TRUE BELIEVERS! THE GRAPHIC NOVEL RETURN OF 'THE X-FILES'

Faith and dedication: Scully (Gillian Anderson) and Mulder (David Duchovny) head into the comic universe for more sci-fi/horror adventures. Images: 20TH CENTURY FOX/IDW PUBLISHING.

There may not be any signs (yet) of a live action film or TV series return/continuance for those paranormal investigating, alien invasion fighting FBI heroes, Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, as so iconically played with warmth, heroism and occasional oddball humour by David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson, but fans can at least celebrate the shows 20th anniversary this year with a brand new comic series from IDW PUBLISHING, written by respected fan and storyteller Joe Harris, illustrated by Michael Walsh, and, most importantly, given the official seal of approval by the series creator Chris Carter (who's also coming up with story ideas and maintaining series continuity cannon),  which takes place after the events of the duo's second theatrical movie, the under-rated I WANT TO BELIEVE, and leads into the planned colonisation/Armageddon towards Earth by those black oil possessed grey aliens seen on and off during the original series impressive, and now legendary, nine season run. Also promised in the book series are standalone adventures that will capture the atmosphere and variety of the series, hopefully with lots of intriguing and intriguing new monsters and horrific transmogrification's, plus an explanation of just what happened to THE X FILES successor agents, tough realist John Doggett and spiritualist Monica Reyes (played on screen by Robert Patrick and Annabeth Gish) after the events of the original finale 2002 episode. And, even though they're dead, expect a return of some kind from those three charming computer nerds/ conspiracy theorists, The Lone Gunmen.

One of the excellent covers for the new comic series.

Officially regarded as the shows "tenth season", with Mulder and Scully back in the FBI after friends and associates linked to the FBI are slowly but surely being killed off, the truth is still out there, waiting to be uncovered more than ever, starting from June 19th...

A FRESH START FOR A CLASSIC SERIES? 'THE X-FILES' COMES TO BLU-RAY

In their investigative prime: FBI agents Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) and Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) in THE X-FILES. Image: FOX.

The recent trailblazing success of CBS PARAMOUNT's STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION's release in beautiful and viewer acclaimed high definition Blu-ray has meant that other studios are now looking at their vaults and seeing what potential classic TV hits can be adapted to the format and generate further income. And it looks as if FOX will be getting out the big guns first, sometime in 2013, with the so-far rumoured release of THE X-FILES season by season, in what will surely be a labour of love job, ditching the fuzzy film to video converted prints of old and presenting pristine made on film transfers, going back to the original camera negatives and starting from scratch, along with new or upgraded optical effects. The series wasn't made in widescreen until Season Five, but who cares when the potential picture quality of those early best seasons will look sooo much better, and with the kind of presentation they should have had when they originally aired. The chance for additional behind the scenes material should also be eagerly anticipated.

Here's also hoping that THE X-FILES gets the kind of sales success that might help jump start the franchise back into live-action motion, what with the recent desires of creator Chris Carter and the cast to do one more movie-hopefully with FOX giving them a bigger, better production budget this time, and with a storyline that hearkens back to the original tone of the series and the alien conspiracy. Or perhaps something entirely new with nods to the past?

The truth remains to be found...

KOOL TV BABE OF THE WEEK: 'HUNTED's MELISSA GEORGE

Strike a pose! The lovely Australian film and TV actress Melissa George satisfyingly mixes innocence and sex appeal. Image: MelissaGeorge.com

With a fine career in popular cult international movies-often playing a vulnerable heroine who shows true courage and resourcefulness in the worst and most heinous life-threatening situations, in successes like the mountain climbing drama, A LONELY PLACE TO DIE, vampire gore fest 30 DAYS OF NIGHT, the TWILIGHT ZONE'ish TRIANGLE (a very enjoyable movie that's well worth watching) and TV movies like Pierce Brosnan's recent Stephen King adaptation BAG OF BONES, as well as a run in the hit US spy drama ALIAS, gorgeous Australian actress Melissa George hits British shores once again, this time for the small screen in what looks set to be a promising new BBC action thriller series, HUNTED, created by THE X-FILES top producer/writer Frank Spotnitz (intriguingly starting out as a vehicle for that series star Gillian Anderson), and from the same production team behind the acclaimed fantasy thriller LIFE ON MARS and the long running modern spy saga SPOOKS (known in the US as MI5).

In HUNTED, the shapely Miss George is the once elusive Samantha Hunter, a top spy who has to return to her once employers, a shady and shadowy outfit known as Byzantium, to track down and eliminate an enemy force out for payback against her. During the course of this surely very glossy series, Sam has to work out who this enemy combatant is, and, most importantly, who she can trust. For time is running out...

Trailer: ‘Hunted’ 90-second Trailer from the BBC - Melissa George

Agent on the run: George as Sam in HUNTED. Image: BBC/SHINE INTERNATIONAL.

From early footage, the new show, very much keeping the SPOOKs film-making style, and which apparently took quite a bit of time in the behind the scenes process to get made, looks fast paced and intriguing, with George a capable lead in the action/ character stakes. She's backed up with a solid and intriguing supporting cast, too, including GAME OF THRONES enjoyably slimy Stephen Dillane and sneery Patrick Malahide, as well as the no doubt intimidating presence of LOST's Mister Echo himself, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje. It heads to UK and US TV screens this Autumn...

UNFINISHED BUSINESS. WILL 'THE X-FILES' RETURN?

Just the two of us? Agents Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully (Gillian Anderson) take on a worldwide conspiracy in the iconic THE X-FILES. Image: FOX.

The evil and intimidating Cancer Man's predictions of an end of the world alien attack on planet Earth on December 21st, 2012 will surely and sadly fail to materialise on cinema multiplex screens any time soon, but those champions of the truth who fought against him so valiantly for nine seasons, determined ex-FBI agents Agents Fox Mulder and his lovely partner Dana Scully, might possibly and hopefully return in the not too distant future for another big-screen adventure into the heart of the unknown. After a few years way from playing their respective and iconic roles, and with the sad failure of the last THE X-FILES movie, the very under-rated I Want to Believe, which many thought was too low budget and too intimately small scale to be released as a summer tent-pole movie for the blockbuster period (where so many Hollywood films face off for box office receipts and glory), lead stars David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson-both of whom currently have fine careers flitting between film and TV- have on a personal and professional level understandably begun to miss playing the characters they brought to life so well under the aegis of series creator Chris Carter and producer Frank Spotnitz (whose new work on the BBC ONE action/thriller series HUNTED, starring Melissa George (and the next evolutionary step up from the popular SPOOKS), will make its premiere soon).

And we miss them, too! M and S's first big screen appearance in FIGHT THE FUTURE proved a big success worldwide, and showed tremendous future potential to take the series in bigger, bolder directions for drama, horror and action set-pieces. So much so that it may have been a mistake to have continued the series on the small screen beyond its sixth year, in the light of such a positive and solid response to their cinematic debut. Considering such past creative accomplishments in its TV life cycle and a worldwide fan base that could be reactivated, alongside the right kind of storytelling taking it in to the next decade, it's easy to see why the shows loyal crew in front of and behind the camera are enthusiastic and willing to return and continue the dangerous game that is fighting the menace of the contagious Black Oil-whose alien infections and influence during early prehistoric history on Earth would launch the key aspects of the series mythology and help X truly mark the spot!

All its needs now is some faith and commitment from FOX, and some executive suits who realise there's plenty of life left in the format and its characters.

Over to you...


All of THE X-FILES- it's movies and the spin-off THE LONE GUNMEN, plus the separate Chris Carter created MILLENNIUM- are available on DVD.

KOOL TV BABE OF THE WEEK: 'HOMELAND's ZULEIKHA ROBINSON

Exotic delight: the lovely Zuleikha Robinson poses for the camera. Image: ULIKE.

From being a mysterious female James Bond industrial spy figure in Chris Carter's comedy drama series spin-off to THE X-FILES, THE LONE GUNMEN, to an ambitious prostitute with her sights on being a mistress of ancient ROME's dark and deadly streets in the adult and high quality HBO mini-series of the same name, making her mark as one of the better supporting characters stranded in island purgatory on LOST-another mysterious femme fatale/bounty hunter action heroine, to now being a middle Eastern journalist with a fiery agenda on the upcoming second season of the hit SHOWTIME suspense drama HOMELAND, lovely British actress Zuleikha Robinson, with her striking and exotic dark looks and admired busty, statuesque physique, has become a popular name in Hollywood, and deservedly so, in her playing of numerous intriguing roles over the last twelve years.

Making a fine entrance with the cast of THE LONE GUNMEN. Image: FOX.

Acquiring the next target: Zuleikha as Yves Adele Harlow in THE LONE GUNMEN. Image: FOX.

Making a striking first impression on viewers as the black leather clad weapons expert, the tough, no nonsense character of 'Yves Adele Harlow" (an anagram of JFK 'assassin' Lee Harvey Oswald-her real name would never be known through the series run), who often acted against her own commercial judgements to help out the three geeky and full of heart Lone Gunmen of the title (played with their own inimitable charm by Bruce Harwood, Tom Braidwood and Dean Haglund) out to expose the truth behind the various cover ups, conspiracies and technological dangers the modern world is facing, the show may not ultimately have lasted very long-a mere thirteen episodes- as a spin-off to such a popular show like THE X-FILES (perhaps a victim of audiences not quite knowing what to make of it overall)- alongside a wrap-up in it's brother shows  ninth and final season, but other feature film roles were soon around the corner for Robinson such as the mildly successful Joe Johnston directed desert horse racing adventure HIDALGO, and working alongside the iconic Al Pacino in the starry and well-made adaptation of Shakespeare's THE MERCHANT OF VENICE, before a return to popular TV in the second and final season of HBO's made for good notices critically and on her career CV, giving an excellent and highly charged performance in the equally excellent and highly charged historical saga that was HBO's ROME, playing another dangerous character-at first a tart with a heart and then going on to become Gaia (a real misinterpretation of the word's meaning: Mother Earth!): an ambitious, sex as a weapon manipulating figure doing her utmost best to control our central heroes Kevin McKidd and Ray Stevenson. Going from history to fantasy, Robinson would play gutsy and instinctive Eva Marquez alongside GAME OF THRONES star to be Nikolal Coster-Waldau's immortal New York detective John Amsterdam in another short running but liked FOX series, the HIGHLANDER-esque NEW AMSTERDAM, and then onto a much more memorable role in another equally iconic series now approaching its final two seasons: the hit JJ Abrams/ABC TV sci-fi/fantasy that captured and beguiled audiences hearts in equal measure: LOST, and making another exciting impression as the resourceful Ilana Verdansky, who first appeared in the show trapping and then beating into the middle of next Wednesday, our favourite Iraqi hero Sayid (Naveen Andrews) on the orders of the mysterious father-figure like Jacob (Mark Pellegrino), before being just as trapped as the rest of the core players on the constantly moving island as they took on the Black Smoke creature, and certainly coming to an unexpected and literally explosive end!

As the life hardened Gaia in ROME. Image: HBO.

Alongside Nikolaj Coster-Waldau in the short-lived NEW AMSTERDAM. Image: FOX.

And back in fantasy as battle hardened Ilana in the final days of LOST. Image: ABC TV.

Miss Robinson's streak for playing know what they want independent women characters continues apace within the next season of the eagerly anticipated and addictive new TV hit, the terrorist thriller/character drama from Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa, HOMELAND, where she'll be playing the middle eastern role of Roya Hammad, a journalist who has a connection to the mysterious Al-Qaeda-esque figure of Abu Nazir (Navid Negaban) and whom goes on to deliver an ultimatum to Nicholas Brody (Damian Lewis), the turned ex-American military man now intent on delivering a terrible death blow to his country's security and its people. How all the new seasons twists and turns will be revealed, and what further involvement Roya will play in the shape of things, remains to be seen, but Miss Robinson's expected presence in the show will certainly be enough to boost male viewers blood pressure a fair few points over the coming months.