writers

Fanfiction started in the 1970s, when fans looked at TV shows and said, “I can do better.”And then, it took to the internet, and grew massively — until some TV writers noticed, and said, “No, you can’t.” Here are seven TV shows that took pot-shots at fanfic, in descending order of meanness. Star Trek: The…

8 TV Episodes That Qualify As Psychological Warfare

Some TV episodes entertain us and enliven our evenings. But other seem primarily designed to break a viewer psychologically, and take bloody bites out of our sense of well-being. Today, we’ll be looking at the latter. I’ve seen TV shows that are good. I’ve seen TV shows that are bad. And I’ve seen TV shows…

10 Once-Great TV Shows (And The Exact Moments They Started to Suck)

By Amanda Yesilbas and Charlie Jane Anders. We all live in fear of the day when Game of Thrones starts to suck. We’ve lived through this trauma before — many great television shows went astray, often due to one highly questionable decision. Here 10 once-terrific shows, and the exact moment they started to suck. And…

12 Computers Who Are Complete Bastards

There are so many artificial intelligences that are evil: they try to kill their creator, or kill all humans, or take over the world, or all three. But some AIs do this with charisma and style, while others are complete dicks about it. Here’s a look at a dozen computers who must have had “be…

io9’s March TV Madness: Star Trek vs. The X-Files! Plus the Whedon Invitational Tournament!

The Final Four is now set, in our quest to find the greatest science fiction and fantasy TV show of them all. And today, you’ll be voting on the first of two titanic semifinal match-ups. The X-Files vs. the original Star Trek: who ya got!? Also, Firefly, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and the rest finally…

io9’s March TV Madness: Vote Now for the Final Four Science Fiction and Fantasy TV Classics!

We’ve now reached the Elite Eight in our quest to find the great sci-fi and fantasy TV shows of all time. We’ve got some fierce match-ups for you to vote on today: Star Trek vs. Fringe! The X-Files vs. Game of Thrones! Doctor Who vs. the BSG reboot! The Twilight Zone vs. Star Trek: The…