If Only Mulder & Scully Had Smartphones Then

by

Bobbie L. Washington

I readily admit that I am a fan of The X-Files and am one of the many who are waiting with anticipation for the return of Scully and Mulder in January 2016. It’s been a log time since I had seen some major episodes from the show and so I went online to look up a few thanks to Hulu starting with the Season 1 and episode 1. As I watched the various episodes, I also took a second look at the technology Scully and Mulder used during that time. A lot of the things we have no taken for granted and is commonplace wasn’t available at that time.

The computers they used were archaic 80386's, monitors were bloated cathode ray tube green screen monsters and the cellphones were just glorified walkie talkies. They used their cellphones a lot for communicating but I wondered how would the X-Files would have been if they had smartphones instead.

Well, for one, Mulder could have snapped a picture or shot plenty of video of the spaceships he’s encountered over the course of the series. Scully could have tracked where Mulder was by the GPS tracking device on his smartphone and that way she would know if he was on the spaceship or with Diana Fowley. Mulder could have used a genealogy app to tell who the father of the baby belong to from the three brothers in Home after one or maybe two of them had sex with their mother. Scully could have used her Facebook app to see if Jade Blue Afterglow from First Person Shooter had any likes. The Lone Gunmen, Frohicke, Byers and Langley, could have used the Tinder app to meet real women. The Cigarette Smoking Man could have used the MyQuitBuddy app to help him stop smoking. Mulder could have used the Goggle map feature so he could navigate out of the cornfields in Fight The Future. Skinner could have used the T-Shirt app so that he can find the right one to wear under those starched white shirts, no wife beaters please.

Eugene Tooms could have used the Vegan App to find other alternative meat substitute dishes that don’t use liver but is just as nutritious and would have been on Snapchat. Duane Barry could have used the Paranoia App since he is so worried that somebody is always watching him. Clyde Bruckman could have used the Tarot Oracle Card app so that he could give David Blaine a run for his money. Krychek could have used the One Arm Slot Machine app to give him a better edge in Las Vegas and would have Kim K. following him on his Twitter account..

And as we countdown the final moments for the return of the X-Files, people will be interested in the relationship with Mulder and Scully. That’s a valid concern. Mine, however, will be about the aspect on this generation of technology. TV screens and bigger and flat and they can spy on you if you let them. Smartphones can do a lot more than just call a person. Big government is not just watching you, they are subcontracting private companies to mine data for them. Edward Snowden is the number one enemy to the NSA. Julian Assange is number two. And while the Lone Gunmen may have been right with their predicting the 9/11 disaster, we can rest assured that the alien conspiracy has been effectively put down…or so we think.