The Main plot

The X-Files is a popular American television series created by Chris Carter. It ran for nine seasons from 1993 to 2002, spawning a feature film in 1998 and one brief spin-off series. The X-Files was one of the FOX's first major hits, and its main characters and slogans ("The Truth Is Out There," "Trust No One," "I Want to Believe") became pop culture touchstones, simultaneously tapping into and inspiring a plethora of conspiracy theories, paranoia about the U.S. government, and belief in the existence of extraterrestrial life. The show was a critical and commercial success, due in part to its stars, David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson.

In the series, Fox Mulder (Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Anderson) are two FBI agents tasked with investigating the titular "X-Files." These cases, marginalized by the FBI, often involve paranormal phenomena. Mulder is the "believer," believing in aliens and the paranormal, while Scully was the skeptic, initially assigned by her departmental superiors to debunk his unconventional work and contain its profound implications. As the show progressed both became embroiled in the same larger conflicts (termed "the mythology" or "mytharc" by the show's creators) and developed a close and ambiguous friendship - which some fans, known as "shippers," saw as more than platonic.

With mysterious and often unresolved plots ranging from high-level governmental cover-ups to supernatural elements, The X-Files drew on classic films such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind and JFK, and on earlier TV shows such as The Twilight Zone, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, and the cult hit Twin Peaks, in which Duchovny had appeared as a cross-dressing DEA agent. Initially filmed in Vancouver, Canada, the show was later relocated to L.A. in 1998.

The show also became known for its Hollywood-style production values, then unusual for an hour-long TV drama, and took Emmy Awards for its cinematography and music, as well as script and acting. By the mid-1990s, The X-Files had become a surprise runaway success, building on its early devoted following. Fans of the show, who had a large internet presence, became known as "eXcers" or "X-Philes", a term coined on an early Fidonet X-Files message board.

The X-Files was declared by TV Guide to be one of the greatest television shows of all time, and the second greatest cult TV show of all time, behind Star Trek. Carter's second TV series Millennium ran for three seasons. His third television show was Harsh Realm, which was canceled after only three episodes aired. Chris Carter also used "The X-Files" as a springboard for a short-lived spin-off series involving side characters from The X-Files, The Lone Gunmen. None of these shows garnered the same level of attention as The X-Files.

The following is the ongoing storyline of the X Files as opposed to the stand-alone "Monster-of-the-Week" episodes in broadcast order.

ABDUCTION: 15 episodes from seasons 1-3: Pilot, Deep Throat, Fallen Angel, EBE, The Erlenmeyer Flask, Little Green Men, Duane Barry, Ascension, One Breath, Red Museum, Colony, End Game, Anasazi, The Blessing Way, Paper Clip.

BLACK OIL: 15 episodes from seasons 3-5: Nisei, 731, Piper Maru, Apocrypha, Talitha Cumi, Herrenvolk, Tunguska, Terma, Memento Mori, Tempus Fugit, Max, Zero-Sum, Gethsemane, Redux, Redux II.

COLONIZATION: 16 episodes from seasons 5-8 on four discs: Patient X, The Red and the Black, The End (season 5 finale, continued by Fight the Future movie...)

X Files Movie: Fight the Future: The series produced a motion picture, The X-Files. It was intended as a continuation of the season five finale, "The End" (5x20), but was also meant to stand on its own.

COLONIZATION continued after Fight the Future: The Beginning, S.R. 819, Two Fathers, One Son, Biogenesis, The Sixth Extinction, The Sixth Extinction II: Amor Fati, Sein und Zeit, Closure, En Ami, Requiem, Within, Without.

SUPERSOLDIERS: 14 episodes from seasons 8-9 on four discs, including the two-hour series finale: Per Manum, This Is Not Happening, Deadalive, Three Words, Vienen, Essence, Existence, Nothing Important Happened Today, Nothing Important Happened Today II, Trust No 1, Provenance, Providence, William, The Truth.