First episode of X-Files revival panned by critics

The reviews are out there … and they aren’t great.

Critics, along with the Hollywood hoi polloi, got a sneak peek of the first episode of The X-Files revival at a red-carpet preview on Tuesdy, two weeks ahead of its Jan. 24 premier on Fox. They weren’t wild about what they saw.

Tim Goodman of the Hollywood Reporter calls the updated version of the sci-fi series “messy” and “tedious.” And that’s just in his lead.

What we’re left with is a very underwhelming hour that will force even diehard fans (and yes, I was one of them) to consider whether pushing onward is really worth the time. Ah, time. Maybe it’s dulled the memory a bit, but was Duchovny, famously laconic anyway, always this sedated? Anderson seems equally placid and unhurried on her part, which makes the whole affair seem (as it did when a sneak preview was shown to critics in the summer) slightly off.

To Brian Lowry of Variety, the revival reeks of “crass commercialism.”

Throughout the premiere, it’s simply hard to escape the prevailing malaise of this being a deal-driven exercise, a chance to cash in on the name recognition of the title in a format that mitigated the time commitment for all concerned, particularly Duchovny and Anderson. Heck, they’re even back shooting in Vancouver, the town Duchovny rather famously pushed to leave during the show’s heyday.

Stars David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson and series creator/executive producer Chris Carter shot the X-Files reboot in Vancouver and around B.C. last summer.

The original series was shot in Vancouver for the first five seasons of its original nine-year run (1993-2002) before moving to Los Angeles in 1998 to accommodate Duchovny.

Duchovny, Anderson and Carter did return here to shoot the 2008 theatrical release, The X-Files: I Want To Believe.

On Tuesday, Fox teased fans by releasing the opening scene of the first episode. Regardless of what the critics say (they are sometimes wrong, right?), we’ll be watching.