TVSquad

The X-Files creator Chris Carter has been hospitalized for exhaustion. This was brought on by "physical exhaustion and an acute sleeping disorder."

The pressure on the man must be enormous. He's working on a new movie Fencewalker and just finished The X-Files: I Want to Believe movie. While reviews of the movie weren't great, it did make $60 million in the worldwide box office (from a $30 million budget). That's not including the inevitable DVD sales (which will probably be strong due to the number of X-Files enthusiasts out there). How much does a movie have to make in order to be considered a success by Hollywood standards?

I admit that I know nothing about Chris Carter, so the skeptic in me can't help but wonder if "exhaustion" is a euphemism for some other addiction. Perhaps he and David Duchovny will run into each other while hospitalized and chat about old times.

Oh, I'll be there, probably on opening weekend, but something about the new X-Files flick makes me nervous as hell.

Maybe it's the fact that it has been ten years since the last movie, and I wonder if people are still interested in it enough to make it a hit (and push another movie into production). I also worry about the plot, since nothing much has been leaked about what the film is about, other than it involves snow, mysterious happenings, and Billy Connolly bleeding from the eyes.

No, the real reason I'm worried is that the movie has a "standalone" plot and is not part of the mythology arc from the show and the first movie. I think this could be a mistake.

The summer movie season. A time of year filled with action, adventure, sequels, big Hollywood stars, big Hollywood explosions, big Hollywood egos and, apparently, TV-related films. In recent times I don't think there have been so many television-related films on the big screen at one time as there will be this summer. We've already seen the release of Speed Racer, the Sex in the City movie comes out next week, and the Steve Carell-starring remake of Get Smart premieres in June.

The last TV-related project to appear this summer will be the long-awaited return of The X-Files to the big screen. Premiering July 25th, the movie, subtitled I Want to Believe, will be directed by series creator Chris Carter and reunite FBI Agents Mulder and Scully in another adventure featuring mysteries not of this world. And, that's all we, the viewing public, know about the film since the plot is being kept hush-hush. Even the official movie trailer, which you will see after the jump, doesn't really tell the fans much about what the film will be about. Heck, it barely features the two main characters of the series.

For some, like Entertainment Weekly's Michael Slezak, knowing very little about the movie's plot is okay as it keeps the anticipation level high for the fans. For others, the lack of information is confusing and angering them at the same time. After you review the trailer let us know if you fall into Michael's camp or the camp of the confused.

We told you last week about the new X-Files DVD set and how the episodes on the set might give a clue as to what the new big screen movie will be about. Now we have another clue, sorta: the movie has a title.

Creator and producer Chris Carter has announced that the title of the movie is The X-Files: I Want To Believe. That's a perfect title! As fans of the show know, this was pretty much Agent Mulder's mantra and the caption on a famous poster that he kept on the wall in his office (on the right is a scene from the new movie). The first X-Files movie was titled The X-Files: Fight The Future.

So Isabelle posted a story recently about the new X-Files sequel that is supposed to hit theaters this July 25. The movie has been pretty much under wraps, except for a snippet of film here and some behind the scenes photos there. And the cast and crew certainly aren't saying anything about the movie's plot. The only hint we've received is that this movie has more to do with a standalone mystery than the alien mythology storyline from the show (and the first film).

But now I'm slightly confused, as this press release for a new X-Files DVD set says that the set gives a hint as to what we can expect in the movie.

Can you hear the eerie music becoming louder and louder? That's the sound of the X-Files movie being one step closer to being released on the big screens this summer (more than likely on July 25)! Being an X-Files and a spoilers fan, I jumped up and down a few times while humming the show's theme this morning when I stumbled on a SCI FI Wire article that offered just what I was looking for: spoilers about the upcoming X-Files movie!

X-Files fans rejoice: the sequel really is going to happen. In fact, they've already started filming!

On the right is one of the first pics from the set. David Duchovny has his Fox Mulder hair back, while Gillian Anderson seems to be sporting a new do. But I'll stop talking about hair right now because it's weird.

Creator/director Chris Carter says that they're completely dumping the whole alien mythology storyline from the show, since they already "wrapped up a lot of threads" from the show (really?). Instead, the new flick will settle on a standalone plot, which will not only please old fans but also the new fans that Carter is trying to hook into the movie.

Character: Eugene Tooms
Show: The X-Files
Episodes: "Squeeze", "Tooms"

Eugene Tooms is, hands down, the scariest monster I've ever seen on television (including my fear of some Muppets). He showed up twice during the first season of The X-Files, in episodes called "Squeeze" and "Tooms". He was a freak show who was more than 100 years old. He went into a long hibernation every 30 years after eating five human livers. Tooms had evolved so that he could lengthen his body and squeeze himself into the smallest of places, such as a toilet or an air vent. Part of what scared me about him was that he could easily bypass typical safety features in your home!

The truth is still out there.

David Duchovny, during an interview for the DVD release of The TV Set, reveals that the script for the long-awaited (seriously, it's been ten years!) X-Files movie sequel is indeed done and it looks like they're going to start filming in December.

Duchovny had no further details on plot, though he has hinted in past interviews that this will be more of a stand alone movie and not part of the mythology arc from the show and first movie (aw, come on, I want to know what's been going on with that whole thing the past several years). Duchovny does ask one thing of people: don't spoil the damn movie by leaking info about it. Thank you.

[via TV Tattle]

Make sure you don't miss the first part of the Supernatural set visit.

Smoke effects lazily float across a packed soundstage. Someone calls for quiet. The camera and sound get up to speed, and Kim Manners belts out a loud, "KICK IT IN THE ASS!" Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki power through a page of dialogue ... and a scene for Supernatural is shot. Wahoo!

Kim Manners is one cool dude. When you first meet him, his diminutive frame and long hair make you think "Wow, this guy must be laid back and mellow." Believe you me, he can turn on his drill sergeant voice and snap you in half if you aren't careful. That includes wasting anyone's time or not taking your work seriously. He's a pro and except the same out of the people he works with. But, he's also incredibly nice. He left me remarkably intact.

He's definitely no stranger to the television world, having directed everything from Charlie's Angels, to Mission: Impossible, to Baywatch, to The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. before he landed on the X-Files team and stayed onboard for the long haul. His brother Kelly has also directed episodes of Buffy and Angel, so it looks like their love for the supernatural (get it?) runs in the blood.

(S01E14) I can honestly say I had never, ever seen this episode of The X-Files. I'm not sure why I passed it over or missed it over the years, but it was new to me. And I totally loved it! Oh, and Nic Lea, who plays villain Alex Krycek in subsequent seasons, makes an appearance in this episode as 'Michael', a near-victim of the Monster of the Week.

The opening scene of Gender Bender made me wonder what time of year this episode aired. It opens with sex, after all. But, alas, it was not created for ratings as it originally aired on January 21, 1994.

(S01E12) We're back to the Monster of the Week episodes and this one's a doozy. This time the perp is a pyromaniac who can start fires with his mind or something. That's bad news for Mulder who is deathly afraid, of all things, fire. Oh, and Mulder's investigating the case with his ex-girlfriend (Phoebe) from Oxford.

The episode opens in England with a gardener smiling as his boss suddenly explodes into flames and dies on his front lawn. The next time we see the gardener, he has dropped his accent and is posing as a caretaker for an American home where a British family is moving in. He really hates the British aristocracy.

(S01E11) While many of the episodes so far in season one have dealt with typical things like ghosts and aliens, Chris Carter really gets his freak on with Eve. He knows there's nothing creepier than twin girls.

The episode opens with joggers finding an 8-year-old girl outside her house without a coat on. She tells them her daddy needed some time and they find him in the backyard, sitting on the swingset. He's dead. With two holes in his neck.

(S01E09) Real events inspired this episode. Chris Carter says he wrote Space after seeing the real 'face on Mars' photograph. According to the experts over at The X-Files wiki, this episode was meant to be a cheaply made one with lots of NASA footage but the construction of the command center pushed them over budget and made Space the most expensive episode of the season. Whoops.

(S01E07) Well, this was never one of my favorite episodes of The X-Files and, as it turns out, the writer wasn't too fond of it either. According to The X-Files wiki, writer Howard Gordon described this episode as "one of my biggest disappointments". Apparently, FOX thought the computer-comes-to-life story was a bit "pedestrian" for The X-Files. I have to agree.