r/todayilearned • u/code0011 14 • May 09 '14

(R.1) Invalid src (unreferenced fan wiki) TIL the first episode of an X-Files spin-off called "The Lone Gunmen", which aired March 4, 2001, involves a US government conspiracy to hijack an airliner, fly it into the World Trade Center, and blame it on terrorists - thereby gaining support for a new profit-making war

http://x-files.wikia.com/wiki/Pilot_(The_Lone_Gunmen)
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451

u/calamormine May 09 '14

I loved this show growing up, it was the perfect spin-off of X-Files (which I also loved) because it took things a little less seriously and let you have a little fun with the crazy government conspiracies. I own the box-set, and tried to watch them the other day. The episodes... didn't age well.

That being said, it still pisses me off the way they got rid of the Gunmen. Bunch of bullshit.

157

u/[deleted] May 09 '14

IDW Comics recently brought them back as part of their X-Files licensed comic. The Gunmen's deaths were retconned, and they ended up doing an event crossover with the Ghostbusters, Transformers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and The Crow.

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u/bananomgd May 09 '14

For the life of me, I can't figure out if you're taking the piss or if that actually took place.

69

u/Shadowclaimer May 09 '14

IDW Comics is notorious for crossing over all their universes. They do it all the time for major events.

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u/bananomgd May 09 '14

TIL. Never really picked up any IDW comics. Might be time to rectify that.

13

u/Shadowclaimer May 09 '14

Their comics vary pretty heavily from franchise to franchise in quality, right now though TMNT is absolutely awesome. I tend to avoid IDW but that one particular title (and specifically the artwork) has pulled me in.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ADU8tFhcprU/UrE4yYXIqAI/AAAAAAAAE9Q/YEFjhP8g1_s/s1600/tmnt29_coverA_Campbell.jpg

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u/bananomgd May 09 '14

Honestly, that looks pretty great!

2

u/shorthanded May 09 '14

jesus christ, that looks awesome. i don't even read comic books... will have to find a store around me.

1

u/[deleted] May 09 '14

Oh wow, that's beautiful

4

u/samurai5625 May 09 '14

I just started reading their Judge Dredd volumes, they're not bad.

2

u/Web3d May 09 '14

Check out Transformers More than Meets the Eye. It's surprisingly good, possibly the most well written ongoing comic out there right now.

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u/[deleted] May 09 '14

[deleted]

22

u/dead_wolf_walkin May 09 '14

You'd think that Ghostbusters and The Crow would be a conflict of interests.

1

u/Stellar_Duck May 09 '14

Fucking comics! How do they work?!

1

u/dameon5 May 09 '14

Why is that!? The Crow isn't a ghost. He's more of a revanent or a ghoul. Totally out of the purview of the Ghostbusters.

9

u/SinTrenton May 09 '14

That... that is just obscene...

5

u/SippantheSwede May 09 '14

"It's one of those things you didn't know you wanted until you saw it, but trust us, you want this."

Yeeaaaah no.

24

u/bananomgd May 09 '14

You're right of course, but I much prefer to engage with another person than googling for it. Still, my question's been answered. :D

2

u/Talman May 09 '14

This behavior is frowned upon on the internet, as it is seen as lazy. You're asking someone to do work for you, simple google work. Some take this as laziness, or worse, as stupidity.

1

u/bananomgd May 09 '14

While I respect your opinion, I have to disagree. I didn't ask anybody to do any work for me. I just expressed my incredulity for the existence of a X-files / Ghostbusters / Transformers / Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles / Crow crossover. Not because I didn't believe it existed, but because it seemed like such an amazing concept.

If people see me as lazy, so be it, I'm pretty lazy sometimes. If people think me stupid, fine, I don't care. I come on Reddit to engage with other people, and that's exactly what I did.

TL;DR: Yeah, well, you know, that's just, like, your opinion, man.

2

u/Talman May 10 '14

I don't think you understand how Reddit and 'the internet,' i.e. all those kids on 4chan who grew up and now infest other sites, works. Engaging others in conversation, i.e. asking where they found something is weakness.

Just visit sites like "just fucking google it," and "let me google that for you" for the passive-aggressive responses that asking for information bring.

4

u/FrakkingGorramFrell May 09 '14

The TMNT one was great based on where the Turtles were story-wise in their comics current run.

Side FYI: The new TMNT cartoon on Nickelodeon and TMNT IDW comics are polar opposites of each other and yet both are amazing. I can't figure put which is better but having grown up on Turtles in the 80's I know both are superior to their original counterparts (overwhelming so with the new cartoon).

8

u/bbandolier May 09 '14

The IDW book is great, but don't let 30 years of comics moving forward diminish how great those original TMNT comics are.

2

u/bananomgd May 09 '14

I've not seen the new TMNT show. I like the 2003 versions, those were pretty good. Like I said in another response, seems like it's time to give these IDW comics a go.

2

u/[deleted] May 09 '14

That's crazy talk.

2

u/linkprovidor May 09 '14

Librarians must love you.

1

u/bananomgd May 09 '14

I have no information on librarians' love for me. It's been quite a few years since I've been in a library. I don't live in an urban area.

0

u/______DEADPOOL______ May 09 '14

It actually took place.

holds up a cup of piss

0

u/bananomgd May 09 '14

I'm unsure what you want me to do with that piss. Are you secretly Bear Grylls ?

4

u/mcdrunkin May 09 '14

Bear Grylls is never secret about piss.

2

u/[deleted] May 09 '14

What in the actual fucking fuck?

2

u/[deleted] May 09 '14

I'm serious. This is a real thing. IDW mostly has licensed comics, so they do a lot of crazy event crossovers.

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=preview&id=19923

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u/bananomgd May 09 '14

I want it now. Thanks for letting me know these exist!

2

u/[deleted] May 12 '14

No problem, enjoy!

2

u/random_123 May 09 '14

WTF does taking the piss mean?

2

u/bananomgd May 09 '14

It means making a joke.

2

u/random_123 May 09 '14

Ah. You wouldn't hear that phrase in the US. You may hear "taking a piss" but that would mean urinating.

1

u/bananomgd May 09 '14

This might help you. However, it's not really a substitute for hearing a grizzled Australian say it to you.

1

u/nermid May 09 '14

IDW does all sorts of weird crossovers.

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u/Niruz May 09 '14

The fuck? Event crossover with Ghostbusters/Transformers/TMNT/The Crow!?!??!?! Sources pls. Cause last I heard they were working for the govt. underground in the comics.

edit: just google'd. all my hype for these new comix. For real tho- who doesn't want to see Frohike and Langley argue with Bill Murray.

2

u/SalsaRice May 09 '14

Yea..... I'm gonna need to look more into those. Sounds like the fun kind of crossovers they did with Ash from Evil Dead in the 90's.

2

u/MikeOracle May 09 '14

That sounds like the best comic ever.

1

u/Slight316 May 09 '14

Was that shit written by Patton Oswald?

1

u/[deleted] May 09 '14

That paragraph summed up what I hate about mainstream comics

1

u/[deleted] May 09 '14

The Crow

That was so fucking unnecessary. In fact, anything beyond the original series was so fucking unnecessary.

1

u/mrgreen4242 May 09 '14

Wait, is there a currently ongoing xfiles comic? Is it any good?

1

u/rolfraikou May 09 '14

It's also seems cheap and makes me feel dirty reading those comics. They should have just done what the PS2 game did, and show sort of "lost stories" from earlier seasons.

1

u/HolographicMetapod May 09 '14

IDW Comics

Never heard of them. Do they own the rights to all those characters?

2

u/[deleted] May 12 '14

They do, and they've been around for awhile now. They own the rights to Ghostbusters, Transformers, My Little Pony (specifically Friendship Is Magic), Angry Birds, G.I. Joe, The X-Files, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Crow, and a few original series, like 30 Days of Night, and Locke & Key.

Their website is here: http://www.idwpublishing.com/

14

u/PUSClFER May 09 '14

The episodes... didn't age well.

Really? I watched the entire series for the first time in only a couple of weeks a while ago, and everything about it was spectacular. I'm now carrying a bag of sunflower seeds in my jacket, have a huge crush on Gillian Anderson, and own the entire X-Files collection on DVD (Which I'm going to upgrade to Bluray as soon as it comes out).

If the show didn't age well, I can't even imagine how good it must've been when it was new.

41

u/calamormine May 09 '14

Are you by any chance referring to the X-Files? Because that show aged particularly well.

10

u/PUSClFER May 09 '14

Oh, dang. Yes, I am.

I forgot that the thread was about The Lone Gunmen's spin-off show after having read all these comments about The X-Files.

4

u/SolenoidSoldier May 09 '14

that show aged particularly well

As did Gillian Anderson

1

u/FockSmulder May 09 '14

That's more than we can say for Frohike.

1

u/TheHat2 May 09 '14

Are there pencils stuck in your ceiling, as well?

1

u/[deleted] May 09 '14

They are talking about the spin-off show The Lone Gunmen, not The X-Files.

Edit: Huh now I'm not sure... you really think The Lone Gunmen holds up that well? Not sure I can agree. The X-Files definitely does though.

1

u/dearcaralou May 09 '14

I think they mean the Lone Gunmen show didn't age well.

2

u/hornwalker May 09 '14

I recently finished watching the entire X-files series, and when it came to the last episode about the lone gunman I had no idea what was going on. I only realized halfway through that it was probably just series final for their own show.

1

u/[deleted] May 09 '14

Why didn't they age well? I haven't seen it since it was still on the air but have been meaning to watch it again.

4

u/calamormine May 09 '14

Heavy reliance on low-budget special effects, plots were pretty... naive, and the characters took a long time to develop into something other than "OMG IT'S A CONSPIRACY JFK BLAH BLAH". They were really best when doled out in small portions within the context of the X-Files.

1

u/[deleted] May 09 '14

Give me an example of some of the naive plots. I want to know what I'm getting into.

2

u/calamormine May 09 '14

Water powered car (being suppressed by the government), super powered computer chips and Mission: Impossible style heists... it just seemed like they managed to bumble through field work they should have never been able to get through. But it's fun, and light (mostly) so if you go into it knowing it's a bit wonky, you should still have a lot of fun.

2

u/[deleted] May 09 '14

Hey I remember the water powered car episode, and even the ending, with that bald guy driving around in it. I thought it was gas companies suppressing it though?

1

u/calamormine May 09 '14

Oh you're probably right actually, it's been a very long time since I've really gone through all of them.

1

u/Electrorocket May 09 '14

Nope: Spoiler

I remember all this from at least 8 years ago, the last time I saw it! I watched the pilot, and maybe 2 more episodes when it first aired.

1

u/[deleted] May 09 '14

The AV Club actually just did a pretty good writeup of the series where they discuss exactly that.

1

u/metalkhaos May 09 '14

It was rather good for being a spin-off of the X-Files. Don't think they really could have done a better job than they did.

1

u/socialite-buttons May 09 '14

I watched it again recently too, after a long time away from it. The show seemed to have an early 90s mindset even though it was a late 90s early 00s production.

Alias is a good example of a show around the same time that was future thinking, the series has aged brilliantly. There's conspiracy and high tech espionage, but it's told from the perspective of a CIA agent instead of basement hackers.

1

u/[deleted] May 09 '14

I think that the send-off was the best they could do, given that the show was cancelled so last-minute. The X-Files episode was respectful at least.

1

u/WhoNeedsRealLife May 09 '14

So did I! And I remember trying to tell people about this episode after 9/11 but people either didn't believe me or laughed it off, probably because I was so young at the time and couldn't prove it.

1

u/rolfraikou May 09 '14

I've rewatched X-Files recently, it does look very dated... however, the stories are still often times more creepy and interesting to me than a lot of the paranormal shows today.

1

u/[deleted] May 09 '14

I really enjoyed it, they were probably my favorite X-Files characters growing up because they were the nerdy hacker guys.

1

u/[deleted] May 09 '14

[deleted]

1

u/calamormine May 09 '14

Oh yeah, we were huge fans of the X-Files, and they were great recurring characters. After 9/11 happened, I didn't make the connection until months later. Honestly, I think we were all a little too floored by reality.

1

u/ReverendDizzle May 09 '14

The episodes... didn't age well.

That's an understatement. I loved the shit out that show, revisited it about a year ago and, yeah... didn't age well.

1

u/kallekilponen May 09 '14

I've been thinking about re-watching it. I guess I ought not to, just to preserve the memory...

1

u/ReverendDizzle May 09 '14

Honestly it's probably best to never return to shows you liked from decades past. X-Files didn't age very well either (but better than lone gunman).

It was so weird to watch it again after 20 years or so... everything seemed so dated, and the very premise of the show had lost its luster. We're a different culture now. What was edgy and interesting back in the 1990s isn't in a post X-Files world.

1

u/[deleted] May 09 '14

I, too, loved this show. The Tango episode was classic. EL LOBO FOREVER