Six years have passed since "The X-Files" went off the air after nine seasons; fans agree that it left with a whimper rather than a bang, and ten years have passed since the first and only feature film. So the question of the day is: why a sequel? Why now? But perhaps a better question is "why not?" The fact is that FBI special agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) always had vats of chemistry; they arguably outstripped and outranked any other male-female couple in the history of television. Their pairing was perfect: Mulder believed -- or wanted to believe -- in the supernatural while Scully was a scientist, a doctor and a Catholic who believed in God but looked for reasonable, logical explanations in everything. In each episode, the team was called in to investigate some kind of paranormal activity, and they debated and discussed the various possibilities behind each. In the end, hardly anything was ever proved or disproved.

The X-Files: I Want to Believe offers the viewer many mysteries to contemplate -- and only one of them is on-screen; as David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson return to roles and a franchise that last graced our TV screens in 2002 (and was last on the big screen in 1998), your mind swirls around the behind-the-scenes facts as fiercely as it does around the events playing out before your eyes. As reclusive, retired ex-FBI agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully (Duchovny and Anderson) help the FBI with an abduction case, you're not following the plot as such; instead, you're thinking things like Hey, didn't this show get canceled six years ago? Haven't Duchovny and Chris Carter, the star and director of this film, both sued the studio behind it? Who, out in the movie going audience, is really clamoring for this movie? If you're an X-Files fan, is this film's freestanding creepy tale, with no link to the weird and convoluted mythos Carter came up with for the show, going to satisfy whatever itch you may still have for the franchise? And if you're not an X-Files fan, is the idea that this film stands alone enough reason to come to the franchise now?

This summer has been a big one for the fanboy (and girl) nation. Geeks have rejoiced as their favorite icons have come to grace the silver screen either once again or for the first time -- Tony Stark, Indiana Jones, Bruce Wayne, Bruce Banner, Kit Kittredge -- with each film accompanied by its own modest fan frenzy (yes, a $155 million opening weekend equals modest 'round these parts).

But naturally, as if so often the case with the potent combo of radical fanaticism and internet anonymity, the nastier trolls have not seen fit to shirk their responsibility of maintaining the sacred Tomatometer with a crudely constructed death threat or two (or two hundred). For them, this is personal. They can't possibly enjoy their long-awaited flick should some goateed snob decide to feel any degree of lukewarm or otherwise before the public gets their peek.

This is blood for blood, and by the comment. These are the new days, the bad days, the all-or-nothing days. They're back.

When you think Chris Carter, you think spooky, right? Well, don't feel bad, most of us do. But as it turns out, Carter very well might have pulled a fast one and is already directing another film right under our noses -- and no, it's not X-Files 3. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Carter is already hard at work on a dark coming-of-age drama called Fencewalker, starring Natalie Dormer (The Tudors), Katie Cassidy (daughter to David), Xzibit (fresh from the set X-Files), Derek Magyar and Meckah Brooks.

So far there are very few details about the project, and reps for the actors and Carter have not confirmed whether or not the production was even underway (seems like an awful lot of effort for an indie drama, but who am I to judge?). Little is known about the story as well, but THR did say that it's "essentially a coming-of-age semiautobiographical character piece with no supernatural elements" -- well, you can't blame a guy for wanting to fight against type. Fencewalker was described as a "passion project" for Carter, who also wrote the script and independently financed the flick.

If you're familiar with Carter's M.O. when it comes to keeping secrets, then a covert project isn't exactly outside the realm of possibility. (Besides, if he's making a film about himself, why wouldn't he keep it secret -- he's a hush hush kind of guy!) Think about it, the man already managed to shock us once already this year -- what's one more surprise?

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Here it is -- and unless the entire Internet has been faked out, it is the official poster for The X-Files 2.. I must admit, it is very sharp. Still, given that this is a stand-alone story, they probably should have done without the stars. People are going to look at it and automatically assume it is going to be about aliens. And it still could be -- it just won't be the mythology aliens.

If you're wondering where the title is, according to the PaleyFest panel (where the teaser trailer debuted) Fox and Chris Carter are still squabbling over it. "I know what I want it to be, but Fox has ideas of their own," Carter told the Paley crowd. "I know what it should be."

Thanks to xfilesnews.com for the poster news (and they also have a run down of the PaleyFest stuff). The X-Files 2 is due out in theaters on July 25.

The National Post ran a story today about the press conference the X-Files cast and crew held on Wednesday. (Minus Gillian Anderson, who seems to be practically absent from this whole circus in general.) The cast and crew thanked Vancouver and revealed that those photos of Mulder and Scully kissing were fake.

"We staged that," David Duchovny told reporters. The article mentions the photo causing "breathless speculation about the characters' are-they-or-aren't-they romance" which makes me wonder what sites they visited. Only the most diehard sites could be breathless about it -- and only fans who completely forgot the whole offspring element.

Director Chris Carter complained about the attention focused on the production. "It's been a two-way street. To tell you the truth, I would like to make the movie secretly and put it out there on July 25, have everybody get a gift they could open." Is that why your movie still doesn't have a title?

Oh, X-Files. There was a time in say, 1996, when the sight of these photos would have sent me racing to the official X-Phile board, logging in under my screen name IMScully33 (and yes, if you see it in the AICN Talkbacks -- that is me), and engaging in excited speculation.

Now I can only rouse a mild interest in these spy photos, courtesy of Flynet Online and fresh from the set of The Untitled X-Files Sequel. It's my duty to warn you of spoilers (although I pretty much gave it away in that title) but I have to say. . .is this really a spoiler? Didn't Mulder and Scully have sex off-screen and produce a child, thus rendering this pretty unexciting?

The time for them to kiss was back in X-Files: Fight the Future -- and you let us down, Chris Carter. Stop trying to make up for that off screen consummation!

This truly causes me pain. It brings to mind my blissfully misspent youth, which I spent pondering aliens, conspiracy theories, and buying all those episode guides. I was even a Scully lookalike at the tender age of 17. (I even appeared in an issue of The Official X-Files Magazine. I was that good.) In so many ways, The X-Files helped make me the geek I am today -- and also the bitter cynic who sits snarking on this post now. I want it to be 1996 again so I'm actually excited by the release of a second X-Files movie, and sighing over the possibility that two brilliant and lonely FBI Agents will get together.

I shouldn't be surprised that X-Files fans are back to their old tricks again and scrutinizing every little detail they can get their hands on when it comes to the sequel. X-Files News is reporting that Mitch Pileggi, aka Walter Skinner, will be reviving his character for Untitled X Files Sequel. They really are going to have to come up with a title one of these days, by the way. According to the site, they are in possession of a schedule with Pileggi named in the worksheet for the day's shoot.

Pileggi starred on the TV series as Assistant Director Skinner, a former Marine and Vietnam vet. Skinner was the direct supervisor of the paranormally inclined FBI Agents, Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) and Fox Mulder (David Duchovny). The character started off with ambiguous allegiances, but as the story wore on, Skinner clearly became one of the good guys.

I'll just come right out and say it: I think werewolves are dumb. They could be interesting, and I'm sure they once were, but for me they're typically a let down, whether they be the lame werewolves in Wes Craven's Cursed or the badly generated werewolf transformation in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban or even the blood-splattering werewolves of a well-written horror film like Dog Soldiers. Maybe it's because the first werewolves I was familiar with growing up were Michael Jackson in the "Thriller" video and Michael J. Fox in Teen Wolf, but whatever the reason, the fact remains that I don't think they're scary and I don't think they're cool.

So, you can imagine how disappointed I was to see JoBlo's new spy shots from the set of "X-Files: Done One" (aka X-Files 2), which feature what looks to be a werewolf mask. I guess there's a chance that thing in the photos could simply be a wolf -- not of the 'were' variety -- and that would be OK. But seeing as this is the paranormal world of X-Files, I'm betting on my first thought being correct.

For other fans of the show, these photos are probably pretty exciting. They're certainly a lot more interesting than that first pic we saw last month, and more intriguing than these simple photos and video of David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson from FlynetOnline or these more official shots from ComingSoon.net. Also, with all the secrecy surrounding the plot of the sequel, these photos allow us to speculate a great many things while we wait to hear about the actual plot synopsis. Perhaps one of those new cast members, say Xzibit or Billy Connolly or Amanda Peet turns into a werewolf. Wouldn't that be super neat? Yeah, well you already know I think it would be boring, but I'm trying to be excited for the rest of you.