By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
Back in the ‘90s, The X-Files became appointment television, with fans tuning in each week to see FBI agents Mulder and Scully investigating everything from aliens to sewer monsters. The reason everyone was suddenly captivated by the paranormal was simple: everyone in this show was just smoking hot, and they had more charisma in their collective pores than this show has evil alien oil. If you’re ready to check out the sexiest sci-fi show ever made, you can now stream The X-Files on Hulu.
The Truth Is Out There (Way Out There)
The premise of The X-Files is that two FBI agents (Mulder and Scully) are charged with investigating the spookiest cases and most unexplained phenomena the Bureau has ever encountered. He’s a believer on a lifelong crusade to uncover the truth about aliens, and she’s the skeptic assigned to debunk his work. They end up becoming a great team with sizzling chemistry, but sex appeal alone may not be able to protect them from conspiracies that reach to the highest levels of government and may affect every man, woman, and child on the planet.
The core cast of The X-Files consists of David Duchovny (best known outside of this show for Californication) as an FBI agent who believes in everything that goes bump in the night. Gillian Anderson (best known outside this show for The Fall) stars as his partner, a skeptic who thinks there are rational explanations for everything seemingly unexplainable. And Mitch Pileggi (best known for Basic Instinct) plays their boss at the bureau, someone who must deal with both our intrepid agents and mysterious government forces.
The X-Files Invasion
The X-Files was a cultural phenomenon that managed to impress the critics as much as it impressed the legions of X-Philes watching at home. It had a 74 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with critics praising the show for taking its wacky premise as seriously as Mulder takes his quest to prove the existence of alien life. Similarly, they praised the show for avoiding the campiness of similar genre series in favor of delivering a genuinely creepy thrill ride, week after week.
Of course, one reason the show became such a phenomenon is that The X-Files came out right when the World Wide Web was becoming mainstream. This allowed superfans of the show (who dubbed themselves “X-Philes”) to find each other online and proselytize the show’s quality and speculate about the important questions, like whether Mulder and Scully would ever get romantically involved. This was such a hotly debated topic, in fact, that these fans invented the term ‘shipping (short for “relationshipping”) to describe the fans who wanted nothing more than for their impossibly hot favorite characters to finally hook up.
From Mythology to Monsters
It’s an open secret that The X-Files declines in quality near the end of its run, but most of this show (especially seasons 2 and 3) sets the gold standard for sci-fi dramas. It’s a series you can enjoy for its mythology, and there’s an undeniable joy in trying to (just like Fox Mulder himself) untangle the mysteries involved in the show’s ongoing alien conspiracy. But even if you find that conspiracy a little tedious, you can sit back and enjoy the show’s famous “monster of the week” episodes, which featured our heroes tackling some of the scariest (and often slimiest) creatures in primetime history.
Will you agree that The X-Files is the sexiest sci-fi show ever made, or is this a series you’d rather see abducted by aliens? The truth is out there, and the only way to find it is to stream this show on Hulu. If you’ve been looking for something spooky to watch this Halloween season, every episode of The X-Files is a perfect streaming treat, and you’ll likely be tempted to binge the whole bag of sweets after watching just a single episode!
